IMF Machinations to Demobilize Sri Lanka’s Army

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 01-07 January 2023 Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace & prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice? – George Washington, Farewell Address, 17 September 1796 ______________ Under no circumstances, from here

December’s Doomsday Deadline

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 13-19 November 2022 December 5 is D-Day as deigns the USA to dictate destiny, to stop time. December 5 is the deadline for new US & EU-led G7 sanctions to further asphyxiate the flow of finance, shipping, fuel, fertilizer & food to the world: All

US Aragala Awards for Their ThinkTanks

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 09-15 October 2022 In the midst of the annual US World Bank & IMF financial frolic in Washington… With all their suited & tied mannequins-of-color in attendance… The Governor of the Central Bank declares out loud: Sri Lanka will not take part in alternate international

USAID Head Butts In: Baring Small Gifts, Wielding Big Threats

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 04-10 September 2022 Questions to ask about a ‘struggle’: 1) What is the social base? 2) Who are the organizers? 3) Who are the funders? 4) How is the politics benefiting the working classes? 5) Who is producing the images? 6) Where does my knowledge

US, India, UN – A Web of White Lies

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 17-23 July 2022 Over the radio I hear the victory bulletins of the scum of the earth. Curiously I examine a map of the continent… I can still see a small door. – Bertolt Brecht, 1940 ‘European ambassadors gave President GR an “ultimatum”, a “last

IMF Delays Dollars to Fuel the Flames

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 12-18 June 2022 Much of what is depicted as vast corruption is ‘accepted as standard procedure‘ in business and banks – John Whitehead, former Goldman Sachs Co-Chairman, former US Deputy Secretary of State Everything needs to be fixed in the context of international standards, in

Chaos Management: Pretext for Invasion

“Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 15-21 May 2022 The US ambassador illegally met last week with Sri Lanka’s Army Commander General Shavendra Silva – without the permission of the President of Sri Lanka. So claims a ‘popularized’ vlogger (see ee Sovereignty, Shavi).      For what, or why? The story could

Sri Lanka Taken Hostage

“Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 10-16 April 2022 The lush trees of Galle Face Green were first clearcut by Dutch invaders, to fire their cannons against Sinhala attacks from the south. The Dutch word faas (face) described the front of their fort’s Gal Gate, as it faced Galle. The area’s

GI Jane & Jai Jawan: US & Indian Oil War Games in Sri Lanka

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 27 March – 02 April 2022 A US Naval Warfare College study recommends escalating energy policy to strangle nations: ‘Sharply rising commodity prices resulting from NATO’s expansion against Russia have prompted comparisons with the 1973 oil crisis. But this energy shock is different, and arguably

US Female War Criminal Lands to Lecture Sri Lanka on Human Rights & MCC

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 06-12 March 2022 • The US State Department is threatening to send Victoria ‘Fuck the EU’ Nuland, Undersecretary for Political Affairs, to Sri Lanka on 22 March, with Assistant Secretary for South Central Asian Affairs Donald ‘Banana 2’ Lu. S/he will be allowed to issue

The Comedy of Oil & Other World Wars

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com ‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ The Comedy of Oil & Other World Wars e-Con e-News 20-26 February 2022 ‘The civil war in Yemen and the coup in Bolivia – both followed a rejection of IMF terms’ – ee Sovereignty, What You Should Know A comedy worthy of the pen of

English & German Cartels Whitewashing Sri Lanka’s History

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 13-19 February 2022 “Colonies should not be permitted to manufacture so much as a horseshoe nail’ – William Pitt the Elder (Earl of Chatham, 1770) • Astrologers! Here is a list of Planetary Coincidences: An all-new US Envoy disembarks, twittering of human rights, just as

The Jailing of Craft & Other Crimes of the Arts

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 23-29 January 2022 Welcome to the 200th edition of ee. Bankers say it is a greater crime to rob a bank than to own a bank. Our economists say, it is a far greater crime to make a tractor than import a tractor.      Invaders,

USA, Japan, & India Turn off the Lights

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 16-22 January 2022 Anyone hear the vroom of 500 million US dollars being paid to the white banks, last Tuesday? No clicking cameras, no clamorous reporters on location. How’s it done? Just a touch of a key? Who sent it from here? Who received it

BlockChains, Supply Chains, Slave Chains & Small Change

 ‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 19-25 December 2021 What language do bats speak? Vavuluva – Bat-ese or Bat-ish – was a 1939 poem by Rapiyel Tennakoon making fun of such pseudo-luminaries as German philologist Wilhelm Geiger, mis-translator of the famed Sinhala chronicle The Mahavamsa. The Bat is ‘Sir’ DB Jayatilleka,

Import-Export Mafia, Drug Lords, Media Barons & Flexible Workers

“Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 5-11 December 2021 An ‘international drug mafia’ and ‘fraudulent business operations’ were identified as ‘major challenges’ in Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa’s 2022 budget speech. This mafia, if you believe the capitalist media, is led by people with Sinhala village names – Makandure Madush, et.

Killing the Lights: Ruin Peasants, Export Workers

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 28 November – 04 December 2021 “…uppermost in Wimalasurendra’s mind was the harnessing of the Laxapana waters to produce hydroelectricity and to supply ‘lakhs of lights’ as the name Laxapana implies. 9 long years later, a project based on the original proposals of Wimalasurendra but

How England Prevented Science Education in Sri Lanka

 ‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 7-13 November 2021 England’s abolition of Queen’s College in Colombo in 1870 was a blow to would-be engineering students in Sri Lanka. In colonized India, engineering schools were producing engineers by the 1850s, yet this was blocked here. The English thus thwarted education in the

Sri Lanka Still Dancing in Lipton’s Circus

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 31 October – 6 November  2021 Sri Lanka’s President, speaking at the COP26 enviro-farce in Glasgow, from where Thomas Lipton and his tea business was unleashed on the world, could’ve pointed to that Scottish city’s landmarks: built up from the English plunder of Sri Lanka:

Germany Delivers Sermons on Freedom to Sri Lanka

 “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 24-30 October 2021 “SWRD is remembered for kicking the English out. You’ll be remembered for bringing them back in!“      This is how LSSP politician Colvin R de Silva shot down a proposal by SLFP leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1974 to send Lal Jayawardena (son

Origins of a Whiter-than-White Civil Service in Sri Lanka

 ‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 17-23 October 2021 There’s jokey anecdote about a visiting delegation from China in the 1980s, who were meeting government officials in Sri Lanka. They were introduced to a ‘Permanent Secretary’ in a powerful Ministry. ‘What in the heavens is a “Permanent Secretary?”’ One Chinese official

Arab & Indian Merchants in the Oceanic Slave Trade

“Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 10-16 October 2021 Merchant capital, when it holds a position of dominance, stands everywhere for a system of robbery, so that it is directly connected with plundering, piracy, kidnapping slaves and colonial conquest. Karl Marx, Capital, Vol 3 Whose private jet landed at Bandaranaike at

Thinking Out of Pandora’s Box: Tax Hideouts & Fiscal Colonialism

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 3-9 October 2021 Ruling classes worldwide can rob their own countries but only if they keep their loot in approved US and English hideouts. This is what the US and English media warned the world this week. The best capitalist hideouts for loot are in

US Grabs Mannar Basin Energy Reserves

“Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 26 September – 02 October 2021 Vultures, dressed in eagles’ feathers, are circling. The odour of distemper, blood and oil and gas swirls thicker.      They come ‘donating’ medicines and fancy second-hand equipment – for which we will eventually pay by buying parts, etc. But

How to Buy a News Editor

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 05-11 September 2021 ‘If you read the media reports, you can realize the reasons… There have been so many reports without asking me.’ – Central Bank Governor WD Lakshman ‘I have been silent all this time while Sri Lankan media has been misquoting me, stating

Vaccine Imperialism: Intellectual Property Rights vs Human Rights

“Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 29 August – 04 September 2021 From a 19th-century English Government Agent’s Diary in the salubrious ‘vacation’ and plantation district of Nuvara Eliya: “Went on to Kurundu Oya. I have met during this circuit – whether by accident or by design I cannot say –

Unilever, IMF, Oxfam & Geneva Games

“Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 22-28 August 2021 • The hoarding of vaccines and the refusal to share their patents is the ‘human rights’ scandal of the century. Capitalism is prolonging the Covid plague to halt capitalist decline, while proclaiming their love for the environment and human rights. The capitalist

The Military, Education, iPhones & White Rock’n’Roll

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 15-21 August 2021 • Search (google) for ‘How many killed in Afghanistan?’ It only gives numbers of US soldiers killed. This is just a reminder of what this internet is all about. There is also no exact data on how many women were

Who Controls Sri Lanka’s Internet?

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 25-31 July 2021 Critics? ee has a plenty. Supporters? A few, yet they too can be variable. Anyways, why not? ee thrives on criticism. ee just started being translated into Sinhala. Much of ee is garnished from the English media. So why focus

Unilever & Attacks on Our Sovereignty

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 18-24 July 2021 • Check out ee’s new Sinhala edition on our blog! • ‘The time for talk is over,’ said a 3wheeler driver to an ee correspondent: when asked for their opinion on the economy. ‘They won’t let the President we elected

Carbon-Conscious Standard Chartered Bank Prevents Making Vaccines

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 04-10 July 2021 The Maharaja Group is a large bulk importer of fertilizer, through their chemical subsidiary Harrison. Maharaja owns Sirasa and News1st TV, which are screaming themselves hoarse, against the chemical fertilizer ban, joining with other media in calling on peasants to

What About An Economic History of Sri Lanka?

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 13-19 June 2021 If you know your history, then you’d know where I’m coming from, Then you wouldn’t have to ask me, who the hell do you think I am? – Bob Marley, Buffalo Soldier This ee’s special focus is on S.B.D. de

Ransoming Vaccines & the Indispensable Minimum of Murder

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 06-12 June 2021 In virtually every colonial territory a certain number had to be killed before the survivors would accept the new prospects. This might even be said to introduce a new concept into the study of political economy – the indispensable minimum

Sinophobia & US Demands for Military Bases in Sri Lanka

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 23-29 May 2021 As ee types this issue, the southwest monsoon forms in the western seas. We’re watching Uber drivers park imported Hero motorcycles, and wearily take off imported helmets and plastic armour. They wipe imported majang from their eyes, and clear their

Big Pharma & Vaccines: Life is a Lottery

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 16-22 May 2021 ‘There are 14 lottery draws per week… They announce producing a millionaire or a billionaire daily. They end up producing a millionaire once in a blue moon and many millions of poor daily.’      This ee recalls the synchronous post-1977

Mafia & Media Hitmen: Multinationals & Import Monopolies

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” e-Con e-News 09-15 May 2021 The Standard Oil Co (now ExxonMobil, Chevron, Caltex, etc.), accounts for our largest import bill. Unilever grabs 10% of everybody’s income here. They’re the leading mafia hitmen of the import monopolies – fuel, fertilizers, consumer goods, medicines, etc. – in

Unilever, their Media Pulp & The Last Buffalo

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com email: econenews@gmail.com ‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 02-08 May 2021 The hit songs headlining the media, the frowning of economists, the dismay of NGOs, etc., emanate from the songbooks of the US State and US Treasury Departments (who control the World Bank and the IMF), and the banks

Media, May Days & Precarity: Say Hello to the Working Class!

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com email: econenews@gmail.com ‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 25 April – 01 May 2021 Unilever & Cancer – Appearing anxious about charges that England’s Unilever promotes and sells cancer-causing products in Sri Lanka, Unilever SL, which sells 300+ products through over 100,000 retailers here, this week convened a ‘scientific

Postponing Independence for Another 50 Years?

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com email: econenews@gmail.com ‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ e-Con e-News 4-10 April 2021 The 50th anniversary of the JVP uprising in April 1971 recalls the horrific consequences of driving people’s hopes up and then dashing them to the ground. Was the uprising an immunization campaign fronted by dedicated yet immature rebels

Monitor UN! Boycott Multinationals!

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com email: econenews@gmail.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” Monitor UN! Boycott Multinationals! e-Con e-News 21-27 March 2021 Social media, news, gossip columns are abuzz with stories about ministers robbing the treasury, trees being cut (FB photos show lorries with logs in Moratuva, as if that town never had a furniture industry

National Media? International Amnesia!

ee archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com email: econenews@gmail.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” National Media? International Amnesia! e-Con e-News 07-13 March 2021 Hush, baby, hush! Why all this fuss? The customs and the ports, the police and the courts, The hills, seas, beaches, sweat exported west, Don’t belong to us!         Yet! The beaches (and rivers

The IMF Orchestra Performs Human Rights in Spring

archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com email: econenews@gmail.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” The IMF Orchestra Performs Human Rights in Spring e-Con e-News 28 February – 06 March 2021 ‘For US Secretary of State Blinken, such horrific level of Covid deaths among his countrymen isn’t a human rights issue. Not a single state functionary in the

The Elephant-Plantation Conflict

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com email: econenews@gmail.com ee archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com ‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’ The Elephant-Plantation Conflict Central Bank Governor Exposes Economists & Media e-Con e-News 21-27 February 2021 ‘The elephant-people conflict is complex, and its history dates back to English colonialism. Most elephants lived in the montane forests, with only a minority living

This Multinational Business of Multicultural Separatism

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com email: econenews@gmail.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” This Multinational Business of Multicultural Separatism e-Con e-News 14-20 February 2021 It’s that time of year again to go see the self-appointed white school principal wagging a cane (made out of ‘debt’ and ‘human rights’) behind their back: • Fidel Castro met Chilean

Unilever & the Corporate Hijacking of the UN

email: econenews@gmail.com, blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” Unilever & the Corporate Hijacking of the UN e-Con e-News 07-13 February 2021 This is the 150th unbroken weekly issue of ee. This ee tracks how the UN went from claiming to represent countries to more overtly representing multinational corporations. • The EU

From Soulbury Independence to Geneva Governance

email: econenews@gmail.com, blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” From Soulbury Independence to Geneva Governance e-Con e-News 31 January – 06 February 2021 “Everything needs to be fixed in the context of international standards, in terms of human rights and labor law too” – League of Multinational Corporations in Sri Lanka Swiss

The UN, Separatism & the Mechanics of Independence

ee archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” The UN, Separatism & the Mechanics of Independence e-Con e-News 17-23 January 2021 Buying off local military officers by foreign agents is examined in an Island story this week (see ee Sovereignty, Deeper scrutiny of ‘intelligence related matters’)      Also, not a week goes

Science Research Ransomed Retaken Hostage

ee archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” Science Research Ransomed Retaken Hostage e-Con e-News 27 December 2020 – 02 January 2021 “We should not use the word privatization” Puckis Petti Packers! Say it fast, and you hear who really controls our economy!      ee is hallucinating: Are the powers listening to

EU Hybrid Wars & Financial Ratings

ee archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” EU Hybrid Wars & Financial Ratings e-Con e-News 15-21 November 2020 Capitalist public media hides the real plans of the capitalists and spread diversions to promote division among people. They choose diversions by the phases of the moon. This week it was forests, before

‘Docile’ Goviyo, Great Bank Robberies & Kapati Thinktanks

ee archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” ‘Docile’ Goviyo, Great Bank Robberies & Kapati Thinktanks e-Con e-News 1-7 November 2020 Fingerprints left at the daylight hijacking of state-owned Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank also expose the hand of thinktanks (such as US-funded Advocata, state-funded Institute of Policy Studies) and former

Banking on the Future Now

ee archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” Banking on the Future Now e-Con e-News 06 – 12 September 2020 • Major Banks Still Foreign-owned after 1948 • DJ Wimalasurendra vs DS Senanayake • World Bank Destroyed Cultivation Committees • WB to Control Local Banks? • Slaver & Opium Trader Buys Virtusa

Cool Marx on Sri Lanka

eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” Cool Marx on Sri Lanka e-Con e-News 05-11 July 2020 “Some countries are more planned against than planning…” • Why Industrialize? • Historic Julie Hathai Mala Keliyai! • 1953 & 1956 • Rice Power “We do not want to industrialize for the sake of power. We

Big Assets, Small Minds

ee archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” Big Assets, Small Minds e-Con e-News 14-20 June 2020 “A true industrial ecosystem like in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, produces the yarn, the cloth, the accessories, the machines and the parts” (see ee Focus, Small-Minded) “Observers have compared the power now exercised by asset managers

When Traders Masquerade as Industrialists: Recalling SBD de Silva

ee archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” When Traders Masquerade as Industrialists: Recalling SBD de Silva e-Con e-News 07-13 June 2020 “Everywhere there is a push to ‘open the economy’. What is meant, of course, is to bring back, as soon as possible, the profit-seeking activities of capitalist firms. It’s an

Bandung Buruvo, Bailouts & Giveaways

Archives: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” Bandung Buruvo, Bailouts & Giveaways e-Con e-News 17-23 May 2020 The media is blaming the capitalist collapse on a virus. This ee shows how the multinational Unilever and its owners have been using Covid-19 to stage-manage a meltdown already in motion. (see ee Economists, Hudson).

Do Yashoda, Pooja, Kumar & Mahela know? – “It’s a War!”

ee archive: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” Do Yashoda, Pooja, Kumar & Mahela know? – “It’s a War!” e-Con e-News 10-16 May 2020 ee is rather curious about the South African government’s request to erect a statue of Nelson Mandela here as a model of freedom for Sri Lanka. This ee

Is the Orgy of the Oligarchs Over Yet?

Please note the new address of our ee blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” “If you know your history, then you’ll know where I’m coming from, Then you wouldn’t have to ask me, who the hell do you think I am?” – BM & W Is the Orgy of the Oligarchs

Steel is Rice & Rice is Steel

Please note the new address of our blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com “Before you study the economics, study the economists!” Steel is Rice & Rice is Steel e-Con e-News 29 March – 04 April 2020 “There are decades where nothing happens & weeks where decades happen…” (Guess who gave us this perfect epigram for these times? – see