{"id":135673,"date":"2023-07-16T15:54:28","date_gmt":"2023-07-16T22:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=135673"},"modified":"2023-07-16T15:54:28","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T22:54:28","slug":"us-world-bank-hangs-up-sri-lanka-telecom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/07\/16\/us-world-bank-hangs-up-sri-lanka-telecom\/","title":{"rendered":"US World Bank Hangs Up Sri Lanka\u00a0Telecom"},"content":{"rendered":"

e-Con e-News July 2023 Part 3<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Before you study the economics, study the economists!<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The US decided to undertake\u2026 an influence<\/em><\/strong> campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

behind the scenes, providing favors<\/strong>\u2026through grants,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

training grants<\/strong> & money<\/strong> for individuals involved<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in participating to get them to flip<\/strong> their decision\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stakeholders from China have left that project<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and have struck out on their own to try to construct<\/p>\n\n\n\n

what has been seemingly seen as competing cables<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

at the same time along similar routes<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key pressure point in this process is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is going to actually manufacture & lay the cable <\/strong>across the ocean?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not necessarily who\u2019s going to own the cable or where<\/strong> the cable is going to land<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(see ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATO-media outlet Thomson-Reuters<\/em> dates this cable drama as unfolding rapidly under cover of the covid roller-coaster of the last few years. ee<\/em><\/strong> gathers together here some English media bric-a-brac, which chose not to directly report on such underwater soundings at the time. We start with a grab of random historical references (especially about the ongoing attempt to monopolize the Indian Ocean<\/strong>), then to recent news about the financing & construction of telegraph & submarine cables<\/strong>. These sources could not or simply do not wish to flash some oxygen (to mix a metaphor) into the do-doings of those professing a \u2018free & open Indo-Pacific\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The story intrigues. Encapsulated within it is the perfidy of SLTelecom<\/strong>, whose privatization<\/strong> is hailed as a success<\/em> story \u2013 the hijacking of a public service done just as the move from landlines to mobile<\/strong> phones was being effected. Now it is being handed over to the World Bank!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     SLTelecom long refused to invest its vast profits in producing any equipment, much of which is imported via Japan. Japan\u2019s claim that Colombo Dockyard<\/strong> is Sri Lankan, to then demand government contracts,<\/strong> is also here examined. Colombo Dockyard apparently \u2018built\u2019 (actually, assembled!) a ship for Japan<\/em> to lay submarine cables<\/strong>. The local English media views industry as only children\u2019s building-block games<\/strong>! The \u2018cable\u2019 business has however always been linked to European imperialism and economic exploitation. ee<\/em><\/strong> has recalled the English sabotage of the boat-building industry. ee<\/em><\/strong> now records here again the supine and backward nature of Sri Lanka\u2019s grandly elocuted \u2018IT industry\u2019 \u2013 which does not make a screw! (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>, Fake Dockyards)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

here we whirl between rivers named red & yellow<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

a himalayan dance of fire pivots on our head<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

as about us waves from west & east are roiled<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

to dash on the rocks. o how they froth!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

time streams fast at the edges of the planet<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

as the receding tides of the beach<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

try drag us into the wider ocean<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last ee<\/em><\/strong> reported, the US \u2018compensated\u2019 & warned Sri Lanka Telecom and other country providers not to work with China\u2019s subsea project. Yet China produces and supplies the most modern and efficient internet submarine cabling. This production & supply<\/strong> is the main issue, not the English media-blasted charges about using the cables to spy on other countries. The \u2018English-built\u2019 Kandy Road still links plantation, fort and port. This very internet to which we are bound \u2013 hand, eye, ear & mind \u2013 is set up after all by the US military to primarily connect its researchers & suppliers \u2013 DARPANET, etc. Sigh. The US is always projecting<\/strong> its own grimy practices onto others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The US threats & bribes<\/strong> directed at forcing countries to submit to the US\u2019 monopoly over subsea cable routes, did not rate attention by free traders (who whinge about rule of law & laissez-faire) and the protectionists (who oppose encroachments on our sovereignty) \u2013 all radio silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     This submarine cable hullabaloo arrived midst all manner of \u2018digital\u2019 news: The Washington-based World Bank\u2019s International Finance Corporation <\/strong>has been \u2018selected\u2019 to \u2018help\u2019 sell off Sri Lanka Telecom, SriLankan Airlines, etc. The World Bank & their IFC already have their fingers deep in the orifices of the country\u2019s banks, openly manipulating the \u2018rigged\u2019 stock market, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 US financial ratings agency Fitch<\/strong> has fallen in love with us again. Fitch is \u2018positive\u2019 (not like an AIDS test but), about the government \u2018unbundling CEB\u2019s generation, transmission & distribution <\/strong>process by transferring CEB\u2019s resources to 14 companies<\/strong> established under the Companies Act as part of the country\u2019s energy sector reforms.\u2019 Let there be light?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The cabinet has also cleared an Indian-financed digital identity<\/strong> for every citizen, in addition to a national identity card \u2013 India promises 300million Indian rupees to this Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI) project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The IMF has threatened Sri Lanka to desist from taxing telecom providers<\/strong>. Digital multinationals should be paying at least a $100mn annually.<\/strong> A set of media-made-eminent economists \u2013 Stiglitz, Ghosh, Piketty \u2013 belonging to an NGO funded by the German & Norwegian state has kindly objected, on our behalf. The IMF has denied this. Very kind indeed! Yet the roots of our discontent lie deeper and relate to the prevention & sabotage of industrial production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Of all countries in South & Southeast Asia,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceylon has the most unstable<\/strong> economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present crisis in the country exhibits many features born of this instability<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026different in character from the earlier economic crises\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present crisis arises from a deeper cause\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present crisis is much more serious & much less temporary than earlier ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not a passing disturbance capable of adjustment. It is not possible to meet it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with relief schemes<\/strong> or other ad hoc remedies<\/strong>. In fact, it is fundamentally different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is of the greatest importance to understand this new fact about the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not caused by prices<\/strong> or demand for our gods<\/strong>, but by lack of produced wealth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question we have to ask is this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is production remaining static?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we not produce more?<\/em><\/strong>\u2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The Way Ahead <\/em>(Idiri Maga<\/em>), Introduction, SA Wickremasinghe, 1955<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ee<\/em><\/strong> was curious about the Communist Party of Sri Lanka<\/strong>\u2019s role in proposing the Mahaveli\u2019s revitalization back in the 1950s. Some readers have been led to believe the Mahaveli project was of colonial or UNP origin. ee<\/em><\/strong> is curious about the link between DJ Wimalasurendra\u2019s exertions to formulate an energy policy and his influence on later CP thought. This ee<\/em><\/strong> excerpts references to the Mahaveli\u2019s power in Wickremasinghe\u2019s Idiri Maga<\/em> classic (see, ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Sri Lanka must ensure adequate nutrition<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for pregnant, breastfeeding women: Amnesty International\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(see ee Sovereignty<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A child needs 2 packets of powdered milk per week\u2019 \u2013 Daily Mirror<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(ee Agriculture<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So!<\/em> The media is bullish<\/em> \u2013 that\u2019s stockmarket-speak for \u2018optimistic\u2019. Hard-to-please Fitch<\/strong> is optimistic about the Domestic Debt Restructuring (DDR) renamed DDO \u2013 removing \u2018restructuring\u2019 and adding \u2018optimization\u2019. Brilliant PR stuff, huh? And happier still is Fitch that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB)<\/strong> is being \u2018unbundled\u2019 to private companies. And duly the stock market doth sing hallelujah in falsetto to the IMF\u2019s dictat. And now, Amnesty International is giving Sri Lanka advice on breastfeeding! Maybe because the Minister of Agriculture <\/strong>is being breastfed by the World Bank<\/strong> and USAID\u2019s soya lobby<\/strong>. The Ministry of Education<\/strong> is similarly learning tuition lessons after hours. The WB sets their menu\u2026 um, curriculum. The UN World Food Program (WFP)<\/strong> has taken over the Ministry of Health<\/strong>\u2019s dentures chattering about diet and malnutrition. No caveats against imported gluten, Unilever\u2019s carcinogenic Astra Margarine or New Zealand\u2019s powdered milk, banned in their own countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     While the government sets about their \u2018labor reform\u2019, the UN International Labor Organisation (ILO) <\/strong>is promoting youthful \u2018disruptors\u2019 with the Ceylon Chamber<\/strong> of Commerce<\/strong> & the US government<\/strong>. The ILO is even teaching us to grind chilies! Those who daily deemed Gota a despot, now admire the suave callisthenics of Batalanda Wicka. US media outlet EconomyNext<\/em> <\/strong>has an earnest Englishman recounting India\u2019s independence struggle \u2013 full of the old orientalisms and the hookah fragrances of idealism. Maybe, the local brownies need to be reminded about the yards of indigenous airs they wrap themselves in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Amnesty Inc\u2019s<\/strong> latest concerns are timely. Dr Priyani Soysa, once hounded by Swiss Nestl\u00e9 for exposing their attempt to \u2018substitute\u2019 mother\u2019s milk, passed away a few months ago \u2013 with several obituaries but none recalling her monumental MNC (multinational corporation) battle (ee <\/em><\/strong>calls Soysa, Dr, cos she was a real doctor, albeit with the most human afflictions). Amnesty Inc was quiet then about such MNC moves. They\u2019re even more quiet now despite the ruckus. Nestl\u00e9 meanwhile, after posting record profits, has opted to go \u2018private\u2019, delisting from the stock market. Shareholders, some feel milked. Others creamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Since we cannot trust the English media to divulge the truth, we have to divine astrological signs to sense changes in the world. The Indian Foreign Secretary<\/strong> dropped by to meet the President. Then came Bollywood superstar Rajinikanth,<\/strong> plus the good news that \u2018top stars\u2019 are attending the Mrs India<\/strong> Inc Season 4 in Colombo! Does this stellar fog in this latitude of the Bay of Bengal augur greater turbulence? \u2013 to use a meteorological metaphor \u2013 as we approach the 2023rd<\/sup> twenties of July. Refer here to the annual markings to recall what some call \u2018Black July\u2019<\/strong> \u2013 yet we always see these & other such Julys (Julies?) as white: July 1980, July 1983, July 1987, July 2022. Why White Julys<\/strong>? Because we have always seen the old \u2018hidden hand\u2019 \u2013 an euphemism quite popular in the 1980s, when such horrors unfolded \u2013 to manifest the agenda of genuflection, evident in full array.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     News arrived this week that the US<\/strong> & Canada<\/strong> \u2013 another infamous Core Group<\/strong> \u2013 sponsors those gangs in Haiti,<\/strong> to pave the way for invasion (see ee Sovereignty<\/em><\/strong>, Caricom Caves). Such news shows why we have to go near full astrological, cos we do not have all the information, and only can read signs that barely manifest, at least openly, in the media. About Julys then and now and thenceforth. And as usual, with time, we get to see subtleties, nuances, facets and other vertebral narratives that put these apocryphal events in their time and place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Without economic freedoms to import something,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or transfer a legally earned rupee,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

grand plans to develop the country will come to nothing\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 ee Economists<\/em><\/strong>, US EconomyNext<\/em>\u2019s Bellwether<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 US state-owned media in Sri Lanka, EconomyNext<\/em> constantly harangues about \u2018free trade\u2019<\/strong>, and liberalizing imports<\/strong> & exports<\/strong>. This made ee<\/em><\/strong> recall the integral English & US \u2018free trade\u2019 in slaves<\/strong> & opium<\/strong>. After all, ee<\/em><\/strong> was busy catching up on news about China beginning to provide their own internet submarine cabling to Asia & Africa, which would be more advanced and built faster. The whites wish China will pack up and go home 15th<\/sup>C Ming-dynasty<\/strong> style, and leave the ocean open to the savagery & underdevelopment that the Portuguese & Spanish unleashed on these seas beginning about the 16th<\/sup>C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     ee<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s tale this week begins to look at the origins of European transgressions in the Oceans, named Indian and the Pacific. From the Atlantic Triangle Trade<\/strong> of chattel slavery<\/strong> \u2013 the largest commerce of the 16-19th<\/sup> century \u2013 to the largest triangle business in the 19th<\/sup> century: the English opium trade <\/strong>in the Indian Ocean, which brought us modernity by gunboat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The triangle of financing English manufactures, Indian opium and Chinese tea, give us background into the banking practices of Standard Chartered <\/strong>& HSBC<\/strong>. Here then are the origins of \u2018accounting\u2019 games played by \u2018exporters\u2019 of all kinds to bleed Sri Lanka \u2013 goods mostly \u2018assembled\u2019 via inflated imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     This week reinforced again the unreliability of economists. The Sunday Times<\/em>\u2019 Nimal Sanderatne admitted that contrary to the President & the Central Bank governor\u2019s promises<\/strong>,the \u2018EPF & ETF would suffer losses & retirement benefits of private sector employees would be eroded\u2019. Sanderatne attempts Churchillian charlatanry calling such promises \u2013 \u2018factual inexactitude\u2019 <\/strong>(see ee Economists<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     For such \u2018inexactitudes\u2019, we may have to thank the \u2018communication strategy\u2019 of London Ceylon Tobacco Co\u2019s Suresh Shah<\/strong>, who is the government pointman in charge of selling off government resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Meanwhile, over 100 academics<\/strong> have objected to the government undermining labor laws. Interestingly, they note the obsession with an \u2018export-oriented economy\u2019. Yet they notably avoid mentioning the IMF (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>). They observe: \u2018The economy of the plantations<\/strong> is on the cusp of change and the Malaiyaha worker<\/strong> is staring into a future of fragmentation\u2026\u2019 Why use the \u2018passive voice\u2019? Why not tell who is making the \u2018change\u2019. Don\u2019t they know? They may have forgotten the great English expertise in human resources bestowed upon this country\u2019s plantocracy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018During the whole of the 18th<\/sup>C, English slave traders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

furnished the sugar planters of France & Spain with half a million Negroes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

England was not only the foremost slave trading country in the world;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she had become\u2026 the \u2018honourable slave carriers\u2019 of her rivals\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1795 Liverpool<\/strong> alone had five-eighths of the English slave trade and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

three-sevenths of the whole European slave trade\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Eric Williams, Capitalism & Slavery<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1795 rings bells for us. English multinational Unilever now dominates Sri Lanka\u2019s economy, economically and culturally, and holds our home market hostage. Unilever is directly traced to the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa<\/strong> (later Royal African Company<\/strong>, now Unilever<\/strong>). The RAC shipped more African slaves to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade than any other company. Unilever\u2019s founder, chief patron to English Queen Victoria\u2019s Belgian cousin Leopold obtained control over palm oil production in the Congo & West Africa\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Incorporated in 1663 for a period of 1,000 years<\/strong>, 64 years after the East India Co (EIC) was set up, the RAC was founded by the beheaded Charles I\u2019s orphans \u2013 Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York. We now have one head hunter who is called Charles III. And the RAC\u2019s offshoots still cripple us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     In 1698 the Royal African Company <\/strong>lost its monopoly in slaving<\/strong>, and the right of a free trade in slaves<\/strong> was recognized as a fundamental & natural right of Englishmen<\/strong>. 90 years later, England\u2019s Privy Council Committee<\/strong> in 1788 paid special attention to the fact that, of the annual English export of slaves from Africa, two-thirds were disposed of to foreigners<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The East India Co too would in the 19th<\/sup>C lose its monopoly<\/strong>. Out of this arose the private merchants who then reassembled as Unilever in the 20th<\/sup>C. Unilever today outsources its production to 3rd<\/sup>-parties<\/strong> who appear \u2018independent\u2019 and thus defy the country\u2019s labor laws. They control media through advertising. Our academics have to use euphemisms, yet our politicians and media openly ensure Unilever\u2019s will will be done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

e-Con e-News July 2023 Part 3 \u2018Before you study the economics, study the economists!\u2019 * \u2018The US decided to undertake\u2026 an influence campaign behind the scenes, providing favors\u2026through grants, training grants & money for individuals involved in participating to get them to flip their decision\u2026 Stakeholders from China have left that project and have struck out on their own to try to construct […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135673","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=135673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}