Liberalism - the need to move beyond Euro-centricism
On behalf of the Council of Asian Liberals and
Democrats, I am delighted to welcome you to this meeting of Regional
Liberal Networks. It is particularly fitting that these networks
should meet here in Manila, on the first occasion on which Liberal
International is holding a Congress in Asia. The Philippine Liberal
Party, which is co-hosting the event, was the first Liberal Party in
Asia to join Liberal International and is I believe one of the
oldest Liberal parties in the world, which has carefully guarded its
identity in the midst of shifting priorities in Asia as well as
elsewhere.
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And Vasilisa is still beautiful after all these years
People send me book lists now and then. They
want to see if I’ve read at least six in the list. Sometimes the
figure is 10. Such lists, I am told, consist of the most popular
books on earth or those which have had the greatest influence on
humankind. Some lists are devoted to fiction and some don’t make
such distinctions. Such requests come on Facebook. For the most part
they consist of books that are written in English or else translated
into that language.
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Birthday tribute to Dr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa:
Reflections of a patriotic legend of our times
Dr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has been recognized as a
‘born leader’ as he has exercised effective leadership as Secretary
of Defence. ‘Some achieve greatness’ denotes, above all, those whose
greatness is self-made. But all of the really great leaders must be
regarded as achievers, whatever their advantages of birth and
training. Alexander the Great was born to kingship and inherited a
strong army. With Aristotle as his tutor, he was perhaps the most
privileged person, educationally, that there has ever been.
Nevertheless, what he achieved in his short life was beyond anything
that could remotely have been expected of him. Much the same is true
of Julius Caesar.
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