Abbi Kanthasamy - Jaffna Monitor

The War That Reopened What Was Already Open

By Abbi Kanthasamy The real winners of this war were not the Iranian people, not the Lebanese, not the Gulf Arabs, not the Americans, and certainly not the poor fools told to clap every time a missile takes off on television. The winners were the people who always win. The weapons manufacturers. The oil traders. The consultants in expensive suits using phrases like maritime de-risking and regional deterrence posture. The lobbyists. The think-tank parasites. The men who can turn blood into bil

April 2026 Guest Column

Abbi Kanthasamy

Apr 12, 2026 — 4 min read

Sri Lanka’s Indian Ocean Reckoning

By Abbi Kanthasamy Sri Lanka’s real strategic question is not whether it can become “the next Singapore” or a miniature Dubai. It is whether it can finally learn the harder lesson those two city-states teach: that financial centres are not created by tax gimmicks, real-estate spectacle, or patriotic rhetoric. They are built by states that become credible before they become glamorous. In 2026, that distinction is even more important than it was a generation ago. The old haven model—low tax, ligh

April 2026 Guest Column

Abbi Kanthasamy

Apr 5, 2026 — 6 min read

The Levantine Hummus Wars

By: Abbi Kanthasamy A dispatch from a tired restaurant owner watching cousins argue over the same recipe. If the conflict in Jerusalem had been about food instead of religion, it would have ended centuries ago. Because food fights — real ones — are easy. You gather everyone in a room. You put the dishes on the table. People shout a bit. Someone’s grandmother intervenes. And eventually everyone eats. Peace, or something very close to it. Religion, unfortunately, has proven far less coop

Guest Column March 2026

Abbi Kanthasamy

Mar 23, 2026 — 4 min read

THIRUKETHEESWARAM: THE TEMPLE THAT TIME COULDN’T ERASE

There’s a dry wind that blows through Mannar, the kind that tastes like salt and history. It howls over lagoons thick with flamingos, nudges the rusted skeletons of colonial forts, and settles like incense among the stone pillars of a temple that refuses to die. This is Thiruketheeswaram, one of the five ancient Iswarams of Lord Shiva in Sri Lanka. For thousands of years, pilgrims have whispered mantras here. Armies have marched past it, priests have anointed it, colonizers have desecrated it,

Article August 2025

Abbi Kanthasamy

Aug 16, 2025 — 5 min read

The Siege Within: How to Rob a Country and Call It Nation Building

Leslie Lopez’s The Siege Within isn’t just another retelling of the 1MDB scandal. It’s an unflinching autopsy of Malaysia’s political carcass – a place where stolen billions are treated like family silver and leaders loot with the polite smile of a country club chairman. Lopez, a veteran journalist with the scars to prove it, turns his scalpel on the thick, toxic hide of Malaysian politics to reveal the anatomy of the world’s greatest financial heist. His subject? The rise and fall of Najib Raz

Book Review July 2025

Abbi Kanthasamy

Jul 14, 2025 — 2 min read

A Beacon Amidst the Bleeding: What Jaffna’s Doctors Taught Me About Life

I’ve spent most of my adult life building things. Businesses, brands, homes, arguments. Always chasing—the next goal, the next deal, the next piece of validation in a world that measures worth by margins and milestones. But this past week, watching my mother fight for her life in a small hospital in northern Sri Lanka, I was reminded of something I had forgotten: not all heroes chase. It began in Kumulamunai. A heart attack. A real one. Silent but severe. My mother—diabetic, hypertensive, and un

June 2025

Abbi Kanthasamy

Jun 15, 2025 — 2 min read