Aftermath of Baghdadi killing exposes US foreign policy limitations

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Dissector

The recent killing by US special forces in Syria of IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who came to be seen as the world’s most wanted man, is being claimed by President Donald Trump as a singular triumph for him and his administration. ‘This is the biggest there is…Osama bin Laden was big, but Osama bin Laden became big with the World Trade Centre. Baghdadi is a man who built a whole, as he would like to call it, a country, Trump was quoted as exuberantly ...Continued

Where do Women Figure in the Presidential Manifestos?

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Kshama Ranawana

Sajith Premadasa has made a promise that no other candidate contesting this presidential election has made.    At an event at the Sugathadasa Stadium recently, Premadasa signed a social contract with the women of Sri Lanka, promising equality to all women “in all domains of their lives, including equal treatment in private and public life…” While the New Democratic Front (NDF)  leader is yet to unveil his full manifesto in the contest for the presidency, his Women’s Charter deals fairly extensively with the issues women face, ...Continued

Infusing humanity into the sciences

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HGS Prematunge

A couple of years ago 27-year-old Pramodh Senarath Yapa, a Sri Lankan-Canadian Ph.D. student in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics at University of Alberta, Canada translated his jargon-ridden master’s thesis, titled ‘Non-Local Electrodynamics of Superconducting Wires: Implications for Flux Noise and Inductance’ to ‘Superconductivity: The Musical!’, a 11-minute self-explanatory video that won him the 2018 ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ contest. This stands testimony to the fact that Arts can fit snugly within STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). —————- Yapa is not the only success story with ...Continued

The Marshall wars

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Spectator

When 55-year-old Alex Marshall was appointed the General Manager of the International Cricket Council’s Anti- Corruption Unit, two years ago, many believed he had reached the first stage of quietly getting into his life of retirement. In a hectic career spanning four decades as a police officer, Marshall had risen through the ranks at Scotland Yard and was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May, briefing them regularly on his efforts to keep Britain safe. A life-long cricket fan, ...Continued

Pathfinder National Security Strategy for Sri Lanka 2020

As It Happens

Pathfinder Foundation has prepared a national security strategy with a view to enabling Sri Lanka to meet present and future challenges. The document will be submitted to President, Prime Minister, Deputy Defense Minister and all Presidential Candidates. Full text of the document: PREFACE The Pathfinder Foundation’s interest in producing this document titled ‘The Pathfinder – National Security Strategy 2020 for Sri Lanka’ dates back to 2018 when the idea was first mooted by its founder, Milinda Moragoda soon after the Foundation developed and released ‘A Code ...Continued

He fought fire with fire

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Spectator

Cricket in Sri Lanka had made huge strides in the 1990s. One main reason for the steady climb was that captain Arjuna Ranatunga was willing to move away from Lord’s coaching manuals and back unconventional players to the hilt. The conventionalist frowned upon the new trend. But their running down was short lived as the results were stunning. Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action would have been cast away anywhere else in the world as it didn’t fit the norms of the game or Sanath Jayasuriya’s batting ...Continued

It’s More Than Just Poisoning

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Kshama Ranawana and Aanya Wipulasena

A few of weeks ago the nation was shocked to learn of the deaths of seven elephants, in one fell sweep as it were in the Habarana area.  One of the six cow elephants was pregnant. While poisoning has been confirmed as the cause of deaths, the government analyst’s’ report is awaited to ascertain the type of poison. Nor is it known how they were poisoned, says the Director General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), Chandana Sooriyabandara. Three separate departments, the Government Analyst, ...Continued

A Truly Sri Lankan Anti-venom Serum In The Pipeline

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Shakila Ifham

Sri Lanka will soon have an anti-venom serum produced locally to treat thousands of snake bite patients. The Indian Anti venom serum which is available in hospitals at present does not cover for hypnale envenoming. The first to propose the development of an anti- venom for Hypnale was Dr. Anslem de Silva, better known as Sri Lanka’s father of herpetologists, at the first World Health Organisation (WHO) International seminar on Epidemiology and Medical Treatment of Snake bites, held in Japan, August 1980.  Hypnale causes the highest ...Continued

It’s Not Ragging!

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HGS Prematunge

Gone are the days when students are asked to profess their undying love with a flower, to a fellow university student. In a recent video of a raid on a ragging venue by academic staff of the Ruhuna University, girls are found traumatized and allegedly sexually harassed and partially stripped, covered in bedsheets. In another revealing video, Dharsha Udayanga exposes how he was sexually harassed, forced to perform sexual rituals on other batch mates, all in the guise of ragging. Privy to his plight, Dharsha’s ...Continued

Imperative of Transiting to the ‘Trading State’

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Dissector

The current seemingly implosive crisis in Hong Kong helps to put the spotlight on issues of the utmost importance to the political theorist, such as the conceptualization of state types, besides reminding us of the continuing urgency of the question of national self-determination. While the ‘nation state’ has come to be seen almost universally as an accomplished fact, developments in Hong Kong remind us, among other things, of the considerable difficulty in attempting to pin down and define state types in a clear-cut fashion. The ...Continued

In politics, changes do not happen in chronological order

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Hawk’s Eye

Full name: Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayake Parents : DM Ranbanda and DM Seelawathie Birth Place: Devahuwa in Galewela Date of birth: Nov 24, 1968 Education:   Primary Education – Thambuttegama Gamini Primary Vidyalaya Secondary Education : Thambuttegama Central College (He was the first student to enter university from the Tambuttegama Central College in the Maths stream in 1992) Tertiary education: University of Kelaniya, Bsc in Physics Anura Kumara Dissanayake cut his political teeth in 1987, while he was still a student. Having taken up ...Continued

Lankan Croakers Leaping To Extinction

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M. S. Ifham Nizam

An ongoing research indicates that Sri Lankan tree frogs are in a critical state. Taruga eques are an endemic, endangered frog species confined only to the central hill regions of the country. Amphibians with cysts (membranous sacs or cavities of abnormal character in the body, containing fluid) have less survival rates compared to normal amphibians. A tropical country, Sri Lanka, has a high species diversity and along with the Western Ghats, in India, earned a name as a main biodiversity hotspot in the world. Within ...Continued