Category Archives: politIcal discourse

September 22, 2023 · 9:11 pm

Liyanage in Conversation & Correspondence with NM Perera

Sumanasiri Liyanage, in Colombo Telegraph, 21 January 2022…. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

At my age an uninterrupted sleep is a luxury. My prostate wakes me up at least two to three time. Hence, it is hard to distinguish dreams from imaginations. It was almost 1 am, I just finished my first lap of deep sleep when I heard knocking at my front door. “Who the hell at this time of the hour” I came out of the bed grumbling. I opened the door and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was Dr NM Perera. “Comrade, at this time of the day” Astonished I asked even not inviting him to come in.

“May I come in” he asked, “it’s a bit chilly outside”. “Please do comrade and take a sit”. “May I make a cup of tea for you.” Having felt guilty, I asked apologetically. “Yes, it would be nice to have a hot cup of tea in a chilly morning like this. But no sugar. We must leave sugar only for kids.” He said making his beautiful laugh. I prepared him a mug of tea with no sugar but with Highland fresh milk.

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September 22, 2023 · 5:49 pm

Scrutinizing Sri Lanka’s Past in ATITA

A New Investigative Website …. https://atita.org/

 

About Atita: Atita is dedicated to the investigation of historical events in Sri Lanka. Taking its name from the Pali word for “past” (atīta), Atita serves to fill in gaps in English-language literature of Sri Lankan history.

All are welcome to read our work, but those already familiar with Sri Lankan history since 1948 will find it the most enriching. Our primary focus is on events from 1948 to 1972, when Sri Lanka was still called “Ceylon.”

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September 22, 2023 · 2:41 pm

Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe’s Crown & Throne: Here … Then … Missing

Piero Perondi, whose native tongue is not Englsih and whose preferred title is “The Crown and Throne of the King of Kandy Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, 1798-1815” … 

The Crown and Throne of the King of Kandy, subtracted to the King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha in 1815, and brought to England as a war trophy and placed in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. In fact you can see the lithographic reproduction in this book of the Crown with a brief history , entitled: “The Trophies & Personal Relics of British Heroes” (full part of the book images are attached).

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September 20, 2023 · 1:42 pm

Jehan Perera on Channel Four’s Slant on the Easter Sunday Attacks of 2019

Jehan Perera in The Island, 19 September 2019

The Channel 4 documentary that claims to give the story behind the Easter bombing has restarted the debate, within the country, about who was behind the foul deed, and why. The answer is not proving to be simple. It has become the subject of anger, threat and controversy. The identities of the suicide bombers and their victims are known. Eight suicide bombers died. 269 innocent people also died. All of the bombers were Muslim. Some of them were highly educated and came from prosperous families. They would not have wished to sacrifice their lives except for a cause they believed in as being of the utmost importance.

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September 20, 2023 · 12:52 pm

Neil Para’s Marathon Walk to Secure PR in Australia

Item in the DAILY NEWS, 12 September 2023… where the title reads  “SL asylum seeker granted PR after 1,000km walk to Sydney”

As he neared the end of his 1,000-kilometre walk to Sydney to raise awareness for thousands of families living in limbo as they seek permanent residency, asylum seeker Neil Para and his family have been granted theirs.

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September 20, 2023 · 12:32 pm

Ranil confronted with UNFAIR Question

Fair Dinkum responding to an EMAIL CIRCULAR sent by Victor Melder, 20 September 2023 …..  bearing this You-Tube ………………

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGtxKRZNhXwcqdggGVBwdQpGTTj?projector=1

I gather some Sri Lankan sent it to him with the question, “Are you pro=Indian or pro Chinese?” which is an unfair question because it is framed in such a way as to create and reinforce division, and doesn’t allow for the possibility for one to be both, or to be neutral, or to consider the possibility that Sri Lanka should engage with both India and China when it is in their interests to do so, without interference.
I would say Sri Lankans should be pro-Sri Lanka and then at the next level down, regard India and China as partners, as SL should do with all countries.

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September 20, 2023 · 1:03 am

Wickremasinghe Rejects AUKUS Pact

An Item in rtcom.news, 19 September 2023, with the hëadline  “South Asian leader slams AUKUS pact” …..

The US-led initiative was created to antagonize Beijing, Sri Lanka’s president has said.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has condemned the AUKUS pact as an alliance designed to target China, calling it a “strategic misstep,” and insisting it will only divide Asia into rival camps and destabilize the region. Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Monday, Wickremesinghe took aim at AUKUS, which was formed by the US, UK, and Australia in 2021. “I don’t think it was needed,” he said. “I think it’s a strategic misstep. I think they made a mistake,” the president stated. “It is a military alliance moved against one country – China.”

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September 19, 2023 · 7:46 pm

Rita Mannella’s Insights on Her Experiences in Sri Lanka

Sanjiva Wijesinha, in Sunday Times & his own website where the title runs  “Twilight Reflections 8 – You Only Cry Twice”

I recently noticed that the outgoing Italian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Her Excellency Ms. Rita Giuliano Mannella, had made the following intriguing observation.  “When I return to Sri Lanka’ she said, “I cry twice – once when I arrive and the other time when I leave.“

At first I did not quite understand what she meant (Cosa stai dicendo, Signora?) but when I carefully thought over what she said, I realized that her observation made perfect sense.

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September 19, 2023 · 1:16 am

Articles on the Easter Sunday Attacks in 2019 presented within TPS in May 2019

Michael Roberts

I have recently presented the list of items placed in this site during April 2019 immediately after the shocking events and now commence  to  present the itmes that appeared in May 2019. I can hardly claim to have provided a comprehensive coverage, but readers will find a wide variety of  personnel from different ethnic groups within this list.  That it should evoke such wide interest is not surprising: it was a kind of 9/11 in Sri Lankan and Indian Ocean history.

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September 18, 2023 · 7:08 pm

USA’s “Global War on Terror” Following 9/11

Compiled by Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde, SLAF [retd]: “A global counter-terrorism military campaign initiated by the U.S. in 2001”  ……….. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_terror, https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/exhibit/on-the-front-lines-cia-in-afghanistan/, ChatGPT, and Google Images … [with only some photographs 

Introduction:  ……  The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism”” (GWOT), is a global counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks and is also the most recent global conflict spanning multiple wars. The main targets of the campaign were militant Islamist and Salafi jihadist armed organisations such as al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and their international affiliates, which were waging military insurgencies to overthrow governments of various Muslim-majority countries. Other major targets included the Ba’athist regime in Iraq, which was deposed during an invasion in 2003, and various militant factions that fought during the ensuing insurgency

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