Ashton Agar: Now Freelance Gun for Cricketing Hire

Alex Malcolm in ESPNcricinfo, 20 April 2024  ……………… https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/it-gives-me-flexibility-ashton-agar-opts-for-freelance-life-while-still-committing-to-australia-1429880

The spinner explains he decided not to take a domestic contract with WA in order to maximise playing opportunities globally while he remains intent on playing for Australia.

Ashton Agar has become the latest Australian player to make the bold decision to become a freelance global gun-for-hire, and he couldn’t be more excited about it.

The Story of Palestinian Christians from 1948 ….. Submerged & Sidelined

An Item in Journeyman Pictures on 19 March 2024 with this title: ”   “The Story Of Palestinian Christians | The Stones Cry Out (2013) … Full Film”  … an item referred to me by Dulip Karunaratne of Brisbane

In 1948 the history of Palestine changed forever, but little is ever said about the upheaval faced by its Christian minority. Christians have lived side by side with Muslims and Jews for almost two thousand years. An integral part of Palestinian society, they have shared in the events of recent history, yet their voices are seldom heard and worse: their existence often ignored.

A NOTE: by 19 March 2024  this TALE had received 109,306 views Mar 19, 2024

SSC: The Studies in Society & Culture Project, 1992 et seq

SSC PAMPHLET PROJECT

Some of you may remember this project in Sri Lanka in the 1990s directed towards making selected academic articles on the history & politics of Sri Lanka available to the English-reading public at affordable rates. My unreliable memory indicates that the personnel behind this enterprise were myself, Ananda Chittampalam, Willa Wickramasinghe and our engine, so to speak, was the press operated by Haris Hulugalla.

Prawn Dishes to Savour … Dissolving Ethnic Differences!

BBC News Item: “Isso Vade : The spicy snack that unites Sri Lanka,” in The Island, 12 February 2023, ….. https://island.lk/isso-vade-the-spicy-snack-that-unities-sri-lanka/#:~:text=Isso%20(prawn)%20vade%20(pattie,with%20onions%20and%20curry%20leaves.

As the train pulled into Peradeniya Junction station in central Sri Lanka, the man sitting opposite me leapt out of his seat and leaned out of the window, placing his thumb and forefinger in his mouth and whistling loudly. A vade seller soon appeared outside, removed a basket from the top of his head and handed it to the passenger. The man quickly pulled out a fragrant fritter along with a small bag of fiery sambol, leaving money behind, and then passed the basket to other hungry passengers, who did the same before returning the basket back to the seller through the window.

The Global Contest for Influence/Power

Fair Dinkum

What is astonishing is that while China and Europe are doing trade to the tune of 783 billion, the US and NATO  are waging war to the combined tune of 500 billion. One is about construction,  the other destruction. One is about peaceful cooperation,  the other is about perpetual war.

The 500 billion from the US/NATO has all gone up in smoke with 500,000 dead Ukrainians and about 100,000 dead Russians (rough estimates), and the loss of Ukraine looming on the horizon.

Hot Press from Columbia University Today

Thalif Deen … in Email to Roberts, 1 April 2024**

At a press conference last night, New York City Mayor and his Police Commissioner tried to justify the police intervention against pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University claiming the protests have been corrupted by “outside agitators.”

I think this is a steaming pile of horse-shit.

The WEST: In Engagement in Two Contrasting Wars

Lakshman Gunasekara.  in Daily News, 30 April 2024, where the  chosen title is “Russia advances as NATO stingy wit Ukraine aid” …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Ukrainians are realising with horror that their Western “allies” are de-prioritising their war with Russia as the Palestine war and West Asian flare-ups keep the Western power bloc focused on sustaining tiny client Israel. The United States alone has so far provided Ukraine with military aid worth US$ 44 billion since the Russian invasion of Ukraine but that is small compared with the West’s pampering of Israel.

Market Competition. Double Standards in USA … by … USA

Allesandra Galloni & David Lawler,  whose chosen title runs thus: “Nothing off the table in US response to China overcapacity, Yellen says”… 26 April 2024

1/3]U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen attends an interview with Reuters Editor in Chief Alessandra Galloni in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2024. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

The Biden administration is not taking any options off the table to respond to China’s excess industrial capacity, which is a top concern for the U.S. and its allies, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Reuters on Thursday.

China exporting its way to full employment is not acceptable to the rest of the world, Yellen said in a Reuters Next interview in Washington.

Yellen said that during her trip to China earlier this month, she was “successful” in raising U.S. concerns with Chinese officials about Beijing flooding global markets with electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels and other clean energy goods, threatening U.S. jobs. She added that Chinese officials acknowledge a problem with industrial overcapacity, but they needs to address it.

Ranasinghe Premadasa: As Pragmatic as Visionary in Political Method

Dr. Mahim Mendis, in Daily FT, 26 April 2024 …. where the title runs thus: “Revivial of Premadasism the Way Forward for Sri Lanka,”

…in DailyFT, 26 April Truly cultured men and women have the capacity to be thankful for the progressive measures taken by Ranasinghe Premadasa. He was a true embodiment of Social Democracy, governing the entire social, political, cultural, and moral order. He was not a mere propagator of a Social Market Economy, when he took over leadership from a right wing, J.R. Jayewardene led UNP that tried to dislodge Deputy Leader Premadasa from his well-earned Presidential candidature in 1989. The same right-wing forces in the UNP, tried to impeach him together with Feudalist sympathisers, who lost all their social status due to Premadasaism

The Magpies Cricket Club in British Ceylon: An Exclusive & Peculiar Enclave

Michael Roberts

MAGPIES_FLG_CRICKET_1923

I came across this unusual photograph in loose-leaf form amidst my files and lata pata in my study.  David Sansoni in Sydney has rendered it more presentable, while Mevan Pieris has provided me with critical information on this unusual club and pointed me to pertinent data in that classic work by SS Perera reproduced as The Janashakthi Book of Sri Lanka Cricket (Colombo 1999).