February 1, 2014 · 11:02 am

Australia’s Emergence: Western civilisation’s legacy has a dark side

Riaz Hassan,  Sociology, Flinders University, Adelaide …. from http://theconversation.com/curriculum-review-western-civilisations-legacy-has-a-dark-side-22082 – where revealing blog comments can be located.

The push is currently on for Australia’s national curriculum to place more emphasis on the history of Western civilisation and its values. But if we accept that the purpose of such an education is to achieve a proper and fuller appreciation of this legacy and its role in the making of the modern world (and Australia), we cannot ignore the many significant elements of its dark side.

ABORIGINAL GENOCIDE  Western civilisation and history have a darker side of genocide and land dispossession: a history that is often ignored. Wikimedia Commons

Core Values: It is commonplace to hear that Judeo-Christian values are the core of Western civilisation. But, ironically, destroying Jewish religious idols was key to historical anti-Semitism in Christian European societies. Jews were accused of various kinds of conspiracies and evil designs. Continue reading →

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February 1, 2014 · 10:35 am

“When will we ever learn!” Lessons from the Horrors of War. Declassified plans for the WW II invasion of Japan

Buz on  the  Declassified plans for the WW II invasion of Japan: Operations “Downfall”, “Coronet”, et  cetera

For those interested in WWII, it’s a good short read. Now that the documents have been downgraded I’m sure there are going to be many new books both pro and con on this subject. Interesting!! The magnitude of the planning and operation is unbelievable!!

Deep in the recesses of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., hidden  for nearly four decades lie thousands of pages of yellowing and dusty documents stamped “Top Secret”. These documents, now declassified, are the plans for Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan during World War II.

OKINAWA 33 American troops disembarking at Okinawa

Only a few Americans in 1945 were aware of the elaborate plans that had been prepared for the Allied Invasion of the Japanese home islands. Even fewer today are aware of the defenses the Japanese had prepared to counter the invasion had it been launched. Operation Downfall was finalized during the spring and summer of 1945. It called for two massive military undertakings
to be carried out in succession and aimed at the heart of the Japanese Empire. Continue reading →

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January 31, 2014 · 2:41 am

The War in Sri Lanka: Ravi Nessman’s Slanted Story for USA on the Tavis Smiley Show, 18 February 2009

Ravi Nessman was Associated Press Bureau Chief in 2008/09 based in either Delhi or Colombo. He was carried to the war front on day visits in October 2008[1] and late January 2009. He was certainly located in Colombo when asked by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to speak to America on the show that is simply titled Tavis Smiley. This show usually features “a unique mix of news and pop culture to create a thought-provoking and entertaining program. A hybrid of news, issues and entertainment, it features interviews with artists, activists, news makers, politicians and everyday people.”

Ravi-Nessman as Nieman cluster  18th February 2009 in “episode 18 of Season 6, Smiley interviewed Dr Palitha Kohona and then Ravi Nessman . For a live hearing of the latter session with Nessman, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2ZqLlpuLBE.

Critical Comments are inserted at the end of this word-for-word record of the interview. Michael Roberts Continue reading →

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January 30, 2014 · 2:02 pm

Striving for Evidence of War Crimes: “Cluster Bombs” and Other Dud Weaponry

Gerald H Peiris

This brief comment is set against the backdrop of several media reports on Ambassador Stephan J. Rapp’s recent sojourn in Sri Lanka which appears to have achieved a measure of success in generating fresh “credible evidence” of war crimes allegedly committed during the final phase of the Eelam Wars, while instigating yet another wave of inter-group (and even intra-ethnic group) disharmony in the country. The reports I refer to contain references to a call by the bishops of Mannar and Jaffna whom Mr. Rapp is said to have interviewed for an international probe on whether cluster bombs and chemical weapons were used in attacks on civilians entrapped in the LTTE-controlled areas of the Vanni at that time. According to one of the press reports, the Information Officer of the US Embassy has claimed that Mr. Rapp had “the opportunity to listen to eyewitness accounts of serious human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, including those that occurred at the end of the war”. The report is adorned with an embassy-released photograph captioned “St. Anthany’s Ground – site of January 2009 killing of hundreds of families by army shelling”. There have also been media reports of the Catholic Bishops Conference dissociating itself, in what is a sagacious damage-control move, from the position adopted within the “Mannar, Jaffna Bishops’ War Crimes Charge.” Continue reading →

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January 30, 2014 · 1:10 am

Asokan Mandala in Cricket: Cakravarti Emperors replace ICC

Step One — read Michael Atherton: “It’s the end of the ICC world that we used to sort-of know,” 28 January 2014, http://cricketique.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/its-the-end-of-the-icc-world-that-we-used-to-sort-of-know/

Pl 9 Rajasinha IIStep Two — read the following works

* S. J. Tambiah: “The Galactic Polity: The Structure of Traditional Kingdoms in South East Asia” at http://cricketique.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/its-the-end-of-the-icc-world-that-we-used-to-sort-of-know/ …originally pubd in 1976 in his World Conqueror,World Ruler.

* Paul Wheatley: Pivot of the Four Quareters, … http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/462423/The-Pivot-of-the-Four-Quarters

* the Mandala Concept =  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandala_%28Southeast_Asian_political_model%29

*Michael Roberts: “Mahinda Rajapaksa: Cakravarti Imagery and Populist Processes,” 28 January 2012,  http://thuppahis.com/2012/01/28/mahinda-rajapaksa-cakravarti-imagery-and-populist-processes/

* Victor Lieberman:  Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800-1830, Volume 1: Integration on the Mainland, Cambridge University Press, 2003.

* HL Seneviratne: “”Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah: Anthropologist And Patriot,” at https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/stanley-jeyaraja-tambiah-anthropologist-and-patriot/  Continue reading →

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January 29, 2014 · 2:04 pm

In Appreciation of Stanley Jeyaraj Tambiah: Teacher, Anthropologist, Scholar, Sri Lankan and Humanist Citizen of the World

I: “Professor Stanley Tambiah (1929-2014): A Remembrance,” by Chris Fuller, 24 January 2014, courtesy of  http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Asia&month=1401&week=d&msg=KYddiNr4WSC/Pc49X1yyng THAMBI 11 In the sixties and early seventies, students in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge had the great good fortune to be taught by four outstanding scholars: Meyer Fortes, Edmund Leach, Jack Goody, and S. J. Tambiah (who didn’t call himself “Stanley” in those days).  My personal good fortune was that Tambi – as everyone knew him – was my supervisor (“academic tutor”) in my final year as an undergraduate in 1969-70 and in the early part of my PhD training, before he left for Chicago in 1973.  In this brief reminiscence, I want to pay tribute to him as an inspirational teacher in Cambridge in the period prior to his long career in the US. Continue reading →

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January 28, 2014 · 1:12 pm

Weevils in the Mind among the Obstacles facing Sri Lankans Today

Michael Roberts, reprinted from Groundviews, 22 May 2010,  http://groundviews.org/2010/05/22/challenges-today-weevils-in-the-mind/ because it is deemed pertinent today in association with two recent re-editions of memoranda from Jayantha Dhanapala and Rajasingham Narendran.

Jaffna Pics by Shyam Tekwani

Daya Somasundaram was in Jaffna town in late 1995 when the Sri Lankan army advanced south and eastwards from Palaly. As the LTTE decided upon a strategic withdrawal, they insisted that all the Tamil people should move with them. This enforcement was termed an “Exodus” by some Tamils versed in biblical themes. As Somasundaram relates the tale, many people resented this specific LTTE writ.

Eventually most of the people moved back to their homes in army-occupied territory. Somasundaram was among the professional classes who engaged in their duties in the Jaffna Peninsula in the late 1990s. Within no time army-rule had generated a “collective amnesia” among the Tamils: it was the army that had created the exodus and the Sinhala state was the principal ogre. The role of the LTTE mostly slipped under their retrospective assessments.[i] Continue reading →

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January 28, 2014 · 4:26 am

Harsh Ground Realities in War: Decomposing Bodies and Missing Persons and Soldiers

RAJ NARENRajasingham Narendran, presenting a blog comment within http://transcurrents.com/news-views/archives/6285 which is an article by Michael Roberts, “The Tamil Death Toll in Early 2009: A Misleading Count by Rohan Gunaratna,” 23 November 2011.**

As addendum to Prof. Michael Roberts presentation, I hereby present briefly what I witnessed with regard to the bodies of my family members and others killed by the IPKF on day 10 of their murders: My mother: 68 year old at the time of her killing. Slim build. Had been attacked by animals and crows and was in an advanced state of decay. My brother: 38 year old at the time of his death. neither obese or thin. Body intact though bloated. The gardener: Age approx. 60 years. Obese. All flesh had fallen off and the skeleton was clearly visible .A neighbour’s Watchman: Age approx. 60 years. medium build. Only thigh bones-femurs and the skull remained. The rest of the body had been consumed or carried away by animals. Continue reading →

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January 28, 2014 · 4:11 am

Rajasingham Narendran’s Open Letter to All Sinhalese in 2005

Rajasingham Narendran, courtesy of  http://www.infolanka.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/001127.html, posted on 14 May 2005 … While the political dispensation has changed substantially since this intervention occurred, certain strands of confrontation still remain and this letter is good to think with. It is seen as one facet of a series linked with Jayantha Dhanapala’s LLRC Memorandum and other items that will follow. Also see Editorial Note at the end of the article. EDITOR.

RAJ NARENDRANDear Sinhalese,

I am addressing this letter to you – the Sinhala people, directly, because your leaders of the past did not and the present do not, have the capacity or intention to resolve the Sinhala-Tamil and the majority-minority problems in Sri Lanka. You are their excuse! I am writing this letter firstly as a human being, secondly as a Tamil and thirdly as a fellow Sri Lankan. I am addressing this letter to you as a people with a proud culture and heritage; a people who are compassionate and decent; a people who are largely Buddhist and practice a compassionate religion grounded in the principles of dhamma and karma. I am also addressing you as a people who are the closest to me as a Tamil, in appearance, culture and beliefs. Continue reading →

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January 23, 2014 · 1:19 pm

Three British reporters evicted … ASHES in the dust

David Hopps, Courtesy of ESPNcricinfo

 Australia’s tougher immigration laws are set to see three English tabloid journalists expelled and unable to cover the death throes of England’s disastrous Ashes tour. John Etheridge from The Sun, one of English cricket journalism’s most experienced operators, has been refused licence to stay, as has Dean Wilson from the Mirror and Paul Newman of the Daily Mail. Continue reading →

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