July 20, 2018 · 2:28 pm

Export Strategy for Sri Lanka Initiated

Editor, News-in-Asia, 20 July 2018, where the title is “Sri Lanka launches ambitious 5 yr National Export Strategy to boost economic growth”

The Sri Lankan government has launched a five year National Export Strategy (NES) to boost foreign investments, foreign exchange earnings and employment, the Daily FT reported Friday. Addressing the launch of the five year NES strategy, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the key objective of the NES  was to increase the capacity of the local export sector, improve trade performance and competitiveness and ensure different sectors of the economy evolved to grab a share of the global market in reaching the government’s goal of 28 billion US dollars in export revenue by 2022.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under commoditification, economic processes, export issues, foreign policy, island economy, modernity & modernization, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, sri lankan society, world events & processes

July 17, 2018 · 2:49 pm

A Slashing Critique of All Lanka’s Political Houses via a Bhikkhu who strangulates a Cop

Tisaranee Gunasekara, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, 15 July 2018, where the title reads “Clowns Or Murderers: Our Hobson’s Choice” …. with emphasis being the hand of The Editor, Thuppahi

The news was sensational, yet it was downplayed. The chief incumbent of a temple in Ratnapura strangled a police sergeant to death. The monk has been absconding after being charged with sexual abuse. The sergeant went to the temple to hand over the summons. He went alone and unarmed; after all, he was going to a temple to meet a monk. The sergeant’s screams alerted the neighbours who called 119. When a police team rushed to the temple, the monk greeted them with a hand grenade.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under atrocities, authoritarian regimes, disparagement, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, Hitler, landscape wondrous, life stories, news fabrication, politIcal discourse, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, working class conditions, world events & processes

July 17, 2018 · 5:25 am

Does Terrorism Work? The Palestinian Story, 1939-47

Bruce Hoffman

ABSTRACT: Does terrorism work? Its targets and victims steadfastly maintain that it does not; its practitioners and apologists that it does. Scholars and analysts are divided. But, if terrorism is as ineffective as many claim, why has it persisted for at least the past two millennia and indeed become an increasingly popular means of violent political expression in the twenty-first century? Using the Jewish terrorist campaign against the British in Palestine during the 1940s, this article attempts to shed light on this question.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under arab regimes, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, ethnicity, foreign policy, historical interpretation, jihad, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, martyrdom, Middle Eastern Politics, military strategy, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, suicide bombing, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

July 17, 2018 · 4:34 am

USA’s Recent Blackmailing Efforts against Breastfeeding Resolution at WHO Assembly in Geneva

Andrew Jacobs in New York Times, 8 July 2018, where the title reads “Opposition to Breast-Feeding Resolution by U.S. Stuns World Health Officials”

A resolution to encourage breast-feeding was expected to be approved quickly and easily by the hundreds of government delegates who gathered this spring in Geneva for the United Nations-affiliated World Health Assembly. Based on decades of research, the resolution says that mother’s milk is healthiest for children and countries should strive to limit the inaccurate or misleading marketing of breast milk substitutes. Then the United States delegation, embracing the interests of infant formula manufacturers, upended the deliberations.

American officials sought to water down the resolution by removing language that called on governments to “protect, promote and support breast-feeding” and another passage that called on policymakers to restrict the promotion of food products that many experts say can have deleterious effects on young children

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, conspiracies, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, female empowerment, gender norms, governance, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

July 13, 2018 · 11:20 pm

Prabhakaran oversees digging at Mass Grave in Mannar Town

Daily News Item, 13 July 2018, where the title is“ Mass grave discovered in Mannar”

A mass grave with 38 skeletons has been discovered in Sri Lanka’s former war zone where the government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels were engaged in pitched battles in 2009, officials said today.  Skeletal remains of around 38 people have been found during the ground digging to build a new construction at the old cooperative store site in the northeastern town of Mannar. 

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under atrocities, military strategy, politIcal discourse, prabhakaran, sri lankan society, taking the piss, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, trauma, vengeance, war crimes, world events & processes

July 12, 2018 · 3:50 am

Neville Jayaweera’s Vavuniya Diaries on the JVP Insurgency of 1971

THE VAVUNIYA DIARIES (recollecting the first JVP uprising 5th April 1971 – 19th August 1971)

by Neville Jayaweera, Government Agent Vavuniya Administrative District 1970-1973

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, atrocities, caste issues, conspiracies, economic processes, female empowerment, governance, historical interpretation, insurrections, island economy, JVP, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes

July 12, 2018 · 3:45 am

Bob Carr’s Sharp Criticism of Present China-Bashing by Aussie Ministers, Media and Intellectuals

Bob Carr, courtesy of The Australian Financial Review, 10 July 2018, where the title reads as follows:’Get tough rhetoric has denied us any sway in Beijing”… with highlights being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

As foreign minister I recall an irritating flare-up in our relations with one of the Pacific states. There had been a “misunderstanding” at Sydney airport that upset the island state’s prime minister. The anger ran strong and the state contemplated a big anti-Australian gesture: terminating an arrangement under which we trained their police. And, here’s the rub, inviting China to fill the gap.

More interesting was the Chinese response, captured by one of our agencies. China rejected the notion of moving in because it knew it would antagonise Australia. At the time we had differences with China over Huawei and US Marines, but still managed a mutually respectful, pragmatic relationship.

 Malcolm Turnbull gratuitously opted to parody Chairman Mao when introducing anti-foreign interference legislation. AAP

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under american imperialism, Australian culture, australian media, authoritarian regimes, China and Chinese influences, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, export issues, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, military strategy, modernity & modernization, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, transport and communications, world events & processes

July 10, 2018 · 2:11 pm

Accusers Accused — by Lord Michael Naseby

Item in Daily Mirror, 9 July 2018

Baron Lord Naseby said both the UK and the US were guilty of atrocities and that the two countries should inform the UN Human Rights Commission to withdraw the resolution against Sri Lanka. Lord Naseby, the President of the All Party British Sri Lanka Parliamentary Group, said this after reading the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee report published on June 28.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, British imperialism, conspiracies, disparagement, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes

July 10, 2018 · 10:55 am

A Wiradjuri Woman Medico becomes South Australia’s Rhodes Scholar for 2018

ONE: News Item from University of Adelaide: “Indigenous Doctor is Rhodes Scholar for South Australia,” 26 October 2017

Outstanding University of Adelaide medical graduate Dr Claudia Paul has become the third Australian Indigenous person to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, having been named the 2018 Rhodes Scholar for South Australia. Dr Paul, 24, a Wiradjuri woman from Broken Hill, will use her scholarship to undertake a Masters of International Health and Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford from next year. The Governor of South Australia, His Excellency Hieu Van Le, AC, announced Dr Paul as the Rhodes Scholar for South Australia at a ceremony at Government House late yesterday.

Claudia Paul with Governor Hieu Van Le …. a dinky-die local with a Vietnamese refugee migrant from the 1970s … Hurray

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Australian culture, australian media, cultural transmission, democratic measures, economic processes, education, female empowerment, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, medical marvels, meditations, people smugglers, self-reflexivity, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

July 8, 2018 · 2:23 pm

Foul Tactics in Soccer, Cricket, Sport … Yuck!

Will Swanton, from The Weekend Australian, 7-8 July 2018, where the title is “When Our Heroes cross the Line”

The Socceroos are playing Italy at the 2006 World Cup. Lucas Neill slides into a tackle on Fabio Grosso. His left elbow and hand make contact with the Azzurri player’s legs. Grosso goes down with the theatricality of Macbeth being slain by Macduff. The referee blows his whistle for a penalty. Francesco Totti kicks the last-minute goal and the Australians are on their way to the airport. All because of Grosso’s con job.

The Boomers Daniel Kickert

It’s a famous moment in Australian sport. The most potent of all Socceroos teams has threatened to beat a powerhouse of the global game and reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, cultural transmission, disparagement, historical interpretation, life stories, performance, self-reflexivity, taking the piss, world events & processes