July 25, 2022 · 2:30 am

Australia’s Mindless Slide towards War with China signalled by Hugh White

Hugh White, whose title in Quarterly Essay is  “Sleepwalk to War: Australia’s Unthinking Alliance with America”

Competing with China for primacy in East Asia is by far the most serious strategic commitment America has undertaken since the Cold War. And yet Washington has launched into it with no clear idea of what would count as winning, how it could be won, how much it will cost and why winning really matters. This would seem almost unbelievably foolish and irresponsible if it did not sound so familiar. This is what happened when Washington launched America into Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s, and indeed into Vietnam in the 1960s.

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July 25, 2022 · 1:53 am

The Elephant in the Room: Geopolitics and the ‘Great Reset’ in Sri Lanka

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, in Countercurrents

“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.

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July 24, 2022 · 1:21 am

Rajiva Wijesinha on the Riots of July 1983

Rajiva Wijesinha,  being Chapter 7, entitled “The Riots of 1983,” in his book JR Jayewardene’s Racism, Cold War Posturing and the Indian Debacle, …. pubd in 2021 by Godage & Co 

 

The initial outbreak

The sixth anniversary of the election of 1977 fell on July 22nd. JR summoned his conference for the week previous to that. But not one single opposition party turned up, only his own UNP and Thondaman’s CWC. The absence of the others made it clear that no one was willing to continue playing a game in which the President not only held ail the cards, but also changed the rules as and when he required.

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July 23, 2022 · 9:26 pm

In Support of Sri Lanka: The House of Lords in Britain

Events in the HOUSE OF LORDS

 Urgent Question asked by Lord Moylan

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to give urgent material assistance to Sri Lanka to alleviate the economic crisis in that country.
 The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon) (Con):
My Lords, we are closely monitoring the humanitarian and economic situation in Sri Lanka. The United Kingdom provides assistance to organisations in both these areas in Sri Lanka, including through the Red Cross and the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund; the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF; the World Bank; and the Asian Development Bank. We have offered to support a key role in the UN on humanitarian co-ordination. This is in addition to our existing £11.3 million CSSF programme funding focused on addressing the legacy of conflict.

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July 23, 2022 · 8:45 pm

An Expat’s Bitter Interpretation of the Progress from Ceylon in 1948 … till Today

Charles Seevali Abeysekera ++

Sri Lanka is officially bankrupt and a failed state in all but name. How did a country of 22 million people with a level of literacy on par with most of the developed world end up in such a dire position where the state coffers did not have the measly sum of 20 million dollars to purchase fuel to keep the country functioning beyond the next working day?

Whilst the vast majority of the population have concluded that the blame for this economic armageddon is due to the gluttony of corruption and greed, instigated and enabled by the Rajapaksa family , its acolytes and sycophantic nodding dogs, my own assessment is different.

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July 23, 2022 · 12:37 pm

Ranil Wickremesinghe in His True Colours

Dr Dayan Jayatilleka in The Island, 23 July 2022, where the title reads “The real Ranil report and Aragalaya 3.0″

Ranil Wickremesinghe is a leader without any popular vote; a ruler without a mandate; a ruler without legitimacy. And yet he seeks to crush the citizens using military and police force. Aragalaya 3.0 must be born as the Resistance against Ranil’s rule and can only end with his political retrenchment.

Actions speak louder than words, as the old saying goes. The actions came from Ranil. Speech is also an action. He sounded belligerent for days. After he was elected by the Rajapaksa majority in Parliament as the leader of this country, and he stopped along the way to thank the military and Police, he was heard to say something disparaging about the Aragalaya. At the Hunupitiya Gangarama Temple, he needlessly criticised the Aragalaya. After he swore in yesterday, he went to the Ministry of Defence where he was greeted by Gota’s closest comrade in arms, (retd) General Kamal Gunaratna, the Secretary/Defence.

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July 22, 2022 · 5:20 pm

Gotabaya’s Getaway: His Devious Routes amidst Many Pressures

Kapila Punchihewa, in Mawbima, July 22 2022, where the title runs thus:  “The story of the running man Gotabaya unfolded. Exclusive”

  • President Pleads for safety with Sajith whom he sidelined a few weeks ago.
    ⦁ All powerful President is shaken and runs for safety from place to place. 18 million for a luxury hotel in Malé 
    ⦁ Indian USA and European Nations show the “cold shoulder’.
  • No place to go at home or the world

President Gotabaya Rajapakse was elected with 69,lacks of the votes. He was only in office for 969 days before abruptly leaving the country last Monday afternoon, amidst massive public opposition he had to face. No one knew until that fateful Monday afternoon that he hAD left the country. Nobody even knew where the president was.

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July 22, 2022 · 3:46 pm

IMF’s Position on Sri Lankan Crisis on 17th July 2022

Dilini Madushanki, in Ceylon Today, 17 July 2022, with this title  “Sri Lanka a ‘warning sign’ for countries with high debt levels and limited policy space — IMF,”

Claiming Sri Lanka is a ‘warning sign’ for countries with high debt levels, IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva warned officials from the Group of 20 major economies to take urgent action to combat inflation, warning that the “exceptionally uncertain” global economic outlook could turn worse if higher prices persisted.

Georgieva, speaking at a G20 finance officials meeting in Indonesia, said “I wish the global economic outlook was as bright as the sky in Bali, but unfortunately, it is not. The outlook has darkened significantly, and uncertainty is exceptionally high. Downside risks about which the IMF had previously warned have now materialized.” 

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July 22, 2022 · 1:45 pm

The ISLAND Editorial …. Before the Military Assault at Galle Face Green

Editorial in THE ISLAND, 22 July 2022  …… before the Storming of the ARAGALAYA camp on Galle Face Green by security forses on that day viz TODAY 22 July 2022

TITLE = “An honourable defeat”

Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the President yesterday. Amidst a host of paeans to him, we believe that a word about the unsuccessful candidates in Wednesday’s contest in Parliament is in order. Dissident SLPP MP Dullas Alahapperuma, who was expected to be a dark horse, lost Wednesday’s vote in the House, but he certainly won the hearts of all Sri Lankans who desire an early end to the corrupt Rajapaksa rule, which has become a curse to all citizens save those who are benefiting therefrom. His was an honourable defeat. A beleaguered regime fighting for survival strikes back ferociously and is guided by Rafferty’s rules. Alahapperuma’s courageous attempt to put the brakes on the Rajapaksa juggernaut is to be commended.

Crowds at Galle Face

   This photo was presented on NEWS RADIO with article by Hazari Mohamed on Day 17 of the Protest

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July 22, 2022 · 12:54 am

Only in Sri Lanka!!! Presidential Self-Deprecation

 

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