{"id":131711,"date":"2023-01-27T17:18:58","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T00:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=131711"},"modified":"2023-01-27T17:18:58","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T00:18:58","slug":"sri-lanka-under-siege-by-us-cowboys-indian-sahibs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/01\/27\/sri-lanka-under-siege-by-us-cowboys-indian-sahibs\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka under Siege by US Cowboys & Indian\u00a0Sahibs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

What is the relationship between the 19th<\/sup>-century origins of the Bank of Ceylon<\/strong> (BoC) and the Oriental Bank Corporation<\/strong> (OBC). The BoC & OBC were first set up by the English to exploit Sri Lanka\u2019s recently stolen lands and impose the coffee plantations,. Their HR (Human Resources, ahem) expertise was  based on American (yes, this term includes the Caribbean) chattel slavery. The OBC in 1863 effected \u2018the largest transfer of property ever in Ceylon\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OBC later lent 500,000 silver dollars in 1868 to the Japanese government
\u2018to finance its path of modernization\u2019, to industrialization,
as ee<\/em><\/strong> reported last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That loan to Japan did not prevent the Oriental Bank Corporation from soon declaring bankruptcy. So where did the interest from that huge loan of silver dollars go? And what did all this have to do with setting up an English spy network alongside its mercantile \u2018agency houses<\/strong>\u2019? (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 India\u2019s Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar<\/strong> buzzed in to Colombo imposing the usual conditions for India\u2019s support for the US IMF\u2019s debt restructuring. The IMF wishes to delay any assistance as long as possible to buy off some of Sri Lanka\u2019s top national assets for a song (a rock\u2019n\u2019roll dirge perhaps?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In exchange for India\u2019s playing along with Washington, Sri Lanka has to fully implement the 13th<\/sup> Amendment<\/strong> imposed by the bloody 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord<\/strong>. Sri Lanka will also have to conduct local government<\/strong> elections \u2018as soon as possible\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  India itself could not fulfill its own part of the accord and disarm the Tigers<\/strong> they armed and trained. The media refuses to mention these discomfiting truths. Nor was there any clamor for \u2018local elections\u2019 when the US- and Indian-installed Yahapalana regime kept postponing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 More and more questions are now being asked about the so-called bankruptcy declared by the present Central Bank leadership. And also about the demand to rob national assets for a mere $3billion bailout by the IMF (see ee Economists<\/em><\/strong>, $53 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  This week, it was reported that the IMF is purposely delaying their pittance, so as to get the best discounts from a Sri Lanka driven to & up the wall (see ee Economists<\/em><\/strong>, Jayati Ghosh). Delay was the IMF tactic & playbook in the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis also. (ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said $53billion has been stolen from the country by the Import-Export sector<\/strong>. The Central Bank after promising to demand the return of these dollars, apparently participated in a flimsy coverup claiming exporters had returned 2 months\u2019 worth of dollars! (ee Economists<\/em><\/strong>, $53 billion)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 As if to reinforce India\u2019s imperial dictat, a US warship sailed into Colombo harbor to take part in war games with a Japanese shiba (poodle?) in tow, from January 19-26. There was no hullabaloo, not even a whimper, yelp or squeak by the anti-social media, only so prickly about China\u2019s \u2018intrusions\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0 This week\u2019s US & Japanese naval and aerial war games will also intrude into strategic\u00a0Trincomalee<\/strong>\u00a0and energy-rich\u00a0Mannar<\/strong>\u00a0(Mullikullam<\/strong>). The US & Japanese warships splash in the tinkling of US naval spy chief \u2018Rear Admiral\u2019\u00a0Eileen Laubacher<\/strong>\u2019s visit last week.\u00a0 As noted, Laubacher, the US \u2018National Security Council<\/strong>\u00a0(NSC)\u2019s South Asia Senior Director\u2019, is an expert in their \u2018Integrated Undersea Surveillance System<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sri Lanka under Siege by US Cowboys & Indian Sahibs<\/a><\/blockquote>