Category Archives: fundamentalism

August 28, 2021 · 9:26 pm

John Pilger’s Overview of the Deeper History of Western Intervention in Afghanistan

John Pilger  in Consortium News, Volume 26, Number 240, 28 August 2021, with this title ““The Great Game of Smashing Nations”

More than a generation ago, Afghanistan won its freedom, which the U.S., Britain and their “allies” destroyed.

Outside the gate of the Arg, the presidential palace, in Kabul, the day after the Saur revolution on April 28, 1978. (Cleric77, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)

As a tsunami of crocodile tears engulfs Western politicians, history is suppressed. More than a generation ago, Afghanistan won its freedom, which the United States, Britain and their “allies” [then] destroyed.

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August 27, 2021 · 11:42 am

The Sri Lankan Government and the Media within the Crossroads of War 2006-09

Palitha Kohona ,in The Sunday Observer, 28 June 2020, with this title “Managing the media on the road to Nandikadal – Part 1″ ….http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2020/06/28/news-features/managing-media-road-nandikadal-part-1

The conflict with the terrorist LTTE dragged on for over two decades causing widespread death and destruction with no obvious end in sight. The Government, after the election of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, recognised, perhaps for the first time, that carefully managing the media, both domestic and international, was an important factor if this endless struggle were to be ended successfully. President Rajapaksa, a consummate politician, accepted the profound value of a non-antagonistic media and carefully orchestrated initiatives to secure this objective. As the world knows, the bloody conflict was eventually ended on the banks of the Nanthikadal Lagoon on May 18, 2009, through the colossal efforts and sacrifices of the security forces.

Tony Birtley of Al Jazeera at the warfront in late 2008 and Ranil Wijayapala in ??

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August 26, 2021 · 12:00 pm

An Afghan Soccer Star who sought the Skies ….

BBC News Item, c. 21 August 2021c with this title “Zaki Anwari: Afghan footballer falls to death from US plane in Kabul”

Afghan authorities have confirmed that a young footballer fell to his death after trying to stow away on a US military plane leaving Kabul airport. Zaki Anwari, 19, had played for Afghanistan’s national youth team. Further details of when he died have not been disclosed.

Since the Taliban’s recapture of Afghanistan, thousands of people have scrambled to Kabul’s airport as Western countries rush to evacuate their citizens and Afghan colleagues. Images emerged on Monday showing hundreds of people running alongside a US air force plane as it moved down a runway. Some people were seen clinging to its side.

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August 21, 2021 · 12:21 am

Afghanistan Withdrawal: Trump Initiated, Biden Followed, Pentagon Unhappy ….

   Clive Williams in Email Note to Michael Roberts, 18 August 2021 *&*

President Trump made the political decision to withdraw and committed the US to a withdrawal schedule in 2020. President Biden followed through on that commitment. It was not a military decision. The US military could have stayed indefinitely. They had no fatalities this year and only nine in 2020, so it was a sustainable deployment. There was no prospect of defeating the Taliban militarily though without the cooperation of Pakistan.
State [i.e. the State Department] accepted President Trump’s decision, but the Pentagon was not happy about it, particularly because so much equipment had to be abandoned due to the accelerated withdrawal schedule.  The biggest mistake the Americans made was supporting corrupt Afghan political leaders who lacked popular support. The second biggest was not adequately monitoring and mentoring the ANSF. [i.e. = Afghan National sEcurity Force].
Clive
 Taliban fighters in Kabul on Monday. Picture: Reuters

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August 20, 2021 · 12:54 am

Horror and Terror in Kabul: Pictorials

No words  required!!

   

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August 17, 2021 · 11:56 am

Afghanistan’s Turmoil Replayed at Lords Cricket Ground

Michael Roberts

In my reading, the spirit of cricket was spiked and shattered at its iconic home-ground of Lords yesterday. Not only yesterday –the fifth day. IThe “spiking” occurred throughout the match  with (A) tailenders’ bombarded with headhigh short-pitched bowling by both sides; (B) verbal badinage and assualts — camouflaged as “badinage” and presented with smiles — from both parties; and (C) the spiking of the ball by Jimmy Anderson [according to one report] among the events on the ground.

Kumar Oh Kumar …. what future for “The Spirit of Cricket” talk you delivered during the famous COWDREY LECTURE some years back!

… https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/kumar-sangakkara-s-mcc-spirit-of-cricket-lecture-522183

….. https://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/kumar-sangakkaras-spirit-of-cricket-speech-tugs-the-heart-3891

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August 11, 2021 · 2:07 pm

Qadri Ismail’s Challenging Essay: An Iconoclastic Hurrah!

Qadri Ismail, in Groundviews in 2015 with this title “The Import Of Sri Lankan Muslim Names”

My name is Mohamed Qadri Ismail. Mohamed Qadri Ismail is not my name.

The statements may prompt a wtf. (The acronym, btw, of the World Taekwondo Federation.) Surely one cannot affirm a position and its contradiction. Yet I do.  The second sentence doesn’t necessarily negate the first.

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July 2, 2021 · 1:13 pm

Lessons Derived from the Anti-Muslim Riots of 1915 …. For Today

Walter Wuthmann, in Daily News, 7 May 2018, where the title runs: “Revisiting 1915: Lessons from A Violent Past”

The recent mob attacks[ against Muslim families and property in Kandy is another sad chapter in Sri Lanka’s history of ethnic violence. Now, many are re-examining the past, looking for reasons for why this ugly strain of communalism will not subside, and for ways to fight it for the future. Because before Digana in March, and before Aluthgama in 2014, there was 1915.

  An old photo of the Mosqueat Castele Street inKandy where the initial spark for the “1915 riots”originated

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June 6, 2021 · 6:01 am

A Searing Wide-Ranging Critique from Qadri Ismail after 21/4 in 2019 ……. Now a Requiem

Qadri Ismail, in Groundviews, 5 May 2019 after the 21/4 Atrocities

Photo by Asanka Brendon Ratnayake for The Washington Post

We hadn’t seen him in years, ever since he left to work abroad. So, on the day of his return, his mother invited the extended family to lunch. As he walked through the door we reacted collectively, gasped audibly. He wore a sharp suit but sported one of those long, unkempt, rowdy beards. Perhaps, I thought, there are no barbers in Saudi Arabia. (You never know, it’s a weird place).

 

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May 19, 2021 · 1:40 pm

Sri Lankan Tamil Rally in London: Protest in Commemoration

Tamil Guardian News Item, 18 May 2021

British Tamils rallied in London today to commemorate the tens of thousands of lives lost in Mullivaikkal in 2009. Protesters demonstrated at Parliament Square, demanding justice for the atrocities perpetrated by the Sri Lankan state in Mullivaikkal 12 years ago.

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