Skip to content Skip to footer

History and Culture

Factum Special Perspective: Kissinger’s Legacy – Realpolitik and Its Global Consequences

By Aavin Abeydeera Having passed away at the age of 100, Kissinger’s death was mourned by many, and celebrated by an equally loud number in the international community. Hailed as a hero, and feared as a Machiavellian villain, Kissinger’s legacy is a result of his checkered actions and past, mirroring the State he served so…

Read More

Factum Perspective: The Geopolitics of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

By Britney Martil A comprehensive assessment of the Azerbaijan-Armenia war over Nagorno-Karabakh uncovers a complex and deeply ingrained geopolitical history in the Caucasus area. Originating in the aftermath of World War I and the subsequent collapse of the Russian Empire, the resultant power vacuum afforded Azerbaijan and Armenia the opportunity to declare their independence. The…

Read More

Factum Perspective: When a book by a Mossad Officer led to a Commission of Inquiry in Sri Lanka

By Chandani Kirinde While successive Sri Lankan governments have recognised the right of the Palestinian people to independent statehood, based on relevant United Nations resolutions, its relations with the State of Israel have been less than consistent. Sri Lanka established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2000, but relations between the two have historically vacillated depending…

Read More

Factum Perspective: Recovering the Lost Paradise – Utopianism in Modern Sri Lankan Architecture and Landscaping

By Dhanuka Bandara "It is necessary to cultivate our garden.” Voltaire, “Candide” On an artificial island surrounded by the Diyavanna Oya at Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, Sri Lanka, stands the country’s most infamous building, the Parliament Complex. The Complex was designed by arguably Sri Lanka’s most renowned architect of the 20th century, Geoffrey Bawa, built during…

Read More

Factum Perspective: A Sri Lankan Huck Finn – Martin Wickramasinghe’s “Madol Doova”

Martin Wickramasinghe By Christine Hill Smith With a human history going back to 500 BCE, Sri Lanka has endured and occasionally benefited from over 450 years of European colonization, starting in 1505 with the Portuguese, the Dutch East India Company in 1640, and finally the British in the 1790s. It was colonized for its gemstones, cinnamon,…

Read More

Factum Perspective: The impact of Vesak on international relations

By Vinod Moonesinghe The festival of Vesak celebrates the birth, enlightenment (nibbana), and demise (Parinibbana) of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, also known as Sakyamuni Buddha. It may be compared to a combined festival of Christmas, the Theophany, and Easter for Christians, or the Prophet's birthday, Hajj, and Ramazan for Muslims. Also known as Buddha Day,…

Read More