Category Archives: Rajapaksa regime

Sinhala Monarchical Imagery in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Past Political Pitch

Michael Roberts .… reproducing an article presented earlier in the COLOMBO TELEGRAPH in the year 2012…. an article bearing a different title: viz. Populism And Sinhala-Kingship in the Rajapaksa Regime’s Political Pitch” … an article that also appeared under a differeTn title in GROUNDVIEWS in January that year

On 4th December 2011 the Sunday Island carried a headline: “Mahinda ready to meet General Fonseka’s family over pardon” — with a picture alongside showing President Mahinda Rajapaksa seated in an armchair perusing an official document – a document in royal red and marked by a recognisable state seal. It is the juxtaposition of the headline and image that drew my interest. In my reading as an analyst attentive to indigenous cultural threads, this combination suggested several interrelated motifs, namely, that

  1. President Rajapaksa is the epitome of sovereign power, vested with the rights of clemency on high, just like Sinhalese kings of the past who could be supplicated by condemned subjects who crawled on their knees to the palace gates (mahāvāsala) and begged for pardon for their evil-doings or crimes;[i]
  2. President Rajapaksa is akin to a manorial lord of the past, a patrimonial figure who is readily accessible on his verandah to subordinate officials, tenants and other people seeking favours from this font of noblesse oblige;
  3. President Rajapaksa is a son of the soil, native to core. After all, what can be more native than a hansi putuva? He is, therefore, as personable as approachable.

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Canada’s Muddled Pro-Tamil & Pro-Tamil Tiger Policies Remain

 Padma Rao Sundarji, in Asian Age, 29 September 2023 where the title reads “Two-faced Canada is on a re-run of its LTTE policy”

https://www.asianage.com/opinion/columnists/280923/padma-rao-sundarji-two-faced-canada-is-on-a-re-run-of-its-ltte-policy.html

Is India guilty of assassinating a terrorist in Canada? At least to one of India’s neighbours, Ottawa’s accusation will come as a boring re-run of Ottawa’s inglorious policies, of which it has long been a victim.

For 30 years, one of the world’s bloodiest civil wars had raged in Sri Lanka. What began as a separatist movement in the north and east, quickly escalated into a full-blown armed conflict led by the terror group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Thousands of frightened Tamils sought asylum in the affluent countries of the West.

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Buddhist Shrines as Weapons of Political Intrusion in the Today

Editorial in Daily FT, 8 June 2023, which is entitled “Archaeology Department must act impartially in N & E” … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The past few months have seen several protests held in the North and East over the acquisition of land to construct new Buddhist shrines. It has been alleged that Buddhist monks aided by army personnel have been engaged in these questionable activities with the tacit approval of the Archaeology Department which have led to tensions among the local population and the military.

At a recent meeting with Archaeology Department officials, President Ranil Wickremesinghe weighed in on the issue and chided Department officials for taking money from Buddhist monks to carry out their work and reminded them that they do not work for a private firm but a Government institution that has to act according to the law.

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Continuing IMF-World Bank Machinations Impact on Sri Lanka

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

The Disinformation is ramping up in preparation for the IMF visit this month to review SL’s prograss on the required IMF asset sale of coastal and highland lands of the strategic island, to monitor and surveill the Indian Ocean trade and Submarine Data cable Routes. The IMF assets strip and sale of Sri Lanka targets the same sectors and assets that Washington’s MCC Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact program did – Energy, Telecom, Transport Infrastructure back in 2019.

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Rajapaksa Family targeted in The TIMES as Kingpins behind the 2019 “Easter Bombings”

Catherine Philp, in The AUSTRALIAN, 5 September 2023, where the title readsBritish Documentary links powerful Sri Lanka family to bombings” ... where the item is from The TIMES

Sri Lankan officials loyal to the Rajapaksa family were complicit in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people, including eight British tourists, whistleblowers have alleged.

Relatives carry the coffin of a bomb blast victim in a cemetery for burial in Negombo after the Easter Sunday bombings….  Picture: AFP.

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Sri Lanka’s Topsy-Turvy Economy in the Last Decade

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake*…. with her choice of title being Sri Lanka Back as Donor Darling Ignores the BRICS” and a sub-title that runs thusFrance’s Macron and the US Fish in the Indian Ocean …. presented here with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi 

Sri Lanka continues to swing wildly between being a ‘Donor Darling’ flooded with foreign ‘aid’ and ‘advisors’ on the one hand to a ‘bankrupt’ pariah or outcast on the other. Last year, the strategic Indian Ocean Island went from South Asia’s wealthiest nation with the best social and human development indicators to a beggar—humiliated and shunned by the ‘international community.’ This was after staging its first-ever Sovereign Default due to a Eurobond debt trap and purported lack of US dollars. The default triggered rapid rupee depreciation and instantly beggared citizens amid a distracting transnationally networked, remote-controlled ‘Aragalaya’ protest operation led by social media influencers. Ironically, there was a blockade on fuel shipments to the country amid the United States Marine’s ‘Sea Vision’ training program for the Sri Lanka Navy.

Newly formed Sri Lankan Marine Corps gets 241 years of experience in under a week. Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jacob L. – Photo: 2023  .

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Central SL Navy Role in the Defeat of the LTTE, 2007-09

Michael Roberts

In responding to an email note from the Trinitian MOHAN SAHAYAM re another Trinitian TRAVIS SINNIAH, I proceeded to search for my articles on the role of Commodores Wasantha Karannagoda and Travis Sinniah in identifying and sinking the LTTE’s (illegal?) merchant navy supply ships way out in the Indian Ocean and sinking them in 2007 (a central element in defeating the LTTE).

These are some of my chance FINDS.

 

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De Silva-Ranasinghe’s In-Depth Studies of the LTTE’s Downfall During Eelam War IV . A Bibliography

From Perth with Incisive Penetration: De Silva-Ranasinghe’s In-Depth Analysis of the LTTE’s Downfall During Eelam War IV …. A Bibliography

 

 

 

 

 

 

De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei 2009a “Political and Security Implications of Sri Lanka’s Armed Conflict,” Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter, Feb.  2009, Vol. 35/1, pp. 20, 22-24.

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USA’s Double Standards: A Payback Today for Sri Lanka’s Refusal to Kow-Tow in 2009

Item in the DAILY MIRROR, 28 April 2023… with this title “Designating Karannagoda; Russia hits back at US: Says West should not interfere in other countries affairs”

 The United States has designated former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda, for his alleged involvement in gross violations of human rights. The US State Department said that Karannagoda has been designated pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, due to his involvement in a gross violation of human rights during his tenure as a Naval Commander. As a result of today’s action, Karannagoda and his wife, Srimathi Ashoka Karannagoda, are ineligible for entry into the United States.

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Cricket & Galle in Rothman’s ‘Potted’ History of Sri Lanka

VIEW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNJyW-rdZPQ …. entitled The Modern Origins of Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict”

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