News Item, 15 April 2022, entitled “British captive who fought in Mariupol describes ‘reality’,” https://www.rt.com/russia/553933-british-captive-mariupol-ukraine-reality/
The situation in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is “catastrophic,” and the Ukrainian forces are largely to blame for it, a UK citizen identified as Aiden Aslin, who reportedly fought in the city, said in a video obtained by RT.
NDTV … ……….. 22 March 2022
China refused to assist Sri Lanka which appealed to reschedule its huge Chinese debt burden in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak that has adversely affected the tourism sector, said a media report. Colombo appealed if a restructuring of the debt could be arranged to mitigate the economic crisis that had arisen in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a meeting with Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi sought the assistance of Beijing in the face of the deepening foreign exchange crisis of Sri Lanka and spiralling external debt.
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Michael Roberts
“Test cricket returned to Lahore on Monday for the first time since a horrific attack in 2009 saw the venue … shunned by nations …,” says Peter Lalor in his article on the Lahore Test Match in today’s (22 March 2022) AUSTRALIAN newspaper. Lalor, perhaps deliberately (?,) avoids reference to the team that underwent this terrorist attack on 3rd March 2009: Sri Lanka.
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Michael Patrick O’Leary …. The PADRAIG, in Ceylon Today, …. whose chosen title = “Putin’s Bloody Past” …. Part One”
From 2007 to 2013, Catherine Belton was the Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times. She currently works as an investigative correspondent for Reuters, based in London. In her book Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West, she gives a good insight into the character of Putin as he rose to power.
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Ivan Timofeev of the Valdai Club, deploying this title “Russia now has just three options left on Ukraine” … with highlighting imposed by Thuppahi
With Washington rejecting many of Moscow’s security concerns, the prospect of escalation is rising. The US has handed Russia a written response to its proposed security guarantees. While Washington refuses to accept Moscow’s demands for a legally binding pledge that NATO will not expand further towards its borders, it has indicated it is ready to discuss certain issues, including arms control and strategic stability.
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As News Items displayed pictures and stroies of beeming Aussie cricketers arriving in Pakistan for cricket, we need to cast our mind back to that fateful day on the 3rd March 2009 when the entourage bearing the Sri Lankan team and the officiating personnel were subject to an assault by some Pakistani “terrorists.” The most effective manner of reminding readers of the horrendous events that unfolded in and around the last roundabout before Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore is to present some of the photographs taken immediately afterwards.
That only a few Pakistani policemen and the driver of the minibus bearing the team officials lost their lives was due to Allah’s grace and the presence of mind shown by Khallil, the driver of the coach and Tuan Tillekeratne Dilshan as the bus sped away from botched efforts to (a) block it and (b) hit it with a shoulder-fired rocket.
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Michael Padraig O’Leary, responding to my request about two days back before the Russian invasion of Ukraine
“Here are some articles about current events which you might like to read as a balance to Dayan’s views. Unlike Colombo Telegraph, the Guardian comment thread is worth reading.
SEE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ukraine Continue reading
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Dayan Jayatilleke, in The Island, 23 February 2022, with this title “Putin’s pushback: The context of Russia’s Ukraine move”
Context counts, and context means geography and history. The dramatic Russia-Ukraine situation cannot be understood without a sense of history, by which I mean contemporary history, not the pre-revolutionary (pre-1917) history that was invoked by President Putin.
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Muralidhar Reddy, in Frontline, vol. 26/20, Sept 26-Oct 09, 2009 where the title reads “Analytical Anthropology”
Michael Roberts’ collection of essays on Sri Lankan identity is a breath of fresh air in an atmosphere polluted by callous accounts.
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thuppahi
