Category Archives: disparagement

September 24, 2022 · 1:45 am

Deeply Wounded. Also Divided? Sri Lanka Today

Neloufer De Mel, in History Today, Vol 72/8, September 2022, where the title reads “Sri Lanka’s Deep Wounds” **

On 31 March 2022 a public protest occurred in the vicinity of the home of the Sri Lankan president Gotabhaya Rajapakse. The protest marked frustration at the shortages of essential commodities (gas, medicines, fuel) and the gruelling ten-to-13-hour power cuts imposed by a cash-strapped government with insufficient dollars to pay for imported fuel. The protestors also sought answers as to why certain neighbourhoods (such as Mirihana, where the president lived) continued to enjoy uninterrupted power.

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September 20, 2022 · 6:36 pm

Seven Lankans Survive Awful Ordeal in Ukraine

Sofia Bettiza, in BBC News Item, 19 September 2022, with the title “Sri Lankans freed from Russian brutality in Ukraine” .… the highighting here being impositions by the Editor, Thuppahi

Ukraine’s recapture of the city of Izyum has brought multiple allegations of atrocities under Russian occupation. Among the accounts emerging is that of a group of Sri Lankans held captive for months. Here, they tell their story.

The liberated Sri Lankans with Ukrainian police in Kharkiv

“We thought we would never get out alive,” says Dilujan Paththinajakan. Dilujan was one of seven Sri Lankans captured by Russian forces in May. The group had just set out on a huge walk to safety from their homes in Kupiansk, north-eastern Ukraine, to the relative safety of Kharkiv, some 120km (75 miles) away.

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September 19, 2022 · 7:16 pm

From my Mother “Elizabeth” to Elizabeth Truss: Downhill …

Michael O’Leary in Sunday Island, 17 September 2022, where the title reads: “A Tale of Three Elizabeths” … with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

England’s Glory: My mother had the same name as the UK’s latest and current (as I write) prime minister. My mother was Elizabeth Jane King and when she married Jeremiah O’Leary, the Irish labourer who helped to build her parents’ house, number 9, Stanway Road, Coney Hill, Gloucester, she became Elizabeth O’Leary. When Mary Elizabeth Truss married Liverpool accountant Hugh O’Leary she became Elizabeth O’Leary, just like my mother.

Queen Elizabeth II at Trinity in 1954 

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September 13, 2022 · 1:43 am

Exposing Sachi Sri Kantha: A Tangential Tamil Sniper

Michael Roberts

In presenting an article on Duncan White’s achievement at the World Olympic Games held in London in August 1948, I limited my focus to the 1940s. Sachi Sri Kantha in Japan has often entered comments on Thuppahi items and on this occasion ventured a point-scoring set of remarks on this item. At times these comments have proceeded tangentially to topics straddling the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

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September 7, 2022 · 9:51 pm

Tamil Civilians as Sandbags in 2008/09 & Blinding Ignorance in Geneva

Lucien Rajakarunanayake in An Article on 11th September 2014 entitled “Sandbags of Humans” in strategy to woo the West” …. with the highlighting being the present impositions of The Editor, Thuppahi

“I come across new evidence regularly in the midst of misinformation and dis-information that is a facet of the propaganda war that has been sharpening since the LTTE began to retreat in 2008. Since the volume of data is huge, a thorough investigation calls for assiduous work by a team which includes those who are culturally competent and able to discern manipulation.”

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August 28, 2022 · 1:16 am

Ominous Events in Pakistan Today: Lessons for All Asians & The World

Fair Dinkum

Watch “Pakistan’s Western-backed coup regime hits PM Imran Khan with ‘terrorism’ charges to silence dissent”  … …………………….. https://youtu.be/g9IzwCAYbZY 

This ITEM is a worthwhile discussion and analysis of the situation in Pakistan featuring a young Pakistani scholar, interviewed by Ben Norton.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s supporters gather in Rawalpindi on Sunday to protest Imran Khan’s removal from government [Sohail Shahzad/EPA-EFE] Continue reading →

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August 26, 2022 · 9:50 pm

Macron’s Speech marks Escalating Western Disasters

Kim Wilsher in Paris …. in The Guardian, 25 August 2022, with this title “Macron warns of ‘end of abundance’ as France faces difficult winter,” … and with this qualifying sub-note: “sombre first cabinet speech after summer break criticised as snub to poor who have already made sacrifices”

Emmanuel Macron has warned the French they are facing sacrifices and what he called the ““end of abundance”, at his government’s first cabinet meeting after the summer holidays. The president, speaking before ministers at the Élysée, said the country was at a “tipping point” and faced a difficult winter and a new era of instability caused by climate change and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

Emmanuel Macron, second from left, chairs his first cabinet meeting after the summer break. Photograph: Mohammed Badra/EPA

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August 25, 2022 · 10:33 am

A Sturdy Lankan Student Protest Petition, 22 August 2022

A PETITION: Stop Labelling Student Protestors as Terrorists. 22 August 2022

We are a group of feminists writing to call urgent attention to the extra-constitutional attempts of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to suppress dissent. Lacking a popular mandate, hunting down student protestors and activists, including a LGBTIQ activist has become a central strategy of the political élite to retain power. The latest move by the GoSL is to brand three student leaders and the student union they represent, the Inter University Student Federation (IUSF), as ‘terrorists’.

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August 24, 2022 · 1:51 pm

Miracles Amidst the Horrendous Holocaust

Cameron Stewart in The Australian, 24 August 2022, where the title reads “Holocaust Twin Phillip Maisel leaves behind a life of miracles,” .… with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Just weeks ago, after he turned 100 with his twin sister Bella, holocaust survivor Phillip Maisel shared his secret of his miraculous life: “Just be positive,’ he said with a grin. “Always be positive.”

 

 

 

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August 22, 2022 · 7:44 pm

Standing Firm: Authoritarian Forms of Governance challenged by Sri Lankan Professionals

Item in Colombo Telegraph, 19 August 2022, where the title is as follows … “Saying no to Authoritarian Governance”

We the undersigned individuals from academia, the professions, the corporate sector, the clergy, and civil society organisations, join all those citizens and groups in condemning the abduction, arrest, detention without due process, and other acts of abusive Presidential and State authority committed against persons who participated in the Aragalaya Peoples’ Movement. We condemn the acts of violence that occurred during this time.  However, we reject the narrative that the Aragalaya was responsible for the violence and that it has been transformed into a “fascist,” “anarchist,” “terrorist,” group, that has destroyed State and private property, and is determined to destabilise our country. 

Ranil Wickremesinghe

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