When we drink water, think of its connection with the forests

Human beings are expected to be good stewards of nature. Instead what have we done especially during the past few decades? Eco-friendly social analysts will tell us of the vital importance of forests, the animals, thousands of species of plants many of which have medicinal properties, insects and hundreds of other small creatures which combine to make a spectacular display of biodiversity.

Sri Lankan hospitality welcomed by Russians and Ukrainians - EDITORIAL

Ukraine is in shambles and it reminds us of the last stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka back in 2009. Russia is such a power that it has bulldozed its way into Ukraine claiming that it has to protect the Russian....

Ukraine: Zelenskyy’s own goal in a cruel sport

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has apparently ignored one of the key principles in international relations and is now paying a costly price for it, with Russian troops moving towards....

For how much longer will people have to suffer?

The main news items in yesterday’s Daily Mirror warned readers of 10-hour power cuts this month.

Ukraine Unfrilled Blood, hypocrisy, myopia and bucks

War is about or can be about a lot of things. A common enough reason for war that cuts across territory and time is profit.

A common minimum programme that responds to Sri Lanka’s current crisis

The following is an article compiled by a group of professionals headed by Prof. Rohan Samarajiva aimed at finding solutions to the island’s economic issues, how to improve on the existing debt management and deal with the dollar crisis.

Russian invasion of Ukraine and grim realities and entitlements of great power politics

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin, tore apart the de-facto - post World War II convention and invaded a sovereign democracy....

Ukraine war and the ‘international community’ - EDITORIAL

The war in Ukraine today enters its fifth day. The civilian death toll according to Ukraine’s Health Ministry on February 28, stood....

Putin – just another military adventurer?

Russia finally did the unthinkable by invading Ukraine. Russian president Vladimir Putin is making a big mistake, but no one....

Sanctions from West will drive Russia and China into each others’ arms: - Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

As Russian troops continue to battle their way towards Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, naval tensions continue to escalate.....

UNHRC and the way forward

The 49th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) commenced its sessions yesterday in Geneva and it will continue till April 1. If some of the Sri Lankan political and military leaders are not facing any threa

STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES SOEs / SOBEs / SSOBEs

Much talk these days with respect to Ailing State Owned Enterprises SOEs. A new terminology has also been created as State Owned Business Enterprises SOBEs and Strategic State Owned Business Enterprises SSOBEs. The state has a long

There’s no effort made by youth to regroup for militancy in the north - Northern Governor Jeevan Thiagarajah

Northern Province Governor Jeevan Thiagarajah, who has inherited the task of resolving the issues faced by the people in the Province, is making an effort to see that State services in the Province function smoothly....

Why does a country need a clear “Mineral Policy”?

Scientifically some substances are named as ‘minerals’, if it satisfies certain requirements: 1. Naturally Occurring, 2. Inorganic (chemically)....

Bread Basket Attacked! ‘Three Monkeys’ and Lessons for SL?

“See no evil-- hear no evil-- Speak no evil”: UN, the US, and the West [UK/EU] the champions of human rights, who make a huge noise at ‘the drop of a hat’ in a small country, are Blind, Deaf and....

Ukraine - a pawn in big power rivalries - EDITORIAL

After months of growing tension between NATO countries and Russia over a build up of Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine, war has finally broken out. The war....

H. R. Jothipala: Sinhala Cinema’s Most Popular Playback Singer

I begin this column this week with an apology to readers. I had written a two part article titled “Sinhala Buddhist Strategist N. Q. Dias was feared as the “Tsar” in the “Daily Mirror” last week (Feb 19). Unfortunately I am unable to write the second part this week as planned because I am yet in the process of gathering some vital information necessary for writing.

Russia’s War on the Breadbasket of Europe and its global ramifications

On 24 February Russian backed long term strongman Peter Yanukovych was ousted as Ukrainian president through a political upheaval backed by the West called the Maidan revolution in 2014.

Those who have wisdom have all: Fools with all have nothing

Since 1952 Sri Lanka has suffered a devastating blood bath largely due to racial issues. The ruling United National Party’s(UNP) then frontliner S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike quit the Government and formed a new party and claimed that the main principle of his party was a Sinhala only policy but analysts believe he was unhappy over the then Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake’s decision that his successor will be his son Dudley Senanayake.

Food issues and impending shortages - EDITORIAL

Sri Lanka is bracing for a food and drug shortage in the future. This is what the opposition harps on these days apart from maintaining that they are ready for any election. The Government....

Ukraine: “War is a cowardly escape from problems of peace’

The war Europe feared has begun. Yet Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is no Adolf Hitler or a mad man to trigger the Third World War or the biggest military conflict in Europe since....

Honour to the deserving

Ven. Palatuwe Jinaratana Thera was awarded the honorary title of ‘Saddarmacharya Pravachana Keerthi Sri Chandaratne’ and bestowed with the responsibility of the position ‘Sub Sangha Nayake.....

Russia plays Indira’s India in the eighties

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 recognized two breakaway regions in Eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic.....

Let Chagossians return to their native land

“The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” -Milan Kundera The theme that underpins today’s editorial is based on the struggles of a people and the blatant violation of their human rights.

Will dissension within Government lead to new political formation?

Along with the economic crisis which shows no sign of early recovery, political confusion reigns in the government making it impossible for it to get its act together.

Empty treasury, power cuts, fuel shortages and nonsense - EDITORIAL

It’s out in the open, government has literally admitted, it faces a major foreign exchange crisis. Government is today running.....

Why local talent matters

I remember the first time I conducted a workshop for journalists in Sri Lanka. This was some time in mid 2004, I was with the late....

High-level corruption

In the troubled and mismanaged economies, as the squeeze gets tightened, it is rather predictable, that unscrupulous political....

Expose the attackers on media

Politics seems to become gradually violent again. A seminar held by the National People’s Power (NPP), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led coalition in Kalagedihena was attacked by a group of thugs with stones and eggs on January 30. Sri Lan

Dissolve or democratize political parties for good governance

We are caught in the worst catastrophe ever, in our post independent history and it is not devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic alone as explained by rational minds. Covid-19 certainly pushed the crisis further, growing deeper by th