Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned economics professor, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development…. (https://www.jeffsachs.org/).
Category Archives: export issues
Big Power Manoeuvres in and around Sri Lanka: The Bandarage Essay
Mr C .… an orignal piece for Thuppahi** … with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi
I found Asoka Bandarage’s essay was okay, but it suffers from a few argumentative flaws I will discuss in this article. The writer has made many claims. Some of these I agree with. Her main argument comes towards the end of the article which may be summarized as follows: Sri Lanka must avoid being exploited by foreign powers or caught up in geopolitical adventures played out between India, China and the US – a goal which it can achieve by creating food and energy security for itself by exploiting natural resources, and she mentions an area of Sri Lanka containing oil and gas resources. We know Sri Lanka is a fertile land and can easily sustain rice and food crops, if managed properly.
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Neo-Colonial Modalities Overwhelming Sri Lanka
Asoka Bandarage, in The Island, 16 May 2022, with this title “Sri Lanka: Debt crisis, neocolonialism and geopolitical rivalry” …. with highlighting in blue being impositions from The Editor, Thuppahi
Sri Lanka is in the throes of an unprecedented economic crisis. Faced with a shortage of foreign exchange and defaulting on its foreign debt repayment, the country is unable to pay for its food, fuel, medicine, and other basic necessities. Notwithstanding the austerities that would be entailed, a bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been accepted as the only way out of the dire economic situation.Opposition political parties, and citizens across the country, blame the Rajapaksa government’s widespread corruption and mismanagement for the crisis, and demand that the President and the Parliament resign. The Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa did so on 09 May 2022. However, the protesters at Galle Face Green, and elsewhere, have not been able to put forward an alternative leadership or a viable road map for the future. The country remains mired in confusion, chaos and a highly volatile political impasse.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, export issues, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
LANKA can de-dollarize? Beyond Bananas, Beaches, Bases and Dependent Development
Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake
Necessity is the mother of invention: Protests are mounting by people from all walks of life in all parts of Sri Lanka against the soaring cost of living, food and fuel shortages, black outs, lockdowns, forced Covid injections, and the sale of national assets by the ruling dual US citizen Rajapakse led regime in Colombo.
Filed under accountability, export issues, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, modernity & modernization, patriotism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, trauma, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
GLOBAL TIMES Features Sri Lanka’s Perilous Situation
Fair Dinkum’s Prefatory Comment, 14 April 2022
A reminder of the geopolitics that is infecting Sri Lanka to the detriment of its national interests. It is disappointing that the US and India are seizing on the crisis in Sri Lanka to blame China for Sri Lanka’s economic problems when everyone knows that is not the reason. There is no such thing as a China debt trap. China accounts for 10% of Sri Lanka’s debt. The remaining 90% is owed to Japan, India, the US and other Western entities, but no one talks about the debt owed to Japan, India or the US as a debt trap.
SEE ………GT Voice: Sri Lanka crisis shows risk of US sanctions to developing nations – Global Times……………..
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202204/1259247.shtml
People purchase essential food items as the government imposed travel restrictions and two-week lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus in Colombo on May 25, 2021. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP)
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Sri Lanka’s Financial Crisis
Truthseeker
Sri Lanka’s Exposure to ISBs to 2030 (International Sovereign Bonds)
This table of International Sovereign Bonds (ISBs) taken shows facts and figures to put some perspective and truth into the economic crisis situation in Sri Lanka.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, economic processes, education, export issues, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, legal issues, life stories, patriotism, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
USA’s Dollar Weaponry did not Deter Russia from Attacking Ukraine
This article in the ATLANTIC COUNCIL web site on 31 January 2022 pinpointed one relam of power wielded by USA and indicated that it would induce Putin and Russia NOT to attack Ukraine. The fallacy of this prediction does not alter the significance of the Argument about US America’s monetary clout within this our world –– Editor,Thuppahi
George Pearkes
The invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces appears increasingly likely. Over one hundred thousand Russian troops are massed at the border of neighboring Ukraine, there are allegations of cyber attacks and false flag operations, and reports Russia is withdrawing diplomatic staff. America has responded by threatening Russia with an unconventional weapon: the dollar. However, deploying the dollar may actually undermine its power, and hasten its departure from the US arsenal.
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John Landers’ Concerns re Australia’s Policy towards China
“Citizens Insight” hosts Interview with John Lander conducted by Robert Borwick ……………………….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4JWcv2FQAg
AUSTRALIAN CITIZENS’ PARTY = Veteran Australian diplomat speaks out against war danger Interview with John Lander, Former Deputy Ambassador to China (1974-76), Former Ambassador to Iran (1985–87) Hosted by Robert Barwick, Research Director of the Australian Citizens Party Contact the Australian Citizens Party campaigns: PHONE: 1800 636 432 EMAIL: info@citizensparty.org.au WEB: http://www.citizensparty.org.au Contact John Lander: voicealive@aol.com.
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China Rejects Sri Lanka’s Appeal
NDTV … ……….. 22 March 2022
China refused to assist Sri Lanka which appealed to reschedule its huge Chinese debt burden in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak that has adversely affected the tourism sector, said a media report. Colombo appealed if a restructuring of the debt could be arranged to mitigate the economic crisis that had arisen in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a meeting with Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi sought the assistance of Beijing in the face of the deepening foreign exchange crisis of Sri Lanka and spiralling external debt.
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IMF Review of Sri Lanka’s Economic Situation NOW
IMF Executive Board Concludes 2021 Article IV Consultation with Sri Lanka, 2 March 2022 …………….. https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/03/02/pr2254-sri-lanka-imf-executive-board-concludes-2021-article-iv-consultation-with-sri-lanka
Washington, DC: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation [1] with Sri Lanka on February 25, 2022.
Sri Lanka has been hit hard by COVID-19. On the eve of the pandemic, the country was highly vulnerable to external shocks owing to inadequate external buffers and high risks to public debt sustainability, exacerbated by the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in 2019 and major policy changes including large tax cuts at late 2019. Real GDP contracted by 3.6 percent in 2020, due to a loss of tourism receipts and necessary lockdown measures. Sri Lanka lost access to international sovereign bond market at the onset of the pandemic.
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 22: In this handout provided by the IMF, IMFC members pose for a photograph April 22, 2017 at the IMF Headquarters in Washington, DC. The IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings are being held in Washington this week. (Photo by Stephen Jaffe/IMF via Getty Images)
