Thuppahi's Blog

August 22, 2018 · 10:54 am

Fundamental Issues – A Readiness to Rethink Conflict Situations. Padraig Colman Stands up

Michael Padraig Colman O’Leary is an Irishman who was a civil servant in England who also wrote articles the English version of a French publication. He chose to settle down in Uva District at some point way back with his charming Sri Lankan wife Tiny.

Padraig + tiny

He has recently moved to the hinterland of Colombo. His writing and investigative instincts remain strong and he sustains a web site.

He took up some of the challenges associated with Eelam War IV and its aftermath. He participated in the discussions pursued by the Marga Research Institute when Marga investigated the foreign investigators – leading to such outcomes as these reviews:

Marga 2011 An Analysis and Evaluation of The Report of the Advisory Panel to the UNSG nn the Final Stages of the War in Sri Lanka, https://www.dropbox.com/s/0eybj1ynej6spaa/The%20Darusman%20Report-%20Final%20doc-2.doc

Marga 2014 Issues of Truth and Accountability. The Last Stages of the War in Sri Lanka, https://www.dropbox.com/s/tdxwntf7wu5andq/The%20Last%20Stages%20of%20the%20war%20in%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf?n=66191473

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Filed under accountability, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, war reportage, world events & processes

August 21, 2018 · 3:29 pm

Sri Lankan Baila: Its Roots and Variations

Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya, courtesy of THE CEYLANKAN, Vol XXI, No 3, August 2018 … with highlighting emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi

The extraordinary love of the Portuguese for music is epitomised at El Ksar el Kabir in Morocco, in 1578, where 10 000 guitars lay on the battlefield, near the dead Portuguese soldiers. The Portuguese took guns and guitars to battlefields! Is it surprising that the Portuguese presence is vibrant through Sri Lankan popular music – Baila?

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Filed under art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes

August 20, 2018 · 3:19 pm

Terrorsim in Britain has been Blunted and Contained

THE SPECTATOR, Editorial, 18 August 2018, with title “Terrorism isn’t ‘losing’. It has already lost”

By now, the routine is familiar: a lone wolf strikes, roads are sealed off, buildings locked down and a biographical picture begins to emerge. Often, the perpetrator turns out to be born and bred in Britain. His astonished friends and neighbours say they saw no signs that he had succumbed to fanaticism. It later emerges that radicalisation happened incredibly quickly — perhaps inspired by online videos — and the terror plan was so low-tech that interception would have been impossible. How, it might be asked, can any country protect itself against such threats?

Pic from Getty

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Filed under atrocities, democratic measures, ethnicity, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, legal issues, life stories, meditations, performance, press freedom & censorship, rehabilitation, Responsibility to Protect or R2P, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

August 20, 2018 · 9:39 am

CIA Network Identified and Eliminated in China

Zach Dorfman, in Foreign Policy, 15 August 2018, where the title runs thus: “Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Chinese Agents”

It was considered one of the CIA’s worst failures in decades: Over a two-year period starting in late 2010, Chinese authorities systematically dismantled the agency’s network of agents across the country, executing dozens of suspected U.S. spies. But since then, a question has loomed over the entire debacle. How were the Chinese able to roll up the network?

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Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, governance, landscape wondrous, security, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes

August 20, 2018 · 4:06 am

Digs for Ancient Chinese Artefacts in Jaffna and South

Zhang Kun, in China Daily … taken up by News-in-Asia, 16 August 2018, where the title is “Sino-Lankan archaeologists look for Chinese artifacts buried in Jaffna”

Archaeologists from the Shanghai Museum embarked on a 40-day excavation mission to Sri Lanka on Monday. The group will be working in ancient ruins in Jaffna alongside representatives from the Central Cultural Fund and a local university in Sri Lanka.

the archeologists’ team from the Shanghai Museum

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Filed under China and Chinese influences, cultural transmission, landscape wondrous, life stories, sri lankan society, teaching profession, transport and communications, world events & processes

August 20, 2018 · 3:24 am

Impressive India House Ceremony in Colombo on 15th August

Editor, News-in-Asia, 15 August 2018, where the title runs “Large attendance marked India’s 71 st. Independence Day celebrations in Colombo”

An impressively large number of resident Indians and Sri Lankans braved inclement weather to attend the Indian Independence Day flag hoisting ceremony held at ‘India House’ here on Wednesday. Men, women and children dressed in their best, turned up to express their joy over India’s turning 71, and to show their solidarity with a resurgent India.

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Filed under accountability, foreign policy, governance, heritage, Indian Ocean politics, Indian traditions, sri lankan society, world events & processes

August 20, 2018 · 3:16 am

New Constitution opens door for CBK and Mahinda to enter Presidency Stakes

EDITOR, News-in-Asia, 19 August 2018, where the title is “No constitutional bar on becoming Lankan President more than twice, says constitutional expert Prof.G.L.Peiris”

Prof. G.L.Peiris, a former Sri Lankan Minister for Constitutional Affairs who is currently one of the leaders of the Joint Opposition (JO), has said that there is no constitutional bar against any person being President of Sri Lanka more than twice, even though the 19 th.Amendment (19A) enacted in 2015 says that a person cannot be President more than twice.

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Filed under authoritarian regimes, constitutional amendments, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, legal issues, politIcal discourse, Presidential elections, sri lankan society

August 19, 2018 · 10:35 am

Dharmapāla’s Seminal Moment at Buddha Gāya in 1891: An Anagārika for the Universe

Michael Roberts, courtesy of The Island and Sunday Times and with thanks to Sasanka Perera & Steve Kemper

Sasanka Perera has recently introduced readers to a new book by Steven Kemper entitled Rescuing Dharmapala from the Nation (University of Chicago Press, 2015) – a book which surveys the socio-political activities of the Anagarika Dharmapala in a refreshing manner. I have yet to get hold of the book, but Sasanka provides enough commentary to provoke a discussion.

Dharmapala in USA –probably at the World Congress of Religions 1893

Within a context where Dharmapala aka Don David Hewavitarne is regarded as an influential Sinhala Buddhist chauvinist by many social scientists analysing Sri Lankan history and politics, Perera indicates that Kemper provides broader dimensions by re-situating Dharmapala “within the Buddhist world of his time by … focusing on his international activities in aid of Buddhist causes and cross-faith discussions.” Kemper’s new work, therefore, is a modification of the Protestant Buddhist thesis popularized in social science circles by Gananath Obeyesekere’s writings in particular. Continue reading →