July 23, 2018 · 3:48 am

Germany: Humanist Fundamentalism saves Al-Qaeda Fundamentalist from Deportation

Soeren Kern, item from The Gatestone Institute , 18 April 2018, …. where the title is “Germany’s Dysfunctional Deportation System”

  • Aidoudi’s asylum request was rejected in 2007 after allegations surfaced that he had undergone military training at an al-Qaeda jihadi camp in Afghanistan between 1999 and 2000. During his training, he had allegedly worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin-Laden.
  • The government in North Rhine-Westphalia confirmed that for years Aidoudi had been receiving €1,168 ($1,400) each month in welfare and child support payments.
  • “Salafists such as Sami A. have no business in Germany and should be deported. Germany should not be a retirement retreat for jihadists.” — Alexander Dobrindt, Member of the German Bundestag.
  • Sami Aidoudi (left) lived in Germany since 1997, until he was deported to his homeland of Tunisia on July 13, 2018. He is alleged to have undergone military training at an al-Qaeda jihadi camp in Afghanistan between 1999 and 2000. He had allegedly worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin-Laden (right) during his training. (Image sources: Aidoudi – SpiegelTV video screenshot; Bin Laden – Wikimedia Commons)

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, Al Qaeda, asylum-seekers, authoritarian regimes, cultural transmission, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Islamic fundamentalism, jihad, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, Taliban, terrorism, unusual people, war crimes, world events & processes, zealotry

July 23, 2018 · 3:32 am

Shreya Ghoshal to sing in Melbourne This August

Item from The Indian Sun, 22 July 2018, where the title runs “Shreya brings her scores to the shores Down Under”

The beautiful and rich voice of Shreya Ghoshal will be heard on Australian shores this August when the singers, one of the most famous in Bollywood, performs live. Often referred to as an “energetic powerhouse” on stage, Sheya’s off-stage persona is very different from what you see on stage. “Sometimes it is good to be ignorant of yourself,” laughs the singer.

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under art & allure bewitching, australian media, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, unusual people

July 22, 2018 · 7:20 pm

Bunfight over Galle Cricket Stadium due to Heritage Issues

Champika Fernando, in Daily Mirror, 22 July 2018, where the title runs “Galle Stadium conundrum: The inside story”

Citing UNESCO requirements that do not exist, the Government decided this week to demolish the pavilions at the historic Galle International Cricket Stadium and to relocate the venue elsewhere. Government representatives at a recent meeting resolved to demolish the “intrusive” constructions and to set aside land in Pinnaduwa for a new cricket stadium. Among them were four ministers: Vajira Abeywardena and Sagala Ratnayake from the Southern Province, Sports Minister Faiszer Musthapha and Cultural Affairs Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakse.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, legal issues, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, world affairs

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