October 13, 2023 · 1:47 am

A Voice on THE VOICE ….. Its Double Standards

Peta Credlin in The Sunday Telegraph, 7 October 2023, where the title runs thus “Voice’s Yes campaign full of deceit and double standards”

The unauthorised protesters who marched through Sydney this week spewing anti-Semitic bile and screaming “Gas the Jews” are a sign of what can happen when people make everything about race.

After being poisoned for decades with hatred against “the Jews who stole their land”, it’s hardly surprising Palestinians (and their supporters here) don’t want peaceful co-existence with the people of Israel. Instead they want to wipe Israel off the map and drive the Jewish people into the sea, quite literally.

 Anthony Albanese and Ray Martin on stage at the Factory Theatre. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

Peta Credlin says Anthony Albanese has not been up front with the Australian public regarding the Voice. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

 

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October 12, 2023 · 7:37 pm

Canada’s Muddled Pro-Tamil & Pro-Tamil Tiger Policies Remain

 Padma Rao Sundarji, in Asian Age, 29 September 2023 where the title reads “Two-faced Canada is on a re-run of its LTTE policy”

https://www.asianage.com/opinion/columnists/280923/padma-rao-sundarji-two-faced-canada-is-on-a-re-run-of-its-ltte-policy.html

Is India guilty of assassinating a terrorist in Canada? At least to one of India’s neighbours, Ottawa’s accusation will come as a boring re-run of Ottawa’s inglorious policies, of which it has long been a victim.

For 30 years, one of the world’s bloodiest civil wars had raged in Sri Lanka. What began as a separatist movement in the north and east, quickly escalated into a full-blown armed conflict led by the terror group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Thousands of frightened Tamils sought asylum in the affluent countries of the West.

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October 12, 2023 · 1:57 pm

Mass NUDE Assembly at River in Aid of Cancer Project

Tayla Coucaud in The Australian, 11 October 2023

A New York-based artist has put out a call to thousands of Queenslanders to strip down and possibly enter the Brisbane city river for a series of nude images. American photographer Spencer Tunick will be collab­orating with Brisbane Powerhouse to stage a series of nude photographs along Brisbane River later in November.

Sydneysiders naked at Bondi each in 2022

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October 11, 2023 · 12:38 pm

Putin shreds the Canadian Parliament’s Idiotic Charade

An Observer from a Black Sea Town ……. in an Original Set of Comments … where the highlightS are interventions from The Editor, Thuppahi

A fair comment by Putin here.  The speaker of the Canadian Parliament introduced a 95 year old Ukrainian to the parliament as “a soldier who bravely fought Russia in WW2. “ This led to 3 standing ovations in the parliament for this brave Ukrainian.

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October 11, 2023 · 9:08 am

Royal College in Colombo: Its History

Lam Seneviratne, whose preferred title is “100 Years of Royal College at Reid Avenue”

A centenary in the life of an Institution is a very long period and calls for much celebration. However, for Royal College, now 188 years old, a grand celebration to mark 100 years at Reid Avenue may not be appropriate.

 

 

 

 

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October 10, 2023 · 6:51 pm

East Berlin & Check-Point Charlie, 1976 …. The Depth of the Cold War

Michael Roberts

My good friend Lam Seneviratne in Colombo has chosen to insert this comment in response to one of the Thuppahi Items: “In 1972 I had the opportunity to go through Checkpoint Charlie at Freidrichstrase to East Berlin. The contrast was stark, everything was drab and depressing.” … see https://thuppahis.com/2023/10/09/the-berlin-wall-dividing-west-east-berlin-epitome-of-the-cold-war/.

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October 10, 2023 · 5:25 pm

The World’s Watchdogs: The United Nations & Its Manifold Weightages and Flaws

An Observer from a Black Sea Town

When it comes to things like human rights, military/humanitarian interventions – small or weak states are always targeted, not big powerful states. It is easy for NATO to intervene (without UN Security Council authorization) to bomb Serbia and Libya because these countries are not big powerful states.  NATO recently announced its intention to intervene into North Africa and the Sahel countries, again without UN Security Council authorization. So, NATO doesn’t just circumvent the UN Security Council, but its goal is to unilaterally replace it.

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October 10, 2023 · 1:09 am

George Keyt Paintings: Ian Goonetileke’s Fascinating Collection

Nan, in The Island, 8 October 2023, where the title runs thus “HAI Goonetileke’s Keyts Collection”

 Ian Goonetileke decided to bequeath his extensive collection of Keyt’s art – sketches, paintings, both large and small sized, plus work of other artists such as George Claessen and Ivan Peiris, to the Peradeniya University as early as 1994. This collection named the Ian and Roslin Gooonetileke Painting Collection was formally handed over to the university at a ceremony in 2004.

I was present at the occasion, invited by Ian. In the speeches made, it was said a special room would be built and dedicated to housing the invaluable collection. The room is still to be set aside and all the art work lie in a room in the basement as they did for almost two decades.

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October 9, 2023 · 11:48 pm

Sri Lanka’s Cricketing Heroes Applauded by Jayantha Dhanapala in 2015

Jayantha Dhanapala, a one-time Sri Lankan Of The Year and, alas, no more with us, paid this tribute on one occasion to the men who have done a nation of 20-odd million proud…. This was in the YEAR 2015.

 

Many nations are associated with sports archetypes. Over the years, Brazil conjures up the image of a soccer player, especially die immortal Pele mesmerising opponents with his magical dribbling. Likewise, rugby football is inseparable from New Zealand’s All Blacks, and the mention of the Marathon recalls Ethiopia. FLASHBACK TO 1996 Sri Lanka, amidst all the vicissitudes, remains firmly associated with cricket, especially after we won the 1996 Cricket World Cup, thanks to Arjuna Ranatunga and his glorious team. That squad won that national squad the Sri Lankan Of The Year (SLOTY) award, from LMD, among many other plaudits.

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October 9, 2023 · 11:43 pm

The Berlin Wall: Dividing West & East Berlin … Epitome of the Cold War

Compiled by Retd SLAF Group Captain Kumar Kirinde, with this title “Berlin Wall: The Guarded Concrete Barrier That Once Encircled  A Part of the German Capital”

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall

Introduction

The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG and referred to as West Germany), from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic (GDR and referred to as East Germany). FRG belonged to the post war USA led Western Bloc of countries and GDR to the USSR led Eastern Bloc.

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