The Editor, Sunday Times, 1 December 2019
This is the ‘honeymoon’ period for a newly elected first term President, still riding the wave of popularity from the election victory of November 16. Even the media are expected to give the new President time to settle down, and some leeway to carry out his campaign promises and fulfil the expectations of his new office. This is not, however, to say that no comments ought to be made on the performance of the new administration during this period.
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Jehan Perera, in Island, 3 December 2019, with this title: “President’s early parameters may require revision”
One of the weaknesses of the previous government was its failure to have cohesive policies that it implemented with determination. Instead there was a sense of free space and license to do as one pleased. It gave people a welcome sense of freedom, but it also led to strikes and pickets on an almost daily basis and frustration among the general population who did not see government at work. Along with the change of government that took place after the November 16 presidential election there is a sense of strong government and an uncertainty about what the parameters of free space will be. Recent pronouncements by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa are providing an initial indication of what some of the parameters will be. The President’s visit to India and the speeches and interviews he gave there provide a first indication of what some of the parameters might be.
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Michael Roberts, Courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, 2 December 2019, where the title is “Excess! Tamil Death Toll Magnified In The Course Of British Interventions In The Sri Lankan Presidential Election”
“just as in Kosovo if enough civilians died … the world would be forced to step in” (Pulidevan, the LTTE Political Commissar, message in early 2009 to friends in Europe (quoted in Harrison: Still Counting the Dead, 2012: 63)
The assessments of the last stages of Eelam War IV embracing 2008/09 have been bedevilled by the verdicts of intellectuals and officials encased in drawing rooms located within an ivory tower. The hoary verdicts in the past have resurfaced today in the vociferous campaign aimed at influencing events in Sri Lanka – with the Shadow Chancellor of the Labour Party[1] and such HR activists as Alan Keenan,[ii] Fred Carver and Richard Gowing[iii] participating in this grandstanding work. Possessing no experience of modern warfare, mostly unfamiliar with the landscape of the pertinent battle theatre within the northern Vanni and animated by human rights fervour, they have bought into the clever LTTE strategy that built up a picture of an ”impending humanitarian catastrophe” – a picture generated from mid-2008 and involving Tamil advocates within the diaspora as well. Continue reading
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Absorb …
ASHA DE VOS
Nationality: Sri Lankan…. Education: University of St. Andrews, University of Oxford, University of Western Australia…
Asha de Vos is a Sri Lankan marine biologist, ocean educator and pioneer of blue whale research within the northern Indian Ocean. She is known for her Blue Whale Project. She is a Senior TED Fellow[1] and was chosen for a BBC 100 Women award in 2018.
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News Item in Daily News, 2 December 2019, with this title “MEPA requests public to refrain from harming elephant seal”
The public has been kindly requested not to disturb or harm the seal which was recently spotted in the Southern coastal area. Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) General Manager Dr. P.B. Terney Pradeep Kumara, told the media that the elephant seal should be left undisturbed because it is already going through trauma caused by drastic habitat changes.
An Official Statement from the Public Diplomacy Division of the Present Government …. Update on the alleged incident relating to Swiss Embassy staff member
The Government of Sri Lanka, having taken serious note of the alleged criminal incident concerning a locally recruited staff member of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo, on Monday, 25 November 2019, immediately ordered a thorough investigation into this matter.
This evening (1 December 2019) Secretary/Foreign Relations Ravinatha Aryasinha together with Secretary/Defence Major General (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne and relevant officials met with the Ambassador for Switzerland in Sri Lanka Hanspeter Mock and the Deputy Chief of Mission, and briefed them on the results of the investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police.
Dr. Rudy Rudran, Scientist Emeritus, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, in Island, 16 November 2019, with this title “Sri Lanka’s purple-faced langur is among the world’s 25 most endangered non-human primates”
The IUCN’s Primate Specialist Group (PSG) has again included Sri Lanka’s purple-faced langur in its list of Primates in Peril. This listing provides details on the 25 most endangered non-human primates in the world and is published every two years. It has included the purple-faced langur since 2004, when the IUCN classified its western sub species as critically endangered due to extensive deforestation of its lowland rainforest habitat. Deforestation threatens the survival of this subspecies because it relies almost exclusively on tree canopies for movement and for its diet mainly of leaves.
Michael Roberts
A few days back I circulated the three recent THUPPAHI articles on China (see below) to a number of my friends and collective groups with this note:
A = that the overwhelming body of Aussie writing on China is ideologically driven;
B= that this corpus of writing depends at times on leaks from “govt sources” which he believes emanate from a secret backroom body of boffins;
C = … with the intent of painting China as a demonic force and potential threat.
Alexei Talimonov cartoons …..https://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/China%20Dragon_19987
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C. Bryson Hull, reporting for REUTERS on 23 February 2009 … with this title “Sri Lanka army measures end of 25 year-war in days” …with highlighting by The Editor, Thuppahi complemented by A SET of COMMENTS that is vital for debates today in 2019
After 25 years of war, Sri Lanka army Brigadier Shavendra Silva is measuring the last of the fighting in days. Standing not far from where he expects a final showdown with Tamil Tiger separatists in the Indian Ocean island’s northeast, the 58th Division commander ordered in his armoured units as Tiger mortar bombs exploded on the nearby frontline
Reuters PIX = recalcitrant = Three T-55 tanks and an armoured personnel carrier with a 30 mm cannon raced down the A-35 road, throwing up clouds of fine red dust, the thump of their 30 mm cannon heard within a minute.
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thuppahi
