Category Archives: Presidential elections

Passionate Praise of the Armed Forces Triumph in 2009 in New Zealand

Chula Rajapaksa’s Impassioned Dedication to the Ranaviru: New Zealand Internet Live Streaming 6.30pm NZ Time ….. Ranaviru Commomeration 19/5/20 ……   https://www.facebook.com/srilankans.nz

Thank you for affording me the privilege of being able to reinforce for the 11th  consecutive year, our  deep debt of gratitude to the Ranaviru for having liberated Sri Lanka from three decades of Tiger terror and even more for the life and limb that some lost in the process.

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John Richardson’s Case Study of Protracted Conflict in 2005

David Sallach, reviewing John Richardson: Paradise Poisoned: Learning about Conflict, Terrorism and Development from Sri Lanka’s Civil Wars. Kandy: International Center for Ethnic Studies, 2005. xvi + 764 pp. $25.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-955-580-094-5…. way back in 2007 …. https://networks.h-net.org/node/3180/reviews/6309/sallach-richardson-paradise-poisoned-learning-about-conflict-terrorism

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Inform Lanka on Repression of Dissent in Sri Lanka. Before and after Elections in 2019

Repression of Dissent in Sri Lanka [July-December 2019]

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Gota’s Assets placed in the Present Political Context

H. L. D. Mahindapala, in Colombo Telegraph, January 2020, where the title is

Any critical assessment of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa must take into consideration the salient characteristics that make him stand out from the run-of-the-mill politicians who had occupied the peaks of power.

The first notable characteristic is that he is the first head of state to come from the Sri Lankan diaspora. Initially it was a disadvantage tangled in legalities of citizenship. Later it smoothened out and has been an invaluable asset to him. His existential experiences as an expat in America had widened his horizons and opened up new vistas in his thinking and strategizing. He has acted so far as a leader who had seen the future and is bent on taking the nation in that direction. It has all the signs of being influenced by the American efficiency in delivering goods and services. The new breed of intellectuals he had recruited to run his state indicates clearly that he is in a hurry to modernise the sluggish nation and usher it into the 21st century. His first-hand knowledge of an advanced nation would hasten him to mix tradition with modernity without deracinating the nation – a critical issue in modernising Afro-Asian countries.

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Sampanthan’s Devious Reasoning and Twisted Historical Review

Rajeewa Jayweera, in Island, 18 January 2020, where the title runs President’s policy statement and Sampanthan’s amnesia” … with underlining emphasis being i positions by The Editor, Thuppahi

During the two-day adjournment debate on the policy statement delivered by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R Sampanthan’s outburst had more holes than a target sheet in a firing range (and Swiss Ambassador Hanspeter Mock’s charge of the abduction, molestation, and interrogation by unknown persons of embassy minor employee Garnier Banister Francis aka Sriyalatha Perera).

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Sri Lanka as a Potential Argentinian Case?

Arvind Subramanian, in Project Syndicate  on 19 November 2019 [check?] at https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sri-lanka-economic-instability-argentina-by-arvind-subramanian-2019-11where the title is Is Sri Lanka the Next Argentina?”

As Sri Lanka makes another crucial political transition, it faces a major risk of macroeconomic instability. Minimizing that risk will depend, above all, on whether the country’s newly elected president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, can defy his reputation and embrace inclusive politics.

Lady Justice reading a book

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Boris and Gota: Where the “Progressives” were Out-of-Mind

Malinda Seneviratne, in his Blog where the title runs thus: “The flooring of ideologies and ideologues”

Labour gaining ground. One in ten still undecided. Jeremy Corbyn is much closer to becoming Prime Minister than voters think, according to a Conservative party memo. Hung parliament will see Boris Johnson removed from No 10 Downing Street. Labour minority government likely. Opinion polls tightening — Corbyn might just become Prime Minister.

These were headlined claims in the run up to the British Parliamentary Elections.

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A Focus on Taylor Dibbert: Fair Dinkum’s Running Commentary

 Fair Dinkum,[1] an Aussie Academic with Far Eastern Connections, serves up a Set of Reflections on Dibbert’s Recent Essays

A = Taylor Dibbert maybe a freelance writer but I am sure he is selected because of the perspective he takes. As usual, everything portrays SL’s future as bleak and degenerate.

B = Freelance gives impression of independent writer, but the question is on what criteria do the Lowry Institute accept writings for their website. As a think-tank, the writings they publish are notable for being excessively right-wing, rather than a forum for balanced meaningful intellectual debate and so it should not be regarded as an academic institution.  This “freelance” writer fits perfectly into their political agenda.

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Deep Throats behind Blackening Campaigns: The Chinese Dragon and Gotabaya

Michael Roberts

A few days back I circulated the three recent THUPPAHI articles on China (see below) to a number of my friends and collective groups with this note:

  • “I attach three items on China in the international order today –vital reading for all personnel concerned with Sri Lanka’s relationships with the various forces engaged in the Indian Ocean.
  • Sometime back an Aussie friend who speaks Chinese told me

A = that the overwhelming body of Aussie writing on China is ideologically driven;

B= that this corpus of writing depends at times on leaks from “govt sources” which he believes emanate from a secret backroom body of boffins;

C = … with the intent of painting China as a demonic force and potential threat.

 Alexei Talimonov cartoons …..https://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/China%20Dragon_19987

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Jayaweera’s Electoral Voting Breakdown by District

Rajeewa Jayaweera

http://sltravelerguide.blogspot.com/p/sri-lanka-district.html

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