Asoka Bandarage in the CovertAction Magazine, 19 November 2019, where the title reads “U.S. military presence and popular resistance in Sri Lanka”
The Indian Ocean is one of the most contested regions in the world today. China, the United States, India, and also Japan, Saudi Arabia and other rich and powerful states are struggling for influence over Sri Lanka, located in the geographical heart of the Indian Ocean. The sea lanes of the Indian Ocean are considered to be the busiest in the world with more than 80% of global seaborne oil trade estimated to be passing through them.
Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka and the joint UK/U.S. Diego Garcia Naval and Military Base
Lilo Berg, in Humboldt Kosmos 2019, pp.3033 ** where the title reads as “Witches, Fashion Fiends and Cabinet Curiosities”
Ulinka Rublack’s book about the astronomer Johannes Kepler, who defended his mother in a witchcraft trial, caused a stir. Drawing on old sources, the historian reconstructs a fascinating image of the Early Modern Era in which superstition meets science
The Historian Ulinka Rublack at work in Wolfenbüttel (Photo: Humboldt Foundation / Jörg Scheibe)
THESE are Email Exchanges amongst Personnel in the Rajeewa Jayaweera Circle — mostly hostile to the messy politics of the Yahapaalana Era, 2015-19 …. with highlighting emphasis being the imprint of The Editor, Thuppahi
A = Prithi Perera to the Jayaweera Circle, 21 November 2019
Thank you Rajeewa for the most useful tabulation. Much pains taking and time would have gone into it.
The following are my observations;
Nearly 60%-70% of the Sinhala Majority Votes in the South were with GR and 80% -90% of the Tamil/Muslim Minority Votes in the North East of SL were with Sajith. This shows an obvious polarization of society in Sri Lanka, between the south and the north/east, between the Sinhala majority in the South and the Tamil/Muslim minorities in the North/East. The 30 year war where the wounds seem not to have healed as yet and the 21 April 2019 Easter Bombings have also given added strength to the anti Tamil/Islam lobbies. This can be adduced to be the reasons for the further accentuation of the extremist lobbies supporting the Rajapaksa dynastic politics. They seem to be successfully fanning these extremist elements during given periods, particularly when issues in economy and governance appear to go against them if and when they are in power, or when elections are in sight, if they are out of power. Anyone studying these patterns will find them to be more factual than fiction. Unfortunately, we also have some of the clergy making remarks that seem to encourage extremism, like in the case of Gnanasara Thera who has openly said that the BBS movement will be disbanded after the upcoming Parliamentary Elections in 2020 once victory is assured for the Rajapaksa’s.
The Economist: “The Rajapaksa brothers are back in Sri Lanka,” ….. A convincing win for Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the presidential election divides the electorate on communal lines, 17 November 2019**
FOR NEARLY ten years the Rajapaksa family ran Sri Lanka. Now, after a five-year hiatus and a bit of a reshuffle, they are back. On November 16th an unprecedented 84% of voters turned out to crown Gotabaya Rajapaksa president, handing him well over half the votes in a crowded field of 35 candidates.Mr Rajapaksa had served as defence chief during the 2005-15 reign of his brother Mahinda. The latter, blocked by the constitution from becoming head of state again, is likely to serve as his younger brother’s prime minister.
“A Medley of Races” … being an articlein theTimes of Ceylon Christmas Number 1935
A land where five empires have met and clashed and left remnants of themselves behind. Here and there a monument, a temple, a church, a road, a plant and everywhere the most vivid remnant of all, chunks of humanity. And so you often stumble on Sinhalese endowed with features that seemed to have stepped out of a picture by Velasquez. Similarly, most of the Sinhalese of one district (Negombo) talk not Sinhalese but Tamil, while the intelligentsia of all Ceylon know English better than they know their own languages.
Kamanthi Wickramasinghe in Daily Mirror, 21 November 2019, where the title runs thus: “Ex-combatants under rehabilitation call for peace A visit to Mihindu Seth Medura and Ranaviru Sevana”
The bloodied past of the thirty-year long conflict keeps reflecting in their memories. Having lived the greater part of their lives on battlefields, engaging in what were termed as ‘humanitarian operations’ against deafening noises emanating from blasting mortars, claymore bombs and the frequent gunshots, the physical and psychological trauma were part and parcel of their lives. While many of them succumbed to injuries, another section of this generation who require special assistance to do their day-to-day work are being well looked after. Although many of them initially sought treatment at Ranaviru Sevana based in Ragama, at present those who require further rehabilitative care are stationed at Mihindu Seth Medura in Attidiya.
You know off course that Keenan is a mercenary and his Crisis Group are a cover of the CIA dealing with strong US interests in Sri Lanka? The Crisis group is one of the richest and most powerful of the so-called NGOs. It is supported financially and officially by all western governments, various institutions and people like Soros (a well-known international crook, strong supporter and organiser of colour revolutions), the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundation, the NED, and several transnational corporations among them BP, etc.
I write this as a personal appreciation of a dear friend Dr R.K. (Rajpal) de Silva. I shall leave it to others more qualified than me to write about his contribution to recording the history of paintings in Sri Lanka mainly during the Colonial period. His life at the Royal College, Colombo and his lifelong association with his schoolmates are aspects that I only know of in passing. He has written about his life as a medical student and as a doctor which makes interesting reading.
Pix by Athula Devapriya
When Mano rang to say that Rajpal passed away that day, I was full of grief. I had had a telephone conversation with him a few days before. Though infirm, he was at that time full of good cheer. It confirms the adage that “death comes like a thief in the night”.
Paul Murray, in West Australian, 8 October 2017,where the title reads “Brutal bayonet charge at Battle of 42nd Street hidden in grim landscape”
by PETER MONTEATH ….Published: 1st November 2019 …. ISBN: 9781742236032
It seems illogical to think that places could retain a memory. Surely they can only invoke one? But we’ve all been somewhere that the surroundings — the place itself — made us feel uncomfortable, perhaps for no particular reason. That creepy, uneasy sensation that something is not quite right there. My strongest experience was visiting Culloden in Scotland, the scene of a gruesome massacre in which military incompetence sacrificed a thousand soldiers supporting the Scottish Jacobites — many with little personally invested in the outcome — pitted against their new Hanoverian rulers.
A Note received from Gerald Peiris, Friday 15th November 2019 … 12.56 pm
Gota, I think is going to be a definite winner, despite all the anti-Rajapaksa propaganda, Al Jazeera being just one source of such viciousness. Throughout the campaign Gota maintained a sense of dignity and balance (vis-a-vis the subject of ethnic relations) and has provided hope for the future of the countryreplacing the widespread despair that prevailed earlier. Sajith has been so hopelessly bad in his platform performances, sounding more like an undergrad firebrand contesting at a university student council meeting, focusing (to an incredible extent) on the theme of what a great guy he is.
Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka and the joint UK/U.S. Diego Garcia Naval and Military Base
