This year the Armed Forces Remembrance Day and Poppy ceremony is due to be held on Sunday the 13th November 2022 at the Viharamahadevi park in Colombo. Since November is the month of Remembrance universally, it is commemorated world over.
Mahil Wijesinghe,in Sunday Observer Epaper, 23 October 2022, with this title “Dutch Legacy of Galle fort“
The Galle city is home to a population of around 100,000. Easily reached via the Southern Expressway, the A2 Highway or the coastal rail track, Galle is indeed a place worth a stop. A quick walk through the chip-stone laid busy streets, you will discover the rich history of the colonial period and the natural beauty of the seascape.
Following the recent publication of the book Volunteers from Ceylon who served in the British and Commonwealth Forces during World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) …. I asked the assiduous compilers of this work to provide a convenient statistical summary of the number of personnel from Ceylon who decided to serve the British Empire in its hour of need (with all the political and cultural implications of these decisions in my ‘compass’).
So, Thuppahi can now present the statistics courtesy of Kumar Kirinde (ex-Trinity College and SL Air Force).
Compiled by Kumar Kirinde, Retd Officer of the SLAF, whose chosen title was as follows:“The Air Tigers: The Air Wing of A Terrorist Organisation” …… with information and images sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Tigers and Google Images)
Pirapaharan (ext. left) with Anton Balasingham on his left and KP Pathmanathan in front and Shankar on the extreme right in the Vanni jungles circa 2001(?) … Shankar was in effect the Air Tiger chief
New Delhi has been making new moves at the border recently. From October 14 to 31, India and the US are scheduled to hold the annual joint military exercise “Yudh Abhyas” in Auli in the Indian state of Uttarakhand – deliberately choosing to hold the event less than 100 kilometers away from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the China-India border.
Group Captain Kumar Kirinde, Retd. SLAF whose preferred title is indicated at the end together with detials from one inspiration, that from Richard Boyle.
Introduction: HMS Ceylon was a Fiji-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy.She was of the Ceylon sub class, named after the island and British colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The cruiser saw service in the Atlantic and Pacific theatres during the Second World War. In the postwar era, she participated in actions in Egypt and the Korean War. In 1960 she transferred to the navy of Peru and was renamed Coronel Bolognesi. The cruiser was scrapped in 1985.
This article in the ATLANTIC COUNCIL web site on 31 January 2022 pinpointed one relam of power wielded by USA and indicated that it would induce Putin and Russia NOT to attack Ukraine. The fallacy of this prediction does not alter the significance of the Argument about US America’s monetary clout within this our world –– Editor,Thuppahi
George Pearkes
The invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces appears increasingly likely. Over one hundred thousand Russian troops are massed at the border of neighboring Ukraine, there are allegations of cyber attacks and false flag operations, and reports Russia is withdrawing diplomatic staff. America has responded by threatening Russia with an unconventional weapon: the dollar. However, deploying the dollar may actually undermine its power, and hasten its departure from the US arsenal.
Norman Solomon, in Common Dreams 23 March 2022, with this title “From Moscow to Washington, the Barbarism and Hypocrisy Don’t Justify Each Other”
While apologists for the governments of Russia or the United States want to focus on some truths to the exclusion of others, the horrific militarism of both countries deserves only opposition.
Russia’s war in Ukraine—like the USA’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—should be understood as barbaric mass slaughter. For all their mutual hostility, the Kremlin and the White House are willing to rely on similar precepts: Might makes right. International law is what you extol when you aren’t violating it. And at home, rev up the nationalism to go with the militarism.
An Internationalist in the Anzac Realm** …………….has informed Thuppahi that “the US congress passed a bill last year that approved a half a billion US dollars to fund a global anti China media campaign which includes training hundreds of journalists to plant anti-china stories in every media outlet in every country the US can influence. So we can expect such articles by the ton every 2 seconds.”