Category Archives: authoritarian regimes

November 11, 2024 · 8:19 pm

Brig. Halangode’s Random Thoughts on the Eelam Wars

AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE by Michael Roberts, 11 November 2024

Brig Retd Hiran Halangode sent me the Memorandum presented below as a RESPONSE to one of my reprinted articles on ‘’Religious Strands in the SL Tamil Rebellions of the 1970s to 2009.’’[1] As indicated by him, the memo presents a series of desultory thoughts and do not amount to a thorough-going academic essay. However, they serve as an incentive towards reflection. I have taken the liberty of inserting highlights to spotlight especially significant or controversial thoughts.

SL Army troops in defensive positions in the Vanni circa 2008

 

BRIG. HIRAN HALANGODE (retd) in Response to MR On Fri, Nov 8, 2024 …… presenting …… https://thuppahis.com/2022/10/02/religion-within-tamil-militancy-and-the-ltte/

Hi Michael,

An excellent effort. I have a few points which may be of interest to you. Random thoughts in fact.

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November 10, 2024 · 12:02 pm

Ranil’s Hand in the Batalanda Killings?

VISIT this item sent to me by a Richmondite Medic residing in Britain with this note: 

 I recently heard Ranil W’s name linked to Batalanda but did not know what it was about.  This blog reveals all, what a murderer R is,as well as what crimes most of the political leaders before him also did. Watch and make your mind up.   Author Nandana [Weerarathne] is an investigative journalist  who had self-exiled himself until  the fall of  RW from power.…………….. Shocking!

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November 7, 2024 · 10:40 am

Walter Stace in British Ceylon, 1910-1932

Michael Roberts

 Walter T. Stace was a British citizen born in 1886 and educated in private schools in Wales and Scotland before completing his undergraduate degree at Trinity College, Dublin. He was therefore of middle-upper class background. His philosophical leanings did not deter him from signing up for the Colonial Service. He was sent to Ceylon – reaching the island with his wife … and being posted to the town of Galle*** in 1910.

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October 31, 2024 · 6:32 pm

Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza Today

An EDITORIAL in the Haaretz, 29 October 2024 with this title “If it looks like Ethnic Cleansing, it probably is” …. with highlighting emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi

Isn’t it ironic to see many Israeli Jews playing the role of the Nazis who eliminated their Jewish ancestors through urban bombardment, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

For three and a half weeks, Israeli forces have been besieging the northern Gaza Strip. Israel has almost completely blocked the entry of humanitarian aid, thereby starving the hundreds of thousands of people who live there. Information emerging from the besieged area is only partial, because ever since the war began, Israel has barred journalists from entering Gaza.

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October 31, 2024 · 12:07 pm

Dr Narendran Rajasingham: A Grounded Sri Lankan Tamil Patriot

Michael Roberts

Naren Rajasingham was a trifle junior to me at Peradeniya University when he pursued a Vet/Science Degree before proceeding to postgraduate qualifications in the same field. It was only when I was fully enmeshed in researching the Eelam Wars and visiting Colombo with some frequency that I got to know him. My memory is imprecise in its notation of time; and I cannot fix precise dates to our exchanges.

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October 29, 2024 · 8:00 pm

A Major Political Transformation in Sri Lanka on the Horizon?

Merril Gunaratne,** in The Island, 27 October 2024, where the title runs “A revolution without violence” … with emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi

The total absence of violence before, during, and after the Presidential election has deeply impressed all sections of the population. Such exemplary discipline and conduct of the NPP took many observers by surprise, putting to shame established parties which, when they alternated in power, invariably let loose their goons to inflict pain and misery on opposition ranks. Serving in the police from 1965 to 2000, and in retirement for two and a half decades thereafter, I was witness to violence which followed every election with monotonous regularity.

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October 19, 2024 · 8:32 pm

Myths About the Indian Middle Class Today

Bastian Steuwer in FRONTLINE, 14 August 2024 where the title reads ”Two myths about the Indian middle class” .… segment of article here because the buggers in FRONTLINE want a subscription …. My response here is a form of THUPPAHI protest 

They [i. e. the middle class] sustain a politics which does not disturb the position of the privileged few and deflects the focus from larger issues of economic justice.

 

 The first myth is in invoking the “middle class” as synonymous with income taxpayers, investment gains, and so on. Promoting policies for the middle class, the ordinary Indian, or the common man naturally enjoy broad support….. Photo Credit: Rajanish Kakade

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October 14, 2024 · 7:38 pm

Justice: Another Opportunity Lost

A DailyFT item, 14 October 2024, entitled “Another Lost Opportunity”

The new administration of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake lost yet another opportunity in the international stage to rectify past wrongs and charter a new course. This time at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), keeping with the policies of the Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe administrations, the Government rejected international efforts to deliver justice for the tens of thousands of victims of State atrocities. 

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October 13, 2024 · 3:43 pm

Tekwani’s Analysis of “Transnational Security and Postinsurgency Issues” in Sri Lanka

Shyam Tekwani ... taken from …Alas the date of pubn is not indicated clearly… it is probably circa 2010 

  • Sri Lanka’s quarter-century civil war may be over, but many of the underlying causes of the war continue to linger.
  • The international network of the defeated Tamil Tigers continues to control immense financial and logistical resources and is supported by the nearly one million Tamil diaspora. Meanwhile, the victorious Rajapaksa government has been slow in implementing its promise of political settlement and integrating the minorities into the political and socioeconomic life of the country. These realities may contribute to the radicalization of a new generation of Tamils, both on the island and in the diaspora in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Continue reading →

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October 10, 2024 · 11:59 pm

Engaging India …. With Love …. Dalrymple

Q and A with William Dalrymple, Historian …. in Q and A in The Weekend Australian Magazine, 21/22 September 2024

William Dalrymple was born in Scotland in 1965, and brought up on the shores of the Firth of Forth. He was educated at Ampleforth and Trinity College, Cambridge where he was first History Exhibitioner then Senior History Scholar.

He is the author of nine books about India and the Islamic world, including City of Djinns , White Mughals, The Last Mughal and Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India.

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