{"id":146270,"date":"2024-12-02T19:08:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T02:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=146270"},"modified":"2024-12-02T19:08:22","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T02:08:22","slug":"jvp-in-the-open-prison-peaceable-coercions-forever-wars-in-the-age-of-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2024\/12\/02\/jvp-in-the-open-prison-peaceable-coercions-forever-wars-in-the-age-of-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"JVP in the Open Prison: Peaceable Coercions & Forever Wars in the Age of\u00a0Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Posted byee ink.<\/a>Uncategorized<\/a>Tags:asia<\/a>, China<\/a>, politics<\/a>, sri-lanka<\/a>, travel<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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 24-30 November 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2018I also ask him to examine the Central Bank,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

another institution that has been exercising influence over<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the economy of the country. The body of John Exter<\/strong> has been<\/p>\n\n\n\n

removed from the territory of Ceylon, but his soul is still<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

marching<\/strong> on in the Central Bank of Ceylon, & the sooner that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

soul is also buried, the better for the economic independence<\/strong> of Ceylon.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Pieter Keuneman, Parliament, 1956.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2018Southern poverty is not only continuing but exponentially growing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

despite almost the entirety of the world opting for<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018market reforms\u2019 or capitalist-led growth.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 see ee Economists<\/em><\/strong>, Continuing relevance of Gamani Corea\u2019s thinking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2018No way for Govt to break<\/p>\n\n\n\n

guardrails <\/strong>of IMF program\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 IMF<\/strong>\u2019s Peter Breuer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

guardrail<\/em><\/strong> | \u02c8\u0261\u00e4rd \u02ccr\u0101l | noun<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a rail that prevents people from falling off<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or being hit by something<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Oxford English Dictionary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2018When we assumed office, the discussions on debt restructuring,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

which had been ongoing for more than 2 years, were in their<\/p>\n\n\n\n

final stages. At this juncture, debating whether the proposed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

restructuring plan is good or bad, advantageous or disadvantages,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

serves no purpose. This is the reality we are faced with. Based on this,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we have reached a common understanding regarding bilateral debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are now prepared to quickly formalise agreements with individual<\/p>\n\n\n\n

countries accordingly. On the other hand, about international sovereign<\/p>\n\n\n\n

bonds & commercial market debt, we have reached a preliminary agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We anticipate that this process will be completed by the end of December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, we believe that the debt restructuring program with the IMF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

can be successfully concluded before the end of this year. Additionally,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we expect to secure staff-level agreement for the 3rd<\/sup> review of the program this<\/p>\n\n\n\n

week, which will provide a credible foundation<\/strong> for rebuilding our economy.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 AKD, Sunday Times<\/em> (see ee Sovereignty<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2018IMF to closely discuss upcoming budget<\/strong> with Sri Lanka\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 EconomyNext<\/em> (see ee Economists<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2018Sri Lanka has regained political stability<\/strong>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 CBSL Governor & (Non-medical Doctor) Nandalal Weerasinghe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Central Bankers come and go, but the zombie ghost of the Central Bank of Ceylon\u2019s first US governor John Exter still haunts and rules the land, still laying down the dictat of the US Treasury. IMF Chief Missionary Peter Breuer cannot divulge what the US has threatened the JVP with, that will \u2018hit\u2019 them if they do not stay with the \u2018guards\u2019. Breuer has been illegally scampering in & out of Sri Lanka, before, during & after elections. They will now be allowed to police the budget (tho this is not new). \u2018The IMF is keen that [the budget] is in line with the program objectives. He cited the primary surplus<\/strong>, the revenue<\/strong> & the quality of fiscal measures<\/strong> as the important guardrails<\/strong>\u2026 Responding to a query about the announcement by the previous government to lift the ban on vehicle imports<\/strong>, he said it was discussed and would be a very important source of revenue<\/strong> for the government in the year ahead. So, after all that talk of \u2018Chinese debt trap\u2019, it turns out the US & so-called \u2018local banks\u2019 who are actually importers of crap machinery, and in fact are controlled by the World Bank etc, \u2018own\u2019 over 50% of Sri Lanka\u2019s debt. Is it any surprise that the US Treasury Secretary is part of the US National Security Council? <\/strong>(see ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Who Holds the Wheel?<\/strong> \u2013 A \u2018Steering Committee\u2019 of a so-called \u2018Ad-Hoc Group of Bondholders\u2019 own about 40% of $12.55billion of defaulted bonds, while a \u2018Local Consortium of Sri Lanka (LCSL)\u2019, with 11 members including banks, have around 12%. The Steering Committee is made of funds managed or advised by Amundi Asset Management, Barings, BlackRock & its subsidiaries<\/strong>\u2026(to see the rest of the suspects, see Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>)\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2018The current funding arrangement for digitisation of television in Sri Lanka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is a \u2018<\/em>soft loan<\/em><\/strong>\u2018<\/em> from the Japanese government, & it is tied up in \u2018one bundle\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with loans for other projects\u2026 based on the premise that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the deployment of the Japanese digital television standard<\/strong>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial is mandatory<\/strong>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 ee Industry<\/em><\/strong>, Japanese Digital Television Project announced after meeting AKD\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2018Conduct a detailed debt audit on foreign loans obtained<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by the governments to ensure transparency & accountability<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in public financial management and to take legal action<\/p>\n\n\n\n

against those who have misappropriated such loans.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 NPP policy <\/strong>document: A Thriving Nation, A Beautiful Life.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, we do not wish to add to the NPP\u2019s heavy load, but their audit of debt could list which corporations & banks import which industrial goods, naming the makers & financiers of such imports<\/strong>. They could also demand, like Indonesia<\/strong> has just done, that certain goods sold domestically need to contain at least 40% of parts manufactured locally in Indonesia<\/strong> (see ee Industry<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     And a note to a supine merchant media: When news items declare, \u2018ADB approves $200mn Sri Lanka loan for battery storage, grid upgrade\u2019, instead of being pom-pom wielding cheerleaders, they could also list which US & Japanese corporations, for whom the Asian Development Bank is a front for, would supply such industrial goods for \u2018battery storage\u2019 & \u2018grid upgrades\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     We should also note that the merchant media\u2019s economists & foreign thinktanks are firmly opposed to state-owned enterprises (SoEs), whether they make money or not, and staunchly against any \u2018local content\u2019 laws &  \u2018import-substitution\u2019. Their main interest is high interest rates for their financial finagling, & imports of their<\/em> industrial products, & export of our<\/em> natural resources, including workers  \u2013 the sum total of their slave economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2022 Not so Peaceable Coercion<\/strong> \u2013 Dhananath Fernando, a smart \u2018poor<\/em>\u2019 Koralawella boy (these are his backers\u2019 own patronizing words), has been groomed by Catholic Action and the US government, to front as the grand-sounding \u2018CEO\u2019 of the US thinktank Advocata Institute (tho behind him reigns the real power \u2013 Borah importer & Advocata Chair Murtaza Jafferjee \u2013 CEO, Chair\u2026 such bureaucratic corporate hierarchies, but never mind). Fernando had this to say in a recent Financial Times<\/em> column:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018As James Madison<\/strong>, one of the great thinkers behind modern democracy, once said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018If men were angels, no government would be necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If angels governed men, no checks would be needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But because governments are made up of people,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we must create systems that control the government itself\u2019.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(see, ee Economists<\/em><\/strong>, New era of hope & responsibility)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, so, so, who is \u2018we\u2019<\/em> who will create these systems<\/em> to control people? Robots? The \u2018business as usual\u2019 merchants & moneylenders & their foreign overlords?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Good Liberals, Mass Rape<\/strong> & the Ideal Commodity<\/strong> \u2013 Now let us see who the real James Madison<\/strong> is \u2013 what the US embassy will never teach Fernando. According to The American Slave Coast: a History of the Slave-Breeding Industry<\/em><\/strong> by Ned & Constance Sublette, Madison was fully part of \u2018the brutal story of how the Anglo-US slavery industry made the reproductive labor of the people it referred to as \u2018breeding <\/strong>women\u2019 essential to the young settler-state\u2019s expansion. The \u2018Captive African Americans in the slave nation were not only laborers, but merchandise & collateral<\/strong> all at once. In a land without silver, gold, or trustworthy paper money, their children & their children\u2019s children into perpetuity were used as human savings accounts that functioned as the basis of money<\/strong> & credit in a market premised on the continual expansion of slavery<\/strong>. Slaveowners collected interest in the form of newborns, who had a cash value at birth and whose mothers had no legal right to say no to forced mating<\/strong>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The Sublettes\u2019 story describes power struggle between the rulers of Virginia, the slave-raising \u2018mother of slavery\u2019, and South Carolina, the massive importer of Africans \u2013 a conflict that was central to US politics from the making of the Constitution through the debacle of the Confederacy. Virginia slaveowners won a major victory when Thomas Jefferson\u2019s 1808 prohibition of the African slave trade protected the domestic slave markets for slave-breeding<\/strong>. (continued in ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2022 In the aftermath of the 19th<\/sup> century US war between their industrial north & the agricultural south, Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels & eminent US jurists declared that slave masters should never be allowed political rights again! Well, the failure to comprehend the true nature of a triumphant white-settler state, despite its social-media-driven virtue signalling, has led to widespread indignation among US-embassy-liberals in Sri Lanka that such a leader as Don \u2018Let\u2019s Make a Deal\u2019 Trump could emerge in their promised land. Yet brain-dead Joe Biden was just as bad, 2 sides of a printed US dollar, which baldly declares, \u2018In God we Trust<\/em>\u2019. So what will Trump bring to our table?:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2018Trump will have a 2-year window before the midterm congressional elections,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

during which he will have a certain freedom to push his policies through<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Senate & the House of Representatives. After that, his decisions could<\/p>\n\n\n\n

face resistance both domestically & from US allies.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Andrey Sushentsov, Russia Foreign Ministry\u2019s MGIMO International Relations Dept dean<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(see ee<\/em><\/strong> Sovereignty<\/strong>, A defining moment in the Ukraine war)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2018Industrial policy for me, free trade for thee<\/em><\/strong>\u2026<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 <\/em><\/strong>see, ee Focus<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Thisee<\/em><\/strong> focuses on \u2018the challenges of a Trump presidency<\/strong>\u2019, with a yet more expensive US dollar placing inflationary pressures on import-dependent countries like Sri Lanka, which will further impact the foreign debt burden<\/strong>. Shiran Illanperuma notes how the theories & policies propounded by neoliberal thinktanks like the Atlas Foundation-affiliated Advocata Institute & the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, have little to no influence in their own countries<\/em> of origin. He concludes that Trump offers a \u2018Window of Opportunity\u2019 and insists that \u2018for an underdeveloped country like Sri Lanka, no industrial policy tool should be off the table<\/strong>. Well, tell that to the traders!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     ee<\/em><\/strong> Focus<\/em><\/strong>also reproduces Dhanusha Pathirana\u2019s insistence that it is \u2018evident\u2019 that the Sri Lankan government\u2019s deal with the USA \u2018has been influenced by corrupt interests<\/strong>\u2019. He concludes \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s debt crisis is a stark example of the destructive power of predatory lending<\/strong>\u2019, and calls for holding \u2018these lenders accountable for their role in exacerbating the debt crisis in the third world\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Finally, ee<\/em><\/strong> reproduces Part 2 of Bram & Howard Nicholas\u2019 \u2018Poverty of CBSL\u2019s Monetary Policies\u2019. They too point out, \u2018High domestic interest rates on Government debt, combined with the absence of Central Bank intervention to purchase newly issued debt, will escalate the domestic debt servicing burden<\/em>.\u2019 Such interest rates will have detrimental effects on investment & economic growth. They call for \u2018the establishment of development banks<\/strong> (where have we heard this before?) to provide concessional finance for specific sectors. Though they conclude, \u2018However, these too are unlikely to sufficiently offset the negative effects of elevated & volatile medium- & long-term real interest rates\u2019. (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u2022 A purported \u2018mafia\u2019 (aka cartel) of rice millers & rice importers<\/strong> have been dominating the mafia cartel of newsmakers<\/strong>, while winds & rains heralding the northeast monsoons, buffet & inundate the homes & fields of the land. We should recall the Great Uva Rebellion<\/strong>, the first war of independence against English colonialism, took place in such intramonsoonal conditions from October to November in 1818. Also, the failure to complete that independence with the weakening of the \u2018independent\u2019 state, especially over its control of agriculture, hijacked by such English multinationals as Unilever (Liptons), ICC-CIC, Ceylon Tobacco Co,<\/strong> has led to various fissiparous tendencies. This is most symbolic in LTTE leader Prabhakaran who was born through such elements in November 1954, and who was propelled to power especially after JR Jayawardena\u2019s fake \u2018Open Economy\u2019, which told Jaffna cultivators to sell their onions wherever they pleased \u2013 Colombo likewise was going to import them onions too. A portentous month is November, indeed! Then again, all months are\u2026 in a Sri Lanka still under siege after 500 & more years of invasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The media portrays a battle between rice millers & rice importers, with all manner of ranting & raving, gnashing & grinding of editorial false teeth. But the central issue remains the uneven application of rural labor<\/strong>, and the failure to organize the whole society & rural industry in particular on the basis of the rhythms of rice cultivation \u2013 the primary agricultural pursuit. The English destroyed canals & irrigation systems and village industries, particularly iron & steel making. This was done to destroy the solidarity of the ancient village councils, whose unity was based on the management of the irrigation systems. As noted by a reader in the last ee<\/em><\/strong>, failure to keep up one\u2019s share of the canal system, could result in being whipped, with the guilty having to also pay for the cost of being whipped. SBD de Silva<\/strong> in his last years focused his research on the urgent need for rural & agricultural industrialization: He noted the control of the village economy by Colombo merchants of imported goods, & related moneylenders<\/strong>, and their control over the media (led by Unilever) prevent such issues from even being broached: eg, he noted the failure to monetize<\/strong> & commercialize<\/strong> the rural economy, with fundamental economic relationships dominated by the pre-capitalist barter of harvests for industrial goods, which could just as easily be made in villages (ask the Japanese ambassador!). De Silva always recalled how the oncoming Japanese kamikazes post-1939 forced the English to give peasants a fixed price, and workers a fixed wage. Indeed, Silva also noted that such price controls required rationing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Rice rationing was introduced during England\u2019s WW2, and people had to be taught how to use the rice ration book. This period of shortages of essential goods resulted from the non-arrival of merchant vessels due to war. The rationed commodities were then distributed through co-operative societies established throughout the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     After the end of the white war on Korea led to the end of \u2018the export boom\u2019, the terms of trade grew even more unfavourable \u2013 due to the refusal of imperialist powers, particularly the USA, to pay a fair price for tea & rubber. The World Bank (IBRD) agreed to \u2018rescue\u2019 the economy, according to certain criteria. The US Governor of Ceylon\u2019s Central Bank advised the Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake, who had just won an election, to seek an election before imposing the World Bank\u2019s stringent conditions. Sound familiar?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u2018Shortages\u2019 then led to pressure on the government for an increase in the price of rice. At the behest of the World Bank<\/strong>\u2018s first mission to Sri Lanka, Finance Minister JR Jayewardene increased rice prices<\/strong> from 25 cents a measure to 72 cents. \u2018Workers\u2019 parties\u2019 campaigned against the increases, by collecting and submitting hundreds of signatures to parliament, joining national protest against the cutting also of the rice-ration by a 1\/4 measure, and the increase in flour price by 15 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Calls for the conclusion of a Rubber-Rice Pact<\/strong> with the People\u2019s Republic of China to solve the rice shortages were strenuously opposed by a US lobby<\/strong> within Sri Lanka, led by (another \u2018former Marxist<\/em>\u2019!) JR Jayewardene, resulting in his nickname, Yankee Dicky<\/em>, with the proponent of the pact within the government, RG Senanayake, being dubbed China Dicky<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Rice rationing was again introduced in 1974, on the ground that rice was not purchasable for any love of money on the world market\u2026 The UNP gained from this total failure of the United Front Government, and especially of the discrediting of the LSSP & CP\u2026. Sound familiar\u2026?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

\n
JVP in the Open Prison: Peaceable Coercions & Forever Wars in the Age of Trump<\/a><\/blockquote>