{"id":133448,"date":"2023-04-02T15:35:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T22:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=133448"},"modified":"2023-04-02T15:36:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T22:36:00","slug":"us-coup-expands-on-sri-lanka-state-sell-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/04\/02\/us-coup-expands-on-sri-lanka-state-sell-off\/","title":{"rendered":"US Coup Expands on Sri Lanka State\u00a0Sell-Off"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u2018But the question is whether the entire ouster [of President Gotabhaya Rajapakse in 2022]was\u00a0instigated & executed from scratch by the West<\/strong>\u00a0with the help of local quislings as has happened in so many other countries where the West successfully instigated regime changes or attempted them, from Chile to Bolivia, Iran, Libya, Syria etc, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they have the audacity to threaten regime change even in Russia! In spite of incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe being\u00a0legitimately elected<\/em> by parliament last July, discontent among the electorate is growing as claimed by the opposition. A major propaganda effort to depict the finalisation of the $2.9bn and the immediate availability of $333mn as a massive victory for the government went awry when State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya admitted that within 24 hours $121mn was paid to India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government seems to be trapped in its own propaganda & being silly.\u2019(see\u00a0ee Security<\/em><\/strong>, Govt responds in kind to retired Air Vice-Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha\u2019s salvo)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One year after the US-funded coup d\u2019etat aka \u2018aragalaya\u2019 escalated against an elected government \u2013 which had a curious inability to defend itself after being called all manner of strong-armed adjectives (see below) \u2013 the\u00a0new unelected regime has interdicted 20 Ceylon Petroleum Corporation<\/strong>\u00a0(CPC) workers on 29 March, for opposing the sale of the fuel retail market back to the oil companies. India\u2019s Oil Company (IOC) already has grabbed a major share. 2 of the 3 new companies are fronts for Rockefeller-behemoth\u00a0Exxon\u00a0<\/strong>(Australia-based United Petroleum), and Shell (US-based RM Parks), etc. Trade unions allege the recent energy tariff hikes are being implemented with the intent of \u2018unbundling the CEB by showing an artificial profit\u2019 via the tariff hike (see\u00a0ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0on the Rise & Sabotage of the CPC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 This\u00a0ee<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Focus<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0continues investigating the rise of a real energy industry (a state monopoly!) under white-settler South Africa, and its subsequent sabotage when Africans ostensibly gained political power in 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The local CEO \u2018of color\u2019 under England\u2019s Standard Chartered Bank suggests that the Rupee (LKR) <\/strong>appreciation before the IMF approval was recently appreciated artificially to add a neon-glow to the IMF loan, yet will thereafter depreciate 5-7% annually<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Rupee appreciated \u2018due to the\u00a0removal<\/strong>\u00a0of the\u00a0currency band<\/strong>\u00a0(limiting the exchange rate), mandatory conversion and the restriction of imports to $1.4billion monthly\u2019. He noted, Sri Lanka has to strike a balance in the exchange rate & such \u2018yo-yo\u2019 fluctuation seen recently is not good. He\u00a0wants \u2018double-digit interest rates<\/strong>\u2018,\u00a0because the US Federal Reserve offers 5%+ rates,<\/strong>\u00a0and \u2018makes it very easy\u2019 for investors to\u00a0park their Dollars in the US<\/strong>. (Standard Chartered Bank\u2019s roots, by the way, are in England opium wars on China & apartheid Southern Africa)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022\u00a0Depreciation<\/em>\u00a0is another word for stealing workers\u2019 wages,<\/strong>\u00a0unless it is linked to a modern industrial policy that upgrades workers\u2019 skills and living standards.\u00a0Depreciation\u00a0<\/strong>also means more income must be paid to service the demanded interest and amortization payments on foreign debt. The problem some analysts say is, \u2018Sri Lankan productivity does not reflect its currency\u2019. Besides, there are many \u2018inhibited assets\u2019 due to elevated currency. \u2018Our exports are very unattractive with the current price schemes.\u2019 Indeed, depreciation alone will not necessarily lead to higher asset quality or investment in higher productivity, etc, but will surely depress wages\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The Supreme Court is due to deliver the verdict on the petitions filed against the Central Bank (Amendment) Bill\u00a0confidentially to the Speaker of the Parliament<\/strong>, in the coming days after the petition [by several parties including Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila & National Democratic Front leader Wimal Weerawansa] against the bill was taken up before Supreme Court justices Priyantha Jayawardene, Kumuduni Wickramasinghe and Arjuna Obeysekere on 24 March. Justice Jayawardene said, the hearing of these petitions will be\u00a0completed in 2 days<\/strong>. Indeed, to counter the oppositional petitions, and bolster the IMF\u2019s demand, intervening petitioners including\u00a0Suwa Seriya Foundation\u00a0<\/strong>Chair Dumindra Ratnayaka,\u00a0Fintrex Finance<\/strong>\u00a0Chair Ajit Gunawardene and others claim the proposed bill enshrines the people\u2019s inalienable sovereignty as provided by Articles 3 & 4 of the constitution. (see\u00a0ee Economy<\/em><\/strong>, 5 intervening petitions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 ee<\/em><\/strong> Takes a Break<\/strong> \u2013 After 261 weekly ee<\/em><\/strong>s, uninterrupted by tempests, personal, political and meteorological, we must now take a break due to challenges intractable though possibly soon overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     ee <\/em><\/strong>has tirelessly (& even tiresomely) sought to inject the crying need for modern industrialization (MI) into a national conversation monopolized by merchant and moneylender media on behalf of their foreign multinational sponsors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     This merchant media\u2019s mandate is to totally ignore, ridicule, or distort the need for production based on MI. This attack on MI has spanned our almost entire colonial history. The still-colonial media\u2019s job is to instead point fingers elsewhere: deficits, balance of payments, lack of foreign investment, corruption, etc. The US is demanding that investigations into corruption be limited to the post-2018 period.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Yet, this media is far more corrupt than any other institution in the country. When unable to refute the need for MI they then caricature MI as manufacture, assembly, even handicraft, etc; and even importers call their racket, \u2018industries\u2019 (see ee Industry<\/em><\/strong>, \u2018Auto industry requests quota system from govt to resume vehicle imports\u2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Indeed this auto \u2018industry\u2019 meeting was (related in a different news story) a breakfast forum organized by the Ceylon Motor Traders Association, <\/strong>where Japanese envoy Hideaki Mizukoshi in Colombo acted wounded about \u2018reviving\u2019 the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, \u2018abruptly terminated by the previous government\u2019. Adding haughtily, \u2018it all depends on how the reforms of the Sri Lankan government go and whether Sri Lanka can regain the trust from the Japanese government & business community<\/strong>\u2019. The story claims the \u2018JICA loan facility, given its favourable conditions, [included] low-interest rates and grace period of 12 years\u2019. These are of course myths. The truth is these loans further underdevelopment. We have no media that will detail how much of this debt is to pay for used Japanese-made machinery, goods & services (IPR etc), never allowed to be made or provided here (see ee Building Blocks<\/em><\/strong>, Japan\u2019s Limits on Industrial Exports<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Then there is this misleading headline: Selyn<\/em> <\/em><\/strong>pioneers<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>blockchain technology<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>with London College of Fashion<\/em>. Which turns out, it\u2019s: \u2018Sweden\u2019s PaperTale<\/strong>, a blockchain technology company\u2019 which \u2018maximises transparency and traceability in the production process\u2019. All these \u2018celebrity\u2019 Sri Lankan \u2018designers\u2019 who claim it\u2019s an \u2018equal partnership\u2019 merely use<\/strong> these machines and are not allowed even near designing and producing the technology aka making machines (ee Industry<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     An ee <\/em><\/strong>reader drew our attention to an EUSL Energy project (Europe-SL Capacity Building in Energy Circular Economy), which is offering an MSc Degree Program at Open University in collaboration with <\/strong>the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), CentraleSupelec (France), University of Twente (Netherlands)\u2019. Will they be sharing real technical knowhow? (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>, SBD de Silva\u2019s take on the new multilateral imperialism)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Meanwhile, imperialists are hiding behind all manner of whitewash, greenwash, blackwash and genital wash: The\u00a0EU Ambassador proclaimed this week that a new regulation will replace their GSP Plus with \u2018environmental protection\u2019<\/strong>. Apparently, \u2018the 24th meeting of the\u00a0EU-SL Joint Commission\u00a0<\/strong>in February in Brussels focused on democracy, governance, rule of law, human rights, including the rights of minorities, women, children and labour rights, and freedom of expression and association.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even if Germany\u2019s leader Angela Merkel had to resign under US threat to expose her lesbianism (see last\u00a0ee<\/em><\/strong>), despite having served the US so well, there\u2019s the German medical and pharmaceutical device multinational\u00a0B Braun<\/strong>\u2019s (female) managing director delivering the keynote speech at\u00a0Daily FT-Interbrand Women\u2019s Day gala<\/em>\u00a0next Friday, April 7, at Cinnamon Grand. Having captured International Women\u2019s Day, corporations have decided to change the date as well?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Keep hand plucking<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 \u2018The government spent nearly Rs350billion on defence, Rs300million for education, another Rs300mn for health, but only Rs10mn for industrial development\u2019\u2013 Plantation Industries Minister Ramesh Pathirana addressing the \u2018Food Research Presentation & Network Forum in Colombo (ee Industry<\/em><\/strong>, Govt allocate funds for education, health, not for industrial development). No dates provided for this statistic. However, readers can be assured, the so-called tea \u2018industry\u2019\u00a0<\/em>has no plans to change their slavish practices of almost 200 years now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 There is little media however on how the IMF<\/strong> loans announced last week come at an extremely high interest rate<\/strong>, like the International Sovereign Bonds, which in actuality flung the country into further servitude. Nor does the media point out that once the new Central Bank Act is passed \u2013 preventing the country from controlling its money flow \u2013 Sri Lanka will only have to depend on these same high-interest ISBs, whose main borrower was the Central Bank under former CB governor Indrajith Coomaraswamy, who is now quarterbacking the robbery of the Central Bank again. The utter falsehoods about \u2018robust social protection\u2019 under direct target cash transfer \u2013 especially after the removal of the food subsidy \u2013 will result in inflation further diminishing people\u2019s income. The IMF\u2019s allocation of 0.6% of GDP for social protection gives lies to their claims of \u2018robustness\u2019. Their PR strategy is clear: State Minister of Finance Siyambalapitiya told Parliament on Wednesday, \u2018We need<\/strong> to provide relief to poor and vulnerable groups initially<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Full Story<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
US Coup Expands on Sri Lanka State Sell-Off<\/a><\/blockquote>