Category Archives: politIcal discourse

March 1, 2023 · 12:00 pm

Hot Hot Cricket News from Sri Lanka

Victor Melder’s COMPILATION, end of February 2023

The Department of Sports Development (DSD) has decided to call for nominations through a newspaper advertisement for the 2023 Sri Lanka Cricket Selection Committee. This followed a high-level discussion led by Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe with the participation of officials of the National Sports Council and the National Sports Selection Committee (NSSC) on Monday.  The newspaper notice inviting nominations to the Cricket Selection Committee will be published in the next few days, Amal Edirisooriya, Director General of DSD told the ‘Daily Mirror’.

Since there are issues with regard to cricket selections, NSSC Chairman General Shavendra Silva and NSSC member Sanath Jayasuriya said that henceforth there should be transparency in the appointment of the Cricket Selection Committee.  Under the previous system, the executive committee nominated 10 names to the Sports Minister out of which five or seven members were appointed to the selection committee. In future, anyone who has played cricket can apply to be a member of the Cricket Selection Committee.  Under the existing system, since members to selection committee were appointed on the basis of being friends with executive committee members, it has been brought to the notice of the Sports Ministry that there was no transparency when it came to national team selections.  Although the DSD has called for nominations, the interviews will be conducted by a special committee chaired by the Chairman of the NSSC, DSD Director General Amal Edirisuriya added. Starting with cricket, the Ministry of Sports hopes to implement this system for other sports as well. (Daily Mirror. 1.2.2023).

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March 1, 2023 · 12:38 am

Encirclement in Religious Practice & Deadly War Strike

Michael Roberts, inspired by interaction & dialogue with Douglas Farrer of the National University of Singapore in the years 2009 to 2014**

VISIT 2012 “Encompassing Empowerment in Ritual, War & Assassination: Tantric Principles in Tamil Tiger Instrumentalities,” in Social Analysis, sp. issue on War Magic ed. by D. S. Farrer, 2014 ……………………………… https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/social-analysis/58/1/sa580105.xml

a groom ties the THALI round the bride’s neck…. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/862931978596501453/

ABSTRACT: This study highlights the Tantric threads within the transcendental religions of Asia that reveal the commanding role of encirclement as a mystical force. The cyanide capsule (kuppi) around the neck of every Tamil Tiger fighter was not only a tool of instrumental rationality as a binding force, but also a modality similar to a thāli (marriage bond necklace) and to participation in a velvi (religious animal sacrifice). It was thus embedded within Tamil cultural practice. Alongside the LTTE’s politics of homage to its māvīrar (dead heroes), the kuppi sits beside numerous incidents in LTTE acts of mobilization or military actions where key functionaries approached deities in thanks or in preparation for the kill. These practices highlight the inventive potential of liminal moments/spaces. We see this as modernized ‘war magic’—a hybrid re-enchantment energizing a specific religious worldview.

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February 27, 2023 · 1:41 pm

China’s Quasi-predatory Lending to Sri Lanka

Muttukrishna Sarvanandan,** whose preferred title reads thus: “Chinese Lending to Sri Lanka: A Factual cum “Reality” Check. A Rejoinder to Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala”

Abstract:  This is a response to the Briefing Paper entitled Evolution of Chinese Lending to Sri Lanka since the mid-2000s – Separating Myth from Reality, written by Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala published by the China-Africa Research Initiative of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the John Hopkins University, USA. This response identifies a few factual errors (both quantitative and qualitative) and provides alternative data, and contests the interpretations of the data and conclusion drawn therefrom by Moramudali and Panduwawala by providing concrete examples to the contrary. We characterise Chinese lending to Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2022 as quasi-predatory lending, having defined the characteristics of predatory lending………….Keywords – China, Hambantota Port, Predatory Lending, Sovereign Default, Sri Lanka

Introduction: This is a response to a Briefing Paper (No.8 dated November 2022) written by Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala entitled Evolution of Chinese Lending to Sri Lanka since the mid-2000s – Separating Myth from Reality published by the China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the John Hopkins University (JHU) in the United States of America (USA).

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February 26, 2023 · 8:30 pm

The Economic Sinking of Island Lanka: The IMF-US Monsters

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, whose preferred title is “Alternatives to the IMF and the future of the Welfare State: Beyond the blame game between Superpowers”

The economic proxy war between the rising and fading Superpowers is escalating and expanding in the “Asian 21st Century.’ This was apparent in an (un)diplomatic exchange between Chinese and United States officials over the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) debt restructuring delays in Sri Lanka which was the venue of the recent CARAT/MAREX war games. These happened in the run up to the country’s February 4 commemoration of 75 years of ‘Lost Independence, Democracy and economic sovereignty’ as a commentator put it.

 

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February 26, 2023 · 1:24 pm

Understanding the Kamikaze Attacks in World War Two

Kostas Sapardanis, at http://sapardanis.org/2016/05/20/kamikaze-who-they-were-why-they-died/       on 20 May 2016, where the title runs thus “Kamikaze – Who they were, why they died” ... item sent to me by retd Brig Hiran Halangode 

“Every time one country gets something, another soon has it. One country gets radar, but soon all have it. One gets a new type of engine or plane, then another gets it. But the Japs have got the kamikaze boys, and nobody else is going to get that, because nobody else is built that way.” …. John Thach

Near the end of 1944, almost 10 months before the end of the 2nd World War, the Japanese had already realized that their military effort would lead them to defeat. Their weapons and armaments were short, the stock of soldiers was dramatically decreasing and morality was low. Their precious bombs, other than being too few, were missing their targets and their pilots could not contest the Americans. So, in a desperate last effort to revive the army, the Kamikaze Special Attack Unit was formed. The aim was to obstruct enemy planes from taking off from aircraft carriers. The conversion of pilots themselves into bombs would surely mean the decrease of the failed bomb attacks.

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February 26, 2023 · 12:34 am

Sacrificial Devotion in Comparative Perspective

A Short Essay in the Library of Social Science, presented at ………………………………………………. https://www.libraryofsocialscience.com/newsletter/posts/2015/2015-04-03-Roberts-2.html with this NOTE  “Part II of Michael Roberts’ Review Essay of Nations Have the Right to Kill”
To read the entire essay on our website, click here.

Michael Roberts

The LTTE emerged as an underground militant organization in May 1976. Though sustaining strong informal links with the Tamil United Liberation Front, the parliamentary party committed to independence, the youth who led the LTTE believed that a revolutionary path was the only route available to their peoples.

The pogrom directed against Tamil people living in the south central parts of Sri Lanka in July 1983 resulted in a huge expansion of its personnel. It was around this stage that Pirapāharan decreed that all fighters should carry a cyanide capsule—a kuppi as they call it in Tamil—so that they could “bite it” when imminent danger of capture was looming.

LTTE soldiers in camp seen with the kuppi round their necks (photo by Shyam Tekwani) 

 Female recruits receive the kuppi at a passing out ceremony  

 

 

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February 25, 2023 · 9:26 am

Life As A Weapon: Tamil Tigers and Jihadists

Michael Roberts:  A recent invitation to present a Zoom Lecture from Dr. Geethika Dharmasinghe of Colgate University in USA found me stumbling upon one of my unpublished Notes from yesteryear: a “Note” which seems worthy of resuscitation for public consumption now with suitable illustrations added.

Young LTTE recruits receive their kuppi (cyanide capsule) as final award at a passing out ceremony filmed by the BBC in Jaffna in 1991 …. One of the LTTE officers at this ceremony was the Australian Adele Balasingham, who told he BBC team that “the cyanide capsule has come to symbolise a sense of self-sacrifice by cadres of the movement, their determination, their commitment to the cause and, ultimately, of course, their courage.”

Apropos of the misleading interpretations of suicide attacks by Western commentators such as the political scientist, Robert Pape, it is important to note that the act of suicide was initially adopted by the LTTE as a defensive tool to protect the organisation from the leaking of information after capture. It was also a mark of their dedication to the Tamil liberation cause and thus a method of drawing popular admiration. It was not till 5 July 1987 that it was deployed as a low cost precision weapon when Miller (a nom de guerre) drove a truck bomb into an SL Army encampment at Nelliyadi. This was but one instance of uyirayutham — life as weapon.

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February 22, 2023 · 7:20 pm

Modi in America’s Gunsights NOW

F. William Engdahl, in Global Research, 20 February 2023 where the title reads thus: “Washington is Out to topple India’s Modi”

One of the most critical economic partners of Russia amid the unprecedented Western economic sanctions from Washington and the EU over the Ukraine war has been the Indian government of BJP leader Narendra Modi.

In the past several years Modi, playing a delicate balancing act between alliances with Russia and also with the West, has emerged as a vital trade partner of Russia amid the sanctions. Despite repeated efforts by Biden Administration and UK officials, Modi has refused to join sanctions against Russian trade, above all oil trade. Now a series of suspiciously-timed and targeted events suggest that there is an Anglo-American destabilization being launched to topple Modi in the coming months.

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February 16, 2023 · 8:18 pm

Vale: Anthony Anghie of Royal College and Many Turbulent Events

Gamini Seneviratne, in The Island, 4 October 2022, where the title is simple: “Anthony Anghie”

When our lot entered Royal College over 70 years ago, Tony was yet there at a distant remove as Head Prefect and, at closer quarters, muddied, on the rugger field. He was also visible commanding the cadet battalions. His brothers, Trevor the place-kicker and Maurice the wizard scorer over the line eclipsed him at rugger but in and around the school he was instantly placed as its leader. Trevor took to medicine and migrated to Oz via Diyatalawa; I last met Maurice in Perth, Oz: he was on the water wagon. Their father was an iconic character too, making the Hostel a place that provided such comfort as schoolboys had a right to expect.

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February 15, 2023 · 11:21 pm

Sri Lanka Today as “Paradise” in Pieces …. Deeply Decimated

 Capt. Elmo Jayawardena, in The Island, early February 2023, where the title runs thus: “75 Years – What have they done? It is a paradise misplaced”

Our island was called Lanka in pre-King Vijaya times. Valmiki’s immortal Ramayanaya had King Ravana ruling the land from the city of Lankapura. That was almost four thousand years ago. The Arab traders termed it Jaziratul-Yaqut, island of rubies. Some called it Serendib, some Ceilan, from which the Portuguese picked Ceilao and the European mapmakers coined Ceylon. Many were the names from the many that came. Bar none, everyone agreed and noted in their chronicles that this Island was indeed the complete Paradise.

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