John Mearsheimer’s You-Tube presentation today in late March 2022 = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6mw9U62ZJU
NATO’s expansion into Ukraine from 2006 seen as an existential threat to Russia — in the Russian Perspective
NATO’s expansion into Ukraine from 2006 seen as an existential threat to Russia — in the Russian Perspective
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, disparagement, economic processes, European history, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Russian history, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes
Cafe Spectator’s Thoughts in Sunday Times, 20 March 2022
Considering the current Ukraine crisis, a historical anecdote on Sri Lanka–then Ceylon–between former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and former Indian Ambassador to Russia Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who later became India’s second President, is making the rounds in diplomatic circles these days.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, demography, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, meditations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Russian history, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, world events & processes
Michael Patrick O’Leary …. The PADRAIG, in Ceylon Today, …. whose chosen title = “Putin’s Bloody Past” …. Part One”
From 2007 to 2013, Catherine Belton was the Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times. She currently works as an investigative correspondent for Reuters, based in London. In her book Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West, she gives a good insight into the character of Putin as he rose to power.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, military expenditure, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Russian history, security, self-reflexivity, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes
Ivan Timofeev of the Valdai Club, deploying this title “Russia now has just three options left on Ukraine” … with highlighting imposed by Thuppahi
With Washington rejecting many of Moscow’s security concerns, the prospect of escalation is rising. The US has handed Russia a written response to its proposed security guarantees. While Washington refuses to accept Moscow’s demands for a legally binding pledge that NATO will not expand further towards its borders, it has indicated it is ready to discuss certain issues, including arms control and strategic stability.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, asylum-seekers, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, conspiracies, disparagement, economic processes, energy resources, ethnicity, European history, foreign policy, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, legal issues, life stories, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, refugees, Russian history, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes
Padraig Colman, … at https://pcolman.wordpress.com/2022/03/02/ukraine-part-one/
Apparently the invasion of Ukraine is a defensive measure. It beggars belief to even contemplate Ukraine as a genocidal terrorist state and Russia as a liberal human rights defender.
Little Victims
Many years ago, I set out to write a short poem about my father on the Normandy beaches on D-Day. It developed into a longer meditation on the malignant forces of ideologies and systems of terror that crush common people and sweep them away. The great tides of history, of isms and empires, buffet little people, maim them, kill them, uproot them and inflict damage that lasts for years or generations. I noted that all over the globe vicious wars, disintegrating nations and dying empires still today produce a flotsam of refugees. Great men discount little people. On the TV, I see ordinary Ukrainians in drab winter clothes calmly queuing at the supermarket. Most are masked against Covid but they wave at the camera. What are these people being punished for?
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, disparagement, economic processes, European history, historical interpretation, human rights, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, Russian history, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, war reportage, world events & processes
Jane Russell, in an essay dedicated to Shirlene de Silva who introduced her to the Mandelstam’s writings …. an essay writen on 1 March 2022 with the title “Ukraine and its place in 20th century Russian literature: Osip and Nadezhda Mandelstam”
Osip Emilievich Mandelstam, the genius Russian-Jewish poet murdered by Stalin, met his Jewish wife, Nadezhda Yakovlevna, in a nightclub in Kyiv when both were in their twenties. It was 1919, the second year of the Soviet revolution, which was finally getting going after the 1st World War.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, Fascism, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, human rights, legal issues, life stories, martyrdom, politIcal discourse, power politics, Russian history, self-reflexivity, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, world events & processes
This frightening set of revelations has just been sent to THUPPAHI by MYRNA SETUNGA** in Colombo ….
How come the “liberal” western media does not give coverage to views like this? Is Fox News against the Military Industrial Complex?
Filed under authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, military strategy, Paranagama Report, politIcal discourse, power politics, Russian history, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, Uncategorized, war reportage, world events & processes
Tony Donaldson, …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
In 1926, the Russian poet, singer, composer, and cabaret artist Alexander Vertinsky recorded the song Dorogoi dlinnoyu (Дорогой длинною) which may be rendered as “Along a winding road” or “By the long road.” Vertinsky was born in the Ukraine in 1889 and died in St. Petersburg in 1957.
Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, China and Chinese influences, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, Russian history, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

