Category Archives: European history

Is the Tide Turning in Favour of Russia in the Ukrainian War?

An Observer in A Black Sea Resort Town

1. Russia has started deploying nuclear weapons to Belarus to counter the build up of weapons and forces in central and Western Europe targetting Russia.

 A pro-Russian cartoon of the failed Ukrainian terrorist attack in Belgorod

2. Belarusian President Lukashenko says that “forces” supported by Poland to topple his government and carry out a coup in Belarus will not succeed in part because Belarus knows every individual involved in the plot and are monitoring their activities, and partly because Russia will intervene should any coup like activities even remotely start to occur. Russia already has 50,000 troops in Belarus. It is another sign of desperation by the West.

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The Anzac Story: Rushing into the Fields of Slaughter?

Binoy Kampmark, in Countercurrents, 26 April 2023, where the title reads “Politicians and the Anzac Tradition: A Story of Manipulation and Mythology”

While the mass slaughtering of, and slaughter by, soldiers, is always a touchy subject of commemoration, a tension has existed between those who did the fighting, and those who ordered it.  Comfortably secure in furnished rooms and battle props, planners would, as they still do, draw up the blueprints, concoct the strategy, and give the orders.

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Cricket & Galle in Rothman’s ‘Potted’ History of Sri Lanka

VIEW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNJyW-rdZPQ …. entitled The Modern Origins of Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict”

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Ceylonese Volunteers in the Midst of Trench Warfare Carnage – World War One

Suren Ratwatte, whose chosen title reads as Battle of the Somme and the Trinitians at the frontlines” …. while his text has had Highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Suren Ratwatte writes about the bloodiest chapter in the history of the British Army in WW II, where his grandfather Sir Richard Aluwihare and three other schoolmates faced the brunt of enemy fire.

What remains today: The trenches in France where the 29th Division (among whom were the young soldiers from Ceylon), fought in 1916. Pix by Suren Ratwatte

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Disappearing Burgher Surnames in Island Lanka

“Disappearing Burgher Surnames in Island Lanka” …. Author and location unknown at present … and not to be confused with Careem’s article on “Disappearing Burgher & Malay Surnames in Island Lanka”at… https://thuppahis.com/2017/01/30/disappearing-burgher-and-malay-surnames-i

Pix of Burgher Tennis Club in the Fort of Galle in 1928 inserted here courtesy of David Colin-Thome … for names: visit https://thuppahis.com/2017/06/29/burgher-tennis-club-in-galle-circa-1928/

 

Some of the most colourful surnames that once stood as a beacon to help distinguish the ethnic backgrounds of locals have now gone into abeyance. The ethnographers are of the opinion that the frequent intermarriages with members of the prominent ethnic groups and the death of male line descendants have gradually airbrushed the identities of many minorities. However, it is unmistakably clear that many of the Lankan patronymics and surnames have European roots. The Ceylon Burgher Community is the finest exponent of this European Onomatology in Sri Lanka, as the members of the community carry some of the World’s rarest surnames, several of which at present verge on extinction. The ancestors of the Dutch Burghers were not necessarily Dutch by ethnic origin as the Dutch East India Company installed hundreds of mercenaries from all parts of Europe who later reached the shores of Lanka to strengthen the Dutch garrisons on the Island.

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Nationalist Excess as Spark for Warfare

Uditha Devapriya, in The Island, 9 December 2022, where the title runs thus:  “Some reflections on nationalism, extremism, and warfare”

“Ethnonationalism was not a chance detour in European history: it corresponds to some enduring propensities of the human spirit that are heightened by the process of modern state creation. It is a crucial source of both solidarity and enmity, and in one form or another, it will remain for many generations to come. One can only profit from facing it directly.” …. Jerry Muller, “Us and Them: The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism”, Foreign Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations), March 2008 The first Human Security Report, published by the Human Security Centre, released in 2005, and subtitled “War and Peace in the 21st century”, strikes a dissonant chord in a world still reeling from the horrors of the September 11 attacks. Noting a decline in armed warfare since the end of the Cold War, its authors dismiss worries of increasing conflict in a section tellingly titled “Myths and misunderstandings.”

 

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UNHRC Resolutions Display Blatant Double Standards

Fair Dinkum, with this sub-title “UN resolutions reveal the West is opposed to international democracy, while it tries to block attempts directed against racism and Xenophobia”

The UN Human Rights Council has just concluded its 51st session, adopting 41 resolutions and decisions. Examining the way countries vote on these resolutions reveals much about the hypocrisy of Western values, and that all their talk of democracy, equity, and valuing human rights is just meaningless rhetoric – a fact that can be observed in two important resolutions just passed by the UNHRC.

 

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Macron’s Warnings: France’s Immediate Future Bleak

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The West’s Devious Demonization of Russia and China

Jeffrey Sachs, in Pearls and Irritations 24 August 2022 where the  title reads thus The west’s false narrative about Russia and China”

The world is on the edge of nuclear catastrophe in no small part because of the failure of Western political leaders to be forthright about the causes of the escalating global conflicts. The relentless Western narrative that the West is noble while Russia and China are evil is simple-minded and extraordinarily dangerous. It is an attempt to manipulate public opinion, not to deal with very real and pressing diplomacy.

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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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