Author: Mark Salter

Excellent BBC interview with in-the-news Israeli authoress Dorit Rabinyan in which she gives a concise, clear – and in my view truthful – account of the reasons the Israeli Education Ministry has moved to stop her new novel, Borderlife, entering the national curriculum. Like thousands of others, I will definitely be buying the book once the English translation comes out. All power to her! http://bbc.in/1RcdK5H

Time Out Tel Aviv’s great video response to the Iaraeli Education Ministry’s recent book ban. Go for it, guys n’ gals! <iframe src=”https://embed.theguardian.com/embed/video/world/video/2016/jan/07/jews-arabs-israel-kiss-book-video” width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

For details of the book launch event scheduled for next Wednesday (13 January) in Ottawa visit the links (English and French) below. As at the other North American launch events, speakers will be myself and Erik Solheim. The launch will be held 4-6pm at Fauteux Hall, located at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre. https://cdp-hrc.uottawa.ca/en/jan-13-book-launch-end-civil-war https://cdp-hrc.uottawa.ca/fr/13-jan-lancement-du-livre-end-civil-war

Here the link to the film of my new book’s late-October 2015 London launch, held at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS). Also in attendance were Erik Solheim, the former lead Norwegian negotiator in Sri Lanka, Vidar Helgesen, Deputy Foreign Minister during a crucial period in the Norwegian engagement in Sri Lanka, and Dr. Sutha Nadarajah, a senior lecturer at SOAS with strong past connections to the former chief LTTE political advisor, Anton Balasingham, who died in 2006. 1 1/2 hours may be pushing it a bit so suggest you can pick and choose your favoured bits! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLnJ3S1stB8

Share on Twitter Here are the details of next Thursday (14 January)’s launch event for my new book on Sri Lanka, at the Atlantic Council building. All present in the vicinity very welcome!  http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/events/upcoming-events/detail/1-foreign-intervention-in-south-asia-a-case-study-from-sri-lanka

Here’s a recent interview I did on the Tamil IBC TV channel. The subject was – unsurprisingly – my new book on the Norwegian peace effort in Sri Lanka. Equally unsurprisingly, they’ve seized on the most controversial topic covered for a title . . . . . http://www.ceylonews.com/2016/01/01/rajapaksa-wanted-a-closed-door-deal-with-prabhakaran/

Here’s the flyer for the first of a series of events scheduled in January to launch my new book in North America: pending release by U.S. customs, the N. American edition will shortly be available throughout the continent via Oxford University Press (OUP). Ben McNally’s Bookstore, Toronto, 12 January, 6-8pm. All welcome! http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=d406fd6 https://twitter.com/AmarAmarasingam/status/681968828075634688/photo/1

Here’s a really stimulating piece examining French youth attitudes in the aftermath of the November terror attacks on Paris – attacks that as author, novelist and long-time Parisian resident Lucy Wadham points out, essentially involved young French people of one background and disposition – immigrant, radicalised Islamist – targeting French youth of another milieu and persuasion – multi-cultural, adherents of classical French republican ideas candidly expressed through the inclusive prism of the république contemporaine. (Unlike President Hollande’s dominant soixante-huitarde political class who are, Wadham argues, fundamentally out of touch with the implications of contemporary economic and political developments for the… More

A dinghy overcrowded with Syrian refugees drifting in the Aegean Sea at sunrise after its motor broke down off the Greek island of Kos. Photo: Yannis Behrakis This just in. Some essential Christmas reading: Why people move: understanding the drivers and trends of migration to Europe December 2015. Clare Cummings, Julia Pacitto, Deletta Lauro and Marta Foresti look at why it is time for an effective and durable policy response to the current ‘migration crisis’ in Europe. Such a response, however, requires a better and broader understanding of what drives people to migrate in the first place. There is much… More

A thought prompted by a recent tweet I enountered. Imagine if the English-language title of Heidegger’s masterpiece really HAD been ‘Being On Time’. Would that mean that those of use who generally aren’t would have read said work by now . . . . ? Stuff on the real thing here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_and_Time