Category Archives: self-reflexivity

September 20, 2023 · 12:32 pm

Ranil confronted with UNFAIR Question

Fair Dinkum responding to an EMAIL CIRCULAR sent by Victor Melder, 20 September 2023 …..  bearing this You-Tube ………………

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGtxKRZNhXwcqdggGVBwdQpGTTj?projector=1

I gather some Sri Lankan sent it to him with the question, “Are you pro=Indian or pro Chinese?” which is an unfair question because it is framed in such a way as to create and reinforce division, and doesn’t allow for the possibility for one to be both, or to be neutral, or to consider the possibility that Sri Lanka should engage with both India and China when it is in their interests to do so, without interference.
I would say Sri Lankans should be pro-Sri Lanka and then at the next level down, regard India and China as partners, as SL should do with all countries.

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September 20, 2023 · 1:03 am

Wickremasinghe Rejects AUKUS Pact

An Item in rtcom.news, 19 September 2023, with the hëadline  “South Asian leader slams AUKUS pact” …..

The US-led initiative was created to antagonize Beijing, Sri Lanka’s president has said.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has condemned the AUKUS pact as an alliance designed to target China, calling it a “strategic misstep,” and insisting it will only divide Asia into rival camps and destabilize the region. Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Monday, Wickremesinghe took aim at AUKUS, which was formed by the US, UK, and Australia in 2021. “I don’t think it was needed,” he said. “I think it’s a strategic misstep. I think they made a mistake,” the president stated. “It is a military alliance moved against one country – China.”

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September 19, 2023 · 7:46 pm

Rita Mannella’s Insights on Her Experiences in Sri Lanka

Sanjiva Wijesinha, in Sunday Times & his own website where the title runs  “Twilight Reflections 8 – You Only Cry Twice”

I recently noticed that the outgoing Italian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Her Excellency Ms. Rita Giuliano Mannella, had made the following intriguing observation.  “When I return to Sri Lanka’ she said, “I cry twice – once when I arrive and the other time when I leave.“

At first I did not quite understand what she meant (Cosa stai dicendo, Signora?) but when I carefully thought over what she said, I realized that her observation made perfect sense.

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September 18, 2023 · 7:08 pm

USA’s “Global War on Terror” Following 9/11

Compiled by Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde, SLAF [retd]: “A global counter-terrorism military campaign initiated by the U.S. in 2001”  ……….. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_terror, https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/exhibit/on-the-front-lines-cia-in-afghanistan/, ChatGPT, and Google Images … [with only some photographs 

Introduction:  ……  The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism”” (GWOT), is a global counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks and is also the most recent global conflict spanning multiple wars. The main targets of the campaign were militant Islamist and Salafi jihadist armed organisations such as al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and their international affiliates, which were waging military insurgencies to overthrow governments of various Muslim-majority countries. Other major targets included the Ba’athist regime in Iraq, which was deposed during an invasion in 2003, and various militant factions that fought during the ensuing insurgency

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September 17, 2023 · 9:30 pm

Asia Cup At Khettarama: Disaster! Comedy! …. Hara-Kiri?

Michael Roberts

Given the humid and rainy conditions, why the Sri Lankan management chose to bat on winning the toss is a major issue for deate after the collapse for 5 runs in  the face of some excllent seam and swing bowling from Siraj, Bumrah and Pandya.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notwithstanding the quality of the Indian bowling, the techniques and batting of the Sri Lankan batsmen [yes bastmen] left much to be desired.

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September 12, 2023 · 7:28 pm

Sri Lanka Confronts OHCHR in Geneva Foursquare

Statement by Ambassador Himalee Arunatilaka, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva in response to the Report by the Office of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights ………… https://mfa.gov.lk/gosl-statement-54th-unhrc/ *+*

Mr. President,

At the outset, let me reiterate that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has consistently rejected Resolution 46/1 and 51/1 that led to the setting up of the so-called ‘Accountability Project’. We also reject the written update, its conclusions and recommendations.

We recall that the majority of the Member States either opposed or abstained from voting on these Resolutions, in fundamental disagreement with its unacceptable content in particular the so-called evidence gathering mechanism, the establishment of which is unprecedented. We reiterate that it goes beyond the mandate that Member States conferred on the Council by UNGA Resolution 60/251.

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September 11, 2023 · 8:54 pm

Articles on the Easter Sunday Attacks in Sri Lanka, 2019: THOSE in April 2019

VARIED…. IMMEDIATE – APRIL 2019

Nirupama Subramaniam 2019 “Nirupama’s Incisive Appraisal identifies Islamic Jihadist Patterns in Easter Sunday Terror,” 22 April 2019, ….. https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2019/04/22/nirupamas-incisive-appraisal-identifies-islamic-jihadist-patterns-in-palm-sunday-terror/

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September 10, 2023 · 11:20 pm

The 9/11 Aftermath in Pictures: The WTC and Its Surrounds

Captain Kumar Kirinde, SLAF Retd, whose facored title runs as “THE DESTROYED TOWERS OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTRE OF NEW YORK: THE AFTEMATH OF 9/11 REMEMBERED IN PICTURES” .….     Sources: http://www.quora.com (posts by Ann Longmore-Etheridge),  ……………………………………………………………………………….. https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/world-trade-center-slurry- wall.htm and Google Images

Constructing the World Trade Center (1970)

Pic: https://www.ba-bamail.com/baba-recommends/history-in-pictures-25-      amazing-images-of-the-past/ ….

 

 

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September 9, 2023 · 1:13 am

When the Ceylon Schoolboys Beat the Indian Schoolboys on Their Home Turfs in 1969

Ranjan Anandappa, in Sunday Observer, 23 September 2007, with this title “1969 Schools Cricket Team – Best produced by Sri Lanka”

 CRICKET: Emphasis has been laid so much on qualified coaches and physios these days, but few knew that one of the most successful under 19 cricket teams ever to leave the shores of Sri Lanka which was undoubtedly the 1969 Sri Lanka Schools cricket team, then Ceylon, which toured India. The team was captained by former Ananda College cricketer Mithra Wettimuny [and] did not possess either a coach or a physio.

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September 8, 2023 · 9:25 pm

Sachin and Sanga Compared …. And, Then …..

 

While this summary review presents some revealing statistical data, it is quite invidious and does not methodically dissect the circumstances surrounding their cricket careers or the minutiae pertinent to particular milestones. That both were inspirations to their countrymen and countrywomen goes without saying. ….. and they still remain inspirations today.

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