Category Archives: Uncategorized

Book Review On China, by Henry Kissinger The Penguin Press, New York, USA,  2012 Henry Kissinger, the supreme diplomat and renowned academic, has put out  a book that should be made compulsory reading for current American diplomats.  Unlike the American … Continue reading →

The Dumbing of the West and the decline of  Democracy In the early 20th century, West European historians  contemptuously referred to the declining Ottoman Empire  as “The Sick Man of Europe”. After its defeat in World War 1 the empire … Continue reading →

Economists as Fortune Tellers “Behind every great fortune there is a crime.” Honore de Balzac (1799-1850), French novelist. Prof. Luis Garicano, Director of Research at the London School of Economics, was explaining to Queen Elizabeth on 05 November, 2008, the … Continue reading →

Turmoil in the Indian Ocean Ever since Vasco da Gama and his small flotilla of ships rounded South Africa (which became for them the “The Cape of Good Hope”) in 1498 to enter the Indian Ocean, Western imperial powers have … Continue reading →

Democracy: USA vs. Sri Lanka by Thepanis Alwis Baddegama, Sri Lanka Democracy is the holy political mantra of our times. Most countries of the world claim to be democracies, whatever their political systems and practices and some, like the USA, … Continue reading →

6th International Student Conference of COSEC, Ceylon, 1956 1956: A watershed year In September 1956, the 6th International Student Conference of the Coordinating Secretariat in Leiden, Holland, was held in the idyllic setting of the Peradeniya campus of the University … Continue reading →

An American Giant in Sri Lanka: Colonel Henry Steele Olcott by Deshabandu Olcott Gunasekera The significance of the contributions made by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, agricultural scientist, academician, lawyer, war veteran and a person of integrity, from the time he … Continue reading →

Taking the shine off Great Britain “Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius.” From the Greek play Medea by Euripides, 431 B.C. (Latin version) The world feels the pain when a once great power declines. The modern industrial evolution began here … Continue reading →

Race in the British Military Race in the British Military Britain is undoubtedly a country with a very democratic form of government and public institutions. The British parliament is often rightly regarded as the “Mother of Parliaments” because the successful … Continue reading →

The Globalists: Hoisted by their own Petard Did you notice that the cry for “Globalisation” is now muted? From around 1960 till quite recently, the Western economists, their international media and their aid agencies were singing the praises of globalisation … Continue reading →