Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, in Colombo Telegraph, 16 May 2022, where the title reads “Masks of Democracy & Energy Geopolitics: Is Full Spectrum Dominance the Endgame?”
South Asia’s Arab Spring has arrived amid energy wars and slow tectonic shifts in power and wealth eastward to Asia and the Indian Ocean Region. This has been hastened by the new Cold War proxy-war in Ukraine, US-led sanctions on energy-rich Russia and a refugee crisis in Europe.
On the 25th of April, ANZAC DAY, Australia honoured its war dead in ceremonies large and small throughout the country. This moment has been marked every year –beginning with a ceremony in London in 1916 which recognised the deadly toll and the bravery shown on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey where so many colonial Aussies fought … and died … on behalf of the British state (their “mother-country” to many Aussies then).
The situation in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is “catastrophic,” and the Ukrainian forces are largely to blame for it, a UK citizen identified as Aiden Aslin, who reportedly fought in the city, said in a video obtained by RT.
While human memories fade and disappear, photographs and films help preserve moments of history – either as factual documentation, or as fictionalised stories. The Battle of Ceylon, or the Easter Sunday Japanese air raid of Ceylon took place 70 years ago this week [April 2012]. There can’t be too many people who have personal memories of that eventful day, 5 April 1942. The definitive feature film about this facet of WW2 remains to be made. This blog post explores what (little) that is available online.
Jayantha Somasundaram, in The Island, 8 April 2022, where the title runs thus: “The Turn of the Tide”
Eighty years ago on Easter Sunday 5th April 1942, Ceylon came under attack by a Japanese armada. The Battle for Ceylon was going to be a duel of skill, nerves and grit between the pilots of the approaching Japanese Carrier Fleet and the RAF fighter pilots defending Ceylon.
On 26th March 1942 Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Imperial Navy’s main aircraft carrier force, sailed out of Kendari in the Celebes (now Sulawesi in Indonesia). It consisted of the First Air Fleet with the carriers the Akagi, the Hiryu, the Soryu, the Shokaku and the Zuikaka, along with the Third Battle Squadron made up of the battleships the Haruna, the Hiei, the Kirisbima and the Kongo, accompanied by two heavy cruisers and ten destroyers heading for Ceylon. “In striking power”says naval historian H. P Willmott of the US Naval Institute in Empires in the Balance, “virtually the same as the force used against Pearl Harbour.”Continue reading →
This article is written based on the book “Australian Cricket Anecdotes” by Gideon Haigh, I hope the readers will bear with the strong words used at times which is typical of the Aussies.
The book states as follows, “More gruesome fun was had at the expense of the Sri Lankans, whom Australia met in their next World Cup match in 1975. When Anura Tennakoon’s team showed unexpected resistance, Chappell gave Jeff Thomson carte blanche to retard their progress.”
Michael Patrick O’Leary …. The PADRAIG, in Ceylon Today, …. whose chosen title = “Putin’s Bloody Past” …. Part One”
From 2007 to 2013, Catherine Belton was the Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times. She currently works as an investigative correspondent for Reuters, based in London. In her book Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West, she gives a good insight into the character of Putin as he rose to power.
Noel Carl: “A Sceptical Take on the Ukraine Crisis,” 2 Mactrh 2022
n a recent post for the Daily Sceptic, Toby claims the received wisdom on the Ukraine crisis is basically right, noting that he’s “experienced the unusual sensation of feeling more in step with the mainstream media than I have with my sceptical friends”. While he makes some good points, I don’t think he really steelmans the sceptical position.