Columns
Home » ColumnsSomething’s gotta give
My dear Citizens of what used to be a Paradise, I am writing to you now with profound sadness and at a time of great crisis, the type of which we have probably never seen before, even though we have had two insurgencies, a 30-year war, a tsunami that killed thousands and a pandemic that [...]
Foreign Minister’s plan to seek 2040 hot seat at UN Security Council falls through
Bureaucrats at the Foreign Ministry were surprised at a TPN (third person note) they received. Noting that Sri Lanka had made known its decision to seek a seat in the United Nations Security Council in 2040, they were seeking reciprocal support for the country, which also planned to make a bid in another year. Officials [...]
Is a national consensus to resolve the economic crisis possible?
A consensus on economic policies to resolve the country’s severe economic crisis is not possible due to the country’s political culture and political milieu. Each political party exploits the economic crisis to gain political advantages. The national interest is mere rhetoric. National effort The severity of the current financial and economic crisis requires a national [...]
Sri Lanka’s ‘Mirihana uprising, 2022’ and popular fury
If the Sri Lanka Government prefers to delude itself into believing that widespread and unprecedentedly furious public protests against the President, the Prime Minister and the Government this week were instigated by agent provocateurs of the Opposition, that is its wish. Catastrophic peoples’ angst Contrary to that belief however, the truth is far more inconvenient. [...]
Declaration of emergency totally unjustified
The growing public unrest in the country erupted into an outbreak of violence near the residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at Mirihana on Thursday night. Whether this was one of the many spontaneous civil society protests being held all over the country that unexpectedly turned violent or whether an unseen hand infiltrated the ranks of [...]
Jai Hind! Sri Lanka in danger of becoming 29th pranth of India
On Monday morn visiting Indian Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar made a pit stop at a Lanka Indian Oil Company filling station in Colombo to personally inspect how the Indian fuel supplied by his Government under the Indian credit line was being distributed to the hordes of Lankans queued outside to pump their tanks. Minister [...]
Diplomessy: The same as before or what?
So the government has turned down a request from Germany to co-sponsor a Consensus Resolution on Sri Lanka at the September session of the UNHRC. As far as one can discern Foreign Secretary Admiral (Retd) Jayanath Colombage had said so at a media conference late last month. He was quoted as saying so by a [...]
Battle lines being drawn between angry people and Govt.
Peaceful protest outside President’s Mirihana residence turns violent; Govt’s spin doctors’ move to link Islamic extremism with the protest backfires President holds crucial meeting with coalition MPs to discuss the deepening crisis; most MPs give a skip to SLPP meeting with Basil President preoccupied with finding foreign exchange to pay for fuel shipments; ship agent [...]
Read More