Thuppahi's Blog

Lanka Reefcomber, …. with highlights subect to the Editor’s iinterventions ….

Watching PALKI SHARMA’s You Tube Presentation was of absorbing interest. I remember this journalist from her time at WION, primarily for her long-standing promotion of the ‘China debt trap’ narrative in Sri Lanka—claims that have since been debunked. This history suggests a clear bias against China. Furthermore, while she is described here as ‘calm,’ calmness is not a virtue in itself; even figures like Donald Trump can appear calm, but look at what that calm demeanour has produced. It is the underlying intention and content of character that truly matter.

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From FACEBOOK …. reference disappeared in FB F…g mnner

On April 27, 1963, Professor Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekara/මහාචාර්‍ය ගුණපාල පියසේන මලලසේකර (1899-1973), who was then Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, delivered a speech to approximately 200 invited guests gathered at the LBJ Ranch—the private residence of then-Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson.⁣⁣

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A speech from Ms PALKI SHARMA sent to me by Asoka Kuruppu of Queensland ………. 

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Brian S. Wong, whose preferred title is thus: “Hong Kong can advance AI beyond the confines of geopolitical rivalry”

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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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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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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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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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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. 

  Hegseth greets Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin at the Pentagon (13 April). The photo captures them as brothers-in-arms, yet Hegseth’s hand-over-shoulder placement—a “strategic hug”—signals dominance and control over Sjamsoeddin. While appearing warm, body language experts view this over-the-shoulder reach as a power move designed to project an “upper hand” to observers.

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Shiran Illanperuma, whose essay marks Dr. S. A. Wickramasinghe’s 125 birth anniversary and is entitled “The doctor who felt the people’s pulse”

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