Simon Gully
Category Archives: power politics
The Three Amigos at the World’s Peak
Simon Gully
Filed under authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, disparagement, governance, human rights, landscape wondrous, life stories, military strategy, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
AKD: ‘Palm Leaves’ For Tamils & Jaffna
Rajan Philips in 7 September 2025, where the title runs thus: “Crowded agenda includes Cricket but no visit to Chemmani” … wth highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
The President goes to Jaffna! ... President Anura Kumara Dissanayake made yet another visit to Jaffna last week. With all good intentions, he may be on course to set a record for visiting Jaffna more times than all his predecessors combined. There is no Lyn Ludowyk among us to make a political satire of presidents going to Jaffna, reversing the time honoured old trope – “He Comes from Jaffna!”.
Foundation for Cricket Stadium
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, legal issues, life stories, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, Sri Lankan cricket, transport and communications, unusual people, world events & processes
Ramifications From Past Killings in Sri Lanka … Burgeoning Issues
Meera Srinivasan, in The Hindu 1 September 2025, where the title runs thus: “Decades Later A Difficult Story Finds Its Way to the Sinhala South” … with highlights being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi
Forensic experts has been unearthing human remains from a mass grave in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka. The number of skeletons retrieved has now crossed 200, including some of children.
The grave site and the mounting toll of human remains found in it dominate daily headlines in the country’s Tamil media, while receiving little attention in the country’s mainstream English and Sinhala media. In response to this gnawing gap, three young journalists decided they must tell the story to the majority community, Sinhala-speakers. Wasting no time, they pooled resources and made multiple reporting trips and conducted several interviews with locals and experts over the last few months to write Chemmani, a Sinhala-language book on the mass grave site in the locality, believed to contain the remains of Tamil civilians, and dating back to the mid-1990s, shortly after the Sri Lanka military captured Jaffna.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, ethnicity, historical interpretation, human rights, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, world events & processes
Mahbubani’s Insightful Reading of Today’s World Order
Watch https://youtu.be/0HsAtrd8bNE?
This is the lecture Australians should listen too, not the psychotic rubbish that the army of elite propaganda journalists publish each day in Australian newspapers and on TV. The lecture was given in Hong Kong. The speaker is the well known former Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani who examines the changes taking place in the world today, and the implications from it.
He says “geopolitics is the most cruel game in the world”. Being a nice country is not enough. You need to be shrewd and cunning if you are going to survive. He affirms that “we live in amazing times of amazing changes around the world, and that we have an obligation to keep up with the changes and learn how to adapt to it.”
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, democratic measures, economic processes, education, ethnicity, historical interpretation, modernity & modernization, Pacific Ocean issues, Pacific Ocean politics, politIcal discourse, power politics, transport and communications, world affairs, world events & processes
Ranil Wickremasinghe’s Arrest placed in Broad Context
Brigadier Ranjan de Silva, whose preferred title is “The Arrest of Ranil Wickremasinghe, Democracy and the Rule of Law ” … with highlights at end in black being those of the Author; while the other colours are impositions by Te Editor, Thuppahi
Upholding accountability: Democracy is often hailed as a system of government where the rule of law prevails over the rule of individuals. One of its most defining features is the principle that no one is above the law – not even the highest executive authority.
In recent decades, several democratic countries have demonstrated this commitment by arresting or prosecuting former heads of state for crimes ranging from corruption to abuse of power. These cases, while politically charged, underscore the resilience of democratic institutions and the importance of legal accountability.
AI Looms Over Our Future …. Look-Out!
ITEM in LUMEN, Adelaide University Magazine, September 2025 or so … no date specified clearly & bearing this title: “The Future and AI” …. Authorship unclear: maybe Carolyn Semmler, maybe Isaac Freeman
Whether we like it, or not, artificial intelligence is here to stay. The genie is out of the bottle. Its rapid evolution has been embraced by some, and met with raised eyebrows by others.
In our earlier issue of Lumen this year, we asked readers to describe their hopes and fears for the future. AI was an overwhelmingly present theme.
We shared some of these letters with academics from both the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia to help clarify and respond to concerns on four broad themes: impact on jobs; global security; wellbeing; and the potential for cognitive decline.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, australian media, centre-periphery relations, economic processes, education, education policy, governance, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, news fabrication, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
Transforming Gaza …… “The Great Trust”
Outback Aussie
The Great Trust is a 38-page document setting out plans to turn Gaza into a grand American Riveria by constructing over the bones and bodies of Palestinians — hotels, casinos, bordellos, condominiums, golf courses, and million-dollar seaside properties. America has no legal basis for taking control of Gaza but they want to do it anyway which is why the US and the West support the genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing, and if need be the extermination of all Palestinians in Gaza.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, arab regimes, australian media, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, demography, economic processes, ethnicity, Fascism, foreign policy, historical interpretation, human rights, Jews in Asia, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, Palestine, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, war crimes, world events & processes
A Candle for GAZA in Colombo……Supporting the SUMUD Flotilla
Message from Manel Fonseka
Join us to light a candle and say a prayer for the success of the Sumud Flotilla as they set sail to break the siege on Gaza.
Starting on August 31st, 150 ships will set sail with crew from more than 40 counties, in the biggest global effort to break Israel’s 18year siege of Gaza. As famine spreads in Gaza and Israel continues with complete impunity to murder, rape and starve the population of 2 million people living there, the people of the world are banding together to step up where international law has failed.
Join us this Sunday, 31st of August, at 4.30pm under the Nuga tree at the Chapel of Christ the Living Saviour on Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07, to light a candle and say a prayer for the success of the fleet, the safety of its crew, and the salvation of the people of Gaza from Israel’s unrelenting genocide.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, charitable outreach, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, democratic measures, disaster relief team, education, ethnicity, human rights, Jews in Asia, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, trauma, unusual people, war crimes, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes, zealotry
China and Lanka Today
Item in The Island, 22 August 2025, with this title: “China, SL promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation-Ambassador Zhenhong” .… with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Declaring that China and Sri Lanka share a time-honoured friendship, and the ancient Silk Road has long bound the two countries together, Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong has said they are now working hand in hand to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
The Chinese envoy said so at a reception held in Colombo to mark the 80th anniversary of their victory over Japan in WW Two..
Ambassador Qi Zhenhong said: “From the progress of the Hambantota Port to the rise of the Colombo Port City, and from infrastructure connectivity to the deepening of cultural exchanges, we are jointly writing a vivid chapter in the building of a China-Sri Lanka community with a shared future through concrete actions. This epic new chapter of cooperation is the most vibrant tribute to history, the most solid foundation for peace, and will surely paint an even brighter picture for the future of Sri Lanka.”
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, historical interpretation, island economy, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, sri lankan society, transport and communications, world events & processes
The Insidious Power-Brokers Aligned behind Israel in Today’s World
APOYI-APOYI
The title and the highlights in this presentation have been imposed by the Editor of Thuppahi –who receives The AUSTRALIAN and is aware of its heavy bias. Apoyi-Apoyi, incidentally, is a White man
SEE …. https://youtu.be/dpkD0uGAE90?Filed under accountability, anti-racism, arab regimes, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, Fascism, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, Palestine, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, religious nationalism, sri lankan society, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry
