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Category Archives: military expenditure
Sri Lankan, US and Japanese Naval Units in Joint Operations
Asiri Fernando, in Ft.lk, 16 July 2021.… … with this title “Sri Lanka, Japan and US partner to better respond to future maritime challenge”
Sri Lanka’s maritime trade hub ambitions and future economic success depend on sound economic strategies and a robust foreign policy as well as on her ability to work in partnership with regional and global actors to ensure the safe navigation and security of the maritime domain around the Island.
The CHINA Bogey in Western Circles
Clive Williams, in The Australian, 9 July 2021, where the title reads “Chinese Military Threat is Overstated”
Comments in May by a Beijing newspaper editor suggesting strategic missile strikes on Australian targets under some circumstances should not alarm Australians. They were made in response to comments coming out of Australia about supporting the US in any conflict over Taiwan, and in the context of the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary celebrations.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, australian media, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, military expenditure, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes
The Western Bloc vs China in Clash of Giants: A Veteran Lankan Leftist Speaks
Lakshman Gunasekara**
“I am NOT interested in Western anti-Chinese conspiracies, having been familiar with them all my Left activist life since 1974. My interest is (as a good Communist) in the internal problems faced within China and grappled with by the Communist regime there – including the Han ethnocentrism, the anti-Uighur AND anti-Tibetan racism, the huge social problems faced by the intricately managed, partial transition to the capitalist market and, by the new class relations that the CCP must manage with the rise of private capital. So, I repeat my request that if you do come across such studies, please do point me to them. Not this stuff which is as old as the Cold War.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, discrimination, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, Left politics, military expenditure, military strategy, modernity & modernization, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, press freedom, security, self-reflexivity, unusual people, world events & processes
The Far Eastern Bureau and Its News Reels during World War II
Tony Donaldson
I enjoyed reading Michael Roberts’s short essay titled “Michael’s Testimony for VE Day in Britain, 8th May 1945,” published at Thuppahi on 10 May 2020. But I felt the story ended too quickly, leaving me to ponder where the story goes next. It would be good if Michael could continue this story. In the meantime, the following short note was triggered by Michael’s comment about the “insidious impact of Movietone News or Pathe News.”
After 3 September 1939, when Britain went to war with Germany, the British Ministry of Information (MOI) began arranging with numerous companies the release and distribution of their newsreels. One example was The Battle of Tobruk which was sent by plane to Colombo in March 1941. It was cleared through customs and distributed to cinemas in Colombo in time for screening at the evening shows on the same day the film arrived in Ceylon.
Filed under British colonialism, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, military expenditure, military strategy, modernity & modernization, news fabrication, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
Galle: Four Hundred Years Ago
Chandra R. De Silva
The political and military history of the port city of Galle, located on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka, is well documented. This brief report is merely an effort to fill in a gap in the records relating to the history of this port in the half century between the 1580s and the 1630s.
The popular belief is that the name of the settlement comes from the Sinhala word Gaalla or cattle pen, but in his description of Galle in the Saragossa manuscript probably finalized in the 1630s Constantino de Sa de Miranda suggests that the name comes from the word Gal (stone) (Flores p. 130) of which there was plenty around Galle harbor. The Portuguese historian de Queyroz (p. 31), writing in the late seventeenth century, also suggests that the name comes from the word Gal (stone) or Galgue (stone house).
Filed under architects & architecture, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, military expenditure, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes
Landscapes around Diyatalawa
Krishani Peiris, with photo-work by Menaka Aravinda, …. a repeat from a presentation in 2013 with a different title
Located approximately 1,331 metres above sea level, Diyatalawa in the Haputale District is well known as a Garrison Town. Though it is not clear as to when the place became a prominent threshold for armed forces, historical records show that in 1885, the British had stationed a garrison in the area. And from that point onwards, Diyatalawa has being able to carve its own niche in the history of Sri Lanka.
Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, military expenditure, photography, population, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue, world events & processes
Ceylonese Elephants and Labour in Wartime Airfield Construction, 1941-45
Demonising the Pope: Pompeo and Murdoch Press in Devilish Politics
Tony Donaldson
A propaganda piece published in The Australian on 2 October 2020. depicted the Pope as an evil monster with horns, as if the CCP is controlling him
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1) China is evil 2) The Vatican have an agreement with China 3) Therefore, the Vatican and Pope is evil. This is a load of baloney .
David Blacker on the SL Army’s Land Warfare Campaign in 2006-09
The SL Army’s Land Warfare Campaign in 2006-09: Debating the Lines of Strategic Emphasis THREE: David Blacker’s Clarification
In a telephone conversation in June 2020 relating to the Sri Lankan armed forces successful military campaign on land against the formidable LTTE forces during Eelam War IV,[1] issues arose regarding the lines of strategic emphasis. As I was not familiar with one of the summary terms mentioned in this chat, I formulated a ‘QUESTION’ which I sent to several personnel with a military background.[2]
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, education, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, military expenditure, military strategy, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, unusual people, world events & processes
