e-Con e-News

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‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 08-14 December 2024

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BJP National Spokesperson & MP Sambit Patra directly accused

the US State Department of trying to ‘destabilise India’

& claimed that the US ‘Deep State’ is working

to ‘target Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘.

– MK Bhadrakumar (see ee Sovereignty, Beware the US Deep State)

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‘Lisa Curtis, a Senior Fellow & Director of the Indo-Pacific Security

Program at Center for New American Security, is a foreign policy &

national security expert in the US government, including at the

National Security Council, CIA… Her work has centered

on US policy toward the Indo-Pacific & South Asia, with a

particular focus on US-India strategic relations…

& China’s role in the region.

– see ee Sovereignty, Pathfinder hosts US South Asia Expert

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‘In times of major crisis, regional collaboration & timely sharing of information

is critical to an effective & rapid response. We must prepare ourselves

for every scenario, which includes ensuring that we can respond to

any Chemical, Biological, Radiological, & Nuclear incident in the region

– to save the lives of our people, maintain our economies, & protect our way of life.’

– Roy Baran in Colombo (see ee Sovereignty, US International Security)

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The masked Lone Ranger & his native informant Tonto

find themselves surrounded by hostile Apache:

The Ranger asks Tonto: ‘Wha’ we gonna do, Tonto?’

Tonto replies: ‘What you mean we, white man?’

– An American Fairy Tale

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Yes, indeed! Who’s we? Who or what or where on earth does this Roy Baran mean by ‘our people… our economies …our way of life’? There was little publicity given to Baran’s 3-day December ‘Disaster Workshop’ in Colombo, even as the US embassy ensured there was many glossy photos handed out focusing on the US State Department’s ‘Coup-lees’ – laughing Imran-Coupster Donald Lu, USAID’s Anjali Kaur, with the US Treasury’s Robert Kaproth, USAID Mission Director Gabriel Grau & US Embassy’s Political Officer Shawn Gray, trailing behind the ubiquitous Jiyoon (Julie) Chung.

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• With US Coup-lees of Color Chung & Lu & Kaur Providing Shade – The assassinated African American leader Malcolm X, noting the penchant for the US white-settler government to send Black officials & celebrities (Ralph Bunche, Louis Armstrong, etc.) to whitewash their imperialist designs across the world, called them ‘State Department Kneegrows’ – for they knelt before the white man’s horrors. The word ‘coolie’ (resonating in ‘wage slavery’ in Sinhala and Tamil; & ‘bitter strength’ – kuli – in Chinese) is an equally reprehensible word as ‘negro’, and was used to denote predominantly enslaved Asians. So here, Lu & Chung et al are referred to as ‘State Department Coup-lees’, as the descendants of collaborators with US & English & Japanese imperialists who sought to enslave China, Korea & India, and now wish to enslave us further.

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Roy Baran, a Senior Analyst at US State Department’s Bureau of International Security & Nonproliferation led a ‘SR2 Sri Lanka’ workshop, sponsored by the US Embassy & Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre. They wish to ‘improve readiness for Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear (CBRN) emergencies’. 40 actors (or reactors!) joined him from the US, Maldives, Bangladesh & India as well. The workshop is part of a series by the US Office of Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism ‘to deter & defend against the increasing use of CBRN weapons globally’. As far as we can recall, the only state to use nuclear weapons is the USA itself. And as for ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ (WMD), Iraqis at least know what that has meant for their country. (see ee Sovereignty, US & SL Advance Emergency Preparedness)

     So what does ‘terrorism’ mean, when the USA, unable to get their own working-class grunts to kill abroad, are backing settler-Israel & Ottoman-dreaming Turkey, to fund, arm & direct Zionist baby-killers & Al Qaeda & ISIS head-choppers to decapitate Syria. ISIS? April 2109, anyone? Why are the Colombo Archbishops, Anglican & Catholic, radio silent about the slaughter of their fellow-believers in Syria (let alone Palestine)? The Muslim leadership, too. Silent as Judas. Though, it’s not about religion after all, no? It’s politics, and more precisely ‘political economics’.

     Much of Asia is still colonized by the white man, outside of China, Free (aka North) Korea, Vietnam, Russia. So what disaster is Baran preparing us for? Is the disaster, their fear, that Sri Lanka may eventually reject their genocidal ‘way of life’ and opt for ‘the threat of a good example’ that China et al offer? Another ‘way of life’ they are desperately trying to prevent the world from seeing?

     In this ee Focus, Shiran Illanperuma in Shanghai reports on the recent Global South Academic Forum there, with the theme ‘Global South & Global Modernization’, where over 250 guests from 35 countries & regions concluded:

‘Without socialism, independence movements

in weaker nations during the imperialist era,

cannot address issues of new & old colonialism’

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• So who’s to stop us? Well, there were even less publicity about the entry of another angel of death, hosted in Colombo by the Exxon-Rockefeller Pathfinder Foundation’s tête-à-tête – Lisa Curtis, the National Security Council & CIA expert on ‘US-India strategic relations… & China’s role in the region‘. The supine media tells us the workshop was to prepare for the advent of the latest nuclear-gunslinger-in-charge Donald Trump. And who was there? – un-named ‘experts on security & academia, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomats, & leaders from trade, commerce & industry’. (see ee Sovereignty, Pathfinder…)

     So who could these ‘experts’ be? Especially from ‘trade, commerce & (non-existent) industry?’ It turns out that there were no election-promised ruling-NPP ‘negotiations’ with the IMF, because both sides of the table include these expert ‘private bondholders’.

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‘While the Government trumpets its recent ISB restructuring, a closer look reveals

a sweetheart deal for a select few, struck at the expense of the Sri Lankan people.

Local entities including commercial banks, represented by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce,

whose Chair Duminda Hulangamuwa is now an advisor to the incumbent President,

were allowed to swoop in like financial vultures during the Covid crisis, snapping up

Sri Lankan ISBs at fire-sale prices – discounts of up to a staggering 45-50%.

This windfall for the privileged few came at a steep price

for the nation, further draining our dwindling foreign reserves.’

(see ee Focus, D Pathirana)

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And, as Pathirana suggests, the local bondholders include local private banks who cashed in on the ‘debt default’ in 2020. Why didn’t the then (SLPP) government, in 2020, buy back the debt at ‘fire sale prices’ as Ecuador under Rafael Corea did, in 2008, when they ‘boldly repurchased their defaulted ISBs at a mere 10% of their original value?’ Will the NPP-JVP also be hijacked by the import merchants & moneylenders, agents of the multinational corporations, themselves puppets of the imperialists, who have assassinated, couped (militarily & otherwise) and waged terrorist wars (against popular leaders in Sri Lanka)? What Pathirana does not say is that these ‘local banks’ are not local at all, but agents of foreign banks. The largest local private bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon is also owned by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), which has their claws in numerous other import cartels (Sunshine Holdings, Star Garments, to name just 2) and dismantling state enterprises (SL Telecom, SriLankan Air), and banks (DFCC) etc. – see ee Focus, House of Cards

     We should add that Ecuador’s Corea also offered to train the US government in real ‘human rights’. They also formed a public debt commission, which ruled that country’s debt earlier incurred were illegal due to the unfair private gains, etc.The US then funded a judicial coup against Corea…

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• Right after the State Department’s laughing coup-lees & their dour handlers flew away, the US government targeted Lanka’s ex-envoy to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga, and former Sri Lankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena, sanctioning their families as well. Their crime is (other than being allied to Gotabhaya and Mahinda Rajapakse….But strangely, leaving out Basil R…) for buying aircraft from US industry’s competitors, Russian MIGs, and France’s Airbus. So what’s this ‘Cola-very’ about? Simultaneous with the latest US sanctions on Sri Lanka, we find out:

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‘Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) unveiled the

‘Corruption Risk Mapping Research: a Study on Sri Lanka’s Private Sector’

on Dec 12 in Colombo, presenting an in-depth analysis of corruption risks…

allegations of private sector entities engaging in political lobbying &

significant market manipulation through the creation of monopolies…

women were at a higher risk of being solicited for sexual bribes

in exchange for jobs, promotions or even to provide a service.’

(see ee Economists, US TISL launches research report)

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So, look at all this timing, such synchronicity? Have they just discovered the private mother of all corruptions? This ee Focus looks at the curious & curiouser origins of Transparency International. In 1955 ‘the most predatory aspect’ of the world economy was exposed in the operations of such Multinational Corporations (MNCs) Unilever, etc – then called Transnational Corporations (TNCs). The Bandung Final Communiqué of the NonAligned Movement (NAM) pointed to TNCs like Unilever, who had emerged under colonial rule, a product of colonial theft with privileged access to raw materials & captive markets. The attempt at a New International Economic Order (NIEO) in the 1970s sought to control TNCs either by regulation or restriction. In 1974 the UN Centre for Transnational Corporations (UNCTC) was set up.However, the TNCs struck back. In the 1960s many scholars like Samuel Huntington even argued that corruption ‘humanises government’! In such influential ‘modernisation literature’, corruption was treated as an ‘utterly normal & beneficial’!

     Then after 1989, organizations like TI emerged after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union, with the word ‘corruption’ increasingly used by multilateral agencies & NGOs (to be honest, FGO – foreign government organizations). Corruption now meant ‘bribery, extortion, & embezzlement’ only by public officials, rather that the ‘normal’ practices of MNCs: ‘transfer mispricing, trade misinvoicing, accounting irregularities, financial mismanagement, & tax avoidance’. The idea that TNCs/MNCs were corrupt ‘completely vanished in this theory’.

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‘They lobbied the governments of France & Germany to stop

the policy of what, in Germany, is called Schmiergeld (bribe money);

these countries not only allowed bribes to be paid in foreign jurisdictions,

but then permitted companies to deduct these payments from tax obligations.’

(see ee Focus, Capitalism wields Corruption)

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     In 1992, under US government pressure, the UNCTC was integrated into UN Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD). In 1995, in place of the UNCTC’s TNC Code of Conduct, Transparency International released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Now, corruption became a disease, and the answer was ‘more privatisation & less government oversight’.

     The accounting world then ‘developed a new form of theft’ called ‘sustainability reporting’, part of the new methods by ‘tax magicians’ (lawyers, accountants, etc) to hide money from tax authorities and legalise corruption. This ‘greenwashing’ allows accounting firms to disclose ‘environmental, social & governance (ESG) factors’, to discount their taxable income, while making false or misleading claims about the environmental benefits of a product, service, or investment. Accounting practices are not obligated to produce or follow a proper environmental assessment, nor are they concerned about the displacement of residents from an area of operation, degradation of ecosystems, misuse of agricultural land, consumption…and for ee – to ensure no investment in modern industry.

     If ee readers examine our weekly news compendium (Section D) – mostly trash produced by a corrupt (sorry, we mean corporate) media, especially the ee Agriculture section – one cannot miss (headlines in ‘green’ ink) their disproportionate emphasis on such ‘greenwashing’, not just to whitewash MNCs like Unilever & Ceylon Tobacco & CIC-ICI, who are primarily responsible for the degradation of the environment. Their job is to prevent the emergence of other modern industrial societies. In a country, where offices, both private & public, are afraid to answer their phones, they are claiming that digitalization will reduce or eliminate corruption! Another fantasy. All it will do is centralize power in even fewer hands, familied or not. It is a law of capitalism!

     Having encoiled governments, willingly or otherwise, in debt traps, the US state is signaling it will ignite chaos in Sri Lanka if the country does not submit to their imperialist agenda. Meanwhile, India is on alert for a regime-change operation, with the opposition leader (improved Italian) Rahul Gandhi in Washington, calling for US intervention in India! And then there’s Punjab, Manipur, Tamilnadu? In Sri Lanka, Eelam and East Arabistan? Let us see what the President AKD’s visit to India will bring. Himalayan enlightenment, perhaps? Is it all we can do? Let us see….

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Contents:

USA Takes More Steps to Destabilize Sri Lanka & India