Factum LK – Page 7

Factum Perspective: The US agenda in Bangladesh

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsAugust 1, 2022436Views 0Likes 0Comments

By P. K. Balachandran The US agenda in developing countries seems for many a matter of raking up human rights issues, fostering civil unrest, and forcing weak governments to sign defense deals to counter China’s growing influence. In South Asia, this tactic is being applied in Bangladesh, a fiercely independent-minded country under the leadership of…

Factum Perspective: Will Sri Lanka slip up over Russian oil?

Health and Economic Cooperation, International Development, Regional GeopoliticsJuly 24, 2022574Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya Sri Lanka’s outgoing president* Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in one of his last acts as head of state took a long-delayed step of talking to his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin on the phone, to request desperately needed fuel supplies on credit. According to a post on his Twitter account on Wednesday (6) he…

Factum Perspective: A radical change to fix the economy

Health and Economic CooperationJuly 17, 2022655Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Sunil Abhayawardhane Though Sri Lanka’s economic crisis blew open this year, its origins can be traced back to 1948. It was due more to what was not done than to what was done: put simply, the result of the country’s failure to industrialize, to shift to manufacturing. Orthodox “mainstream” economics Since independence, economic policy…

Factum Perspective: Anatomy of a protest

Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsJuly 11, 2022454Views 0Likes 0Comments

Courtesy of Dhananjaya Samarakoon By Uditha Devapriya Protest movements have historically been decided by economic factors, most prominently shortages, queues, and price hikes. The Arab Spring is an obvious case in point, but a better, more significant example would be the February Revolution in Russia, which was spurred by bread shortages. Left with nothing to lose,…

Factum Perspective: The economic aspect of foreign relations in South Asia

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsJuly 3, 2022574Views 0Likes 0Comments

All South Asian countries, not just Sri Lanka, are facing economic problems such as a shortage of essentials commodities, rising inflation, fall in the value of the local currency against the US dollar, and social and political unrest triggered by economic issues. Only the intensity varies. The roots of these domestic problems lie both in…

Factum Perspective: Sri Lanka, Singapore, and the politics of oil

Health and Economic Cooperation, Regional GeopoliticsJune 27, 2022632Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Rathindra Kuruwita On June 19, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera informed the media that giving the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) a monopoly over the oil industry was a mistake, adding that the government was taking steps to allow multinational oil companies to recommence operations in the country. The Minister also…

Factum Perspective: From “300” to the Ukraine

Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsJune 19, 2022674Views 1Like 0Comments

Manipulating Euro-Asian tensions in historiography and modern media By Vinod Moonesinghe Herodotus said that the Greeks retaliated to some Phoenicians kidnapping Io, an Argive princess, by kidnapping Europa, a Phoenician princess. These tit-for-tat abductions continued until Paris of Troy abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta. The Persians considered the heavy-handed Greek retaliation as the…

Factum Perspective: A Moment Waiting to Happen: The Collapse of Order?

Peace and ConflictJune 12, 20221KViews 1Like 0Comments

By Dr SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda It was only 10 o’clock at night. In an affluent residential suburb of Colombo, a car reversed slowly off the main road. Although it was still early, the road was empty, deserted and dark. The car backed steadily into a side lane. Close by was an abandoned restaurant. Inside there were…

After the storm: Flight SU-289 and Sri Lanka-Russia ties

Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsJune 7, 2022680Views 0Likes 0Comments

Cartoon by Awantha Artigala By Uditha Devapriya On June 2, the Commercial High Court of Colombo issued an enjoining order against Flight SU-289 over a lease matter, in effect preventing it from returning home. The flight had been handled by Aeroflot, the Russian airline at the center of a controversy over Western sanctions. The order had…

The fall of Anuradhapura and the lessons of history

Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsJune 5, 2022968Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Professor Raj Somadeva The Pali Chronicles, namely the Mahavamsa and Culavamsa (written in the fifth century and 13th century CE respectively) do not celebrate all the kings of Sri Lanka, though they valorize quite a number of them. Very often they pin the blame for the disintegration of the State on those who ruled…