Living next door to politicians

Living next door to politicians in Sri Lanka has the dynamics of living beside an elephant. The elephant's personality and status will define the nature of the relationship. The wisest thing you can do is keeping your distance with a quietly low profile. However the nature of such relationships involves too many variables to neatly …

NGO friends vs NGO sceptic friends

Managing friends who work for Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and NGO sceptic friends have always been the trickiest balancing act of Colombo's social scene. Mrs C and I avoid the inevitable verbal trench warfare over politics by meeting the two groups separately. But there are occasions when the two groups do meet. Resulting in a …

Last terrorist stronghold in Sri Lanka from Google Earth

Images below show Palamattalam/Puthumathalan area north of Mullativu which is among the last areas held by the LTTE terrorists. The Sri Lankan military launched an attack in this area enabling civilians held by the LTTE to escape. The result is a loss of hostages for the terrorists to use as human shields - something that the Life in Taprobane blog outlines the …

LTTE Terrorists doomed by historic curse

Failure of LTTE’s 9/11 style air attack on Colombo emphases an unmentioned historical curse that has LTTE. This curse has repeated itself throughout history. Namely the historical fact that no  separatist group with any form of air power has ever survived — let alone achieved its objectives. The examples begin with Katanga secessionist in the 1960s who …

Anuradapura Sri Lanka Air Force base: updated Google Earth view (unofficial SLAF day post)

Updated Google Earth satellite imagery in the screen shot below shows the Anuradapura Sri Lanka Air Force base greater detail. A variety of different aircraft and helicopters are visible on the apron around the hangers. I've tried to identify them as best I can on the image's Flickr page. Those of you with more expert knowledge please do feel …