Features

Nobel Prize stolen from Donald Trump, the Peacemaker, again

Published

5 months ago

2026/01/4

US President Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands at the start of a joint news conference Sunday (Dec 28).

Nobel Foundation in Stockholm ramp up security to deal with possible violence

Presidents Trump and Zelensky met in Florida last week to discuss a plan to end the war in Ukraine. This was the fourth of such meetings which have promised little as the aggressor of the war, Russian President Putin, has always been conspicuous by his absence. As Trump ally, Senator Lindsay Graham said on NBC’s Meet the Press, “we keep engaging Russia, we keep trying to lure him to the peace table, and he rebuffs all of our efforts”.

In fact, since Russia helped Trump win the presidency in 2016, Trump has been publicly servile to him on the world stage, while Putin has treated the President of the United States of America as a subordinate accomplice. The recent debacle in Alaska was a case in point. On August 15, Trump laid down the red carpet in a lavish Summit in Alaska to discuss cessation of hostilities in Ukraine. Putin was his usual professional, non-committal self. A meeting billed as a “vital step” towards peace in Ukraine, it yielded more questions than answers, with a ceasefire or peace treaty mentioned nowhere during the final joint press conference.

However, Putin did make clear his viewpoint, when he launched one of the largest attacks on Kiev immediately after the Alaska talks. And he also gave Trump the ultimate middle finger by attending the Summit of Eastern Heads of State, convened by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tianjin, China, two weeks later, with 20 Heads of State, including Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, also in attendance.

Before the Alaska Summit, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had received “a good and productive telephone call” from Putin the day before the meeting, “wishing him all success at the peace talks with Zelensky”.

According to Trump, this “excellent” two-and-a-half-hour conversation persuaded him that Putin (who had invaded Ukraine without any warning or provocation four years ago) “still wants peace”, even as Russia launched another round of attacks on Ukraine while Zelensky was flying to Florida for the peace talks. At a press conference with Zelensky before the talks, Trump said that Russia “wants to see Ukraine succeed”. He does not want any more land of Ukraine than that which he had already acquired. Putin repeatedly had said that “Zelensky was a very brave man”.

Reminds me of English Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain’s comments after meeting with Hitler in Munich in December 1938. He said “I have met Hitler and I know him well. He may have annexed the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia; but he has no further intent to annex the rest of Czechoslovakia. Hitler is a man of his word. The Germans are a most fair and warm-hearted people”. On this basis, Chamberlain and Hitler (along with France’s Daladier and Italy’s Mussolini), signed a treaty, allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, on condition that there will be no further invasions of sovereign European nations by Germany.

Hitler violated the terms of the treaty and annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia and invaded Poland just six months after the Munich treaty, starting World War II. A man of his word, indeed!

Trump’s position on the Ukraine is eerily reminiscent of Chamberlain’s cowardly gullibility. Trump’s stand on Putin and the Russian-Ukraine war could well match Chamberlain’s servile ignorance of Hitler. He has taken no action against Russia in spite of four years of aggression against a sovereign nation. I can almost hear one of Trump’s fact-free, Chamberlain style speeches: “I have met Putin and I know him well. He is an honorable man. He may have invaded Ukraine and annexed four regions (oblasts) of Ukraine – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia – but he has guaranteed that he has no further aspirations of annexing more regions of Ukraine or any other sovereign Eastern European nation. Putin is a man of his word and I trust him to keep his word. Besides, the Russians are also a fair-minded people anxious to end the war”.

Of course, Hitler had his plans for the invasion and occupation of Europe as he signed the peace agreement in Munich, which he commenced six months after signing the treaty. Only the entry of the United States into the war thwarted Hitler’s grand plans of a pure, white, Christian Europe ruled by Nazi Germany.

Putin also has his plans for the restoration of the glory of the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics finalized. Putin’s signature on any agreement on the Ukraine conflict will be, like Hitler’s, of no value. And so long as Trump or one of his kind is in power, I doubt if the US will provide any decisive aid to stop Putin from completing the occupation of the sovereign nation of Ukraine, the first step in Putin’s grand plan.

If the Democrats do not find a leader with a spine like a younger Bernie Sanders, and the non-white-supremacist, moderate Americans do not challenge the Republican threat to democracy, there is every possibility that Trump’s grand plan, based on the ideology of “Project 2025 – “A Mandate for Leadership. The Conservative Promise”, of a white, wealthy, Christian authoritarian America, will also come to fruition.

Predictably, Trump has already signaled himself as the decisive power behind any potential agreement to end the war in Ukraine, even for a few days. He has already added this unlikely success to enhance his reputation as the Peacekeeper of the World.

After all, he hallucinates he has stopped seven, maybe more wars during his second term, wars that did not exist, wars that are still raging and wars he had absolutely nothing to do with, as in the dispute between India Pakistan. The spokesman for the Indian government issued an immediate statement that “the Indian government has never had any communication with President Trump or any official of the US before, during and after the four-day dispute, which was mediated by the combatants themselves”.

Of course, “The Peacekeeper” has conveniently forgotten that the United States military continues to commit war crimes against Venezuela, by bombing 31 small boats, killing at least 107 people, on the unproven basis that these boats were used to smuggle drugs to the USA. A blatant lie without any evidence. These boats were not built for smuggling large quantities of drugs. They were on the open seas over 1,000 miles from the coast of the US, heading towards Europe. In fact, on the orders of the most inept “Secretary of War” in US history, Pete Hegseth, a small boat was bombed the second time to kill two survivors clinging to the debris of the destroyed boat, screaming for help.

An inhuman act considered to be the ultimate of war crimes – that of killing survivors who provide no resistance. When questioned about this atrocity, Hegseth first said that he thought, in the (“fog of war”, more likely, the “fog of alcohol”) that the survivors were brandishing arms in defiance, so his order was to KILL THEM ALL. Then he said he was not even in the room during the second bombing, and it was the mission commander, Admiral Bradley, who gave the illegal order.

Hegseth, like most of Trump’s cabinet, follows Trump’s First Commandment: The buck always stops somewhere else, usually with the Democrats.

Last week, the United States military attacked a Venezuelan port, alleged, without a shred of evidence, to be used for loading boats with illegal drugs bound for America. Trump seeks no approval from Congress for these illegal attacks, a constitutional requirement. And all protests from the Democrats in Congress are studiously ignored.

There has been no retaliatory action by President Maduro. As I explained in a previous essay, the impending US invasion against Venezuela is based on the lie that Maduro is allied to the cartels smuggling illegal drugs to America. The real reason is that a regime change would assist the US to gain control of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world. There are rumors already circulating, allegedly spread by the White House, that Maduro has Weapons of Mass Destruction!

Shades of Saddam Hussein and Iraq, with the exact-same motive.

Trump may not have won the Nobel Prize he yearns for, but there is a long list of honors he has received which will ensure his legacy as the Most Brownnosed President in US history. The international and domestic honors he has received will never be paralleled: He has received the highest international honors and medals from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and a host of monarchies and kleptocracies, and many other noteworthy awards, even the illegal gift of a $400 million “flying palace” from the Emir of Qatar.

Locally, he has received, inter alia, the MacDonald French Fry Certification Pin (2024) and The Fox Nation Patriot of the Year (2024). The Kennedy Center has now been transformed into the classic oxymoron of the Trump Kennedy Center. People sensitive to Trump’s yearning for the Nobel Prize have also honored him in their own particular style. The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) honored Trump as the first recipient of “The FIFA Peace Prize”, presented at the moment the United States military was bombing a small boat sailing in the Caribbean.

In my opinion, the most appropriate honor to be received by Trump is a satirical prize awarded annually since 1991. Appropriately titled The Ig Nobel Prize, it parodies the Nobel Prize”, being a pun on the word “ignoble”. “Its aim is to honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think”.

The 2025 Ig Nobel Prize was won, in their various categories by some interesting “scientists”:

Psychology: Marcin Zazenkowski and Gilles Gignac on research on how telling narcissists they’re smart boosts their ego. The subject of the research was both obvious and ubiquitous.

Literature: The late William Bean for tracking his fingernail growth for 35 years.

Nutrition: Daniele Dendl, Luca Luiselli and team for observing lizards eating pizza.

The annual prize ceremony is held at the Boston University, Massachusetts during the month of September. Each winner of the Ig Nobel Prize is awarded a banknote for 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars, which has a current value of $0.40.

There is little doubt that Trump will be awarded this prestigious prize in numerous categories in the future, at the end of his phenomenal career: Coiffure, Linguistics, Masculine Endowment (which may cause some controversy in the face of Stormy (Daniels) objections, to name just three. There will be others, as Trump continues his triumphant journey to Make America Great Again, the Golden Age of the Americas.

I wish the handful of readers who made it to the end of this essay a most prosperous, happy and healthy New Year.

Vijaya Chandrasoma ✍️

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Features

Proactive peacemaking becomes a paramount need

Published

17 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Wasting wars: Some war-displaced people in Lebanon. BBC

It may be some time before the full impact of food inflation is felt in the West. Until such time the world would continue to keep itself in suspense over whether the Trump administration is in earnest when it seeks to convey the impression that it is backing a negotiated solution in West Asia.

As is usually the case, consumer stress would be one of the final determinants of political change. To the degree to which the average US consumer somehow ‘muddles through’ and puts the food on the table, to the same extent would the Republican sections of the US public in particular be tolerant of the Trump administration’s inconsistent handling of the West Asian war and the main issues stemming from it. That is, there would be no grave popular disaffection and a demand for political change in the short term.

However, the indications are that the Trump administration’s support base is suffering some erosion in the wake of the current economic crisis. While reports indicate that Democratic sections are firming-up their opposition to the political centre, Republican support for Trump is also showing signs of waning, we are given to understand.

The above developments are probably why Trump is on record as having given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a ‘dressing down’ recently on his seeming intransigence on the question of giving negotiations a chance in West Asia. The show of displeasure could be really aimed by Trump at containing the impatience of the American public.

However, the current ground situation in the Middle East, particularly the uncontained bloodshed, is likely to impress on the thinking sections of the world that more than temporary political change is needed in West Asia and the US.

A well thought out political solution that addresses all the contentious issues at the heart of the Middle East conflict is what enlightened opinion would demand, and very rightly. Right now, the ‘peace efforts’ initiated by the Trump administration give the impression of being piecemeal solutions at best.

There have been, of course, numerous initiatives in the past aimed at bringing permanent peace to the Middle East. These failed mainly because they did not address in full the root causes of the conflict.

At bottom the Middle East conflict is mainly about race and religious hate bred by socio-economic and material inequalities. For instance, if the Palestinian people were not displaced and deprived of land occupied by them at the time of the founding of the Israeli state, ethnic enmities would not have grown to the current unmanageable proportions.

When addressing the above questions, though, it must be remembered that the Israelis too were a displaced people who were entitled to land and a state of their own in the Middle East. Basically, out of these seemingly irreconcilable and conflicting demands have grown the Middle East imbroglio.

Middle East peace is considerably about reconciling these demands and arriving at a solution that would ensure the creation of two states that would opt for peaceful co-existence thereafter.

As long as the US does not see the need for a non-partisan solution that addresses the needs of both ethnicities and religions and goes all-out, as it were, to have it implemented, the Middle East would continue to bleed.

However, staunching the blood flow through the creation of two states would be only half the job done, though a very important part of it. More pernicious, pervasive and difficult to remedy are the inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatreds that have been unleashed over the decades.

However, if substantial, long-lasting peace is to be fostered in the region the latter ‘demons’ would need to be exorcised from the hearts and minds of the communities concerned. No doubt an uphill task but one that must be undertaken by those who wish the region well.

The UN would need to put its ‘best foot forward’ in such undertakings but it is time that it dawned on the international community and other caring quarters that Middle East peace, and all other such uphill challenges, require proactive peacemaking on the part of all civilized sections for their effective management. That is, public involvement in peacemaking too is a must.

Since hatreds are harboured in the human consciousness the enmities embedded in the latter need to be managed and defused judiciously alongside other undertakings in a peace process. In the case of West Asia, such enmities could be even spread globe-wide besides being multi-dimensional. For instance, it ought to be thought-provoking that Iran is insistent on a peace initiative that would also include Lebanon.

Besides security considerations it is also ethnic and religious affiliations that account for Iran making this demand. For instance, the Shias are a numerically important religious community in Lebanon and they provide a significant number of Hizbollah fighters, who are in a vital sense carrying out a ‘proxy war’ for Iran. It also needs to be factored in that Iran is a Shia-majority country.

Thus trans-border religious affiliations could add to the complexities and enormity of ethno-religious conflicts. However, the task of managing centuries-long enmities needs to be launched and prodded on with by peacemakers since a downing of arms alone would not guarantee substantive peace.

It is not realized sufficiently that the process of ending hatreds begins with mutual apologies by antagonists to a conflict for the harm inflicted on each other. This would be anathema in some ears but there is no getting away from the requirement. It is the vital first step to permanent peace anywhere.

In fact there could be no reconciliation worth speaking of without such mutual apologies. It is a point worth re-iterating in these times when even the government of Sri Lanka is voicing the need for national reconciliation. Well, without the words, ‘I am sorry’, there could be no permanent end to enmities – they would do well to remember.

The above requirements may not go down very well with governments, but they resonate in the hearts and minds of most people, since they are inheritors of religious traditions of some kind.

This is a principal reason why peacemaking works well when publics too are involved in them. The effectiveness of such campaigns increases several fold when they have a Mahatma Gandhi or a Jawaharlal Nehru at their helm. A strong proactive involvement by the public in peace could lead to the emergence of such leaders at some point in these campaigns.

Features

Dialog Brings Sri Lanka’s Largest Digital Vesak Experience to Matara

Published

17 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

From left to right: Hon. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, and Lasantha Theverapperuma experience the Dialog 5G Ultra-powered VR tours.

Official Digital Partner of the 2026 ‘Dakshina Prabha’ National Vesak Zone

Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s #1 connectivity provider, collaborated with the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs to bring one of Sri Lanka’s largest and most technologically advanced Vesak experiences to the ‘Dakshina Prabha’ National Vesak Zone. The three-day celebration, in Matara attracted more than hundred thousand visitors, who engaged with a series of innovative digital activities powered by Dialog 5G Ultra, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) experiences, digital pandols and a Data Dansala. The opening ceremony was attended by Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development and Hon. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Minister of Women and Child Affairs, along with distinguished guests and Dialog’s senior management.

One of the key attractions at the venue was the Dialog 5G Ultra-powered Virtual Reality (VR) experience, which attracted more than 35,000 participants. The activation enabled devotees to virtually visit and pay homage to sacred Buddhist sites, including the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in India and the Atamasthana in Anuradhapura, directly from the Vesak zone in Matara.

Visitors receive complimentary mobile data through Dialog’s QR-powered Data Dansala.

Dialog also conducted an AI Digital Vesak Greeting Card Competition from 21 May to 01 June 2026, attracting numerous entries from across the country. The shortlisted designs were showcased across 20 large LED screens throughout the venue and across Matara City, and were also made available for download via mobile devices. Further, through the use of AI, traditional Jathaka Katha were reimagined in a digital format, demonstrating how technology can be used to preserve and enhance cultural and religious heritage. Together, these initiatives blended traditional Vesak celebrations with emerging technologies, offering visitors a unique and immersive way to engage with Vesak traditions.

Extending the spirit of Vesak through connectivity, Dialog conducted a special Data Dansala powered by its QR Reload platform, enabling visitors to receive complimentary mobile data by scanning QR codes placed across the venue. In addition to the Matara National Vesak Zone, similar Data Dansala activations were also conducted at the Gangaramaya and Bauddhaloka Vesak zones in Colombo.Visitors also had the opportunity to create personalised Vesak-themed digital photos through an AI Photo Booth, generating AI-enhanced portraits using their own photographs and adding a contemporary digital element to the Vesak celebrations.

Visitors watch AI-generated Jathaka Katha

Commenting on the initiative, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, said, “The 2026 Dakshina Prabha Vesak Festival marked the first time AI-powered digital innovations were incorporated into a National Vesak Festival in Sri Lanka. Presenting Buddhist stories and teachings through technology created a new and engaging way for visitors to connect with these traditions. We thank Dialog for supporting this initiative and for working closely with us to bring our vision to life. Their contribution played an important role in making this first-of-its-kind event a reality.”

Lasantha Theverapperuma, Group Chief Marketing Officer of Dialog Axiata PLC said, “We thank the Government of Sri Lanka for the opportunity to support the 2026 Dakshina Prabha National Vesak Festival and for embracing technology as part of this year’s celebrations. As the Official Digital Partner, we were privileged to contribute through our Dialog 5G Ultra and AI capabilities, creating new ways for visitors to engage with Vesak traditions while preserving their cultural significance for future generations.”

Beyond supporting the National Vesak Zone in Matara, Dialog also enhanced the Gangaramaya and Bauddhaloka Vesak zones through a range of digital activations during the Vesak season. The company additionally continued its sustainability initiatives, including the Thirasara Aloka Poojawa, which illuminated rural places of worship through solar-powered lighting solutions.

Features

Beauty, elegance and talent…for women

Published

17 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Universal Woman is an international pageant focused on “beauty, elegance, and talent” for women, positioning itself as a platform to shape global ambassadors. The 2026 edition will be held in Cambodia, and Sri Lanka will be there, as well.

According to reports coming my way, contestants, at the international event, will work with industry trailblazers, under international standards.

Sri Lankan supermodel, runway and pageant trainer Chulpadmendra Kumarapathirana, is the National Director for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026.

With over two decades in the industry, Chula was crowned Miss Sri Lanka 2006, and has since shaped the next generation of titleholders through her Colombo-based Chulpadmendra Catwalk Studio, widely regarded as one of the country’s leading modelling academies.

The team behind Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026

A former host of Derana Miss Sri Lanka for Miss World 2008 and a judge for Miss Universe Sri Lanka 2025, Chula now serves as National Director for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026, leading the franchise’s search for Sri Lanka’s delegate to the international final in Cambodia.

Applications for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 are being taken, via WhatsApp: 077 659 4994, says Chula.

The judging panel for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 includes Senaka De Silva, Pageant Aesthetic Advisor & Chairperson of the Judging Panel, Angela Seneviratne, Caroline Jurie, Rozelle Plunkett, and Suraj Mapa.

Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 officially began its journey with a first round of auditions, held in Colombo, marking the start of an exciting new chapter in Sri Lanka’s pageant industry.

Launching the first round of auditions

The platform aims to empower women while selecting an intelligent, confident, and inspiring representative to compete at the Universal Woman International Pageant 2026 in Cambodia, this September.

Universal Woman Sri Lanka now moves forward with the vision of creating one of the country’s most prestigious and empowering pageants while preparing to crown a queen who will proudly represent Sri Lanka on the international stage.