Category Archives: politIcal discourse

November 7, 2020 · 3:49 pm

WHO’s Mike Ryan slashes World Leaders

Ronan McGreevey, in Irish Times, November 2020, .…https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/covid-19-world-in-for-a-hell-of-a-ride-in-coming-months-dr-mike-ryan-says-1.4370626

Covid-19: World in ‘for a hell of a ride’ in coming months, Dr Mike Ryan says …  WHO official estimates that 750m people globally have likely had coronavirus to date

An estimated 750 million, or 10 per cent of the world’s population, have been infected by Covid-19, World Health Organisation (WHO) official Dr Mike Ryan has said. The Irish-born executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme said he was worried for the fate of the 90 per cent of people who have not had the disease.

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November 7, 2020 · 8:42 am

How Joe Biden’s Win will Impact on Sri Lanka

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 ?

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November 6, 2020 · 10:58 am

Allahu Akbar! Missing Dimensions in Contemporary Reportage

Michael Roberts

I recently watched a good part of Stephen Sackur’s dialogue with a French lady politician [whose name I have forgotten]. Sackur pursued his usual hard-line aggressive and bullying mode of questioning – posing vigorous criticisms of the French government’s position on secularism and its hostility to the carving out of sacred domains by French Muslim peoples.  The implicit suggestion[1] was that the British system’s tolerance of religious sensibilities was a better line of policy.[2]

Muslim protests … and the selfie proudly posted by the Islamic terrorist who was responsible for the killings in Nice in October 2020

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November 3, 2020 · 1:02 am

The Muslim Commitment to Allah: Desultory Thoughts

An Invitation. Your Thoughts from Michael Roberts  …. sent to SELECT PALS on 31 October 2020

I just caught parts of  THE HARD TALK grilling of a French lady politician [by Stephen Sackur]. One problem with journalism is its wholly presentist focus//limits. In my view the recent jihadist attacks in France cannot be comprehended without looking at the motivations and goals of, say

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November 2, 2020 · 8:36 am

Sri Lanka Now is Aligned ….. not Non-Aligned

Tamara Kunanayakam, in The Island, 2 November 2020, where the title runs thus: “US-Lanka military alliance in the wake of Pompeo visit”

Former Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva

Former Chairperson of UN Working Group on the Right to Development

In fact, a military alliance between the US and Sri Lanka already exists. By signing ACSA in 2007, and renewing it in 2017, Sri Lanka committed its strategic entry points – ports and airports, our armed forces, our military installations, food, oil, and spare parts, to the US for its war against China.

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October 29, 2020 · 2:12 am

Reading Pompeo’s Indo-Pacific Thrusts

FOR POMPEO

Charindra in Morning Star, 28 October 2020, entitled “China a Predator …”

Visiting US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo today (28) called China a “predator” and the US a friend of Sri Lanka. “We see from bad deals, violations of sovereignty, lawlessness on land and at sea that the Chinese Communist Party is a predator. The United States comes as a friend and a partner,” he said at a press conference held at the Foreign Ministry.

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October 28, 2020 · 3:41 am

Dissecting American Policy towards Sri Lanka

Chandre Dharmawardana

The Chapa Interview with US-military Professor Dr. Mendis:  US policy in Sri Lanka

Please listen to an interview of Dr. Mendis ((https://youtu.be/Lh4D4qGE854) which touches on US policy and Sri Lanka, and [dwell critically on the unsaid] between the words.  See how a  Sri Lankan young man straight out of a Polonnaruwa school system gets educated in the US via a scholarship to becomes a complete supporter of the “American Manifest Destiny” that he teaches to US soldiers.  US policies to lead the world  has only helped to enrich the elite classes of the US andimpoverish the rest. But Dr. Mendis  is very comfortable with US policy. It is unlikely that Dr. Noam Chomsky’s writings are part of his syllabus.

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October 27, 2020 · 7:48 am

Mike Pompeo laid Bare

George Koo & K J Noh in ASIA TIMES, 19 October 2020 … https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/pompeos-record-a-litany-of-failure/

Mike Pompeo, otherwise known as the international man of catastrophe, by wide acclaim, has earned a label as the worst secretary of state in the history of the United States, while appropriately enough serving under its worst president.

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October 25, 2020 · 2:28 pm

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 .

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October 22, 2020 · 9:52 am

The Economy: Potential Impact of 20A

Sam Samarasinghe aka SWR de Samarasinghe, in Daily Mirror, 20 October 2020, where the title reads “Socio-Economic Implications of the 20A”

  The draft 20th Amendment (20A) to the Constitution is being opposed by the main opposition parties and some segments of civil society and professional groups. The most politically significant opposition comes from some leaders of the Sangha who played a major role in the election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as President. They want a new constitution as the SLPP promised, but not the 20th Amendment. In general, the main criticism of 20A is that it would create an authoritarian Government run by the Executive President without the usual checks and balances that the three main branches of government, legislature, executive and judiciary have in a normal democracy. 

It is also public knowledge that some of the leading monks who back the SLPP and are critical of 20A are very close to premier Mahinda Rajapaksa

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