Lights are out in the Land of the Pagodas
Since February 1, the entire world has been shedding tears for Aung Suu Ky. The ‘International Community’ shed copious tears for her, though they had been demanding that she be stripped of her Nobel Peace Prize for refusing to condemn her own government of which she was the second highest ranking member — State Counsellor [...]
A deadly virus: Governance by Presidential Commissions
A virus taking the form of Governance by Presidential Commissions of Inquiry, now growing in a virulent form, has replaced Government by Constitution. The virus was coming. Now it has come. Law and order, as could be expected, is infected with this virus. The problem is that of incoherence between the two, that of Government [...]
A book focusing on the hilarious side of the UN
MELBOURNE — The United Nations is an institution mired in politics focusing primarily on military conflicts, civil wars, economic sanctions, peacekeeping, plus sustainable economic development. But there is also a lighter side to it, which is brilliantly laid out in a new book released last week on Amazon and titled “No Comment and Don’t Quote [...]
When UN elections were tainted by bribery, cheque book diplomacy and luxury cruises
(Excerpts from Thalif Deen’s just-published book “No Comment – and Don’t Quote me on That”, a collection of political anecdotes reflecting over 40 years of reporting from the United Nations) When UN member states compete for the presidency of the General Assembly or membership in the Security Council or in various UN bodies, the voting [...]
140 villagers share just two toilets
The Foundation of Goodness has, over the past 22 years, empowered more than 426,000 rural individuals by way of empowerment programmes and rural development initiatives. The programme began in Seenigama and has now spread to encompass more than 500 villages via 11 ‘Empowerment Centres’. The most recent development initiative took place in the village of [...]
Bimal, Athauda elected co-chairmen of Palestine Solidarity Committee
The Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine held its interim Annual General Meeting on Friday at the Palestine embassy in Colombo. The meeting was graced by senior members, including co-chairman and former Minister Athauda Seneviratna, Palestine Ambassador Dr. Zuhair Hamdallah Dar Zaid and Deputy Head of the Mission Hesham Abu Thaha. The meeting was [...]
Tackling the COVID hunger crisis
LONDON – Today, 270 million people – equivalent to the combined population of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy – are on the brink of starvation. This number has doubled over the last 12 months. And it is the world’s children who are suffering most. An estimated 11 million children under the age of [...]