Absorb …
ASHA DE VOS
Nationality: Sri Lankan…. Education: University of St. Andrews, University of Oxford, University of Western Australia…
Asha de Vos is a Sri Lankan marine biologist, ocean educator and pioneer of blue whale research within the northern Indian Ocean. She is known for her Blue Whale Project. She is a Senior TED Fellow[1] and was chosen for a BBC 100 Women award in 2018.
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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:
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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C. Bryson Hull, reporting for REUTERS on 23 February 2009 … with this title “Sri Lanka army measures end of 25 year-war in days” …with highlighting by The Editor, Thuppahi complemented by A SET of COMMENTS that is vital for debates today in 2019
After 25 years of war, Sri Lanka army Brigadier Shavendra Silva is measuring the last of the fighting in days. Standing not far from where he expects a final showdown with Tamil Tiger separatists in the Indian Ocean island’s northeast, the 58th Division commander ordered in his armoured units as Tiger mortar bombs exploded on the nearby frontline
Reuters PIX = recalcitrant = Three T-55 tanks and an armoured personnel carrier with a 30 mm cannon raced down the A-35 road, throwing up clouds of fine red dust, the thump of their 30 mm cannon heard within a minute.
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Kanishka Jayasuriya, in East Asia Forum, 27 November 2019, where the title reads “The Sri Lankan election and authoritarian populism” … with highlights initiated by The Editor, Thuppahi
The election on 16 November 2019 of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa — the brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa — ushers in an authoritarian populist regime that upholds a form of ethno-religious nationalism. The foundation of such a regime is in the new bourgeoisie that has emerged over the last two decades.
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Peter Koenig, in Information Clearing House where the title reads “China–The Belt and road Initiative = The Bridge that spans the world” … at https://www.globalresearch.ca/china-belt-road-initiative-bridge-spans-world/5695727
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The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also called the New Silk Road, is based on a 2,100-year-old trade route between the Middle East and Eastern Asia, called the Silk Road. It wound its ways across the huge landmass Eurasia to the most eastern parts of China. It favored trading based on the Taoist philosophy of harmony and peaceful coexistence – trading in the original sense of the term, an exchange with “win-win” outcomes, both partners benefitting equally. Continue reading
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Charles Edel, writing on “Four Theories of Modern China” on 21 November 2019 at https://www.the-american-interest.com/2019/11/21/four-theories-of-modern-china/?utm-access=rcw ….. with this striking opening pitch: “What really drives China today—is it Xi Jinping himself, the Belt & Road Initiative, old habits of statecraft, or the regime’s authoritarian nature? Four recent books help us sort through the morass.”
There is no easy way to understand China,” the preeminent China historian Jonathan Spence wrote in 1990. Opening his comprehensive work, The Search for Modern China, Spence observed that “for a long time China was a completely unknown quantity to those living in the West.” That had changed, he suggested, but there were still enough questions to “keep us in a state of bewilderment as to China’s real nature.”
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Rajeewa Jayaweera, in Island, 23 November 2019, with this title “GotabayaR prevails against all odds”
In the 2015 Presidential Elections in January 2015, Maithripala Sirisena defeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa by a majority of just under a half a million votes. It was in no small measure due to ethnic Tamil and Muslim communities voting for him in large numbers. 2019 was worse than in 2015. Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR) received only 8% of the Northern vote, 24% of the Eastern ballot, and 18% of the total N&E vote. Mahinda Rajapaksa, in 2015, received 20% of the Northern vote, 26% of the Eastern ballot, and 24% from the N&E vote.
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Adam Kuper in London Review of Books Vol. 24 No. 10 · 23 May 2002
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Paul Monk in The Weekend Australian,23 November 2019 with this title “Keating rides roughshod over reality of China’s aims” …. with highlighting emphasis by The Editor, Thuppahi
At The Australian Strategic Forum in Sydney on Monday, the keynote was struck by Paul Keating. The position he took was very much in character. It very much needs to be challenged. Much of his address consisted of statements of the bleeding obvious. But he mingled these commonsense observations with a litany of others that were seriously in error.
Former prime minister Paul Keating speaking at The Australian’s Strategic Forum: How should we manage our relationship with China? in Sydney on Monday. Picture: Nikki Short Continue reading
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thuppahi
