Dasatha News

Harsha de Silva

News Center

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.

The life is like a Russian roulette

Dangerous and unpredictable
It is a game of chance that could end deadly
Often taking foolhardy risks
It’s highly irresponsible
Morally indefensible
But the end is guaranteed
You cannot escape
With each click of the gun
Your fears intensify
If you are religious
Behold to your god
If you are an atheist
Count on fatalism 
Anyhow your destiny is sealed
The odds are stacked against you
Though its hard , it’s easy to play
You spin the cylinder of a revolver
With one bullet and points the gun at your head
Then pull the trigger
There is only one bullet
In one of the six cylinder slots of the revolver
You can count on probability
The cylinder is spun to randomize the position of the bullet
Your anxiety and hesitation are high
If the chamber with the bullet is fired
You are history
If you get a silver bullet
Consider you are lucky
You can have a comfortable instant death
If the revolver is loaded with an explosive bullet
People can see your brain matter on the floor

Ruwan M JayatungeSee more; 

https://transyl2014.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-life-is-like-russian-roulette.html

https://transyl2014.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-life-is-like-russian-roulette.html

LankaPropertyWeb

Sri Lanka’s leading online real estate platform, LankaPropertyWeb, has reached a significant milestone, closing the year 2024 with two esteemed international recognitions that underscore its leadership in the industry.

LankaPropertyWeb was named the Winner of the Luxury Lifestyle Awards in the category of Best Luxury Property Portal in Sri Lanka 2024”. The Luxury Lifestyle Awards, based in the UK, is a prestigious global event that recognizes the best luxury brands across various industries worldwide. This award highlights LankaPropertyWeb’s exceptional innovation, quality, and commitment to providing an outstanding experience for luxury real estate buyers and sellers, cementing its position as the preferred platform for discerning clients.

In addition to this honor, LankaPropertyWeb was awarded the title of Leading Online Real Estate Platform, Sri Lanka 2024” by Global Brands Magazine. Global Brands Magazine is a renowned platform that provides insights and news related to prominent brands across the globe, recognizing excellence in branding and industry innovation. This prestigious accolade highlights LankaPropertyWeb’s outstanding achievements in innovation, quality service, branding, and customer experience, further solidifying its position as a leader in Sri Lanka’s real estate sector.

The Global Brands Real Estate Awards, now in their 12th edition, are renowned for their rigorous evaluation process, conducted by an independent research team. This year, the award recognized LankaPropertyWeb for its transformative impact on the Sri Lankan real estate market, providing robust digital solutions that have revolutionized property advertising in the country.

Speaking about the recognition, Daham Gunaratna, the Managing Director of LankaPropertyWeb, stated: “These awards are a testament to our commitment to excellence and innovation. Our mission has always been to empower the real estate industry with digital solutions that make buying, selling, and renting properties seamless. Being recognized globally strengthens our resolve to continue providing unmatched value to our users and partners.”

LankaPropertyWeb has proudly served the Sri Lankan real estate industry for over 17 years and remains a leader in real estate digitization in the country. Along with its recent awards, the platform has received several honors, including Best Website in the Professional Services Category (SLT Zero One Awards, 2016/17) and Best Digital Integrated Campaign (SLT Zero One Awards, 2017/18 and 2018/19). The SLT Zero One Awards celebrate excellence in digital and technological innovation across industries, highlighting exceptional achievements in website development, digital campaigns, and digital services. These recognitions underscore the platform’s continued innovation in transforming property

For more information about LankaPropertyWeb and its award-winning services, visit www.lankapropertyweb.com.

Prof. Hudson McLean

Musk Fusks” the Best British friend of Donald Trump! 

Nigel Farage backed Donald Trump during his Toughest Times!

Why is this Story Important to Sri Lanka?

**Just because the Person is Wealthy, does not mean he has Loyalty & Gratitude!**

Now Trump has a Huge Tusky Musk-problem!

But Nigel Farage will Bounce Back the British Way!

Yes. That was coming. Now Trump has a big problem, bigger than Flags on Half-mast!

Trump has bitten more than he could Chew with Musk!

Will or Can Trump fire Musk?

YES!! He is still the POTUS!

Next – Watch the Russia syndrome!1

Musk must now double his security detail!

Musk is the Real Bull in a China Shop!

This might also be the Beginning of the  End of Musk!

Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg  must be tickling themselves silly!  

The Cage Fight is On!  Between Trump & Musk!

Trump can destroy Musk in more than in one way!

Already BYD is overtaking Tesla in China & beyond!. 

BYD enjoys significant lead in global EV market

BYD enjoys significant lead in global EV market

With 100% Tax and increase on China prodúcts, then giving NASA & Bezos more support Trump can corner Musk. 

And stop grants to EV in USA.

Farage was careful with his words to Musk. 

Which was the “Cool British” style!

As long as Musk hangs around in Mar a Lago and them gets an office at the White House. 

Or Will He?

Trump might drop his Teetotaller bit and hit-the-bottle!

Forget Diet Coke —- Hit  Jim Beam and Jack Daniel’

Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say!
The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.

Please visit -: http://www.lankaweb.com/

CARBON TV

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

සහල් මාෆියාවේ නායකයා ඇමති වසන්ත සමරසිංහ යයි පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමය නායක නීතිඥ උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා පවසයි.

ඒ මහතා මේ බව සදහන් කර සිටියේ එම පක්ෂ මූලස්ථානයේ පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමිනි.

පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමය නායකයා එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් මෙසේ අදහස් දැක්වීය.

ජනාධිපතිතුමා මේසයට ගහලා නාඩු කිලෝවක උපරිම මිල රුපියල් 230ට නියම කළත් ඊයේ වෙළඳපොලේ නාඩු කිලෝවක් අපි ගත්තේ රුපියල් 240ට. පසුගිය කන්නය කපන විට නාඩු කිලෝවක මිල රු170/-යි. එතකොට වී මිල දී ගත්තෙත් රුපියල් පහක වත් ලාභයක් තබා ගෙන විකුණන්නයි. එහෙම බලන විට රු230/- විකිණෙන විට මෝල්හිමියන්ට රු65/-ක ලාභයක් තිබෙනවා. එහෙම නම් ආණ්ඩුව සහල් ආනයනයෙන් බලාපොරොත්තු විය යුත්තේ සහල් මිල රු230/- සිට 170/- දක්වා පහත හෙලීමයි.

අතීතයේ දී ආණ්ඩු සහල් ආනයනය කරලා අඩු මිලට වෙළඳපොලට හඳුන්වා දීමෙන් තමයි මෝල්හිමියන් මට්ටු කරලා සහල් මිල පහත දැම්මේ. නමුත් මේ ආණ්ඩුව මොකද කලේ? ආනයනිත සහල් මත රු65/-ක බද්දක් දාලා ආනයනිත සහල් මිල දේශීය සහල් මිලට සමාන කලා. ඒකෙන් මේ අසාධාරණ සහල් මිල දිගින් දිගටම පවත්වා ගෙන යෑමට ආණ්ඩුවත් දායක වුණා.

රු65/- බද්දක් වෙනුවට රු45/- බද්දක් පැනෙව්වා නම් ආනයනිත සහල් කිලෝවක් රු210/-ට විකුණන්න පුළුවන් වෙනවා. ආනයනිත සහල් රු210/- ට වෙළඳපොලේ තිබිය දී තමන්ගේ ගැනුම්කරුවා රැක ගන්න නම් දේශීය සහල් ද රු 210/-ට හෝ ඒ ආසන්න මිලකට විකුණන්න වෙනවා. සහල් මිල රු210/-ට ආවාම ඊ ලඟ සහල් තොගයට අය කරන බද්ද රු 15/- දක්වා අඩු කරනවා. එතකොට සහල් මිල රු180/- දක්වා අඩු වෙනවා.

ජනතාවට බත් කන්න පුළුවන් මිලකට සහල් මිල පහත වැටෙනවා. අද සහල් මිල පහත වැටීමට තිබෙන ලොකුම බාධාව තමයි සහල් මත අය කරන රු65/- බද්ද. ඒ නිසා සහල් මාෆියාවේ නායකයා වෙන කවුරුවත් නොවේ වෙළඳ ඇමති වසන්ත සමරසිංහ මැතිතුමාය කියන එක බය නැතිව කියන්න පුළුවන්.

– Media unit

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

වැඩ බැරි දේශපාලඥයන්ගේ සහ රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ වැරදි අඩුපාඩු වහගන්න තමන් වැනි ස්වොත්සාහයෙන් ගොඩනැගුනු මිනිසුන් එදා සිටම නොයෙකුත් කතා අහගෙන ඇතැයි අරලිය සහල් ව්‍යාපාරයේ අධිපති ප්‍රකට ව්‍යාපාරික ඩඩ්ලි සිරිසේන මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

තම සමාජ ජාති ගිණුමේ සටහනක් තබමින් ඒ මහතා මෙම අදහස් පළ කර තිබේ.

එදා ඉඳන්ම වැඩ බැරි දේශපාලඥයන්ගෙ සහ රාජ්‍ය නිළධාරීන්ගෙ වැරදි අඩුපාඩු වහගන්න අපි වගේ ස්වෝත්සාහයෙන් ගොඩනැඟුණු මිනිස්සු නොයෙකුත් විදියෙ කතා අහගත්තා. ලෝකෙන්ම ලොකුම වී සයිලෝ ගබඩා පහසුකම තියන වී මෝල රටට දායාද කරලත්, ‘මාෆියාකාරයා’ කියන ලේබල් එක අලවගෙන, රට වෙනුවෙන් වැඩ කරන එකේ තෘප්තිය මම නොඅඩුවම වින්දා.

ඒත්, මම අද වගේම හෙටටත් රට වෙනුවෙන් වැඩ කරනවා. රට වෙනුවෙන් ආයෝජනය කරනවා. මොකද මම සහ මගේ පුත් දිමිත්‍ර ඇතුලු කණ්ඩායමට මේ රටට දෙයක් කරන්න ඕන කියන අවංක උණ තවමත් තියනවා”

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

රජය විසින් ආරම්භ කර ඇති ක්ලීන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා වැඩසටහන යටතේ පාරේ කොස් විකුණන්න බැරි බවට පසුගිය සතියේ තම පුවත්පත විසින් පළ කළ වාර්තාවේ අකුරක් කොමාවක් නෑර සියල්ල සත්‍ය බව එම පුවත්පත සටහන් කරයි.

අද දින එම පුවත්පතේ විශේෂ කර්තෘ සටහනක් තබමින් ඔවුන් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ මෙම වාර්තාවේ සියල්ල සනාථ කිරීම සඳහා අදාල හඬපත වීඩියෝ සාක්ෂි පවා තමන් සතුව ඇති බවයි.

එමෙන්ම ජනමාධ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය නලින්ද ජයතිස්ස මහතා පුවත්පතට චෝදනා කරමින් පවත්වන ලද මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡාවෙන් පසු අදාළ වාර්තා වීඩියෝ පට ආදිය ලබා දීමට උත්සාහ කළත් දුරකථන ප්‍රතිචාර නොදුන් බවද එම සටහන කියා සිටී.

අදාළ සම්පූර්ණ කතෘ සටහන මෙසේය.

පුවත සත්‍යයි

කර්තෘ සටහන

‘ක්ලීන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා යටතේ පාරේ කොස් විකුණන්න බැහැ’ යනුවෙන් පළ වූ පුවත සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජනමාධ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය නලින්ද ජයතිස්ස විශේෂ මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡාවක් පවත්වා එය සම්පූර්ණ අසත්‍යයක් බවත් එය ද්වේශ සහගතව ‘ක්ලීන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා’ වැඩසටහනට බාධා පැමිණවීමට පළකළ එකක් බවටත් චෝදනා කරමින් පත්තරයත්, ආයතනයත්, හිමිකාරිත්වයත් දැඩි සේ විවේචනය කළේය.

මේ මොහොතේ පළමුවෙන් එම පුවත සම්බන්ධයෙන් අප ක්‍රියා කළ ආකාරය පැහැදිලි කර දිය යුතුය.

පනාගොඩ නගරයේ පදික වේදිකාවේ වෙළෙඳාමේ යෙදෙන කොස් කපන්නකු ඇතුළු පිරිසක් අතුරුගිරිය පොලිසිය විසින් ‘ක්ලීන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා’ වැඩසටහන යටතේ ඉවත් කරන්නට යන බවට වාර්තා වූ වහාම අප කර්තෘ මාණ්ඩලිකයා ඒ ගැන සම්පූර්ණ වාර්තාවක් අදාළ වෙළෙන්දාගෙන් ලබාගත්තේය. එම වාර්තාව ලියා ගැනීමට සීමා නොවූ අතර, පටිගත කර ගැනීමටද අප කර්තෘ මාණ්ඩලිකයා කටයුතු කළේය. ඒ වන විටත් ඔවුන්ට අට වැනිදා නඩු පවරන බවත් ඒ කටයුතු සඳහා පොලිසියට එන ලෙසත් පොලිසියම නියෝග කර තිබුණි. නඩු පැවැරීමට පොලිසියට එන ලෙස කියූ බවට ඔවුන් කළ ප්‍රකාශයද අප සතුය.

සාමාන්‍ය්‍ය තත්ත්වයක් යටතේ පුවත්පත කළ යුත්තේ අදාළ සිද්ධිය ගැන බලධාරීන්ගෙන් විමසා වාර්තාව පුවත්පතේ පළ කිරීමය. එහෙත් අප ඉන් ඔබ්බට ගොස් පුරවැසියකුගේ යුතුකම් පැත්තෙන්ද කටයුතු කළ ආකාරය පැහැදිලි කළ යුතුය.

පොලිසිය ‘ක්ලීන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා’ වැඩසටහන පිට දමා පදික වෙළෙන්දන් ඉවත් කිරීමෙන් රජය සද්භාවයෙන් කරන එම වැඩසටහන අවුල් කෙරෙන බව අපි වටහා ගන්නෙමු. අප කර්තෘ මාණ්ඩලිකයා පත්තරේ එය පළ කිරීමට පෙර එම හඬ පටද රජයට සම්බන්ධ පාර්ශ්ව වෙතින් පොලිස්පතිවරයාටත් ඉන් ඉහළින් ඉන්නා බලධාරීන්ටත් යවන්නට කටයුතු කළේය. එහෙත් එය ලැබුණේ දැයි කිව නොහැකිය. පත්තරකාරයින්ගේ රාජකාරියෙන් බැහැරව ගොස් කටයුතු කළේ පොලිසියේ නඩු දැමීමෙන් මේ අහිංසක වෙළෙන්දන්ට වෙන හානිය වළක්වා ගන්නටය. තමන්ගේ ‘ක්ලීන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා’ වැඩසටහනට බාධාවන මෙවැනි ක්‍රියා වහා වළක්වා ගන්නට ජනාධිපතිගේ බසින් කීවොත් සහකම්පනයෙන් කටයුතු කරවීම අපේ අපේක්ෂාව විය. රජය සමග ද්වේශයක් තිබුණේ නම් සතුරු හැඟීමක් තිබුණේ නම් අප කළ යුතුව තිබුණේ පොලිසිය වෙළෙන්දන්ට කියූ ආකාරයට නඩු දාන්නට සලස්වා ඒ ආකාරයටම රට පුරා කරන්නට ඉඩ දී පසුව එය වාර්තා කිරීමය.

සතුරා වරදක් කරන විය එය නිවැරදි කරන්නට එපාය යන උපදේශය අනුව නම් අප කටයුතු කළ යුත්තේ එසේය. එහෙත් මෙබන්දක් වළක්වා ගැනීමට කටයුතු කළේ අපට ආණ්ඩුව සමග හතුරු හිතක් නොතිබූ නිසාය. අප වාර්තාව පළ කළේ එසේ ක්‍රියා කිරීමෙන් පසුය. එහෙත් යම් නිලධාරියකු ඒ ගැන මගෙන් විමසුවේ නෑ කියා කියන්නේ නම් අප ඒ ගැන හබ කරන්නට යන්නේ නැත. එසේ නොකරන්නේ අනාගතයක් තියෙන නිලධාරින්ගේ රස්සාවට කෙළින්නට අපිට වුවමනා නැති නිසාය. එහෙත් අපි ලියූ වාර්තාවේ කොමාවටත් අපි වගකියමු. සියල්ල සාක්ෂි පටිගත කළ සාක්ෂි සහිතය.

අමාත්‍යවරයා මීට ඉහත පත්තරේ පළ වූ වාර්තා හතරක් හුවා දක්වා අරුණ ආණ්ඩුවට සතුරුව කළමනාකාරිත්වය සමග කටයුතු කරන බව ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ජනාධිපතිවරණයේද මහ මැතිවරණයේද ආණ්ඩුව පිහිට වූ පසුද ජාතික ජන බලවේගයද එහි නායකකාරකාදීන් කළ කතා ප්‍රකාශ සේම ක්ලීන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා දියත් කළ දා ජනාධිපතිවරයා කළ ප්‍රකාශය පළකිරීමට දුන් ඉඩද කළමනාකාරීත්වය නියෝජනය කරන සර්වජන පක්ෂයට දුන් ඉඩකඩද සන්සන්දනය නොකර ප්‍රවෘත්ති හතරක් හුවාදැක්වීමෙන් පෙනෙන්නේ කුමක්ද? අමාත්‍යවරයාද ආණ්ඩුවද පුවත්පතට සතුරු හැඟීමකින් කටයුතු කරන බවය.

මේ තර්ජනවලට බිය නොවන ලෙස කියන මිතුරන්ට අප කියන්නේ කුමක්ද?

මෙයට පෙරාතුව ඒකාධිපති යැයි කියන ආණ්ඩු හමුවේ හතරවැනි තට්ටුවට ගිය අත්දැකීම් අපට ඇත. එහෙත් එයින් අපව සසල කරවීමට නොහැකි වුණා මෙන්ම ඔවුන්ගේ ඒ හැසිරීම් හමුවේ වුව කිසි විටෙකත් සතුරු හිතකින් අප කටයුතු කළේද නැත. මාලිමා ආණ්ඩුව කෙරෙහිද ඒ හැඟීම එසේමය. ආණ්ඩුව කටයුතු කරන්නේ මෙහෙම නම් පොලිසිය ආණ්ඩුවේ මුඛ්‍ය ව්‍යාපෘතියක් කෙරෙහි කටයුතු කරන්නේ මෙහෙම නම් අප හතුරුකම් කරන්නේ කුමටද?නීති රීති පනවා කටයුතු කරන්නට කලින් නිවැරදි වීමට කාලය දෙන බව කියා කියූ කියුම ස්තූතිපුර්වකව භාරගන්නා අප, අදාළ ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවෙන් පසුව පුවතේ සත්‍යතාවය අදාළ වාර්තා වීඩියෝ පට ආදිය ලබාදී එතුමා නිවැරදි කිරීමට උත්සාහ කළත් එතුමා දුරකථනයට උත්තර නොදුන්නේය. මේ සටහන ලියුවේ ඒ නිසාය.

BY Buddhika Samaraweera Courtesy The Morning

• Recent arrivals claim to have sold all interests in Myanmar with express intent of reaching Sri Lanka; security forces and intel agencies probing  

Statements from recently arrived Rohingya immigrants have revealed that they sold their property in Myanmar and left with the specific intention of reaching Sri Lanka, claims concerning which the relevant authorities, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have launched an investigation into, in the context of potential human trafficking and local involvement.

On the morning of 19 December 2024, a multi-day trawler carrying over 100 Rohingya asylum seekers drifted towards the coast off Mullivaikkal in Mullaitivu. They are currently being detained in detention centres, and provided with food and other facilities by the Government.

When queried by The Daily Morning on the Government’s plan with regard to the asylum seekers, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arun Hemachandra said that the Government is yet to make a final decision on the matter, adding that several aspects related to the issue are being considered. “We initially help them on a humanitarian basis. They are still being considered as illegal migrants. We should ensure their safety, and provide them with the basic facilities. The discussions on future action are ongoing with the relevant parties such as the Myanmar Embassy in Sri Lanka and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).”

He also said that statements recorded from the recently-arrived asylum seekers have revealed that they have sold their properties in Myanmar and left with the particular intention of reaching Sri Lanka. He noted that this is problematic. “Boarding a boat and arriving at an unspecified location is different from boarding a boat with the specific intention of reaching a particular destination. There, it raises a doubt as to whether this is something linked to human trafficking. Accordingly, the security forces and the intelligence agencies are investigating whether human trafficking is involved and if any local agents are leading or connected to such activities.”

Noting that the Government should consider several aspects such as diplomatic commitments, international laws, and national security, Hemachandra said that the Government is yet to decide on whether to retain the group of asylum seekers in question, or to deport them. “We are still investigating the matter. Until a final decision is made, it is our duty to provide this group with the necessary facilities. We have done it, and made them safe. However, making an essential intervention and allowing activities like human trafficking are two different things. We will consider all these and come to a final decision.”

The boat carrying the said group was escorted by the Navy to the Ashraf Jetty in the Trincomalee Harbour and landed in Trincomalee on 20 December 2024. The asylum seekers were initially cared for by public officers and non-governmental organisations and were hosted at the Jamalia School in Trincomalee. Subsequently, they were brought before the Trincomalee Magistrate. In Court, the refugees explained that they had come to Sri Lanka seeking asylum. The group was later shifted to the Mirihana detention centre, where they are currently staying. 

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

වසර 5ක් නොසිට හැකි ඉක්මනින් නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථව ගෙන ඒන ලෙස කාදිනල් තුමන් විසින් ආණ්ඩුවට යෝජනා කර ඇත. නව කතානායක වෛද්‍ය ජගත් වික්‍රමරත්න මහතා කාදිනල්තුමන් බැහැ දැකීමට ගිය අවස්ථාවේදී මේ බව පවසා ඇත. 

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් දක්වන පිරිස් පවසන්නේ මේ ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ නිරාගමික රාජ්‍යයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් දැයි සැක සිතෙන බවයි. එයට හේතුව විය හැක්කේ අගමැතිතුමියද  මීට පෙර පවසා සිටියේ මෙරට නිරාගමික රාජ්‍යයක් බව වීමය. 

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

නලින්ද ජයතිස්ස සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරයා පසුගිය දා පිලිකා රෝහලේ දී සිදු කරණු ලැබූ ප්‍රකාශ හරහා සිදු කරණු ලැබූවේ මෙරට පරිත්‍යාගශීලින් අධෛර්මත් කිරීමත් බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතියට සහ අනිකුත් ආගම්වලටද පහර ගැසීමත් බව පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමය නායක නීතිඥ උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා පවසයි.

ඒ මහතා මේ බව සදහන් කර සිටියේ අද දින (06) එම පක්ෂ මූලස්ථානයේ පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමිනි.

පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමය නායකයා එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් මෙසේ අදහස් දැක්වීය.

“නලින්ද ජයතිස්ස ඇමතිතුමා පිලිකා රෝහලේ දී සිදු කළ කතාව ගැන අදහස් දක්වන්න කලින් සම්පූර්ණ කතාවට සවන් දෙන්න කියලා ආණ්ඩුවේ අය කියන නිසා මම සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම ඒ කතාව ඇහුව්වා. එතුමා නොදැන සිටියාට කිසිම දානපතියෙකුට රෝහලකට ඇවිත් බලහත්කාරයෙන් කිසිම ගොඩනැගිල්ලක් හදන්න බෑ. බලහත්කාරයෙන් කිසිම පරිත්‍යාගයක් භාර ගන්න බෑ. රෝහල් ප්‍රධානියාගෙන් ඒ සඳහා අවසරය ඕනි. ඉදි කිරීමක් නම් පලාත් සෞඛ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයාගෙන් අවසරය ලබා ගන්න ඕනි. ඒ නිසා කාටවත් තමන්ට ඕනි ඕනි ආකාරයට රෝහල් වලට පරිත්‍යාග දෙන්න බෑ. රෝහලේ අවශ්‍යතා අනුව තමයි පරිත්‍යාග ලබා දෙන්නේ. ඒ නිසා ඒ ක්‍රමවේදය අමුතුවෙන් නලින්ද ඇමතිතුමා හඳුන්වා දෙන්න අවශ්‍ය නෑ.

පිලිකා රෝහලට ළමා ඇටමිදුළු බද්ධ කිරීමේ ඒකකයක් රෝහල් බලධාරින් විසින් දිගු කාලයක් තිස්සේ ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉල්ලුවත් ආර්ථික අර්බූදය නිසා දිගින් දිගටම පස්සට තල්ලු වුණු ව්‍යාපෘතියක්. රෝහල් බලධාරින් ජාතික සැලැස්මෙන් පිටත මේ ඉදිකිරීම කලා කියමු. ඒක රෝහල් බලධාරින් සමග තිබෙන අභ්‍යන්තර සාකච්ඡාවක දී මතු කළ යුතු දෙයක් මිස මිලියන දෙසීයකට ආසන්න පරිත්‍යාගයක් කළ අවස්ථාවක පරිත්‍යාගශීලින් ඉදිරිපිට සඳහන් කළ යුතු දෙයක් නොවේ.

සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිවරයාගේ කතාවෙන් අර්බූද ගණනාවක් එලියට එනවා. අපේ රටේ ආගමික ආයතන වලට විශාල පරිත්‍යාග ලැබෙනවා. සමහර ආයතන රෝහල් වලට සැලකිය යුතු මුදලක් පරිත්‍යාග කරනවා. සමහරු එහෙම කරන්නේ නෑ. එහෙම නම් පරිත්‍යාගය කළ පුද්ගලයා අගය කරලා ඇමතිතුමා කතා කලා නම් අනෙකුත් ආගමික ආයතන වලට මෙවැනි පරිත්‍යාග කරන්න අදහස පහල වෙනවා. කතරගම දේවාලේ බස්නායක නිලමේතුමාට වුණත් තව තවත් පරිත්‍යාග කරන්න චේතනාව පහල වෙනවා. තිස්තුන් කෝටියක් දෙවිවරුන්ට වඩා භාණ්ඩාගාරය වැය කරනවා කියලා කිව්වේ. ඔව් අපි බදු මුදල් දුන්නේ එකට තමයි. එක ආණ්ඩුවේ වගකීම මේක ස්වේච්ඡාවෙන් කරන දෙයක් මේකයි එකයි අතර දැවැන්ත වෙනසක් තියෙනවා කියන එක වෛද්‍යවරයෙක් වෙච්ච නලින්ද ඇමතිතුමා නොදැන සිටිම සිදුවන්නේ එතුමා රෝහලක ප්‍රතිකාර කිරිමට රෝහලක සේවය කිරිමට අවස්ථාව නොලැබුන නිසාදෝ කියලා අපිට හිතෙනවා.

මේ වන විට බස්නායක නිළමේතුමාට ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ සරදම් කලාට අමතරව සමාජමාධ්‍යවල එතුමා දැවැන්ත හොරෙක් ලෙස හන්වඩු ගසමින් මඩ ප්‍රහාරයක් ‍එල්ල වෙනවා ඒ විතරක් නෙමෙයි. එතුමට එරෙහිව සීඅයිඩී එකට පැමිණිල්ලකුත් කරලා. මේ සියල්ලට හේතුව පිලිකා රෝහලට ඒකකයක් පරිත්‍යාග කිරීම. එතුමාත් අනිත් බස්නායක නිළමේලා ‍වගේ මෙ‍වැනි පරිත්‍යාගයක් නොකර හිටියා නම් මේ කිසි කරදරයක් නෑ. මේ පරිත්‍යාගය හෑල්ලු කලාම කාටද පරිත්‍යාගයක් කරන්න හිතෙන්නේ?

අපේ රටේ සෞඛ්‍ය සේවාවට දැවැන්ත පරිත්‍යාග තොගයක් දානපතියන්ගෙන් ලැබෙනවා. ඒ නිසා සමස්ත සෞඛ්‍ය සේවාවට වැය වන මුදල ජනතාව මත බදු පටවමින් සොයා ගන්න ආණ්ඩුවට සිදු වෙන්නේ නෑ. ඒක ජනතාවට විශාල සහනයක්. සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිවරයා මේ කතාව හරහා ඒ දානපතියන්ට ලබා දෙන පණිවිඩය මොකක්ද? උඹලාට සල්ලි වැඩිපුර තිබෙනවා නම් රෝහල් වලට පරිත්‍යාග නොකර ලෝක වටේ ඇවිදලා ඒ සල්ලි වලින් සතුටු වෙයල්ලා. අපි දුප්පත් ජනතාව මත තව තවත් බදු ගහලා උන්ගේ රීරි මාංශයම හූරගෙන කාලා සෞඛ්‍ය වියදම සොයා ගන්නම් කියන එක නේද? මේක සමාජවාදි ජවිපෙ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය නම් නොවේ. මාලිමාවේ නව ලිබරල්වාදය නලින්ද සහෝදරයත් වැළඳ ගෙන ද කියන සාධාරණ සැකය අපට ඇති වෙනවා.

ඒ වගේම තිස්තුන් කෝටියක් දෙවියන් සිටින බව විශ්වාස කරන්නේ හින්දු ආගම තුලයි. කතරගම දෙවියන් කියන්නෙත් හින්දු බෞද්ධ දෙපාර්ශවයම අදහන දෙවි කෙනෙක්. මේ දේව සංකල්පයන් සරදමට ලක් කිරීම නිරාගමික නලින්ද සහෝදරයාට ගැලපෙන්න පුළුවන්. නමුත් අපේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් සියළුම ආගම් වල අයිතිවාසිකම් ආරක්ෂා කරමින් බුද්ධ ශාසනය සුරක්ෂිත කිරීමේ වගකීම රාජ්‍යයට පවරා තිබෙනවා. ඒ නිසා ඇමති ධූරය භාර ගන්නා අවස්ථාවේ ව්‍යස්ථාව රකින්න ප්‍රතිඥා දුන්නු නලින්ද ඇමතිතුමාට ආගම් සරදමට ලක් කිරීම ගැලපෙන්නේ නෑ කියන එක එතුමාට ඉතාම ගෞරවයෙන් සිහිපත් කරන්න කැමැතියි.

දානය කියන්නේ බුදු දහමේ එන දස පුන්‍ය ක්‍රියාවන්ගෙන් පළමු පුන්‍ය ක්‍රියාව. ඒ දානය අදිරිමත් කරනවා කියන්නේ බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතියට පහර ගහනවා කියන එකයි. නිරාගමික ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ඕනෑ කියන අගමැතිවරියක් සිටින ආණ්ඩුවකින් අපට මීට වැඩි දෙයක් බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන්නත් බෑ.”

– Midea unit

Courtesy Hiru News

President Anura Kumara Disanayake held a discussion with the Attorney General and officials from the Attorney General’s Department at the Presidential Secretariat today (06).

During the discussion, the President emphasized the importance of coordinated efforts among all institutions working towards the effective enforcement of the law.

President Dissanayake highlighted the critical responsibility of the Attorney General’s Department to restore public confidence in the judicial system. He further stressed that public perception regarding political interference must be transformed to ensure trust in the legal process.

The President reiterated the government’s commitment to avoiding any actions that could erode public expectations. He assured that efforts are being made to re-establish confidence in the justice system and restore the principles of fairness and equity in the eyes of the people.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Justice and National Integration Harshana Nanayakkara, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security Ravi Seneviratne, Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe PC, along with several officials from the Attorney General’s Department.

e-Con e-News

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 29 December – 04 January 2025

The so-called newly ‘independent’ Central Bank’s exclusive Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is ‘a blatant act of self-serving privilege’: so says the United Federation of Labour (UFL).This ‘exclusive’ EPF – sanctioned by the Monetary Law Act – is ‘a breeding ground’ for (you guessed it!) ‘corruption’. For ‘unlike other institutions, the Central Bank possesses ‘privileged access to confidential economic data & policy decisions before they are made public’ – so declares the UFL (a gathering of 9 trade unions). Meanwhile, ‘informal sector workers’ are ‘gravely’and unjustly excluded from ‘essential social safety nets like the EPF & ETF’. And then there are also other more lowly EPFs….

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The Central Bank has the highest number of registered PhDs per square foot in the country! And. It is no wonder. These PhDs are led by an eminence who the ‘LMD, a leading business magazine in the country, has named ‘Sri Lankan of the Year for 2024’:

     So say hello and goodbye then to CB Governor Dr Nandalal Weerasinghe, for we are now rushing headlong through Gregorian 2025. LMD we can assure you is or was Lanka Monthly Digest, though the M could more appropriately stand for Merchant or Moneylender or iMporter or Marketing Digest or all 4 Ms if you are generous– as they also do these fake surveys and polls with Ceylon Tobacco’s Co (BAT)’s money, number and word spinner PepperCube. We usually encounter this glossed-out magazine, largely untouched like a heavily made-up virgin, at private dentists’ or chiropractors’ offices – midst a lot of pain. So these are the forces – a rentier carnival of non-smoking environmentally and health conscious virtue-signalling shills and clowns really – who celebrate now and shall later sacrifice the governor. As the economy is set to tank again. They call it dynamic disruption. Effervescence, even.

     And worse: the IMF was allowed to make, or enabled – under the governor’s imprimatur, with the former Government’s acquiescence – a ‘predatory raid’ on the (not-just-the-CBSL’s) EPF, ‘disguised as domestic debt restructuring’. The UFL makes more startling allegations midst presenting 24 proposals for a more just and equitable economy via the 2025 Budget. The ULF statement in English seems to have been only carried ‘mass-media-wise’’ by the Wijeya Group’s Financial Times (see ee Focus, For a Working People’s Budget in 2025).

     The ULF, perhaps unfortunately too-inconvenient or too-obvious to larger media – point to the ‘Government’s insatiable appetite for tax breaks for large corporations – a staggering Rs 978 billion in 2022 (4.1% of GDP) according to the Ministry of Finance & the IMF’. ‘Instead of squeezing the poor with regressive taxes on essential food in the guise of protecting local farmers’, they – noting ‘nearly 30% of paddy cultivation costs [are] tied to machine rent’ – call for investment ‘in a rental program to drastically lower these exorbitant fees benefiting a machine-owning upper middle class in the rural economy’.

     But what about making these agricultural machines? ‘Renters’ of rural machinery like ‘celebrated’ NGO Sarvodaya and finance companies like LOLC, etc, – importers of multinational products – have minted billions. Yet the UFL proposals fail to even broach such a crying necessity for investment in modern industrial production, even as medium-to-long-term goals. Perhaps the UFL is merely making ‘annual budget’ proposals for ‘trade unions.’ But as Shiran Illanperuma highlights (see ee Focus, NPP Needs to Get Serious about Industrialization to Avoid Another Crisis):

Uplifting our large rural population requires industrialization.

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A strong focus on value-added manufacturing has been the

only way for countries to sustain rapid growth levels, develop

indigenous technology, & uplift the living standards of the majority of people.

He also pinpoints: With a population of 22 million – comparable to Syria, Burkina Faso, or Chile – Sri Lanka is hardly a ‘small country’. And he could of course have added that industrial & agricultural powerhouses like Holland & Spain, etc., have even smaller populations than Sri Lanka.

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On 18 December, new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake pledged that under the leadership of his party, ‘we will never allow a situation like 2022-23 to reoccur in our country’. But as Illanperuma points out:

If AKD & the NPP intend to keep this promise, they will have to get a lot more serious

about industrializing an economy dependent on services & remittances.

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Meanwhile, as the new government is finding out – much to the pique of a merchant-run media who are protesting political ‘interference’ in the sacred bureaucracy – an entrenched ‘mafia’, with their powerful sponsors, still rule the roost and run circles around them! (Who still run the ports? If not the multinationals like Unilever, etc?) A merchant media gives much more prominence to the safety of monkeys, elephants & leopards than they do to the occupational health, let alone upskilling, of farmers & workers.

     While there is much talk about ‘transparency’ and demands for declarations of politicians’ private assets and funders, similar demands could be made from bureaucrats & media personnel (owners, editors & columnists): to declare their ‘sponsors’? As we often note, the media is packed with corporate & embassy & NGO press releases parading as ‘news’, no doubt given repetitive publicity with much ‘greasing’ of palms and other organs. And then there is the revolving door between public & private offices (this week, media reported how US Supreme Court judges & their children openly take bribes! see ee Random Notes, Scalia), ee has noted before, how formerly sacred Chief Justices of Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court have joined the worldly boards of banks like the Commercial Bank of Ceylon, etc. So see how they run:

     ‘Vallibel One’s Dhammika Perera has appointed 4 new directors: Perera is supposed to be interested in the further privatization of Sri Lankan Airlines or the air space. One of the new directors is Anura Fernando, another Accountant, who cites breast-slapping Nestle Beverages and US aerial warmaker Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion among his credentials. Next comes another immaculate:

JKH Board & University of Kelaniya & Monetary Policy Board

of the Central Bank’s Manil Jayesinghe, who is also a member of

several Chartered Institutes – of Public Finance & Accountancy etc., – has served

Ernst & Young, SL & Maldives… As a resource person for Central Bank

Training Centre, he has conducted many training sessions on Accounting,

International Financial Reporting Standards & Basel, and was the lead engagement

partner on Audits subcontracted to EY by the Auditor General of SL.

Jayesinghe is an ‘Independent’ Director of Diesel & Motor Engineering (DIMO),

Ceylon Hospitals, CW Mackie, Lanka Milk Foods (CWE), JKH…

(see ee Random Notes)

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Kelaniya University Professor Ajantha Samarakoon, new Chairman at

People’s Leasing & Finance PLC has been the Chief Examiner for the GCE A/L examination

 since 2006 & is a member of Curriculum Development Committees in government &

private universities… coordinator of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program

& Quality Control Reviewer for the University Grants Commission.’

(see ee Finance)

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Now you know why we cannot read or count. Or are functionally innumerate and illiterate. Indeed, as Illanperuma wonders in another essay in this ee Focus (Sri Lanka’s New Government, Indo-Pacific Debt Trap, & Struggle for the 21^st C), can the JVP, which has survived (but how?) 2 annihilations, and at much human sacrifice of successive generations, overcome the antics of these multinational agents who have leg-break-ed and bowled out many-a-previous popular government? The JVP apparently bravely and vociferously opposed many attempts to subjugate the country, like the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, and the USA’s MCC, SOFA, ACSA & other military encroachments.

     A former foreign official, maybe wrongly seen as a diehard senior yankee doodle and anglomaniac, revealed this week that the 1978 Indo-Lanka Accord allows our beloved neighbor to take over the country’s ports & habours at its will (see ee Random Notes)….So what about commodity prices?

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 While there may be a new President & a slew of new faces in Parliament,

officials in charge of the Treasury & Central Bank remain the same.

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     Illanperuma points out, ‘in contrast to his fiery pre-election speeches, which lashed out at the corruption of establishment politicians’, AKD has had to strike ‘a measured tone’, acknowledging ‘the significant challenges that his government inherits, declaring ‘I am not a magician. I am simply an ordinary citizen.’ He notes, ‘The risk of lapsing into neoliberal immobility remains ever present’. Or perhaps, they, like the Russian Communist Party of Comrade Lenin in 1921, or Comrade Stalin in 1939, are simply mixing messages, buying time to gird their forces, learning about and gauging the enemy, before launching the final battles.

     Contrary to the massive US & English propaganda in the media that China dominates Sri Lanka’s economy – the supposedly nationalist Derana and Island’s ‘Foreign News’ ‘Category’ is almost totally & unashamedly dominated by Unilever’s English state media outlet BBC – the ULF unequivocally declares, ‘The NPP inherits a state that is deeply in debt to Western finance capital.’

     Meanwhile, the UFL’s proposes: the immediate nationalization of ‘all large-scale paddy mills’, which are profiting off the country. They then point to the Sri Lankan tea market being ‘exploited by an oligopoly of estates, franchised export companies, tea brokers and the few conglomerates who own the entire apparatus. These oligarchs ‘suppress prices by an average of 50% below the actual export price’. They add, ‘after packaging, the same kilo of tea fetches exorbitant prices in the domestic market, often exceeding Rs3,000. This reveals the enormous profits raked in by tea traders, profits that are not reinvested in the sector or shared with the impoverished workers.’ By controlling the auction process, these interconnected conglomerates – encompassing regional plantation companies, franchised export firms, & tea brokers – have effectively suppressed wages.’

     The UFL does not state, how to appropriate, and where and in whom and what exactly the profits should be invested inside the country. Meanwhile, the national sweat and other liquids flow into the sea (or more precisely, the ports) uselessly:

     ‘Sri Lanka holds the distinction of paying the highest percentage of government revenue as domestic interest in the world – a staggering 80% in 2023, according to World Bank data.’ This tax burden has ‘plunged a quarter of our population into poverty, is squandered on enriching a counterproductive financial elite’.

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Indeed, as Nalliah Thayabaran details (see ee Focus, As a US Vassal, Japan Can’t Challenge China as a Superpower),such financial forces in the US & EU combined to bring down the mightier Japanese economy. Japan ‘was the biggest economic miracle in the 20^th century after the USA’ and this occurred after these forces signed what became known as the Plaza Accord – signed at ‘a pivotal moment that led many to believe Japan was going to surpass the USA’. These financial forces ‘played a very significant role in Japan’s slowdown’ after ‘Japan had established itself as a global manufacturing powerhouse, dominating industries such as automobiles, electronics, and machinery, conquering a huge portion of the semiconductor industry. So can the US & EU do what they accomplished against Japan, to China? Thayabaran believes not – though he does not provide much detail…

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We, however, believe the greatest economic miracles of the 20^th century, despite the inevitable steps back, have been the industrialization of the USSR and the People’s Republic of China. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pointed out this week (ee Random Notes) the US & English recipes ‘to create wars and other forms of chaos to keep Russia and China from developing their potential’ have their origins at ‘the beginning of the 20^th Century based on Alfred Thayer Mahan’s theory of maritime power’ which ‘was married to Halford Mackinder’s Heartland/Rimland Geopolitical theory’.

     Sri Lanka, at the centre of the Lakdiva Sea (now known as the Indian Ocean), and at the base, holding up all of Asia, is indeed central to this planned chaos…. Channelling and harnessing and expelling this chaos as another energy resource to serve the country may be a better plan.

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Contents:

https://eesrilanka.wordpress.com/2025/01/05/insider-trading-by-central-bank-officials-exposed/

Priyantha Hettige

Our health

Keeping healthy should be at the top of our list of personal concerns. But who can we turn to for help and information?  That job is left to a few medically trained doctors and food specialists!

Our lack of sufficient Iodine

The experts tell us iodine is needed in every cell of the human body.

It is on the World Health Organizations list of essential vitamins.

But there is a big problem: there are falling levels of iodine in our food but unfortunately, rising levels of bromide in our environment. Bromide is absorbed but not used by the body. It acts more like a toxin. But iodine in sufficient quantities is vital for us to remain healthy. We cannot live without iodine and chloride. Note that because bromide and iodine molecules are of similar size they can competitively inhibit one another. One can displace the other. It seems that unhelpful bromide is displacing much needed iodine.

Any lack of sufficient iodine has serious consequences. All the hormone glands need it: the thyroid hormones T3 and T4, the ovaries, the uterus, the breasts, the prostate, the pancreas, etc. We must get it in our diet for these glands to work properly. You can’t make thyroid, ovarian hormones, and testosterone, pituitary and hypothalamus hormones without iodine. Also, the main job of iodine in the glandular tissue is to maintain its normal structure, otherwise cysts form and enlarge.. and worse .. cancer.

The lack of iodine

USA Medical Dr David Brownstein has tested, over the years about 8,000 patients for iodine levels and found 97% of them deficient in iodine. Other medics find the same results themselves.

Dr Brownstein has lectured in the UK, Australia and Israel and says this deficiency of iodine problem is world-wide. He has written seventeen books on iodine and related subjects. He says iodine levels have fallen by 50% over the last 40 years. He talks about seeing younger and younger people getting cysts which develop into cancer and raise the risks of death. Something big is happening. Is it additives to our water supply? Or exhaustion of the soil? Or something in our environment? What could it be? It seems that most of us are deficient in iodine, and it is affecting us!

Experts say women, before and during pregnancy, should definitely stock up on their iodine levels. It is needed in fairly large doses for themselves and for the coming baby. It is suggested that congenital shortcomings such as cretinism, Attention Deficit Syndrome and children’s low intelligence are caused by lack of iodine in the mother.

Please note that Dr David Brownstein says the thyroid primarily uses the reduced form of iodine – iodide. The breasts need iodine and other tissues different forms of iodine. The key to success in curing diseases caused by iodine deficiency is to know which form of iodine is needed. Applying iodine to solve all problems was not successful for him. He recommended Lugol’s liquid.

Lugol’s liquid has a solution of 2% iodine and potassium iodine of 4%. But regrettably, this is not available in Sri Lanka.

Crucially, iodized salt may not be as effective as it is claimed. Iodization may be effective for only a short period after a packet of salt is opened and used for the first time – says Dr. Barbera O’Neill. This seems like another confidence trick. But the truth is not easily come by.

Consume Water with Salt and Iodine

Dr. Ken Berry advises us to consume salt with water, with a drop or two of iodine. Salt is not harmful in moderate quantities and it helps to flush out bromide and also some toxic metals we may have absorbed. Health in a glass of water! Iodine is not harmful as long as your kidneys are working well!

The Aging Factor

In addition, as we age, our bodies become less efficient in absorbing minerals and vitamins from our food. Supplementation of these is needed, but exactly what supplements and in what amounts is where these specialists demonstrate their valuable expertise..

World Agriculture Deficient!

Iodine is found in the oceans. Most if not all agricultural farm land, far from the coast, is likely to be deficient in iodine: That is, the food we consume may not have all the required amounts of nutrients our bodies need to function well. The land is re-fertilized but iodine and other vital nutrients are unlikely to be included in that process. Cattle grazing such farmland will only pass on to us whatever iodine and other essential vitamins and minerals they have consumed by us drinking their milk and eating the meat.

Research into the food we consume

Now, medical practitioners, doctors and food specialists in the United States are diving deep into the root causes of human illness.                     The list of such public-spirited American medics is ever increasing as people realise the short comings in our environments, lifestyles and our ill-advised eating habits.

These are doing us much harm and when left to develop, the correction of these ailments at the last minute becomes very expensive.  

One such public-spirited medical practitioner is Dr Brownstein. He has become a widely known expert on Iodine. He has written books on iodine, the thyroid, and so on. Another such noble researcher is

Dr Stan Ekberg who has looked at the wide range of our complaints and ailments and has investigated their causes and cures, too. There are many others also investigating, studying research papers and publicizing their findings on food, nutrition or lack thereof, our need for trace minerals, vitamins and so on. The USA is a hive of activity searching for a cure for our human illnesses. We can live longer!

All these US medics have a common theme. They say: short comings in our diet – unwise eating, is what is making us ill. However, luckily such illnesses can often be prevented and/or reversed by the application of new knowledge recently learned from research papers and intelligent study of the human body, its needs and the way it works.

Unavailability of Suitable Supplements of Iodine

The supplementing of iodine in Sri Lanka is made doubly difficult: only iodine for use as an antiseptic is available. The well tried and tested ‘Lugol” fluid contains two chemical variants of iodine needed for the human body. This vital mineral supplement is not available in Sri Lanka.

Confirmation Please search these medical doctors’ names on YouTube to verify the information presented here. This article is written for information purposes only. You are advised to consult with your doctor in case of illness.               

By Namini Wijedasa SUNDAY TIMES

The London-headquartered Lyca Group has been actively expanding its operations in Sri Lanka with Chairman and Founder Subaskaran Allirajah indirectly, deviously and circuitously, undertaking acquisitions in the local media sector”, states a petition filed before the Supreme Court.
These transactions have been carried out through proxies to circumvent Sri Lankan regulations prohibiting foreign ownership of media entities, and this also raises concerns about potential violations of Sri Lankan laws and serious threats to national security and the sovereignty of Sri Lanka,” maintains the petition, filed in the public interest by civil rights activist Jamuni Kamantha Thushar
Sixty respondents are named, including the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economy, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, all the Members of Cabinet, ten companies including several holders of Sri Lankan television and radio broadcasting frequency licences, company directors as well as Mr. Allirajah and his wife.
The petition lists eight companies directly or indirectly owned and controlled by or belonging to the Lyca Group. Many hold television and radio broadcasting permits issued by Sri Lanka’s then Ministry of Mass Media and TV and radio broadcasting frequency licences granted by the TRCSL.
Through illegal, unlawful, wrongful, devious, and circuitous schemes, structures, and proxies, the Lyca Group currently owns and/or controls 11 TV and radio channels and broadcasting licences,” it states.
VIS Broadcasting (Pvt) Ltd operates and broadcasts Monara TV, Sitha FM, Red FM and Tamil FM while GMR Networks (Pvt) Ltd operates and broadcasts Athavan TV and Athavan Radio. Colombo Communications (Pvt) Ltd operates and broadcasts Shree FM, Ran FM and EFM while EAP Broadcasting Company (Pvt) Ltd operates and broadcasts Swarnavahini and ETV.
Sixty percent of shares in EAP Broadcasting are owned by another respondent, the Sri Lanka-registered Ben Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, while the remaining 40% is held by the Singapore-registered Blue Summit Capital Management Pte Ltd.
Blue Summit is owned by a Portugal-incorporated company named Pettigo Comercio Internacional Lda, of which the majority and controlling shareholder is Prematharshini Subaskaran, the wife of Mr. Allirajah. Pettigo Comercio also owns several intellectual properties of the Lyca Group, the petition states.
Other winding ownerships, directorships and connections are described in the petition. For instance, Sri Lanka-incorporated Zentel Holdings (Pvt) Ltd fully owns yet another entity named Sky Media Network (Pvt) Ltd which, in turn, owns VIS Broadcasting. And Asia Infotech Services (Pvt) Ltd, also formed in Sri Lanka, owns 80 percent of shares of MGMR Networks.
Several individuals, too, are cited as respondents. Among them is Govindasamy Thuraiappah Jeyaseelan, a group director of Ben Holdings and former Chief Operating Officer of Lyca Mobile UK; and Niruthan Rajasundaram, a shareholder in several of the named companies.
Both are described as specifically declared by the Ministry of Defence as a person with impermissible security clearance (i.e. a person to whom the Ministry of Defence has refused to grant security clearance)”. Despite this, Mr. Jeyaseelan and Mr. Rajasundaram now controlled several media channels and broadcasting licences through devious and circuitous corporate structuring, design, and scheme”, the petition asserts.
In the said cirucmstances, permitting the operation of 11+ media channels, and broadcasting institutions, which owns, inter alia, significant transmission infrastructure in the country, including transmission towers in the Pidurutalagala, poses serious threats to the national security and sovereignty of the country,” it states.
Using flowcharts, the petition sketches out how each of these companies and persons is interconnected. The direct and/or ownership of the Lyca Group in Sri Lanka’s mass communication companies, therefore, exceeds 40 percent which it stresses is a devious circumvention of the Exchange Control Regulations of Sri Lanka”.

විශ්‍රාම ගත් ශවේන්ද්‍ර ලියපු ලියුමෙන් හෙළි වෙච්ච රහස් ටික මෙන්න, | ශවේන්ද්‍රට දේශද්‍රෝහී චෝදනාවකුත් එයි? රටම නොදන්න ඇත්ත

Dasatha News

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc

Tamils and also Muslims to a degree in the North, East, Centre and Colombo voted for this government rejecting their own ethnic political parties which helped the government to get more than two thirds majority. The significance of this change of heart, if it is that, should be understood by the government as well as all political leaders of the country. It could mean that what they want is apart from solving of the problems common to all communities such as the economic, education, employement, health issues etc., a different approach to the ethnic problem which had been all these years exploited by their politicians for their own political survival. Moreover they may have realized the inadequacy of benefits of  Provincial Councils when the huge expenditure they entail is considered. They may have experienced the ills of PCs when the Northern PC was run by their own politicians.

The Provincial Councils do not serve any useful purpose. One cannot see a single project or beneficial outcome that has resulted from PC activity anywhere in the country. Instead it is another bureaucratic barrier to the people that increase the red tape, inconvenience, waste of time, money and energy of the people. Further it has increased the number of corrupt politicians that people have to bribe to get any official work done. The devolution of power via these PCs is totally redundant as shown by the inability of the Northern PC, which was formed for the very purpose of solving the Tamil problem, to make use of the opportunity to serve the people. The work done by these PCs could easily be carried out by the GA and the kachcheri system we had previously without the involvement of politicians. Similarly administrative power could be devolved to the North through the local government institutions.

Total revenue from PCs in 2020 was Rs.331 billion and the expenditure was a similar amount. Thus financially there was no gain for the country and there is nothing to show as benefits. This revenue could have anyway accrued via other existing institutions like the katcheri system, local government etc. By this means the expenditure would have been cut down to a minimum while retaining the revenue. These PCs have functioned under the Govenor and the seceretary without the politicians for the  last three to four years showing that this tier of political rulers are redundent and a burden to the poor people.

Further, several authoritative world wide surveys have shown that power-sharing measures as a solution to ethnic conflict have not been successful. There had been 78 countries in Asia, Africa,  Middle East, Eastern Europe, former USSR and the Caribbean which were in intense ethnic conflict during 1980 to 2010. Of these only 20 managed to conclude inter-ethnic power sharing arrangements, many failed, some experienced genocide eg. Rwanda in 1993 and others ended with secession eg. Sudan in 2005. Only 4 to 6 achieved stable arrangements but even these have serious political instability (Horowitz D, 2014).

Following are few extracts from these research works; The core reason why power-sharing cannot resolve ethnic conflict is that it is voluntaristic; it requires conscious decisions by elites to cooperate to avoid ethnic strife. Under conditions of hypernationalist mobilisation and real security threats, group leaders are unlikely to be receptive to compromise and even if they are they cannot act without being discredited and replaced by harder-line rivals” (Kaufmann, 1997). Proposals for devolution abound, but more often than not devolution agreements are difficult to reach and once reached soon abort” (Horowitz, 1985).

That Sri Lanka provides ample evidence in support of the above research findings could easily be seen in its experience with its own Provincial Councils. Of the nine PCs the worst failure was seen in relation to the previous Northern PC where it was supposed to be essential for the solution of the ethnic conflict. Its Chief Minister after willingly contesting for the post, made use of the opportunity to loudly engage in secessionist rhetoric and propaganda. He did not make use of the government grants for the development of the North.

In consideration of the above what would be more suitable for Sri Lanka is a power-sharing mechanism at the centre which would suit its geography of ethnicity where in most areas there is a mixture of ethnic groups and 50% of minorities live outside the North and the East. If all possibility of discrimination of majority or minority communities is avoided and people are allowed to learn to respect each other’s different cultures there would develop common feelings and thinking about national issues which would be the national integration that has eluded us all these years.

The Tamils who voted for this government and a majority of them did so, may prefer such a system of power sharing at the centre which may  make them feel integrated and belonging to their country more than the PC system which make them more separate and parochial in their own country. A new group of Tamil politicians may emerge who would like to be responsible for the whole country rather than an enclave in the far North.

The government has a two thirds majority and could bring in the necessary constitutional changes without a hassle to eleminate the presidential system, get rid of the 13^th Amendment and extablish an institution for power sharing at the centre. If the minorities agree India will not mind the removal of the 13^th A which they forced on us as they see no need for it in the present geo-political context. It is significant that no mention of the full implementation of the 13^th A was made in the joint statement issued by the Indian and Sri lankan leaders during the latter’s recent visit to India, an issue which was always taken up by the Indian side whenever the leaders of the two countries met in the past. Now may be the opportunity to solve the ethnic problem to the satisfaction of everybody and bring about lasting peace and national integration.

Shenali D Waduge

Sri Lanka cannot continue to endure rantings every time there is an Indian election or allow continuous illegal fishing & raping of Sri Lanka’s marine eco-system. Sri Lanka cannot ignore the livelihoods of Sri Lankan fisher community & allow illegal fishing as humanitarian” & more importantly allow the usage of internationally banned bottom trawlers which is killing & destroying marine life. Diplomatic niceties & political pressures aside, if Sri Lanka’s leaders pre-1978 & astute civil servants could stand up to protect Sri Lanka’s sovereignty & territorial integrity, what is stopping Sri Lanka’s present political leaders & public officials from continuing to do so?

Exactly who wants Katchatheevu & why?

Indian Central Govt?

Tamil Nadu politicians? Or

Tamil Nadu fishermen?

The main reasons include

• Diplomatic topic against Sri Lanka by Indian Central Govt.
• Political slogan by Tamil Nadu politicians building hate campaigns against Sri Lanka with Ravana to add color
• Allow illegal fishing by Indian fishermen using internationally banned bottom trawlers mostly belonging to Tamil Nadu politicians on Sri Lanka’s territorial waters
• Oil exploration to claim all of the waters on Palk Strait

The issue of Katchchitivu is actually a non-issue. It’s only a topic emerging during elections & as a strategy for illegal fishing using internationally banned bottom trawlers & trespassing on the territorial waters of Sri Lanka. Usage of bottom trawlers mostly owned by Tamil Nadu politicians, has severely impacted the marine bed & eco-sustainability.

Instead of rectifying these wrongs, the issue has been turned into a political dispute.

If India had accepted the island is under Sri Lanka’s jurisdiction why is it bullying Sri Lanka for no reason?

Even India’s Foreign Ministry in a reply to a RTI on 5 Jan 2015 confirmed that Katchchativu was on Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary following the delineation Agreement on Boundary in Historica Waters signed on 26 June 1974 in Colombo & on 28 June 1974 in New Delhi. That 1974 agreement only allowed Indian fishermen to dry their nets & Indian Catholic fishermen to attend the annual St. Anthony’s festival.

In fact, after Indian Foreign Ministry officials explainted matters to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi, he agreed to play down the rhetoric.

Let India not forget that when the boundary line dividing the waters of the Palk Strait was drawn in 1974, India got a larger share than what was allocated in 1921.

Refer MOEAF/R/E/24/00328 dated 5 March 2024 includes details of Katchativu & the March 1968 meeting between Kewal Singh & Karunanidhi which was issued by Under Secretary Ajay Jain of CNV&1 Division issued it on 12 March 2024.

https://www.mea.gov.in/Images/CPV/RTI-31-03-2024.pdf

There is little point in presenting colonial evidence or evidence pre-colonial, as there was no nation called India before 1947. Therefore, present Indian govt cannot claim that Katchathivu island belonged to India” because there was no India” before 1947.

The pre-colonial claim is based on Raja of Ramnad & the Zamindari system. However, there is no title ownership to claim Raja of Ramnad’s claim to the island while the Zamindari system only includes grants to 21,057 villages & there is no mention of Katchchativu.

Confounding matters for the Indian claim was a survey party (for Trigonometrical survey station) from India 1874-1876 (exactly 100 years before the signing of the agreement) who had referred to the island belonging to Ceylon. Ceylon had refused such survey stations at that time. If the island belonged to India during this period, there was no reason for Ceylon to refuse! Another example of Sri Lanka exerting its jurisdiction.

While India has no evidence even in the form of maps. Sri Lanka has maps that belonged to the 3 colonial invaders – Portuguese, Dutch & Britain all placing Katchchativu under Sri Lanka. The Portuguese called the island Chagodina.

There is also the 1658 order issued by the then Governor of Ceylon to the Commander of the Jaffnapatnam that Caathchiadive” (Katchchativu) was among the 5 uninhabited islands within its jurisdiction.

Ceylon asserted claim to the island in 1921 when demarcating the fishery line in the Palk Bay & the Indians agreed to determine the land 3 miles West of Katchchativu which automatically placed Katchchativu on the Sri Lankan side.

The most damning rebuttal came when India in June 1924 recommended to the Secretary of State in London that they recognized Katchchative as belonging to Ceylon.

Taking this further, Ceylon enacted legislation in 1944 as a naval bombardment range – the legislation was renewed in 1950-1951 after independence.

Ceylon even challenged India in 1949 when India sought to use the island for naval exercise. In 1955 Ceylon used the island for the Ceylon Air Force.

Ceylon had fine civil service officials pre-1978 for they had even presented time tables to bilaterally resolve the issue. During Mrs. Bandaranaike’s visit to India in January 1974 the officials wanted the matter of Katchchativu resolved on her directive. Had present day officials & leaders existed then, Sri Lanka may have ceded all of its territorial waters to India!

Sri Lankan government & environmentalists together with the legal fraternity need to look at the issue beyond political or diplomatic pressures. Usage of bottom trawlers along India’s coastal belt has destroyed its marine bed. These same trawlers cannot be allowed to do the same to Sri Lanka’s marine bed which is presently happening. The fact that Tamil Nadu politicians are demanding access to Katchchativu is primarily because they own the bottom trawlers that destroyed TN marine bed & they want to generate income from Sri Lanka’s waters while long term destroying Sri Lanka’s marine bed.

If there are no fish in India’s southern coast – it is due to Indian fishermen ruining their sea bed. That same damage cannot be done to Sri Lanka’s marine bed & deprive Sri Lankan fishermen a livelihood. Sri Lanka’s Government need to take the side of Sri Lanka’s fisher community & their livelihoods as a priority.

If India continues to use political pressures unfairly during election times & arouse animosity of Tamil Nadu against Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka must respond by referring the issue to the International Court of Justice for their expert opinion. The use of illegal bottom trawlers by Indian politicians will also be a concern for ICJ fully aware of the environmental damage being intentionally done to the marine bed & marine eco system surrounding Sri Lanka’s territorial waters.

India is not in favor of international arbitration as it would impact its national interest. Therefore, the issue of claiming Katchchativu for political advantage at elections & to facilitate illegal fishing by India must stop. Another untold reason for India’s interest” in Katchchativu is the oil structure which India wanted to acquire under its territory.

If Sri Lanka does pursue third party arbitration there are more interferences by India that should be tabled including the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord under duress, the violation of Sri Lanka’s aerial sovereignty with the infamous parippu drop, the arming & training of Tamil militants to name a few.

Shenali D Waduge

ප්‍ර සමරසිංහ

 බුද්ධ දේශනයට අනුව අවිද්‍යාව ඇති කල්හි සංඛාර ඇතිවේ (අවිජ්ජා පච්චයා සංඛාරා); විද්‍යාව පහළවීම (විජ්ජා උදපාදී) දම්සක් පැවතුම් සූත්‍රයේ සඳහන්ය. මේ විද්‍යාව ඇරෙන්නට වෙනත් විද්‍යාවක් හෝ වෙනත් අවිද්‍යාවක් අපට නැත. 

සිරිලක්බිම එකල විසූ ඉංග්‍රීසි බස උගත් බටහිර සංස්කෘතික ආධිපත්‍යට ලැදි සිංහල-උගතුන්, ඉංග්‍රීසි බසේ ‘සයන්ස්’ (science) යන පදයට සිංහල පරිවර්තනය, විද්‍යාව ලෙස හඳුන්වා දීම කිසිසේත්ම නිවැරදි නොවේය. ඔවුනට තිබෙන්නට ඇත්තේ බුදුදහමේ විද්‍යාව, සයන්ස් බවට පත් කර, ඒ තුලින් බුදුදහම තේරුම් කර දීමේ නිවට නියාළු ආශාවක් පමණක් විය නොහැකිය. බොහෝ විට ඔවුනට බටහිර සයන්ස්, බුදුදහම ඉක්මවා ගිය මහා දැනුම් සම්භාරයක් සේ පෙනුනා විය හැකිය. එසේත් නැතිනම්, දැනුවත්ව හෝ නොදැනුවත්ව, ක්‍රමක්‍රමයෙන් ලංකාවේ ථෙරවාද බුදුදහම ව්‍යාකුල කරලීමට දැමු මුල් අඩිතාලමද මෙය වූවා විය හැකිය.

බටහිර වෙදකමේ දියුණුව හුදෙක් තාක්ෂණ-දියුණුවක් බවත්, විශ්වයේ නිරීක්ෂණය කරන්නා වූ සංසිද්ධීන් පැහැදිලි කිරීම සඳහා නිව්ටන් සහ අයින්ස්ටයින් ගෙතූ, තරමක් දුරට වැඩකරන නමුත් මනසින් හිතාගත නොහැකි, එකිනෙකට වෙනස් වූ වියුක්ත කතන්දර ගෙතීම ‘බටහිර විද්‍යාව’ බවත් පෙන්වා දුන්නේ ආචාර්ය නලින් ද සිල්වා මහතාය. නිවන සම්මාබෝධ වන තෙක් මැරී මැරී ඉපදෙන මුලක් අගක් නොපෙනෙන සසර චක්‍රයට අනුව, බෞද්ධ අප පිළිගත යුත්තේ අග්ගඥ්ඥ සුත්‍රයද ඩාවින්ගේ පරිණාම වාදය ද කියා තම තම නැණ පමණින් විමසුව යුතු බවත් එතුමා අවධාරණය කලේය.

පාලි ත්‍රිපිටකය, අටුවා ටීකා වල සඳහන් බුදුදහම අවබෝධ කරගැනීමේ හා පිළිපැදීමේ ක්‍රමවේදයන් සමඟ 19 වන සියවස අගභාගයේ බටහිරෙන් කරළියට ආ බටහිර මනෝ විද්‍යාවේ දක්වන අධ්‍යයන ක්‍රමවේදයන් කිසිසේත්ම සමපාත වෙන්නේ නැත. තමා විසින් තමාම නිරීක්ෂණය කර සිතෙහි ඇති ගුණාංග වටහා ගැනීමත්, තවෙකකු විසින් පිළියෙල කල ප්‍රශ්න මාලාවකට (questionnaire) යටත්ව දෙන්නා වූ පිළිතුරු ආශ්‍රයෙන් තව කෙනෙකුගේ සිතෙහි පවත්නා ගුණාංග නිගමනය කිරීමත් එකිනෙකට කිසි ලෙස පෑහෙන්නේ නැත. මේ නොපෑහීම යන්තමට හෝ වැටහෙන යමෙක් වේ නම්, කිසි කලෙක බටහිර මනෝවිද්‍යාව සරසන්නට බෞද්ධ යන විශේෂණ පදය යොදා විෂයයක් ගොඩ නගන්නට හීනෙන්වත් හිතන්නෙ නැත. 

බුදුදහම, බුදුදහම තුලින් අවබෝධ කර ගතයුතුය. උසස්‌ අධ්‍යාපනය ලබාදෙන රජයේ සහ පුද්ගලික ආයතනවල බුදුදහම ඉගැන්විය යුත්තේ පාලි බසින් බුදුදහම පරතෙරට හැදෑරු ආචාර්යවරුන්ය. එම ආයතනවල මනෝවිද්‍යාව ඉගැන්විය යුත්තේ මනෝවිද්‍යාව හොඳින් හැදෑරු ආචාර්යවරුන්ය. මනා වැටහීමකට පහත දැක්වෙන විඩියෝව බලන්න.

බටහිර විශේෂඥ මනෝ වෛද්‍යවරයකු වන ඩී ජේ වී හරිස්චන්ද්‍ර මහතා ඉංග්‍රීසි බසින් ලියන ලද ‘Psychiatric aspects of Jataka Stories’ (1998 මුද්‍රණය) පොතේ අන්ධභූත, චුල්ල පලෝභන සහ බාහිය යන ජාතක කතා තුනට බටහිර මනෝ විද්‍යාවේ දැක්වෙන ලෙඩ පාස්සවමින් විකෘති අර්ථකථන දෙන්නට ඇත්තේ ඒ මහතා පාලි බස මැනවින් හදාරා නොතිබුන නිසාය.  

ථෙරවාද බුදු දහම විකෘති කිරීමට බුද්ධ ජයන්ති ත්‍රිපිටකයේ නැති කරුණු හුවා දක්වන සහ පාලි පද වලට හිතුමතේ සාවද්‍ය නිරුක්ති දෙන, NGO ආධාර මත නොයැපෙනවය කියා විශ්වාස කිරීමට අපහසු, ගිහි පැවිදි පිරිසක් දැනට අවුරුදු කීපයක සිට ලංකාවේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බව පැහැදිලිය. මෙවන් පිරිසක් මැද, ථෙරවාද බුදුදහමේ දහම් කරුණු විකෘති නොකොට, Chat GPT, AI තුලට යොමු කරනු ඇතැයි බලාපොරොත්තු තියා ගන්නට හැකි වගකීමක් ඇති පිරිසකගේ වගවීමක් ගැන මෙතෙක් ඇහෙන්නට නොලැබීම අපේ අවාසනාවය.

By Nalliah Thayabharan

The US is going isolationist while China is going the opposite way, what an exceptional  phenomenon. China was happy to buy instead of making their own chips, but the US cut them off. So China has to develop chips by themselves. Once they do, the US chip industry will suffer greatly. Chinese think long term, the US thinks quarter to quarter. China is actually adapting with realities and pragmatism, they’ve incorporated/embraced the best essence of democracy, socialism, capitalism, Communism, meritocracy, and confucianism.

The more the U.S., EU and their allies push China closer to the edge of a cliff, the more innovative and more global China would be, and even be more self-reliant in economic development and defense. China was not born 248 years ago.

The US expected China to fold like Japan did just after the Plaza Accords. The US is now in uncharted waters and doesn’t know what to do except double and triple down on failed policies. People in the west still think they are the “world”.

Americans are only 340 million people in a world of 8 billion people. China does not need the USA as more than Americans think China needs the USA. Do Americans have a replacement for the Chinese Market?

China is not interested in a trade war. The focus of China is not on the US. China has a new trading system and a new globalization network.

The USA can only shut off one channel, but China will reshuffle the other pieces and they will realign. In fact thanks to the blockade internal drive has never been as high in China and you have an entire nation going after the cutting edge technology. The objectives of the US trade War were to reduce Chinese exports to the US and thereby reduce the bilateral deficit or to mitigate China’s Global position in manufacturing. In that sense the US has totally failed since trade wars really accomplish very little except to hurt the countries involved. Going beyond that there are also unexpected consequences which is that it’s really been a long march since the first trade war where Chinese companies have already been braced for this new uncertainty and it has set off a globalization frenzy among Chinese companies.

If we look at the data in many major sectors, the majority of these Chinese companies have either already considered or already implemented going Global plans and that would not have taken place as rapidly had there not been the first time trade or tariff war.

Moreover if we look at the data, Chinese exports really seamlessly flowed away from the US to other countries and that is why currently Chinese exports are back at pre trade war levels. Chinese exports as a share of Global exports have actually even climbed up meanwhile the US share is declining which means that China is even more integrated in the global economy than in the past.  It’s not just the US that is the only country which China can export. China has a huge Market in the developing countries. China is selling to Europe and especially with Trump’s incoming presidency the potential to weaken the ties with the US allies in Europe means that there’s an opportunity for China to embrace to strengthen and to reinforce these relationships and create new ones – that’s what US-China trade war has accomplished.

This is a new trading system, a new globalization network which is not static; it’s dynamic. We are seeing a lot of countries around the world against this background of US-China competition, signing up new trade agreements; building new trade partners; reinforcing regional trade ties; and so on and so forth as a reaction and this is also what China is doing.

There’s a reshuffling dynamic optimization in  trading networks, financial networks or Technology networks because in the end it is no longer just uUS and China in this world; it is really a global economy. For all of these tactics or strategies or restrictions, there are always unintended consequences to consider and China is not a place where they would voluntarily just submit to these aggressions like Japan and Germany but would actually react to it.

If we look at historical cases at either sanctions or restrictions or export controls or all kinds of barriers to another country’s progress has ever worked. In fact most of the time they have backfired in so many historical episodes including the Spanish blockade of Portugal, where Portugal built an entire navy thanks to the blockade.  

In China there is a massive reaction to the technological restrictions. China used to comfortably import semiconductors from the USA.  Now all that demand is given to domestic companies which are seeing more profitability, more capability and more scope to invest in research and development and it’s really just pushing them; forcing them to accomplish something that they didn’t need to achieve before.

Internal drive has never been as high in China and you have an entire nation going after the cutting edge technology – this is coming from central to bottom but also bottom up where the local governments work with private sectors and entrepreneurs and forcing the private entrepreneurs who are actually the driving force of innovation to do more and give them more opportunities.

The world is much better where technology can be to a certain extent shared for the advancement of the entire global economy but in this context it is not as easy to just stop a very rapidly developing big nation with lots of engineers and hardworking people with big market access. It’s not possible to stall it – in fact you can spur them to achieve more.

First of all, the Chinese government’s response is first let the companies decide right; if it’s a mutually beneficial thing; they will go ahead with it. That’s up to them; shouldn’t be imposed from the government. This is capitalism – you’re trading one thing for another which is trading technology for market access and Chinese companies understand that very well.

If you look at the EV sector or the batteries, Chinese companies are heavily investing in Europe-  they’re setting up factories and joining ventures; shifting some of the production or research centers – not into the US but in Europe and that is good for both the Chinese companies and for Europe.

China is not interested in a trade War; China is not interested in engaging in more economic financial confrontations with the United States because it’s not going to be good for China and it’s not going to be good for the US either.

The majority of China’s economic challenges remain within the country – it’s internal. It’s not external –  the focus of China is not on the US contrary to the dangerous obsession with China in Washington DC.

China is going to be the world’s opportunity meaning China is going to open up widely, deeply broadly and even unilaterally if needed. China is going to impose zero tariffs on the least developed countries. That is a symbolic gesture of a big country trying to be part of a global story trying to lift up other countries in the network as well. This is a shifting paradigm, both geopolitically, and economically speaking, China’s approach make as many friends as possible – a very different approach from the US with President Trump pursuing a more anti-globalist anti-multilateralist Global strategy.

China is embracing the opportunities to create more alliances, forge more partners, new trading partners, and new economic collaborative possibilities around the world and it’s trying to come up with new paradigms. There is scope to create this new paradigm among developing countries because China is being more sensitive to the needs of developing countries. It is a learning curve of how to pursue strategies that really is a win-win situation for everyone but China is still very much embracing that win-win possibility rather than the Zero Sum concept.

The sooner Europeans stop being Washington’s lapdog, the better off Europeans are. China only has one country to compete, and that is China itself.

When the US could just as easily cooperate and prosper together, why does Washington keep talking about going to war with China?  How many countries has the USA been in wars with in the last forty years, and how many has China been involved in? The biggest employers in the US are military industries. The USA will have to find a different soul if it is to choose cooperation over confrontation. Even though the US was so much more powerful as compared to Vietnam and Afghanistan, the US lost both wars because the Vietnamese and the Talibans were fighting to unite their country whereas the US military were there to fight somebody’s war. So when it comes to Taiwan, which is part of China, the US will not win for sure for the same reason plus the fact that the country is as strong, if not stronger, than the US right now economically and military-wise.

If we look at the amount of investments that China has put in the world class infrastructure, ports, airports, roads, rail and so on and so forth that China has built, that kind of world class infrastructure reaps dividends, plus the Chinese Communist Party in many ways one of the most meritocratic organization in the world and the quality of mind of key Chinese policymakers has never been as good as it it today. If you have a government which have a remarkably good minds taking advantage of a world class infrastructure, we all will see the possibility of China maintaining good growth there.

If anybody has any doubts about the capacity of the Chinese mind to do well, look at the exam results of the Chinese students in any leading American university. Look at the list of PhDs that the Chinese come to collect. You see the success of the Chinese intellectual. Western education was developed for the Western mind, but one thing many people haven’t noticed is that in the last 15 years when you take western education and combine it with an Asian mind including the Chinese mind, it has an explosive effect. So the Asian are thriving with Western education and inevitably this is gonna fuel the rise of China in a big way.

The probability is very clear that if you have a country with a 1.4 billion human population which is China and a country of 335 million which is the United States, if the average Chinese can perform at 25% the level of the average American, China will have a bigger economy. And I’m confident that the average Chinese person can perform more than 25% the level of the average American.

Why is Washington worrying about the rise of China? The western countries have dominated the world in a quite unfair manner for decades. Asian and African countries prefer working with Chinese companies due to more reliability and fairness. The West should rethink themselves, and should step back from Washington’s militarism, which developed away from securing economic development to securing exploitation. Taiwan reunification with Motherland China is inevitable. No one should interfere in their family affairs. The One China Policy is very clear.

US hegemony in Asia has been TERRIBLE for Asia. Let’s look at the record.

The Korean War – around 5 million Koreans killed in a tiny country and most of the buildings destroyed by saturation fire-bombing, only to return to the status quo, with no clear winner.

The American War in Vietnam – up to 4 million Vietnamese killed, again with massive bombing and defoliant use against crops with long-lasting effects (‘Agent Orange’). The war was started by the US after they thwarted the 1954 Geneva Agreements, which would have reunited the country by 1956 following the Viet Minh defeat of the French colonialists aided by Washington at the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The US lost the war in 1975, but applied swingeing economic sanctions to Vietnam for many years afterwards – what a country! As is widely known, the neighbouring countries of Laos and Cambodia also suffered from devastating bombing and other war crimes committed by the US.

The US government and its allies, particularly Britain, acted to undermine and remove the government of President Sukarno, seen as too close to the USSR, leading to the ascension of President Suharto  in the 1960s and his thirty years of authoritarian rule. In the convoluted process, a massive genocide of suspected leftists and communists occurred, with around a million people killed. Vast numbers were also imprisoned and tortured without trial. These events have been largely covered up in western discourse.

China has never been a warmonger like the US. The people of Taiwan aside from the indigenous Ainu have full Chinese heritage – mainly from Fujian province, and each person/family have their ancestral home on the mainland.  It’s a deep-rooted cultural identity thing. War with Taiwan and spilling Chinese blood on both sides of the strait – NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

Also while China has been grumbling about Taiwan for the last 75 years, nothing happened and commerce just carries on, however the US and its acolytes would have you believe that China is about to invade Taiwan today and simultaneously go to war with Australia.  

The intended effect of this misinformation is threefold:  
1. to surround China with US military bases already in place to blockade China’s trade shipping routes in the South China sea,  a real threat. Look at what the US did to Iran….UN sanctions…
2. launch attacks on China from those bases,
3. keep selling enormous amounts of arms to the nearby countries because if they don’t buy and ‘China attacks them tomorrow’, the US won’t assist.  Sounds familiar?  It’s called extortion.

Australia then gets suckered into the AUKUS contract to pay billions for nuclear subs that will never be delivered, or if delivered, they’ll be defective and have decades-old technology.    Australia really needs to have a close look at its inept, short-sighted marriage to the US which is entirely capable of divorcing us at any time convenient to it and develop a wise inclusive foreign policy but of course it won’t.  

The US has adopted the one China policy, so why does the US want to defend Taiwan? Taiwan is a breakaway province of China, unification of Taiwan is unstoppable. China does not need to unify Taiwan by force. China could simply stop all trades (water, foods and essentials) with Taiwan and blockade Taiwan coast; that may achieve unification. The US has been waging wars all over the world because it is protected by a big body of ocean. With todays’ military might and capability, China’s supersonic missiles could reach the US. If the US decides to hit China mainland, China will retaliate by hitting the US mainland. It is a bloody no win situation for either party! The US Administration knows full well, but maintains the propaganda because US politicians want to make as much money as they can. They have basically lost faith with the US broken system! BTW, the US could not win over China in the Vietnam and Korean Wars some 50 years ago; How would the US win now?  The United States cannot win a war with China over Taiwan because the Chinese have very effectively developed the air and Maritime capabilities to deny the United States the capacity to project power to the waters around Taiwan which they used to take for granted now.

The US has relied on being the reserve currency but now the US itself is forcing countries away from its reserves by poor management and abuse of that status.

Western countries and the US Empire wouldn’t think in terms of win/lose.  China won’t “win” – China will thrive. To aim to “win” is entirely different from aiming to “thrive”.  To thrive isn’t about competition – the Western fixation. Thriving is about self-fulfilment.  To “win” is to stop when the opposition is bested.

It is much harder for the United States to preserve its primacy in East Asia. We’ve all been living with the rise of China for so long that we’ve stopped focusing on what a remarkable thing it is. Today China’s economy is 19% of global GDP whereas USA’s economy is 16% of global GDP. In 2035 China’s economy will be 24% of global GDP while USA’s economy is 14% of global GDP.

China’s economy is changing in composition as it matures and that really matters because throughout history strategic weight power does derive essentially from economic scale. Why was Britain the world’s strongest economy and the strongest power all through the 19th century because it had the biggest economy; why was America the world’s strongest power all through the 20th century because it had the biggest economy. So China is going to be the most powerful country in the world in the decades ahead. It’s the change in the distribution of wealth and power in the decades since the end of the Cold War which has been the biggest and fastest and most significant shift in distribution of wealth and power probably in human history.

Centre Stage

Sashi Tharoor – a political priority for India..
.. relevant for Sri Lanka as much as it is for India..
…policy our past dynastic political leaders chose to do otherwise…

NJ THAKURIA

Geneva: New Year has brought sad news for the Indian media fraternity as a young scribe was found murdered in Bijapur locality of Chhattisgarh State on Friday. Local media persons informed that the body of journalist Mukesh Chandrakar was recovered from a newly constructed septic tank belonging to an influential contractor based in Chattanpara area.  Mukesh (30), who made daring media reports on corruption and insurgency in central India, went missing on 1 January 2025 and his family members lodged a police complaint. A seasoned journalist, Mukesh used to run a YouTube channel named Bastar Junction and enjoyed millions of views.

It’s unfortunate that a young media person is seemingly targeted for his string reporting on powerful corrupt people.  Incidentally,  Mukesh Chandrakar becomes the first journalist to be killed this year across the world. We demand a fair probe to identify the culprits behind his killing and subsequent punishment under the law. PEC urges Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai to take personal interest to deliver justice to the bereaved scribe’s family as early as possible,” commented PEC president Blaise Lempen.

PEC’s south Asia representative Nava Thakuria informed that  Mukesh worked in several media outlets including a satellite news channel. He made a mark in investigative journalism while reporting on misappropriation of funds in various government projects in his locality. The courageous journalist also faced wrath from the ultra left insurgents, who remained active in Bastar district, and finally Mukesh established himself as a strong voice for the deprived section in the society.

The  global casualty of media workers reached 179 in 2024 across 25 countries. India maintained the number of journo-murders within 4 which is one more than the casualty reported in 2023. All the media victims reported last year from the central Indian region, where  Uttar Pradesh witnessed the killing of two journalists (Ashutosh Srivastava and Dilip Saini), followed by Bihar (Shivshankar Jha) and Madhya Pradesh (Salman Ali Khan).