Category Archives: growth pole

January 4, 2021 · 1:38 pm

Sabotage! FIVE EYES Operation undermined Oz-China Relations

Tony Kevin, in ConsortiumNews, 8 December 2020, where the title reads “Australia Sabotaged Its Own Interests in China Relations”

The destruction over the past five years of Australia’s mutually beneficial diplomatic and trade relationship with China was probably a successful “Five Eyes” information warfare operation,  writes Tony Kevin.

Hong Kong protester throws egg at President Xi Jinping’s portrait on China’s National Day, Oct. 1, 2019. (Studio Incendo, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)

The address to Federal Parliament by Chinese President Xi Jinping on  Nov. 17, 2014, marked a highwater mark in bilateral relations.  Xi was in Australia for the G-20 summit in Brisbane hosted by Prime Minister Tony Abbott. His theme was that China was committed to peace but ready to protect its interests.

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December 13, 2020 · 6:27 am

Wind-Power Takes Off in Mannar

Dr Tilak Siyambalapitiya, in The Island, 8 December 2020, where the title reads “Wind power in Mannar,now a reality”

On a windy day, way back in 2002, an engineer from the CEB, approached the Mannar island, searching for a location to set up a wind measuring system. Those were difficult times, with the ceasefire taking hold, but a flareup between the two warring sides was imminent. He precariously crossed the makeshift bridge, on the Mannar causeway, previously blown-up in the war. Moving toward Thalaimannar, the road was deserted and full of potholes, the result of years of neglect during the war. With calculations and estimates in hand, he knew Mannar would be a superior location for wind power, compared to Hambantota, where a pilot wind power plant had been fixed three years back, in 1999.

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September 18, 2020 · 1:45 pm

Colombo Port City via Chinese Alliance

News Item in Colombo Times, 18 September 2020, with this title “Colombo Port City … has attrcted 16 billion dollar investment ….”

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said the Colombo Port City Project will become the main source of income for the country and the project will generate more than 83,000 employment opportunities.

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August 8, 2020 · 6:33 pm

Mattala Airport rising from the Dust? …. Maybe

Shehan Sumanasekara, in Aviation Voice, 3 August 2020, with this title “June –July MRIA has Handled More Than 50 International Flight Movements”

Once tagged as the World’s Emptiest Airport; MRIA within months has been turned around with many passenger movements. Four years ago, a news article published in the Forbes magazine titled ‘The Story Behind the World’s Emptiest International Airport’ (May 28, 2016), elaborated how Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) was constructed and failed to position its self strategically. However, under His Excellency, the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s vision: ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’, and the government’s policy to develop international airports in Sri Lanka, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited under the able guidance of Major General (Rtd.) G. A. Chandrasiri developed its short, medium and long term strategies to promote the airport said Director (Operations) Mr. Shehan Sumanasekara Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd.

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May 24, 2020 · 5:48 pm

The Looming Presence of China read circa 2018

Vishwamithra … date ??

Sri Lanka is surrounded by the Indian Ocean. Yet, the physical presence of India up north has had an intimidating influence on most of Sri Lankans. While its admirers, especially those Indophiles, who have made it a point to be more conversed in India’s history, culture, cuisine and her people than their own history and people, have chosen to subordinate their love for the country to an intellectual odyssey.

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May 20, 2020 · 6:29 am

A Comparative Examination of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim Demographic rends in Sri Lanka

 Chandre Dhamawardana … with highlighting emphasis added by the Editor, Thuppahi

It is a common belief that the Moor population, nearly 99% Muslim in faith, have high demographic rates and also have to capacity to have high birth rates because of Islamic laws that provide for the possibility of having several wives. Hence it is of interest to examine these contentions in the context of demographic data available from the Dept. of Census and statistics, Sri Lanka.

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February 15, 2020 · 7:50 am

Extremist Fervour as Roadblock for Reconciliation: A High Profile Example from the Galle-Lit-Fest

RK Radhakrishnan, in The Hindu, 2011 (?) … https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/reconciliation-elusive-on-the-ground/article6164031.ece

The packed hall at the Galle Literary Festival was stunned into silence by a series of abuses hurled on a Sri Lankan human rights activist by a member in the audience. The hurler of abuses, a well-known journalist, questioned the activist’s patriotism, labelled her pro-Tiger, and described her as a ‘stooge’ of the Western nations. Oh yes, that was just the printable part.

The activist at the receiving end was Sunila Abeysekera. She was one of the panelists on ‘Aftershock: The lingering legacy of civil war,’ presented by the BBC World Service. Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and event moderator Bridget Kendall (BBC’s diplomatic correspondent) were on stage. The exchange presented a clear idea of the differing perceptions on the concept of reconciliation.

Rajpal Abeynaike

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January 16, 2020 · 6:41 am

From Cricketing Leadership to Pioneering Space Law: Nandi

   Nandasiri Jasentuliyana Today ….. and THEN when he led the Southern Province Schools Team against the Australian Schoolboy Team in 1958

The First Australian Schools team to visit Ceylon seen in 1958 with the Combined Schools Team that played in Galle with Nandi Jasentulyana (aka JLN De Silva then)as Skipper (seated in centre) …..

Standing l to r: NM Pinnaduwa, Percy Amendra, Nalin Pieris, Sriman Jayawickrama, Hyndley Perera, Hemasirie fernando, Stanley Amendra, H. Hamilton, Lalith Fernando.

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May 24, 2019 · 10:36 am

Stephen Long’s “Revenge Politics”: Endorsements

Michael Roberts

Stephen Long is clearly an adventurous American who has travelled widely and ventured into the paths of Buddhist meditation as a central facet within this journey – so much so that he adopted a brahmacharya philosophy of life leading to his ordination in Los Angeles.[1] He does not seem to be a mere dabbler in the Buddhist dispensation: he has published a book entitled Karmic Ties: A Novel of Modern Asia (1999).  He also got to know Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In my conjecture this could have been in Los Angeles;[2] but he also refers to a meeting with Gotabaya when the latter was effectively overseeing Defence (with his brother President Mahinda as formal Minister).

His recent article “Sri Lanka: A Tragic Lesson in Revenge Politics” betrays a distinct bias: it overblows the weight of Gotabaya’s hand in Sri Lanka’s victory in Eelam War IV just a tad.[3] However, when Long asserts that Gotabaya Rajapaksa “literally had the country ‘wired’ for real-time information-collecting and feedback to authorities,” he pinpoints a vital pillar in the war campaign. As we know from a wide variety of sources and as Long claims, this security pillar was systematically dismantled by the Yahapālana government, thereby opening the door for the Zahran Hashim network to implement its carnage on Easter Sunday despite intel-reports from abroad with concrete data on their intent (see below). Continue reading →

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March 11, 2019 · 8:26 am

Citizen Perera in Incisive Thoughts on China’s Global Outreach amidst USA’s Overwhelming World Machinations

A NOTE from Michael Roberts

With the wide sweep of social media today Ordinary Joes and Ordinary Sandras have been encouraged to express their views in ways that can sometimes be (A) incendiary or (B) silly or (C) meaningless. I happen to receive two sets of ongoing debates among Sri Lankans (some resident abroad and some at home) which are vibrant …. But also include views which seem to be off-course if not ridiculous in my estimation.

However, I was stimulated by the sagacity and common-sense embodied in a recent exchange arising from US pressure on Venezuela – which exchange brought to my notice an item on China’s role in constructing a railway between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in Peru. In the context of China’s One Belt policy in Asia and the hullabaloo about Hambantota port raised by American, Sri Lankan and others, this commentary was refreshing. Well -it IS refreshing and worth airing in Thuppahi.

Take a bow Gus, Rajeewa and Brendan.

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