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The Comedy of Oil & Other World Wars
e-Con e-News 20-26 February 2022
‘The civil war in Yemen and the coup in Bolivia – both followed a rejection of IMF terms’
– ee Sovereignty, What You Should Know
A comedy worthy of the pen of Aristophanes
is lately being played on the international capital market
– Die Bank, 1913
Sri Lanka is indeed undergoing several comedies – A comedy of capital and oil and you-name-it. Check this week’s mind-boggling mishmash of media news about powercuts (see ee Industry). An avalanche of disinformation and misinformation camouflages the role of monopolies – oil, fertilizer, finance, and yes, media. Imperialist countries once insisted electricity monopolies were the only way to fight the oil trust. This ee looks at the comedy of how cartels, from current to currency, hide their tracks. Some may call them multinational mafia.
This ee Focus also examines the future splintering of India, with the role Tamil Nadu plays in Sri Lanka. As the most-industrialized state in India, Tamil Nadu is slowly but surely dragging Sri Lanka’s home market into its own web, through the sheer centripetal power of its burgeoning industrial economy.
The largest multinational corporation in the country, Unilever Sri Lanka, is after all, under Hindustan Unilever, the largest MNC in India. In the absence of a modern industrial strategy, to undergird independence, there is no alternative but to end up a colony of Bajaj, Tata, et al.
Media reported this week that, India’s Mahindra & Mahindra and ‘local’ Ideal Motors announced ‘the first single cab pickup to be assembled in Sri Lanka’ with ‘over 30% local value additions.’
The news does not examine such local claims. Can such ‘firsts’ transform a merchant economy? Assembly is not modern industry, but preindustrial: like handicraft and manufacture. ‘Exports’ turn out to be expensively dressed imports, especially overpriced machines and parts. Why can’t the media tell us how much of the ‘local value additions’ are raw materials, and how much imported machinery, IPR, etc. Made-in-SL too is being assembled into another ‘comedy’ (see Random Notes).
• In 1796, during their invasion, the English attached the maritime provinces of Lanka to the Madras Presidency, with the East India Co (EIC) administering Ceylon until 1802. The EIC and English government declared military rule under their dual control. The English claimed they were given the right to rule Lanka, from the Dutch, especially over the commercial monopoly. Dutch, Swiss and Malay mercenaries of the Dutch army had crossed over to the English EIC. The English set up Malays soldiers as a Malay Corps, and a semi-military unit of Indian and African soldier-workers as a ‘Pioneer Force’ to terrorize residents, to build roads, bridges, irrigation works into the plantations. The Kandyans claimed, if they’d known about English duplicity earlier, they’d have defeated the Dutch themselves, and not provisioned the English.
The English from Madras imposed an exploitative system of taxation on Lanka. These taxes were collected by oppressive ‘Malabar’ officials. A ‘crowd of adventurers from the coast seeking their fortunes, arrived behind the Malabari officials, and many speculated in tax farming, having purchased most of the rents’. They soon provoked open revolt (see ee Focus, 1796).
• In 2018 the League of Multinational Corporations (LMNC) in Sri Lanka was formed by seven MNCs: Unilever, Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC, ie, British American Tobacco), Baur & Co, Heineken, HSBC, Indian Oil Co, and Mastercard. These powerful MNCs, with war chests bigger than most countries’ budgets, demanded: ‘Everything needs to be fixed in the context of international standards, in terms of human rights & labor law too.’ And ‘fixing’, as in fraud, is what they do best.
The IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and consortia of a commercial banks (that nurture the import mafia) are utilizing all the present crises they have manufactured (debt, energy, prolonged pandemic) to strengthen domination by multinational capital.
It is therefore curious that throughout these recent media-driven hullabaloos over pesticides, petrol & dollar droughts, the LMNC seem to be maintaining a rather clangorous silence.
Last ee looked at the origins of the modern forces preventing positive transformation of the village. Chemical cartels are leading the attack on present agrochemical policies. Today as powercuts combine with petroleum & food & dollars, we have to see through the brilliant darkness: how the import merchants and officials act as MNC business and political agents, linking to the electricity and other cartels – of petroleum & mining & food, of the transport industry, from ships to vehicles to planes, to the old coal, iron & steel, and to logisticians and accountants, and their banks. Such agglomerations belie all claims to free trade. This ee examines the operations and language of major cartels, that hides them in plain sight.
The modern European Union first arose out of the plan for a European steel cartel. Europe always was and is a weapon aimed at the rest of the world. Steel and its productions still steels its core.
• ‘There are a lot of discussions of sanctions against Russia and every western country is trying to get as much exemptions for its industries as possible. The USA has, for example, exempted everything that has to do with hydrocarbons from its own sanction package. It will still buy Russian oil and continue to sell drilling equipment to Russia.’ – ee Sovereignty, Disarming
• ‘The massive – and desperate – US offensive against the world order is entering a new phase, as the US prepares to resume its historical status as global energy superpower. A US-colonized German government (Germany pays to keep thousands of US troops on its soil) cancelled the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would have delivered cheap Russian natural gas to Europe. The big winners are US natural gas companies. Washington’s strategy is to permanently ratchet up tensions to ‘new cold war’ levels to justify sanctions against Russian energy exports, while exploiting the US’s own natural gas ‘surplus’ as an enhanced weapon of global hegemony. Germany and Japan meanwhile are shining their jackboots for their next imperialist adventures’. (ee Sovereignty, Gas Russia into Silence)
• US to deliver MCC ‘gift’ to Nepal only after Feb 28 ultimatum: On February 9, the US Embassy in Nepal proclaimed a $500million MCC grant as ‘a gift from the American people and a partnership between the two nations that will bring jobs and infrastructure to Nepal and improve the lives of Nepalis’.
On February 10, US Assistant State Secretary Donald Lu held separate telephone conversations with Nepal’s leaders, urging them to endorse the MCC pact by February 28, or Washington would ‘review its ties with Nepal’. Wielding such democratic credentials, Lu is due in Sri Lanka in March, to blather ‘human rights.’
This and other Geneva gabble takes place as the US bombed Somalia this week, and escalated threats against Ethiopia and Eritrea, while Israel bombed Syria, and Saudi Arabia bombed Yemen. Sparse coverage in Sri Lanka also continues about the white war on Myanmar. Ignoring Ukrainian attacks on Russia, the media also only reported Russia’s response.
• It’s not a sales job it’s a blow job: The new US envoy’s entrée was accompanied by great whoosh of a west wind. The first news blast reported, US company Textron Aviation was awarded an $11million contract for its new Beechcraft King Air 360ER aircraft: ‘The plane will be delivered through a foreign military sales contract to Sri Lanka with production set to be completed by September 2025. The aircraft will be handed over to the US Army, which will install sensors before delivering it to the Sri Lankan Air Force.’ The next minute, we hear the US is donating – ‘FOC’ (Free of Charge) – not just one but 2 of those military aircraft! If it’s a gift, why mention the cost? And what about parts and repair?
Their economists always hector, ‘There’s no free lunch.’ So, let’s see what’s going on in the kitchen: Ageing machinery ‘donated’ to Sri Lanka from a company gone bankrupt. In 1994 US warmonger Raytheon merged Beechcraft with the Hawker brand (bought from British Aerospace, 1993), forming Raytheon Aircraft Co. 2006, Raytheon sold Raytheon Aircraft to Goldman Sachs, creating Hawker Beechcraft (more in Random Notes).
Contents:
A1. Reader Comments –
• US Military ‘Gift’ Floors Reader • Truck Convoys Anything but Working Class
A2. Quotes of the Week
• Rating Games • NATO Supports Nazis in Ukraine • Wild West Writes the ‘Rules’ • Debt Service Impoverishes • World Bank defines Capital • Truck Convoys Fake Strategy
A3. Random Notes –
• US Gifts Flying Trojan Horse to Sri Lanka • Mahindra’s So-called Local Parts • IMF Turns Electricity Meter into New Tax Inspector • Multinationals Block Rural Market • Rural Home Market is Vital • Cartels Gouge Prices • Oil-producing Countries Don’t Determine Oil Price • US attacks Ethiopia & Eritrea
B. ee Focus
B1. Tamil Nadu, the Most Industrialized State in India, & the Federal Idea – Sugath Kulatunge
B2. 1796 in Sri Lanka: Ruled from Madras
B3. Electrical Cartels & Modern Nations
C. News Index
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A1. Reader Comments
ee thanks Readers who send articles of interest. Please excerpt or summarize what is important about any news sent, or your comments, and place any e-link at the end. Email: econenews@gmail.com
• ‘The initial entries in last ee, had me floored. Especially about the US military plane at $11million. Ahhh! Priorities, priorities!’
• ‘I don’t think the Canadian convoy is a working class anything, although some might see it that way. The trucks are being driven by trucking company owners. People who can be in Ottawa for weeks, staying at hotels. One of the organizers left by private plane. There are a lot of wealthy rightwing donors backing this. The far right has mobilized. With Bernier’s far-right party getting almost a million votes, the right is emboldened, the centre in Canada has really shifted. In Ontario, now two far-right parties are in the provincial legislature (defections from the Tories).’
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A2. Quotes of the Week_
• ‘First you downgrade the country’s credit rating, putting its development plans at risk. The country is then asked to seek an IMF bailout which comes with conditionalities that made the country skip the IMF option in the first place: and they wonder why Africa is looking to China?’
• ‘The leading NATO countries are supporting the far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine’ – Putin (ee Sovereignty, Full Speech)
• ‘After all, a number of powerful Western governments, led by the US, did dismember Yugoslavia – a plural society like India – and subsequently even carved out Kosovo from the successor state of Serbia in 2008. When Serbia protested in the UN, England snapped back that Kosovo’s independence had already been recognised by almost all EU countries! The stark message was: ‘We, the West, will write the rules.’ Welcome to the ‘rules-based order’!’ – Bhadrakumar, ee Sovereignty
• ‘When Alpha Oumar Konaré took over the presidency in Mali in 1992, people were exhausted by the debt crisis produced by IMF policies and by military rule. They wanted something more. One of Konaré’s close advisers said during his time in office, ‘We service our country’s debt on time every month, never missing a penny, and all the time the people are getting poorer and poorer.’ Konaré’s government asked for relief from the IMF so it could marshal resources toward ensuring the development of the northern part of the country. The insurgency, Konaré argued, would be better confronted by development than by war. The US government and IMF disagreed.’ – ee Sovereignty, Mali
• ‘The World Bank defines global wealth as ‘produced capital’ (means of production, machinery, computers etc), renewable & non-renewable natural capital (land, forests, water, mineral resources etc), ‘human capital’ (what Marx called human labor power), and net foreign assets held by each nation.’ – ee Economists, Wealth of Nations
• ‘This “trucker convoy” tactic [is] the latest example of a strategy being developed by well-funded right-wing networks across the Americas, from as far north as Canada and as far south as Brazil… A trucker protest in Brazil in 2018 paralyzed distribution networks for weeks. Initially rooted in legitimate complaints of unreasonable hikes to the cost of diesel caused by neoliberal economic policies imposed after a 2016 political coup against a democratically elected left-wing government, the trucker protest was soon hijacked by wealthy conservative elites.’ – ee Sovereignty, Astroturfing
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A3. Random Notes (‘Seeing Number in Chaos’)_
• US Gifts Trojan Horse to Sri Lanka – US warplane maker Beechcraft cohabited with chief ‘competitor’ Cessna in Wichita, Kansas, home of the military/business Learjet and Stearman. Hawker Beechcraft owned by Goldman Sachs, declared bankruptcy in 2012. In 2013 Textron bought and merged Beechcraft with Cessna to form Textron Aviation. In 2011 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had fined Textron for failure to follow quality-assurance requirements. 2017, Textron announced layoffs after falling business jet & turboprop sales and company profits, with lower sales of military and commercial turboprop aircraft, while promising to keep providing parts and expertise to old models. The US government gets to bail out a tottering US company, to encumber a pestilential colony. Or rather, surveil its environs. Textron and their allies need more wars!
• Mahindra & Mahindra is part of the Indian Merchant’s Chamber (IMC) and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Gujarat Chapter). Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services owns a major stake in ‘local’ Ideal Finance Ltd. The new pickup uses tyres from now Indian-owned CEAT Lanka, formerly Kelani tyres. Ideal is owned by Island media owner, Nimal Welgama.
• The IMF turned the electricity meter into the new tax inspector in Greece in 2011. Electricity is more effective at collecting taxes than tax inspectors. The new Greek property tax meant huge increases for every household, including pensioners and even the recently unemployed. The tax was only invented to meet a shortfall in Greece’s austerity plan bailout. Meant to be a small, temporary charge but, as the saying goes, there’s nothing more permanent than a temporary tax. The property tax was then doubled. Germany, the world’s leader in solar-power production, then promoted solar power in Greece. Greek sunlight and German tech would help dilute Greece and Germany’s reliance on Russian gas. The hated electricity tax was however blamed for toppling Greece’s government soon after. (Faisal Islam, The Default Line: the Inside Story of People, Banks & Entire Nations on the Edge)
• Multinational banks and companies keep undermining agricultural policy in Sri Lanka. They prevent the growth of a rural home market. A rural home market is the basis for rural industrialization. Industrialization can arm the rural worker with modern skills and tools. Beginning with modernization of irrigation and village councils, skilled workers will strive to make the machines to advance agricultural cultivation. Instead, as this ee shows, our home market is divided and devoured among foreign cartels.
• Price-fixing cartels control international trade in important commodities, from oil, steel and aluminum to tea, coffee, sugar. European governments, despite laws against trusts, encourage their national companies to participate in international cartels. These cartels generate large profits for their nations’ companies, and transferred enormous wealth from consumers abroad to producers at home.
Price-fixing cartels inflict significant injuries. By reducing output and increasing prices, cartels misappropriate billions of dollars from consumers and prevent millions of consumers from acquiring necessary products and services that would be affordable in a competitive market. Cartels also create productive inefficiencies by insulating inefficient manufacturers from competition, which increases the average production costs in an industry (see ee Focus)
• The increasing volatility of gas prices impacts the price of electricity. Persistent shockwaves in gas prices remind that governments should not allow rail networks to deteriorate, and must increase rail freight, decreasing goods moved by lorries, making supply chains less reliant on volatile fuel sources.
• Having gas offshore does not ensure a consistent supply of cheap domestic gas. Most of the gas extracted from Australia’s abundant offshore gas fields are exported to fulfil long-term supply contracts. So, despite the cost of shipping, Australian gas is often cheaper in Japan than in Australia. Australia’s government even introduced regulations to throttle exports if there is not enough gas for the domestic market. This guaranteed supply, but has not protected Australians from rising gas prices. (ee Agriculture, Denialism
• Black Agenda Report – The US bombed Somalia on Tuesday. The last US attack on Somalia was in August 2021. The US Africa Command said this strike was carried out under their own so-called Authorization of Use for Military Force.
France promised to withdraw from Mali, but continues to devastate Africa’s Sahel. Israel bombs Syria. Saudi bombs Yemen. Not to mention NATO’s constant threats and destabilization of Korea, Cuba, Congo, etc.
Meanwhile, the US House Resolution 6600 – the misnamed Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace & Democracy Act – has been moved from their House Foreign Affairs Committee to the House floor. This imposes harsh sanctions not only on Ethiopia but also on its close ally Eritrea. The two countries are defending themselves against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
In international law, sovereign nations have the right to work together for mutual defense, as neighbors Ethiopia and Eritrea now are. The authors of House Resolution 6600 (Malinowski Bill), also allege that the leaders and armed forces of both countries, and the TPLF, are guilty of committing atrocities in the current conflict, but the proposed sanctions would harm only Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The US is intervening in the internal politics of a sovereign nation, namely Ethiopia. They are trying to make Ethiopia accountable to the US, with absolutely no basis for that in international law. They even want to collaborate with the social media giants to intervene in Ethiopians’ use of platforms like Twitter, Facebook.
The TPLF has been a US proxy force since it attacked the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Force on Nov 4, 2020. They’re accusing Eritrea of being involved because Eritrea has what might be called a mutual defense pact, which is legal, according to the UN Charter.
According to international law, the UNSC could sanction the US, England or any other nations for waging war, including economic war, primarily in the form of trade sanctions on other countries. However, the US’s outsized military and economic power and its veto power make that impossible on a practical level.
Allegations of ‘Tigray genocide’ are brandished over Ethiopia and Eritrea’s head – because the US has used it as an excuse for bombing Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria. Illegal wars waged unilaterally by the US and its allies & proxies. The fact that the UN Security Council can legally organize a multilateral response to stop genocide does not mean that the US can legally take that mission into its own hands. The US should be reminded and publicly shamed every time they violate international law. – see ee Sovereignty, Ethiopia
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B. Special Focus__
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B1. Tamil Nadu, the Most Industrialized State in India, & the Federal Idea – Sugath Kulatunge
The founders of the Indian Constitution took an unequivocal stand that the Union is not a Federation and ensured the predominance of the Centre over the States of the Union. In introducing the Draft Constitution to the Constituent Assembly, Chairman of the Drafting Committee BR Ambedkar explained, ‘Though India was to be a federation, the federation was not a result of an agreement, no State has the right to secede from it. Though the country and the people are divided into different States for the convenience of administration, the country is one integral whole, its people a single people living under a single imperium derived from a single source.’
But at a recent debate in the Indian Parliament, Rahul Gandhi asserted India is an ‘Union of States’. The Congress leader added: ‘It is a partnership, not a kingdom. You will never in your entire life, rule over the people of Tamil Nadu.’
This statement was hailed by Tamil Nadu and its Chief Minister MK Stalin praised Rahul Gandhi for ‘his rousing speech’. The Congress leader replied, ‘I have no doubt that our shared belief in the pluralistic, federal and cooperative idea of India will triumph.’
The Federal Idea is fast gaining ground in India. The wide discrepancies in socioeconomic development amongst the States has enhanced this process. States like Tamil Nadu, with a history of extreme demands for independence, are likely to lead in such a move. Tamil Nadu has a population of 85 million and its GDP of US$78billion in 2010 increased to $298bn in 2020. It’s the most industrialized state and the second wealthiest state in the Indian Union. More than 60% of the state is urbanized, accounting for around 10.6% of India’s urban population, while only comprising 6% of India’s total population. Services contribute to 55% of the economic activity in the state, followed by manufacturing at 34% and agriculture at 11%. In 2018 software exports of Tamil Nadu were $18billion.
The war industry in Tamil Nadu is one of the fastest growing sectors, with war manufacturing, eg, Heavy Vehicles, Combat Vehicles, Ordnance, and also the first Indian-made 5th-generation jet fighter plane to be manufactured.
Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu is known as ‘Manchester of South India’, due to its extensive textile industry and as the home of more than 30,000 small, medium and large industries.
What our leaders must recognize is the rise of a hostile giant with a population of 85 million and an economy of $300billion in our immediate neighborhood. Its population may be compared with Germany’s 83.9mn, England+ at 68mn, and France’s 65.5mn, though there’s no comparison with their economies.
The dream of ‘Greater Eelam’ seems to be still lurking in the minds of extreme Tamil nationalists. The sleeping beast may rouse with encouraging calls from the likes of Rahul Gandhi. The wide variation between GDP in Tamil Nadu and northern States is incentive to go it alone.
A strong Tamil Nadu will make the Central Government accommodate even their unfair demands. yet, the Centre will do its utmost to protect the Union. The Central Government will not want a new confrontation in the South while resisting heavy hostile pressure in the North, and the West. In a situation where the Centre gives in to demands antagonistic to Sri Lanka, do we have a defence? A Tamil Nadu growing in strength is bound to encourage the separatist movement in Sri Lanka.
Make no mistake, as far as a ‘relations’, we’re only a poor relation of India. What are our options to save this nation? The Non-Aligned Movement is dead, SAARC killed, an opportunity to join ASEAN was missed by a cowardly UNP. Do we have any buffer to defend us from this turmoil which is bound to take place in this miserable decade?
Just after the Indo-Lanka accord of 1987, Minister Lalith Athulathmudali led an ESCAP-sponsored trade delegation to Pakistan when General Zia invited him to his palace. Zia welcomed Lalith very warmly and said Pakistan was very sorry that Sri Lanka did not consult them before entering into the Agreement: ‘We could not have prevented you from signing that Agreement, but we could have advised you to avoid any trap.’ Wise words indeed. The trap was the Exchange of Letters*…
[* The Indo-Lanka Accord was signed on 29 July 1987 in Colombo under emergency law, and threats by India to invade, as was the 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution passed on 14 November 1987. Annexures to the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord and the exchange of letters (hurriedly) affixed to the Accord, ordered that Sri Lanka will do nothing that impinges negatively on India’s security interests. Critics argue the wordings in the signed agreements differ.)
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B2. 1796 in Sri Lanka
1796:Dutch, Swiss and Malay mercenaries of the Dutch army crossed over to English East India Co (EIC). The English set up a Malay Corps; and a semi-military unit of Indian and African soldier/workers, as the ‘Pioneer Force’, to terrorize residents, to build roads, bridges, irrigation works for plantations based on its American slave system.
• The English marched out of Trincomalee for Colombo in January. The Dutch evacuated Kalpitiya and Chilaw (1 Feb) and abandoned Negombo in the face of an English onslaught from across the Mahaoya, believing a Sinhala uprising in the neighboring Maritime districts was imminent, and that the Kandyans were mobilizing in the 3, 4 and 7 Korales. The English occupied Negombo (3 Feb) and camped to Mutwal and Vattala (joined by Kandyan forces on 12 Feb).
• 12 February: Kandyan embassy negotiations in Madras almost broke down; England’s Supreme Government in Bengal worried agreements in Europe could end up returning Lanka’s maritimes to the Dutch. Kandyans noted, if they’d known about the English vacillation earlier, they would have defeated the Dutch themselves, and not provisioned the English. Governor Hobart of Fort St George (Madras) signed the treaty to enable the EIC to keep in Ceylon a force to protect and assist Kandy, with the right to set up a factory, and freedom to trade (English negotiations in Lanka were conducted in Portuguese!). The English secretly footnoted, they agreed so as ‘to getting a footing’ in Lanka. Embassy returned to Kandy to obtain King’s ratification.
• 13 Feb: The Dutch withdrew into Colombo Fort, closed the gates and drew up the bridges. For the Dutch Governor, hopes that Tippu Sultan would divert English forces, and a French fleet would appear in eastern waters, had failed. Volunteers promised by native chiefs had not appeared. Many Indian, Sinhala, Chalea, Malay and Moor troops had deserted. ‘Coolies’ had fled. No copper money in the government chest. English forces estimated at 100,000 men and 21 ships. Dutch Colombo surrendered on Feb 16, with only token resistance. The Pro-Statholder Governor Van Angelbeck, a large landowner in Lanka, invited the English in, and De Meuron was appointed military governor. About 900 Dutch families chose to remain. 2,800 Lascarin families were registered in the Dissavony of Colombo alone, and offered the choice of returning to their birthplaces or serving the English.
• The English then sent troops to Kalutara, Galle (23 Feb) and Matara (24 Feb), which the Kandyans had already occupied. The English found Matara Fort evacuated: ‘Such was the inglorious end of the Dutch regime.’
• ‘By this capitulation, with all its fortresses ammunition & artillery, its archives and the contents of its treasury & stores, was ceded to the victorious English. Private property was declared inviolable, and funds of charitable foundations held sacred, the garrison marched out with the honours of war, piled the arms on the esplanade, and returned to their barracks. ‘Night closed on the descending standard of Holland, and at sunrise the Union Jack rose.’ (James Emerson Tennant)
• ‘Colombo the capital of the Dutch in Ceylon is a place of considerable consequence and strength from its natural position, as well as from its works, which were numerous and in good condition. The Fort, which is extensive, contained many dwelling houses, including the governor’s palace, a most superb building. The Petttah had also several good houses, churches, etc in it. And in the place, altogether, were many respectable inhabitants. Without a chance of relief it would have been madness to hold out, and by an early capitulation private property was preserved. Colombo is also a place of great traffic by sea, the roadstead being extremely safe and commodious, particularly during the NorthEast monsoon.’
• Soon after capturing Colombo, Robert Andrews was made Commercial Resident of Ceylon, 12 Feb 1796 – 12 Oct 1798, to steal the spices, and Colonel James Stuart was made Civil and Military Commander of Ceylon, 1 Mar 1796 – 1 Jan 1797. In June, the English claimed to find out about the 1766 Dutch-Kandy treaty. They now claimed that they were given the right to rule the country from the Dutch, specially the commercial monopoly.
• Military rule and dual control by English EIC and English government. The maritime provinces of Lanka were attached to the Madras Presidency and administered by English EIC until 1802.
• English EIC & English forces claimed to control the entire Lanka coastline & land 20 miles interior.
• England took over depleted Dutch Treasury: English Proclamation fixed rates of exchange between Ceylon and Indian money. Pagodas = 45 Ceylon fanams or 180 stuivers or 3 3/4 rix-dollars, Arcot rupee = 1 rix-dollar, Pice 1/48 rupee = 1 stuiver, 1/2 Pice = 1/2 stuiver.
• In August, the English failed to get the Kandy king to ratify treaty. Stuart replaced Ceylonese mudaliyars and headmen with Malabar officials from South Indian coast, after the English took over Dutch settlements there. An oppressive system of taxation was imposed in September by Commercial Resident Robert Andrews. The English imposed a direct tax of one silver fanam on every coconut tree, on properties with 50 trees or more; service lands taxed at half the produce. These taxes, collected by oppressive ‘Malabar’ officials, affected both the Mudaliyar class and the people, causing open revolt. A ‘crowd of adventurers from the coast seeking their fortunes’, arrived behind the Malabari officials, and many speculated in tax farming, having purchased most of the rents. Initial protests began in Jaffna; by December reached Rayigam Korale (Panadura-Kalutara), where the collector was seized. English troops were sent to punish protesters.
• When English EIC took over parts of maritime Lanka, all import duties were suspended except for arrack (coconut palm spirit), and opium. High customs duty of 20 rixdollars or Rs22+/pound of imported opium levied (later reduced to 5 rixdollars). These heavy rates increased smuggling, which authorities saw as loss of revenue rather than danger to the public. 1840: Customs duty reduced from 5 rix dollars to 1shilling/pound. 1885: Opium import duty fixed at Rs1/pound. 1897: Opium import duty raised from 1 to 2 rupees. 1907: Opium import duty raised from Rs2/ to Rs4/pound.
• England’s postal service set up in Lanka with English EIC opening an office in Colombo to accept and deliver letters in a limited area.
• George Augustus North, 3rd Earl of Guilford, married top English banker Thomas Coutt’s daughter Susan. Younger brother Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, made governor of Ceylon, 1798-1805. Thomas Hammersley (linked to Coutts), lenders to Prince of Wales, went into partnership with Montolieu, Brooksbank, Greenwood & Drewe. 1800s: Coutts bank stored funds for English foreign ministry’s espionage efforts.
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B3. Electrical Cartels & Modern Nations
The world oil market is even today (1905) still divided between 2 great financial groups
– Rockefeller’s US Standard Oil Co, and Rothschild & Nobel, the controlling interests of the Russian oilfields in Baku. The 2 groups are closely connected. – Lenin, Imperialism (1917)
The ghosts of DJ Wimalasurendra, whose Laxapana dream was sabotaged by England’s Pearson, and the ghosts of the sabotaged Oruwela Ceylon Steel Corporation keep tapping on our shoulder. The hijacking of national oil policy after the big oil multinationals were kicked out in the early 1960s, is a story yet to be told. Big Oil is back in charge, making and breaking governments. This ee recalls the formations and machinations of early international steel cartels. We begin with Lenin’s Imperialism to shed light on the forces that drive this world along the same perilous paths of old, to forever wars… Lenin recorded how the ‘Comedy of Oil’ between Rockefeller, Nobel, Rothschild and Germany, had led to WW1, with the stage already being set for further world wars:
Lenin: ‘Railways are a summation of the basic capitalist industries, coal, iron & steel; a summation and the most striking index of the development of world trade and bourgeois-democratic civilisation. Railways are linked up with large-scale industry, with monopolies, syndicates, cartels, trusts, banks and the financial oligarchy. The uneven distribution of the railways, their uneven development – sums up, as it were, modern monopolist capitalism on a worldwide scale. And this summary proves that imperialist wars are absolutely inevitable under such an economic system, as long as private property in the means of production exists.
The building of railways seems to be a simple, natural, democratic, cultural and civilising enterprise; that is what it is in the opinion of bourgeois professors, who are paid to depict capitalist slavery in bright colours, and in the opinion of uncultured petty-bourgeois. But as a matter of fact, the capitalist threads, which in thousands of different inter-crossings bind these enterprises with private property in the means of production in general, have converted this railway construction into an instrument for oppressing a thousand million people (in the colonies and semi-colonies), that is, more than half the population of the globe that inhabit the dependent countries, as well as the wage-slaves of capital in the ‘civilised’ countries.
Private property based on the labour of the small proprietor, free competition, democracy, all the catchwords with which the capitalists and their press deceive the workers and the peasants – are things of the distant past. Capitalism has grown into a world system of colonial oppression and of the financial strangulation of the overwhelming majority of the population of the world by a handful of ‘advanced’ countries. And this ‘booty’ is shared between 2 or 3 powerful world plunderers armed to the teeth (US, England, Japan), who are drawing the whole world into their war over the sharing of their booty.’
• Unspoken Words & Cartels
Don’t write anything you can phone. Don’t phone anything you can talk.
Don’t talk anything you can whisper. Don’t whisper anything you can smile.
Don’t smile anything you can nod. Don’t nod anything you can wink.
Quoted above is Huey P Long, Governor of Louisiana, assassinated on the steps of the legislature, after being nominated to run for resident against Franklin D Roosevelt. Roosevelt family wealth arose from pushing Turkish opium on China. Long, though an early FDR supporter, became a major critic of his New Deal, alternatively proposing the Share Our Wealth program in 1934. He advocated massive federal spending, a wealth tax, and wealth redistribution. Long banned Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Corporation from the state. He’s caricatured in Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men, as a populist demagogue, a favorite swearword for Wall Street and NATO liberals. It’s Standard Oil that drives US foreign policy.
It isn’t a question of what would be reasonable for you to do,
but what you are permitted to do under the law
– Joseph J O’Connell, US Treasury Department
‘International steel agreements have not usually been prolix’. The International Steel Cartel’s important agreements ‘were often unsigned‘. All details were usually discussed in ‘steel cartel jargon‘, ‘brief & sketchy’. The ‘ideal entente’ has to have no written regulations at all. It has to be governed ‘by a chart setting out the general principles of the agreement’. Unpublished roadmaps.
England’s Ministry of Reconstruction differentiated between 4 types of industrial combinations in England: (1) the honourable understanding, (2) the trade association, (3) the combine, and (4) the consolidation. ‘Honorable understandings are characterized by the following description: “The simplest type of combination is that which occurs where a number of manufacturers or traders, who would otherwise be competitors, meet from time to time and arrive at an ‘honorable understanding’ or ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ in regard to output, division of business, etc. Such arrangements are essentially informal and temporary. There are no documents, there is no association, there is no bond except that of good faith‘ – Pamphlet Series, Reconstruction Problems, Trusts, Combines and Trade Associations, (London, 1919)
Almost simultaneous with the division of Africa, ‘The first attempt of the English, Belgian and German rail manufacturers to form an International Rail Cartel was made as early as 1884, during a severe industrial depression. The manufacturers agreed not to compete with one another in the home markets of the countries involved, and they divided the foreign markets in the following quotas: England 66%; Germany 27%; Belgium 7%. Sri Lanka and India was reserved entirely for England…In 1886 the cartel collapsed when two English firms retired from it. It is characteristic that agreement could not be achieved during subsequent boom periods.
In 1904, the German steel syndicate was formed. The International Rail Cartel was revived, 1904-14, with the following quotas: England 53.5%; Germany 28.83%; Belgium 17.67%. France came in later… In 1905, the US Steel Corporation entered the cartel; then Austria and Spain. “At the present time, the division of the world is complete, and the big consumers, primarily the state railways – since the world has been parceled out without consideration for their interests – can now dwell like the poet in the heaven of Jupiter” (Lenin).
Attempting to break out of England’s strictures after their WWI defeat, German steelmakers in 1924 set up the Internationale Rohstahlgemeinschaft (IRG, raw steel community, the official German name of the European continental cartel of German & Saar steelmakers) in Luxembourg, as a quota-fixing cartel for coal.
ERMA (European Rail Makers Association) was set up by Germany, Belgium, France and England in 1925-26. Then, the International Steel Entente was set up in 1926, based in Luxemburg, under a Council with representatives of German, French, Belgian and Luxembourg industries. The founding text used the term ‘European Economic Union’, with Germany’s entry into the League of Nations.
The Benelux and Rhine countries were joined in 1927 by Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. They fixed prices, divided quotas among member countries, which claimed two-thirds of world steel exports, and secure supplies of iron ore and coke. The Cartel represented only 35% of the total production of the most important producers, but two-thirds of the world export of steel products.
Europe’s International Steel Entente (EIA) set up in 1926, became the first international steel cartel, intended to support prices and fairly distribute quotas among companies in member countries.
The Benelux and Rhine countries were joined in 1927 by Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. They fixed prices, divided quotas among member countries, which claimed two-thirds of world steel exports, and secured supplies of iron ore and coke – essential for their steel industry.
Unofficially, the International Steel Cartel (ISC) controlled the world export market in steel (as opposed to pig iron, iron alloys, steel-made commodities). The structure, aims and tools of operation of the ISC were not veiled in mystery. The ISC was a rather intricate network of institutions, some conventional, others of an unconventional economic pattern. Two categories of economic forces operated in this mighty edifice, both designed to make the structure of the world steel export market revolve around a parent and a group of filial centers. First, were the forces, centripetal in nature, aimed at maintaining internal collaboration & discipline. Second, the centrifugal forces designed to keep buyers and buyer-groups in line and to eliminate actual & potential competitors. They were more concerned with the export markets than output issues.
The main ISC activities: (1) The establishment of general and subsidiary marketing schemes, and of agencies to administer them. The marketing schemes contained – among other provisions – quota systems, determining the sharing of markets of particular steel commodities by exporting groups; (2) The elimination of competition – including non-price competition – between exporters of any given steel product; (3) The coordination of price-relationships among the different products; (4) The organization of merchandizing functions in importing countries; (5) The stabilization [sic!] of prices within rather narrow limits throughout periods of business fluctuations; (6) The elimination or softening of real or potential outside competition in the broadest sense; 7) The protection of the domestic market of adherents; 8) The coordination of a coordinated propaganda for the use of steel.
The Steel Export Association of America (SEAA) was incorporated in 1928 in New York, by US Steel Products Co and Bethlehem Steel Export Corporation. It was an indication that on the world steel market, a ‘fight for world supremacy between the USA and Europe’ in the steel market was not far distant.
Disputes intensified over quotas and infringements, with the depression in 1929. The European cartel in 1929 linked with US, English, Canadian, Japanese and Swedish producers, who had varying power and coordination. England and US were the biggest exporters. The US produced 47 million tons of steel in 1926, but exported only 2.3mn. The world market in 1929 was dominated by 5 major producing countries: the US (47.4%), Germany (13.3%), England (8.3%), France (8%), and Belgium-Luxembourg (5.6%), which produced 83% of a total steel production of 122 million tons, in 1929.
The production statistics provided by the companies were checked by a Swiss trust company. Cartel members gained access to German coal. The EIA and the English group together were unofficially called the European Steel Cartel or European Group. The English were represented by the British Iron & Steel Federation.
Having ‘understandings’ with the British Iron & Steel Federation, and US steel producers, and general agreement with Czechoslovak and Polish groups, the French, German, Belgian and Luxembourg ‘groups’ were the core of the cartel, whose ‘fundamental agreement’ involved commodities: rails, wire, sheets, semi-finished steel, merchant bars, plates, etc.
Procedures for resolving ISC disputes in a ‘sociable manner’ or by tossing a coin, ‘showed a slight contempt of the official way of deciding disputes’. Arbitration was avoided. This was based upon a recognition that the difficulty arose from a rather incomplete formulation of the agreement, which could not be supplemented by judicial reasoning. The ultimate umpire was chosen by the International Chamber of Commerce.
The ‘domestic market of European producers’ was specified in annexes to the export sale comptoir agreements. It included dependencies, colonies, etc. Market interpenetration among European producers was regulated by many specific agreements among the interested national groups also.
Imports intended to be weapons of foreign producers against domestic production could be met by several provisions of the existing tariff legislation. Those tariff laws and their influence on imports were officially analyzed by US Tariff Commission and the Temporary National Economic Committee.
The US entered the ERMA cartel through their Steel Export Association of America (SEAA), 1929-39. ERMA then changed its name to IRMA. The US participated in the weekly business meetings of the cartel (‘London Committee’). Among the most important agreements were the ‘general’ agreements on tinplate.
Cartel members gained access to German coal. The EIA and the English group together were unofficially called the European Steel Cartel or European Group. From 1933, Nazi Germany turned increasingly to the steel industry for armaments, importing more iron ore from Sweden.
SEAA was a member of the International Tinplate Association from 1934-39. This was ‘forcibly terminated’ after war began in September 1939. Export market organizations, shipping conference agreements, and ‘penetration agreements’ (with South Africa, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Holland, etc., whereby they fixed conditions how the ISC ‘penetrated’ into their domestic markets, and preferred conditions for delivering semi-finished steel, etc) were dissolved. The German government controlled the new Steel Entente led by the German National Steel Cartel. The new cartel ended with WW2.
The Treaty of Paris (1951) set up the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), 1952-2002, unifying Western Europe against the USSR, leading to the European Union. The ECSC linked France, West Germany, Italy and the Benelux (Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands) …
__________________________________________________________
C. News Index______________________________________________
• ee News Index provides headlines & links to expose the weekly focus of published English ‘business news’ by imperialist and corporate controlled ‘local media’, to increase underdevelopment. Please note the sources, as well as time:
C1. Sovereignty
(ee is pro-politics, pro-politician, pro-nation-state, anti-corporatist, anti-expert, anti-NGO)
ee Sovereignty news emphasizes sovereignty as economic sovereignty – a strong nation is built on modern (machine-making) industrialization fueled by a producer culture.
• US will provide two maritime surveillance aircraft gratis to SLAF
– island.lk/us-will-provide-two-maritime-surveillance-aircraft-gratis-to-slaf/
– themorning.lk/slaf-says-beechcrafts-to-be-provided-foc/
• UN Human Rights Commissioner Bachelet’s latest report not favourable to the government
– island.lk/problems-that-will-not-just-go-away/
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/un-human-rights-chiefs-report-questions-pta-easter-bombing-probe-473830.html
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/columns/latest-unhrc-report-makes-further-indictments-on-lanka-473796.html
• Cacophony of noises in preparation for forthcoming UNHRC is a wasteful exercise.
– island.lk/the-unhrc/
• European Union won’t withdraw lucrative GSP+ trade concession immediately – Colombage
‘GSP+ has really helped fishermen, garment factories, and farmers more than the government. And if it is withdrawn, these will be the worst affected categories’.
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-confident-of-no-immediate-withdrawal-of-eus-gsp-foreign-secretary-90860/
• High Commissioner Moragoda meets Head of the RSS
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/25/high-commissioner-moragoda-meets-head-of-the-rss/
• ‘Integration of the financial system of India and Sri Lanka’ – GL Pieris
– island.lk/march-troubles-beckon-as-white-vans-return/
– island.lk/new-delhi-based-diplomats-briefed-on-post-war-reconciliation-efforts-in-sl/
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-foreign-minister-briefs-delhi-based-missions-ahead-of-unhrc-session-90734/
• Indian Foreign Minister says willing to make investments in SL
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Indian-Foreign-Minister-says-willing-to-make-investments-in-SL/273-231746
• Finance Minister to sign $1bn loan agreement with India
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/24/finance-minister-to-sign-1bn-loan-agreement-with-india/
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-finance-minister-to-visit-india-to-discuss-one-billion-dollars-of-credit-lines-90821/
• Govt. expects to finalise US $1bn credit line from India following Basil’s visit
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Govt-expects-to-finalise-US-1bn-credit-line-from-India-following-Basils-visit/273-231827
• India, SL close to sealing three defence-related pacts to boost maritime security
– island.lk/india-sl-close-to-sealing-three-defence-related-pacts-to-boost-maritime-security/
• Sri Lanka Navy’s Sayurala in India for largest naval exercise
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/25/sri-lanka-navys-sayurala-in-india-for-largest-naval-exercise/
• Sri Lanka needs US$1,285mn for three months of oil, US$500mn from India: Minister
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-needs-us1285mn-for-three-months-of-oil-us500mn-from-india-minister-90862/
• Basil’s India visit postponed, again
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/25/basils-india-visit-postponed-again/
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Basils-visit-to-India-postponed/108-231870
• Sri Lanka in talks with Middle East banks for 2 billion US dollars: Minister
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-in-talks-with-middle-east-banks-for-2-billion-us-dollars-minister-90814/
• TNA pins hope on Modi
– island.lk/tna-pins-hope-on-modi/
• Malayaha Thamils have listed their grievances
– island.lk/malayaha-thamils-have-listed-their-grievances/
• Tamil MPs protest opposite Presidential Secretariat
– island.lk/tamil-mps-protest-opposite-presidential-secretariat/
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-tamil-national-alliance-mps-protest-outside-presidents-office-over-land-issue-90811/
• AIADMK calls for Indian govt’s intervention in Katchatheevu festival issue
– adaderana.lk/news/80731/aiadmk-calls-for-indian-govts-intervention-in-katchatheevu-festival-issue
• Office for National Unity and Reconciliation mobile reconciliation programme goes North
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/plus/onurs-mobile-reconciliation-programme-goes-north-473295.html
• Basil off to India on Friday
‘to finalise the $1 billion import trade financing by end-February or early March to ease the Balance of Payment (BOP) pressure on Sri Lanka as India is among the two top trading nations apart from China which have a favourable trade deficit against Sri Lanka’
– ft.lk/front-page/Basil-off-to-India-on-Friday/44-730861
• Sri Lanka likely to receive Pakistan’s US$200mn credit line after top level visit – sources
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-likely-to-receive-pakistans-us200mn-credit-line-after-top-level-visit-sources-90675/
• SL hopes to further consolidate & expand solid partnership with Russia, President tells Putin
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/19/sl-hopes-to-further-consolidate-expand-solid-partnership-with-russia-president-tells-putin/
• China a genuine friend attaching no strings to ties with SL: Wimal
– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/China-a-genuine-friend-attaching-no-strings-to-ties-with-SL-Wimal/342-231539
• Veteran Communist DEW recalls modern-day bonds between China and Lanka
‘Karl Marx had predicted the potential market of China as a decisive factor, Vladimir Lenin in his last theoretical contribution has also stressed the need for a Chinese Revolution for the Socialist Transformation’
– island.lk/veteran-communist-dew-recalls-modern-day-bonds-between-china-and-lanka/
• TNA, GTF in Colombo and London seek TN and Indian backing to achieve political goals
– island.lk/tna-gtf-seek-tn-and-indian-backing-to-achieve-political-goals/
• Foreign Minister Prof. Peiris presents SL perspective to Senators of the French Republic
– island.lk/foreign-minister-prof-peiris-presents-sri-lankan-perspective-to-senators-of-the-french-republic/
• Sri Lanka and EU identify areas for close collaboration
– adaderana.lk/news/80839/sri-lanka-and-eu-identify-areas-for-close-collaboration
• Rise of Tamil Nadu
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/21/rise-of-tamil-nadu/
• How can US MCC ‘gift’ to Nepal be delivered by February 28 ultimatum, asks Chinese FM
– globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1253002.shtml
• Let Chagossians return to their native land
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Let-Chagossians-return-to-their-native-land/172-231729
• India, China in Europe’s crisis – Bhadrakumar
‘Ukraine is rather a manifestation of a deeper and far more complex question of the absence of a post-Cold War security architecture in Europe’
– indianpunchline.com/india-china-in-europes-crisis/
• US attempt to woo Pacific serves its regional interests after realizing Western power vacuum
‘local media outlets preach the ‘China Threat Theory’ or the debt trap, which are groundless,’
– globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252713.shtml
• Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full speech
– macaubusiness.com/russian-president-vladimir-putins-full-speech/
• Self-proclaimed world leaders furthering military & economic interests amidst worst-ever global health emergency
– island.lk/russians-cross-the-rubicon/
• “Stop the War,’’ demand Ukrainians in SL
– timesonline.lk/news-online/In-Pictures-Stop-the-War-demand-Ukrainians-in-SL/2-1136907
• India’s Left Condemn Military Action but Defend Russia’s Concerns Over Security Guarantees
– newsclick.in/Left-Parties-Condemn-Military-Action-Defend-Russia-Concerns-Over-Security-Guarantees
• Putin’s pushback: The context of Russia’s Ukraine move – Jayatilleka
– island.lk/putins-pushback-the-context-of-russias-ukraine-move/
• Putin crosses the Rubicon. What next? – Bhadrakumar
‘‘Ukrainian troop control system has already been integrated into NATO. NATO headquarters can issue direct commands to Ukrainian armed forces, even to their separate units & squads.’
– indianpunchline.com/putin-crosses-the-rubicon-what-next/
• India and the Donbass republics – Bhadrakumar
– indianpunchline.com/india-and-the-donbass-republics/
• Ukraine on Fire: The Real Story – Full Documentary by Oliver Stone
‘a war between powers seeking to control its rich lands and Russia’s access to the Mediterranean’
– defenddemocracy.press/ukraine-on-fire-the-real-story/
• Russia Is Pressing For More Concessions While Donbas Heats Up
– moonofalabama.org/2022/02/russia-is-pressing-for-more-concessions-while-donbas-heats-up
• Ukraine – Who Is Firing At Whom And Who Is Lying About It?
‘While the OSCE observer mission is not completely neutral it is at least professional in its work. It also helps that the U.S. and Britain have retracted their people from the OSCE mission and have less abilities to fudge the results. They were replaced by officers from other European countries’
– moonofalabama.org/2022/02/ukraine-who-is-firing-at-whom-and-who-is-lying-about-it.html
• Russia’s Security Council Recommends To Recognize The Donbas Republics
– moonofalabama.org/2022/02/russias-security-council-recommends-to-recognize-the-donbas-republics
• Some Additional Bits On Ukraine
– moonofalabama.org/2022/02/some-bits-on-ukraine
• There Is Still No ‘Russian Invasion’ But The Sanctions Proceeded Anyway
– moonofalabama.org/2022/02/there-is-still-no-russian-invasion-but-sanctions-proceeded-anyway
• Why the Russian Federation Recognized the Independence Movements in the Donbas
– blackagendareport.com/why-russian-federation-recognized-independence-movements-donbas
• USA Prepares to Gas Russia Into Submission – Glen Ford’s prescient 2014 essay
– blackagendareport.com/glen-ford-us-prepares-gas-russia-submission-march-20-2014
• What You Should Really Know About Ukraine
– blackagendareport.com/what-you-should-really-know-about-ukraine
• Dozens killed as Russia invades Ukraine
– dailymirror.lk/print/front_page/dozens-killed-as-Russia-invades-Ukraine/238-231823
• Russian forces seize control of Chernobyl nuclear plant: Ukrainian official
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Russian-forces-seize-control-of-Chernobyl-nuclear-plant-Ukrainian-official/108-231838
• 137 dead after first day of fighting: Ukraine’s President
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/137-dead-after-first-day-of-fighting-Ukraines-President/108-231803
• Ukraine: ‘War is a cowardly escape from problems of peace’
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Ukraine-War-is-a-cowardly-escape-from-problems-of-peace/231-231801
• Russia plays Indira’s India in the eighties
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Russia-plays-Indiras-India-in-the-eighties/231-231798
• Russia invades Ukraine in Europe’s ‘darkest hours’ since WWII
– ft.lk/front-page/Russia-invades-Ukraine-in-Europe-s-darkest-hours-since-WWII/44-731102
• Russian civilian ships attacked by Ukraine – Moscow
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/24/russian-civilian-ships-attacked-by-ukraine-moscow/
• Russia ‘ready to talk’ after militarily paralyzing Ukraine in hours
– globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1253171.shtml
• Russia Is Back! (Repost from Feb 12, 2007)
– moonofalabama.org/2022/02/russia-is-back-repost-from-feb-12-2007
• Disarming Ukraine – Day 1
– moonofalabama.org/2022/02/disarming-ukraine-day-1.html
• Professor John Mearsheimer: The Situation in Russia & Ukraine
– youtube.com/watch?v=Nbj1AR_aAcE
• Ukraine’s hybrid war is mutating – Bhadrakumar
– indianpunchline.com/ukraines-hybrid-war-is-mutating/
• EU preparing to freeze Vladimir Putin and Sergei Lavrov’s assets, reports say
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/EU-preparing-to-freeze-Vladimir-Putin-and-Sergei-Lavrovs-assets-reports-say/108-231866
• Ukraine conflict: Kyiv braces for Russian assault
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Ukraine-conflict-Kyiv-braces-for-Russian-assault/108-231865
• EU ‘strongly condemns’ Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
– ft.lk/front-page/EU-strongly-condemns-Russia-s-invasion-of-Ukraine/44-731157
• China’s Xi speaks to Putin, calls for ‘negotiation’ with Ukraine
– ft.lk/front-page/China-s-Xi-speaks-to-Putin-calls-for-negotiation-with-Ukraine/44-731156
• The Crisis in Ukraine Is Not About Ukraine. It’s About Germany
‘In a world where Germany and Russia are friends and trading partners, there is no need for US military bases, no need for expensive US-made weapons and missile systems, and no need for NATO’
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/25/the-crisis-in-ukraine-is-not-about-ukraine-its-about-germany/
• Tulsi Gabbard Claims Biden and NATO ‘Actually Want Russia to Invade Ukraine’
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/25/tulsi-gabbard-claims-biden-and-nato-actually-want-russia-to-invade-ukraine/
• What Did Putin Mean by ‘Denazification’ of Ukraine and Why is It so Important?
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/25/what-did-putin-mean-by-denazification-of-ukraine-and-why-is-it-so-important/
• Russian MoD: Large Amount of Weapons Supplied by West to Ukraine Has Been Seized
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/25/russian-mod-large-amount-of-weapons-supplied-by-west-to-ukraine-has-been-seized/
• Zelensky agreed to talks with Kremlin, venue being discussed – Kiev
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/25/zelensky-agreed-to-talks-with-kremlin-venue-being-discussed-kiev/
• Germany is back on the path of militarisation for the third time in the past century
– indianpunchline.com/germany-can-no-longer-be-put-down/
• Pope, Putin and Ukraine in crisis
– indianpunchline.com/pope-putin-and-ukraine-in-crisis/
• Disarming Ukraine – Day 2
– moonofalabama.org/2022/02/disarming-ukraine-day-2.html
• NATO Leftists: Against Putin’s Imperial War Against Ukraine
– socialistproject.ca/2022/02/lefteast-against-putin-imperial-war-against-ukraine/
• Missiles hit near Damascus in fourth Israeli airstrike on Syria in February
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/287243-israeli-regime-attacks-syria-killing-three-soldiers
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/287449-missiles-hit-near-damascus-in-fourth-israeli-airstrike-on-syria-in-february
• US HR 6600 to Impose More Harsh and Illegal US Sanctions, this time on Ethiopia and Eritrea
– blackagendareport.com/hr-6600-would-impose-more-harsh-and-illegal-us-sanctions-time-ethiopia-and-eritrea
• Pentagon admits U.S. airstrike on Somalia
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/287440-pentagon-admits-us-airstrike-on-somalia
• NATO and Africa: A Relationship of Colonial Violence and Structural White Supremacy
‘AFRICOM is actually a direct product of NATO via EUCOM, the US European command. EUCOM is a central part of NATO and originally also took responsibility for 42 African states’
– blackagendareport.com/nato-and-africa-relationship-colonial-violence-and-structural-white-supremacy
• France Withdraws From Mali, But Continues to Devastate Africa’s Sahel
– newsclick.in/france-withdraws-mali-continues-devastate-africas-sahel
• Benin exhibits stolen treasures returned by France
– globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252669.shtml
• Two former Bolivian military commanders sentenced to three years in prison for coup d’état
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/286834-two-former-bolivian-military-commanders-sentenced-to-three-years-in-prison-for-coup-detat
• Bolivia says GIEI report will demonstrate OAS Almagro’s criminal activities in 2019
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/286820-bolivia-says-giei-report-will-demonstrate-almagros-criminal-activities-in-2019
• Mexican president calls U.S. bankrolling of opposition groups shameful
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/287112-mexican-president-calls-us-bankrolling-of-opposition-groups-shameful
• From Canada to Brazil, rich right-wing elites are astroturfing ‘trucker’ protests
‘they have exploited the image of truck drivers to confuse observers into thinking it is a working-class movement’
– defenddemocracy.press/from-canada-to-brazil-rich-right-wing-elites-are-astroturfing-trucker-protests/
• U.S. truckers plan own Freedom Convoy protests following Canada’s model
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/286801-us-truckers-plan-own-freedom-convoy-protests-following-canadas-model
• Canadian police use pepper spray, stun grenades to clear protesters
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/286786-canadian-police-use-pepper-spray-stun-grenades-to-clear-protesters
________________________________________________________________
C2. Security (the state beyond ‘a pair of handcuffs’, monopolies of legitimate violence)
ee Security section focuses on the state (a pair of handcuffs, which sposedly has the monopoly of legitimate violence), and how the ‘national security’ doctrine is undermined by private interests, with no interest in divulging or fighting the real enemy, whose chief aim is to prevent an industrial renaissance as the basis of a truly independent nation.
• English Metropolitan police War Crimes team arrest over Lankan journalist murder probe
‘The War Crimes Team, part of England’s War Crimes Network, made up of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Crown Prosecution Service and other government and non-government organisations, to ensure England is not a safe haven for war criminals’
– timesonline.lk/news-online/UK-Metropolitan-police-War-Crimes-team-arrested-individual-over-Lankan-journalist-murder-probe/2-1136901
– themorning.lk/man-arrested-by-mets-war-crimes-team-as-part-of-sri-lankan-murder-investigation/
• Kumudesh accuses specialist of paralysing vital lab at MRI
– island.lk/kumudesh-accuses-specialist-of-paralysing-vital-lab-at-mri/
• Dialog-Formis-Access JV secures tender to automate courts
Sri Lanka in 2020 received a US $ 22 million European Union grant to digitise the justice administration system and automate courts’
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Dialog-Formis-Access-JV-secures-tender-to-automate-courts/273-231743
• ‘Yahapalanaya Counter-Terror Act (CTA) largely a ‘cut and paste’ job from US Patriot Act
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/editorial/getting-ready-to-face-the-gathering-storm-in-geneva-473789.html
• CEA, Customs fail to take action against importers
– island.lk/cea-customs-fail-to-take-action-against-importers/
– ft.lk/front-page/Customs-sends-back-final-45-illegal-containers-of-waste-to-UK/44-730932
• Hayleys reveals parties responsible for import as re-ship of waste containers ends
‘Hayleys Free Zone, linked to the said importation of the waste material, acted purely as the logistics service provider for the party who imported the cargo and had no involvement with the waste cargo’
– ft.lk/front-page/Hayleys-reveals-parties-responsible-for-import-as-re-ship-of-waste-containers-ends/44-730930
• Ministry of Justice Law Reforms: Clarifying and updating law and finding solutions, or creating more problems and confusion? – Kalyananda Tiranagama
– island.lk/ministry-of-justice-law-reforms-clarifying-and-updating-law-and-finding-solutions-or-creating-more-problems-and-confusion/
• Meaningless, Redundant and Ridiculous Amendments – Tiranagama
– island.lk/meaningless-redundant-and-ridiculous-amendments/
• Ministry of Justice Reforms: Treatments aggravating disease –Tiranagama
– island.lk/ministry-of-justice-legal-reforms-treatments-aggravating-disease-instead-of-curing/
• Legal Reforms: Sudden withdrawal of prohibition of obscene publications –Tiranagama
– island.lk/ministry-of-justice-legal-reforms-sudden-withdrawal-of-prohibition-of-obscene-publications/
– island.lk/sudden-withdrawal-of-prohibition-of-obscene-publications-bill/
• Litigation: Is it smart to spend time and money to be right?
‘In 2018, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and Institute for the Advancement of Commercial Law and Practice (ICLP) founded a new Centre, the CCC-ICLP International ADR Centre’
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/litigation-is-it-smart-to-spend-time-and-money-to-be-right-473231.html
• Ministry of Justice, EU, UNDP and UNICEF join hands to improve justice for all in Sri Lanka
– island.lk/ministry-of-justice-eu-undp-and-unicef-join-hands-to-improve-justice-for-all-in-sri-lanka/
• Call for abolishing PTA: Sabry acknowledges HRCSL’s right to take stand, reiterates Cabinet will take final decision
– island.lk/call-for-abolishing-pta-sabry-acknowledges-hrcsls-right-to-take-stand-reiterates-cabinet-will-take-final-decision/
• Foreign Minister emphasizes Sri Lanka’s role at Ocean Affairs Ministerial Forum in Paris
– adaderana.lk/news/80792/foreign-minister-emphasizes-sri-lankas-role-at-ocean-affairs-ministerial-forum-in-paris
• Rockefeller Pathfinder Foundation co-hosts Second Bay of Bengal Dialogue
– island.lk/pathfinder-foundation-co-hosts-second-bay-of-bengal-dialogue/
• Australia to help Sri Lanka develop maritime disaster preparedness mechanism
– economynext.com/australia-to-help-sri-lanka-develop-maritime-disaster-preparedness-mechanism-90649/
• Japan helps enhance Sri Lanka Coast Guard’s capacity to handle oil spill control, recovery
– island.lk/japan-helps-enhance-sri-lanka%e2%80%88coast-guards-capacity-to-handle-oil-spill-control-recovery/
• We Need To Stop Fighting Crime With More Crime
– indi.ca
• Sarath Jayamanne to run for BASL President in 2023/24
– island.lk/sarath-jayamanne-to-run-for-basl-president-in-2023-24/
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/sarath-jayamanne-pc-to-contest-basl-presidency-next-year-473805.html
• Easter Sunday Attacks: negligence and the negligent
– gammiris.lk/easter-sunday-attacks-negligence-and-the-negligent/
• Who is responsible for those 267 killed
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/20/who-is-responsible-for-those-267-killed-and-about-500-more-innocent-devotees-left-seriously-injured-on-the-21st-april-2019-attacks-by-a-muslim-isis-terrorist/
• Easter Sunday bombshell at Sri Lanka Supreme Court
– economynext.com/easter-sunday-bombshell-at-sri-lanka-supreme-court-90648/
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/shani-makes-bombshell-claims-on-easter-attacks-in-fr-case-filed-to-prevent-arrest-473839.html
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/easter-sunday-attacks-ag-to-study-court-order-before-any-appeal-473815.html
• Suresh Salley is not Sonic says SJB’s Rehaan Jayawickreme
– themorning.lk/suresh-salley-is-not-sonic-says-sjbs-rehaan-jayawickreme/
• Is PTA worth losing GSP concessions?
– dailymirror.lk/plus/Is-PTA-worth-losing-GSP-concessions/352-231283
• Police to probe Shani’s FR allegations only if court orders
– themorning.lk/police-to-probe-shanis-fr-allegations-only-if-court-orders/
• If Yahapalana govt. arrested Zahran, many lives could have been saved – Sarath
– island.lk/if-yahapalana-govt-had-arrested-zahran-over-incidents-prior-to-easter-sunday-carnage-many-lives-could-have-been-saved-sarath/
• Security laws: Lanka seeks Singaporean expertise – Statement silent on Arjuna Mahendran
– island.lk/security-laws-lanka-seeks-singaporean-expertise/
• NGO Push against PTA gathers momentum
– island.lk/push-against-pta-gathers-momentum/
• Those who backed move to repeal PTA now oppose it – Sumanthiran
– island.lk/those-who-backed-move-to-repeal-pta-now-oppose-it-sumanthiran/
• Swarnavahini rape allegations: Former judge’s delayed appeal to be heard on June 29
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/swarnavahini-rape-allegations-former-judges-delayed-appeal-to-be-heard-on-june-29-473777.html
• How much can each Government pull the wool over the eyes of the ‘international community’
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/columns/divine-vengeance-and-human-atrocities-473651.html
• 157 more ‘Maroon Berets’ join Commando Regiment
– island.lk/157-more-maroon-berets-join-commando-regiment/
• B. R. Dole – Superintendent of Police
– island.lk/b-r-dole-superintendent-of-police/
• The Other Side of the Indian Space Research Organisation Spy Story
‘The CIA wanted to make sure that India did not get cryogenic rocket technology from Russia’
– newsclick.in/other-side-isro-spy-story
• Evidence of US monitoring 45 countries, regions exposed by Chinese cybersecurity experts
– globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252952.shtml
• New York Bail Reform Fight
‘The bail system is used to keep black people locked up, whether they need to be in jail or not. Even small amounts of money can be out of reach for low-income people’
– blackagendareport.com/new-york-bail-reform-fight
_____________________________________________________________
C3. Economists (Study the Economists before you study the Economics)
ee Economists shows how paid capitalist/academic ‘professionals’ confuse (misdefinitions, etc) and divert (with false indices, etc) from the steps needed to achieve a modern industrial country.
• Communist Party Sri Lanka 22nd Congress on industry, agriculture, economy & legal system
‘We were lax on imports and exports, because we thought we would be an export economy. However, now we import a lot more than we export and the trade balance is widening….Consider rice, a few individuals control the market. If the government had 30 percent of shares, it could control the price, but now it’s a spectator, and people suffer. We have to bring in planning, we need industry…’
– island.lk/cp-22nd-congress-begins/
• Cabraal denies debt restructuring talks with bankers from Rothschild, Lazard
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Cabraal-denies-debt-restructuring-talks-with-bankers-from-Rothschild-Lazard/273-231828
– themorning.lk/cabraal-denies-rothschild-lazard-restructuring-discussions/
• Sri Lanka reviewing proposals by investment banks to re-finance debt: Treasury Secretary
‘‘Investment banks and international banks have met with the Finance Ministry with proposals to re-finance debt,’…At least one bank, Lazard, has visited Sri Lanka to meet Finance Ministry officials.’
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-reviewing-proposals-by-investment-banks-to-re-finance-debt-treasury-secretary-90853/
• Tasting fruits and planting trees – Devapriya
‘While four decades ago policy symposiums seemed awash with agrarian and industrial research, today they are about budget deficits, debt restructuring, and economic liberalisation’
– island.lk/tasting-fruits-and-planting-trees/
• Why the trade deficit widened despite import restrictions and export growth – Sanderatne
‘Manufactured exports constituted about 75% of the country’s exports compared to less than 25% of agricultural exports. While the domestic value addition in agricultural exports is about two-thirds, the value addition of manufactured exports is only about 40%. This explains why an increase in exports to US$15billion did not make much of a dent in our trade balance. Intermediate imports consisting of raw materials for industry, fuel and other essentials for industry and the livelihoods of people are a high component of imports. In addition, imports of essential food and other items were high.’
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/columns/why-the-trade-deficit-widened-despite-import-restrictions-and-export-growth-473655.html
• Correct Collective Action Essential to Save Sri Lanka from Severe Crisis – Vitarane
– island.lk/correct-collective-action-essential-to-save-sri-lanka-from-severe-crisis/
• Govt. has failed to identify priorities: Patali Champika
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Govt-has-failed-to-identify-priorities-Patali-Champika/108-231788
• The economy has collapsed: ‘Ten-percent a day will keep development away’ – Kumar David
‘Nearly half (47%) of Lanka’s foreign debt is to commercial markets and default cum restructuring will entail increase in interest rates on the amounts outstanding and it will pile on future pain. Interest rates the world over are on the up, Central Banks are tightening money supply in response to inflation concerns. Therefore, restructuring equals higher interest rates’
– island.lk/the-economy-has-collapsed/
• Gammanpila favours deal with IMF, says most ministers like minded
– island.lk/gammanpila-favours-deal-with-imf-says-most-ministers-like-minded/
– island.lk/lanka-sought-imf-assistance-16-times-during-mahindas-presidency/
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/SL-says-open-to-talks-with-IMF-as-economic-situation-worsens/273-231651
– ft.lk/business/Govt-will-seek-IMF-assistance-if-necessary-Cabinet-Co-Spokesman/34-730995
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-has-open-mind-about-imf-will-go-if-needed-minister-90743/
• Sri Lanka talking to China, bi-lateral lenders to reprofile debt: Minister
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-talking-to-china-bi-lateral-lenders-to-reprofile-debt-minister-90848/
• Govt.’s economic mismanagement root cause of all crises – JVP
– island.lk/govt-s-economic-mismanagement-root-cause-of-all-crises-jvp/
• Ceylon Chamber releases Outlook 2022 report: ‘Road to Recovery: Overcoming Challenges’
– ft.lk/front-page/Ceylon-Chamber-releases-Outlook-2022-report-Road-to-Recovery-Overcoming-Challenges/44-731155
• IMF or not IMF? Reset economy via its seven-fold policy, Advocata tells Wijewardena
‘Central Bank policy analysis covers impact of fiscal policy on monetary policy and exchange rate policy. Without input, it is unlikely Ministry of Finance could make prudent fiscal policy measures.’
– ft.lk/columns/IMF-or-not-IMF-Reset-economy-via-seven-fold-policy-prescription-says-Advocata-Institute/4-730829
– ft.lk/columns/Recovery-with-IMF-assistance-Address-basic-issues/4-730968
• Eyeing ‘money talks’ – Inflation is high in Sri Lanka with vegetable prices soaring: Abeyratne
‘The US, Euro area, Japan and England are important in determining the directions of the world economy this year. They produce about half the world GDP, while the US alone contributes to a quarter of the world economy.’
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/eyeing-money-talks-2-473259.html
• SJB says IMF no longer an option for SL; urges Govt. to engage all parties
– ft.lk/front-page/SJB-says-IMF-no-longer-an-option-for-SL-urges-Govt-to-engage-all-parties/44-730934
• Sri Lanka should table IMF Article IV report in parliament: opposition
‘‘Bilateral lenders of the Paris Club would have to be also brought in…However without IMF involvement they will also not participate.’
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-should-table-imf-article-iv-report-in-parliament-opposition-90708/
– island.lk/time-for-home-grown-solutions-over-seek-international-support-immediately-dr-de-silva/
• Sri Lanka ‘keeping an open mind’ on an IMF bailout
– island.lk/sri-lanka-keeping-an-open-mind-on-an-imf-bailout/
• Sell national enterprises to overcome present economic challenges – Imesha Dissanayake
– dailymirror.lk/features/Role-of-divestments-in-overcoming-present-economic-challenges/185-231737
• IMF programme can unlock additional sources of financing for Sri Lanka – Verité Research
– dailymirror.lk/print/main_image/PUBLIC-ANGER-GROWS-AS-SL-PLUNGES-INTO-SEVERE-TURMOIL/346-231831
• Analysis-Shocks and missteps: how Sri Lanka’s economy ended in crisis – Reuters
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/25/analysis-shocks-and-missteps-how-sri-lankas-economy-ended-in-crisis/
• Poverty, Inequality and the IMF: How Austerity Hurts the Poor and Widens Inequality
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/23/poverty-inequality-and-the-imf-how-austerity-hurts-the-poor-and-widens-inequality/
• IMF Austerity is Alive and Increasing Poverty and Inequality
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/23/imf-austerity-is-alive-and-increasing-poverty-and-inequality/
• Wealth Inequality: Capitalism Versus Socialism – Patnaik
‘Barely 3 decades ago, there existed societies where inequality was lower than ever before in human history, as compared to now when a mere 0.027% of world’s population owns a combined wealth of $45 trillion.’
– newsclick.in/wealth-inequality-capitalism-versus-socialism
• Inflation: supply or demand? – Roberts
The debate among economists continues on whether the recent hike in inflation rates in the major economies is due to a ‘supply shock’ or ‘pent-up consumer demand’; and related to that, whether the inflation rise will be ‘transient’ or ‘permanent’.
– thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2022/02/19/inflation-supply-or-demand/
• The wealth of nations – Roberts
‘The World Bank latest report has tried to measure wealth’
– thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2022/02/23/the-wealth-of-nations-2/
____________________________________________
C4. Economy (Usually reported in monetary terms)
ee Economy section shows how media usually measures economy by false indices like GDP, etc., in monetary terms, confusing money and capital, constantly calling for privatization, deregulation, moaning about debt & balance of payments, without stating the need for modern industrial production.
• Indian and local businessmen claim banks issuing dollars above CBSL rates
– themorning.lk/indian-and-local-businessmen-claim-banks-issuing-dollars-above-cbsl-rates/
• Need to take punitive measures against those who deprived the government of revenue.
– island.lk/dinesh-admits-parliament-yet-to-address-longstanding-issue/
• Sri Lanka reviewing proposals by investment banks to re-finance debt: Treasury Secretary
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-reviewing-proposals-by-investment-banks-to-re-finance-debt-treasury-secretary-90853/
• Sri Lanka’s tea, tourism, energy, threatened by Ukraine-Russia conflict – analysts
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-tea-tourism-energy-threatened-by-ukraine-russia-conflict-analysts-90804/
– economynext.com/russia-attacks-ukraine-rattling-markets-oil-top-100-90803/
• 11 funds including EPF/ETF exempt from Surcharge Tax
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/11-funds-including-epfetf-exempt-from-surcharge-tax-473221.html
• SC rules Special Goods and Services Bill requires two-thirds majority and people’s approval at referendum to become law
– island.lk/sc-rules-special-goods-and-services-bill-requires-two-thirds-majority-and-peoples-approval-at-referendum-to-become-law/
– ft.lk/top-story/SC-determination-likely-to-kill-Special-GST-Bill/26-731009
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-special-gst-draft-law-against-constitution-supreme-court-90717/
– island.lk/bad-bills/
– island.lk/supreme-court-on-sgst-bill-a-landmark-decision-on-fundamental-rights/
• Development finance institutions (DFIs) snub banks seeking credit lines
‘SL banks aggressively pursuing foreign credit lines to boost their foreign exchange reserves are shunned by these creditors as the forex crunch escalates. Amidst the exchange rate issues, lack of reserves and liquidity in the banking industry, certain commercial banks were in discussion with development finance institutions (DFIs) to secure credit lines and beef up their foreign reserves’
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/dfis-snub-banks-seeking-credit-lines-473270.html
• Fitch Rating expect Sri Lanka’s economy this year to weaken and grow by only 2 per cent
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/juggling-dollars-and-borrowings-473266.html
• Fiscal deficit through November tops Rs.1.7tn
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Fiscal-deficit-through-November-tops-Rs-1-7tn/273-231654
• January exports surpass US $ 1bn
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/January-exports-surpass-US-1bn/273-231830
– ft.lk/top-story/Exports-start-2022-with-growth/26-731105
• Exports to FTA partners India and Pakistan up
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Exports-to-FTA-partners-up/273-231829
• Sri Lanka services exports estimated at 313.2mn in Jan 2022
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-services-exports-estimated-at-313-2mn-in-jan-2022-90806/
• Exporters Chinese Renminbi and an Indian rupee swap for raw material imports
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/value-added-exporters-urge-rmb-inr-swaps-473276.html
• Inflation rises to 16.8% in January; food inflation up 24.4%
– ft.lk/front-page/Inflation-rises-to-16-8-in-January-food-inflation-up-24-4/44-730928
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-national-inflation-gallops-to-16-8-pct-in-jan-22-90707/
• Sri Lanka inflation hits record high as crisis worsens
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/22/sri-lanka-inflation-hits-record-high-as-crisis-worsens/
• Services sector expands in January
– ft.lk/front-page/Services-sector-expands-in-January/44-730927
• President Gotabaya Rajapaksa meeting with top business tycoons
‘invited local entrepreneurs to invest in local industries and join in the process of nation building….Assures uninterrupted food supply, but urges biz leaders not to take undue advantage of no MRPs. Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal claims SL missing foreign investments owing to false propaganda…leaders including Kasturi Wilson, Dhammika Perera, Krishan Balendra, Ashrof Omar, Mohan Pandithage, Ashok Pathirana, Sumal Perera, Gerard Ondaatje, Ranjith Pandithage and many others representing vast industries, banks participated’
– timesonline.lk/news-online/Sri-Lankas-top-20-businessmen-to-suggest-economic-recovery-plan/2-1136853
– themorning.lk/prez-to-meet-leading-tycoons-to-discuss-countrys-economy/
– ft.lk/top-story/Presidential-pow-wow-with-private-sector/26-730935
– adaderana.lk/news/80741/president-invites-entrepreneurs-to-invest-in-local-industries
• President holds special meeting with public officials, briefs on govt’s future plans
– adaderana.lk/news/80790/president-holds-special-meeting-with-public-officials-briefs-on-govts-future-plans
• Keheliya requests pharma companies to absorb increased costs
– themorning.lk/keheliya-requests-pharma-companies-to-absorb-increased-costs/
• Surcharge Tax catches state/private institutions off-guard
‘Private sector big companies considered as engines of growth will have to borrow money from banks to pay this tax, a senior tax consultant who wished to remain anonymous… the Surcharge Tax will push the private sector to more difficulties as they are already high tax payers.
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/surcharge-tax-catches-stateprivate-institutions-off-guard-473282.html
• Basil affirms essential goods for 3 months in
– ft.lk/front-page/Basil-affirms-essential-goods-for-3-months-in/44-731053
• CB confident of braving through forex storm
‘Central Bank is hopeful of getting inflows that are non-debt creating’
– dailymirror.lk/business__main/CB-confident-of-braving-through-forex-storm/245-231477
• Sri Lanka central bank forex reserves negative by US$1.9bn in Dec
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-central-bank-forex-reserves-negative-by-us1-9bn-in-dec-90677/
• Net credit to government from banking system increased by Rs. 212.5 bn in December 2021
– island.lk/net-credit-to-government-from-banking-system-increased-by-rs-212-5-bn-in-december-2021/
• Sri Lanka bond yields close steady
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-bond-yields-close-steady-90706/
• Sri Lanka bond yields marginally up in day trading
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-bond-yields-marginally-up-in-day-trading-90686/
• Sri Lanka fails to sell all offered Treasuries, 3-month yield up
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-fails-to-sell-all-offered-treasuries-3-month-yield-up-90789/
• Sri Lanka sells Rs32.4bn in bonds, yields edge up
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-sells-rs32-4bn-in-bonds-yields-edge-up-90901/
• Morgan Stanley expects Fed to hike rates six times in 2022
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Morgan-Stanley-expects-Fed-to-hike-rates-six-times-in-2022/273-231470
• US Banks Sink – Throwing More Cold Water on All Talk of Megabanks as a Great Investment
– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/02/banks-sink-throwing-more-cold-water-on-all-that-talk-that-megabanks-are-a-great-investment/
_________________________________________________________________________
C5. Workers (Inadequate Stats, Wasteful Transport, Unmodern Plantations, Services)
ee Workers attempts to correct the massive gaps and disinformation about workers, urban and rural and their representatives (trade unions, etc), and to highlight the need for organized worker power
• Enjoining order against Government Nursing Officers’ Association (GNOA) extended
– island.lk/enjoining-order-against-gnoa-extended/
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Enjoining-Order-preventing-Nursing-Trade-Union-from-carrying-out-strike-extended-till-Feb-28/108-231861
• Education Cooperative Trade Union Confederation Protest for Rs 10,000 allowance
– timesonline.lk/news-online/In-Pictures-Education-Cooperative-Trade-Union-Confederation-Protest/2-1136906
• Inter University Students’ Federation protest Education Ministry to reopen all state universities
– timesonline.lk/news-online/In-Pictures-IUSF-protest-at-Education-Ministry/2-1136905
• Creating Employment and Production. A Case Study for Emulation – Garvin Karunaratne
‘skills training on how to guide the youths to make their own assessment of how they can be self-employed in their habitat’
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/19/creating-employment-and-production-a-case-study-for-emulation/
• President tells Transport Minister to appoint Commission to resolve issues of railway workers
– island.lk/president-tells-transport-minister-to-appoint-a-commission-to-resolve-issues-faced-by-railway-workers/
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/24/committee-to-be-appointed-for-management-of-railway-workers/
• Salary anomalies and revisions
– island.lk/salary-anomalies-and-revisions/
• Steps taken to file 15,000 cases with regard to EPF/ETF
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/24/steps-taken-to-file-15000-cases-with-regard-to-epf-etf/
• Two Sri Lankan Paving Workers killed by car in Romania
– adaderana.lk/news/80737/two-sri-lankans-killed-in-fatal-crash-in-romania
• Dhammika Attygalle appointed to Foreign Employment Bureau
‘Attygalle is a Group Director of Upali Group of Companies, President Automobile Association of Ceylon, Member of National Council for Road Safety, Past President Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE) and Chief Basnayake Nilame of Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara’
– island.lk/attygalle-appointed-to-foreign-employment-bureau/
• Another infant death at Vavuniya hospital triggers protest against doctors
– island.lk/another-infant-death-at-vavuniya-hospital-triggers-protest-against-doctors/
• Pilots Guild sets record straight on ‘Fly the Roster’ campaign
– ft.lk/news/Pilots-Guild-sets-record-straight-on-Fly-the-Roster-campaign/56-730875
• MEPA urged to ensure safety of workers engaged in clearing toxic debris from X-Press disaster
– island.lk/mepa-urged-to-ensure-protection-of-workers-engaged-in-clearing-toxic-debris-from-x-press-disaster/
• UNFPA and Australia enhance gender-based violence-related support services
– island.lk/unfpa-and-australia-enhance-the-effectiveness-and-efficiency-of-virtual-gbv-related-support-services/
• US Women’s History Month Begins on March 1st
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/23/womens-history-month-begins-on-march-1st/
• University system’s common vulnerability in the face of World Bank dictates
– island.lk/bridging-the-academic-disciplinary-divide/
• Colombo Tech faculty Covid closure: Students Affected
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/21/colombo-tech-faculty-closure-students-affected/
• Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology Academy’s first convocation today
– ft.lk/front-page/Sri-Lanka-Institute-of-Nanotechnology-Academy-s-first-convocation-today/44-731047
• First woman to enter Engineering Faculty
– island.lk/boys-only-no-way/
• Teachers are the creators of the society – Defence Secretary
– adaderana.lk/news/80726/teachers-are-the-creators-of-the-society-defence-secretary
• International Institute of Health Science graduated over 2000 healthcare professionals including 500 nurses
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/education/iihs-bolsters-sri-lankas-healthcare-industry-with-over-2000-graduates-473423.html
• Management and Science Institute (MSI) better known as Colombo Campus of MSU Malaysia
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/education/msi-colombo-opens-admissions-for-undergraduate-programmes-473351.html
• Institute of Chartered Professional Managers Conference in Colombo
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/24/get-the-house-in-order-prof-lakshman-watawala-addressing-cpm-conference/
• Almost all about Ambalangoda
– island.lk/almost-all-about-ambalangoda/
• India’s Jet Airways hires Vipula Gunatilleka as new CFO
– ft.lk/front-page/India-s-Jet-Airways-hires-Vipula-Gunatilleka-as-new-CFO/44-731003
• Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) Research Bureau’s ‘Accelerating Women’
– island.lk/slim-research-bureau-holds-accelerating-womens-economic-empowerment-in-sri-lanka-forum/
• HSBC Colombo Fashion Week’s CFW Accelerate for promising young designers.
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/plus/cfw-accelerate-opening-doors-for-young-designers-473303.html
• UNFPA gears for second consecutive collaboration with Colombo Fashion Week
– island.lk/unfpa-gears-for-second-consecutive-collaboration-with-colombo-fashion-week/
• ‘Zero Cost’ degree programme with Singapore’s Lithan Academy and HNB
– island.lk/zero-cost-degree-programme-with-singapores-lithan-academy-and-hnb/
• Sri Lanka China Society thanks Amity Foundation and Alibaba Philanthropy
– dailymirror.lk/news-features/Philanthropists-bat-for-the-less-affluent/131-231413
• English Queen rewards founder of ‘Child Action Lanka’
‘Points of Light began in USA under President George H. W. Bush and today over 7,000 US Points of Light have been recognised. The scheme has the support of all living US Presidents.’
– island.lk/queen-recognises-sri-lankan-charity-founder-with-commonwealth-points-of-light-award/
• Marist Brothers from France first set foot in Ceylon in 1911 in Batticaloa
‘and moved to Negombo on 13th April 1917 and founded Marist Stella College, in 1922.’
– island.lk/maris-stella-college-marks-centennial-endless-odyssey-in-quest-of-excellence/
• Young masterminds behind financial mentoring platform on the world of capital markets
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/magazine/young-masterminds-behind-financial-mentoring-platform-473155.html
• Haitian sweatshop workers strike to demand $15 a day from US owners
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/286782-haitian-sweatshop-workers-strike-to-demand-15-a-day
• Tapping global health care’s greatest resource – Community health workers
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/sunday-times-2/tapping-global-health-cares-greatest-resource-473648.html
• US women’s football team reaches settlement in equal pay dispute with US Soccer
– themorning.lk/gender-equality-in-soccer-an-example-from-us/
• The Abortion Crisis and the Legacy of Activism
– socialistproject.ca/2022/02/abortion-crisis-legacy-of-activism/
• Largest Ever Human Family Tree Constructed, Eases Search for Ancestry and Migration
– newsclick.in/largest-human-family-tree-constructed-eases-search-ancestry-migration
_________________________________________________________________________
C6. Agriculture (Robbery of rural home market; Machines, if used, mainly imported)
ee Agriculture emphasizes the failure to industrialize an agriculture that keeps the cultivator impoverished under moneylender and merchant, and the need to develop the rural home market, monetization and commercialization, to produce, rather than import, agricultural machinery.
• Water supply interruption during power cuts: Water Supply Trade Union’s Collective Alliance
– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/Water-supply-could-be-interrupted-during-power-cuts-Trade-Union/342-231793
• National Audit Office finds great risk of groundwater depletion due to overextraction
– island.lk/national-audit-office-finds-great-risk-of-groundwater-depletion-due-to-overextraction/
• Dambulla vegetable prices drop; Many traders a No Show
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/25/dambulla-vegetable-prices-drop-many-traders-a-no-show/
• Food issues and impending shortages – Daily Mirror Editorial
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Food-issues-and-impending-shortages-EDITORIAL/231-231802
• Sri Lanka to ink MoU with US Dept. of Agriculture to boost milk production
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Sri-Lanka-to-ink-MoU-with-US-Dept-of-Agriculture-to-boost-milk-production/273-231656
• President calls for productivity improvement at Milco and higher price for milk producers
– island.lk/president-calls-for-productivity-improvement-at-milco-and-higher-price-for-milk-producers/
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Take-actions-to-eliminate-discrepancies-in-purchasing-liquid-milk-Prez/108-231859
• Sri Lanka President orders price controls on farmgate milk
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-orders-price-controls-on-farmgate-milk-90889/
• CIC Peradeniya Weed Science Prof. Buddhi Marambe ‘alerts the policy makers.’
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/fertiliser-crisis-of-2021-signs-of-the-times-473273.html
• Sri Lanka Insurance partners with SLIM Agrisaviya to nurture the agriculture sector
‘2.1 million persons or 25.5% of the total employed population, are engaged in agriculture, inclusive of forestry and fishery’
– island.lk/sri-lanka-insurance-partners-with-slim-agrisaviya-to-nurture-the-agriculture-sector/
• A pioneer of the Mahaweli Development Scheme, K. Satgunasingam
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/plus/appreciations-2-473308.html
• ComBank & Ansen partner on leasing promotion for Indian Powertrac tractors
‘Ansen Agriculture directly imports and distributes Indian agriculture machinery’
– island.lk/combank-ansen-partner-on-leasing-promotion-for-powertrac-tractors/
• Sri Lanka former president Sirisena in Jaffna criticises govt over fertilizer ban, other issues
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-former-president-sirisena-criticises-govt-over-fertilizer-ban-other-issues-90685/
• Fertiliser crisis: Maha season farmers’ long wait to get compensation
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/fertiliser-crisis-maha-season-farmers-long-wait-to-get-compensation-473758.html
• Sri Lankan tea prices up compared to 2021
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/21/sri-lankan-tea-prices-up-compared-to-2021/
• Tea export volumes down in January
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Tea-export-volumes-down-in-January/273-231826
• Tea production marginally dips
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Production-marginally-dips/273-231825
• Turning over a new leaf: How tech is transforming Sri Lanka’s tea industry
– dailymirror.lk/editorialbusiness/Turning-over-a-new-leaf-How-tech-is-transforming-Sri-Lankas-tea-industry/340-231811
• From Trinity College to Ceylon Garrison Artillery to Tea Research Institute
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/plus/appreciations-2-473308.html
• Fishermen protests against Indian fishermen poaching in Lankan waters reach Colombo
– timesonline.lk/news-online/In-Pictures-Fishermen-protests-reach-Colombo/2-1136889
• Bottom trawling ban produces good catch for fishermen in Puttalam and Kalpitiya lagoons
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/bottom-trawling-ban-produces-good-catch-for-fishermen-in-puttalam-and-kalpitiya-lagoons-473718.html
• Sri Lanka seen as ‘vital source’ for Qatar’s food security needs, says business leader
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/25/sri-lanka-seen-as-vital-source-for-qatars-food-security-needs-says-business-leader/
• Swadeshi soaps including Rani Sandalwood receive English Veg Society accreditation
– timesonline.lk/business/Swadeshi-soaps-including-Rani-Sandalwood-receive-veg-society-accreditation/10-1136854
• Court of Appeal stays construction of elevated expressway over Talangama Wetlands
– island.lk/court-of-appeal-stays-construction-of-elevated-expressway-over-talangama-wetlands/
• Large proportion of our population is already environmentally aware
– island.lk/lankan-takes-on-major-global-conservation-role/
• Arthus Dias petitioned English Government for law against cutting Jak trees
– island.lk/arthur-dias-and-the-jak-tree/
• Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya celebrates its bi-centenary
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/plus/how-did-our-gardens-grow-473299.html
• Lessons from Sri Lanka crisis: How not to go green, plus how not to do business with China
– The Times of India
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/22/lessons-from-sri-lanka-crisis-how-not-to-go-green-plus-how-not-to-do-business-with-china/
• Consultative committee approves Fauna and Flora protection (amendment) bill second reading
– timesonline.lk/news-online/Consultative-committee-approves-Fauna-and-Flora-protection-amendment-bill-second-reading/2-1136897
• Fertiliser shortages due to Russia-Ukraine tension may hit U.S. growing season
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Fertiliser-shortages-due-to-Russia-Ukraine-tension-may-hit-U-S-growing-season/273-231906
• Russian-Ukraine conflict spikes wheat prices
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Russian-Ukraine-conflict-spikes-wheat-prices/273-231904
• How Nanoplastics Enter the Human Body
– newsclick.in/How-Nanoplastics-Enter-Human-Body
• Carl Icahn pressures McDonald’s to take its pigs out of small crates
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/287170-carl-icahn-pressures-mcdonalds-to-take-its-pigs-out-of-small-crates
• White House delays oil and gas leases after judge’s ruling on social cost of carbon
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/287143-white-house-delays-oil-and-gas-leases-after-judges-ruling-on-social-cost-of-carbon
• Pacific Northwest: The Salmon Fishery, Climate Change and the Eco-System
– socialistproject.ca/2022/02/pacific-northwest-salmon-fishery/
• Climate-Damage Denialism: Setting the Social Cost of Carbon
– socialistproject.ca/2022/02/climate-damage-denialism-social-cost-of-carbon/
_____________________________________________________________________
C7. Industry (False definitions, anti-industrial sermons, rentier/entrepreneur, etc)
ee Industry notes the ignorance about industrialization (versus handicraft and manufacture), the dependence on importing foreign machinery, the need to make machines that make machines, build a producer culture. False definitions of industry, entrepreneur, etc, abound, and the need for a holistic political, economic and military strategy to overcome domination by merchants and moneylenders.
• Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) had not paid royalty to the Treasury for years
– island.lk/cope-takes-gsmb-to-task-for-irregularities/
• Kuda Oya Amuna sand mining permit suspended with immediate effect
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Kuda-Oya-Amuna-sand-mining-permit-suspended-with-immediate-effect/108-231845
• Non-compliance by the CEB vis-à-vis the policy lines endorsed by the cabinet
– ft.lk/columns/Renewable-energy-A-worthy-revelation-by-the-Auditor-General/4-730976 ‘Central Bank cannot produce energy. But it can promote alternate energy production’
• Several multinational oil companies bought ‘millions of dollars-worth of Sri Lankan exploration data over the past few months’.
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/new-state-company-to-handle-oil-and-gas-exploration-and-production-473828.html
• Spotlight on illegal sand mining in Kuchchaveli
– dailymirror.lk/expose/Spotlight-on-illegal-sand-mining-in-Kuchchaveli/333-231568
• Traffic blocks as Anamaduwa villagers protest over quarries
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/traffic-blocks-as-anamaduwa-villagers-protest-over-quarries-473762.html
• Waduwaketugala excavations suspended
– island.lk/waduwaketugala-excavations-suspended/
• Queues at fuel stations
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/queues-at-fuel-stations-473285.html
• Sri Lanka’s daily fuel demand continues to rise
‘demand for diesel, which was 5,500 metric tonnes per week, has now increased to 8,000 metric tonnes…demand for petrol has increased from 3,000 metric tonnes to 4,500 metric tonnes.
– adaderana.lk/news/80729/sri-lankas-daily-fuel-demand-continues-to-rise
• Sri Lanka registers 2,300 SUVs, imports 10,000 tractors in 2021
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-registers-2300-suvs-imports-10000-tractors-in-2021-90652/
• Automobile Association of Ceylon officials in Singapore
‘Dhammika Attygalle, President, and Devapriya Hettiarachchi, Secretary, Automobile Association of Ceylon (AAC) were invited by Bernard Tay, president and Lee Wai Mun, CEO of AA Singapore’
– island.lk/aac-officials-in-singapore/
• Nations Trust Bank offers premium vehicle financing for professionals
– island.lk/nations-professional-lease-offers-premium-vehicle-financing-for-professionals/
• Successful trial run of AC train supplied by India
– adaderana.lk/news/80721/successful-trial-run-of-ac-train-supplied-by-india
• Sri Lanka warned of ‘kota uda’ vehicles as forex crisis bites spare parts
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-warned-of-kota-uda-vehicles-as-forex-crisis-bites-spare-parts-90631/
• Russia–Ukraine tension-driven oil spike to badly hurt Sri Lanka’s prospects
‘the main challenge for the Central Bank is how aggressive it can be against inflation without upsetting the general functioning of the economy,’ ICRA Lanka said’
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/RussiaUkraine-tension-driven-oil-spike-to-badly-hurt-Sri-Lankas-prospects/273-231476’
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Oil-nears-US-100-as-West-prepares-for-Russian-sanctions/273-231655
• Ceypetco rejects allegations that its petrol is substandard and irregular service
‘There are 1,350 CPC affiliated filling stations established across the country within a 3km distance of each filling station. ‘The fuel requirement of the country is 6,000 MT’
– dailymirror.lk/insight/Ceypetcos-petrol-bunk/374-231201
• Lanka IOC provides continuous fuel supply for their 160 filling stations around the country
– dailymirror.lk/insight/Ceypetcos-petrol-bunk/374-231201
• Ideal First Choice’s Gulf Oil Lubricants powers Gajaba Supercross 2022
‘Gulf Oil Lubricants India appointed Ideal First Choice as the national distributor…Dubai-based
Gulf Lubricants India is a business arm of the Hinduja Group’
– island.lk/ideal-first-choices-gulf-oil-lubricants-powers-gajaba-supercross-2022/
• Public Utilities Commission permits Ceylon Electricity Board to impose power cuts
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Power-cuts-announced-for-tomorrow/108-231449
• Load shedding likely to continue as CEB experiences fuel shortage: CPC unwilling to release oil
– island.lk/load-shedding-likely-to-continue-as-ceb-experiences/
• Cabraal pumps up for CPC fuel hike
– ft.lk/front-page/Cabraal-pumps-up-for-CPC-fuel-hike/44-730866
• Govt. to issue circular requesting State sector to use fuel, electricity sparingly
– ft.lk/front-page/Govt-to-issue-circular-requesting-State-sector-to-use-fuel-electricity-sparingly/44-730862
• Sri Lanka paying highest ever price for oil in depreciated rupees: Minister
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-paying-highest-ever-price-for-oil-in-depreciated-rupees-minister-90670/
• All banks barred from granting loans to CPC
– timesonline.lk/news-online/All-banks-barred-from-granting-loans-to-CPC/2-1136856
• Fuel stations rationing fuel?
– themorning.lk/fuel-stations-rationing-fuel/
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/energy-minister-adds-fuel-to-fire-473832.html
• Disappearing reservoir water heightens power uncertainty
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/disappearing-reservoir-water-heightens-power-uncertainty-473598.html
• Questions over integrity of proposed Lanka National Petroleum Company chief
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/questions-over-integrity-of-proposed-company-chief-473823.html
• Have we tapped full hydro-electricity potential in country?
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/plus/letters-to-the-editor-2-473313.html
• Lanka IOC supports Gothatuwa Maha Vidyalaya to combat COVID-19
‘Lanka IOC donated 100 new Samsung smart phones to the Ministry of Education, GoSL and very hygienic dry rations to numerous families of Sri Lanka Welfare Society of the Blind Women’
– island.lk/lanka-ioc-supports-gothatuwa-maha-vidyalaya-to-combat-covid-19/
• Ranil urges govt. to buy fuel stocks already in Colombo port before prices skyrocket
– island.lk/ranil-urges-govt-to-buy-fuel-stocks-already-in-colombo-port-before-prices-skyrocket/
• Sri Lanka releases forex for diesel ship: CB Governor
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-releases-forex-for-diesel-ship-cb-governor-90746/
• Sri Lanka CB, Treasury asked to prioritize forex for oil at emergency meeting: Minister
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-cb-treasury-asked-to-prioritize-forex-for-oil-at-emergency-meeting-minister-90741/
• Demand spikes for fuel, power generators in Sri Lanka amid power crisis and forex shortages
– economynext.com/demand-spikes-for-fuel-power-generators-in-sri-lanka-amid-power-crisis-and-forex-shortages-90722/
• Sri Lanka petrol, diesel, stocks down to six days in forex crisis
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-petrol-diesel-stocks-down-to-six-days-in-forex-crisis-90725/
• Exempt tourist zones from power cuts, requests Tourism Minister
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Exempt-tourist-zones-from-power-cuts-requests-Tourism-Minister/273-231649
• ‘Situation will worsen unless enough fuel stocks arrive’
– island.lk/situation-will-worsen-unless-enough-fuel-stocks-arrive/
• Power cuts: UNP leader draws govt.’s attention to plight of A/L candidates
– island.lk/power-cuts-unp-leader-draws-govt-s-attention-to-plight-of-a-l-candidates/
• Forex crunch likely to hit Independent Power Producers with possible pay delays from CEB
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Forex-crunch-likely-to-hit-IPPs-with-possible-payment-delays-from-CEB/273-231744
• If diesel prices soar, operating buses will come to a halt: Gemunu
– dailymirror.lk/print/front_page/If-diesel-prices-soar-operating-buses-will-come-to-a-halt-Gemunu/238-231756
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/25/fuel-crisis-affect-sri-lankas-passenger-transport-buses/
• Colombo in the dark from now on
– ft.lk/front-page/Colombo-in-the-dark-from-now-on/44-731052
• Shock revelation on how Sri Lanka’s CPC ended up with billions of dollar debt
– economynext.com/shock-revelation-on-how-sri-lankas-cpc-ended-up-with-billions-of-dollar-debt-90791/
• CB pays US$ 35.3 M to release 37,500 MT fuel
– timesonline.lk/news-online/CB-pays-US-35-3-M-to-release-37-500-MT-fuel/2-1136888
• Talks ongoing with several nations for fuel import credit
– themorning.lk/talks-ongoing-with-several-nations-for-fuel-import-credit/
• Electricity Mafia responsible for darkness – Consumers
‘Renewable energy system has completely collapsed due to fraudulent agreements with the companies that run Diesel Power Plants’
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/23/electricity-mafia-responsible-for-darkness-consumers/
• Country dependent entirely on Norochcholai for power
– island.lk/country-dependent-entirely-on-norochcholai-for-power/
• Private suppliers dictating terms on the price the CEB has to pay per unit of electricity
– island.lk/power-cutskoheda-yanne-malle-pol/
• Oil rises above US$105 after Russia attacks Ukraine
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Oil-rises-above-US-105-after-Russia-attacks-Ukraine/273-231820
– newsclick.in/oil-breaches–100-gold-soars-russia-attacks-Ukraine
• Sri Lanka export zones under BOI excluded from power cuts: Minister
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-export-zones-under-boi-excluded-from-power-cuts-minister-90854/
• Sri Lanka power cuts fail to save enough water
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-power-cuts-fail-to-save-enough-water-90793/
• Fuel stations at Katunayake to prioritize fuel distribution only for airport vehicles
– timesonline.lk/news-online/Fuel-stations-at-Katunayake-to-prioritize-fuel-distribution-only-for-airport-vehicles/2-1136900
• Increased demand also contribute to fuel shortage says Ministry of energy
– timesonline.lk/news-online/Increased-demand-also-contribute-to-fuel-shortage-says-Ministry-of-energy/2-1136898
• Diesel shortage threatens to cripple bus services this weekend
‘Around 400 inter-provincial buses could not operate yesterday due to the current diesel shortage, Inter- Provincial Private Bus Association (IPPBA)’
– island.lk/diesel-shortage-threatens-to-cripple-bus-services-this-weekend/
• India’s IOC increases fuel prices again
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/LIOC-increases-fuel-prices-again/108-231918
– ft.lk/front-page/More-pressure-on-CPC-as-global-spikes-compel-Lanka-IOC-to-hike-prices-again/44-731166
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-ioc-unit-raises-petrol-to-rs204-diesel-to-rs139-a-litre-90905/
– newsfirst.lk/2022/02/25/lanka-ioc-increases-fuel-prices-with-effect-from-friday-25/
• Sri Lanka power needs could be met in March if furnace oil ship given dollars: Minister
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-power-needs-could-be-met-in-march-if-furnace-oil-ship-given-dollars-minister-90906/
• Run of the River Hydroelectricity
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/23/run-of-the-river-hydroelectricity/
• Sri Lanka Resus Energy trims debenture sale
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-resus-energy-trims-debenture-sale-90655/
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Resus-Energy-connects-2-4MW-small-hydropower-station-to-national-grid/273-231648
• Panasian Power PLC Commissions Two Ground Solar Power Projects
– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/panasian-power-plc-commissions-two-ground-solar-power-projects/
• Sri Lanka consultancy makes strategic plan for Rwanda utility regulator
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-consultancy-makes-strategic-plan-for-rwanda-regulator-90672/
• Associated Advanced Rubbers signs $ 5.85 m BOI deal to manufacture, export rubber material
– ft.lk/front-page/Associated-Advanced-Rubbers-signs-5-85-m-BOI-deal-to-manufacture-export-advanced-rubber-material/44-731160
• Sri Lanka Ports Authority to waive penalties for delayed containers as dollar bites
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-ports-authority-to-waive-penalties-for-delayed-containers-as-dollar-bites-90768/
• Rising sea freight rates expected to normalise by 1H 2022
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/rising-sea-freight-rates-expected-to-normalise-by-1h-2022-473218.html
• Audit report reveals losses in road rehabilitation work
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/audit-report-reveals-losses-in-road-rehabilitation-work-473771.html
• Construction industry laments cost increase
‘All construction materials have gone up by 20-65% or more, leading to an overall construction cost increase of over 50%. This situation is further exacerbated by the increase in labour costs, which has also increased by over 20%. However, I feel that this increase in labour costs will either come down or stagnate.’
– themorning.lk/construction-industry-laments-cost-increase/
• Ratmalana main mechanical factory repairs 800 trains per year – Dept. of Railways
– ft.lk/ft_tv/Ratmalana-main-mechanical-factory-repairs-800-trains-per-year-Dept-of-Railways/10520-730939
• Govt. repairs 200 buses
– island.lk/govt-repairs-200-buses/
– timesonline.lk/news-online/In-Pictures-200-buses-repaired-and-re-added-to-passenger-service/2-1136883
• Sri Lanka unveils first-ever locally assembled single cab with over 30% local value additions
‘Mahindra & Mahindra of India and Ideal Motors hand over new Bolero City Pik-Up, the first single cab pickup to be assembled in Sri Lanka’
– island.lk/sri-lanka-unveils-its-first-ever-locally-assembled-single-cab-with-more-than-30-local-value-additions/
– ft.lk/front-page/Mahindra-Mahindra-launches-Sri-Lanka-s-first-ever-locally-assembled-single-cab/44-731099
• Sathosa Motors distributor of Isuzu auto parts opens their 10th branch in Badulla.
– island.lk/sathosa-motors-10th-branch-opens-in-badulla/
• Highways Ministry won’t reconsider Chinese firm’s bid
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/highways-ministry-wont-reconsider-chinese-firms-bid-473820.html
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/columns/latest-unhrc-report-makes-further-indictments-on-lanka-473796.html
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/central-expressway-project-phase-3-tainted-with-irregularities-473234.html
• Excise Dept to use digital Barcodes to detect tax evading local liquor manufacturers
– timesonline.lk/news-online/Excise-Dept-to-use-digital-Barcodes-to-detect-tax-evading-local-liquor-manufacturers/2-1136899
• PGP Glass Ceylon over Rs. 1 b net profit in first nine months of FY22
– ft.lk/business/PGP-Glass-Ceylon-achieves-milestone-of-over-Rs-1-b-net-profit/34-730997
• Maliban to set up US $ 15mn pharmaceutical manufacturing factory
‘The All-Island Private Pharmacy Owners’ Association (ACPPOA) cautioned earlier this week that the country would face a drug shortage within the next three months.’
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Maliban-to-set-up-US-15mn-pharmaceutical-manufacturing-factory/273-231822
• Textile and wearing apparel & food and beverage manufacture mainly contribute to PMI gain
– ft.lk/front-page/Economy-begins-2022-with-mixed-result/44-730863
• NEM Construction procures Tata LPK 1618 Blaster Tippers from DIMO
– island.lk/nem-construction-procures-tata-lpk-1618-blaster-tippers-from-dimo/
• SL’s largest multinational corporation Ansell setting up manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu
– ft.lk/top-story/Global-leader-Ansell-strengthens-engineering-manufacturing-tech-hub-in-SL/26-730868
• Singer navigates tightening of import controls, with revenues of Rs.23.79 billion
‘Hayleys group with its subsidiaries held 90.42 percent stake in Singer Sri Lanka as at December 31, 2021, while the Hayleys majority owner Dhammika Perera has another 1.85 percent stake’
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Singer-Sri-Lanka-3Q-profits-surge-on-higher-sales/273-231472
• Singer partners with Japan’s Panasonic to expand distribution in Sri Lanka
‘with over 430 retail outlets islandwide’
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Singer-partners-with-Panasonic-to-expand-distribution-in-Sri-Lanka/273-231463
– ft.lk/business/Singer-partners-with-Japan-s-Panasonic-to-expand-distribution-in-Sri-Lanka/34-730836
• ACL Cables credit rating receives boost with AA- upgrade from ICRA Lanka
‘ACL was the first Sri Lanka enterprise to import Aerial Bundled conductors (ABC), Aluminum conductors, Armoured and unarmoured power cables, control cables etc.’
–island.lk/acl-cables-credit-rating-receives-boost-with-aa-upgrade-from-icra-lanka/
• Eco Spindles helps Sri Lanka’s circular economy for plastic recycling
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/eco-spindles-helps-sri-lankas-circular-economy-for-plastic-recycling-473224.html
• Tata in talks with aircraft makers over order for Air India: sources
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Tata-in-talks-with-aircraft-makers-over-order-for-Air-India-sources/273-231903
• China is leading the world in a new type of energy production! – Thorium pellets
– island.lk/china-is-leading-the-world-in-a-new-type-of-energy-production/
– island.lk/sri-lankan-energy-policies-puzzling/
• WHO repeats calls on drugmakers to share technology
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/287377-who-repeats-calls-on-drugmakers-to-share-technology
• Sanofi and GSK ask for approval of vaccine against severe COVID-19
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/287376-sanofi-and-gsk-ask-for-approval-of-vaccine-against-severe-covid-19
• English, Canadian, US, Brazilian and Peruvian mining companies and foreign investors violating Indigenous rights in the Brazilian Amazon
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/287290-mining-companies-and-foreign-investors-violating-indigenous-rights
• World’s first scan of dying brain reveals final moments
‘same patterns as seen during dreaming, memory recall and meditation’
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/287145-worlds-first-scan-of-dying-brain-reveals-final-moments
• New Research Used Bacteria to Turn Carbon Waste Into Widely-Used Chemicals
– newsclick.in/New-Research-Used-Bacteria-Turn-Carbon-Waste-Into-Widely-Used-Chemicals
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C8. Finance (Making money from money, banks, lack of investment in modernity)
ee Finance tracks the effects of financialization, the curious role of ratings agencies, false indices, etc., and the rule of moneylenders, preventing investment in modern production.
• U.S. Commerce Dept. links with Sri Lanka America Chamber of Commerce
‘Sri Lanka-America Chamber of Commerce national headquarters is in Las Vegas’
– island.lk/u-s-commerce-dept-links-with-sri-lanka-america-chamber-of-commerce-to-promote-bilateral-trade-investment/
• Shehan Semasinghe reveals financial irregularities at State Mortgage and Investment Bank
– themorning.lk/shehan-semasinghe-reveals-financial-irregularities-at-smib/
• Finance companies reeling due to non-reimbursement of micro loans: Imran Nafeer, President of Lanka Microfinance Practitioners’ Association
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/finance-companies-reeling-due-to-non-reimbursement-of-micro-loans-473237.html
• Colombo District Court issues enjoining order against ComBank
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Colombo-District-Court-issues-enjoining-order-against-ComBank/273-231736
• Local firms facilitated to sell dollar shares on stock exchange
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Local-firms-facilitated-to-sell-dollar-shares-on-stock-exchange/273-231474
– island.lk/opportunity-for-local-corporates-to-raise-foreign-currency-denominated-capital-through-cse/
– ft.lk/front-page/Opportunity-for-local-corporates-to-raise-foreign-currency-denominated-capital-via-CSE/44-730867
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-firms-to-sell-dollar-shares-on-stock-exchange-90636/
• Sri Lanka eyes diaspora incentive package to boost investments
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-eyes-diaspora-incentive-package-to-boost-investments-90662/
• The Commercial Bank Group 2021 profit of at least Rs 32.001 billion
– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/mission-focus-helps-combank-group-end-tough-2021-with-solid-growth/
• Hatton National Bank PLC (HNB) reports Profit of at least Rs 20 Bn
– island.lk/hnb-records-strong-and-stable-performance/
• Pan Asia Bank reports Profit of at least Rs. 3 bn in 2021
– island.lk/pan-asia-bank-achieves-post-tax-profit-of-rs-3-bn-in-2021/
• National Development Bank 4Q full-year profits cross Rs. 10 b
‘Norfund held 9.99% stake in NDB as its single largest shareholder, while the government via the Employees’ Provident Fund, Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, Employees’ Trust Fund and DFCC Bank had close to 33 %.
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/NDB-4Q-slips-on-higher-provisions-full-year-profits-up-by-35/273-231652
– ft.lk/front-page/NDB-maintains-resilience-and-records-sound-returns-to-all-stakeholders/44-731007
• Seylan Bank at least Rs. 4.6 Bn profit for FY 2021
‘Government holds 32.61% stake in Seylan Bank via Sri Lanka Insurance Corp, Employees’ Provident Fund, Bank of Ceylon and the Employees’ Trust Fund. Dhammika Perera, 9.49% as its 4th largest shareholder, while Brown & Co. has >14%, and LOLC Holdings owns 51.6% of non-voting shares’
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Seylan-Bank-delivers-robust-4Q-amid-strong-loan-growth/273-231819
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Seylan-Bank-to-raise-up-to-Rs-6bn-via-listed-debt/273-231745
– island.lk/seylan-bank-records-rs-4-6-bn-pat-for-fy-2021-peaking-a-52-11-growth-from-previous-year/
– ft.lk/front-page/Seylan-Bank-ups-2021-PAT-by-52-to-Rs-4-6-b/44-731100
• Nations Trust Bank profits of at least LKR 10.4 billion in 2021
– island.lk/nations-trust-bank-records-strong-performance-in-2021-amidst-volatile-conditions/
• Orient Finance records at least Rs.129mn Profits for 3Q
– dailymirror.lk/financial-news/Orient-Finance-records-Rs-129mn-PAT-for-3Q/265-231806
– island.lk/orient-finance-maintains-steady-growth-momentum/
• Abans Finance records profit at least Rs. 306 million in 9-months
– dailymirror.lk/financial-news/Abans-Finance-records-best-ever-9-month-PAT/265-231805
• Amana Bank 2021 profits at least Rs. 1 billion
– ft.lk/financial-services/Amana-Bank-2021-PBT-up-by-42-crosses-Rs-1-b-milestone/42-731098
• CES temporarily halts regular trading (21)
– adaderana.lk/news/80732/ces-temporarily-halts-regular-trading
• Negative investor sentiment triggers circuit breaker at CSE but turnover remains healthy
– island.lk/negative-investor-sentiment-triggers-circuit-breaker-at-cse-but-turnover-remains-healthy/
• Sri Lanka stock trading halted as market plunges 5.0-pct
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-stock-trading-halted-as-market-plunges-5-0-pct-90689/
• Stock market sinks with Rs. 315 b in value wiped off; trading halt
– ft.lk/front-page/Stock-market-sinks-with-Rs-315-b-in-value-wiped-off-trading-halt/44-730929
• Negative sentiments continue to weigh down equities
– island.lk/negative-sentiments-continue-to-weigh-down-equities/
• Shares end flat after 4 sessions of losses
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Shares-end-flat-after-4-sessions-of-losses/273-231653
• Sri Lanka stocks end steady; economic concerns, fuel shortage weigh
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-end-steady-economic-concerns-fuel-shortage-weigh-90736/
• Two CSE circuit breakers as fears grow over shrinking foreign reserves
– island.lk/two-cse-circuit-breakers-as-fears-grow-over-shrinking-foreign-reserves/
• Bourse slumps amid panic selling, power cuts
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Bourse-slumps-amid-panic-selling-power-cuts/273-231747
• Stock market suffers biggest plunge with Rs. 700 b wiped off
– ft.lk/top-story/Stock-market-suffers-biggest-plunge-with-Rs-700-b-wiped-off/26-731055
• CSE investor sentiment hit by Russia-Ukraine tensions; crude oil prices reach $ 100 per barrel
– island.lk/cse-investor-sentiment-hit-by-russia-ukraine-tensions-crude-oil-prices-reach-100-per-barrel/
• Shares plunge 5% as economic crisis worsens; Russia invades Ukraine
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Shares-plunge-5-as-economic-crisis-worsens-Russia-invades-Ukraine/273-231824
• A sorry stock market
– ft.lk/front-page/A-sorry-stock-market/44-731103
• Sri Lanka stocks post worst loss in near 2 years; fall to 3-1/2-mth low
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-post-worst-loss-in-near-2-years-fall-to-3-1-2-mth-low-90816/
• CSE returns to green territory following five-day bearish run
– island.lk/cse-returns-to-green-territory-following-five-day-bearish-run/
• A Preliminary Inquiry into the new SEC Act: Governance and Processes – Part I
– ft.lk/columns/A-Preliminary-Inquiry-into-the-new-SEC-Act-Governance-and-Processes-Part-I/4-730907
• Credit Suisse denies wrongdoing after big banking data leak on human trafficking
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Credit-Suisse-denies-wrongdoing-after-big-banking-data-leak/108-231518
– newsclick.in/Credit-Suisse-Had-Autocrats-Criminals-Clients-Report
• VEB Russian Bank Sanctioned by Biden Has Uncomfortable History with Jared Kushner, JPMorgan and Citigroup
– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/02/veb-the-russian-bank-sanctioned-by-biden-yesterday-has-an-uncomfortable-history-with-jared-kushner-jpmorgan-and-citigroup/
• The US Fed Just Added Short-Selling and Margin Loans to Its List of Trading Restrictions for Fed Officials – Opening a Big Can of Worms
– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/02/the-fed-just-added-short-selling-and-margin-loans-to-its-list-of-trading-restrictions-for-fed-officials-opening-a-big-can-of-worms/
• Are the Big 4 Accounting Firms Focused on their Public Duty or Optimizing their Payday?
– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/02/are-the-big-4-accounting-firms-focused-on-their-public-duty-or-optimizing-their-payday/
• Banks Sink – Throwing More Cold Water on Talk that Megabanks Are a Great Investment
– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/02/banks-sink-throwing-more-cold-water-on-all-that-talk-that-megabanks-are-a-great-investment/
• Putin Thought of Everything – Except a Crash of 45% on the Moscow Stock Exchange and Big Russian Companies Losing Half their Market Value
– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/02/putin-thought-of-everything-except-a-crash-of-45-percent-on-the-moscow-stock-exchange-and-big-russian-companies-losing-half-their-market-value/
• Sanctions Dud: Big US, France, Austria & Italy Banks Operating ‘Routine Manner’ in Russia
– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/02/heres-why-the-russian-sanctions-are-a-dud-big-foreign-banks-from-the-u-s-france-austria-and-italy-are-operating-in-a-routine-manner-in-russia/
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C9. Business (Rentierism: money via imports, real-estate, tourism, insurance, fear, privatization)
ee Business focuses on the rentier diversions of the oligarchy, the domination by a merchant mafia, making money from unproductive land sales, tourism, insurance, advertising, etc. – the charade of corporate press releases disguised as ‘news’
• Sunshine Holdings appoints capital markets expert Ruvini Fernando to Board of Directors
presently employed at Pricewaterhouse Coopers and before at Guardian Fund Management, Carsons Group, Hayleys Group. She is a member of the National Agenda Committee on Finance and Capital at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.’
– ft.lk/business/Sunshine-Holdings-appoints-capital-markets-expert-Ruvini-Fernando-to-Board-of-Directors/34-730994
• Fitch says number portability unlikely to have material impact on Dialog’s subscriber base
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Fitch-says-number-portability-unlikely-to-have-material-impact-on-Dialogs-subscriber-base/273-231742
• National Chamber of Exporters to celebrate 30th anniversary of export awards
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/nce-to-celebrate-30th-anniversary-of-export-awards-on-dec-2-473228.html
• USAID’s Venture Engine Finale kickstarts local startup sector
‘Along with BOV Capital, the Indian Angel Network is also a founder of Venture Engine, with the Lankan Angel Network (LAN) being its Investment Partner and the Ford Foundation its Platinum Sponsor.’
– island.lk/successful-venture-engine-finale-kickstarts-local-startup-sector/
• High insurance rates strangle local flights
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/high-insurance-rates-strangle-local-flights-473818.html
• Ceylinco Life remains No 1 for 18th successive year with premium income of Rs 25.5 billion
– island.lk/ceylinco-life-remains-no-1-for-18th-successive-year-with-premium-income-of-rs-25-5-billion/
• Overseas Realty ups profit by 54% to Rs. 2.8 b in 2021
– ft.lk/business/Overseas-Realty-ups-profit-by-54-to-Rs-2-8-b-in-2021/34-731040
• Power cut-free Mirihana sees rents increase
– themorning.lk/power-cut-free-mirihana-sees-rents-increase/
• ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Start-up Mintpay raises Rs. 51.5 mln in seed funding
‘Mintpay is backed by nine investors while the debt financing is extended by Seylan Bank… members such as Bernard Sinniah, former Managing Director of Citi Bank in London and Suranga Priyashantha, the ex-Growth Marketing Director of Afterpay… accompanied by the Lanka Angel Network and nVentures, a Singapore based Venture Capital company.
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/start-up-mintpay-raises-rs-51-5-mln-in-seed-funding-473207.html
• State tourism institutions headless!
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/business-times/state-tourism-institutions-headless-473279.html
• Govt. presents Bill to amend Intellectual Property Act
– ft.lk/news/Govt-presents-Bill-to-amend-Intellectual-Property-Act/56-731042
• Damro Group to invest US$ 70mn in second luxury hotel in Colombo 3
‘Damro is considered the largest furniture manufacturer in South Asia with over 175 showrooms in Sri Lanka…Damro entered plantation management, acquiring Agalawatte & Pussellawa Plantations’
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Damro-Group-to-invest-US-70mn-in-second-luxury-hotel-in-Colombo-3/273-231657
– ft.lk/front-page/Cabinet-nod-for-Strategic-Development-Projects-status-for-Damro-s-70-m-city-hotel/44-731002
• Japan’s Daikin is largest exporter of HVAC equipment from India to Sri Lanka
– ft.lk/business/Daikin-to-galvanise-Sri-Lanka-HVAC-market/34-731037
• Freight forwarding CL Synergy sponsors Royal Colombo Golf Club Tournament
– ft.lk/sports/CL-Synergy-sponsors-RCGC-s-February-Monthly-Medal-Tournament/23-730820
• Aitken Spence goes public, LOLC takes off and July 1983 riots hit
‘LOLC also went public with Orix Corporation of Japan having 30% of the shareholding with the other large shareholders being Bank of Ceylon, National Development Bank, and Development Finance Corporation of Ceylon.’
– island.lk/aitken-spence-goes-public-lolc-takes-off-and-july-1983-riots-hit/
• SL Australia & New Zealand Business Council (SLANZBC) of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce
• Lankan embassy goes TikTok in Beijing; but why did Chinese company fund it?
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/columns/lankan-embassy-goes-tiktok-in-beijing-but-why-did-chinese-company-fund-it-473780.html
• Sri Lanka Institute of Directors Young Directors Forum
‘The panel comprised of Anushka Wijesinha -Economist, Seylan Bank, HNB Finance, Fairfirst, Center for Smart Future, Annika Senanayake-Director, IWS Holdings, Sanjay Jayawardena, Spirit Kitchens, Deshal De Mel, Verite Research, Sampath Bank & Janashakthi, Charaka Perera – Stafford Motor Co.’
– island.lk/slids-young-directors-forum-to-refresh-the-boardroom-with-young-talent/
• USAID-supported Sri Lanka@100 hosts ‘Return to growth’ webinar
– ft.lk/business/US-supported-Sri-Lanka-100-hosts-Return-to-growth-webinar/34-731085
• A glimpse of first batch of US companies in China
– globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252996.shtml
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C10. Politics (Anti-parliament discourse, unelected constitution)
ee Politics points to the constant diversions and spectacles and the mercantile and financial forces funding the political actors, of policy hijacked by private interests minus public oversight.
• Rebel ministers expected to present alternative plan
– island.lk/rebel-ministers-expected-to-present-alternative-plan/
• New Constitution must be named, The Sinhala Constitution
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/19/the-new-constitution/
• Catholic Church Maithripala and Nilantha Jayawardena – Nalin de Silva
– kalaya.org/?p=5075
• Make politicians also pay for their sins
‘it is the Attorney General’s Department, which is notorious for botching up prosecutions, that they should be thankful to.’
– island.lk/make-politicians-also-pay-for-their-sins/
• Local Election Talk in the Air
– island.lk/election-talk-in-the-air/
• Western democracies had lost appetite for closer cooperation – Jayasuriya
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/The-foreign-policy-of-self-isolation-from-the-West-comes-to-bite/172-231417
• How COVID Should Change Society Forever
– indi.ca
• We’re living in a primitive society – Ivan
‘Even though we speak English and dress well we haven’t progressed in our thinking and attitudes….one needs Rs. 3 billion in order to contest for Presidency’
– dailymirror.lk/hard-talk/Sri-Lanka-is-a-country-that-violated-its-Constitution-since-Independence-Victor-Ivan/334-231284
• Pohottuwa plunge, China choices, church countermoves, Tamil travails
‘There is a last chance, framed by three events: the Tamil Nadu state assembly elections, Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s visit to India to sign on the dotted line; and Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Colombo for BIMSTEC.’
– ft.lk/columns/Pohottuwa-plunge-China-choices-church-countermoves-Tamil-travails/4-731012
• My Dear Sampanthan Why Hide the Truth?
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/02/23/my-dear-sampanthan-why-hide-the-truth/
• Former Prime Minister R Premadasa provided State backing for Navam Maha Perahera
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/the-perahera-prevails-473671.html
• In hijab row, critics say India’s BJP looking for votes in southern state
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/sunday-times-2/in-hijab-row-critics-say-indias-bjp-looking-for-votes-in-southern-state-473549.html
• Socialist Democracy from Rosa Luxemburg to Today’s Movements
– socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed-video/socialist-democracy-luxemburg/
• US truckers start convoy protest
– globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1253081.shtml
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C11. Media (Mis/Coverage of economics, technology, science and art)
ee Media shows how corporate media monopoly determines what is news, art, culture, etc. The media is part of the public relations (corporate propaganda) industry. The failure to highlight our priorities, the need to read between the lines. To set new perspectives and priorities.
• US Gov’t Spent $22M Promoting Anti-Russia Narrative in Ukraine & Abroad
– blackagendareport.com/documents-reveal-us-govt-spent-22m-promoting-anti-russia-narrative-ukraine-and-abroad
• Domenico Losurdo interviewed by Opera Magazine (2017)
‘the struggle between colonialism and anti-colonialism is the fundamental essence of the 20th century. Anti-colonial parties were clearly led by communists, but we cannot understand the events the 20th century if we don’t consider this struggle as one between colonialism and anti-colonialism.’
– redsails.org/losurdo-and-opera/
• War in Europe and the Rise of Raw Propaganda
– blackagendareport.com/war-europe-and-rise-raw-propaganda
• Cash-strapped govt. to launch USD 56 mn tourism advertising campaign
– island.lk/cash-strapped-govt-to-launch-usd-56-mn-advertising-campaign/
• Minister Dullas laments credibility deficiency in media world over
– island.lk/minister-dullas-ex-newspaperman-laments-credibility-deficiency-in-media-world-over/
• Sri Lanka Press Institute denounces attacks on journalists, calls for safe environment
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/news/slpi-denounces-attacks-on-journalists-calls-for-safe-environment-473769.html
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/columns/excreta-flung-at-chamuditha-home-may-hit-govt-at-geneva-473525.html
• Young journos seek UN intervention against new data protection law overriding RTI
– island.lk/young-journos-seek-un-intervention-against-new-data-protection-law-overriding-rti/
• Enjoining order on popular band Jaya Sri lifted
– themorning.lk/enjoining-order-on-popular-band-jaya-sri-lifted/
• Moragoda seeks to establish cooperation with Delhi’s National Gallery of Modern Art
– island.lk/moragoda-seeks-to-establish-cooperation-with-delhis-national-gallery-of-modern-art/
• D.R. Wijewardene stood, above all, for freedom and liberty – of the press and the individual
– sundaytimes.lk/220220/plus/he-never-aspired-to-be-a-leader-but-was-indispensable-to-leaders-of-the-day-473316.html
• Colonial and decolonial thinking and indigenous marketing: The case of Sri Lanka
– island.lk/colonial-and-decolonial-thinking-and-indigenous-marketing-the-case-of-sri-lanka/
• The US Left’s China Exception: The Case of Dave Zirin
– blackagendareport.com/american-lefts-china-exception-case-dave-zirin
• Hide Nothing From The Masses: Insider Perspective on Black Lives Matter Global Network Sham
– blackagendareport.com/hide-nothing-masses-insider-perspective-black-lives-matter-global-network-sham
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email: econenews@gmail.com
blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com
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