Japan Pops the Tiger out of the Bag

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News  26 June – 02 July 2022

We’ve sat in the dark during power cuts,

and we’ve witnessed Sri Lankans voice their frustrations in peaceful protest

– US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Her Excellency Julie Chung,

Chief Guest, 183^rd AGM of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, 30 June 2022

• ‘India has asked for several projects in Sri Lanka including the laying of a high-powered electricity cable between the two countries, two zones in the Mannar Basin for oil exploration, and the lands surrounding Trincomalee Harbour to be developed as an industrial zone. So, there is a plan to get hold of strategic places in this country… Now it is clear that their real objective is to acquire strategically important places in this country. India taking hold of the lands surrounding Trinco poses a serious security threat to this country because that will enable them to control the harbour…’ – ee Sovereignty, Foul

• ‘Probing even deeper into the US-European Commission plan, one can detect ambitions for a fundamental transformation of the global energy system, revising it from one driven largely by market forces to one divided along geopolitical lines – with the US, Europe and their ‘friends’ controlling one vast network of energy distribution, and the rest of the world fractured into smaller networks, each defined by shared political loyalties. Even if these ambitions are only partially fulfilled, we can expect energy to play an ever more pivotal role in what the Pentagon calls Great Power Competition – with the US playing an especially conspicuous role.’ – ee Focus

• A flurry of denials and overmuch praise of Japan. The Japanese ambassador’s obsequious kowtowing to an otherwise much-maligned President. Promises of more Japanese ‘ emergency aid’. All followed a Japanese delegation’s visit to Jaffna. All followed the Daily Mirror headline –  ‘Japan will not help Sri Lanka now!’

     ‘Japanese Ambassador in Colombo Mizukoshi Hideaki who met the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) yesterday (June 30) reportedly said there is a risk of financial assistance to Sri Lanka being mismanaged and hence Japan will not support the country at this point.  However he has said Japan might consider it later.’ (see ee Sovereignty)

     There appears to be no retraction by the DM, and it’s unclear if it is the Tiger-linked TNA who released the intimation, and whether it was done so at the behest of the Indian government. The article itself carried no byline, had no US-embassy-funded trolls making the usual snide comments, and only had ads for beef burgers and pets.

     Japan’s exact sentiments were however immediately echoed by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The USSFRC oversees and funds foreign aid programs, US weapon sales and military training. Some USSRFC members are seeking re-election in November US midterms. The USSRFC ‘tweet’ says the IMF agreement ‘must be contingent on Central Bank independence, strong anti-corruption measures and promotion of the rule of law… Without these critical reforms, Sri Lanka could suffer further economic mismanagement & uncontrollable debt.’

     The IMF mission staff’s goodbye message after their visit earlier this week, however, stated in IMF gibberish, ‘talks with Sri Lankan authorities made ‘significant progress’ on defining a macroeconomic and structural policy package’.

     The truth is plain to see. No ‘aid’ is actually forthcoming. The US, Japan and India’s actions also make abundantly clear they are determined to ensure development banking never happens here.

     The IMF also repeated their bull about ‘ensuring adequate protection for the poor & vulnerable’. Almost these exact words have been mouthed for many months now by their native agents, such as former US Citibank VP & Assembler of God (AoG) Eran Wickremaratne, and his AoG vote banker, footnote cliquer Harsha de Silva.

     Again, the ‘poor & vulnerable’ are already being and have been hammered. What we have had for the last 74 years and now for the IMF’s 17^th ‘nervous breakdown’ is US dictat over the economy. It is also clear that the so-called lack of fuel is not just due to the prevention of production and distribution by local authorities, but to a larger imperialist design.

     Despite new headlines about the government seeking Russian oil, this government is being blocked by the US, EU & India, from accessing cheaper Russia oil, even as India is buying it with rupees (ee Industry, Energy as a Strategic Tool)

     All these other media tropes: ‘corruption’, ‘rule of law’ ‘CB independence’ ‘mismanagement’ ‘debt’, have been megaphoned ad nauseam in the media, over and over again, by their poodle economists. The USSFRC is long known for their own criminal disregard for such tropes, promoting invasions, wars and mass torture (see Chomsky & Herman’s Washington Connection & 3^rd World Fascism).

• ‘US Ambassador Julian (ooops, Julie) Chung, also told the 183^rd general meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, she wants ‘further reforms to bring the Prevention of Terrorism Act in line with international standards’.’

     It is karma and comedy that Sri Lanka has to endure sermons against thievery by the biggest thieves on earth. They who have stolen entire continents (ee Quotes, Haiti). Worse. Endure sermons against murder by the world’s and history’s most admired mass-murderers.

     But such is life when we allow the nation to base its economy on the whims and fancies of the privileges accessing white markets of these very same grand thieves and mass murderers, their imports and their exports, tourism, remittances, etc.

     We are of course ‘low IQ’ and do not know what ‘international’ let alone’ international standards’ mean. Does Julian (errr… Julie) mean those set by the US in Guantanamo, that slice of real estate stolen from Cuba, where such ‘live’ Olympic sports as ‘waterboarding’ are practiced? Does Julian (sigh, Julie) mean Haiti, where despite the US (and Canada and France and England and Spain) having kidnapped and assassinated Presidents, the people refuse to submit.

     We’re convinced more than ever that this talk of ‘corruption’, especially by the capitalist media and the artists who crave their attention, access and awards, is the actual corruption itself.

• The fellating of separatism (evident from India & Japan’s actions & demands) convinces us more than ever that Colombo should be dismantled (ee Focus, Kulatunga), and the capital moved to Anuradhapura, from a Colombo infested as it is by powerful merchant and market minorities, who will only fragment the country further. As SBD de Silva noted, if Colombo and the Western Province (WP) had been inundated by the 2004 tsunami, the country would have advanced.

     The WP is a parasite on the rest of the country, that provides their food, workers – exploited in their fake ‘free trade’ zones and garment factories (that refuse to make a pin, thread or machine) – who are also exiled abroad as modern slaves to remit their hard-earned dollars, hijacked, apparently legally, by so-called ‘kerb’ markets as well as by multinational corporations through misinvoicing etc.

     ee again reminds that the issue is not just dollars stolen through this fake ‘export’ game (based on highly overinflated imports) but the prevention of investment in modern (machine-making) industry.

     Historic Anuradhapura was planned and built without foreign aid, as a jathikathva commentator notes  (ee Politics). ee has said it before and will say it again: Anuradhapura should be reinstated as the country’s capital, building well-armed and secured high-speed railways from Trincomalee to Mannar, and from Jaffna to Kandy, via Anuradhapura. Anuradhapura’s role in our history is known worldwide (Marx wrote about it and the ancient gan sabha in his last years, see ee 11 July 2020). It is vital for us to fully understand this move (ee Focus, Somadeva).

The day will come when history will speak. But it will not be the history which will be taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington, or the UN… Africa will write its own history and in both North and South it will be a history of glory and dignity. – Patrice Lumumba

Contents:

A1. Reader Comments –

• Rich catching up with poor • Ranil to sign MCC • Vatican, London & Washington

A2. ee Quotes

• JR Drowned Rupee • ISB Debt Trap • India Grabs Trinco • Bureaucrats & Media • Science is God • Financial Engineers • Australia Bans Economic Protests • Weapons are Personal – Canadian General • Haiti & Origins of White Settler States

A3. Random Notes –

• IMF without IMF • SL Accountants Go Missing • Canadian envoy Blames Russia for Food Prices • Debt for Nature Fraud • Export Scams • World Bank Hides WTO Vaccine Scandal • UR Treasury Pitbulls • Preventing Energy from Russia • Haiti smashed 3 European Armies

B. ee Focus    

B1. The Fall of Anuradhapura and the Lessons of History – Raj Somadeva

B2. Dismantling Colombo, Saving Mannar & Fuel – Sugath Kulatunga

B3. United States: Energy as a Strategic Tool – Michael T. Klare

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 “rich doing fine” are catching up with the poor.’

• ‘Ranil is about to sign the MCC Compact. Please write to create an outcry before it is late. Also try to get to the President somehow, and activate him to stop it.’

• ‘The true spiritual politico-economic power centers in our world today are located in the triad cities of Rome, which is represented by the Vatican the Cabal’s spiritual center; the borough/city in the heart of metropolitan London, England, the Cabal’s financial hub; and last, but by no means least is Washington DC, representing the crude military power of the Cabal. It is in these metropoles that you will find the 2 ancient Egyptian obelisks – according to ancient Egyptian mystery systems, these landmark monuments were symbols that commemorated their dead, representing their kings, and honoring their gods.’

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A2. Quotes of the Week_

• ‘Partly on the advice of the World Bank and the IMF, Jayewardene then let the rupee float. From 7 to the dollar, it eventually depreciated to 30. In theory, this should have made exports more competitive. In reality, it made imports more expensive, turning a current account surplus of US142million in 1977 to a deficit of $655mn in 1980. Except for a 1984 marginal surplus, we’ve been seeing deficits since then.’ – ee Economists, Opening

• ‘PM Wickremesinghe and the economic policy troika of the main Opposition seem to share a formula: the IMF program would cause an uptick in the international ratings which in turn would unlock access to international money markets, which would enable us to borrow. This seems to me exactly the same formula that caused this collapse in the first place. We are under the rubble because we borrowed far too much from the international (private) money markets (47% of our debt) as distinct from states (10% each from Japan & China) and multilateral institutions. This was a bipartisan policy extending from the Mahinda Rajapaksa second term, through Yahapalanaya, during which period we seem to have borrowed even more than MR did, with less to show for it.’ ee Politics, Split in Opposition

• ‘Indian Oil Corp (LIOC) invested in Trinco Petroleum Terminal (TPT) in Jan/22 and acquired 49% of the stake with CPC, which holds 51% of the ownership of TPT in order to develop 61 tanks at the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm and allied facilities in the Upper Tank Farm of the China Bay Oil Tank Farm. Also, LIOC has entered into a Lease of State Land with the Government of Sri Lanka for a term of 50 years to develop the Lower Tank Farm of China Bay.’ – ee Industry, Formula

• ‘We have a well-informed public sector which is also subject to subtle manipulation by the media. In most offices the routine is for officials to have their breakfast in the office and read the newspapers and gossip about the contents before they get down to their jobs. This routine takes a lot of quality time. I wanted to ban all newspapers from office other than in the reading room. As there is a close nexus between politicians and the newspapers, I took it up with the Minister, who thought better not do it because the nascent EDB required the support of the press.’ – Sugath Kulatunga

• ‘Studying physics, mathematics & chemistry is worshipping God.’ – Fethullah Gulen, ee Sovereignty, Charter

• ‘Why should a financial engineer be paid 4 to 100 times more than a real engineer? A real engineer builds bridges. A financial engineer builds dreams and, when those dreams turn out to be nightmares, other people pay for it.’ – Andrew Sheng, ee Security, Schmitt

• ‘Australia’s New South Wales Parliament has passed new legislation to have tough punishments for protesters the state government says wish to wreak ‘economic chaos’ on Sydney. Under legislation, people could be fined up to $22,000 and/or jailed for a maximum of 2 years for protesting illegally on public roads, rail lines, tunnels, bridges and industrial estates.’ – ee Politics, Interpretation

• ‘We’re not raising money for weapons, we’re raising money for personal protection’ – former Canadian Armed Forces Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier, now head of Ukraine defence advisory council (ee Security)

• ‘Capitalism needed giant armies of settlers, waves and waves of new European shock-troops to help conquer and hold new territory, to develop it for the bourgeoisie, and garrison it against the oppressed. The Mississippi Valley, the Plains, the Northern territories of Mexico, the Pacific West – a whole continent of land and resources awaited, that could only be held by millions of loyal settlers. After Haiti (1791), it was increasingly obvious that a ‘thin, white line’ of a few soldiers, administrators and planters could not safely hold down whole oppressed nations. Only the weight of masses of oppressors could provide the Euro-Amerikan bourgeoisie with the Empire they desired. This was a fundamental element in the antagonistic, but symbiotic, relationship of the white masses to their rulers.’ – Settlers, J Sakai

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A3. Random Notes (‘Seeing Number in Chaos’) _

IMF Without the IMF – Sri Lanka was under IMF dictat, even before they arrived.

The authorities’ monetary, fiscal policy and other actions since early April

were important first steps to address the crisis – IMF

(see ee Economists, IMF Concludes)

So here we have it. From the horse’s mouth. The so-called ‘chaos’ of late can be easily traced to local agents preparing the way (ee Economists, Why did Sabry-Nandalal & Sri Lanka’s top economists & business leaders recommend to stop debt repayment & float the rupee? – Waduge).

     It is now clear, even without Japan and US threats, that there will be relief, no IMF agreement until a deal is struck with Wall Street vultures (ee Economists, Footnote Harsha).

     The US Treasury visitors have left promising they will ‘provide technical assistance for fiscal management’.  Sri Lanka, the second-largest exporter of accountants to the world, needs their fiscal techniques. One of our overabundant accountants should respond. But they will not! Like our academics and economists, accountants know well – they feel it intimately in their bottom lines – where their dollared career interests lie.

     Sri Lanka has been long been subject to serious economic shock treatment but it`s not the only country. Nor is it new. Energy & food prices were being inflated across the world, long before the pandemic and even before the US (NATO) escalated their war on Russia. The Canadian ambassador`s napuns attempt to blame food prices on Russia shows the desperation and the callousness of imperialist powers.

     Again, this is aimed at preventing Sri Lanka from directly obtaining energy from Asian countries and our full participation in BRI, BRICS, etc. The G7 summit in Germany (June 26-28) decided to further `tighten the screws` on Russia’s economy.

     The attempt to sell off Sri Lanka’s strategic military (coastal, highland) and ecological resources (rainforest, watersheds, rivers sources) through Debt for Nature Swaps (DNS), as well as the unelected PM handing over title to forcibly occupied state lands, signals evidence that other plans have long been at play. DNS will not resolve debt issues but only erode sovereignty. Indeed, this week’s headline ‘Lands belonging to religious establishments to be utilised to cultivate food crops’ (ee Agriculture) recalls one of if not the greatest scandal of the 19^th century, the robbery of temple lands, as the largest landowners then.

• The media keeps vomiting out economic panaceas in these most perilous hours, spewing the same fake elixirs, repeated by dizzying splutterings of economists, Left and Right. Exports, exports, exports is their cry.

     This same dreary propaganda is repeated ad nauseam in almost every online rag, by Anglomaniacs, Colombots, all echo chambers for the media, where the same tired prophets recount the gospels of wannabe World Bank and IMF economists, already too painful to reiterate: corruption, debt, wasteful state enterprises, lazy workers, lack of FDI, deficits, balance of payments, money printing, taxation to covid, dictatorship to Sinhala only, Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism, despotism…

• The Unilever-related Wijeya Group media mafia, a subset of the import mafia, is famous for their daily and weekly anglomania and sinophobia, unashamed and unrelenting. Their Daily Mirror this week editorialized on needing cooperatives.

     Yet they will not utter a word about what real ‘industry’ means, and refuse to examine the foreign capture of our home market, preventing its basis for local industry. Instead they reinforce the ideas that assembly and manufacture are what industry is about. All of this midst the hum and din of jet planes, firing off precious jet fuel, bringing and dispatching, from and to, north and west, US, State, Treasury and their IMF officials, issuing more exhaust and exhortations.

     The IMF, WB & WTO are instruments of the US Treasury. The promise this week that the ‘World Bank creates fund to better prevent & respond to pandemics’ (ee Industry) is plain bull. Covering up for the greatest scandal of the 21^st century, their prevention of local vaccine production by the WTO, while millions were being killed by Covid, is at the behest of the imperialist multinational pharmaceutical companies, represented in Sri Lanka by agents Hemas, George Steuarts, etc.

The US uses the IMF to do its dirty work, whose approach is supposed to resemble a frustrated but restrained parent dealing with an obstreperous child. This is evident in the only reference allowed on the public internet about this week’s visitor from the US Treasury, Robert Kaproth, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia. Kaproth (another eager east-European settler on stolen land) had to draft a speech in 2005 to make his then-boss Tim Adams, US Treasury’s undersecretary for international affairs, appear tough on China and appear to harshly criticize the IMF, by providing Adams with ‘something meaningful and noteworthy’ to make a splash at ‘his debut on the international stage’. Kaproth provided his speech with ‘the incendiary phrase’, ‘asleep at the wheel’, to chastise the Fund.

     Adams’ speech at the Institute for International Economics in Washington was criticizing the IMF’s handling of China’s foreign-exchange rate (without mentioning China), claiming China’s undervalued exchange rate was somehow depriving millions of US citizens of jobs. The US rep at the IMF wanted the Fund to be ‘more critical in public’ about China.

     Mervin King, the Canadian governor of the Bank of England, intervened in 2006 that, the IMF should become ‘an arbiter of the international monetary system… not so much the referee brandishing the yellow and red cards of the football pitch, more the cricket umpire warning the players not to attack each other verbally and making it clear publicly when they believe the players are not abiding with the spirit of the game.’

     The IMF therefore concluded that their arm twisting of larger countries works better in private, than public harping hectoring, browbeating and megaphone diplomacy, which is reserved for countries like Sri Lanka.

     It was seen as yet another attempt by the US to put the ‘burden of adjustment for imbalances on other countries’, ‘pressing the Fund to do Washington’s dirty work’. The US Treasury and IMF plan to target the yuan and accuse China of ‘fundamental misalignment’, in an Article IV report, was quickly abandoned when the US called on China to bail them out of the 2007-8 meltdown (see Paul Blustein, Off Balance).

     Apparently, we however must not be allowed to seek assistance from our traditional and most trusted ancient allies…

• English PM William Pitt had accepted the offer of the colonies by the fearful counter-revolutionary French planters in the Caribbean after the French Revolution’s Jacobins banned slavery. Saint Domingue would be ‘noble compensation,’ ‘glorious addition’ for the loss of the US. But after, “1000s of men and 1000s of pounds!” English army historian Fortescue lamented the useless ‘sacrifice’ – England failed to capture Haiti, yet the world’s sugar bowl was smashed and French colonial superiority decimated.  Haiti’s defeat of the mighty English army resulted in England escalating their invasion of Sri Lanka in 1796. In the 1830s, Haiti arrived in Sri Lanka, in the form of a slave owner’s handbook for plantations.

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A3. Random Notes (‘Seeing Number in Chaos’)_

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B. Special Focus__

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B1. The Fall of Anuradhapura & the Lessons of History – Raj Somadeva

The Pali Chronicles, namely Mahavamsa and Culavamsa (written 5^th & 13^th century, respectively) do not celebrate all the kings of Sri Lanka, though they valorize quite a number of them. Very often they pin the blame for the disintegration of the State on those who ruled the realm. This is especially so regarding those who held power between 7-9th century CE. Scholars examining this period will thus find links between the decline of the country and the failures of the State, including not just rulers, but also sub-rulers, military commanders, and foreign emissaries.

     A combination of factors led to the downfall of one of South Asia’s most formidable and enduring cities. A Buddhist kingdom and arguably the oldest Theravada Buddhist kingdom in existence then, Anuradhapura enjoyed a period of efflorescence in its first 7 centuries. If under Dhatusena (455-473 CE) the city and the state reached its peak, however, the years that followed would see much instability. Historians attribute that to two reasons: dynastic conflicts and developments in the South Indian peninsula.

     The purposes of my essay are concerned with three kings from this period: Sena I (833-853), Dappula IV (924-935), and Mahinda V (982-1029). Sena I came to the throne in the mid-9^th century, a period of decline. The Culavamsa describes him as a good and righteous king. Yet it also criticizes him for having slain his brother, Mahinda, to clear his path of all those ‘who could dispute with him the royal dignity.’

     Once he had got such matters out of his way, Sena I had to attend to other problems. Prime among them were the pressures exerted by the Pandyan polity. By now the Anuradhapura State had incorporated mercenaries from South India. The Chronicles tell us that a Pandyan king, Srimara Srivallabha, chose this moment to invade the country. Despite his best efforts Sena I could not keep the foreign forces at bay. Operating as a fifth column, his own soldiers immediately, and understandably, sided with the invading army.

     Not surprisingly, the interplay between Pandyan, Pallavar and Chola dynasties in South India had a profound impact on Sri Lankan history. The rulers of the time, to be fair, had to reckon with developments beyond their control. At the same time, by intervening on behalf of one or the other of these dynasties, the Sinhala kings abandoned any neutralism in foreign policy, exposing the country to the threat of outside invasion.

     By the time of Dappula IV, conflicts between the Pandyans and the Cholas had peaked so much that Pandyan king Rajasimha II came to Sri Lanka to seek the support of the Sinhala court. Dappula V initially resolved to give, but later refused. Disappointed, the Pandyan king had to retire to Malabar. The Chronicles tell us that he later left behind his diadem in Anuradhapura. The war that followed, first in South India and later expanding to Sri Lanka, marked the beginning of Chola supremacy in the region, a point emphasized by historian George Spencer in The Politics of Expansion: the Chola Conquest in Sri Lanka & Sri Vijaya. Such a state of affairs called for a pragmatist, if not neutralist, foreign policy. Tragically for Sri Lanka, however, such policies were not to be.

     Somewhere around 915 CE the Sinhala army was deployed to South India. The expedition had been organized on behalf of Pandyan king Rajasimha II. Whereas earlier the Sinhala State regarded the Pandyan Kingdom as its enemy, now it was so concerned by the prospect of Chola hegemony in the region that it switched sides. Yet although the Chola State never completely succeeded in subduing the Pandyans, it regarded intervention by the Sinhala State with much hostility. It was only a matter of time before they made their next move. Compelled by reasons of geopolitics – the Cholas, naturally, considered Sri Lanka a threat to their rule – they launched an invasion in the late 10th century CE. Led by Rajaraja I or Rajaraja the Great, this was to have long-lasting effects on Anuradhapura.

     The Kingdom, for its part, crumbled under the weight of its own contradictions. The period of rulers revered for their statecraft, for their ability to balance the interests of the State with the needs of its people, had long gone. The Chronicles are quite clear here: those who held power at this point were not just weak, but also reckless.

     Assuming the throne at a time of unprecedented instability in Anuradhapura, Mahinda V epitomized this downward spiral. The Culavamsa notes, ‘the peasants did not deliver him his share of the produce.’ His policies succeeded in reducing tax revenues, and by the 10th year of his rule he had ‘lost his fortune.’ Making matters worse, he had inherited a fundamental weakness of the Sinhala State: its reliance on Kerala soldiers. Left without pay, these mercenaries ‘planted themselves with another at the door of the royal palace… with the cry, ‘So long as there is no pay, he shall not eat!’’

     For South Indian expansionism this was the ideal moment. Mahinda V went down in history as the last Sinhala king of Anuradhapura. In 1017 he was captured by the Cholas. He later died in South India. Left without a king and without sufficient defenses, Anuradhapura was forced to face the wrath of South Indian mercenaries. The campaign begun by Rajaraja I was brought to a ruthless conclusion under his son, Rajendra I. His campaign ended with the annexation of Anuradhapura, along with the Rajarata, by the Chola Empire. From then until Vijayabahu I’s campaigns of the 11th century, the Rajarata remained a part or mandalam (province) of a South Indian, Hindu and Dravidian State.

     What lessons can we draw from this phase in our history? Perhaps the biggest lesson is that, without adequate safeguards, such as proper defenses and political stability, the State will not endure external pressures. By reducing tax revenues, Mahinda V may or may not have believed that he would accrue a return in the long term. Yet, in the end, left without funds for his military, his own soldiers mutinied against him.

     Moreover, by intervening in the dynastic disputes that constituted South Indian politics after the 8^th century, Sinhala kings exposed the country to the threat of South Indian invasion. It may have been their idealization of a unified Sinhala policy, free from outside encumbrances, that led the authors of the Chronicles to refrain from praising the later kings of Anuradhapura. In that respect their reputation was as justly earned as that of the earlier kings, who succeeded in not just strengthening the polity, but also representing its interests abroad, through a combination of statecraft and pragmatism.

(Somadeva is a Senior Professor in the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya)  – factum.lk/regional-geopolitics/the-fall-of-anuradhapura-and-the-lessons-of-history

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B2. Dismantling Colombo, Saving Mannar & Fuel – Sugath Kulatunga

The fuel and gas crises continue unabated. People are becoming restless, and violent. There seems no light at the end of the tunnel. This tragedy is not due to a natural disaster or sudden occurrence, but due to a lack of vision and political expediency of our rulers over decades. The immediate scarcity of dollars blew it up. It is useful to examine the calamity from the angle of availability of fuel and gas, management of scarce resource, and a series of poor decisions which aggravated the problem.

     India began exploration of hydrocarbons in the Cauvery Basin in 1958 and found both oil and gas. The closest oil well in the Indian sector is only 24 km west of Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary in the Mannar basin, Petroleum exploration in Sri Lanka began approximately late 1960s. The explorations done by Russia during that time were not successful, perhaps due to inadequate equipment.

     The next effort in oil and gas exploration of 2D seismic surveys was conducted in Mannar Basin only in 2001 and 2005, and the first international licensing round was held in 2007 for 3 exploration blocks (M1, M2, M3) in 2007, and one exploration block was awarded in 2008 to Cairn Lanka Pvt Ltd, subsidiary of Cairn India. For the first time, 2 natural gas discoveries were made in 2 out of the 3 wells Cairn drilled in Block M2 in 2011.

     Sri Lanka’s Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS) with the assistance of regional experts estimated that the Mannar Basin alone could have the potential to generate over 2 billion barrels of oil and over 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which would be sufficient to fulfil a substantial portion of Sri Lanka’s energy needs for the next 60 years.

     It took another 10 years to enact Petroleum Resources Act, No 21 of 2021, to provide for the establishment of the petroleum development authority of Sri Lanka for the formulation of a national policy on upstream petroleum industry and regulation and management structure capturing the maximum economic value of domestic petroleum resources.

     The present estimate of the Mannar Bay oil and gas resources is claimed at US$267 billion. Cabinet approved the proposal of then-Minister of Energy to invite investors to exploit the resources on a 50-50 basis. He was planning to present the proposal to a forum of oil explorers on 15 March 2022, but before that the Minister was sacked. It is noted that the government policy and action on oil exploration was entirely erratic.

     The last act of preventing the presentation of proposals to international oil interests, when oil prices are at their peak, is criminal. We should have offered one well in 2011 to an investor for 20 years on a Build, Operate and Transfer basis. This was the formula for FDI (foreign direct investment) that Gunnar Myrdal suggested to SWRD in 1957. With this well in operation, other investors could have been invited on our terms. So the present crisis is a result of, 1960 onward, all governments’ lack of a vision and inability to exploit a proven resource.

     Another failure in the determination of development priorities was on the Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery, built in 1969 with a capacity of 35,000 bbl/d. This was expanded thereafter to a processing capacity of 50,000 bbl/d to meet domestic requirements of Petroleum. Singapore, which does not produce a drop of crude oil, developed a refinery capacity of 1.51 million bpd by 2018. Our vision was to build a refinery capacity to meet only the domestic demand, whereas Singapore went into the export of refined products.

     Sapugaskanda refinery also had a facility for the production of urea. It had a capacity for annual production of over 294,000 tons of granulated urea, valued at $79million. This facility was sold to an Indian buyer, and there is no information in the public domain as to how much this urea plant was sold by the Sri Lankan Government. If all refined petroleum products could be produced in our own refineries we would have cheaper products and avoid waiting anxiously for refined products ship arrivals.                                     

     On management of resources – Sri Lanka had a golden opportunity to hold a reserve of crude oil, which the US also does, using the Trincomalee Oil Farm….While Sri Lanka did not realize the vital importance of the Oil Farm, India was so cognizant that, in the subterfuge of the Exchange of Letters in the Indo-SL Accord, it was included at Item III. The work of restoring and operating the Trincomalee Oil Tank will be undertaken as a joint operation between India and Sri Lanka. Yahapalanaya gave the Oil Farm to India on a platter.

     A government with a vision could have made use of these tanks to stock oil when prices were down. During the last few years fuel consumption has swelled rapidly due to a surge in import of mainly high-powered gas-guzzling vehicles. It is known that more vehicles were allowed to be imported to collect higher amounts of customs duty. The surge of imports, and over-concentration of economic activities in the city, has led to severe traffic congestion.

     It was estimated in 2005 that the average speed on Colombo roads fell below 15 km/hour. It must be much lower today. At such speeds, fuel consumption doubles, increasing air pollution as well. In addition to the direct cost of fuel there is also the opportunity cost to the commuter of time lost on the roads.

     Colombo roads have been widened as much as possible, and it is impracticable to widen the present roads any further. There are several actions that could be taken to ease the traffic congestion marginally. These include introducing flex office hours, thus smoothing the traffic peak. In many countries heavy-goods vehicles are kept away from the center during peak hours. Charging a fee on single-passenger vehicles induces passengers to use vehicle pools. Use of public transport is being presently tried out. The improvement of public transport is perhaps the best way to wean away commuters from private vehicles.

     When all countries in the world were encouraging the use of electric vehicles, Sri Lanka’s 2015 interim budget imposed a prohibitive tax on hybrid vehicles, of 92% of the vehicle’s total value. One wondered whether it was a scam to induce the import of Indian makes. It is estimated, if all vehicles here moved to hybrid, we could save 25% (or more) on the total import value of fuel for motor vehicles.

     In Sri Lanka cars have become a status symbol. In India until recently all political VVIPs used India-made unpretentious Hindustans. Many luxury vehicles cannot be accommodated on our narrow roads. A poor country cannot afford to have a plethora of makes and provide funds for their spares. A sensible proposition is to standardize a few makes and move for their progressive domestic manufacture. Now this should be electric cars.

     In 1964 when Anil Moonesinghe was the Minister in charge of Ceylon Transport Board (CTB), all new purchases of buses were standardized to 3 makes, and the Fiat company agreed to the progressive manufacture of small buses and cars in Sri Lanka. But all these measures were only short-term solutions.

     When the transport system is made more efficient, more commuters will use it. Long-term sustainable solutions to traffic and fuel problems must be planned now. What is radically required is to dismantle Colombo by removing the over-concentration of Administrative activities, and develop it only as a commercial city.

     Unfortunately, our first step in moving the administration out of Colombo was colored by the anxiety to perpetuate the name of a living national leader. The capital was located in a new city named Jayawardhanepura, in a marsh, a short distance from Colombo. This move has not reduced population or traffic congestion. It is in this context that two important measures need careful attention.

     First is to locate the main government departments in the districts where relevant activities are dominant. For example, the Irrigation Department and the Mahaweli Authority should be located in Anuradhapura. The Paddy Marketing Board could be moved to Polonnaruwa. More departments could be moved to District Centres. What is the logic of the Department of Surveys or the Malaria Control Division being located in Colombo District?

     It should be noted, agriculture as a major department has been functioning effectively in Peradeniya from colonial English times. Such a move would also meet the objectives of the decentralization of governance. The other strategy is to establish satellite secretariats in the periphery of Colombo City. There is already a working model in the Kachcheri system (now District Secretariats) where several departmental units operate under the nominal supervision of the Government Agent.

     Large departments and other public enterprises in the City could locate sub-units in such a common secretariat. With fibre-optic communications and advanced technologies, most work could be done online. If physical monitoring is a must, CCTV systems could also be installed. Such offices could reduce the time wasted in travel by office workers at least by 50%, and drastically reduce traffic congestion. The cost of time wasted by road users is not normally considered, but is enormous.

     Other than the attraction of Colombo as the business, cultural, health and recreational centre, the location of the best schools here generates the worst traffic congestion, with one-way traffic towards Colombo in the morning, and reverse movement in the afternoon.

     One good example was the sophisticated Panagoda Army cantonment which was underutilized due to Army Headquarters being located in the heart of Colombo. At least now it has shifted to Akuregoda still in the capital city. Improvement in the schools in the periphery will attract children to those schools and reduce traffic congestion and also the gruelling time in crowded vehicles spent by young children .

     In the long run, Colombo should be dismantled by developing regional centres. This is where the development of Hambantota with infrastructure and other facilities is well justified. Such regional development should be considered as investment for the future. Any move to dismantle Colombo will be strongly resisted by vested interests who like to retain the advantages of living there. Investment in satellite secretariats and shifting major departments to the districts will be cheaper than investing in mass transport systems. – lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/21/crises-in-fuel-and-gas/

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B3. USA: Energy as a Strategic Tool – Michael T. Klare

Ever since the end of the second world war, energy has played a pivotal role in US foreign and military policy. For most of this time, US energy policy has been driven largely by a perception of vulnerability: with domestic oil production thought to be facing irreversible decline and reliant on West Asian imports for an ever-increasing share of its fuel supply, the USA was seen to be at growing risk of energy shortages.

     This was brought home in 1973-74, when Arab oil producers imposed an embargo on exports to the US in retaliation for its support of Israel during the 1973 October war, and again in 1979, when Iran’s Islamic Revolution triggered a global oil shortage.

     To overcome this sense of vulnerability, the US established a permanent military presence in the Persian Gulf and used those forces on several occasions to ensure the uninterrupted flow of oil. Those forces remain in the Gulf but today, with the US essentially self-sufficient in oil and gas, US energy policy is no longer driven by the same sense of vulnerability. Rather, the country’s newfound energy abundance is viewed in Washington as a strategic asset — something that can be wielded to its advantage in the global geopolitical arena.

     This shift in official thinking occurred during the Obama administration, when the introduction of fracking technology enabled the exploitation of the USA’s vast shale formations and an upward turn in US oil output….This eliminated fears of energy vulnerability and inspired US policymakers to consider the geopolitical advantages of energy abundance.

     US energy helps security – This new appreciation of the advantages of energy abundance was first expressed in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear weapons activities: whereas previous US administrations had been leery of imposing harsh sanctions on Iran’s oil industry for fear of triggering a global energy shortage, the Obama administration concluded it could offset any decline in Iranian output through increases in domestic production.

     As National Security Advisor Tom Donilon explained, ‘Increasing US energy supplies act as a cushion that helps reduce our vulnerability to global supply disruptions and … affords us a stronger hand in pursuing and implementing our international security goals.’ This was particularly evident, he noted, in US efforts to persuade other nations to join Washington in sanctioning Iran. ‘The substantial increase in oil production in the United States … meant that international sanctions and US and allied efforts could remove over 1 million barrels per day of Iranian oil while minimising the burdens on the rest of the world’.

     This belief that domestic energy abundance affords Washington ‘a stronger hand’ in pursuing US strategic objectives prevailed throughout the remainder of the Obama administration and has governed US strategic thinking ever since. In particular, US policymakers have sought to exploit this advantage in their efforts to persuade their European allies to eliminate their dependence on Russian energy. Ever since the EU began importing gas from the Soviet Union in the early 1980s, US policymakers have described this dependency as a potential threat to NATO solidarity by theoretically endowing Moscow with the ability to blackmail or intimidate European leaders in a crisis. Previously, Washington was in little position to criticise the Europeans; but when its own energy dependency ended, it could press this issue with more vigour.

     Facilities for LNG exports – The same drilling technologies that allowed the extraction of large volumes of petroleum from US shale formations have also permitted a substantial increase in domestic gas output….At first, most of this additional gas had to be consumed in the US or its immediate neighbours, as in 2016 the US lacked the capacity to export its surplus by ship, in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG). After domestic output began to surge, however, US policymakers sought to install multiple facilities for the export of LNG.

     Under President Trump, the construction of new LNG facilities became a major priority, with exports to Europe the primary objective. Although Trump was reluctant to adopt an especially hostile stance towards Moscow, he did advocate an expansion of US LNG exports. ‘The US will never use energy to coerce your nations, and we cannot allow others to do so,’ he said during a July 2017 visit to Warsaw. ‘America will be a faithful and dependable partner in the export and sale of our high-quality and low-cost energy resources’.

     It was also under Trump that the US adopted a new strategic doctrine: Great Power Competition. At the heart of this policy, first spelled out in the National Defense Strategy (NDS) of February 2018, is the belief that the US and its allies are locked into a relentless struggle for geopolitical advantage with Russia and China. To prevent those states from expanding their global reach, according to the strategy, the West must unite in resisting any aggressive moves by Moscow and Beijing. This requires not only a build-up of US military capabilities, but also mobilisation of its economic and technological resources, of which energy is a key component.

     This outlook has been fully embraced by the Biden administration, which views the global struggle with Russia and China as the governing principle for US foreign and military policy. Of the two, China is widely viewed as the USA’s principal adversary, and many in Washington continue to hold this view. But since January, Russia has come to monopolise the attention of US policymakers and, in devising strategies to counter Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, they have focused on energy as an especially critical factor.

     The significance of energy in US strategic thinking is all the greater because Moscow depends on revenues from Russian oil and gas exports to finance state operations; so efforts to diminish Moscow’s war-making capacity naturally begin with a drive to curtail those exports. But because Europe is so reliant on Russian fossil fuels, this cannot be accomplished unless the Europeans have alternative sources of energy. So a key aspect of the Biden administration’s Ukraine strategy – along with providing arms and other assistance to the Ukrainian military – is to work with European leaders in replacing Russian oil and gas imports with energy provided by the US and other ‘reliable’ suppliers.

     To diversify away from Russia – In consonance with this strategy, Biden and European Commission (EC) president Ursula von der Leyen on 25 March announced a joint effort to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Under the plan, Europe will speed the construction of new LNG import facilities while the US will expand its LNG export capacity, allowing deliveries to Europe of up to 50 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year — nearly 150% more than the amount shipped in 2021.

     Biden also promised to help the Europeans find additional sources of LNG elsewhere, enabling them to fully eliminate their reliance on Russian gas by 2027. Von der Leyen said when announcing the plan, ‘As Europeans we want … to diversify away from Russia, towards suppliers that we trust, that are friends, that are reliable’.

     The US-EC plan will not by itself free Europe from reliance on Russian gas: that will require a much larger effort, involving massive infrastructure expansion, enhanced energy conservation and the acquisition of LNG and piped gas from multiple foreign suppliers. But it will constitute a major geopolitical shift, tying Europe much closer to the US. It will also commit Europe to an extended reliance on natural gas – a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, even if somewhat less carbon-intensive than oil and coal.

     Probing even deeper into the US-EC plan, one can detect ambitions for a fundamental transformation of the global energy system, revising it from one driven largely by market forces to one divided along geopolitical lines — with the US, Europe and their ‘friends’ controlling one vast network of energy distribution, and the rest of the world fractured into smaller networks, each defined by shared political loyalties. Even if these ambitions are only partially fulfilled, we can expect energy to play an ever more pivotal role in what the Pentagon calls Great Power Competition — with the United States playing an especially conspicuous role. – https://agenceglobal.com/2022/06/06/michael-t-klare-united-states-energy-as-a-strategic-tool/

__________________________________________________________

C. News Index______________________________________________

• ee News Index provides headlines & links to make sense of the weekly focus of published English business news’ to expose the backwardness of multinational, corporate controlled ‘local media’:

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.

• Lessons for Sri Lanka: Nicaragua CIA Manual ‘psychological operations in guerilla warfare’

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/07/01/lessons-for-sri-lanka-psychological-operations-in-guerilla-warfare-cia-manual-used-in-nicaragua/

• Security services fail to investigate use of drones in 09 May incidents

– island.lk/may-09-retaliatory-attacks-dinesh-suspects-a-wider-conspiracy/

•  Lankan energy in hands of foreign countries is National Security threat: MP Velukumar

– newsfirst.lk/2022/07/02/lankan-energy-in-hands-of-foreign-countries-is-national-security-threat-mp-velukumar/

• How bankruptcy paves way for exploitation of Sri Lanka

‘Ports Authority (SLPA) remains in an utterly chaotic situation’

– island.lk/how-bankruptcy-paves-way-for-exploitation-of-sri-lanka/

• IMF agreement with Sri Lanka must depend on Central Bank independence, strong anti-corruption measures and promotion of the rule of law US senate committee

‘Executive Board approval would require adequate financing assurances from Sri Lanka’s creditors that debt sustainability will be restored.’

– economynext.com/imf-agreement-with-sri-lanka-must-depend-on-key-conditions-us-senate-committee-96782/

– adaderana.lk/news/83386/imf-agreement-with-sri-lanka-must-be-contingent-on-critical-reforms-us-senate-committee

• SJB cries foul over India’s ‘demand’ for strategic assets here

– island.lk/sjb-cries-foul-over-indias-demand-for-strategic-assets-here/

• One step closer to integration with India in energy security

‘Sri Lanka seeks to buy 4 shipments of fuel – 40,000 tonnes each – from India on cash payment terms’

– thesinhalanews.lk/2022/06/29/sri-lanka-to-purchase-four-fuel-shipments-from-india-on-cash-payment-terms-sri-lanka-news/

• Sea line of communications between South India and the Jaffna peninsula, dangerous

– island.lk/wimal-believes-all-party-govt-inclusive-of-jvp-can-win-world-confidence/

• Sri Lanka ready to develop KKS harbour with US$40Mn loan from India

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Sri-Lanka-ready-to-develop-KKS-harbour-with-US-40Mn-loan-from-India/108-240127

• Sri Lanka CPC may need Treasury’s help to repay India’s $700 mln – minister

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-cpc-may-need-treasurys-help-to-repay-indias-700-mln-minister-96533/

• India’s fresh $500 mln fuel credit to Sri Lanka delayed over routine administration – minister

– economynext.com/indias-fresh-500-mln-fuel-credit-to-sri-lanka-delayed-over-routine-administration-minister-96526/

• Lanka IOC restricts sale of Petrol : Limits announced

– newswire.lk/2022/06/28/lanka-ioc-restricts-sale-of-petrol-limits-announced/

• Indo-China influence – Which way foreign policy for Sri Lanka?

– newswire.lk/2022/02/20/factum-perspective-indo-china-influence-which-way-foreign-policy-for-sri-lanka/

• A close look into Sri Lanka’s debt crisis: There are no ‘Chinese debt traps’

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/30/a-close-look-into-sri-lankas-debt-crisis-no-chinese-debt-traps

• President Xi Jinping stands tall on the right side of Sri Lanka’s history

– sundayobserver.lk/2022/06/26/news/president-xi-jinping-stands-tall-right-side-sri-lanka%E2%80%99s-history

• US Debt-for-Nature swap to counter debt crisis erodes sovereignty

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/debt-for-nature-swap-to-counter-debt-crisis-487003.html

• Sri Lanka’s State Land – Will title ownership solve farmers problems?

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/25/sri-lankas-state-land-will-title-ownership-solve-farmers-problems/

• IMF-Sri Lanka bailout talks end without a deal

– cnbc.com/2022/06/30/imf-sri-lanka-bailout-talks-end-without-a-deal.html

• Pohottu As USA’s Proxy Part 5C, Da, Db & Dc

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/25/pohottu-as-usa-s-proxy-part-5c/

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/30/pohottu-as-usa-s-proxy-part-5da/

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/30/pohottu-as-usa-s-proxy-part-5db/

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/30/pohottu-as-usa-s-proxy-part-5dc/

• US Aid Trap leaves no Alternative but to sign US military SOFA

– island.lk/when-americans-bear-gifts/

• USA to set timelines on approval for IMF Extended Credit Facility Arrangement (ECF)

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/columns/president-makes-last-minute-changes-to-21a-cabinet-approval-likely-tomorrow-487221.html

• External Financing Facility (EFF) will not be the panacea to all the country’s problems

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/cheque-returns-triple-liquidity-crisis-coming-to-a-head-487000.html

• US State Department and the US Treasury meets SL President

‘Kelly Keiderling, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, US Department State and Robert Kaproth, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Treasury for Asia, US Department of Treasury… US government has provided US$ 100 million as medium-term assistance to Commercial Bank to promote and uplift small scale businesses and also US$ 5.75 million and another US$ 6 million for humanitarian assistance’

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/27/president-joe-biden-has-told-his-officials-to-extend-all-help-to-sri-lanka/

• SL Foreign Secretary meets US State & Treasury delegation

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/29/foreign-secretary-meets-us-delegation/

• US delegation requests Intl. Banks to provide assistance to procure medicines, essentials

Matthew Mohlenkamp, Treasury Office Director for South and Southeast Asia, John McDaniel, State SCA/NSB Economic Unit Chief, Julie Chung, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, US Embassy, Geoff Chanin, Acting Political Chief, US Embassy, Secretary to the President Gamini Senarath, Chief Adviser to the President Lalith Weeratunga and Chief of Staff to the President Anura Dissanayake…’

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/US-delegation-requests-Intl-Banks-to-provide-assistance-to-procure-medicines-essentials/108-239899

• US assures Rajapaksa continuous support to strengthen relationship with IMF

– ft.lk/news/US-assures-Rajapaksa-continuous-support-to-strengthen-relationship-with-IMF/56-736838

• US Treasury ‘technical’ support for fiscal management

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news_videos/US-support-for-fiscal-management/449-239887

• US Ambassador meets CBSL Governor

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/28/us-ambassador-meets-cbsl-governor

• Crisis-hit Sri Lanka cabinet okays US grant after rejecting $480 mln MCC deal in 2020

– economynext.com/crisis-hit-sri-lanka-cabinet-okays-us-grant-after-rejecting-480-mln-mcc-deal-in-2020-96599/

• Cabinet nod starts talks to secure US$ 57mn USAID project ‘The Programme for a Democratic, Prosperous Sri Lanka with the Ability to Survive Amidst Disasters’

– ft.lk/front-page/Cabinet-nod-to-start-talks-for-fresh-57-m-USAID-funding/44-736843

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Cabinet-green-lights-talks-to-secure-US-57mn-USAID-grant/273-240016

• Sajith: President has placed country at mercy of foreign powers

– island.lk/sajith-president-has-placed-country-at-mercy-of-foreign-powers/

• President Biden announces $ 20 m extra funding to feed over 800,000 Lankan children

– ft.lk/front-page/President-Biden-announces-20-m-extra-funding-to-feed-over-800-000-Lankan-children/44-736842

• SL debt structure won’t hit snags due to latest lawsuit

‘start with Paris Club creditors…then move on to negotiate with non-Paris club bondholders and finally International Sovereign Bond (ISB) holders such as the Hamilton Reserve Bank’

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/sl-debt-structure-wont-hit-snags-due-to-latest-lawsuit-486762.html

• England’s big power duplicity

‘Its Government wants to consider leaving the European Court of Human Rights and override the European Convention on Human Rights accusing the Court of bias because it halted the deportation of the Rwandan asylum hopefuls’

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/editorial/adding-corruption-to-the-crisis-487216.html

• England’s Truss on Getting Oil from Saudi Arabia

– youtube.com/watch?v=60xisoP-imY

• EU funds three year project to enhance relations among communities

‘Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum and Helvetas and three-year EU project ‘InSPIRE’

– island.lk/eu-funds-three-year-project-to-enhance-relations-among-communities/

• Vatican paying close attention to Sri Lanka

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Vatican-paying-close-attention-to-Sri-Lanka/108-240223c8

• Canada’s Patrick Brown and Tamil Diaspora politics

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/25/patrick-brown-and-tamil-diaspora-politics/

• Lanka crisis exacerbated by Russian invasion of Ukraine – Canada

– island.lk/lanka-crisis-exacerbated-by-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-canada/

• Russian envoy blames western countries for hurriedly issuing travel advisories against Lanka

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/columns/group-of-10-gets-lesson-in-russian-diplomacy-487263.html

• SL President & Russian Ambassador discuss Fuel, Gas, Coal, etc.

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/27/president-russian-ambassador-discuss-fuel-gas-coal-etc/

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-meets-russian-envoy-amid-oil-talks-96574/

• President Gotabaya calls Putin to secure fuel supplies from Russia

– adaderana.lk/news/83330/president-gotabaya-calls-putin-to-secure-fuel-supplies-from-russia

• Instead of credit lines, India pushing for projects here

‘India is keen to fast-track are the Mannar-Pooneryn wind power plants granted to Adani Green Energy Limited; the West Container Terminal in which Adani Ports has a controlling stake; and the proposed joint venture solar power plant in Sampur with India’s National Thermal Power Corporation. In January, India and Sri Lanka also signed joint venture to develop oil tank farm in Trincomalee.’

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/news/instead-of-credit-lines-india-pushing-for-projects-here-487298.html

• Indo-US Moves To Strengthen Presence In Sri Lanka – Balachandran

‘Sri Lanka has had no option but to  turn to India, the West and the IMF’

– eurasiareview.com/26062022-indo-us-moves-to-strengthen-presence-in-sri-lanka-analysis/

• High Commissioner Moragoda discusses urgent energy with Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas of India

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/27/high-commissioner-moragoda-discusses-urgent-energy-requirements-of-sri-lanka-with-the-minister-of-petroleum-natural-gas-of-india/

• Ambassador Samarasinghe briefs President Joe Biden

– colombogazette.com/2022/06/25/samarasinghe-briefs-president-joe-biden

• Japan will not help Sri Lanka now

‘Japanese Ambassador in Colombo Mizukoshi Hideaki who met the TNA yesterday had reportedly said that there is a risk of financial assistance to Sri Lanka being mismanaged and hence Japan will not support the country at this point.  However he has said Japan might consider it later.’

– dailymirror.lk/print/front_page/Japan-will-not-help-Sri-Lanka-now/238-240151

– uniindia.com/japan-cannot-help-sri-lanka-report/world/news/2769749.html

• Japanese Embassy denies media reports on Japan refusing to support Sri Lanka

– adaderana.lk/news/83367/japanese-embassy-denies-media-reports-on-japan-refusing-to-support-sri-lanka

• Japanese embassy didn’t issue usual statement on Tamil National Alliance (TNA) meeting

– island.lk/fuel-crisis-key-cpc-facility-opened-for-vips-friends-as-public-transport-shrinks/

• Japan says closely paying attention to SL’s difficult economic situation, ready to assist

– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/Japan-says-closely-paying-attention-to-SLs-difficult-economic-situation-ready-to-assist/342-240179

• Japan has decided to provide Emergency Grant Aid US 3 million through UNICEF and WFP

– srilanka.factcrescendo.com/english/misleading-claims-regarding-the-japanese-assistance-to-sri-lanka-based-on-a-daily-mirror-report/

• Japanese Ambassador meets Prez

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Japanese-Ambassador-meets-Prez/273-240215

• Building the “New Three Rings”: China’s choice in the face of possible complete decoupling

– readchina.info/en-US/articles/586615452688449537

• Springtime for BRICS?

‘the possibility of the expansion of the bloc and what it can achieve in terms of constructing an alternative financial system’

– newsclick.in/mapping-faultlines-springtime-brics

• India, BRICS in Cold War conditions

– indianpunchline.com/india-brics-in-cold-war-conditions/

• Russian Foreign Minister address to Shanghai Cooperation Organisation June 29

– mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1819850/

• After Ukraine, the US is going to incite India to go after CN&RU?

– youtube.com/watch?v=bVLzT_1sQPA

• US, Iran let hopes shape their future — not hurts

– indianpunchline.com/us-iran-let-hopes-shape-their-future-not-hurts/

• US tries again to get Iran to accept hundreds of billions of dollars

‘When will we end the kowtowing to a third-rate extremist Islamist dictatorship?’

– jpost.com/opinion/article-710655

• Hamas warns against Israeli bid to join regional military alliance of so-called Abraham Accords

– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/291775-hamas-warns-against-israels-bid-to-join-regional-military-alliance

• How Israel Manipulates US Policy in the Middle East

– agenceglobal.com/category/contributors/

• Israel to demand U.S. funding of its laser weapons during Biden’s visit

– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/291870-israel-to-demand-us-funding-of-its-laser-weapons-during-bidens-visit

• U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam

– cbsnews.com/news/us-charter-schools-tied-to-powerful-turkish-imam/

• US Extends Military Reach Into Zambia

– newsclick.in/US-Extends-Military-Reach-Into-Zambia

• Only 4 of 55 African Leaders Attend Zelensky Call, Showing Neutrality on Ukraine and Russia

– blackagendareport.com/only-4-55-african-leaders-attend-zelensky-call-showing-neutrality-ukraine-and-russia

• Russia-Africa Summit to Reconvene in Ethiopia During November-December

– blackagendareport.com/russia-africa-summit-reconvene-ethiopia-during-november-december

•  President of Senegal blames western sanctions on Russia for stopping the flow of grain

– globalnews.ca/news/8941057/canada-will-open-embassy-in-rwanda/

•  Libyan protesters storm, set fire to parliament building

– adaderana.lk/news/83383/libyan-protesters-storm-set-fire-to-parliament-building

• Belgium Returns Remains of Assassinated Congolese Leader Lumumba But What of Justice?

– blackagendareport.com/belgium-returns-remains-assassinated-congolese-leader-patrice-lumumba-what-about-justice

• UN Human Rights Council appoints Radhika Coomaraswamy to serve on Ethiopia rights body

– ft.lk/news/Human-Rights-Council-appoints-Radhika-Coomaraswamy-to-serve-on-Ethiopia-rights-body/56-736835

• Canada will open embassy in Rwanda to combat Russian and Chinese influence

– globalnews.ca/news/8941057/canada-will-open-embassy-in-rwanda/

• Interpreting history

‘Nixon’s translator talks Sino-US tensions and Taiwan invasion prospects’

– weekinchina.com/2022/06/interpreting-history/

• G7 Leaders’ Communiqué

– iranprimer.usip.org/index.php/blog/2022/jun/28/g7-statement-iran

• G7: Cracks in Western unity on Russia

– indianpunchline.com/g7-cracks-in-western-unity-on-russia/

• Why does US hate Putin so much?

‘What is shocking is that the CIA, France and England had been training these Nazi forces in an effort to counter any Russia invasion’

– island.lk/why-do-americans-hate-putin-so-much/

• NATO’s False Allegations about Shopping Mall

– moonofalabama.org/2022/06/newsbits-on-ukraine-lysichansk-cauldron-civilian-damage-reserve-troops-russian-default

• Another Zelensky Lie Debunked – White House Says Ukraine Must Give Up Territory

– moonofalabama.org/2022/06/another-zelensky-lie-debunked-white-house-says-ukraine-must-give-up-territory

• Spain bans protest in Madrid during NATO summit

– world-news-monitor.com/climate/2022/06/24/spain-bans-protest-in-madrid-during-nato-summit/

• No, NATO Will Not Get Ready For War

– moonofalabama.org/2022/06/no-nato-will-not-get-ready-for-war.html

• The Geopolitics of the New Cold War

– agenceglobal.com/2022/06/21/alfred-mccoy-the-geopolitics-of-the-new-cold-war/

• Russia steals the thunder in ‘wheat war’

– indianpunchline.com/russia-steals-the-thunder-in-wheat-war/

• Empire To Expand NATO In Response To War Caused By NATO Expansion

‘Turkey’s President Erdoğan has officially withdrawn Ankara’s objection to the addition of Finland and Sweden to NATO membership, with the three countries signing a trilateral memorandum at a NATO summit in Madrid.’

– caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/06/29/empire-to-expand-nato-in-response-to-war-caused-by-nato-expansion/

• Ukraine – The Bear Caught The Kraken By Using This Trick

– moonofalabama.org/2022/07/ukraine-the-bear-caught-the-kraken-by-using-a-trick.html

• EU nears compromise deal to defuse standoff with Russia over Kaliningrad

– reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-kaliningrad-row-eu-nears-compromise-deal-defuse-standoff-with-russia-2022-06-29/

• John Mearsheimer on the causes and consequences of the Ukraine war

– eui.eu/news-hub?id=john-mearsheimers-lecture-on-the-causes-and-consequences-of-the-ukraine-war

• Lysichansk Is Under Control Of The Russian Side

– moonofalabama.org/2022/07/lysichansk-is-under-control-of-the-russian-side.html

• Gang clashes leave nearly 200 dead in Haiti

– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/292124-gang-clashes-leave-nearly-200-dead-in-haiti

• Colombia: After Decades of Reaction, A Turn Left

– socialistproject.ca/2022/07/colombia-after-decades-reaction-turn-left/

• Colombia documents 450,000 deaths & strongly criticizes US role in violence

– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/292134-truth-commission-in-colombia-documents-450000-deaths-and-strongly-criticizes-us-role-in-backing-violence

• The Terrible Origins of July 4^th in the USA

– blackagendareport.com/terrible-origins-july-4th

________________________________________________________________

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.

• Whither the rules-based order? German jurist Carl Schmitt wrote the legal basis for Nazism

‘Schmitt argues that no order can function without a sovereign authority. A state is legally constituted when the politics distinguishes between friend and enemy and when the citizens are willing to fight and die for its identity. The state alone is given the power of violence (and enforcement) by the citizens to enforce the law.’

–  island.lk/whither-the-rules-based-order/

• Crisis-hit Sri Lanka lifts ban on Qatar Charity as it tries to secure fuel supply from Doha

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/30/sri-lanka-to-lift-the-ban-on-the-qatar-charity/

– economynext.com/crisis-hit-sri-lanka-lifts-ban-on-qatar-charity-as-it-tries-to-secure-fuel-supply-from-doha-96705/

• About 232 out of 500 escapees from K’kadu Drug Rehab Centre arrested

– island.lk/about-232-out-of-500-escapees-from-kkadu-drug-rehab-centre-arrested/

• Did Army officer beat Kandakadu inmate to death?

– themorning.lk/did-army-officer-beat-kandakadu-inmate-to-death/

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Two-soldiers-two-Airmen-arrested-over-Kandakadu-inmates-death/108-240225

– timesonline.lk/news-online/Four-arrested-over-death-at-Kandkadu-Rehabilitation-Centre/2-1137983

• Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission probing rehabilitation centre mass escape

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-human-rights-commission-probing-rehabilitation-centre-mass-escape-96767/

• Heavy military presence in fuel stations

‘The Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) last night announced that it will limit the issuance of petrol for vehicles with immediate effect’

– timesonline.lk/news-online/Heavy-military-presence-in-fuel-stations/2-1137934

• HRCSL: No prisoners were used in 09 May attacks on protesters

– island.lk/hrcsl-no-prisoners-were-used-in-09-may-attacks-on-protesters/

• Lawyer denies accusations, questions HRCSL’s motive

– island.lk/lawyer-denies-accusations-questions-hrcsls-motive/

• BASL alerts Prez, govt. to gravity of prevailing crisis, calls for remedial action

– island.lk/basl-alerts-prez-govt-to-gravity-of-prevailing-crisis-calls-for-remedial-action/

– ft.lk/front-page/Bar-Association-raps-Govt-over-continuous-failure-in-uninterrupted-supply-of-fuel/44-736770

• Sri Lanka BASL urges police, army chiefs to ensure freedom of expression after arrest, disruptions

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-basl-urges-police-army-chiefs-to-ensure-freedom-of-expression-after-arrest-disruptions-96719/

• Leading Aragalaya fighters granted bail

– themorning.lk/leading-aragalaya-fighters-granted-bail/

• Cardinal petitions Court of Appeal seeking justice over Easter Sunday carnage

– island.lk/cardinal-petitions-court-of-appeal-seeking-justice-over-easter-sunday-carnage/

• 2022 United Nations Ocean Conference co-hosted by Kenya and Portugal

– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/291815-2022-united-nations-ocean-conference-underway-in-lisbon

• Lankan envoy to Lebanon calls on UNIFIL Head

– island.lk/lankan-envoy-to-lebanon-calls-on-unifil-head/

• Canada has nearly 700 troops leading a NATO battlegroup in Latvia

– globalnews.ca/news/8941057/canada-will-open-embassy-in-rwanda/

• A Canadian Budget for War

– communist-party.ca/a-budget-for-war/

• Mutiny in the Canadian General Staff – How Political Ambition & Ukraine-Russia War aims Covered Up in Ottawa

– johnhelmer.org/mutiny-in-the-canadian-general-staff-how-political-ambition-ukraine-russia-war-aims-are-being-covered-up-in-ottawa/

•  Former Canadian military chief to head Ukraine defence advisory council

– nationalpost.com/news/former-canadian-military-chief-to-head-ukraine-defence-advisory-council

• US plants Trojan horse programs in hundreds of important Chinese information systems; new cyber weapon targets China, Russia

– globaltimes.cn/page/202206/1269300.shtml

• Military General Taking Helm at IRGC Intelligence Marks New Phase of Action against Foes

– tasnimnews.com/en/news/2022/06/24/2733711/military-general-taking-helm-at-irgc-intelligence-marks-new-phase-of-action-against-foes

_____________________________________________________________

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.

• Why did Sabry-Nandalal & Sri Lanka’s top economists & business leaders recommend to stop debt repayment & float the rupee? – Waduge

At the end of Rajapakse term in early January 2015 Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves were $8.2b & ISB outstanding were $5b & net reserves were a positive $3.2b. By the end of 2019 Indrajit Coomaraswamy’s term as Governor, reserves were $7.6b & ISB outstanding were $15b & net reserves were a negative $7.4b’

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/07/01/why-did-sabry-nandalal-sri-lankas-top-economists-business-leaders-recommend-to-stop-debt-repayment-float-the-rupee/

• IMF Staff Concludes Visit; discussions to continue virtually for staff-level agreement

‘the need to reduce the elevated fiscal deficit while ensuring adequate protection for the poor and vulnerable…. made significant progress on defining a macroeconomic and structural policy package.’

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/30/imf-staff-concludes-visit-to-sri-lanka-discussions-will-continue-towards-reaching-a-staff-level-agreement/

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Discussions-with-SL-authorities-constructive-and-productive-IMF-team/108-240105

– ft.lk/front-page/IMF-says-significant-progress-in-talks-SLA-on-EFF-in-near-term/44-736894

– economynext.com/imf-says-sri-lanka-bailout-see-significant-progress-96695/

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/30/imf-tells-sri-lanka-to-fight-graft-raise-taxes/

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/30/talks-with-sri-lanka-made-significant-progress-imf-mission-team-says/

– timesonline.lk/news-online/IMF-delegation-says-talks-will-continue-virtually-towards-reaching-a-staff-level-agreemen/2-1137958

• IMF end-of-mission report highlights ‘corruption vulnerabilities’ in Sri Lanka

– island.lk/imf-end-of-mission-report-highlights-corruption-vulnerabilities-in-sri-lanka/

• Footnote Harsha says no IMF agreement until deal struck with creditors

– themorning.lk/harsha-says-no-imf-agreement-until-deal-struck-with-creditors/

• Sri Lanka appoints team for Hamilton lawsuit

– themorning.lk/sri-lanka-appoints-team-for-hamilton-lawsuit/

• De-dollarizing Sri Lanka – Shiran Illanperuma

‘US financial sanctions on Russia providing Russia – the 11th largest economy in the world and home to the largest natural gas reserves in the world – a powerful incentive to find alternative mediums of exchange and payments systems so as to conduct trade.’

– newswire.lk/2022/04/10/factum-perspective-eurasian-integration-is-a-pre-requisite-for-de-dollarizin/

• #De-dollarizenow

‘We didn’t develop our industries, we opted for an agricultural policy that enslaved us. We embraced an import mafia.’

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/De-dollarizenow/172-240077

• FSP traces current forex crisis to PM removing Exchange Control Act under Yahapalana

– island.lk/fsp-traces-current-forex-crisis-to-pm-doing-away-with-exchange-control-act-under-yahapalana-rule/

• How Capitalism Has Collapsed In My Sri Lanka

– indi.ca

• Scarcity, prices, hoarding and queuing – Usvatte-aratchi

– island.lk/scarcity-prices-hoarding-and-queuing/

• Constant ‘monetary financing’ had little backing from fiscal side, says Central Bank’s Jayalath

– island.lk/constant-monetary-financing-had-little-backing-from-fiscal-side-says-central-bank/

• US to provide technical assistance for fiscal management; High-Level delegates meet PM

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/27/us-to-provide-technical-assistance-for-fiscal-management-high-level-delegates-meet-pm/

• Ranil seeks USD 6bn from IMF to surmount crisis…

‘Out of that amount five billion would be spent to purchase fuel, gas and food…One billion will be used to strengthen the rupee.’

– island.lk/ranil-seeks-usd-6bn-from-imf-to-surmount-crisis-vajira/

• Cabraal comments on exchange rate flexibility

‘there will always be conflicting opinions among stakeholders as to the value, timing and methodology to be followed in ‘fixing’, or ‘floating’ or ‘pegging’ a country’s currency.’

– island.lk/cabraal-comments-on-exchange-rate-flexibility/

• Supreme Court takes up Transparency International-led FR case on current economic crisis

‘The petition was filed by Transparency International Sri Lanka along with Chandra Jayaratne, Jehan Canagaretna and Julian Bolling.  Chandaka Jayasundera PC appeared for the Petitioners along with S.A. Beling, Chinthaka Fernando, Sayuri Liyanasuriya and Manisha Dissanayake.’

– ft.lk/front-page/SC-takes-up-TISL-led-FR-case-on-current-economic-crisis/44-736962

• Opening domestic market to imports, JR co-opted a highly consumerist middle bourgeoisie.

– island.lk/what-should-we-normalise/

• Overcoming the Economic Crisis: Foreign commercial loans (ISBs & SLDBs) cannot be repaid – Kannangara

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/26/overcoming-the-economic-crisis/

• Sri Lanka hounded by Vultures – exact replica of what happened to Argentina: Karunaratne

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/26/sri-lanka-being-hounded-by-vultures/

• From project financing to debt restructuring: China’s role in Sri Lanka’s debt situation – Moramudali & Panduwawala

– dailymirror.lk/features/From-project-financing-to-debt-restructuring-Chinas-role-in-Sri-Lankas-debt-situation/185-240008

• Monsoon of crises? – Ahilan Kadirgamar

‘there are fears that more nations could go down the same path as the global economy continues to falter.’

– rt.com/shows/worlds-apart-oksana-boyko/557375-sri-lanka-economic-political-crisis/

• Economic crisis: Govt. MPs slam Cabinet, Finance Ministry

– island.lk/economic-crisis-govt-mps-slam-cabinet-finance-ministry/

• Current economic and financial crisis, debt sustainability, Central Bank independence, transparency and accountability – Molligoda

– island.lk/some-beliefs-on-current-economic-and-financial-crisis-debt-sustainability-central-bank-independence-transparency-and-accountability/

• IMF assistance will be further delayed if general election has to be held before end of this year

– island.lk/lankas-crisis-and-nato-leaders/

• Food situation may not be as bad as expected – Sanderatne

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/columns/avoiding-hunger-and-starvation-in-the-coming-months-487146.html

• Precondition for IMF bailout package: cease central bank funding government – Wijewardena

‘Sri Lanka’s bargaining power will be weakened by the new court case against it. If the New York Federal Court delivers its judgement in favour of Hamilton Reserve, Sri Lanka will have to make the full payment on 25 July.’

– ft.lk/columns/Child-s-guide-to-debt-restructuring-Not-a-cakewalk-but-a-task-entailing-hard-work/4-736706

• How do we earn foreign exchange? It’s exports, nothing other than exports – Abeyratne

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/crippled-economy-slipping-from-pan-to-fire-486985.html

• Foundations of Sri Lanka’s economic revival have to be built on export industries – Elias, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Apparel Sourcing Association

– timesonline.lk/features/FEATURE-Foundations-of-Sri-Lankas-economic-revival-have-to-be-built-on-export-industries/5-1137921

– bizenglish.adaderana.lk/fighting-the-good-fight-by-wilhelm-elias/

• China in dilemma over bailing out Sri Lanka: USA’s Ganeshan Wignarajah

– themorning.lk/china-in-dilemma-over-bailing-out-sri-lanka-ganeshan-wignarajah/

• The Private Sector of Sri Lanka is Equally Responsible for Economic Management

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/07/01/the-private-sectors-of-sri-lanka-is-equally-responsible-for-economic-management/

• Sri Lanka PM must present fiscal consolidation plan, go for SOE reform: opposition MP

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-pm-must-present-fiscal-consolidation-plan-go-for-soe-reform-opposition-mp-96684/

• Economic recovery, a common minimum program – National Movement for Social Justice

‘Markets where SOEs operate as monopolies or as protected suppliers should be liberalized.’

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-economic-recovery-a-common-minimum-program-96738/

• Lack of a framework can make debt restructuring difficult to resolve

‘Experts share key insights at Daily FT, ICC Sri Lanka, SLID and AICPA and CIMA webinar’

– ft.lk/opinion/Lack-of-a-framework-can-make-debt-restructuring-difficult-to-resolve/14-736817

• Prime Minister trying to get one of his sidekicks as the new Central Bank Governor

– island.lk/pm-hints-at-full-term-opposition-in-boycott-mode-no-relief-for-queuing-public/

• Nandalal to head CB for next six years

– timesonline.lk/news-online/Nandalal-to-head-CB-for-next-six-years/2-1137951

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/CB-Governor-gets-new-6-year-term/273-240147

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-central-bank-governor-weerasinghe-re-appointed-96751/

• Without a Plan will Sri Lanka Overcome?

– dailymirror.lk/recomended-news/Without-a-Plan-will-Sri-Lanka-Overcome/277-239922

• Ports Authority (SLPA) paid Treasury just a faction of massive revenue earned in six years

– island.lk/economic-crisis-govt-mps-slam-cabinet-finance-ministry/

• Why Does Sri Lanka need to Privatize Government Banks?

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/29/why-does-sri-lanka-need-to-privatize-government-banks/

• Sri Lanka monetary meltdown: Steve Hanke on currency boards and flawed pegs

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-monetary-meltdown-steve-hanke-on-currency-boards-and-flawed-pegs-96375/

• Financial literacy: A closer look at Sri Lanka – Parts 1 & 2

– ft.lk/columns/Financial-literacy-A-closer-look-at-Sri-Lanka-Part-1/4-736698

– ft.lk/columns/Financial-literacy-A-closer-look-at-Sri-Lanka-Part-2/4-736775

• Country in a mess: Recovery possible, but not easy

– ft.lk/columns/Country-in-a-mess-Recovery-possible-but-not-easy/4-736813

• Economic crisis, public outcry, foreign reserves and remittances

– ft.lk/columns/Economic-crisis-public-outcry-foreign-reserves-and-remittances/4-736776

• Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) urges govt. to immediately present future plans for crisis-struck country

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/CNCI-urges-govt-to-immediately-present-future-plans-for-crisis-struck-country/273-240056

• Lesson for Lanka from Ecuador’s crises, its relations with US and China

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Lesson-for-Lanka-from-Ecuadors-crises-its-relations-with-US-and-China/231-240124

• Cost of living crisis inflames civil unrest risks in emerging markets

‘Middle-income economies struggling with the public purse will be most at risk. According to our Civil Unrest Index Projections, 10 of these countries – including Brazil, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan and Senegal – are in line to take the hardest hit over the next six months.’

– maplecroft.com/insights/analysis/cost-of-living-crisis-inflames-civil-unrest-risks-in-emerging-markets/

• IMF Loans Continue to Undermine Health in Africa

– blackagendareport.com/imf-loans-continue-undermine-health-africa

• Russia’s Default Explained: Will Investors Take a Hit?

‘By most accounts, Russia has defaulted on its sovereign debt because it was unable to make a payment to its creditors. But reality is trickier than that, and shows Moscow has been strategic in bracing for the fallout.’

– newsclick.in/Russia-Default-Explained-Will-Investors-Take-Hit

• Companies get credit for leaving Russia while failing to do so

– kyivindependent.com/business/report-most-companies-get-credit-for-leaving-russia-while-failing-to-do-so

• The Ukraine war’s collateral damage

– agenceglobal.com/2022/05/23/michael-klare-the-ukraine-wars-collateral-damage/

• The global solution: private or public? – Roberts

‘It is revealing to consider the solutions offered by analysts writing for the IMF in its monthly Finance and Development (F&D) journal.’

– thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2022/06/29/the-global-solution-private-or-public/

• Confronting a Perfect Long Storm – Shanmugaratnam

– imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2022/06/confronting-a-perfect-long-storm-tharman-shanmugaratnam

• The Sanctions Weapon – Mulder

– imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2022/06/the-sanctions-weapon-mulder

• How Sanctions on Russia Will Upend the Global Order – Mulder

– foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2022-03-22/toll-economic-war

• Shifting Geopolitical Tectonic Plates –IMF chief economist

– imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2022/06/shifting-geopolitical-tectonic-plates-straight-talk

• A Canadian Budget for War – Communist Party of Canada

– communist-party.ca/a-budget-for-war/

• How Corporates Caused Inflation

‘The biggest reason is higher corporate profits, as companies have used the cover of COVID disruptions to mark up prices way beyond the rise in costs’

–  newsclick.in/how-corporates-caused-inflation

____________________________________________

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.

• Bankrupt Colombo inflation gallops to 55% in June; food inflation reaches 80%

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Colombo-inflation-gallops-to-55-in-June-food-inflation-reaches-80/108-240154

– ft.lk/front-page/Food-inflation-soars-to-80-in-June/44-736966

– digitaljournal.com/business/bankrupt-sri-lankas-inflation-jumps-beyond-50/article#ixzz7XpfubIvc

• Bond market frozen; inflation crosses 50% psychological level – Wealth Trust Securities

– ft.lk/financial-services/Bond-market-frozen-inflation-crosses-50-psychological-level/42-736911

• Sri Lanka inflation hits 54.6-pct in June 2022 after money printing

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-inflation-hits-54-6-pct-in-june-2022-after-money-printing-96722/

• Exports to major markets record strong growth

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Exports-to-major-markets-record-strong-growth/108-239937

• US Fitch downgrades Sri Lanka’s Bank of Ceylon to RD

– economynext.com/sri-lankas-bank-of-ceylon-downgraded-to-rd-96472/

• Economy contracts by 1.6% in 1Q

– ft.lk/top-story/Economy-contracts-by-1-6-in-1Q/26-736847

• Govt. issues new order on foreign currency held in hands of public

– island.lk/remittances-to-low-and-middle-income-countries-projected-to-rise-by-4-2-in-2022/

• Govt. cuts cap on maximum forex in hand to $ 10,000; amnesty and new rules for conversion

– ft.lk/front-page/Govt-cuts-cap-on-maximum-forex-in-hand-to-10-000-amnesty-and-new-rules-for-conversion/44-736739

• Free float of currency bloats foreign debt by 50% to Rs. 9.5 t

– ft.lk/top-story/Free-float-of-currency-bloats-foreign-debt-by-50-to-Rs-9-5-t/26-736741

• Budget deficit expands by 21% in 1Q

– ft.lk/front-page/Budget-deficit-expands-by-21-in-1Q/44-736740

• Rs.150 b Treasury Bonds to be issued June 28

– themorning.lk/rs-150-b-treasury-bonds-to-be-issued-today/

• Sri Lanka sells Rs142bn in 2025, 2028, 2031 bonds

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-sells-rs142bn-in-2025-2028-2031-bonds-96603/

• Sri Lanka guidance peg strengthened despite forex shortages

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-guidance-peg-strengthened-despite-forex-shortages-96597/

• Sri Lanka rupee guidance rate up 40 cents despite dollar shortage

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-guidance-rate-up-40-cents-despite-dollar-shortage-96583/

• Sri Lanka’s guidance peg rises 33 cents despite dollar shortage (Jly 01)

– economynext.com/sri-lankas-guidance-peg-rises-33-cents-despite-dollar-shortage-96766/

• Sri Lanka’s 3-month T-bills rise over 300-bps at weekly auction (30)

– economynext.com/sri-lankas-3-month-t-bills-rise-over-300-bps-at-weekly-auction-96662/

• Sri Lanka guidance peg edge up despite dollar shortage

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-guidance-peg-edge-up-despite-dollar-shortage-96660/

• Sri Lanka central bank’s guidance peg weakens amid dollar shortage

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-central-banks-guidance-peg-weakens-amid-dollar-shortage-96720/

• Sri Lanka to order exporters, embassies, hotels to pay electricity bills in dollars

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-order-exporters-embassies-hotels-to-pay-electricity-bills-in-dollars-96545/

• Steps taken to prevent US Dollar from overshooting – CBSL

‘regulatory measures will be taken against speculation and manipulation. The public has been advised not to be misled by baseless claims in this regard’

– newswire.lk/2022/06/28/steps-taken-to-prevent-us-dollar-from-overshooting-cbsl/

• Consumer confidence would worsen in coming weeks – Institute of Health Policy (IHP) survey

– timesonline.lk/news-online/Consumer-confidence-would-worsen-in-coming-weeks-survey/2-1137978

• 17 Ongoing WB projects being redesigned to provide financial assistance

‘World Bank Country Manager for Sri Lanka Chiyo Kanda, Senior Operations Officer Asela Dissanayake, Practice Manager Gabi George Afram, Lead Private Sector Specialist Peter Mousley, Lead Financial Sector Specialist Miquel Dijkman, Senior Economist Kishan Abeygunawardana…’

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/On-going-WB-projects-being-redesigned-to-provide-financial-assistance/273-240058

– adaderana.lk/news/83329/world-bank-to-redesign-17-ongoing-projects-in-sri-lanka-

• Spotlight on losses associated with so called development projects

– dailymirror.lk/recomended-news/Spotlight-on-losses-associated-with-so-called-development-projects/277-239978

• Delay in appointing new tax chief: Billions may be lost

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/news/delay-in-appointing-new-tax-chief-billions-may-be-lost-487290.html

• Ukraine Budget Lifeline at Risk as Biggest Bond Buyer Gets Antsy

– bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-24/ukraine-budget-lifeline-at-risk-as-biggest-bond-buyer-gets-antsy?srnd=premium-europe

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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

• Meltdown batters nearly 3 million self-employed

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/news/meltdown-batters-nearly-3-millon-self-employed-487158.html

• Wages have not risen one jot in months and years – David

– island.lk/is-cascading-collapse-unstoppable/

• Richard Pieris & Co. is one of the largest employers in Sri Lanka’s private sector

‘home to a workforce of over 27,000 people, it made profits of almost half a billion rupees’

– island.lk/richard-pieris-finance-announces-resilient-performance-for-fy-2021-22/

• Corporations reap large profits as workers and rural toilers face poverty and starvation

– srilankaequity.forumotion.com/t62511-sri-lankan-corporations-reap-large-profits-as-workers-and-rural-toilers-face-poverty-and-starvation

• Trapped in a cycle of debt – Centre for Equality and Justice

– ft.lk/news/Trapped-in-a-cycle-of-debt/56-736912

• Sri Lanka to raise bus fares by 22 percent from midnight June 30

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-raise-bus-fares-by-22-percent-from-midnight-june-30-96718/

• Sri Lanka railway tariff hike gets cabinet nod

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-railway-tariff-hike-gets-cabinet-nod-96582/

• Railway guards and engine drivers have launched a lightning strike, Railway Trade Unions said.

‘railway authorities fail to grant fuel for railway workers to report for duty’

– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/Railway-workers-begin-lightning-strike/342-240174

• Railway guards disrupt services

– island.lk/railway-guards-disrupt-services/

• Tense situation at Fort Railway Station

‘commuters protested as the train bound to Kankasanthurai (KKS) was delayed for more than 2 hours’

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Tense-situation-at-Fort-Railway-Station/108-240173

•  Railway workers call off strike; Delay in operations expected

– newsfirst.lk/2022/07/01/railway-workers-call-off-strike-delay-in-operations-expected/

• Postal service crippled by trade union action

– newsfirst.lk/2022/07/01/postal-service-crippled-by-trade-union-action/

• Health services face imminent collapse due to fuel crisis

– island.lk/health-services-face-imminent-collapse-due-to-fuel-crisis/

• Frustrating Fridays for healthcare workers

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/news/frustrating-fridays-for-healthcare-workers-487168.html

• Health sector unions go on strike, hold protests

– timesonline.lk/news-online/Health-sector-unions-go-on-strike-hold-protests/2-1137942

•  Midwives on strike today (29)

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/29/midwives-on-strike-today-29/

• Lawyers stage protest in Fort

– themorning.lk/lawyers-stage-protest-in-fort/

• ‘I must stay strong’: hardship for workers fleeing Lanka’s broken economy

– island.lk/i-must-stay-strong-hardship-for-workers-fleeing-lankas-broken-economy/

• Australian dream shattered: 15 smugglers among nearly 140 arrested since June 23

– island.lk/australian-dream-shattered-15-smugglers-among-nearly-140-arrested-since-june-23/

• West Asian job seekers forced to pay exorbitant rates for medical tests

‘1,000s have gone abroad during the last 5 years for employment and of this 90% are employed in West Asia, said M.F.M. Arshard, Secretary, Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA)…9 medical centres approved by Gulf Health Council in Colombo and 5 at Kurunegala’

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/west-asian-job-seekers-forced-to-pay-exorbitant-rates-for-medical-tests-486779.html

• Sri Lanka cabinet eases family background report for potential women expatriates

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-cabinet-eases-family-background-report-for-potential-women-expatriates-96598/

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Govt-to-partly-lift-FBR-regulation-on-females-seeking-employment-abroad/273-240017

• Dhammika mans separate counter for foreign employment at Immigration & Emigration Dept.

– ft.lk/front-page/Dhammika-delivers-solutions-to-key-issues-at-Immigration-and-Emigration-Dept/44-736887

• New Social Security Contribution Levy comes into effect soon

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/new-social-security-contribution-levy-comes-into-effect-soon-486776.html

• Govt. to offer Rs.7,500 allowance to worst-hit citizens from WB, ADB fund

‘, the minister did not share how the handout will be offered.’

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Govt-to-offer-Rs-7-500-allowance-to-worst-hit-citizens-from-WB-ADB-fund/108-240210

• Senior officials able to siphon funds and stash it away in foreign lands from a long time back

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/editorial/adding-corruption-to-the-crisis-487216.html

• Litro responds to criticism over its salary structure

– island.lk/litro-responds-to-criticism-over-its-salary-structure/

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Litro-gas-denies-statements-regarding-salary-scale/108-240212

• Domestic workers considered to be the backbone of English homes in colonial India

– island.lk/ayah-amah-institutional-individuals-of-the-british-empire/

• Industrial Disputes (Special Provisions) Bill delegates powers to Chairmen of Labour Tribunals

– island.lk/speakers-signs-newly-ratified-bills-into-law/

• Trinco’s Thennamaravadi residents face land, housing issues

– themorning.lk/trincos-thennamaravadi-residents-face-land-housing-issues/

• Teachers end up paying over Rs.1000 daily to travel to school,

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/news/whether-going-to-school-or-online-learning-its-a-struggle-all-round-487154.html

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/The-Biblical-seven-lean-years-EDITORIAL/231-239975

• Apprenticeship programme with Hatch MakerStudio and Vocational Training Authority

– island.lk/apprenticeship-programme-in-partnership-with-hatch-makerstudio-and-vocational-training-authority/

• World Bank: South Asia must explore untapped opportunities

‘In South Asia, only 20 out of every 100 women actively participate in the labor market, while the labor force participation for men is 80%, far below the participation rates in other regions’

– island.lk/wb-south-asia-must-explore-untapped-opportunities/

• 37 Bangladeshis detained trying to enter Malaysia illegally

– news.cgtn.com/news/2022-07-01/37-Bangladeshis-detained-trying-to-enter-Malaysia-illegally-1bjP8SvURGg/index.html

• Many urban poor reside along rivers and waterways frequently flooded, unlike gated rich

– socialistproject.ca/2022/06/climate-change-and-class-philippine-case/

• African Union expresses deep shock over deaths at Morocco-Spain border

– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/291863-african-union-expresses-deep-shock-over-deaths-at-morocco-spain-border

• 37 migrants dead at Morocco-Spain land border amid police use of extreme violence

– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/291848-37-migrants-dead-at-morocco-spain-land-border-amid-police-use-of-extreme-violence

• U.S. opens criminal probe after 51 people die in Texas truck

– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/292111-us-opens-criminal-probe-after-51-people-die-in-texas-truck

• Mein Kampf: Hitler’s Love Letter to Western Imperialism

‘Emphasis on stealing working class support from Marxists’

– redsails.org/emersberger-on-mein-kampf/

• Over 12% of humanity part of any of the 3 million co-operatives in the world

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Revive-the-co-operative-movement-in-Sri-Lanka/172-240218

• Strike! Reviving Labor’s Most Powerful Weapon

– socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed-video/strike-reviving-labors-most-powerful-weapon/

• Google places engineer on leave after he claims group’s chatbot is ‘sentient’

‘At issue is whether Google’s chatbot, LaMDA — a Language Model for Dialogue Applications — can be considered a person.’

– ft.com/content/bedd75a8-3068-49f0-b5bc-e691b28a1d1b

• Who Needs the War? – Alexandra Kollontai

– socialistproject.ca/2022/06/who-needs-the-war/

_________________________________________________________________________

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.

• Sri Lanka’s food crisis: What is the role of imports? – IPS

– dailymirror.lk/businessopinion/Sri-Lankas-food-crisis-What-is-the-role-of-imports/306-240141

• Some mill owners sell imported rice under local brands – Dudley Sirisena

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Some-mill-owners-sell-imported-rice-under-local-brands-Dudley-Sirisena/231-240123

• Extraordinary Gazette allows importing 10 essential items via open accounts from July

‘rice, flour, sugar, milk powder, dried chilli, dried sprats, potatoes, red dhal, red onions, watana dhal’

– ft.lk/front-page/Extraordinary-Gazette-allows-importing-10-essential-items-via-open-accounts/44-736734

• Sri Lanka can avoid food shortages by relaxing open account imports: Trade Minister

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-can-avoid-food-shortages-by-relaxing-open-account-imports-trade-minister-96764/

• CBSL steps up support to battle food shortage

‘repayment period for 35 crops including home gardening and nurseries varies between 270 days to 365 days (depending on the crops). Over 30 crops including; Paddy, Chillies, Onion, Cowpea, Green Gram, Black Gram, Soya beans, Kurakkan, Maize, Ground Nut, Gingelly, Sun Flower, Potato, Sweet Potato, Manioc, Kiri Ala, Brinjal, Ladies Fingers, Beetroot, Beans, Cabbage, Carrot, Capsicum, Tomato, Leeks, Radish, Knoh Khol, Luffa, Bitter Gourd, Snake Gourd, Pumpkin, Ginger, Sugarcane as well as home gardening and nurseries can avail this loan scheme via participating Bank of Ceylon, Peoples Bank, Commercial Bank, Cargills Bank, DFCC Bank, HDFC Bank, Hatton National Bank, Sampath Bank, Sanasa Development Bank, Seylan Bank, Pan Asia Banking Corporation, National Development Bank, and Nations Trust Bank’

– ft.lk/front-page/CBSL-steps-up-support-to-battle-food-shortage/44-736898

• Maize farmers to be granted Indian urea fertiliser

– ft.lk/front-page/Maize-farmers-to-be-granted-urea-fertiliser/44-736965

• Lands belonging to religious establishments to be utilised to cultivate food crops

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Lands-belonging-to-religious-establishments-to-be-utilised-to-cultivate-food-crops/273-240021

• Paddy Marketing Board and Milco NLDB outlets open

– island.lk/pmd-rice-outlet-opens

• Niraj de Mel appointed as Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman

‘past Chairman of the Tea Exporter’s Association and Colombo Brokers Association and a Vice Chairman of the Colombo Tea Traders Association.’

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Niraj-de-Mel-appointed-as-Sri-Lanka-Tea-Board-Chairman/273-239938

• Department of Agriculture Proposals to revive agriculture sector unveiled

– island.lk/proposals-to-revive-agriculture-sector-unveiled/

• Strategy for Restoration & Rebuilding Agri-Food Sector: Faculties of Agriculture of State Universities

‘Import agrochemicals & seed stock with support from World Bank and Asian Development Bank, , urea fertilizer with support from EXIM Bank of India, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’

– island.lk/a-strategy-for-the-restoration-and-rebuilding-the-agri-food-sector-of-sri-lanka/

• Sri Lanka seeks greater cooperation in the food processing and dairy sectors with India

‘High Commissioner to India, Milinda Moragoda met with India’s Minister of Food Processing Industries Shri  Pashupati Kumar Paras’

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/07/01/sri-lanka-seeks-greater-cooperation-in-the-food-processing-and-dairy-sectors-with-india/

• World Food Programme to revive Thriposha, scales up emergency aid

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/news/wfp-to-revive-thriposha-scales-up-emergency-aid-487283.html

• Top CBL official emphasises need for increase in agricultural production

– island.lk/top-cbl-official-emphasises-need-for-increase-in-agricultural-production/

• Colombo Tea Auction sees 5.46 MnKgs under hammer this week

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Colombo-Tea-Auction-sees-5-46-MnKgs-under-hammer-this-week/273-240214

• Prof. Mohan Munasinghe speech at Hegra Nobel Laureates Summit in Saudi Arabia

– ft.lk/news/Prof-Mohan-Munasinghe-delivers-keynote-speech-at-Hegra-Nobel-Laureates-Summit-in-Saudi-Arabia/56-736934

• Trinco Forest Conservation lands to be studied before being released for cultivation

– island.lk/trinco-forest-conservation-lands-to-be-studied-before-being-released-for-cultivation/

• South-East Asia’s food production costs could go up by 80% in sustainability drive: Study

– island.lk/south-east-asias-food-production-costs-could-go-up-by-80-in-sustainability-drive-says-study/

• Basic rice and curry meal was eaten by the early Sinhala

– island.lk/food-society-and-the-polos-ambula/

• Ceylon Chamber distributes dry rations, CIC Group Home Garden Starter Packs

– island.lk/ceylon-chamber-distributes-dry-rations/

• Russia becomes India’s largest supplier of fertilizers

‘India’s DAP imports are projected to total 950,000-980,000 tonnes for April-July. India also buys the fertilizer, its second most-consumed, from China, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Jordan’

– tass.com/economy/1473651

• Over 70% of countries tracked by Food Import Security Index see increase in risk

– maplecroft.com/esg-weekly/food-as-a-weapon/

• 10 companies that control the world’s food

– marketwatch.com/story/10-companies-that-control-the-worlds-food-2014-09-01

• Companies That Control the World’s Food

– 247wallst.com/special-report/2014/08/15/companies-that-control-the-worlds-food/4/

• US Supreme Court’s EPA Decision Is One More Win for Charles Koch’s Dystopian America

‘Meets secretly with big political donors twice a year to plot a coordinated strategy to put their chosen people in public office’

– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/07/the-supreme-courts-epa-decision-is-one-more-win-for-charles-kochs-dystopian-america/

_____________________________________________________________________

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.

• Sri Lanka, Singapore, and the politics of oil

– factum.lk/regional-geopolitics/factum-perspective-sri-lanka-singapore-and-the-politics-of-oil

• Sapugaskande Oil Refinery meets total requirements of fuel, Officials want it closed to strike lucrative deals for spot purchases

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/land-of-dealmakers-486990.html

• Prepare a quick road map for gas mining in the country – COPA instructs officials

– timesonline.lk/news-online/Prepare-a-quick-road-map-for-gas-mining-in-the-country-COPA-instructs-officials/2-1137919

• Government liberalises fuel procurement process

‘entry of six new private firms after 12-odd agents of foreign suppliers registered with the Ceylon Petroleum (CPC) stopped engaging in tenders’

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/government-liberalises-fuel-procurement-process-486982.html

– ft.lk/front-page/Cabinet-nod-to-liberalise-petroleum-industry/44-736840

• Govt. to allow international oil companies to operate in the country

‘The selected international companies will be given at-least 200 each of Ceypetco fuel filling sheds numbering 1190 countrywide’

– timesonline.lk/news-online/Govt-to-allow-international-oil-companies-to-operate-in-the-country/2-1137916

– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/Govt-permits-companies-to-import-fuel/342-239951

– island.lk/govt-throws-open-retail-fuel-market-to-new-players-from-oil-producing-countries/

• Sri Lanka to end fuel duopoly to ease shortages

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Sri-Lanka-to-end-fuel-duopoly-to-ease-shortages/273-240019

• Nothing done to regulate supply of petrol, diesel and cooking gas

– island.lk/pm-hints-at-full-term-opposition-in-boycott-mode-no-relief-for-queuing-public/

• Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) repatriates its profits very rarely

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/lioc-carefully-manages-dollars-486997.html

• Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) seeks permission to set up 50 new filling stations

– island.lk/lioc-seeks-to-expand-operations/

• Lanka IOC dispatches fuel for 82 sheds

– newswire.lk/2022/06/28/lanka-ioc-dispatches-fuel-for-82-sheds/

• New fuel pricing formula of 24th May includes costs for importing, unloading, distributing to stations and taxes

– island.lk/lioc-shows-stability-in-earnings-and-margins-compared-to-volatility-during-previous-years/

• Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Union (CEBEU) exposes former CEB Chair Ferdinando

– island.lk/cebeu-guns-for-ex-chairman-ferdinando/

• Police not taking action against third party fuel-sellers and local thugs who controlled queues

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/news/unsavoury-characters-military-abuses-ignite-rage-at-filling-stations-487173.html

• Govt. hikes fuel prices again

– ft.lk/front-page/Govt-hikes-fuel-prices-again/44-736738

• Sri Lanka Runs Out of Petrol, Diesel After Delay in Expected Shipments Amid Economic Crisis

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/25/sri-lanka-runs-out-of-petrol-diesel-after-delay-in-expected-shipments-amid-economic-crisis/

• Fuel to be supplied only for essential services until July 10

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/27/fuel-to-be-supplied-only-for-essential-services-until-july-10

• When incompetence fuels crisis

‘next fuel shipment will also end up on the black market via hoarders’ dens, and the ordinary people will be left without petrol, diesel or kerosene’

– island.lk/when-incompetence-fuels-crisis/

• Sri Lanka to market price kerosene, give cash grant to needy: Minister

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-market-price-kerosene-give-cash-grant-to-needy-minister-96495/

• How will transport services operate from Tuesday (28)?

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/27/how-will-transport-services-operate-from-tuesday-28/

• Transport heads to a halt with fuel shortages, token system yet to commence

– timesonline.lk/news-online/Transport-heads-to-a-halt-with-fuel-shortages-token-system-yet-to-commence/2-1137920

• Sri Lanka seeks loan from Qatar to import oil amid soft-peg instability

– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/Kanchana-met-Qatars-Energy-Affairs-State-Minister/342-239967

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-seeks-loan-from-qatar-to-import-oil-amid-soft-peg-instability-96610/

• Sri Lanka central bank to give payment plan for oil supplier arrears: Presidents office

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-central-bank-to-give-payment-plan-for-oil-supplier-arrears-presidents-office-96559/

• Sri Lanka central bank blocked retail fuel sales for dollars: Minister

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-central-bank-blocked-retail-fuel-sales-for-dollars-minister-96519/

• Supermarket shelves about to go empty as delivery fleets unable to refuel

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Supermarket-shelves-about-to-go-empty-as-delivery-fleets-unable-to-refuel/273-240061

• Sri Lanka Has Literally Run Out Of Gas

– indi.ca

• Sri Lanka’s private buses en route to grinding halt as fuel crisis deepens

– economynext.com/sri-lankas-private-buses-en-route-to-grinding-halt-as-fuel-crisis-deepens-96537/

• 26 train services cancelled as railway guards unable to report to work due to lack of fuel

– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/26-train-services-cancelled-as-railway-guards-unable-to-report-to-work-due-to-lack-of-fuel/342-240044

• Importing refined fuel, petrol and diesel, at high prices, prevented production of by-products through refining process, essential for fertiliser, insecticides petroleum jelly, asphalt, etc.

– ft.lk/columns/Economic-crisis-public-outcry-foreign-reserves-and-remittances/4-736776

• President to visit UAE to procure fuel: Mahindananda

– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/President-to-visit-UAE-to-procure-fuel-Mahindananda/342-240035

• SJB says local fuel crisis purposely created

‘liberalising Sri Lanka’s fuel distribution will result in the closure of the Sapugaskanda refinery,’

– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/SJB-says-local-fuel-crisis-purposely-created/342-240034

• Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) inflammable with $ 1 b debt and payments

– ft.lk/top-story/CPC-inflammable-with-1-b-debt-and-payments/26-736888

• CEB sets record straight on Adani 500 MW wind power project

– ft.lk/front-page/CEB-sets-record-straight-on-Adani-500-MW-wind-power-project/44-736883

• Cabinet nod to liberalise petroleum industry

– ft.lk/front-page/Cabinet-nod-to-liberalise-petroleum-industry/44-736840

•  ‘List from higher-up’ to issue fuel for luxury SUVs from Kolonnawa Terminal

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/29/list-from-higher-up-to-issue-fuel-for-luxury-suvs-from-kolonnawa-terminal/

• ‘Diesel should be supplied to people in all parts of Sri Lanka’ – Army intervenes to clear protest

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/30/video-diesel-should-be-supplied-to-people-in-all-parts-of-sri-lanka-army-intervenes-to-clear-protest/

• Lanka IOC Tankers to report to work

‘IOC owns about 160 tanks…General Secretary of the Petroleum Private Tanker Owners’ Association Shantha Silva said NO fuel transport vehicles will travel to Ceypetco filling stations on Thursday (30)’

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/30/lanka-ioc-tankers-to-report-to-work/

• 38,000 MT diesel shipment expected between July 11 and 15, but no petrol delivery on horizon

– island.lk/38000-mt-diesel-shipment-expected-between-july-11-and-15-but-no-petrol-delivery-on-horizon/

• Sri Lanka’s Litro Gas acquires 100,000MT of LP gas using World Bank funds

– economynext.com/sri-lankas-litro-gas-acquires-100000mt-of-lp-gas-using-world-bank-funds-96700/

• Oil prices up 3% on supply outages in Libya and expected shutdowns in Norway

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Oil-prices-up-3-on-supply-outages/273-240211

• CPC quizzed why fuel shipment not ordered before July 22 as fuel runs out

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/CPC-quizzed-why-fuel-shipment-not-ordered-before-July-22-as-fuel-runs-out/108-240222

• Foreign Minister seeks urgent Energy cooperation from Saudi Arabia

– island.lk/energy-cooperation-sought-from-saudi-arabia-on-urgent-basis/

• The new electricity tariff awaits public consultation

– dailymirror.lk/insight/The-new-electricity-tariff/374-240075

• 3 shipments of fuel either from Singapore or Fujairah, UAE to arrive by mid, end July, August: LIOC

– economynext.com/three-shipments-of-fuel-to-arrive-in-sri-lanka-by-mid-end-july-august-lanka-ioc-96783/

• Sri Lanka fuel crisis: ‘Living in my car for two days to buy fuel’- BBC News

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/07/01/sri-lanka-fuel-crisis-living-in-my-car-for-two-days-to-buy-fuel-bbc-news/

• CEB faces daunting task of operating thermal power plants

– timesonline.lk/news-online/CEB-faces-daunting-task-of-operating-thermal-power-plants/2-1137984

• Can castor bean, rubber and tea seeds solve Sri Lanka’s diesel deficit?

– island.lk/can-castor-beanrubber-and-tea-seeds-solve-sri-lankas-diesel-deficit/

• Fishing without gas-guzzling

– island.lk/fishing-without-gas-guzzling/

• Jet fuel running out; long-haul flights may avoid Lanka

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/news/jet-fuel-running-out-long-haul-flights-may-avoid-lanka-487288.html

• Sri Lanka rules out refueling stops for non-scheduled aircraft and instructs all airlines to “strictly” carry fuel for return journey

– timesonline.lk/news-online/Sri-Lanka-rules-out-refueling-stops-for-non-scheduled-aircraft-and-instructs-all-airlines-to-strictly-carry-fuel-for-return-journey/2-1137917

• Jet fuel import and distribution business to open up amid shortage

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/jet-fuel-import-and-distribution-business-to-open-up-amid-shortage/273-240018

• Bunker licence holders agree to import and supply jet fuel on urgent basis

‘daily aviation fuel requirement for aircraft arriving in and departing is ~1.2 million litres’

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Bunker-licence-holders-agree-to-import-and-supply-jet-fuel-on-urgent-basis/273-240057

•  Private Sector to import Jet Fuel

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/29/private-sector-to-import-jet-fuel/

• Most countries tax fuel to assist in developing public and alternative modes of transport.

– island.lk/who-does-sri-lankas-fuel-subsidy-really-benefit/

• Customs seize Rs.60mn worth booze, fags, cosmetics sent from abroad

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Customs-seize-Rs-60mn-worth-booze-fags-cosmetics-sent-from-abroad/108-240224

• Dollar deficit just one reason for the national shortage of medical supplies

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/news/medicinal-drugs-in-short-supply-due-to-lapses-by-officials-487292.html

• DIMO and Tata Motors launch first locally assembled DIMO Batta HT2 vehicles

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/DIMO-and-Tata-Motors-launch-first-locally-assembled-DIMO-Batta-HT2-vehicles/273-240146

• HNB and Brown & Company collude to offer exciting leasing facilities for Agri machinery

– bizenglish.adaderana.lk/hnb-and-brown-company-collude-to-offer-exciting-leasing-facilities-for-agri-machinery/

• Confectionery industry invested over Rs. 10 billion to bring in technology and machinery

– ft.lk/front-page/Crisis-cuts-confectionery-industry-output-by-30/44-736735

• Diamond Cutters signs BOI deal to invest over $ 10 m in modern manufacturing facility

– ft.lk/front-page/Diamond-Cutters-signs-BOI-deal-to-invest-over-10-m-in-modern-manufacturing-facility/44-736736

• 51st Annual Sessions & 81st Anniversary Celebrations of the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/education/ceremonial-inauguration-of-the-51st-annual-sessions-and-81st-anniversary-celebrations-of-the-institute-of-chemistry-ceylon-486797.html

• A. Baur & Co.  expands partnership with Microsoft

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/a-baur-co-pvt-ltd-expands-partnership-with-microsoft-486977.html

• India’s Manufacturing Activity Slumps to 9-Month Low in June Amid Acute Price Pressure

– newsclick.in/indias-manufacturing-activity-slumps-9-month-low-june-amid-acute-price-pressure

• United States: energy as a strategic tool

– agenceglobal.com/2022/06/06/michael-t-klare-united-states-energy-as-a-strategic-tool/

• The Return of Industrial Warfare

‘The war in Ukraine demonstrates that war between peer or near-peer adversaries demands the existence of a technically advanced, mass scale, industrial-age production capability’

– rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/return-industrial-warfare

• What to Expect from Shale This Year

– csis.org/analysis/what-expect-shale-year

• G7 aims to raise $600 billion to counter China’s Belt and Road

– newsfirst.lk/2022/06/27/g7-aims-to-raise-600-billion-to-counter-chinas-belt-and-road/

• World Bank creates fund to better prevent & respond to pandemics

– themorning.lk/world-bank-creates-fund-to-better-prevent-respond-to-pandemics/

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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.

• HSBC Jaffna branch closed until further notice due to prevailing uncertain situation

– timesonline.lk/news-online/HSBC-Jaffna-branch-closed-until-further-notice/2-1137969

• Richard Pieris Finance’s 21/22 profit before taxes (PBT) at least Rs. 444 Mn

– island.lk/richard-pieris-finance-announces-resilient-performance-for-fy-2021-22/

• Banks see deceleration in deposits amid hyperinflation

‘“Cash is becoming trash now and people are beginning to see hardly any value in holding cash because at 40-50 percent inflation’

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Banks-see-deceleration-in-deposits-amid-hyperinflation/273-240060

• SL’s frontier market classification by Morgan to be downgraded to stand-alone market status

‘MSCI Sri Lanka Index’s three constituents – JKH, LOLC Holdings and Expolanka Holdings – had a float adjusted market valuation of US $ 0.52 billion’

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/SLs-frontier-market-classification-likely-to-be-downgraded-to-stand-alone-market-status/273-239939

• England’s Standard Chartered Bank & Indian banks refuse to confirm SL state bank letters of credit

– economynext.com/foreign-banks-refuse-to-confirm-sri-lanka-state-bank-letters-of-credit-minister-96474/

• Banker Hiran Cabraal appointed to Board at Sampath Bank

‘presently serving PwC Consulting (Vietnam), Managing Director of HSVC (Vietnam), Cabraal began at HSBC’

– ft.lk/financial-services/International-banker-Hiran-Cabraal-appointed-to-Board-at-Sampath-Bank/42-736910

• Sriyan Cooray made Chairman at NDB Bank

‘Prior to joining HSBC, Cooray was at Speville M and W, and KPMG Ford Rhodes Thornton, and

 currently an Independent Non-Executive Director of Orient Finance’

– ft.lk/front-page/Sriyan-Cooray-takes-over-role-of-Chairman-at-NDB-Bank/44-736900

• Five investments to look out for in Sri Lanka post-IMF bailout

– ft.lk/columns/Five-investments-to-look-out-for-in-Sri-Lanka-post-IMF-bailout/4-736796

• Recommendations by Advisory Committee for Revival of Failed Licensed Finance Companies

– island.lk/recommendations-made-by-the-advisory-committee-for-revival-of-failed-licensed-finance-companies/

• Monetary Board decides to liquidate five failed finance companies

– ft.lk/front-page/Monetary-Board-decides-to-liquidate-five-failed-finance-companies/44-736845

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/CB-to-liquidate-five-failed-finance-companies/273-240020

• Two finance companies fined Rs.1.5mn for violating Financial Transactions Reporting Act

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Two-finance-companies-fined-Rs-1-5mn-for-violating-FTRA/273-240059

– ft.lk/front-page/Financial-Intelligence-Unit-imposes-Rs-1-5-m-combined-fine-on-two-finance-companies/44-736959

• Sri Lanka Comtrust rebrands to CT CLSA Asset Management

‘CT CLSA Holdings is a subsidiary of listed conglomerate, CT Holdings Group and the CLSA Group of Hong Kong. CLSA is one of Asia’s largest investment groups and a fully owned subsidiary of CITIC Securities, China’s largest investment bank’

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-comtrust-rebrands-to-ct-clsa-asset-management-96512/

• Fuel crisis combines with profit-takings to drag down share market

– island.lk/fuel-crisis-combines-with-profit-takings-to-drag-down-share-market/

• Sri Lanka stocks fall to one-week low; dragged down by acute fuel shortage (27)

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-fall-to-one-week-low-dragged-down-by-acute-fuel-shortage-96534/

• Sri Lanka stocks plunge over 2-pct in mid-day trade on fuel crisis

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-plunge-over-2-pct-in-mid-day-trade-on-fuel-crisis-96498/

• CSE crashes within first hour as fears grow that SL is at a standstill (28)

–  island.lk/cse-crashes-within-first-hour-as-fears-grow-that-sl-is-at-a-standstill/

• Sri Lanka stocks dip in mid-day trade as fuel shortage continues

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-dip-in-mid-day-trade-as-fuel-shortage-continues-96580/

• Sri Lanka shares hit 2-month low as economy gradually comes to standstill (28)

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-shares-hit-2-month-low-as-economy-gradually-comes-to-standstill-96596/

• Sri Lanka stocks recover from 2-month low on hopes of IMF deal

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-recover-from-2-month-low-on-hopes-of-imf-deal-96661/

• Reported progress at IMF staff level agreement talks peps share market

– island.lk/reported-progress-at-imf-staff-level-agreement-talks-peps-share-market/

• Colombo stock market marks negative June after revival in May

– ft.lk/front-page/Colombo-stock-market-marks-negative-June-after-revival-in-May/44-736899

• Sri Lanka bourse slips on rise in fixed asset returns; investors shrug off IMF statement

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-bourse-slips-on-rise-in-fixed-asset-returns-investors-shrug-off-imf-statement-96721/

• Indian Oil (LIOC) stocks elevate bourse to positive territory

– island.lk/lanka-ioc-stocks-elevate-bourse-to-positive-territory/

• Colombo stock market rebounds though ending week with loss

– ft.lk/front-page/Colombo-stock-market-rebounds-though-ending-week-with-loss/44-736967

• JPMorgan Chase & Citibank Hold 90% of All Gold and Other Precious Metals Derivatives Held by All US Banks

– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/06/report-jpmorgan-chase-and-citibank-hold-90-percent-of-all-gold-and-other-precious-metals-derivatives-held-by-all-u-s-banks/

• Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase Trading Like Clones for Two Months; Both Are Down Almost 30% Year-to-Date

– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/06/deutsche-bank-and-jpmorgan-chase-have-been-trading-like-clones-for-two-months-both-are-down-almost-30-percent-year-to-date/

• As This Crypto Stock’s Price Collapsed, Goldman, JPMorgan and Citigroup Issued Buy Ratings

– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/06/as-this-crypto-stocks-price-collapsed-goldman-jpmorgan-and-citigroup-issued-buy-ratings/

• The Glue that Connects Jeffrey Clark, John Eastman, Ginni Thomas, and the Guy Who Was Air-Dropped into the DOJ, Is Charles Koch’s Money

– wallstreetonparade.com/2022/06/the-glue-that-connects-jeffrey-clark-john-eastman-ginni-thomas-and-the-guy-who-was-air-dropped-into-the-doj-is-charles-kochs-money/

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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’

• Ceylon Chamber re-elects leadership at 183rd Annual General Meeting

‘Chief Guest at the AGM was Julie Chung, the U.S. Ambassador, Manjula de Silva (Secretary General and CEO), Ernst & Young’s Duminda Hulangamuwa (Deputy Chairman), Sunshine’s Vish Govindasamy (Chairman) and John Keells’ Krishan Balendra (Deputy Vice-Chairman). Board: Amal Cabraal, Ceylon Beverage, Lion Brewery, Sunshine,  Silvermill, CIC Feeds, Asoka Pieris, Cargills, Bingumal Thewarathanthri ,Chartered Bank, Sarath Ganegoda, Hayleys, Shiromal Cooray, Jetwing’

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Ceylon-Chamber-re-elects-leadership-at-183rd-Annual-General-Meeting/273-240144

• US Ambassador Highlights Vital Steps at Ceylon Chamber’s 183rd AGM

– bizenglish.adaderana.lk/us-ambassador-highlights-vital-steps-for-sri-lankas-economic-recovery-at-ceylon-chambers-183rd-agm/

• Capital Maharaja Group (CMG) Directors Nedra Weerasinghe and S.C. Weerasekera

– island.lk/cmg-future-focused-to-get-its-leadership-closer-to-the-ground/

• Rotary Int’l’s Paduma Subasinghe appointed Director Human Resources at Heineken Lanka

‘Managing Director Maud Meijboom-van Wel.’

– island.lk/paduma-subasinghe-appointed-director-human-resources-at-heineken-lanka/

• Long-term Insurance 1Q profit before tax of Rs.3.09 billion, general insurance Rs.6.3 billion

‘Sri Lanka has 27 insurance companies in operation, 13 companies engaged in long-term insurance and 12 companies in general insurance and 2 others in composite insurance business’

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Insurance-industry-resilient-in-1Q-but-maintaining-momentum-in-2Q-doubtful/273-240143

• BOI launches long term residence visa programme for investors

– island.lk/boi-launches-long-term-residence-visa-programme-for-investors/

• Rs 1.5 bn Lotus Tower, Customs Hq. land transactions yet to be finalised; COPE stresses need to streamline procedures

– island.lk/rs-1-5-bn-lotus-tower-customs-hq-land-transactions-yet-to-be-finalised-cope-stresses-need-to-streamline-procedures/

• Co-operative Insurance Co. Profit After Tax (PAT) of at least Rs.631 mn for 1Q22

– island.lk/co-operative-insurance-records-strong-31-growth-for-1q22-amidst-macroeconomic-challenges/

• Hotels in crisis, June30 loan repayment deadline nears

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/hotels-in-crisis-loan-repayment-deadline-nears-486994.html

• Tourism sector urges extension of Rs. 500 b debt moratorium

– ft.lk/front-page/Tourism-sector-urges-extension-of-Rs-500-b-debt-moratorium/44-736839

• Tourism associations told discuss directly with financial institutions for moratorium extension

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Tourism-associations-told-to-discuss-directly-with-financial-institutions-for-moratorium-extension/108-240152

• JKH ‘proud’ of new Fairfax investment

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/jkh-says-proud-of-new-fairfax-investment-486974.html

• After LOLC investments in Africa, Maldives, now India on the horizon

‘investing in commercial banks including Seylan Bank and Hatton National Bank and in development banking with DFCC, Sanasa Development Bank and HDFC Bank’

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/after-lolc-investments-in-africa-maldives-now-india-on-the-horizon-486783.html

• Arka Initiative launches ‘Unsanitary Tales’ to fight ‘period poverty’

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/arka-initiative-launches-unsanitary-tales-to-fight-period-poverty-486971.html

• UNDP joins Hemas, Dilmah, Brandix & Daraz to profit from food and medical supply shortages

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/private-sector-to-the-rescue-487006.html

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/health-and-food-crisis-will-not-wait-till-credit-lines-arrive-486780.html

• Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka launch Non -Financial Reporting Guidelines

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/non-financial-reporting-guidelines-will-boost-investor-confidence-486759.html

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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.

• JVP’s call to arms

– island.lk/jvps-call-to-arms/

• JVP Leader talks of final solution with people drawn to the streets

– island.lk/jvp-leader-talks-of-final-solution-with-people-drawn-to-the-streets/

• Pass 22A & form All-Party Government; Mahanayake Theros send 10 point letter to President

– newsfirst.lk/2022/07/01/pass-22a-mahanayake-theros-send-10-point-letter-to-president/

– adaderana.lk/news/83370/chief-prelates-write-to-president-on-countrys-current-situation

• The Bankrupt Politics of Bankrupt Scholars

– kalaya.org/2022/07/blog-post.html

• Anuradhapura didn’t get Foreign Aid – Nalin de Silva

– kalaya.org/2022/06/blog-post_29.html

• Allegations of Corruption: Rajapakses must respond – Waduge

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/29/allegations-of-corruptions-rajapakses-must-respond/

• A note to the President GR: call Putin and request urgently long term assistance

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/29/a-note-to-the-president/

• Ranildasa’s luck – Nalin de Silva

– kalaya.org/2022/06/blog-post_27.html

• Sajith and Ranildasa’s Oppositional Politics

– kalaya.org/2022/06/blog-post_30.html

 • Buddha Pooja and Malnutrition

– gammiris.lk

• HL De Silva, SL Gunasekara and Gomin Dayasiri – lawyers against merger of Northern and Eastern Provinces

– kalaya.org/2022/07/blog-post_2.html

• Interpretation of democracy, human rights and the right to protests

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/06/29/interpretation-of-democracy-human-rights-and-the-right-to-protests/

• Clergy and army controlling President: TNA Sampanthan

– island.lk/unresolved-national-question-impaired-lankas-economic-progress-sampanthan/

• Foundation of Dhammika Perera’s fortune lies in the gambling industry

– island.lk/national-list-convenient-for-political-parties-gravy-for-those-appointed/

• Namal Rajapaksa linked to Adani Project

– island.lk/irreplaceable-rajapaksas/

• Kusum Wijetilleke interviews Dayan Jayatilleka: Eroding the SL State

– youtube.com/watch?v=Lm49dVOikEY

• Sri Lanka’s crisis is not a crisis of capitalism but rather of Gota Chinthanaya – Jayatilleka

– island.lk/options-for-change-in-the-catacombs-of-catastrophe/

• Split in the Opposition sustains Gotabaya rule and mass suffering – Jayatilleka

– ft.lk/columns/Split-in-the-Opposition-sustains-Gotabaya-rule-and-mass-suffering/4-736850

• Leave queues, join protests to oust govt. – JVP Women

– island.lk/leave-queues-join-protests-to-oust-govt-jvp-wpmen/

• SJB instigates street protests to topple Govt.

– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/SJB-instigates-street-protests-to-topple-Govt/342-239946

• Champika Ranawaka teams up with some SLPP MPs, in discussions with Chinese envoy

– dailymirror.lk/latest_news/Champika-Ranawaka-teams-up-with-some-SLPP-MPs/342-239970

• Sajith says ‘super’ PM has failed, SJB ready to take over govt.

– island.lk/sajith-says-super-pm-has-failed-sjb-ready-to-take-over-govt/

• Wimal believes all-party govt. inclusive of JVP, can win world confidence

– island.lk/wimal-believes-all-party-govt-inclusive-of-jvp-can-win-world-confidence/

• Sri Lanka needs not only a “system change” but also a “politician change” – USAID NPC

– island.lk/rejuvenating-govt-and-fuelling-expectations/

• Sri Lanka’s JVP says ready to form government with 15-20 MPs in current parliament

– economynext.com/sri-lankas-jvp-says-ready-to-form-government-with-15-20-mps-in-current-parliament-96524/

• Sri Lanka opposition leader visits remanded protesters

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-opposition-leader-visits-remanded-protesters-96511/

• 22nd Amendment to be gazetted today

– ft.lk/front-page/22nd-Amendment-to-be-gazetted-today/44-736846

• Vehicle protest in SL: Demonstration alert from US

– newswire.lk/2022/06/28/vehicle-protest-in-sl-demonstration-alert-from-us/

• Election Commission (EC) chief tells home truth

‘action must be taken to ensure that people’s basic needs are fulfilled before an election is held’

– island.lk/ec-chief-tells-home-truth/

• We will form our own SJB government: Sajith

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/We-will-form-our-own-SJB-government-Sajith/108-240128

• SJB renews call for Gota go home for new all-party Govt. to take SL out of crisis

– ft.lk/top-story/SJB-renews-call-for-Gota-go-home-for-new-all-party-Govt-to-take-SL-out-of-crisis/26-736893

– island.lk/sajith-vows-to-end-what-he-terms-gota-ranil-curse/

• Sri Lanka former president claims “zero” national security, criticises militarisation

–  economynext.com/sri-lanka-former-president-claims-zero-national-security-criticises-militarisation-96755/

• Sri Lanka government approval rating 3-pct, economic confidence minus: Verité poll

‘The polling partner was Vanguard Survey (Pvt.) Ltd.’

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-government-approval-rating-3-pct-economic-confidence-minus-poll-96761/

– bizenglish.adaderana.lk/government-approval-rating-drops-from-10-to-3/

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Verit%C3%A9s-Mood-of-the-Nation-poll-for-June-2022-shows-sentiments-further-dampened/273-240216

• Resignation of Prez, PM prerequisite for resolution of current crisis – Direction Sri Lanka

– island.lk/resignation-of-prez-pm-prerequisite-for-resolution-of-current-crisis-direction-sri-lanka/

• US Ambassador swoons over the “interim cabinet” like a lovesick teenager

‘On 22 July 2022, a US federal court will sentence Jaliya Chitran Wickramasuriya, a cousin of the president and the former prime minister.’

– ft.lk/columns/Common-good-constitutionalism-for-Sri-Lanka-The-impossible-dream/4-736923

• Proposed constitutional amendment lets President Gotabaya off the hook –Balachandran

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2022/07/01/proposed-lankan-constitutional-amendment-lets-president-gotabaya-off-the-hook/

• Asian victims of Japanese aggression feared a remilitarised Japan

– island.lk/we-will-remember-and-we-will-be-grateful/

• Tamil Nadu, politics and cinema inextricably intertwined in unique mode – Jeyaraj

– dailymirror.lk/recomended-news/Kamal-Haasan-returns-to-cinema-with-blockbuster-Vikram/277-240221

• From Hegel to Lenin

‘ As Lenin prepared to understand the First Great Slaughter of the twentieth century, he spent from September to December 1914 absorbing Hegel’s The Science of Logic (1813)’

– redsails.org/mcqueen-on-hegel/

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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.

• Throwing My Kids Into The Bus

– indi.ca

• Free Media Movement calls on govt. to stop using CID to suppress media

– island.lk/fmm-calls-on-govt-to-stop-using-cid-to-suppress-media/

• Alarming number of USA’s ex-FBI agents hired by Twitter

– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/291774-report-points-to-alarming-number-of-ex-fbi-agents-hired-by-twitter

• Giving the English tree of knowledge to the whole world – Nalin de Silva

– kalaya.org/2022/06/blog-post_26.html

• Market Research Society (MRSSL) elects new committee

‘Praneetha Amunugama (Survey Research), Rukshani Nonis (Kantar), Suthaharan Perampalam – Treasurer (Sparkwinn Research), Therica Miyanadeniya – President (NielsenIQ), Roshani Fernando – Past President (Quantum Consumer Solutions), Sakuntha Amarasekere – Secretary (Kantar), Niroshini Kathiravel (NielsenIQ), Nirosha Liyanage (Quantum Consumer Solutions), Aadil Iqbal (Kantar), Neomal Marambe – Vice Secretary (Quantum Consumer Solutions), Chandana Fonseka (NielsenIQ), Deepal Nanayakkara – Vice Treasurer (Kantar), Kamal Pushpakumara (Breakthrough Business Intelligence)

– sundaytimes.lk/220626/business-times/market-research-society-elects-new-committee-486765.html

• Russia Is Running Out Of [Whatever The Media Claim]

‘The main stream media have no problem with contradicting their own reporting’

– moonofalabama.org/2022/06/russia-is-running-out-of-whatever-the-media-claim-

• Why Sapiens Is A Hate Crime

– indi.ca

• Meta and other tech giants form metaverse standards body, without Apple

– ft.lk/front-page/Meta-and-other-tech-giants-form-metaverse-standards-body-without-Apple/44-736831

• Turkey Blocks Access to Deutsche Welle, Voice of America

– newsclick.in/media-censorship-turkey-blocks-access-deutsche-welle-voice-mmerica

• How American Legislative Exchange Council Turns Disinformation Into Law

– newsclick.in/how-american-legislative-exchange-council-turns-disinformation-law

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email: econenews@gmail.com

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

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