Somasiri Devendra
It’s a hundred years since the World War One ended.
It was called “the war to end all wars”, a war “to preserve Democracy”. It was, in fact, fought for nothing more than the needs of a handful of European countries wanting yet bigger pieces of the global pie, fighting each other for it or to deny it to others.
a war cemetery in Europe
British Garrison Cemetery Kandy
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On the 11th November 2020 BritaIn and its former colonies marked REMEMBRANCE DAY to honour the dead in their 20th century World Wars. On 25th April every year AUSTRALIA and Britiain too remember the dead at Gallipoli … Anzac Day as it is called in Ausralia and New Zealand. In the year 2015, one hundred yeas after the event, the BBC clarified the course of events at Gallipoli with a documentary: ….. including this NOTE =
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Michael Roberts, reprinting an essay drafted in 2007 and since presented in Fire & Storm in 2010 (chapter 19: 131-38)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVpbl0azdFM …. Kamikaze strike
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John Richardson
For what they are worth, here are three “imperatives for preventing conflict and terrorism” (from the 10 that conclude Paradise Poisoned) that seem particularly relevant to this discussion. These are excerpted from “elevator talk” I gave to Board members of the US Association for the Club of Rome a year or so ago.
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H. L. D. Mahindapala, in LankaWeb, November 2020, where the title reads: “Post-Trump America with Biden – not to mention Kamala Harris” …. highlighting by Editor, Thuppahi
Say what you like against Donald Trump, the man was a phenomenon. Whether the legacy he leaves behind is good or bad is a judgement that will be determined finally by those who will feel the impact of his regime in the years to come. Win or lose, (he is losing at the time of writing) he will be remembered as the leader who articulated and released the underlying undercurrents that had been dormant in the political landscape, awaiting a leader to take up the challenge. Trump is the leader that represented the subterranean forces which the pundit class had never expected to rise to levels raised by Trump. Though Trump seems to be doomed at the polls (now its midday – Friday) the Trumpism he generated has the force to haunt US politics in the foreseeable future. One of his ambitions has been to make his mark in history. He would achieve that place as the most unorthodox, controversial and unpredictable president ever who bucked the system and won. In short, he has changed the style, the substance and the contours of American politics with the arrogance of an outsider spitting into the inside.
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ALSThis short essay appeared in the year K????K within the Website run the Library of Social Science headed by Richard Koenigsberg and he has sent it to me this month (November 2020) — presumably inspired by the recent jihadist attacks in Europe and by Thuppahi’s determined pursuit of the comparative literature on martyrdom pursued in a variety of contexts by diverse forces (not merely Islamic).
Michael Roberts
Addressing the practices of remembrance in Australia, Richard Koenigsberg has noted the irony that a battlefield defeat at Gallipoli in World War One, 1915, served a people as an emblem of nationhood: the “Australian nation, came into being on the foundations provided by the slaughter of its young men.”
Burying the dead at Gallipoli in 1915 ,,,and The Last Post 
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Anura Gunasekera, in Sunday Island, 9 November 2020, where the title reads “The Quintessential Bond and the Quintessential Scot””
As a teen my introduction to James Bond was “Casino Royale”, a tattered paperback copy bought second-hand, for a few rupees, from the Bethel Book shop in Dehiwala. The cover image depicted the full figure of a curvy female in distress, overshadowed by the head and shoulders of a cruelly handsome, steely-eyed male, hair artfully disheveled, forelock falling across the forehead, and the Walther PPK ready for action. With an uncanny prescience, the cover designer had captured the key ingredients that subsequently built the film franchise.
Mahila Wijesinghe. in Sunday Observer, 1 November 2020, where the title is “Trekking to Batadomba-lena cave. A glimpse of the prehistoric rock cave”
As we sat on the base of an excavation pit dug by the Department of Archaeology to unearth the skeletons of early inhabitants in this cave in the mid 80s, we imagined life at the Batadomba-lena cave over 30,000 years ago.
This is the second oldest cave in Sri Lanka where the remains of pre-historic humans (c29,000-9,500) have been found. Among the remains discovered are skeletons and various implements in the main cave, which now attracts a large number of visitors including schoolchildren for educational study tours.
This article from my pen was probably drafted in 2004. It appeared in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism vol. 28 in 2005 after the usual refereeing process. Some of the details and arguments have, in fact, been obliterated within my fading memory. For this reason, it was a refreshing READ for me and brought up specific details that are pertinent to any debate surrounding the motivations that induce self-immolation, jihadist killings of a suicidal nature, et cetera… The Bibilography will also aid present investigations though, of course, other writings have appeared since then on Islamic jihadists and other martyrdom operations…. Michael Roberts, 8 November 2020 … The photographs are fresh additions … and so too the highlighting within the text.
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Daya Gamage
LINK TO THE VIDEO PRESENTATION: https://youtu.be/YafgU0UScxM
බයිඩන් ජනපති පාලනය සිරි ලකට බලපාන්නේ කෙසේද?
This interview was given by me – Daya Gamage – describing the U.S. electoral process, how Trump, during these four years, handled foreign policy, gives an interpretation how a Biden-Harris administration in the U.S. handle foreign policy AND how it could – I said ‘Could’ – affect Sri Lanka with ongoing issues such as US militarization in the Indo-Pacific region; US-India military bonds; ACSA/SOFA/MCC connected to US militarization against China AND Sri Lanka’s dilemma OR what position Sri Lanka could take with all these issue.
THIS IS IN SINHALA …………… Listen to the 25-minute presentation HERE: https://youtu.be/YafgU0UScxM
Attachments area
Preview YouTube video Joe Biden දින්නොත් කොටි නැගිටියිද ?
Joe Biden දින්නොත් කොටි නැගිටියිද ?
thuppahi
