Eastern Australia is HOT and Burning
Filed under australian media, life stories, security, trauma, world events & processes
US America and its ACSA, SOFA and MCC
Tamara Kunanayakam** says that “MCC, ACSA, SOFA with US are incompatible with international law”
“[T]here is no friendship when nations are not equal, when one has to obey another and when one only dominates another.” …. Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, Closing Speech at the Asian-African Conference, Bandung, 1955
Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA), the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC) are agreements integral to US national security and self-defense strategies, whose goal is “American Self-Preservation,” an ideology incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations and international law.
MCC, crude and dogmatic alignment with US National Security Strategy Continue reading
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Millennium Challenge Compact — A Distilled Picture from Welikala
Aswin Welikala*
I am shocked and saddened by how gullible my own people are to the manipulations of politicians and their lies. I am also shocked by the complete inability of people to read a public document instead of deciding to trust fake YouTube videos designed to spread lies. Since I took the effort to read the #MCC Agreement, I thought of summarising it for those who haven’t been bothered to do so but have an opinion on it.
*What is the MCC?*
The MCC is a US grant giving organisation set up in 2004. It’s purpose was to change the way aid was given by making the countries receiving aid to have more control over their grant and to design projects around what those countries actually need.
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USA’s Political Programme in Sri Lanka and the Peace Corps Initiative
Daya Gamage, in response to the Thuppahi Invitation to Address Shenali Waduge’s Memorandum
This Pic does not relate to a Sri Lankan issue; but it captures the tone in which Hillary Clinton pilloried Sri Lanka on 22nd April 2009 when the GoSL government did not abide by USA’s direct orders and proceeded to penetrate the LTTE’s last redoubt beyond Nandhikadal Lagoon — see https://frontline.thehindu.com/static/html/fl2610/stories/20090522261001600.htm
ONE: US Support for Tamil Separatism
In 1984, the CIA and the State Department produced a joint document – a highly classified one – solely on US foreign policy towards Sri Lanka after the LTTE started its terror campaign to bifurcate Sri Lanka followed by the JR Jayewardene administration seeking Washington’s help for military assistance.
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Waduge’s Summary Survey: USA’s Hands in Sri Lankan Politics, 1950s-2019
Shenali Waduge, in LankaWeb. 1 November 2019, where the title reads “US in Sri Lanka since 2015 – turning Sri Lanka into a Neo-Colonial Military Base”
Ever since a regime change was choreographed in 2015 January, the US has been using its lackeys in government to exert tremendous influence in 3 areas – Sri Lanka‘s economy, Sri Lanka‘s Parliament and Sri Lanka‘s armed forces. Based on media articles, press releases and whatever other information has been made available to the public, an overview of the extent to which Sri Lanka’s sovereignty has been compromised can be deduced. Sri Lanka is a sovereign nation and Sri Lanka must uphold that sovereign status. Any new government must understand the fundamentals of what it means to be sovereign and ensure national policy is drafted to ensure that and for any gain that sovereignty is not compromised.
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USA’s Imperialist Advances by Stealth? Goodness Gracious Me!
Michael Roberts
In my readings of her past work, Shenali Waduge tended to go overboard in several of her claims, while also displaying one-sided Sinhala chauvinistic leanings in her assessments. But her recent article in Lankaweb, entitled “US in Sri Lanka since 2015 – turning Sri Lanka into a Neo-Colonial Military Base,” addresses a wide range of issues, including some that are looming over Sri Lanka today. It is also marked by considerable industry and embraces an extended sweep of time.
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Hate. Where An Incisive Cartoon provokes Australian Invective
Michael Leunig, in The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 November 2019, where the title runs thus: “Aiming to stir the possum, I got engulfed in free-floating hate”
It was exactly 50 years ago that I started working as a full-time newspaper cartoonist, and as if to celebrate this anniversary, mysterious fate had me drawing a cartoon which brought so much hostile public reaction that I began to lie awake at night wondering why I had followed such a troubled, painful and precarious career path.
MCC at Galle: Big Boost for Tourism and Cricket via Sanga and Galle
Item in Daily News, 1 November 2019 …. http://www.dailynews.lk/2019/11/01/sports/201649/traditional-mcc-champion-county-match-be-played-galle
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) yesterday announced that next season’s Champion County match against Essex will be held in Sri Lanka. The traditional curtain-raiser to the new English domestic season, which dates back to 1970 in its current guise, will be played at the Galle International Stadium between 24 and 27 March 2020.
Pics by David Colin-Thome
Birds in Lanka: Janaka Gallangoda’s Photographic Virtuosity
Dr Janaka Gallangoda spent two years at Flinders University in 2014/15 and I have been fortunate in gaining access to his scintillating camera-work previously. Here are selections from his snapshots of birds in Sri Lanka
Kashmir Flycatcher (Ficedula subrubra) …. Rare winter migrant to the central hills of Sri Lanka from the Kashmir region of Himalayan foothills. This is a globally threatened bird. Many birdwatchers from all over the world travel to Nuwara Eliya to watch this little jewel. It is a solitary and fairly territorial bird found near forest edges, gardens and tea estates.
Baghdadi Assassination will spur ISIS Reinvention
David Kilcullen, in The Australian, 29 October 2019, where the title is “ISIS on a road to revenge after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death”
The death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a symbolic blow to the organisation he led since April 2010. In practical terms, it may help the group regenerate as it adapts to the loss of its territorial “caliphate”. Baghdadi had been on the run since Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces captured his capital, the city of Raqqa in northern Syria, in October 2017. Islamic State’s last stronghold, near Baghouz on the Syrian-Iraqi border, fell to SDF fighters, coalition advisers and US and allied airstrikes in March this year. These losses followed the fall of Mosul in northern Iraq, the largest and most important city controlled by Islamic State, from which Baghdadi declared the “caliphate” in mid-2014.
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