Take a TRIP DOWN THE LIGHT FANTASTIC with the RIGHT MUSIC, VIEW = https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/14d526b94b7380a8?projector=1 …. Jacquie Lee – It’s Our World (From Disneynature’s “Monkey Kingdom”)
GREAT MUSIC; GREAT CLIPS; GREAT SCENERY … CHEEKY FUN MONKEYS
rogue monkey –Pic from newsfirst.lk Continue reading
Filed under landscape wondrous, travelogue
Paul Lays, Editor of History Today … at http://www.historytoday.com/paul-lay/christopher-bayly-1945-2015
The sudden, unexpected death last month of the distinguished historian Christopher Bayly, one of the pioneers of global history and a remarkable scholar of India in particular, came as a tremendous shock to those many who knew him, indeed anyone who had admired and absorbed his innovative, brilliant works.
I had heard him lecture on a number of occasions and was lucky to meet him a couple of times, though I did not know him well, unlike his books, which I returned to again and again, as much for sheer pleasure as for their limitless insights. One person who did know him well was the British scholar David Armitage, Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History at Harvard, who offers this tribute to his colleague and friend:
Only connect’: the motto was E. M. Forster’s but it could easily have been Chris Bayly’s. Chris always joined what others had put asunder: town and country in his first book, the history of Allahabad in the 18th century; the century across the alleged ‘colonial’ divide in India in his classic Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars (1983); metropolitan Britain and its global empire in Imperial Meridian (1989); every part of the globe in his multi-dimensional masterpiece, The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914 and intellectual history and South Asian history in Recovering Liberties (2012), among his many scholarly achievements, unparalleled by any other historian of his generation. Above all, Chris connected people, through mentoring, collaboration and exchange, across regions and fields but most lastingly across generations. For him, there was no collegiality without conviviality. The 25 years I knew him seem like one long conversation, in seminar rooms and (especially) watering-holes from Sydney to Chicago and many points between. Two of my own books simply would not have existed without him; at least two others would have been greatly the poorer without his prodding and encouragement. I still can’t speak of Chris in the past tense: the questions he asked, the books he leaves and the kindness he spread will all continue to inspire new connections across the world. Continue reading
SEE … LISTEN …. https://www.facebook.com/slupfa/videos/10153180587736259/ …
Whatever Religion, Race or Community you come from, I bow to this wonderful message…. says FARIS MARIKAR
Sri Lanka first nation to protect all mangrove forests”
Sri Lanka has become the first nation in the world to comprehensively protect all of its mangrove forests. A scheme backed by the government will include alternative job training, replanting projects and microloans. Mangroves are considered to be one of the world’s most at-risk habitats, with more than half being lost or destroyed in the past century. Conservationists hope other mangrove-rich nations will follow suit and adopt a similar protection model. Commenting on the agreement, Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena said: “It is the responsibility and the necessity of all government institutions, private institutions, non-government organisations, researchers, intelligentsia and civil community to be united to protect the mangrove ecosystem.”
The Sri Lankan government is a joint partner overseeing the measures, alongside global NGO Seacology, and Sri Lanka-based Sudeesa, which was formerly known as the Small Fishers Federation of Lanka. Seacology executive director Duane Silverstein said the pioneering framework had “extreme importance as a model” that could be used throughout the world. Continue reading
* * Courtesy of The TAMIL DIPLOMAT, 12 May 2015 , 
See David Cook, “Suicide Attacks or Martyrdom Operations in Contemporary Jihad Literature,” Nova Religio 6 (2002), pp. 7-44… ……. AT http://www.ozlanka.com/commentary/jihad.htm
Pic from pixshark.com
The Last Night [89] He said: one of the Companions said: the Messenger of God ordered us to recite it previous to a raid, and we recited it, took booty and were safe. [90] Continue reading
Seymour Hersh and the London Review of Books
US forces killed Osama bin Laden with the full cooperation of Pakistani intelligence agencies, who had kept the 9/11 mastermind prisoner inside his infamous Abbottabad compound for years before the fatal raid, a new bombshell report claims. The report, a lengthy article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, widely contradicts multiple elements of the original account of the May 2011 raid by U.S. forces provided by the Obama administration and other federal government figures.
“The White House still maintains that the mission was an all-American affair, and that the senior generals of Pakistan’s army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) were not told of the raid in advance. This is false, as are many other elements of the Obama administration’s account,” Hersh wrote in the 10,000-word expose published online Sunday on the London Review of Books website. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, Al Qaeda, american imperialism, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, security, slanted reportage, Taliban, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war crimes, world events & processes
David B. S. Jeyaraj, courtesy of the Daily Mirror, 9 May 2015, where the title is “Defeat of LTTE and Demise of Tiger Leader Prabhakaran in May 2009″
The month of May is significant in the history of the Tamil secessionist armed struggle in Sri Lanka. It was on May 5, 1976, that a section of militant Sri Lankan Tamil youths re-organized themselves into an organization called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which had the establishment of a separate Tamil State on the Island through armed struggle as its fundamental objective. It was on May 14, 1976, that the chief political configuration of the Sri Lankan Tamils re-named itself as the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and adopted a resolution demanding the creation of a Tamil State called “Tamil Eelam”comprising the Northern and Eastern Provinces of the Island. Decades later in May 2009, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam underwent a total military defeat at the hands of the Sri Lankan armed forces in the Mullaitheevu district of Sri Lanka’s northern province. Four days in May from May 15 to May 18 were of crucial importance in this regard. On May 19, 2009, South Asia’s longest war came to an end with the official announcement that the LTTE leader Thiruvengadam Veluppillai Prabhakaran was dead. His body was recovered on the banks of the Mullaitheevu lagoon known as “Nandhikkadal”.
Filed under accountability, discrimination, ethnicity, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, war reportage, world affairs, zealotry
Courtesy of Jayantha Somasundaram of Canberra
Conservative Party candidate of Sri Lankan origin Ranil Jayawardena, who was running for election in North East Hampshire, has been elected to the UK Parliament. He had polled 35,573 votes (66%), according to UK elections results released yesterday. North East Hampshire is reportedly considered to be a safe Tory seat, which was comfortably won with a majority of over 18,000 votes in 2010. Ranil, whose parents are from Sri Lanka, has served as a local Councillor since 2008 and is Deputy Leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
thuppahi
