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This is the second in a series of three articles. Please click here for Part 2.
Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake *
An Unsinkable Aircraft carrier? Asset stripping a strategic island
COLOMBO (IDN) — Former US Under Secretary for South and Central Asia, Alice G. Well, a few years ago called Sri Lanka a "valuable piece of real estate" in the Indian Ocean, and the country not long ago turned down a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact and a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
This is the second in a series of three articles. Please click here for Part 1.
Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake *
Sri Lanka a theatre of US proxy war in the Indian Ocean Region?
COLOMBO (IDN) — Like Lebanon, once known as the Paris of the Middle East, Sri Lanka is a relatively wealthy country in South Asia and listed as a lower Middle-Income Country (MIC). The strategic island is ahead of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan on the SAARC regional poverty count.
This is the first in a series of three articles.
Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake *
Debt cancellation, not asset stripping is the need of the hour!
COLOMBO (IDN) — In Cherry Blossom lined Washington DC in the glare of global media April 18-23 Sri Lanka became the poster child of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF), Spring Meetings. The strategic Indian Ocean island’s pathetic plight featured on major media and television channels that craft the global narrative, with images of people in queues amid food, fuel, and medicine shortages due to its crashing currency, soaring cost of living and ‘Arab Spring’ style protests.
Viewpoint by Alan Keenan
This article was issued by the International Crisis Group and is being republished with their permission. Alan Keenan is Senior Consultant at the Crisis Group.
BRUSSELS (IDN) — Protests, which had been building from late February in response to Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in nearly 75 years of independence, have now morphed into a nationwide uprising. Protesters are demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the removal of the Rajapaksa family from politics.
The protest wave gained momentum as the results of the government’s financial and economic mismanagement became increasingly visible amid rapidly disappearing hard currency reserves and widespread shortages.
Viewpoint by Nandi Jasentuliyana
The writer is a former Deputy Director-General, United Nations.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (IDN) — Sri Lanka is experiencing a severe foreign exchange and debt crisis resulting in a shortage of food, fuel, power, and every other commodity to be purchased at exorbitant prices that the suffering masses cannot afford, forcing them to the streets protesting against the governing authorities.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — One of the most peculiar aspects of the current debate in the US Congress on the big expenditure bills, and last month’s budget presentation before the British parliament, as the country struggles from the economic fallout from Brexit and the Pandemic, is that rarely has there been mention of the name John Maynard Keynes.
By Iara Pietricovsky & Livi Gerbase
Iara Pietricovskyis, current President of FORUS - International Forum of NGO Platforms and co-director OF INESC - Institute of Socioeconomic Studies, at the Brazilian NGO Association (Abong). She has represented the institution in international fora, especially the socio-environmental and indigenous areas, and has a degree in Social Sciences, specializing in Anthropology. Livi Gerbase is the policy adviser for the Brazilian Institute for Socioeconomic Studies - INESC, working in the area of public budgeting, tax justice and monitoring of international financial institutions. She holds a master's degree in International Political Economy from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Viewpoint by William N Kring
The writer is the Assistant Director for the Global Development Policy Center at Boston University. This article first appeared on EastAsiaForum on September 7, 2021.
BOSTON (IDN) — As the more lethal and contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 rips across the globe, the prospects of multilateral efforts to combat the virus, tackle the looming global debt crisis and mount a sustainable economic recovery are dim. Nowhere is the insufficiency of the multilateral response more apparent than on the issue of debt relief.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah*
MOSCOW (IDN) — The Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) says it is working very hard to continue to prioritise the interests of Russian entrepreneurs in all its dealings. One of the ways the organisation is doing this is by strengthening its international ties.
Already, the CCI has successfully established 76 operational business councils with 76 countries. They involve representatives of the Russian business community and those from the relevant state.
By Jutta Wolf
BERLIN (IDN) — Germany is one of the most important countries for Chinese investors and ranks tenth in terms of Chinese foreign direct investments (FDI). Particularly the transport sector and the technology sector in Germany received a great number of investments from Chinese investors in recent years.
Although China has recently focused more than ever on geostrategic investments in countries of the "Belt and Road Initiative," investments in Germany remain strategically important for Chinese investors to gain access to key technologies.
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