Word: stating
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...with the Tamils in the north. They also demanded the abolishment of the executive presidency, which is powerful enough to overrule decisions made by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, in order to empower the Parliament to be more responsible to the people by enacting new laws to fight state corruption, foster democracy, and promote freedom of expression. These demands stemmed from the fact that Sri Lanka has already had three armed uprisings after independence because of a rigid system of government...
Following unprecedented levels of abuse of state media by the ruling party candidate, the election commissioner demanded that all media follow ethical guidelines. Upon the state’s failure to enforce law, on Jan. 16, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ordered the media to follow the guidelines of the election commissioner. This order fell on deaf ears. Violence escalated, and by Jan. 26, four people had died...
...Lankans realized that Rajapakse, the ruling party candidate, had won with a majority of 57 percent. Some bewildered voters questioned the results and started to spread rumors that the results had been rigged. However, according to state media, those rumors had been originated with malicious intent. Soon, the police arrested three people for sending out politically sensitive text messages...
Some people might recommend that the international community impose sanctions on Sri Lanka in response to this crisis, but that would be unwise. The conventional policy of cornering governments that restrict democracy enables their leaders to further boost their patriotic image through state media by painting a portrait of a brave leader who stands strong against interfering Western imperialists. This further victimizes people in many ways: it provides leaders with a golden opportunity to censure the media, an opportunity to instill fear among people, a justification to arrest people on charges of conspiracy, and a reason to align with corrupt...
...photos of the partisan reaction to Obama's State of the Union...