June 19, 2023 · 3:01 am

Apoyi! Apoyi! Sri Lanka’s Present Debt Burden

Thambu Kanagasabai, in Countercurrents, 15 June 2023, where the title reads “A debt ridden Sri Lanka and a desperate President seeking debt relief” .… with highlights here imposed by The eDitor Thuppahi

President Ranil is expected to visit India from July 20 to 30 and a meeting with Prime Minister Modi is scheduled for on the 21st July 2023. So far neither the agenda nor the issues to be discussed between them has been made public. It is highly likely that focus will be mainly on financial assistance for the desperate Sri Lanka. It is to be noted that the external debt of Sri Lanka now stands at more than $5 billion. Ranil’s statement while serving as a Prime Minister expressed his appreciation of India’s role when he acknowledged on June 19, 2022 that “India has really helped Sri Lanka in its reforms to cope with the Island’s economic crash” and added that “aid coming from different sources has put Sri Lanka in the middle of geopolitics” and further said on June 06, 2022 that “no country except India is providing money to the crisis hit nation for fuel”.

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June 19, 2023 · 2:44 am

The Travails of the Villagers of Musali on Film

Yomal Senerath-Yapa, in Sunday Times 18 June 2023, with this title “A humane look at the villagers of Palaikuli”

Sumathy Sivamohan’s maiden documentary film ‘Amid the Villus’ tells the story of a pastoral people for whom the land was simply home. This film, Sumathy Sivamohan’s latest documentary –  also her first (having so far done only feature films) — takes you to Palaikuli, the dry scrubland village in Musali South where for ages a pastoral people have tended to cattle and goats.

It is a poetic, humane, behind-the-headlines look at the ‘Musali land-grab’ where she documents the story of the community that was vilified in the news for infringing on the vintage ‘land of the leopard’ at Wilpattu.

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June 19, 2023 · 1:04 am

Amitav Ghosh: Straddling the Mediterranean & Indian Worlds

Dr. Shalva Weil, in https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/in-an-ancient-land-trade-and-synagogues-in-south-india/

The Calcutta-born novelist Amitav Ghosh tells the tale, in his novel In an Ancient Land, of a medieval traveler by the name of Abraham Ben Yiju who conducted an import/export business from Cairo through Aden to India. Ben Yiju was a member of the Synagogue of Ben Ezra, or the”Synagogue of the Palestinians”, as it used to be known while it was still standing, in Cairo, at the end of the nineteenth century. It was in that synagogue that congregation members used to accumulate and store their papers and manuscripts. The last In an Ancient Land Revisited Trade and Synagogues in South India document that is known to have been deposited in this Genizah was a get, a divorce settlement, authorized in Bombay (today Mumbai).

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June 17, 2023 · 9:01 pm

Strong Pakistani Test Squad for Sri Lankan Test Series in July

ESPNcricinfo Item, 18 June 2023, … where the title runs thus:  “Shaheen returns to Test squad for SL series; Huraira, Jamal get maiden call-ups”

Shaheen Shah Afridi has returned to Pakistan’s Test squad for the two-match series against Sri Lanka next month. The 16-member roster also includes batter Muhammad Huraira and allrounder Aamer Jamal. It’s a maiden Test call-up for both of them.
Muhammad Hurraira has 2252 runs in 24 first-class matches, at an average of 68.24  •  PCB

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June 16, 2023 · 1:27 am

Revisiting Tarzie VittachI’s EMERGENCY ’58

Michael Roberts

In re-visiting an assortment of historical episodes in Sri Lanka’s past in unsytematic fashion I have been led to Tarzie Vittachi’s Emergençy ’58 (published in 1958) by Sugath Kulatunga’s detailed and invaluable recounting of his experiences as a government official in Polonnaruwa in the 1950s (an item still being processed).

While Vittachi was an experienced journalist, we cannot take every ‘fact’ that he presents as indubitable. However, this pointer towards his slim volume should, hopefully, bring new generations of Sri Lankans and outside observers into reflections on the consequences of the political currents unleashed in the general election in 1956 — notably the upsurge of the underprivileged classes and the demand for Sinhala Only.

This focus, however, should not promote currents of denunciation which throw the baby out with the bathwater. The inequalities of the pre-existing dispensation must be clinically drawn out as well.

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June 15, 2023 · 5:22 pm

‘Nuclear War’! An Escalaton to Nuclear Weaponry Around the Corner NOW!

An Observer in a Black Sea Town

A Russian professor of history has put forward the case for Russia to use nuclear weapons sooner rather than later to get the West to back off and thereby save humanity. His argument is stimulating much debate inside Russia.  He presents a compelling argument.

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June 15, 2023 · 12:48 am

Rex on Sri Lanka Cricket Selections & ‘Powers’ Behind the Scenes

The Sri Lankan Squad in Zimbabwe comprises the following:

Dasun Shanaka (c), Kusal Mendis (vc & wk), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Dushan Hemantha.

Rex Clementine …. ONE: 

https://island.lk/sri-lanka-leave-for-world-cup-qualifiers/

The national cricket team left for Zimbabwe on Saturday to take part in the World Cup Qualifiers, their last chance to earn a spot for the sport’s showpiece event – the ICC Cricket World Cup – to be held in India in October and November.

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June 13, 2023 · 9:16 pm

British Flag ‘Transvestized’ !@#$!

NOTE the Comments this event has attracted  … AND the insertIon today, 14 June 2023, by VINOD MOONESINGHE, a Sri Lankan Marxist: “It is not the “British flag”. It is the Union Jack, the flag of the United Kingdom, an oppressive state which enslaved a third of the world. The sexual minorities have a right to be heard.”

 

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June 13, 2023 · 1:09 am

Reflections on Australia’s Triumph over India

Andrew McGlashan in ESPNcricinfo, 12 June 2023, with this title: “What does Australia’s WTC win mean for the Ashes?” ….

Smith’s ominous form, Boland’s metronomic accuracy augur well for the side as they dust off the cobwebs in style.

 

Australia’s victory in the World Test Championship [WTC] final was a landmark on its own, capping an impressive two years and securing the only title that had yet to feature in their trophy cabinet. However, this was not a tour with a one-off match; it’s only just started. The men’s Ashes begins on Friday at Edgbaston, so while the players spend a day or so celebrating, let’s examine what Australia’s performance at The Oval could mean against England.

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June 13, 2023 · 12:16 am

Special Vistas For Tourists in Sri Lanka Today

Lee Tulloch, in Sydney Morning Herald, 9 June 2023, where the title reads = “Why you should visit this undersold, teardrop-shaped island right now”

If there’s a country that could do with a lot of love right now, it’s Sri Lanka. Over the past three decades, the island nation has been ravaged by conflict and disaster, beginning with the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which claimed 30,000 lives, and the 26-year-long civil war, which ended in 2009.

It had just re-emerged as a popular tourist destination when, on Easter Sunday 2019, an Islamic group, in retaliation for the Christchurch attacks thousands of kilometres away, bombed three churches and three luxury hotels in Colombo, unnerving the tourists who had returned in record numbers.

Sri Lanka’s famous Nine Arch Bridge.
Sri Lanka’s famous Nine Arch Bridge.CREDIT:GETTY IMAGES

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