Category Archives: transport and communications

August 16, 2022 · 1:30 pm

Diplomatic Triumph for China in Sri Lanka

Zhang Huyi, in Global Times, 15 August 2022, where the title reads …. “Exclusive: Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka to launch welcoming ceremony for arrival of Chinese research vessel: source”

The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka will hold a welcoming ceremony for the arrival of the Chinese Yuan Wang 5 scientific research vessel at the port of Hambantota, a source close to the matter told the Global Times on Monday. “The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka will hold a simple but warm welcoming ceremony on the premise of epidemic prevention and control,” the source said.

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August 15, 2022 · 9:42 pm

From Ceylon to Australia: Migrant Journeys, 1860s-to-2010s

Earl Forbes, whose chosen title in The Ceylankan is “Ceylon/Sri Lanka to Australia: Arrivals and Survival”

Ceylonese/Sri Lankans have entered Australia for a variety of reasons during the past one and a half centuries.  The far greater number of these arrivals occurred in the second half of the twentieth century and first two decades of the 21st century.  Early arrivals go as far back as the last two decades of the nineteenth century.

Figure 3  Queensland sugarcane plantation workers. … [placed as frontispiece because of its striking character

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August 14, 2022 · 12:25 pm

Indian Assertions on Hambantota Incident Assailed

Alfred Sexwale** … responding to Indian News Item on Digital Video re Chinese Ship =   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lImNIn9P1qg … which is a WION news item with a Indian woman fronting the story

According to reports the Harbour Master for the Hambantota Port has said that no vessel can enter the port without its permission. This comes after Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry last week asked Beijing to defer the arrival of Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship Yuan Wang 5.

Sri Lanka shouldn’t prevent a ship from docking for fuel and replenishing. It’s a significant inconvenience for those on-board the ship. India is needlessly stirring up trouble by using Sri Lanka to needle China. India is emulating the US in its attempts to dominate the Indian Ocean.

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August 11, 2022 · 8:45 pm

Roads and Bridges in Ancient Sri Lanka

Introduction by Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde [retd], SLAF … & crafted by Chamara Sumanapala, …. & presented in The Nation Sunday Print Edition, date not specified

Below is an article on roads and bridges in ancient Sri Lanka (Anuradhapura era). The article also talks about the major roads linking Anuradhapura with the ports of Dambakola Patuna (in Jaffna Peninsula), Mahatitta (near Mannar) and Gokanna (Trincomalee) and the road linking Anuradhapura with Magama (present day Tissamaharama) in Ruhuna.

 

Stone Bridge close to Mahakanadarawa Reservoir (Mihintale)
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August 11, 2022 · 1:52 pm

Understanding the Chinese Government’s Position on Taiwan

Fair Dinkum, responding here in an original essay to China’s White Paper on Taiwan ++ … with underlining emphasis in blue added by The Editor, Thuppahi

On 10 August 2022, China released a white paper on Taiwan reunification. This paper sets out the history of Taiwan as an integral part of China, but it also details significant US subversive activities in Taiwan aimed at encouraging successionist movements and gives a justification for a military response to US meddling by China under specific conditions. The paper stipulates that foreign meddling into Taiwan means Beijing must retain use of force as an option. According to the white paper, Beijing prefers a peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but foreign powers meddling in Chinese domestic affairs and encouraging secessionism on the self-ruled island may make this impossible.

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August 8, 2022 · 2:32 pm

Asylum Seeker Boats: Australia Aids SL Navy’s ‘Arrests’

Ben Packham in The Australian, Monday  8 August 2022, where the title reads “Secret Sri Lankan Fuel Deal keeps Patrol Boats on Water” .. . with highlighting emphasia being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

Sri Lankan patrol boats are back on the water deterring would-be people smuggling voyages following a secret deal with Australia to supply the country’s navy with tens of millions of dollars worth of fuel.

 

The Republic of Sri Lanka Navy Ship “Oshadi”

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August 4, 2022 · 1:57 pm

It’s Time to Join the Queue ….. Sri Lanka Today

Capt Elmo Jayawardena

President gets ousted, Prime Minister gives a ‘walk over’ and Ministers join the soul-selling market to hang in there. Where? Of course, in Diyawanna Oya.** Though my senses overflow with the desire to write these stories, I, being a coward, feel ‘discretion is the better part of valor’ and will leave politics and politicians alone. What to write anyway? Things change so fast that by the time I get published the whole fairytale may change.

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August 3, 2022 · 2:36 am

HMS “Ceylon”: In Service from 1942-1985

Group Captain Kumar Kirinde, Retd. SLAF whose preferred title is indicated at the end together with detials from one inspiration, that from Richard Boyle.

 

 

Introduction:  HMS Ceylon was a Fiji-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was of the Ceylon sub class, named after the island and British colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The cruiser saw service in the Atlantic and Pacific theatres during the Second World War. In the postwar era, she participated in actions in Egypt and the Korean War. In 1960 she transferred to the navy of Peru and was renamed Coronel Bolognesi. The cruiser was scrapped in 1985.

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August 1, 2022 · 1:47 am

Power Cuts in Cuba indicate Spreading Economic Crisis

Marc Frank in Reuters, 30 July 2022, with this title “Havana announces blackouts, cancels carnival as crisis deepens”

The Cuban capital of Havana will begin electricity blackouts in August, has cancelled carnival and is taking other measures as the country’s energy crisis worsens, state media reported on Saturday.

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July 31, 2022 · 8:31 pm

Extending and Protecting Sri Lanka’s Ocean Assets

Ivan Amarasinghe, presenting “A Proposal for Non-Traditional Resources Exploitation  within the UN Allocated EEZ and the Ocean University of Sri Lanka”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Map-of-the-Sri-Lankan-Exclusive-Economic-Zone-EEZ-Source-Maritime-Boundaries_fig1_313525677

Executive Summary of the Proposal

The Indian Ocean around Sri Lanka contains vast, precious minerals which have so far not been explored or exploited by Sri Lanka. A review of recent scientific literature indicates that powerful States and Corporate sectors are active within the area. The support of the United Nations [UN] is sought to legally delineate the national Extended Economic Zone [EEZ] in keeping with the UN Convention on Law of the Sea [UNCLOS]. Sri Lanka must urgently guard its ocean resources before they are exploited to exhaustion by others. Sri Lanka must ensure forex earnings through a new policy on sustainable exploitation of ou ocean resources.

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