{"id":136993,"date":"2023-09-10T17:52:49","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T00:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=136993"},"modified":"2023-09-10T17:52:49","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T00:52:49","slug":"sri-lankas-great-sands-why-white-lies-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/09\/10\/sri-lankas-great-sands-why-white-lies-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka\u2019s Great Sands &amp; Why White Lies\u00a0Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/eesrilanka.wordpress.com\/\" data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\">e-Con e-News<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/eesrilanka.files.wordpress.com\/2023\/09\/e23s2.png?w=576\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018<em>Before you study the economics, study the economists!<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>e-Con e-News September 2023 Part 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018Without&nbsp;<strong>concrete<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>copper<\/strong>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<strong>fibre optics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>there would be&nbsp;<strong>no data centres<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>no electricity<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>no internet<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The world would not end if&nbsp;<em>Twitter<\/em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>Instagram<\/em>&nbsp;suddenly<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ceased to exist; if we suddenly ran out of&nbsp;<strong>steel<\/strong>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<strong>natural gas<\/strong>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>however, that would be a very different story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2019,&nbsp;<strong>the world<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>mined, dug &amp; blasted<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>more than everything extracted from the dawn<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>of humanity all the way through to 1950\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For every ton of fossil fuels, the world mines 6 tons of other materials<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2013 mostly&nbsp;<strong>sand<\/strong>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<strong>stone<\/strong>, but also&nbsp;<strong>metals<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>salts<\/strong>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<strong>chemicals<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>6 key materials\u2026 drive the world economy in the 21<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;century:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>sand<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>salt<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>iron<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>copper<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>oil<\/strong>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<strong>lithium<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are the most widely used &amp; the very hardest to replace\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2013 see&nbsp;<strong><em>ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>, Stuff Matters<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Midst all the hip &amp; hype of the virtual &amp; the artificial \u2013 the human &amp; the material still rule. The proletariat &amp; its promise still real. 50 years ago, the USA with several million dollars from the&nbsp;<strong>International Telephone &amp; Telegraph Corporation (ITT)&nbsp;<\/strong>launched a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat to prevent the nationalization of the&nbsp;<strong>copper<\/strong>&nbsp;mines of&nbsp;<strong>Chile<\/strong>&nbsp;(world\u2019s largest producer of raw copper), and massacre 10,000s of supporters. Ironically, that popularly elected government was a pioneer in the socialization of an early internet to plan the national economy \u2013&nbsp;<strong>Project Cybersyn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This September 2023 also marks&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s oncoming 6<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;year of weekly collection &amp; analysis of the English news, seeking to keep our eyes on what is called \u2018<strong>the real economy<\/strong>\u2019.&nbsp;<strong>Sand &amp; steel is the basis of concrete &amp; glass, and industry<\/strong>, so it is no surprise that all eyes turn to that delta of the great sands of the River Mahaveli \u2013&nbsp;<strong>Trincomalee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Three years ago,&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;wrote: \u2018An economic tsunami (blamed on \u2013 but&nbsp;<strong>more insidious<\/strong>&nbsp;than \u2013 the pandemic) thunders towards us from the horizon, already swirling around our feet. The crying need of the hour is for a cultural revolution to mobilize all the people to defeat all imperialist conspiracies being sprung as we write.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That was in the flush of a national election \u2018landslide\u2019, which&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;hoped signaled \u2018another moment for a national renaissance\u2019.&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;urged: \u2018Not a second should be wasted.\u2019 And&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;evoked \u2018The Ghost of Philip Gunawardena &amp; the Cry for a Cultural Revolution\u2019 (<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;08 August 2020). A real \u2018cultural revolution\u2019 turns out to be not just about culture, as machine-brain&nbsp;<em>ChatGPT<\/em>&nbsp;inadvertently admits (see&nbsp;<strong><em>ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018Gifford Pinchot, a eugenicist, first coined the term \u2018conservation\u2019, deriving it from a term used by the English in their colonial management of India! The eugenicists sought not only to \u2018scientifically prove\u2019 the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race, and thus its right &amp; responsibility to rule the Earth, but also the&nbsp;<strong>incapacity of the \u2018lesser races\u2019 to utilize technology or govern themselves<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; The English were in full agreement with Hitler on most issues, including the threat posed by&nbsp;<strong>Asian development<\/strong>. When Hitler met with Lord Lothian on Jan 29, 1935, Lothian had recently completed a term as&nbsp;<strong>Undersecretary of State for India<\/strong>, directing the repression of India\u2019s nationalist leaders, Gandhi &amp; Nehru, just after Lothian\u2019s close collaborator&nbsp;<strong>Lord Halifax<\/strong>&nbsp;had been Viceroy. Hitler knew he was speaking to a member of the inner circle of the Empire when he suggested to Lothian: \u2018Germany, England, France, Italy, America &amp; Scandinavia\u2026 should arrive at some agreement whereby they would&nbsp;<strong>prevent their nationals from assisting in the industrializing of countries<\/strong>&nbsp;such as China, and India.&nbsp;<strong>It is suicidal to promote the establishment in the agricultural countries of Asia of manufacturing industries<\/strong>\u2019.\u2019 (Sir James RM Butler,&nbsp;<em>Lord Lothian<\/em>) \u2013&nbsp;<strong><em>ee Sovereignty<\/em><\/strong>, Cecil Rhodes, the Roundtable Movement &amp; Eugenics<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US &amp; India, \u2018taking over\u2019 as it were, threatening to invade &amp; carve up the land (what else is new?) \u2013 this tsunami threatens to knock us off our feet. They will of course be defeated. It is therefore fitting to recall the lessons from the turn to this 21<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;century, and what we are up against:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018The&nbsp;<strong>USA<\/strong>&nbsp;is the dominant capitalist power in the world<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>and they want to&nbsp;<strong>dominate the world\u2019s resources &amp; finances<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If they cannot do it through peaceful means &amp; bribes, they will do it&nbsp;<strong>through war<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\u2019s what they\u2019ve been doing since they were founded in 1776.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The attack on Yugoslavia was to deliberately break it up. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because Yugoslav leader Milosevich refused to accept the diktats given to him<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>in Rambouillet, France, a few months before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>US Foreign Secretary Madeleine Albright gave him a list of 40 demands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yugoslavia had to be converted from a socialist into a capitalist society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instantly. They had to agree to its occupation by NATO troops, etc\u2026 Basically:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018You surrender &amp; we will occupy you. He refused. That is when they began bombing\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My 1<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;question to my client (Milosevich) was why the US wished to go after him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He replied, \u2018I am a communist, and I told the Americans to go fuck themselves.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Milosevich warned the Russians he was being poisoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They eventually murdered him in the Hague\u2019s International Criminal Court jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the fall of the Soviet Union,&nbsp;<strong>they wanted to break up the last socialist state in Europe<\/strong>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>the capitalists didn\u2019t want it there as an example. And there were economic reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They wanted to destroy Yugoslav industries. They used to produce their own cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Zastava car manufacturing plant was bombed 4 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So&nbsp;<strong>now they don\u2019t make cars anymore<\/strong>. They have to buy Peugeots and<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mercedes Benzes &amp; Volkswagens from Germany &amp; France, who make their own vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So like mafioso you go &amp; destroy their stuff and tell them you have to buy our stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the breakup of the USSR, they began moving into the Balkans<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>and the&nbsp;<strong>Great Lakes<\/strong>&nbsp;in Africa (Rwanda, Congo), to control the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They said, \u2018We don\u2019t have the Russians intervening to help anybody,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>so we\u2019re going to move\u2026\u2019 That is what they keep doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They keep getting defeated, but they create a lot of pain &amp; suffering\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2013 Chris Black, Threatened by the CIA, Are You a Lawyer or a Devil?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018There is always something new out of Africa\u2019 \u2013 early learners of Latin are taught \u2013&nbsp;<em>\u2018Semper aliquid novi Africam adferre\u2019<\/em>&nbsp;\u2013 so records&nbsp;<strong>Pliny the Elder<\/strong>&nbsp;(AD 23-79) in his&nbsp;<em>Historia Naturalis<\/em>. By the way, this is the same Pliny who recorded the \u2018first trade mission\u2019 from Taprobane of 4 Buddhist monks to the Roman court. Pliny interviewed one Lankan Ambassador, noting the envoy\u2019s father had been ambassador to China. Lanka\u2019s Roman trade soon increased. As did Rome\u2019s trade with Nanjing, China. Rome had deciphered the monsoons. So what else is new? Yet our relations with Africa are much older than with Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; These days all the new things out of Africa appear to be the latest imperialist strategies (or so this \u2018global\u2019 media makes out) arising out of the spread of US military bases in Africa \u2013 accelerated under that white man with a tan, B Obama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Eritreans living in Europe &amp; Europe\u2019s settler states (US, Canada; Israel, now threatening to deport all Africans!) have been subjected to violent attacks in recent weeks. These \u2018incidents\u2019 are coordinated by English &amp; US \u2018conflict entrepreneurs\u2019, NGOS, etc, who make a living off creating turmoil, cliques bearing great similarity to Sri Lanka, and how \u2018diasporas\u2019 &amp; \u2018refugees\u2019 etc, are manipulated. In 2018, Eritrea, Ethiopia &amp; Somalia pledged unity &amp; peace. This upset US &amp; EU plans for the Horn of Africa &amp; the Nile Basin (see&nbsp;<strong><em>ee Sovereignty<\/em><\/strong>, Eritrean Festivals under Attack &amp; Integrating the Horn of Africa).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;carries excerpts about what recently transpired in&nbsp;<strong>Rwanda<\/strong>&nbsp;(gateway to the Congo), and before that in&nbsp;<strong>Yugoslavia<\/strong>&nbsp;(\u2018the last socialist state in Europe\u2019). In Serbia, how one of the oldest automobile factories in Europe was bombed 4 times by NATO. As for Rwanda, it is ruled by a minority, and the English call it a \u2018model democracy\u2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 \u2018The&nbsp;<strong>Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)<\/strong>, a Tutsi militia from Uganda, invaded Rwanda in 1990. All these \u2018rebel\u2019 RPF forces were part of the Uganda National Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Under the pressure of RPF invasion in 1992, the Rwandan government at that time was forced by the US &amp; France to give up their&nbsp;<strong>one-party semi-socialist state<\/strong>&nbsp;(ruled by MRND: National Revolutionary Movement for Development) and turn the country into a&nbsp;<strong>multiparty state<\/strong>&nbsp;in 1992. The government now became a mixed government of the minority Tutsi &amp; majority Hutu people, with top Tutsi ministers linked to the invading forces\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The French left Rwanda in 1993. The RPF did not like the French. In 1993 there was a ceasefire. The UN sent in forces to protect that ceasefire. They then had elections. But the invading forces, and the US, Canadian &amp; Belgian forces, knew the RPF could never win the elections. So they decided to attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In April 1994, the RPF shot down the planes of 2 Presidents, of Rwanda &amp; Burundi. The English media blamed the Hutu. Yet, the RPF had the help of the Belgians, and the Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, who helped them shoot down the planes. The missiles were assembled in a hangar rented out by the CIA. All these NATO countries were involved: To make the government look bad, they broadcast that Hutu extremists shot down their own Presidents. It was a false-flag operation. The day after the planes were shot down, Paul Kagame, leader of RPF, sent out a broadcast in Swahili to his forces in the field saying, \u2018We killed the president, we are going to win the war. We have the help of the Belgians &amp; the Canadians.\u2019 Kagame, who led the RPF invasion, was Deputy Head of Intelligence for the Ugandan National Army (later installed as Rwanda President in 2000).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The trial had investigators like Australian lawyer Michael Hourigan, an investigator for the Canadian prosecutor Louise Arbour to investigate the shootdown. He found out it was the RPF. He spoke to the people involved. He had documents, had proof. He told Louise Arbour it was the RPF. She invited him to the Hague to deliver the information. It was on a disk. He was&nbsp;<strong>told to kill the investigation<\/strong>. Louise Arbour covered up that the RPF shot down that plane. She is an accomplice to mass murder. 25 people: the first massacre of 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That same night the planes were shot down there were attacks across the country. US C130 Hercules dropped men &amp; supplies to the RPF. The Belgians &amp; other units had taken control of the hills around Kigali, and now gave them over to the RPF (as well as water, medicine, logistics, supplies, ammunition) to dominate the city from above. They walked away, then the RPF walked in. The Rwandan army had simply run out of ammunition and had to surrender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Paul Kagame took over as Rwanda President. Kagame told their troops they had the&nbsp;<strong>help of the English, US &amp; Belgian intelligence services, who will help enable an invasion of the Congo<\/strong>. Two months later, they attacked the Congo.&nbsp;<strong>Rwanda is the doorway to the Congo<\/strong>. The US wants to break up the Congo into 3 pieces. They wanted to take Katanga, full of minerals, away from the Congo. Get their mining companies in &amp; minerals out without paying royalties. Mobotu had been put in by the US after the assassination of Lumumba. In the few years preceding this, Mobotu had begun making deals with China. The US did not like that. So they wanted him gone. They wanted to use Rwanda as a base to kick Mobutu out. The Hutu Rwanda government said no\u2026 It was a&nbsp;<strong>war for the Congo\u2019s immense wealth<\/strong>&nbsp;(used for all the latest modern gadgetry) which has not been allowed to enrich the 50 million Congo people, though could be done easily. The war was also a war between the US &amp; France for the control of Central Africa. The US succeeded in kicking the French out of Central Africa. Belgium was the colonial power in Rwanda. Most of those killed were Hutu. But the&nbsp;<strong>world was told the opposite<\/strong>\u2026\u2019 (Continued in&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<strong><em>Quotes<\/em><\/strong>, Chris Black, lawyer who represented Hutu officials accused of \u2018genocide\u2019, &amp; Milosevic. Above excerpts from 2017 video, see&nbsp;<strong><em>ee Sovereignty<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022 A gaggle of Dutch ladies led by a Dutch Minister, also a lady<\/strong>, arrived in Sri Lanka, carrying an ornate Sinhala cannon, and some swords &amp; knives. They said the Dutch had stolen them. They call it an \u2018<em>involuntary loss<\/em>&nbsp;of objects\u2019 \u2013 in 1765.&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;checked on 1765 and \u2013&nbsp;<em>o mijn god<\/em>&nbsp;(OMG) \u2013 they sure stole a lot that year! And not just in 1765\u2026 So what brings these penitent Burgher grand dames here at this hour? (see&nbsp;<strong><em>Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>). The Hague is where Black criminals who fail to follow IMF (Washington) &amp; UNHRC (Geneva) diktat, are tried, and murdered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By the way,&nbsp;<strong><em>ee&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>asked&nbsp;<em>ChatGPT<\/em>:&nbsp;<strong>How much have the Dutch stolen from Sri Lanka?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &amp; replying in their best yankee double-de-gook of apologia \u2013&nbsp;<strong><em>ChatGPT&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>replied: \u2018The interaction between the Dutch colonial presence in Sri Lanka and the concept of \u2018<em>stealing<\/em>\u2019 is a&nbsp;<em>complex historical matter<\/em>. During the period of Dutch colonial rule in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), which lasted from 1640-1796, there were undoubtedly economic &amp; resource-related exchanges\u2026 However, it\u2019s essential to understand that the&nbsp;<em>dynamics of colonialism encompass a range of interactions beyond a simple notion of theft<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Assessing the exact value of what might be considered \u2018stolen\u2019 can be challenging due to the historical context, the passage of time, and varying perspectives\u2026 attributing a specific monetary value to what was taken or gained is a&nbsp;<strong>complex<\/strong>&nbsp;endeavor.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>: But we wish to know how much wealth they extracted from Sri Lanka?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong><em>ChatGPT<\/em><\/strong>: \u2018Determining an exact figure for the wealth extracted by the Dutch colonial administration from Sri Lanka is a&nbsp;<strong>challenging<\/strong>&nbsp;task\u2026 Lack of Comprehensive Records\u2026 Complex Economic Activities\u2026Changing Values over Time\u2026Varying Perspectives\u2026Local &amp; Colonial Factors\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>: OK, tell us how much they extracted in value in just trade alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong><em>ChatGPT<\/em><\/strong>: \u2018Pinpointing an exact value for the wealth extracted from Sri Lanka through trade during the Dutch colonial period is a difficult task\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So you get the drift?&nbsp;<em>ChatGPT<\/em>&nbsp;is a stinky running dog\u2026&nbsp;<em>bowwow GPT<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;continues our battle with fake AI \u2013 humans dressed up as machines \u2013 transborgs. An avid&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;critic asked&nbsp;<strong><em>ee<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;to do battle with AI, and reveal its ideological underpinnings as a capitalist (chat-i-palist? chapati-list?) running dog. We therefore began with Sri Lanka\u2019s need to capture our home market from Unilever, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Export-oriented industrialization (EOI) remains the capitalist gospel of the day. While imperialist countries are closing their markets down, reshoring &amp; friend-shoring, etc, the gospel for EOI screeches even higher. And AI is no different. Yet no matter the AI hype, no matter the ups &amp; down, China &amp; Russia &amp; other socialist countries have lessons to offer us, teach us of how to really rebuild a country. What matters. All other development \u2018narratives\u2019 are pure white lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>e-Con e-News \u2018Before you study the economics, study the economists!\u2019 e-Con e-News September 2023 Part 2 * \u2018Without&nbsp;concrete,&nbsp;copper&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;fibre optics there would be&nbsp;no data centres,&nbsp;no electricity,&nbsp;no internet\u2026 The world would not end if&nbsp;Twitter&nbsp;or&nbsp;Instagram&nbsp;suddenly ceased to exist; if we suddenly ran out of&nbsp;steel&nbsp;or&nbsp;natural gas, however, that would be a very different story. In 2019,&nbsp;the world&nbsp;mined, dug &amp; [&hellip;]<\/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-136993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136993","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=136993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}