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1 month ago | 
countercurrents.org | Ranjan Solomon |Shiran Illanperuma |Vidya Bhushan Rawat |Ramzy Baroud
Is Europe the embodiment of authentic multilaterism, or has it reduced itself to being a mere collective of subtle, unspoken post-colonialism projects that pass off as initiatives of international cooperation and assistance? Does the European Union today possess even the most essential modicum of ingredients within its systems to be a force for a just and humanitarian world? Or does it seek to tacitly continue patterns of an unequal and unjust world just as it did in the colonial era?
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1 month ago | 
countercurrents.org | Shiran Illanperuma |Darini Rajaisngham-Senanayake |Binoy Kampmark |Vijay Prashad
The maiden budget by Sri Lanka’s new government reflects the limitations of austerity and the need to reinstill confidence in ideas of investment-led growth and industrialisation. On 17 February 2025, Sri Lanka’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake delivered his maiden budget speech. Dissanayake, who is both president and finance minister, stated that the budget was based on principles of productive growth, active public engagement, and equitable distribution.
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2 months ago | 
countercurrents.org | Darini Rajaisngham-Senanayake |Shiran Illanperuma |Binoy Kampmark |Vijay Prashad
Independence has been a long mirage in geostrategic Ceylon/ Sri Lanka where history seems to repeat itself as tragedy and farce in equal measure. This week, the geostrategic Indian Ocean island is set to mark 77 years of faux Independence from the British Raj. There will be much pomp and pageantry to mask the fact that the country is caught in a neocolonial Eurobond US dollar debt trap and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), bailout business at this time.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
island.lk | Sahan Weerasooriya |Shiran Illanperuma
by Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne(Retired from Sri Lanka Navy)Former Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Sri Lanka NavyThe Former Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Pakistan(The 60th Anniversary of Sri Lanka Navy Diving and Salvage Unit falls on 11th January 2025. The writer commanded it in 1987.) A distinguished old boy of Trinity College, Kandy, who excelled both in studies and sports, young Shanthi Bahar joined the Sri Lanka Navy to 3rd Intake of Cadets in 1974.
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
island.lk | Sahan Weerasooriya |Shiran Illanperuma
By Shiran IllanperumaPositioned at the geographic and political heart of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is the epicentre of the 21st century struggle for regional influence.
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Dec 17, 2024 | 
peoplesdispatch.org | Shiran Illanperuma
Panelists and attendees championed the cause of sovereignty, modernization, and South-South cooperation at the Global South Academic Forum in Shanghai from December 5–6. Over 250 guests from 35 countries and regions attended the forum, whose theme was “Global South and Global Modernization.”The forum was hosted by East China Normal University (ECNU) and organized by the institution’s School of Communication and Fudan University’s Institute for Global Communication and Integrated Media.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
countercurrents.org | Darini Rajaisngham-Senanayake |Shiran Illanperuma |Binoy Kampmark |Vijay Prashad
At Annual Meetings in Washington last month International Monetary Fund head, Kristalina Georgieva claimed Sri Lanka as a debt restructuring ‘success’ story.[i] Left unsaid by the IMF’s Managing Director was that Sri Lanka’s debt had apparently ballooned from $26 billion to a purported whopping $100 billion during two years of “reforms’ under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF)![ii] A month later the island’s newly elected Cabinet led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka signed off on an...
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
island.lk | Sahan Weerasooriya |Shiran Illanperuma
by Leelananda De SilvaI refer to Amali Wedagedera’s article on Gamani Corea, which appears in the Midweek Review of The Island of Nov. 13. Gamani Corea was the most internationally renowned Sri Lankan economist. He played a leading role in the North-South affairs in the 1970s and early 1980s. However, the North -South negotiations were not successful. In my view, Gamani’s more important role was in Sri Lanka, between 1956 and 1970, when he developed the machinery of economic planning in the country.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
struggle-la-lucha.org | Shiran Illanperuma
On October 15, data from the Election Commission of Sri Lanka showed that the National People’s Power (NPP) coalition scored a decisive victory in Sri Lanka’s first general election since defaulting on its external debt. With 61.56 percent of the popular vote, the NPP won 159 seats in Parliament. This gave President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) a supermajority in parliament and the power to make constitutional amendments.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
counterpunch.org | Shiran Illanperuma
On October 15, data from the Election Commission of Sri Lanka showed that the National People’s Power (NPP) coalition scored a decisive victory in Sri Lanka’s first general election since defaulting on its external debt. With 61.56 percent of the popular vote, the NPP won 159 seats in Parliament. This gave President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) a supermajority in parliament and the power to make constitutional amendments.
