Category Archives: power politics

“Europe in Danger” — Trump Eviscerated by French Senator

Verbatim Record of Claude Malhuret’s Speech in French Senate, March 2025 **

“President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, My dear colleagues,
Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened. Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service.

A box of Impeachmints,  …  related to his dealings with Ukraine.
On Thursday, 19 December 2019, in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Donald Trump caricature is seen on a trailer in Krakow, Poland on July 25, 2024. The figure, which was previously a theater prop, has been bought by local politician Lukasz Wantuch. Now he is planning to present it at Donald Trump’s campaign rallies…. Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

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The Kremlin’s Chef ….. Anti-Russian Western Parody

A Pix from Alan Benson received via Keith Bennett, 10 March 2025  …. maybe indicative of hardline Anti-Russian political fervour? …. what what!

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A Depressing Assessment of Sri Lanka’s Predicament About Six Years Back

THIS is an old essay that stayed buried in the Thuppahi system. It neverthless provides food for thought and serves as a testimony to its author (a brother of my friend the late Neville Jayaweera). Stanley too has since passed away …

 Sanjeewa Jayaweera

Most living in Sri Lanka feel like they have got into the boxing ring with Muhammad Ali. The ferocious punches thrown regularly are taking their toll, with most either on their knees or on the canvas. The final punch that will knock us out seems inevitable, but the question is when?

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Ranil’s Responses to Al-Jazeera’s Hostile Questions

Darshanie Ratnawalli 

 

 

 

 

So, have you read Ranil’s Al Jazeera interview?

Has anyone who is expressing an opinion on Ranil’s performance at his interview with Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan ingested the full content of this media circus? Even people like Himal Kotelawala (sympathetic to RW), Lakshan Wickrema (derisive of RW) and Crystal Koelmeyer (sympathetic to RW), whom I have so far read on this subject had not.

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Mehdi Hasan’s U-Tube Interview with Ranil Wickremasinghe

Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa, in Groundviews, …. https://groundviews.org/2025/03/07/sentiment-analysis-of-ranil-wickremesinghes-al-jazeera-interview-with-mehdi-hasan/

Renowned journalist Mehdi Hasan interviewed the former president Ranil Wickremesinghe on a programme of Head to Head, produced by Al Jazeera. The programme was released to YouTube and first broadcast on March 6.

At the time I studied 5,144 comments in response to it, the video had been watched over 218,620 times and liked over 8,000 times. Comments, views and likes are increasing at pace, which means that by the time this is read, the sentiments, trends and patterns analysed are not going to fully or accurately capture additional sentiment. What follows must be read as a study of the sentiments in the comments published at the time of writing this post.

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Full-Frontal: The Trump-Zelensky Spat …… Implications

Dr. Matthew Crosston  … article in Modern Diplomacy with the title reading: “Trump vs. Zelensky: Popping the Proxy War”  …. presented here wthout the accompanying photos [tech issues]

History will likely look back on the three-year anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war and note that it was the beginning of the end in real terms.

After the sensationalized public breakdown between Presidents Zelensky and Trump in the Oval Office, an off-the-rails meeting now witnessed and commented on endlessly the world over, it is difficult to imagine the conflict on the Eastern front of Ukraine is going to just continue on as before.

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China’s Growth Over the Centuries

Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde (Retd) …. with Memo to his Retiree Colleagues in the Sri Lankan Armed Services

Dear RAFOA member,  As I see, the way strategic matters are taking shape in our beloved Sri Lanka, the Chinese factor has come to stay in relation to the three aspects to be taken care for the progress of a nation-state i.e. political, economic and social development. Therefore, I strongly feel that we all need to have an idea of how China came to be a world power. Accordingly attached is a brief on Imperial China, the first of a series of eDocs compiled on China covering its journey from 221 BC to the present day.

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Chinese Fleet’s Impact on Sri Lanka in the Early 15th Century 

Charles Schokman’s Discovery of Amazing Facts conveyed in an Email entitled “A Bit of Ceylon History”

Amazing how they sailed with 30,000 sailors on 35 massive ships
In fact some ships were garden ships supplying food to the sailors!
In 2014, I had read that the Chinese had a map of  the East and West coasts of both North and South America dated about 80 years earlier than Columbus’s voyage, owned by Zheng He.

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A Searching Dissection of Ranil Wickremasinghe’s Political Career & Its Times

Avishka Mario Senewiratne, reviewing the book by Rajiva Wijesinghe that assesses Ranil Wickremasinghe’s recent political career

Last December, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha released a new book titled Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Emasculation of the United National Party. As the title suggests, the book tackles a contentious and provocative topic and may not be an easy read for everyone. Nevertheless, it presents a highly engaging and insightful narrative that warrants close attention.

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ACADEMIA’s Wide Outreach in Presentation of Academic Research

Academia.edu – Find Research Papers, Topics, Researchers …. https://www.academia.edu

Academia.edu is the platform to share, find, and explore 50 Million research papers. Join us to accelerate your research needs & academic interests.
David G Lewis, University of Exeter
My new book Occupation: Russian Rule in South-eastern Ukraine provides a comprehensive examination of Russia’s strategies to dominate occupied Ukrainian territories through violence, political manipulation, and economic pressure. It explores the harsh realities faced by those living under occupation and reflects on the broader implications for the ongoing conflict and European geopolitics.
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Occupation: Russian Rule in South-eastern Ukraine

by David G Lewis, 2025

 

Improving Forest-Based Livelihoods through Integrated Climate Change Adaptation Planning

by Pratima Shrestha

2014 • Crossing the Border: International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

John Braithwaite, The Australian National University

The Pluralism of Restorative Justice in Greater China: an Introduction

by John Braithwaite,  Asian Journal of Criminology

Johns Hopkins University

“The Serendipity of Anthropological Practice,” by Francisco Martínez

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Valentine Daniel Colombia University

Peirce, Pragmatism, and the Logic of Scripture,” by Peter W . Ochs, 1998

Ethnicity and Violence in Sri Lanka: An Ethnohistorical Narrative

By Premakumara de Silva, 2019, The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity

Abstract: The ethnicity and violence in Sri Lanka have many root causes and consequences that are closely interconnected. Given the nature and the complexity of root causes and consequences of these highly contested concepts, it should not be treated as a part of linear historical processes where one event led to another. Sri Lanka presents case of how intersecting not only ethnicity and violence but also religion, caste, class, linguistic, and cultural mosaics have been and might be billeted within the borders of a nation-state. However, state building in Sri Lanka has been riddled with paradoxes. The curious notion of numerically dominant ethnic group, Sinhala manifesting a “minority complex” or anxieties about minority groups, Tamil and Muslims, is evident in the rise of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism during the nineteenth and the twentieth century of the country. Since state building has often meant ……….

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