{"id":131709,"date":"2023-01-27T17:14:46","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T00:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=131709"},"modified":"2023-01-27T17:14:46","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T00:14:46","slug":"englands-standard-chartered-bank-blames-lanka-for-pussyfooting-on-selling-national-assets-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/01\/27\/englands-standard-chartered-bank-blames-lanka-for-pussyfooting-on-selling-national-assets-2\/","title":{"rendered":"England\u2019s Standard Chartered Bank Blames Lanka for Pussyfooting on Selling National\u00a0Assets"},"content":{"rendered":"

e-Con e-News<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

So why did a US Navy<\/strong> spy and expert in their \u2018Integrated Undersea Surveillance System\u2019<\/strong> meet our frangible fungible finance minister? What fortunes fee-fi-fo-fum<\/em> are being sniffed under the sea lanes? Is it coincidence that Sri Lanka this week announced it had finalized \u2018oil exploration rules<\/strong>, earmarking 900 offshore blocks\u2019 in the Mannar Basin in northwest Sri Lanka, which \u2018may\u2019 hold around $260billion worth of oil & gas resources? The US Navy Sopy appears just as the US is escalating war games in the region (see Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>, Japan).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe apparently met \u2018Rear Admiral Eileen Laubacher, the US National Security Council (NSC)\u2019s South Asia Senior Director\u2019, for matters more mundane: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the US \u2018enjoys effective veto power\u2019<\/strong> at the IMF\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the beast must be soothed\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u2018Any country seeking support from IMF will have to tackle the pressure exerted by the US with regard to the economic reforms,\u2019 editorializes the Daily Mirror<\/em>. So Semasinghe promised the US Navy spy Laubacher (\u2018Love\u2019s Baker?\u2019), that Sri Lanka is working \u2018to implement IMF-agreed economic and financial reforms\u2019. The US National Security Council Director then sang of the US government\u2019s \u2018shared values of democracy\u2019. (Semasinghe was accompanied by Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardhane, and Deputy Treasury Secretaries AK Senevirathne & RMP Rathnayake to assure bureaucratic fealty). Thus it came to pass:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Sri Lanka began a fresh austerity drive<\/strong> Monday,
freezing Government<\/strong> recruitment as new taxes<\/strong>
and higher electricity prices<\/strong> kicked in
with authorities trying to secure an IMF bailout<\/strong>\u2026
The IMF has also asked Colombo to trim
its 1.5million-strong public service<\/strong>,
sharply raise taxes<\/strong>
and sell off loss-making State enterprises<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations<\/strong> has also demanded \u2013 their IMF loan must fulfill 3 preconditions: making the Central Bank independent<\/em>, observing the rule of law<\/em>, and setting an effective anti-corruption machinery<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Despite all such US threats, the English media can merrily prattle over and over again that it is somehow China, which is blocking the IMF pittance. Then again, this is their job\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 England\u2019s Standard Chartered Bank<\/strong>\u2019s latest \u2018global\u2019 report on Sri Lanka sweeps away any pettifoggery about democracy: While declaring \u2018Polls could delay IMF deal progress, but won\u2019t cause large deviation from current policies<\/strong>\u2019 they insist: \u2018Polls or no polls, the risk of political unrest remains high in 2023.\u2019 They also accused the government of \u2018pussyfooting on State-owned Enterprise & other institutional sector reforms<\/strong>\u2019 (Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>). So let\u2019s recall: Standard Chartered\u2019s origins are in the Indian opium forced on China, in slavery, in apartheid\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 US Undersea spy<\/strong> Laubacher also met President Ranil Wickremesinghe on January 12. Here again, Laubacher was eager to hear the President elocute correctly in Royal College accents: the US government\u2019s IMF mantra, maritime matters, the narcotics trade\u2026 (Ranil may not have mentioned that the flooding of drugs is largely a high-net-worth product of US wars in the region, raging from Afghanistan to their infamous Southeast Asian \u2018golden triangle\u2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Laubacher met Minister of Energy Kanchana Wijesekera as well, who sang those global icing tunes of \u2018energy & climate goals\u2019, and Foreign Minister Ali Sabry who sang \u2018preserve human rights & promote reconciliation\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Laubacher was provided cover by US envoy Julie Chung, NSC Director<\/strong> for South Asia Regional Affairs Brian Luti, State Department Director<\/strong> of the Office of Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh Scott Urbom, Embassy Notetaker<\/strong> Daniel Moon, and USAID Acting Country Director<\/strong> Debra Mosel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Rear Admiral Laubacher <\/strong>surfaced her submarine in Colombo after dipping into Dhaka for a 4-day visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     In Bangladesh, media asked her about the US \u2018shifting to democracy & human rights from its war on terror policy.<\/strong>\u2019 Laubacher and other NSC representatives duly visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox\u2019s Bazar. The US has provided ~$1.9billion in \u2018humanitarian assistance\u2019 to support refugees, blaming \u2018the Burmese military\u2019 for \u2018this humanitarian crisis\u2019. Rohingya refugee camps are famed recruiting grounds for US mercenaries (recall the USA\u2019s initial covert war on Afghanistan).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
England\u2019s Standard Chartered Bank Blames Lanka for Pussyfooting on Selling National Assets<\/a><\/blockquote>