Comparing special military operation in Ukraine with the presence of the limited contingent of the Soviet Army in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan is not correct. If the author of the article “‘Containment Theory’ returns to West’s ties with East” in The Island of 18 May does some serious research of the pre-military period of […]

India has done more for Sri Lanka than the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Union Minister for External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar, has told the Indian Express. The IE story, filed from Ahmedabad, said: The Modi government, he [Jaishankar] underlined, is working on developing an “extended neighbourhood” that involves islands in the Indian Ocean, Gulf countries and […]

Bangladesh will get global recognition of the “1971 genocide” which was committed by the Pakistan army in 1971, a former member of the Dutch Parliament and human rights activists Harry van Bommel said on Sunday, reported Bangladesh Sangbad Sangsta (BSS). “Even if it takes a hundred years to get global recognition of the Armenian Genocide, […]

Russia said it scrambled an Su-27 fighter jet to “prevent violations of the state border” by two United States Air Force strategic bombers flying over the Baltic Sea. Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the military had prevented any border violation by the US planes

In a vital sense history could be considered as having come full circle in the Ukraine theatre. For those sections of international opinion that began to look upon military invasions of one country by another as things of the past, the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia came as a rude awakening

The Picturesque region of Kashmir is gearing up to host the prestigious G20 Summit for the first time in its history. The event, which will take place from May 22 to 24 at the SKICC on the banks of the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, is expected to have a positive impact on the tourism […]

On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting in Delhi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral with his Russian counterpart General Sergei K Shoigu on Friday. The two Ministers spoke on a variety of topics related to bilateral defence cooperation, including industrial cooperation and military-to-military ties. They also discussed the […]

The Asian region’s steady rise to economic, political and military dominance in the current world order is bound to have substantial foreign policy implications for the global South in particular. For the more prominent of the region’s powers these foreign policy dilemmas could prove to be considerably challenging. This is particularly so in the case […]

Inspector Nishantha Silva, who investigated disappearances blamed on the Navy, fled the country in late Nov. 2019. The CID officer secured political asylum in Switzerland with the blessings of the Switzerland embassy in Colombo. The failed bid by Swiss embassy employee, Garnier Francis (ex- Siriyalatha Perera) to leave for Switzerland after implicating security authorities with […]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in India early next month, Russian officials said on Thursday. India is hosting the meeting of foreign ministers of the SCO countries in Goa on May 4 and 5. “Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in the meeting […]

Is there any place where China is not exacerbating security concerns? Nearly everywhere one looks, China is ratcheting up tensions and flexing its muscles, whether in the South China Sea, around Taiwan, along the border with India, in the East China Sea, is steadfastly supporting Russia

By Shamindra Ferdinando National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa on Tuesday alleged that having failed to thwart Ranil Wickremesinghe’s ascent to presidency, the US was now working with the UNP leader to achieve its objectives. MP Weerawansa, the Chairman of the Uththara Lanka Sabhagaya said that President Wickremesinghe already consented to three of the […]

World military spending reached an all-time high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fuelled a sharp jump in military spending across Europe, according to a leading defence think tank. Global spending rose for the eighth consecutive year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said on Monday in its annual report […]

Supporting India’s candidature for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, Professor Robert AF Thurman, Co-founder and President of the Tibet House in New York, said that the five permanent members of the UNSC are unable to resolve conflicts diplomatically and engaged in wars while India has the potential to bring peace in […]

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva did not mince her words about emerging and heightening crisis tendencies in the global economy. She said, among other things recently, that the IMF’s projection of 2.8 percent global growth for 2023 “is not enough to bring opportunities to businesses and people around the world, and most worrisome is the projection […]

By Saman Gunatilake MBBS, MD, FRCP, FCCP, Hon FRACP Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura Consultant Neurologist One of the most quoted phrases of Karl Marx, the German philosopher and political theorist, popularly known as the ‘Father of Communism’, is “History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce”. This quote […]