Vipassana meditation and neuroscience
By Dr Channa Ratnatunga This epistle is drafted as a follow-up to the article on the Neurobiology of ‘Anatta’ published in the Sunday Times 2 on April 30 to mark Vesak. The tools to study the brain are much more advanced than once upon a time when bumps on the head (called Phrenology) and Behaviorism, [...]
When woman president of UNGA was given a back row seat at a global summit
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – When the United Nations commemorated ‘International Day of Women in Diplomacy’ last week, the President of the General Assembly (PGA) Csaba Kőrösi rightly pointed out the woeful absence of women to hold that position in the UN hierarchy. “Women have played a central role in the history of [...]
India and the global balance of power
By Joseph S. Nye, Jr., exclusive to the Sunday Times, Sri Lanka CAMBRIDGE – When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with US President Joe Biden in the White House this month, many observers saw the makings of an evolving alliance against China. But such expectations are overwrought. As Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has made [...]
Truth and democracy: The rot within liberal nations
LONDON – It has become something of a cliché in recent years to say that we live in a post-truth, post-fact age. In the United Kingdom, the Brexit referendum and the spectacular rise and fall of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson catapulted the crisis of truth to the forefront of political debate. In the United [...]