March 8, 2025 · 10:29 pm

Mehdi Hasan’s U-Tube Interview with Ranil Wickremasinghe

Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa, in Groundviews, …. https://groundviews.org/2025/03/07/sentiment-analysis-of-ranil-wickremesinghes-al-jazeera-interview-with-mehdi-hasan/

Renowned journalist Mehdi Hasan interviewed the former president Ranil Wickremesinghe on a programme of Head to Head, produced by Al Jazeera. The programme was released to YouTube and first broadcast on March 6.

At the time I studied 5,144 comments in response to it, the video had been watched over 218,620 times and liked over 8,000 times. Comments, views and likes are increasing at pace, which means that by the time this is read, the sentiments, trends and patterns analysed are not going to fully or accurately capture additional sentiment. What follows must be read as a study of the sentiments in the comments published at the time of writing this post.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, electoral structures, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, life stories, modernity & modernization, parliamentary elections, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, world events & processes

March 8, 2025 · 4:56 pm

Developing Hambantota Port: The Controversy in 2019

Michael Roberts

An aerial drone photo taken on March 28, 2024 shows the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka. Located in the south of Sri Lanka, the Hambantota Port is one of the signature projects of Belt and Road cooperation between China and Sri Lanka. (Photo by Xu Qin/Xinhua via Getty Images)

My Set of Bibliographical References

An Insider: “The Internal Tussles & Vagaries and Scheming that hindered the Development of the Hambantota Port Project,” 15 September 2021, https://thuppahis.com/2021/09/15/the-internal-tussles-vagaries-and-scheming-that-hindered-the-development-of-the-hambantoa-port-project/#more-55017

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, Colombo and Its Spaces, demography, devolution, economic processes, electoral structures, export issues, foreign policy, governance, growth pole, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, population, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, world events & processes

March 8, 2025 · 10:36 am

Galle Face Green in Colombo: Pictorials Over the Years

A Thuppahi Journey

Panoramic view of Galle Face Colombo, Sri Lanka around 1880s-1900, looking south from Galle Road (later this path became the Galle Road), ClubHouse & Galleface Hotel (far right) showing in the background……… Lankapura …. https://lankapura.com/2011/04/panoramic-view-galle-face-green-colombo/

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, communal relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, photography, political demonstrations, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue

March 8, 2025 · 12:16 am

Full-Frontal: The Trump-Zelensky Spat …… Implications

Dr. Matthew Crosston  … article in Modern Diplomacy with the title reading: “Trump vs. Zelensky: Popping the Proxy War”  …. presented here wthout the accompanying photos [tech issues]

History will likely look back on the three-year anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war and note that it was the beginning of the end in real terms.

After the sensationalized public breakdown between Presidents Zelensky and Trump in the Oval Office, an off-the-rails meeting now witnessed and commented on endlessly the world over, it is difficult to imagine the conflict on the Eastern front of Ukraine is going to just continue on as before.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, disparagement, governance, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, Russian history, security, truth as casualty of war, Ukraine & Its Ramifications, world events & processes

March 7, 2025 · 7:35 pm

Neyara Weerawansa as Prospective Tennis Star

 

Item in Daily Mirror in Sri Lanka, 6 March 2025, entitled “Neyara Weerawansa triumphs in Australia”

Rising Sri Lankan tennis star Neyara Weerawansa has made an impressive mark in Australia by clinching the RSY Club Championship title in the Women’s Category.

ave won my first tournament here in Australia. It was a great experience competing at the RSY Club Championship, and I look forward to more opportunities to challenge myself and grow as a player,” said Neyara after her victory.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under art & allure bewitching, australian media, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, life stories, performance, travelogue

March 6, 2025 · 7:40 pm

China’s Growth Over the Centuries

Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde (Retd) …. with Memo to his Retiree Colleagues in the Sri Lankan Armed Services

Dear RAFOA member,  As I see, the way strategic matters are taking shape in our beloved Sri Lanka, the Chinese factor has come to stay in relation to the three aspects to be taken care for the progress of a nation-state i.e. political, economic and social development. Therefore, I strongly feel that we all need to have an idea of how China came to be a world power. Accordingly attached is a brief on Imperial China, the first of a series of eDocs compiled on China covering its journey from 221 BC to the present day.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, demography, economic processes, ethnicity, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, travelogue, world events & processes

March 6, 2025 · 12:57 am

Rare & Magical Animal Scenarios

Ross Bilton in The Australian Weekend Magazine, 22-23 February 2025, “showcasing two decades of amazing photography”

A tiger shark circling the carcass of a young humpback whale. A red-eyed tree frog plagued by mosquitoes. A Maori octopus selecting its prey from a huge ­aggregation of spider crabs. A grey-headed flying fox making a low pass over water in order to take a drink on a hot ­summer’s day. These are some of the winning images featured in the 20 Years of Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year exhibition, at the National ­Archives of Australia in Canberra until April 27.

Fighting Egrets….by Allen Peate

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under australian media, performance, photography, travelogue, wild life, world events & processes

March 5, 2025 · 10:05 pm

The Royal-Thomian: A Message from Revd Marc Billimoria

A Message in Facebook from the Retd Warden, Fr. Marc Billimoria. early March 2026 

It is one year this week since I was part of organizing this spectacular sporting event – the blue ribbon and quintessential Big Match, the Battle of the Blues, the Royal-Thomian Cricket encounter, for the last time as Warden. The run up to the event and its aftermath, (particularly in the face of a loss) are equally or even more stressful for those in the ‘hot seats’ at both Mount Lavinia and Reid Avenue, the Warden and the Principal, due to so many ‘behind-the-scenes goings-on’ as well as the expectations of so many different individuals and groups, such as the unfair and unrealistic expectation that amateur schoolboy cricketers will play like professionals or the undue pressure on them to win at any or all cost.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, Colombo and Its Spaces, cricket for amity, cricket selections, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, patriotism, performance, Royal College, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, teaching profession

March 5, 2025 · 3:31 pm

India Outlast Australia in ODI Semi-Final

   Karthik Krishnaswamy, in ESPNcricinfo, March 2025

Dubai will host the final of the Champions Trophy, and India will be in it, after proving their edge over a weakened Australia side in an absorbing first semi-final. Their win wasn’t achieved without a fight, however, and Australia may yet look back on several moments that could have moved the contest in other, tantalising directions.

In the end, India’s quality and experience made the telling difference, and the member of their line-up who most embodies those words was a central figure. Virat Kohli had made one of his trademark chase-controlling hundreds earlier in the tournament, against Pakistan, and seemed set for another here, only for an uncharacteristic attempt at a big hit to cut his innings short at 84. By then, however, he had passed 8000 runs in ODI chases, and whittled this one down to a more-than-manageable 40 off 44 balls.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, cricket selections, life stories, performance, world events & processes

March 5, 2025 · 12:12 am

Chinese Fleet’s Impact on Sri Lanka in the Early 15th Century 

Charles Schokman’s Discovery of Amazing Facts conveyed in an Email entitled “A Bit of Ceylon History”

Amazing how they sailed with 30,000 sailors on 35 massive ships
In fact some ships were garden ships supplying food to the sailors!
In 2014, I had read that the Chinese had a map of  the East and West coasts of both North and South America dated about 80 years earlier than Columbus’s voyage, owned by Zheng He.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under ancient civilisations, authoritarian regimes, China and Chinese influences, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, power politics, sea warfare, transport and communications, world events & processes