{"id":121656,"date":"2021-12-30T18:16:51","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T01:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121656"},"modified":"2021-12-30T18:16:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-31T01:16:51","slug":"o-tempora-or-mores-shame-on-this-age-and-its-lost-principles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/12\/30\/o-tempora-or-mores-shame-on-this-age-and-its-lost-principles\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018O TEMPORA, OR MORES\u2019 SHAME ON THIS AGE AND ITS LOST PRINCIPLES\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

RANJITH SOYSA<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

In the month of December 2021. the President\nBiden invited 112 countries for the first summit on Democracy including the UK.\nThe President in his welcome address said <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \nWell, hello everyone, and welcome to the first Summit for Democracy. This gathering\nhas been on my mind for a long time for a simple reason: In the face of\nsustained and alarming challenges to democracy, universal human rights, and \u2014\nall around the world, democracy needs champions. And I wanted to host this summit because here is the \u2014 here in the\nUnited States, we know as well as anyone that renewing our democracy and\nstrengthening our democratic institutions requires constant effort.
\nAmerican democracy is an ongoing struggle to\nlive up to our highest ideals and to heal our divisions; to recommit ourselves\nto the founding idea of our nation captured in our Declaration of Independence,\nnot unlike many of your documents.  We say: We hold these truths to be\nself-evident\u201d that all women and men are created equal, endowed by their\nCreator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the\npursuit of happiness\u201d UK \u2018s Prime Minister said Democracy is not just and\nideal; it is the best practical way of creating the atmosphere of free inquiry\nthat allows genius to breathe,,, it has never been more vital strengthen to\ndemocracy at home and stand up for our principles abroad,,, \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their rhetoric in wishing to hold high the\nprinciples of democracy is nothing but a facade hiding the bitter  truth was made clear to the whole world when one\nexamines the USA\u2019s  handling of\nAfghanistan\u2019s frozen assets worth of 9.5 billion dollars  and the UK\u2019s refusal to release St Pounds 1.2\nbillion worth of gold bars of Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Both\ncountries are undergoing extreme difficulties. In Afghanistan nearly 14 million\ncivilians including children are facing near starvation and many of the aid\nagencies cannot operate within the borders as Talban administration is tagged\nas a terrorist regime. In Venezuela almost 90 percent of the 24 million are\nliving below the poverty line and the country had been hit by hyperinflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could the high priests of democracy hide\nbehind their \u2018hallowed\u2019 cloaks\u2019 and deprive the basic necessities of the human\nbeings living in two countries in the so called \u2018third world\u2019?. Isn\u2019t it day\nlight robbery to hold on to the funds and gold of the two countries whose\npeople are fighting to survive? If the \u2018good democratic values and intentions\u2019\nare forcing the millions to the  path\nof  destruction, we have to think twice\nof the sentiments expressed at the summit of Democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RANJITH SOYSA <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RANJITH SOYSA In the month of December 2021. the President Biden invited 112 countries for the first summit on Democracy including the UK. The President in his welcome address said   Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the first Summit for Democracy. This gathering has been on my mind for a long time for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ranjith-soysa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}