Paul Keating
The Sydney Morning Herald’s prominent series of provocations, urging Australia into a war with China, concluded its third instalment today.
At Item 20 of its presentation, apart from its advocacy of the reintroduction of compulsory national service, it wantonly urges that Australia should further consider ‘basing US long-range missiles armed with nuclear weapons on Australian territory’ and goes on to say ‘if the US were interested in doing so’.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, australian media, chauvinism, disparagement, foreign policy, landscape wondrous, military strategy, Pacific Ocean politics, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, taking the piss, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
One “Mr Z” has sent me the news items below and added his thoughts at the end
A = Ruan Zongze: “China seeks peace in Ukraine crisis,” The Weekend Australian, 1 March 2023
On February 24, as the full escalation of the Ukraine crisis reached its one-year mark, were leased China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis. Overall, the response of the international community toward the document is positive.
Many countries welcome and support the document, acknowledging China’s constructive role. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, says: “The plan put forward by the Chinese government is an important contribution.” However, some Western countries suspect China’s position and purpose, claiming China can’t be an “honest co-ordinator” due to its close relations with Russia.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, australian media, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, foreign policy, historical interpretation, Pacific Ocean politics, politIcal discourse, power politics, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, Ukraine & Its Ramifications, war reportage, world events & processes
X … [who, alas, has to protect himself from potential ‘hits’ from American and Aussie agencies] …. NB: the highlighting emphasis is my imposition
The Western template for stories on so-called predatory practices by China was crafted some years ago by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US, UK and Australian think tanks. Sarvanandan is simply rehashing the same thing.
His claim to be offering a “factual cum reality check” is another misleading fact-reality check.
Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, australian media, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, conspiracies, debt restructuring, disparagement, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF as monster, island economy, legal issues, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, Ukraine & Its Ramifications, world events & processes
Muttukrishna Sarvanandan,** whose preferred title reads thus: “Chinese Lending to Sri Lanka: A Factual cum “Reality” Check. A Rejoinder to Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala”
Abstract: This is a response to the Briefing Paper entitled Evolution of Chinese Lending to Sri Lanka since the mid-2000s – Separating Myth from Reality, written by Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala published by the China-Africa Research Initiative of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the John Hopkins University, USA. This response identifies a few factual errors (both quantitative and qualitative) and provides alternative data, and contests the interpretations of the data and conclusion drawn therefrom by Moramudali and Panduwawala by providing concrete examples to the contrary. We characterise Chinese lending to Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2022 as quasi-predatory lending, having defined the characteristics of predatory lending………….Keywords – China, Hambantota Port, Predatory Lending, Sovereign Default, Sri Lanka
Introduction: This is a response to a Briefing Paper (No.8 dated November 2022) written by Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala entitled Evolution of Chinese Lending to Sri Lanka since the mid-2000s – Separating Myth from Reality published by the China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the John Hopkins University (JHU) in the United States of America (USA).
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, China and Chinese influences, debt restructuring, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, transport and communications, trauma, welfare & philanthophy, world affairs
Abstract: Sri Lanka’s civil war lasted almost 26 years and cost tens of thousands of lives. Since the end of the war in 2009, several thousand asylum seekers from Sri Lanka have sought protection in Australia, but both Labor and Liberal/National Coalition governments have taken a restrictive approach to their arrival and have expressed support for the Sri Lankan government. This article explores Australia’s response to the protection needs of Sri Lankans during an earlier era, at the outbreak of the war in 1983, when a Labor government processed Tamils ‘in-country’ under Australia’s Special Humanitarian Program.
Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, authoritarian regimes, charitable outreach, demography, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, refugees, rehabilitation, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, transport and communications, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes
Item in Newsfirst: “Experts say only debt cancellation offers Sri Lanka a chance of recovery”
DEBT JUSTICE speaks out …….
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, debt restructuring, disparagement, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF as monster, island economy, meditations, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, trauma, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader and Colombo District MP, Mano Ganesan received a telephone call from Ranil Wickremesinghe on 19 July 2022
It was a day before the Presidential election where the MPs were scheduled to vote and elect a new executive President to fill the vacancy created by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was the then Prime Minister and acting as the interim President, was a candidate for the Presidential election.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, debt restructuring, democratic measures, devolution, economic processes, electoral structures, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, legal issues, life stories, parliamentary elections, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes
China’s President Xi Jinping, left, waves as he walks with then Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa upon arrival at the airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sept. 16, 2014 ….. Credit: AP Photo/Eranga JayawardenaFiled under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, debt restructuring, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, world events & processes
Uditha Devapriya, in The Island, 9 December 2022, where the title runs thus: “Some reflections on nationalism, extremism, and warfare”
“Ethnonationalism was not a chance detour in European history: it corresponds to some enduring propensities of the human spirit that are heightened by the process of modern state creation. It is a crucial source of both solidarity and enmity, and in one form or another, it will remain for many generations to come. One can only profit from facing it directly.” …. Jerry Muller, “Us and Them: The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism”, Foreign Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations), March 2008 The first Human Security Report, published by the Human Security Centre, released in 2005, and subtitled “War and Peace in the 21st century”, strikes a dissonant chord in a world still reeling from the horrors of the September 11 attacks. Noting a decline in armed warfare since the end of the Cold War, its authors dismiss worries of increasing conflict in a section tellingly titled “Myths and misunderstandings.”
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, economic processes, European history, foreign policy, historical interpretation, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, religious nationalism, security, self-reflexivity, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
The Debate in the House of Lords in the UK on “The Truth and Recpncilaition Commission in Sri Lanka”
A topical question on Sri Lanka was raised by Conservative peer Lord Daniel Moylan in the House of Lords on Thursday, December 1st which was followed by additional supplementary questions that were answered by Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia & the UN).
Filed under accountability, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, economic processes, foreign policy, historical interpretation, human rights, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
thuppahi
