{"id":145864,"date":"2024-11-17T16:51:51","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T23:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=145864"},"modified":"2024-11-17T16:51:51","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T23:51:51","slug":"us-indian-warships-in-colombo-to-sink-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2024\/11\/17\/us-indian-warships-in-colombo-to-sink-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"US & Indian Warships in Colombo to Sink\u00a0Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

e-Con e-News<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

e-Con e-News 10-16 November 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 US and Indian warships \u2013 the Indian submarine INS Vela<\/em> <\/strong>and the USS destroyer Michael Murphy<\/em> <\/strong>\u2013 sail into Colombo, one after the Presidential election, and one after the Parliamentary election, a week apart. Our innumerable political and economic crystal-ball gazers (drunk on dollar stipends) fail to tell us what this belligerence truly portends\u2026 Leaders and media have to deploy \u2018strategic ambiguity\u2019, in their pronouncements, which are then amplified during elections. Some hedge their analysis with the hack placebo of geopolitical rivalry<\/em>, etc. We apparently have to balance 500 years of European piracy to affirm that whites still have the right to \u2018rule the waves\u2019 far beyond Washington & London. Perhaps they seek to remind us what they<\/em><\/strong> ultimately mean by \u2018democracy<\/em><\/strong>\u2019. These symbolic shows of force, meant to project power, betray weakness as well. Do these benefactors feel the ROR (rate of return) on their investments is insufficient, and they need some symbolic muscle-flexing too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     And what does all this have to do with that kerfuffle about supposed threats to resting & pro-creating dollar-pampered murderous Zionazis in Arugam Bay?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Capitalist elections & wars are never far apart. Take former Australian PM Scott Morrison<\/strong>, a frequent visitor to Colombo\u2019s innermost security sanctums. It turns out Morrison lost an election and had to retire despite arranging<\/em> for a \u2018refugee ship\u2019 from Sri Lanka to be sighted over the great divide at the very moment he voted. Morrison & Trump\u2019s former CIA Director, Mike Pompeo (who even Trump now considers unreliable<\/em>) are \u2018strategic advisers\u2019 to US asset management firm DYNE Maritime<\/strong>, which funds technologies related to AUKUS<\/strong>, the white-only club (honorary whites like the Japanese & slightly tanned Indians have to settle for the more \u2018inclusive\u2019 Quad, see ee Sovereignty<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The Indian & US splashing about, also relate to the recent B-2 bomber attack on Yemen<\/strong>, on what the US called 5 Houthi \u2018hardened underground weapons storage locations\u2019, launched from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri via Diego Garcia. These bombers, which have bombed both Afghanistan and Iraq, have \u2018far more than half again the range to enable it to hit any target in Iran\u2019, if they take off from Diego Garcia<\/strong>, which Indian and Mauritius have apparently allowed the US to operate from for another 99 years. Most stories about Diego Garcia ignore the eviction of the original residents there and instead talk of the \u2018Sri Lankan Tamils\u2019 who were somehow allowed to claim refugee status on a US base!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018The 99-year term of the agreement, and of the treaty that will enshrine it, should<\/p>\n\n\n\n

be especially worrying to Tehran\u2026the new agreement enables B-2 bombers &<\/p>\n\n\n\n

their successor aircraft to strike at Iran for more than twice as long\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Yet the message conveyed is: they can bomb Afghanistan & Yemen and Iran, and they can surely attack Sri Lanka & India too. We are being told to be patient<\/em><\/strong>, that the latest dispensation is still being weaned (off which breasts we can imagine) though no such matter of an Indian Ocean Zone of Peace<\/strong>, a cumbersome fantasy, can as yet be broached. And yet encroach farther they do. And it is within this scenario of the ongoing massacres in occupied Palestine, that the poor beleaguered Zionazis were apparently disturbed of their rest, on vacation from their chosen land of stolen milk & honey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like baby birds twittering out the same songs from loud mouths wide open begging to be fed, the merchant media in Sri Lanka, which so likes to whine about corruption<\/em>, is the swindle <\/strong>personified. ee<\/em><\/strong> goes to a lot of needless trouble \u2013 as we are often reminded by critical friend & foe alike \u2013 to reproduce much of the fake & fatuous headlines of the English media. Despite their claims to \u2018diversity\u2019, it is a work of wonder how this poodle media repeat the same bilge over & over again. If readers examine our news compendium, they will note how boring press releases from the white embassies & corporations & their so-called NGOs are repeated over again. Meanwhile Iran\u2019s clear objections to being implicated by the US & Israel are given little saturated play in an obsequious media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2022 Was the new government forced to promise they would lift the Import Ban on Automobiles?<\/strong> This ee Focus<\/em><\/strong> reproduces Dhanusha Pathirana\u2019s Sleepwalking into Disaster<\/em>: \u2018<\/strong>Having saddled the nation with a disastrous International Sovereign Bond (ISB) restructuring that ballooned debt repayments by billions<\/strong> [see last ee<\/em><\/strong>], the Central Bank Governor (CBSL) now pushes for lifting the import ban on personal vehicles<\/strong> \u2013 a blatant kowtow to the IMF\u2019s imperialist agenda<\/strong>.\u2019 Pathirana asserts \u2018the Governor, with zero role in generating foreign exchange<\/strong>, is dictating its fate\u2019. The Governor claims, the country can be flooded with gas-guzzling automobiles, instead of building industries that foster employment that requires scientific learning, as opposed to repetitive manual labor with life-consuming work hours of our manufactured exports<\/strong>. Pathirana says, it\u2019s the IMF that \u2018demands this \u2018liberalisation\u2019<\/strong> \u2013 a euphemism for enriching foreign corporations at the expense of Sri Lanka\u2019s future stability<\/strong> & development<\/strong>. Conveniently forgotten is the IMF<\/strong>\u2019s own 2022 assessment under Article IV consultation, partially blaming our economic collapse on<\/strong> the very consumerism they now endorse<\/strong>!\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This ee Focus<\/em><\/strong> also reproduces \u2018Former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva\u2019 Tamara Kunanayakam\u2019s questions on the new JVP\/NPP Government\u2019s decision in October to \u2018strongly reject<\/strong>\u2019 the US-England draft resolution<\/strong> at the recent UN Human Rights Council, extending the mandate of an \u2018external evidence-gathering mechanism\u2019. Yet, on the following day, the resolution that the Government had \u2018strongly\u2019 rejected was adopted without a vote<\/strong>, ie, by consensus<\/strong>. \u2018Consensus resolutions necessarily involve the explicit or implicit consent <\/strong>of the country concerned\u2019. Then again, colonized countries depend on such badgering to provide an excuse for their inability to advance the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Kunanayakam explains, \u2018Country-specific resolutions<\/em> are a weapon used by Washington<\/strong> to impose its hegemonic agenda on non-Western countries. \u2018Consensus is only advantageous to the one who wields the weapon\u2019. The resolution on Sri Lanka is \u2018precedent-setting\u2019, giving \u2018legitimacy to the controversial \u2018Responsibility to Protect<\/strong>\u2019 doctrine that permits Washington to exercise its domination over other states on the pretext they are \u2018unwilling & unable\u2019 to protect their own citizens<\/strong>, thus undermining the UN Charter-based multilateral order & its sovereignty principle. She adds:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018In the case of Sri Lanka, the initiator has always been the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drafting is done in Washington & the text imposed in Colombo,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

with the US Ambassador playing a crucial role<\/em>. The<\/em><\/strong> regular<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

one-to-one meetings between US Ambassador Julie Chung<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

& Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, and between<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Ambassador & the President, is now an open secret<\/em><\/strong>.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

    Kunanayakam also claims the JVP\/NPP government treated the BRICS<\/strong> Summit in Kazan, Russia, \u2018with disdain\u2026 BRICS is viewed by Washington as a threat to its global hegemony\u2019. She also queries, \u2018why did the JVP\/NPP government publicly lie<\/strong> that BRICS had rejected its application to become a member?\u2019 However, the JVP\/NPP and Russia have responded to the general allegations, saying, \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s BRICS membership was not rejected\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The growing of the BRICs alliance is truly welcome for countries like Sri Lanka. We have to shamefully endure sermons about \u2018rights\u2019 from global outlaws, suffer their sanctions to enable their extractions, while depending on the dubious benevolence of the USA\u2019s triplets, World Bank, IMF & WTO. Much needs to be done, minus the capitalist media\u2019s exaggeration of BRICS\u2019 powers when their hacks tire of casting doubt on its aims. ee Focus<\/em><\/strong> also reproduces the Indian economist Prabhat Patnaik<\/strong>\u2019s sober examination of the recent BRICS Summit in Kazan. The recent summit <\/strong>created a new category called \u2018partner nations<\/strong>\u2019 as a step toward full membership, and accepted 13 such new \u2018partner\u2019 countries<\/strong>, among whom were Cuba & Bolivia. <\/strong>He points out how BRICS has come out \u2018against unilateral economic sanctions that the US-led imperialist powers have been imposing on countries that dare to assert their independence from imperialist hegemony\u2019. BRICS also suggests \u2018a program of reform for the International Monetary & Financial System\u2019. He points out that the \u2018free trade argument upon which the WTO is founded, is itself flawed\u2019, of the injustice of \u2018the WTO rule that a country cannot give price support to farmers\u2019. He also offers suggestions beyond just de-dollarization, to<\/strong> eliminate the hegemony of finance<\/em><\/strong>. He also understands its limits: \u2018BRICS remains a heterogeneous bloc that cannot be expected to adopt a radical agenda\u2019. He then details the need for a truly radical agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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US & Indian Warships in Colombo to Sink Democracy<\/a><\/blockquote>