A speech from Ms PALKI SHARMA sent to me by Asoka Kuruppu of Queensland ……….
Hong Kong’s Cutting Edge in the World of AI Power
Brian S. Wong, whose preferred title is thus: “Hong Kong can advance AI beyond the confines of geopolitical rivalry”
As emerging markets chart their own destinies regarding artificial intelligence, the city can serve as a nexus for responsible governance
There is a tendency to portray the global artificial intelligence (AI) landscape as consisting of two bitter rivals – China and the United States. The remaining 80 per cent of the world’s population, by virtue of their supposed dearth of scale, research and other critical overheads, are purportedly followers with no agency.
The reality is more complex. The emerging global AI order is neither unipolar nor strictly bipolar. Instead, it is characterised by a swathe of middle powers hedging their options and optimising their interests against the backdrop of dominant players on either side of the Pacific. That was my primary takeaway from the inaugural Hong Kong Global AI Governance Conference.
In the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Malaysia and Singapore are positioning themselves as critical hubs for data centres and semiconductor manufacturing, engaging with industry leaders in China and the US. Europe has ploughed ahead in imposing guard rails against the immensely powerful nascent technology.
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Scholars For LANKA
Michael Roberts
Dear Scholars for Lanka
Coming across a few copies of the pamphlet series SSC PAMPHLETS, that is Studies in Society and culture, printed tin the early 1990s by Hari Hulugalle at 85 Ward Place in Colombo in league with Willa Wickramasinghe and myself, I have been stirred to move beyond tales of that endeavour to embrace the contributions of several venerable scholars who have passed away after providing us with a BODY of KNOWLEDGE.
Willa
Such outstanding scholars as Ralph Peiris, Howard Wriggins, SJ Tambiah, Gananath Obeyesekera, S. Arasaratnam, Karl Goonewardena, AJ Wilson and James Jupp are no longer with us, but their work remains as a body of testimony. And as something more: foundations for continuing endeavours to unravel facts and trends in societal transformation.
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Deconstructing the Australian Bias in the Hartcher-Selinger-Morris Analysis
Cameleer, reviewing the YOU TUBE propaganda video https://youtu.be/vEaIo190GmI?si=DEj4kgipnJcd0Xj- ….. with Highlights being the intervention of the Thuppahi hand
The recent analysis provided by Peter Hartcher and Samantha Selinger-Morris regarding West Asia and the conflict in Ukraine is less a balanced geopolitical assessment and more a curated Western narrative. Their commentary relies on historical omissions, linguistic framing, and a selective application of “moral outrage” that undermines their credibility.
An a vector illustration of mouse eating cheese.
In the Framing of the “CRINK” myth, Hartcher employs the derogatory acronym “CRINK” (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea) to personify an “Axis of Upheaval.” This framing suggests these nations are the sole agitators in global instability while positioning the US and Israel as passive, innocent actors. In reality, a realist geopolitical perspective suggests that these nations are forming a strategic counterweight to decades of Western interventionism. To claim this “axis” is the cause of upheaval ignores the documented history of US-led regime changes and regional destabilisation.
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A Review of the Book ‘Forces and Strands in Sri Lanka’s Cricket History’
Binoda K. Mishra, … reviewing the booklet Forces and Strands in Sri Lanka’s Cricket History, by Michael Roberts, Colombo, Social Scientists’ Association, 2006, 64 pp., 21 photographs, bibliography, Rs. 300 (paperback), ISBN 9559102826 ++
Cricket brought to Sri Lanka the reputation of, and a genuine recognition as, a nation. The rationale for such an observation is the infamous reputation Sri Lanka has earned due to decade-old ethnic rivalry and insurgency that has threatened the concept of nationhood in the country. The World Cup triumph in 1996 and the heroic performances before and after that event have put Sri Lanka prominently not only on the sports map but also on the political map of the world in a positive sense. But the story of the rise of Sri Lankan cricket is not a normal rags-to-riches story but is filled with events that in some sense correspond to its political history. Michael Roberts’ work presents this interesting story of Sri Lankan cricket. Written in the year 2004, the booklet recapitulates, albeit briefly, the entire history of the game on this country. It is a vivid description of the evolution of cricket in the former colony of Britain. Throughout the evolutionary history of cricket, the author finds a clear reflection of the socio-political situation of Sri Lanka.
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Longing for Home
Nihal D Amerasekera **
“Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble,
there’s no place like home!”
by John Howard Payne (1823)
Deep within each of us is a longing for home. Soon after I arrived in the UK in the early 1970’s I experienced the gnawing pain of homesickness. After several months the grief, sadness and distress of homesickness gradually waned and disappeared. I was left with an occasional yearning to return to my roots either physically or mentally. The latter being just a daydream or a nocturnal dream in my sleep. Longing for home, or homesickness, is a universal and wistful yearning for a familiar place we belong. Homesickness is defined as a feeling of longing for one’s home during a period of absence from it. If there is no anxiety or unhappiness it is not a sickness. It is just a longing for home which is a normal phenomenon. Perhaps it is a feeling common to all emigres living in exile. They all have the freedom to return home if they so wish.
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Sitting Ducks in the Malacca Trap
Desert Wanderer, … who has an alternative title as well: “The Malacca Chokepoint: The Hegseth-Sjamsoeddin Pact and the Blueprint for A Global War Against China” ….. Note that the highlights are interventions by The Editor, Thuppahi
The United States are moving toward a global maritime strategy designed to sever China’s trade lifelines and force international commerce into a US-aligned network. By using “Freedom of Navigation” as a cover, the US aims to turn international waters into zones where it decides which ships are allowed to pass. With the Strait of Hormuz already under immense pressure, the Strait of Malacca has emerged as the next critical battleground. This waterway is the primary artery for 40% of global trade and is vital to Chinese energy security, as roughly 80% of China’s oil imports pass through this chokepoint from West Asia.
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Dr. S. A. Wickramasinghe: Pioneer Marxist Thinker & Leader
Shiran Illanperuma, whose essay marks Dr. S. A. Wickramasinghe’s 125 birth anniversary and is entitled “The doctor who felt the people’s pulse”
April 13 marked the 125 birth anniversary of S.A. Wickramasinghe, a national freedom fighter and founder of the Communist Movement in Sri Lanka. Wickramasinghe remains a pivotal, if somewhat underrated, figure in the pantheon of the first generation of Sri Lankan national and leftist leaders.
Stories of Wickramasinghe’s politicisation often begin with his experiences of 1915 riots at the young age of 14. Wickramasinghe was appalled by the brutality with which the colonial administration treated the Sinhalese. But at the same time, he organised fellow students at his school Mahinda College to protect Muslim students from reprisals by the Sinhalese.
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Manifest Double Standards: Sri Lanka, West Asia, and the ICG’s Selective Moral Outrage
Lankan Reefcomber, confronting a TPS Item from the International Crisis Group: https://thuppahis.com/2026/04/21/sri-lankas-political-situation-today/#more-98556
Michael, re the ICG article you posted…. It is questionable why the International Crisis Group (ICG) prioritises war crimes within the narrow context of Sri Lanka while remaining silent on the unprecedented war crimes and genocide currently taking place in West Asia, which are broadcast live around the clock. This discrepancy reveals a double standard: the ICG focuses heavily on non-Western nations like Sri Lanka, but remains conspicuously less critical of Western military actions or those of their close allies. Viewing the world through a liberal-Western lens, the ICG frequently neglects the geopolitical realities and sovereignty of non-Western states.
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The Iran War at the Crossroads
News Item received From Firazath Hussain of Galle & Colombo in Sri Lanka, 22 April 2026,…. with the full title being “Diplomacy or Escalation? The Iran War at a Crossroads” …. the highlighting here being that of The Editor, Thuppahi
The Iranian analyst Hassan Ahmadian speaks with Jeremy Scahill about Iran’s strategy, a potential deal, and how decisions are being made in Tehran.
The war against Iran launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28 has not gone according to plan. What was initially portrayed as a quick regime change action that would destroy the Islamic Republic and spark a domestic uprising soon morphed into a war of attrition in which Iran stunned the U.S., Israel, and international observers. Six weeks after the opening strikes that assassinated much of Iran’s leadership, it is President Donald Trump who appears desperate to find an exit. The Iran war is now at a definitive crossroads and the coming days will prove decisive.
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