Clik here to view.
It will take a lot to bury 2020, but let's give thanks for being alive
The year 2020 was eminently forgettable and that has very little to do with politics. The obvious need not be stated. As for the political, we had parliamentary elections and the passage of the 20th...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Subramanyam Jaishankar and pounds of flesh
The Indian Foreign Minister arrived in Sri Lanka on Tuesday. His schedule includes discussions with the President, Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister. Any visit by any Indian minister or senior...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Quad halved, then drawn and quartered
This column focuses on local politics. As opposed to global affairs. However, ‘local-global’ is, as sociologists would point out, a false dichotomy. What happens or rather can happen here is by and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The political economy of accusation, guilt and punishment
Whenever predictions are made about repercussions from the international community for things said or left unsaid or else things done or left undone, I am reminded of Libya. Muammar Gaddafi was for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Let's go for 13 Plus
The number 13 is thought by some to be unlucky. Some even believe it is associated with evil. The number 13 is associated with Sri Lankan politics and some may say ‘entrenched’ in it or even use the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s time for the Geneva Circus replete with molehills and mountains
Circus Pacifica, Apollo Circus and of course the amazing Chinese Circus — readers of an earlier generation will no doubt remember these. The Apollo Circus however planted itself on Pedris Park for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Government by, with and for the people or the UNHRC?
Last week we wrote that it's time for the Geneva Circus and that it would come with molehills and mountains. Well, now we have it all in a single document. The report of the High Commissioner for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sri Lanka, bar Embuldeniya, were ‘spot-less’
So. Sri Lanka once again at the embarrassing end of a 2-0 series result. Sure, there were injuries but it was not as much a plague as was the case in South Africa a few weeks ago. Indeed, some may have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ranjan Madugalle's notes on self-belief
We wrote in this column about journeys, leadership and ‘core-beliefs’ following a rare comment or rather a piece of advice offered by Ranjan Madugalle. This would be the fourth in what some might dub...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s the season of condescension
Come January and sometimes even late December, we notice an outpouring of ‘concern’ for Sri Lanka. There are countries which was to help Sri Lanka. There is much noise and much of it comes in the form...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Get ready for the next round of ‘Vexatious Persecution’!
There’s a bill currently at the ‘Committee Stage’ in the UK’s House of Lords which that country’s High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Sarah Hulton, cannot pretend to be unaware of. It’s called ‘The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The USA threw the strategic baby and kept the human rights bathwater
The Committee on Foreign Relations of the US presented an analysis on Sri Lanka to the Senate on December 7, 2009, i.e. almost seven months after the war on terrorism ended with the world’s most...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A draft UNHRC resolution on the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is set to present a resolution at the 46th Sessions of the UNHRC on (read, ‘against’) Sri Lanka. Ideally the United States of America, which co-sponsored a resolution ON (read,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A march, a tweet, some angst and mild sabre-rattling
If something deserves to be called ‘Event of the Week’ it would be the ‘Pothuvil to Poligandy (P2P) March’ which ended on Sunday, February 7. At the end of the march there were around 2,000 people....
View ArticleClik here to view.
UNHRC 46: friends, enemies and navel-gazers name themselves
The Geneva Circus is in full swing. Well, we could also call it ‘The Carnival of Vexatious Prosecution,’ but we know that sweetness (or horror) is not embedded in name. That’s the Lesson of the Rose,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Foreign Policy: an examination of alleged 'incorrigibility'
In 1996 Sri Lanka won the Cricket World Cup. The internet was in its infancy at the time. ‘Social media’ wasn’t a household term. There was no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and such. There was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Let’s call the bluff of India and the Indophiles
A few years ago, the Indian Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, who also served as the President of the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) from 2014 to 2020 in a conversation over the party’s victories in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is India in the West or East, that’s the question
What if the British High Commissioner in Colombo Sarah Hulton met with the Ambassador of South Korea Woonjin Jeong on Tuesday, the 2nd of March, 2021? What if he was accompanied by former Foreign...
View ArticleClik here to view.
India in Geneva: friend, foe or navel-gazer?
‘If you are not with me, I will assume that you are against me,’ is a prudent rule of thumb, but only in certain situations. Not all questions can be answered with either ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Complex...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The ‘core base,’ according to Ranjan Madugalle
This is the third part of a series of articles on the elusive Ranjan Madugalle. Elusive, because the man, citing contractual constraint, declines interviews. Maybe he just does his thing, that’s...
View Article