Kalani Kumarasinghe, in Daily Mirror, 8 March 2024 ……. where the headline runs; “Shavendra and Kamal villains in GR’s new book”
Rajapaksa recounts the dramatic circumstances which led to his ousting in 2022, describing it as a first-hand experience of an internationally-sponsored regime change operation. Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, legal issues, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, taking the piss, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, world events & processes
Shamindra Ferdinando, in The Island, 28 February 2024 where the title runs thus: “National Elections: Ex-military Factor”... with highighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
With the presidential election scheduled for later this year, political parties represented in Parliament have stepped up efforts to forge alliances.
Ex-military personnel at a rally organized by the JVP last year (pic courtesy JVP)
In terms of the Constitution, presidential elections will have to be conducted between Sept 18 and Oct 18, 2024. The last presidential election was held in Nov 2019.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, counter-insurgency, disparagement, doctoring evidence, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Brian Victoria* … in Informed Comment … https://www.juancole.com/2024/02/judaism-tribalism-universalism.html…. where the title read thus: “The Battle for the Soul of Judaism: Tribalism, Amalek and the Axial Age Universalism of Isaiah”
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, anti-racism, asylum-seekers, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, ethnicity, European history, Fascism, historical interpretation, Jews in Asia, jihadists, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, meditations, Middle Eastern Politics, military strategy, nationalism, Palestine, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, security, self-reflexivity, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, Ukraine & Its Ramifications, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, World War Three?, zealotry
The Carpet Sweeper
Sad! The death of a political prisoner in a Russian jail. A familied man who chose to fight for what he believed in from within Russia. A dangerous move in Russia since the state leadership carries pathological traits shaped from past experiences of massive loss of life due to wars (civil and external), brutal dictatorships, and perceived national security threats from within and outside.
This LISTING of Israeli War Crimes in Palestine by Yanis Varafoukis — clearly Greek in identity — was sent to me by Manel Fonseka in Colombo.
War crimes – Grave breaches of the Wilful killings of the 1949 Geneva Conventions
Filed under accountability, arab regimes, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, ethnicity, Fascism, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, Middle Eastern Politics, military strategy, Palestine, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, psychological urges, racist thinking, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, world events & processes, zealotry
Courtesy of Keith Bennett et al in Melbourne ….
The title is my choice and let meindicate that I am old-fashioned and prefer the olde expressions of pageantr y and performance that engage human beings in performance, coordination and togetherness and endeavour.
The mediums here are technological artifice: as cold as potentially dangerous when converted into warfare.
Timur Fomenko in rtcom.news, 15 January 2024, where the title reads as “How a tiny tourist paradise has become a political flashpoint between India and China” ….. with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi and pertinents Thoughts sent by “Skindiver” who sent this reference to Thuppahi.
The Maldives, with its new anti-New Delhi, pro-Beijing president, is set to become an inconvenient neighbor.
The Maldives is an archipelago nation just south of India. With a population of just half a million people, the islands may seem inconsequential, and the small republic is mostly known as a paradise getaway for tourists.
Maldives’ President Mohamed Muizzu (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, January 10, 2024 © STR / CNS / AFP
Despite this, the nation is, in fact, a stage for a political flashpoint between China, India and the West, having recently elected a new president, Mohamed Muizzu, who is actively pro-Beijing and openly antagonistic to New Delhi, so much that Indians are now threatening a tourism boycott of the country. Muizzu has just visited China, where he inked a series of agreements with Xi Jinping, particularly in the area of infrastructure.
Filed under authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, UN reports, world events & processes, World War Three?
Michael Roberts and Arthur Saniotis, … reproducing the editorial introduction to a collection of essays devoted to the topic identified in the title pesented within Social Analysis, Volume 50, Issue 1, Spring 2006, 7–24 © Berghahn Journals ... with highlighting emphasis imposed in this version by Michael Roberts
Facing death with equanimity and with a honed, trained body is an expression of sheer power.[1] When a group of like-minded individuals confronts an opposi- tional force with equal mental and bodily capacities, whether on a sports field or in a warring conflict, the result is power compounded. Each article in this special section ‘confronts’ such powers. Together they explore several regionally specific projects in Asia in which dying for a cause is seen as a virtue.
There are several parts of Asia where social practices and cultural traditions have consciously nourished bodily empowerment. In these select yet dynamic traditions, mind and body are conceived as a unity. Attentiveness to cosmic powers is an integral aspect of disciplined ascetic practices that seek to har- ness bodily energy in maximal ways. These practices confront death. They are directed toward transcending the fear of death—and death itself. When they are inserted into a moment of violent conflict involving interpersonal combat, they encourage a steely, terrifying fearlessness as well as deadly striking power.
Filed under accountability, Al Qaeda, american imperialism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, Fascism, female empowerment, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, immolation, Indian traditions, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, jihadists, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, patriotism, photography, politIcal discourse, racism, racist thinking, security, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, violence of language, war crimes, world events & processes, zealotry
thuppahi
