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.
The economic proxy war between the rising and fading Superpowers is escalating and expanding in the “Asian 21st Century.’ This was apparent in an (un)diplomatic exchange between Chinese and United States officials over the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) debt restructuring delays in Sri Lanka which was the venue of the recent CARAT/MAREX war games. These happened in the run up to the country’s February 4 commemoration of 75 years of ‘Lost Independence, Democracy and economic sovereignty’ as a commentator put it.
Argentina has constantly been trapped over two centuries in unpayable external debt owed to foreign imperial powers. This affects the everyday life of everyone: inflation, salaries, employment, public services, elections. Here is a brief history of the deuda.
Asoka Bandarage, in Asia Times,2 December 2022, where the title reads thus: “IMF forcing privatization, land and resource grab on Sri Lanka” …
On September 1, debt-trapped Sri Lanka reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a 48-month extended fund facility of US$2.9 billion, which hardly covers the country’s outstanding debt, nor its immediate survival needs.
Outgoing president Gotabaya Rajapaksa (right) greets Ranil Wickremesinghe during the latter’s oath-taking ceremony as the new leader in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in July 2022. Photo: Sri Lankan President’s Office
Video Presentation in DEMOCRACY NOW …. with this title “Economist Jayati Ghosh: Global Debt Crisis Is Perfect Storm of Unrest, Economic Disaster, Starvation”
We look at the looming possibility of a global recession amid rising inflation, the pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine. World financial institutions and wealthier countries should take stronger actions such as writing off debts that are crippling developing nations, says Jayati Ghosh, economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “This is just completely lack of political will. It’s not because we don’t know what to do.” Her piece in The Guardian is headlined “There is a global debt crisis coming — and it won’t stop at Sri Lanka,” and she also discusses other countries on the brink of an economic collapse, including Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Panama and Argentina. Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at https://democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Support independent media: https://democracynow.org/donate Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
“But to watch cricket, there has to be a country left for us to watch it in, no?” A fan at the Galle Test Match that ended with an innings victory for Sri Lanka. July 11, 2022
Spirits were high on July 11 when the Sri Lankan cricket team beat the visiting Aussies by an innings even though the country was in its worst economic crisis ever, due to a lack of Dollars to buy fuel caused by an international Sovereign Bond (ISB), debt trap and Staged Default.
“But to watch cricket, there has to be a country left for us to watch it in, no?”A fan at the Galle Test Match that ended with an innings victory for Sri Lanka. July 11, 2022.
Spirits were high on July 11 when the Sri Lankan cricket team beat the visiting Aussies by an innings even though the country was in its worst economic crisis ever due to a lack of Dollars to buy fuel caused by an International Sovereign Bond (ISB), debt trap and Staged Default.
The cricket victory followed a magical weekend in which the Aragalaya, or peoples’ struggle, exceeded all expectations, staging multiple coups to peacefully claim both the Presidential Palace and the Prime Minister’s official residence. Massive waves of protestors unseated the island’s President and PM without a single person killed in the gunfire. Later the protestors cooled off in the Presidential pool and had impromptu concerts celebrating what appeared to be a successful regime change operation.
Allow me please to be as brief as possible in responding to the Positions taken by Fair Dinkum” and Thuppahi.
Falsehood 1. As genuine Sri Lankans, we should not want to be colonized by anyone of the big powers, be it US, China and or for that matter, Western Europe or India.
Falsehood 2. As such, based on 1, being a fifth column of Russia becomes irrelevant. Therefore, no need for any pipe !!
Orcadian’s NOTES in response to Benjamin Norton’s Revelatory Essay on the Sources of Debt faced by Sri Lanka
A =“NORTON’S article needs to be tattooed on the brains of every mindless Western journalist, every Western academic, everyone at the BBC, over the brains of Mike Pompeo, over Abe’s tombstone, over Morrison and Turnbull’s brain and over the Sri Lankans who repeatedly lie or fail to acknowledge that the vast majority of debt Sri Lanka owes is to the West, not to China. There was NEVER a China debt trap. That was a false narrative propagated by Western interests to disguise the true picture about the vast US and Western debt trap.”
