May 1, 2018 · 9:55 am

The Hidden Natural Treasures of Sinharaja Forest, Lanka: Snaps in 2014

Roshan Quintus

I was invited to participate in a  YZA Field trip to Sinharaja in 2014 as I was working on a wildlife protection related campaign. YZA office bearers and senior members conducted this field trip. Professional veteran naturalists and environmentalists Messrs Jagath Gunawardane, Uditha Hettige, Isuru De Zoysa, Pubudu  Weerarathne, and Parami Vidyarathne were among the resource persons.

A NOTE by Michael Roberts:  VISIT http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/profile/284224/ for toher dimensions of Roshan’s ‘work’.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under art & allure bewitching, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, photography, sri lankan society, unusual people

April 30, 2018 · 2:56 am

On Theresa May’s Imperialist Stance on Syria — A Canadian Radical

Chris Black, courtesy of https://journal-neo.org/2018/04/20/the-stench-of-imperialism-the-statement-of-theresa-may/where the title tuns  The Stench of Imperialism: The Statement of Theresa May” ... with highlights by Editor, Thuppahi

On April 16 the British prime minister, Theresa May made a speech to parliament setting out the “justifications” for Britain’s participation on the aggression against Syria in the dead-of-night missile attack of April 14. Throughout her speech she dramatically referred to barrel bombs and the smell of gas in the air yet in the hall where she spoke it was the stench of imperialism that filled the air.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under american imperialism, British imperialism, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, violence of language, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes

April 29, 2018 · 6:41 am

Reflections: Interpreting the Gash Files IV

Michael Roberts

I proceed, here, to extract motifs from the details on the happenings in 2009 within the principle theatre of war that have been summarized in Gash IV. This arena has been aptly identified as “the Vanni Pocket” by Serge de Silva-Ranasinghe[1] and is in the north western corner of the island. My comments will be marked A, B, C, etc for ease of reference.

  Situation Map, 2 February 2009

A= The Grand Strategy of the LTTE

In his secret situation report of the 28th January, Lt. Col. Gash notes: “The LTTE appear to have no options left, and the language on TamilNet and other similar platforms is clearly striving for international intervention to force a ceasefire on the GoSL. Further civilian casualties are now inevitable as they no longer have options to move away from the combat zone. Without the presence of the IDPs the LTTE would be subjected to unrestricted air and artillery strikes, so have no incentive to release them. The SLA is exercising restraint but, without a change in political mood, will not hold back entirely.”

Continue reading →

23 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, British imperialism, conspiracies, disparagement, doctoring evidence, Eelam, ethnicity, fundamentalism, gordon weiss, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, Responsibility to Protect or R2P, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, wikileaks, world events & processes

April 27, 2018 · 2:40 am

A Slashing Critique of Hillary Clinton and the HR Lobby in April-May 2009: Realities of War

Michael Roberts: reproducing an article drafted in late April 2009 and appearing in FRONTLINE Volume 26 – Issue 10 :: May. 09-22, 2009 **


 Frontline
Volume 26 – Issue 10 :: May. 09-22, 2009
INDIA’S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU		 • Contents
Printer Friendly PageSend this Article to a Friend

COVER STORY

Realities of war

MICHAEL ROBERTS

A response challenging the calls for ceasefire as a solution to the hard realities around the LTTE’s endgame.

SRI LANKA NAVY HANDOUT/REUTERS 

IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH released by the Sri Lanka Navy on April 21, people flee a beach controlled by the LTTE in the north-east of the island nation.

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IDP camps, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, refugees, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry

April 26, 2018 · 9:02 am

Spiritual Amity and Reconciliation: The Way Forward

Courtesy of Mervyn de Silva

1 Comment

Filed under charitable outreach, democratic measures, energy resources, heritage, Indian religions, landscape wondrous, life stories, power sharing, religiosity

April 26, 2018 · 3:21 am

Immaculate Follies: The Contradictions within Wars of Humanitarian Intervention

George Friedman, in STRATfor Worldview, 5 April 2011, where the title is “Immaculate Intervention: Wars of Humanitarianism,” …. Note that the highlighting and break-up into paragraphs are the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

There are wars in pursuit of interest. In these wars, nations pursue economic or strategic ends to protect the nation or expand its power. There are also wars of ideology, designed to spread some idea of “the good,” whether this good is religious or secular. The two obviously can be intertwined, such that a war designed to spread an ideology also strengthens the interests of the nation spreading the ideology. Since Word War II, a new class of war has emerged that we might call humanitarian wars — wars in which the combatants claim to be fighting neither for their national interest nor to impose any ideology, but rather to prevent inordinate human suffering.

Devil selling angel wings.

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, cultural transmission, discrimination, doctoring evidence, economic processes, foreign policy, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, Islamic fundamentalism, law of armed conflict, legal issues, LTTE, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, Responsibility to Protect or R2P, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes

April 26, 2018 · 2:22 am

Achtung: New Waves of Anti-Semitism in Germany

Soeren Kern, courtesy of The Gatestone Institute , 21 April 2018, where the title reads thus:  “New waves of Anti-Semitism in Germany: A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Germany: March 2018,”

  A far-right rally in Berlin commemorates the 30th anniversary of the death of leading Nazi figure Rudolf Hess, on Aug. 19, 2017. (Photo: Frank Jordans, AP)

  • Anti-Semitism is running rampant at German primary schools, according to Heinz-Peter Meidinger, president of the President of the German Teachers’ Association (Deutschen Lehrerverbandes, DL). He also said that videos of beheadings are commonplace at German schools, and that female pupils are being threatened with murder. “In chat forums like WhatsApp, movies such as ISIS beheading videos are spreading like wildfire.”
  • “It is unacceptable that non-Muslim and above all Jewish children have to be afraid of going to school in this country because they are being labeled as ‘unbelievers’ and even threatened with death…. Since autumn… Kuwait Airways is allowed to discriminate against Jews at Frankfurt Airport, and the Federal Government does not object.  Let us not fool ourselves: it is the Federal Government, which, for inexplicable reasons, allows Jews in Germany to be treated like this.” — Julian Reichelt, Editor-in-Chief of Bild.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, atrocities, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, fundamentalism, governance, immigration, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, tolerance, working class conditions, world events & processes

April 25, 2018 · 1:52 pm

Swirling ‘Twittering’ Cricketing Moments in ESPN Twitter

VISIT http://www.espncricinfo.com/thestands/content/gallery/917979.html

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under art & allure bewitching, commoditification, cricket for amity, world affairs

April 24, 2018 · 1:00 am

A Corpse That has Healed and Linked Japanese and Aussies

Ian  McPhedran, in The Australian, 23 April 2018, where the title reads “Anzac Day: for Jack Hart, battle within was more ferocious than hand-to-hand combat in war”

Jack Hart went to war — twice. The first time, he survived critical injuries deep in the jungle. The second time, it was the psychological injuries that nearly did him in, says his former wife, Jean.

Izumi and Bill Hart with a copy of a monograph about Jack Hart written by Bill’s mother, Jean, and the signed World War II flag returned to a Japanese peace museum.
Izumi and Bill Hart with a copy of a monograph about Jack Hart written by Bill’s mother, Jean, and the signed World War II flag returned to a Japanese peace museum.

John Edward Hart was born in Sydney in 1923, enlisted in 1941 and was posted to Rabaul on the island of New Britain as an anti-aircraft gunner attached to the 1400-strong Lark Force in August 1941. Five months later, the Japanese captured Rabaul. Hart was among a small number of Diggers who escaped. Most of Lark Force were either killed in the battle, captured and executed, or died later when an American submarine sank the Japanese prison ship Montevideo Maru. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, pilgrimages, reconciliation, rehabilitation, religiosity, self-reflexivity, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people

April 23, 2018 · 9:47 am

A Catering Kitchen in Mannar: Mothers 4 Mothers

An Appeal for Donations from BRIDGING LANKA

Dear Michael, … As we edge nearer to Mothers’ Day, we are trying to raise funds for a project which is close to our hearts — the building of a catering kitchen and cafe for our widows to enable their financial survival: https://chuffed.org/project/mothers-4-mothers

This project focuses on vulnerable women who’d been affected by the war.  Many are widows, some were deserted, some are disabled and some have been victims of rape and assault, many have children to care for.  They are a bunch of survivors, admirable people, wonderful cooks and carers.  Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, charitable outreach, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, life stories, reconciliation, rehabilitation, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, tolerance, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes