Category Archives: psychological urges

February 3, 2017 · 7:57 am

Against Extremism: In Defence of 26th January Australia Day

Greg Sheridan, in The Australian, Thursday, 2 February 2017, where the title is “If Australia day is Illegitimate, so are We” … and visit http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/greg-sheridan/if-australia-day-is-illegitimate-so-are-we/news-story/eded818b24fa646b643829177fb1c6fa …..where there already are 155 comments

a-oz-day-22 a-oz-day-33Australia should celebrate Australia Day on January 26 because it is right to do so. It is the day modern institutions, in our case British institutions, entered Australian life. They have brought with them the entire institutional and indeed ethical framework of modern Australia. They brought the rule of law, individual human rights, independent courts, free media, multiple centres of power in government.

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December 13, 2016 · 2:57 am

Accidental SAS Kills and the Remorse of Andrew Hastie

Ellen Whinnett, in The Weekend Advertiser, 10 December 2016, …see & listen to http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-features/in-depth/the-untold-story-of-andrew-hasties-tragic-sas-mission-in-afghanistan/news-story/4711aefcf3e78930daa27b9030d9617c

The then 30-year-old was a captain with the SAS and, as troop commander, had called the Apache helicopters to take out two Taliban members loitering with a pair of donkeys about 1200m away. The Australians had intercepted communications from the pair organising an attack on the Black Hawk helicopters due to pick up this group of seven Aussie soldiers, who were visiting a remote police post in Taliban territory.Across the valley, two other figures with donkeys were gathering firewood, but Hastie didn’t pay them much attention. They were clearly civilians, and were hundreds of metres away from both the police post and the Taliban pair.

ANDREW HASTIE: WHY I HAVE SPOKEN ABOUT TRAGIC SAS MISSION

Liberal MP and former SAS captain Andrew Hastie has spoken out about his experiences in Afghanistan

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October 3, 2016 · 3:05 pm

Extremisms in Lanka and Worldwide

Rajan Philips,  courtesy of The Island, 1 October 2016, where the title is “With the West sneezing extremism, can Sri Lanka and others avoid catching cold?” .… Emphasis vvia highlighting is from The Editor,Thuppahi.

FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2013 file photo, Donald Trump appears on the "Fox & friends" television program in New York. Trump on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014 told a group of New Jersey Republicans he expects New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to make it through the scandals that are plaguing his administration. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

demos-jp

One would have thought that the old wisecrack needs to be reversed. The West may not be just sneezing, but has already got the cold, even worse, a bad fever of extremism. And that the worry would be if others can avoid the infection. Not so fast, says the wag, as there is quite a bit of Sri Lankan and South Asian sneezing and coughing going around, and we don’t need infection from the West to make matters worse. Jaffna’s Chief Protestor has signalled his periodical awakening from his chronic administrative sleep with the new “EzhugaThamizh” (linguists use ‘zh’ instead of ‘l’ for a unique Dravidian letter and sound) slogan. “Pongu” relates to the liquid state of matter, Ezhuga could be Freudian. Southern Chief Ministers are weighing in, or rising up, and the SLFP’s two-timing (between Mahinda and Maithri) Nimal Siripala seized on the sneeze from Jaffna to bark out a cough of his own on the inviolability of being unitary. Continue reading →

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September 3, 2016 · 2:54 pm

The Missing in Lanka: An Old Bibliography … Further Supplemented

The passage of the Office of Missing Persons Bill in the Sri Lankan Parliament and the highlighting of this issue in Groundviews makes it imperative for serious analysts to scour the literature and take note of the problems in pursuing the topic in circumstances beset with continuing propaganda associated with a deadly war where agit-prop tactics were central to the activities of all sides. The “sides” include liberals, radicals and humanists whose ideological commitments sometimes clouded judgment and ability to assess ground realities.

No one is free of subjectivity. So all subjectivities and readings have to be put to the test. This includes the claims — whether related quietly or histrionically — by grieving relatives. Their power of conviction and force of telling — just study some of the pictures — does not gaurantee truth of tale. They could have been misled or been primed by agit-prop stories that have been imbibed, absorbed and are now, today, retailed powerfully and with truth effect. The point here is that GRIEF can distort interpretation and that sympathetic hearts can be misled. A clinical approach must adhere to pragmatism in due measure.

disappearances --Pic WSWS 04-alternative2013-01-30 19.34.38 ++ Continue reading →

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August 24, 2016 · 11:40 am

Featuring Neena Gopal: Hitting the Headlines with her Revelations on the Background of the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination

NEENA GOPAN  In 1991, she was the last Indian journalist to interview Rajiv Gandhi and a few metres away from him when a female LTTE suicide bomber blew herself up and killed the former Indian Prime Minister. Twenty-five years later, Neena Gopal, the then young journalist, returns to the picture to tell a bigger story in her new book “The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi”, unearthing, among other matters, the role India’s intelligence arm, the Research and Analysis Wing, played in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict that dragged on for three decades. The Sunday Times today carries extracts from the book. Continue reading →

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July 16, 2016 · 2:54 am

The Seductiveness of Indian Women: Cricketing Stars in Love

Sudatta Mukherjee, writing about “SEVEN  foreign cricketers who married Indian women” …http://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/7-foreign-cricketers-who-married-indian-women-149507

ckting stars

tait plusAustralian speedster Shaun Tait tied the knot to Indian model Mashoom Singha on June 12, after a four-year courtship.  Continue reading →

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June 30, 2016 · 10:33 am

Britain in the World Today: Two Lankans in Revealing Joust

Ivan Amarasinghe and Chandre Dharmawardana are Sri Lankan scientists who have chosen to live as migrants abroad. They participate in a lively chain email network which has been debating several political issues, including Brexit. The specific argie-bargie presented below [without their permission per se] certainly enlightened me.  I am  persuaded that it will promote thinking and debate. I encourage dinky-die Brits … well even dinky-die Aussies …. to comment on the issues raised here. Michael Roberts

Ivan Amarasinghe in UK about UK, 28 June 2016

What has been perceived as the arrogance and dictatorial attitudes of the EU Czars was the main cause for the British Exit (Brexit) from the EU. It is the very same attitude by these EU Czars towards countries like Sri Lanka. http://colombogazette.com/2016/06/29/eu-calls-for-international-participation-in-accountability-process/ Continue reading →

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April 28, 2016 · 8:45 am

Wallowing in Victimhood? Irish and Tamils Abroad

Padraig Colman at https://pcolman.wordpress.com/2016/04/28/mope-a-tale-of-two-diasporas/ where the title is “MOPE – a Tale of Two Diasporas”

Padraig-Colman-Colombo-Telegraph-150x150Four years ago, I posted a lengthy article on Groundviews which was prompted by a statement in May 2011 by MDMK chief Vaiko in Tamil Nadu. He said that the war for Eelam was not over; Prabhakaran was not dead and would emerge from hiding at the right time. According to Victor Rajakulendran, the LTTE remained a shining example, a “good history,” for all Sri Lankan Tamils to follow. For a very small number of Irish people the leaders of the Easter 1916 Rising remain a shining example. In her new book, The Seven, about the seven members of the Military Council who made the decision to rebel in Dublin, Irish historian Ruth Dudley Edwards, concludes: “By courting death for a cause that had no popular support, were the Seven different to Bobby Sands and his comrades who committed suicide by starvation? Or from the jihadis who these days joyously sacrifice themselves in suicide bombings? They shared a sense of their own absolute moral superiority as well as an ambition to achieve some kind of immortality”. Continue reading →

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April 20, 2016 · 9:44 am

Religious Diversity in Colombo’s Melting Pot

Ronan O’Connell, courtesy of The West Australian where the title is “Melting pot of beliefs in Colombo” … also in Daily News = http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=2016/04/19/features/79162

In the middle of a Colombo street, four shirtless men are beating drums as a rush of people surge past them. Clutching a long wooden stick, its tip ablaze, an elderly man sways to the percussive beat, his eyes shut and his head tilted to the heavens. As he balls one hand into a fist and raises it to the sky, the worshipper releases a deep bellow, then lowers his head, opens his eyes and takes off dancing through the dense crowd. He disappears beyond a coloured chariot which is slowly making its way down the street, parting the crush of people.

An Aadi Vel Festival parade outside the Kathiresan Kovil Hindu temple-Ronan O’ConnellAn Aadi Vel Festival parade outside the Kathiresan Kovil Hindu temple

Aadi Vel is being celebrated in the Sri Lankan city and a street parade is taking place outside Kathiresan Kovil, a beautiful Hindu temple which has a dimly lit interior embellished by brightly coloured flags. This temple, dedicated to the war god Murugan, was built in the mid-19th century following an influx of immigrants from southern India. Continue reading →

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April 9, 2016 · 10:06 am

Topless: Devastating! Striking! Alluring! et cetera et cetera

Bombing Mission Devastating Jihadist?

SERENA UNBAREDStriking BOLD! 

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