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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July 22, 2022 · 12:31 am

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank under the Spotlight

Chandrasena Maliyadde, in Daily Ft, 20 July 2022, with this title “Central Bank, its independence and us”

An expert panel discussion on ‘Surviving the Current Economic Crisis: Ex-Central Bankers in Dialogue’ was held in early June. Some speakers stressed that the need of the hour is an independent Central Bank (CBSL). But its relevance or impact on surviving the current economic crisis was not spelt out. Maybe we ignorant laymen could not understand. Perhaps independence may be for the survival of the Central Bank and its officers who spend time in aiconditioned rooms away from the crisis.

Former Central Bank Governors: Nandalal Weerasinghe, Ajith Cabraal &  WD Lakshman

 

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July 21, 2022 · 5:52 pm

The American & IMF Bear in Sri Lanka’s Drawing Room

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, in InDepthNow,  July 2022 ….. https://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/opinion/5466-the-elephant-in-the-room-geopolitics-and-the-great-reset-in-sri-lanka …. where the title is “The  Elephant in the Room: …”

“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.

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July 21, 2022 · 2:11 pm

An Unimaginable Outcome from the ARAGALA Revolt: Ranil As President

Malinda Seneviratne, in his web column https://malindawords.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-aragalaya-postscript.html

Ranil Wickremesinghe is no longer president in an acting capacity. He is the president, period. Did someone say ‘I don’t know whether to laugh or cry?’ I am pretty sure someone did. Did someone say, ’who wudda thunk?’ Well, if two or three years ago, if anyone suggested that in July 2023 Ranil Wickremesinghe would be the president of this country, there would have been laughter and tears, if at all, would have been of mirth.

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July 21, 2022 · 1:32 pm

Was Sri Lanka an Agricultural Nation in Ancient Times?

Vinod Moonesinghe, in an original essay bearing the title  “Agricultural nation, a myth?” ……… … now reproduced with a different title and with highlIghting imposed by The Editor, ThuppaHI

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