Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

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pankajs
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

Mr. Putin did whatever you say he did with ISIS/Syria/UK/US/etc. If you did not know a few weeks back Putin had a snoop ship deployed 20 miles offshore from a US Nuclear sub base! Granted he did all that and much more that will never become public!

BUT We are talking of tadpole neighbors here where you are supposed to "read the riot act" and get compliance. Where did it produce results? Now this from a man who did just great .. just great on ISIS/Syria/UK/US/etc. etc.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pu ... 7eeb8d7430
Putin says Russia planning ‘countermeasures’ to NATO expansion [Nov 2016]

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning that his forces could target NATO sites if his country feels threatened.

But it’s not so much the warning that’s important; it’s the timing.

We are forced to take countermeasures - that is, to aim our missile systems at those facilities which we think pose a threat to us[/u],” Putin said in an interview with American filmmaker Oliver Stone for a documentary broadcast Monday. “The situation is heating up.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN19V28A
U.S. deploys advanced anti-aircraft missiles in Baltics for first time [July 10, 2017]
pankajs
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

Once a neighbour of yours decides to do Gmasti you have very limited options.

1. Wait and watch. [Putin took over in 2000. Baltic switched in 2004. We are in 2018]
2. Foment internal unrest [Ukraine, BTW who was pushed out in Ukraine? Was it Russia or US?]
3. Invade [Georgia]

Our options wrt our neighbors also are limited to the same above three once they decide to play fast and loose.

Now does the above make Mr. Putin a great patriot or does he fall in my category. I am not ashamed of the category I self-identity with but out of respect for Mr. Putin I will not name the category.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

You can 'wait and watch" as long as you have something up your sleeve or under your sarong! But sadly,our jokers,from their grand track record of diplomacy in the neighbourhood, have nothing worthwhile under their dhotis! :rotfl

SL latest:
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat ... 2279[quote]
Abeywardena said the party would stand by its leader and ensure the defeat of the NCM.

Those who had moved the NCM were obviously unaware of the far reaching changes in place since the enactment of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in April 2015, Abeywardena said, adding that the President was powerless as far as constitutional provisions for the removal of the PM were concerned.

Abeywardena said there was the possibility of President Sirisena losing, at least temporarily, the authority to exercise powers in the event of a constitutional crisis.

Abeywardene recalled that the UNP had campaigned for Maithripala Sirisena at the 2015 presidential poll on the basis that Wickremesinghe would be appointed the Prime Minister. The UNPer insisted as the 2015 mandate had been received by bothe Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, the President couldn’t under any circumstances act in a manner contrary to the wishes of 6.2 mn people.

The senior UNPer said the 19th Amendment to the Constitution enacted with the backing of the majority of members representing all political parties in Parliament had stripped the President’s of power to overcome the challenge through unilateral means.

Abeywardena claimed that with the enactment of 19th Amendment, the President had been deprived of the constitutional power to continue in Office following the dissolution of Cabinet of ministers. Abeywardena repeatedly said that those who were all out to oust Wickemesinghe should study the 19th Amendment and see the current situation vis-a-vis presidential powers.

Abeywardena said that previous presidents had been vested with the power to dismiss the Cabinet and to continue in Office under Section 43 (2) of 1978 Constitution. He recalled that the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa had contemplated exercising the constitutional power when he faced internal challenge. However, the issue had been settled through other means and the need for him to dissolve the Cabinet hadn’t arisen. Abeywardena was referring to Lalith-Gamini led bid to impeach Premadasa with the support of the SLFP at that time headed by the late Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

The Galle District MP said Wickremesinghe had wanted to face the NCM though his loyalists felt it should be rejected as it was not legal.

Quoting what he calle relevant sections from the Constitution, Abeywardena said that Wickremesinghe could be deprived of the post of Prime Minister only if he ceased to be an MP on the basis of him losing civic rights on the recommendation of a Special Presidential Commission.

Abeywardena said they weren’t unduly worried about various statements attributed to some members of the UNP and UNF parliamentary groups. He added that it was better for those members to express their views freely. The UNP MPs currently overseas would be back within the next couple of days and the party was confident of defeating what he called illegal NCM, he stressed.

/quote]
pankajs
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

Philip wrote:You can 'wait and watch" as long as you have something up your sleeve or under your sarong! But sadly,our jokers,from their grand track record of diplomacy in the neighbourhood, have nothing worthwhile under their dhotis! :rotfl
Ah ... Mr. Putin has options and India is nakid.

So how are we to counter China in the IOR then?
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Supratik »

Hambantota projects are all currently unviable even without cost padding e.g. the airport which has capacity of 1 million handles 70000. And unlike China Indian govt does not invest in projects directly. It gives aid or assistance or lines of credit.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

I said, there are a number of options, which have been mentioned ad nauseum for the Maldives.V. low hanging fruit.SL is more complex and requires multiple actions since we abdicated our responsibility a decade ago.Redressing the damage was given to us when Sirisena becama pres. but as said we never acted upon the opportunity.A financially beleagured SL, shrugged off by India yet again turned to China once more.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Rudradev »

Actually, regarding Putin, the truth is closer to what PankajS has described.

For about 8 years after first becoming Russia's president, Putin picked his battles and bided his time. He tried a combination of good-faith outreach and wait-and-watch patience in his approaches to many neighbouring states, even while he dealt firmly with the Chechen insurgency in Russia proper. He remained on fairly good terms with the George W Bush Neocon govt for most of its tenure, especially following 9/11. He opposed the Iraq war pro-forma, but Russia became very wealthy as oil demand soared in its wake, and he also realized that the aftermath of the US' invasion of Iraq would be the "hyperpower's" undoing. Waiting and watching made the most sense.

In fact, Putin showed remarkable forebearance for many years as the US and EU Neocons expanded NATO ever eastwards, all the way to the Baltic republics, and put up colour revolutions to install proxies like Timoschenko in Ukraine and Shalikashvili in Georgia.

It was only after the 2008 war in Georgia that Putin calculated he could become more aggressive with interventions in Russia's near-abroad. This had to do with the obvious weakening of US power in military terms (failure in Iraq and Afghanistan) and economic terms (the 2008 financial crisis was just around the corner), the concomitant rise of China (symbolically represented by the Beijing Olympic games with which the Georgia war coincided), and the time Putin needed to build his national security state at home while dramatically increasing the reach and strength of Russian intelligence networks abroad.

Modi has had only half that time to bring India to a sufficient position of strength to undertake these types of interventions... diplomatically, politically, economically, and militarily. Worse yet, Putin only had to repair the damage inflicted by 10-odd years of Yeltsin... whereas in India, EVERYTHING Modi has inherited from 60+ years of dynasty rule has had to be systemically reconstructed from scratch.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

60 yrs of dynastic rule included defeating Pak in '71, Op Cactus in the Maldives and the IPKF taming the LTTE in Sri Lanka until the IPKF and nation was betrayed by VP Singh who withdrew it without the political side completed.Rajiv G was very pro-active not afraid to take a calculated risk but was v.bsdly advised by Bhandari on the SL situ.

Then came ABV and checkmating Pak at Kargil.

It was the UPA decade under Snake-Oil Singh that has done the greatest damage to Indian security, other than the cretin and pro-Paki PM IK Gujral.

Mr.Modi admittedly has a tough job in rectifying the situ, but the reformation of the MOD has languished unfortunately.The PM/ Cabinet should treat the situ as a war situ- in fact we are in a perpetual proxy war with Pak in J&K.Therefore the CCS should simply cut through the logjam of babudom in the MOD and act as if the next 24 hrs. is crucial.

There is a lot to learn from Putin.Once he has made his mind up, the Russians go out to WIN at any cost.Their planning is also v.carefully done as seen in Georgia, the UKR and brilliantly in Syria.What the combined forces of the West could not accomplish in 3 years, Putin resolved most of it in just one.

Mr.Modi should take " calculated risks", especially with v.low hanging fruit as in the Maldives, where immediate action is needed to prevent a catastrophic Chinese de- facto yakeover.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

Georgia and Ukraine are wins for Putin? One needs to re-examine what winning means.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

Pl. study the facts v.carefully.In Georgia, both Abkhazia and Ossetia are now independent ,after pres.
Shaky-willy stupidly sent his troops in to return with tails tucked between their legs, thrashed by the Russians and Shaky, darling of the West had to flee for his life by an enraged population to the UKR! He has been thrown out even from there after condemning the Fascist- led UKR govt.as corrupt, and is now a refugee in Poland.How the mighty have fallen!

UKR: The fascist-led neo- Nazi govt. of the Maidan coup have lost half their country and the entire strategic Crimean peninsula which has returned to Russia! If that's not a victory I don't know what isn't!All this too despite the open support for the fascist thugs of tje Right Sector from the likes of EU politicos on the ground and the US Veep of the time, Joe Biden, who's son was on the board of A UKR co.Just watch in the future for the wheel to turn full circle and the UKR return to Russia or at the very least return to a pro-Russia foreign policy with a friendly regime like that in Belarus.under Lukashenko or in Hungary under
Viktor Orban.

But this is the SL td!.Latest news is that Ranil W may escape as Sirisena has asked his SLFP MPs to abstain from voting for the no- confidence motion.A few pro- Rajapakse ministers and MPs might vote for it, but the Tamil and Muslim minorities unlkely to support it.So late tonìght we'll know if he has survived,
Last edited by Philip on 04 Apr 2018 17:25, edited 1 time in total.
pankajs
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

Lets first consider Ukraine ...

Till about 2014, Russia had the whole of Ukraine including Crimean in its orbit via its proxy. After Crimea, it lost its influence on half the country going by your calculation. And this in a country right on its borders.

With the above facts I will ask forum members to come to their own conclusions of the who won and who lost the last round on Ukraine. Facts are facts no matter how we try to spin them.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

.
Last edited by Philip on 04 Apr 2018 17:36, edited 1 time in total.
Philip
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

Go ahead do ask.The Cimea was part of the UKR , stupidly granted independence despite its historic Ru roots,but it is now is back with Mother Russia lost forever to the UKR! Putin regained the whole of the Crimea back which is now sovereign Ru territory. The UKR is also so shaky despite losing Shaky-willy, that it is only a matter of time before the Maidan mafia collapses and a govt. more friendly to Russia re-emerges.

SL vote around 9.30.Unless we are in for another about turn the abstention of most SLFP MPs will see RW sail through and leave Rajapkse gnashing his teeth.If in the promised cabinet reshuffle the "Fonz", FM Fonseka is given the equiv of Law min., watch him go after Rajapkse and familia just as he went after the LTTE.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by nachiket »

pankajs wrote:Lets first consider Ukraine ...
Not in this thread. Use this one: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6960&start=1080
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Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Peregrine »

X Posted on the India-Myanmar news and discussion, Analyzing CPEC and Terroristan Threads

After all other cases World Wide in General and Hambantota along with Gwadar in Particular Kyaukpyu is the latest victim - Ab Tera Kya Hoga Terroristaniya?

The fishing port that may become a $10 billion Chinese debt bomb

The town of Kyaukpyu, nestled around a small fishing port on the Bay of Bengal, has the air of a place expecting to get rich soon.

In the seaside market, stalls of seafood unloaded from wooden fishing boats floating in the rubbish-strewn harbor have been joined by stacks of Chinese-made toys and smartphones. Nearby, cattle graze between building sites as high-rise offices and hotels replace weather-stained bungalows. Fine-dining rooftop restaurants and a golf course underline the sense of transition.

Much of the development, and a jump in land prices, are anticipating a gigantic prize for this remote Myanmar town of 50,000 people: $10 billion to build a deep-sea port and industrial zone, financed by China. The investment plan -- seven times the cost of Chinese-built ports in Sri Lanka and Cameroon -- has put Kyaukpyu at the center of a debate in Myanmar and across Asia as to who really benefits from China’s grand Belt and Road strategy.

“The real danger of the port is that its extreme expense could lead the Myanmar government to take out an unsustainable level of debt,” said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “That, in combination with other current and future projects in Myanmar, could in the coming years lead to a debt trap.”

Those concerns have stalled development since the previous military government chose China’s CITIC Group to build the port three years ago. CITIC, China’s first state-owned investment corporation, has proposed taking a 70 percent stake in the project, with the remainder split between the Myanmar government and a consortium of local firms. The Chinese company would run the zone for up to 75 years and would finance Myanmar’s stake.

“We keep hearing it will be built since 2015, but nothing has happened so far,” said Shwe Shwe Maung, 34, the head of KaBalan, a village of 460 households in the area marked for the economic zone. “We don’t know exactly what the impact will be, but we’re all hoping that it will bring jobs.”

Some senior government officials are concerned that a nation with a smaller economy than the Dominican Republic may struggle to service and repay the billions of dollars Myanmar would need to borrow for the project.

“The amount of interest is quite substantial, and not like the loans we got from the Japanese government -- the loans from China are much more expensive,” said Soe Win, a member of the ruling National League for Democracy’s central economic committee and a candidate to become Myanmar’s next central bank governor. He declined to give details of the proposed loan.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency is helping finance a $3.28 billion economic zone at Thilawa port, south of Yangon. The Thilawa development has raised further questions about Myanmar’s need for such a large facility in Kyaukpyu (pronounced CHOW-pew) or whether it would simply be a conduit for China, run by Chinese companies.

“Is this deep-sea port being made to benefit Myanmar?” said Ken Tun, founder and chief executive of Myanmar’s Parami Energy, the only local firm to be short-listed for the development. “If we have a deep sea port, but it’s not controlled by Myanmar, that’s a problem.”

One major concern for some members of the government is what happened in Sri Lanka. In 2008, a joint venture with China began building a deep-water port at Hambantota. When Sri Lanka couldn’t repay the loan for the project, it ended up ceding the port to China for 99 years last year in exchange for debt relief. “China is trying to influence political events in Myanmar in many ways,” Soe Win said in an interview. “But what we are afraid of is that we will end up like Sri Lanka.”

Lessons for Leaders Eying China’s Belt-and-Road Billions

Toe Aung Myint, permanent secretary of the Myanmar Ministry of Commerce, which oversees the project management committee, rejects the suggestion that the port would entail too much debt, saying construction would happen in stages.

“Myanmar and Sri Lanka are not the same,” Aung Myint said in an interview. “Only based on the success of the first phase, we will do another phase.”

CITIC directed questions regarding the port to the Myanmar government. “We are unable to disclose information regarding the negotiation to the public,” Zhang Yue, the head of CITIC Myanmar, said in an email.

Soe Win isn’t the only one worried about the long-term plans for Kyaukpyu. Located on the eastern edge of the Bay of Bengal, the town is almost directly opposite INS Varsha, where the Indian navy will base its new fleet of nuclear submarines.

A Myanmar government official familiar with China’s plans for Kyaukpyu said military attaches from the U.S., Australia and countries in Southeast Asia have all expressed concern that China wants to build a port that has strategic as well as economic advantages.

“China needs some sort of access or staging facilities in several different places in the Indian Ocean,” said David Brewster, a senior fellow at Australia’s National Security College and an expert on India-China maritime security. “Myanmar would be a good place to have a naval base.”

Myanmar’s government may have little alternative to a Chinese loan if it wants to build the port. The political outrage sparked in the U.S. and Europe over the treatment of the Rohingya minority has left it with few allies among developed nations.

Kyaukpyu, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north-west of the capital, Yangon, is in Rakhine state, where more than 600,000 Rohingya have been driven from their homes into neighbouring Bangladesh since last August, in what the United Nations’ top human rights official has called “ethnic cleansing.” While most of the clashes happened further north, the conflict rattled investors, prompting China to send a group of diplomats to Rakhine in December.

“They wanted to learn more about the security of their investments,” said Aung Dung, 71, chairman of the Kyaukpyu branch of the NLD, who met the delegation. “The Chinese have quite a lot going on down here.”

Pipeline Links

The town already has oil and gas loading terminals, built since 2013, that feed pipelines transporting the fuel directly to Yunnan province in Western China. A rail link is planned to connect the container port.

“Kyaukpyu is definitely growing,” Yan Myo Aung, 54, chairman of Kyaukpyu branch of the Arakan National Party, whose family operates a number of local retail businesses. “We hope that the Special Economic Zone will add to that.”

Shop owner Saw Maung Nu is one of many local residents who are anticipating a windfall.

“I built this house and shop here two years ago because of the development,” said Saw, 58, a father of eight, in Thaing Shaung, a smattering of houses outside Kyaukpyu in the center of the proposed industrial zone. “I thought all the people coming to work here might need to buy things.”

He said land prices have risen from $20,000 an acre to $50,000 an acre and he’s hoping the government will pay the market rate to buy him out.

Even without the potential military benefits of Kyaukpyu, the port’s commercial advantages make it a key part of China’s maritime Belt and Road strategy.

CITIC says the terminal would have an annual capacity for 4.9 million containers, more than the current throughput of Brazil’s biggest container terminal, as well as loading oil for the pipeline. With the rail link, it would give exporters in Yunnan a short-cut to the Indian Ocean, bypassing the disputed waters in the South China Sea and the congested Straits of Malacca. I have stressed this point "many a time"

“Yunnan is very important for them, it’s landlocked,” said Soe Win. “We will be happy if they use their Kyaukpyu port as a commercial port. But if they would like to turn it into a kind of military base, then we’ll be very, very sad.”

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pankajs
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/sri-l ... 410?src=tw
Sri Lanka warns of looming foreign debt crisis
Sri Lanka is headed for a debt crisis, the finance ministry warned Sunday, blaming a series of costly projects commissioned by the previous government for record-high repayments.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said payments of capital and interest would reach $2.84 billion this year, mostly to repay loans for extravagant projects under former president Mahinda Rajapakse.

"The crisis will further worsen next year," Samaraweera said in a statement, adding repayments are expected to soar to $4.28 in 2019.
May be they need to hand over Colombo port for the next 99 years to China.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Peregrine »

pankajs wrote:http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/sri-l ... 410?src=tw
Sri Lanka warns of looming foreign debt crisis
Sri Lanka is headed for a debt crisis, the finance ministry warned Sunday, blaming a series of costly projects commissioned by the previous government for record-high repayments.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said payments of capital and interest would reach $2.84 billion this year, mostly to repay loans for extravagant projects under former president Mahinda Rajapakse.

"The crisis will further worsen next year," Samaraweera said in a statement, adding repayments are expected to soar to $4.28 in 2019.
pankajs wrote:May be they need to hand over Colombo port for the next 99 years to China.
pankajs Ji :

Already done Sir - Here is the Article of DECEMBER 11, 2017:

China signs 99-year lease on Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port

Critics denounce move as an erosion of country’s sovereignty

Image

For Beijing the Hambantota port project is a linchpin of the 'One Belt One Road' initiative © AFP

Sri Lanka has formally handed over its southern port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease, which government critics have denounced as an erosion of the country’s sovereignty.

The $1.3bn port was opened seven years ago using debt from Chinese state-controlled entities. But it has since struggled under heavy losses, making it impossible for Colombo to repay its debts.

In 2016, Sri Lankan ministers struck a deal to sell an 80 per cent stake in the port to the state-controlled China Merchants Port Holdings.

But that agreement sparked protests from unions and opposition groups, forcing the government to renegotiate it. Under the new plan, signed in July, the Chinese company will hold a 70 per cent stake in a joint venture with the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka’s prime minister, welcomed the deal during the official handing over ceremony at the weekend. He said: “With this agreement we have started to pay back the loans. Hambantota will be converted to a major port in the Indian Ocean.

“There will be an economic zone and industrialisation in the area which will lead to economic development and promote tourism.”

Image

But the renegotiated plan has failed to quell dissent within Sri Lanka. When it was first signed Namal Rajapaksa, Hambantota’s MP and son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, tweeted: “Government is playing geopolitics with national assets? #stopsellingSL”.

For Beijing, the Hambantota project is a linchpin of the “One Belt One Road” project, which aims to build a new Silk Road of trade routes between China and more than 60 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

That project is underpinned by a network of harbours across the world that have put China in a position to challenge the US as the world’s most important maritime superpower. Other similar developments in the region include the Gwadar port in Pakistan, which is the centrepiece of the $55bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

But some have accused Beijing of using projects such as this to increase its regional political power, noting the length of the lease agreed by Sri Lanka is the same as that which gave Britain control over Hong Kong in the 19th century.

Constantino Xavier, a fellow at foreign policy think-tank Carnegie, said: “This is part of a larger modus operandi by China in the region.

Image
Hambantota port lying virtually empty last month © Simon Mundy

“Beijing typically finds a local partner, makes that local partner accept investment plans that are detrimental to their country in the long term, and then uses the debts to either acquire the project altogether or to acquire political leverage in that country.”

New Delhi has become so concerned about Beijing’s plans at Hambantota that it has entered talks with Sri Lanka to operate an airport nearby.

In recent months, however, there have been signs that China’s partners are starting to become wary over the terms being dictated to build projects under the One Road banner.

Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar have all recently cancelled or sidelined major hydroelectricity projects planned by Chinese companies. The projects would have been worth a total of $20bn.

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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

Have they handed over Colombo port?
Peregrine
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Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Peregrine »

pankajs wrote:Have they handed over Colombo port?
pankajs Ji :

"Not Yet", I believe!

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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/money-we ... loan-china
Sri Lanka accepts a US$1 billion, eight-year loan from China Development Bank
Sri Lanka has accepted an eight-year China Development Bank $1 billion syndicated loan to repay loans maturing this year, two top Sri Lankan Finance Ministry officials said on Friday.

The bank was chosen from among four bidding for the loan, which the government plans to use towards repaying other loans, one official said.

“All three others had three-year tenure and only China Development Bank had a bid for an eight-year tenure. The effective rate of return is around 5.3 percent,” the official said.

“It was a good offer. The loan has a three-year grace period. Then in the next five years, the government will be repaying $100 million biannually.”

The new borrowing comes after Sri Lanka raised a record US$2.5 billion via two tranches of sovereign bonds last month.

The government is also preparing to refinance big debts that fall due up to 2022, with the start this year of repayments on expensive infrastructure foreign loans.

The government has blamed “colossal borrowing” by the previous government for the spike in debt servicing.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said last week the debt crisis would further worsen next year, when US$4.3 billion has to be paid for debt servicing in 2019.

<snip>

Sri Lanka, which has a US$87 billion economy, expects foreign currency outflows of $6.35 billion in the next 12 months including loans, securities, and deposits, compared with the current US$9.1 billion in foreign exchange reserves, according to the latest official central bank data.
Philip
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

I cannot understand why we don't lend SL Money.Let it be caught in an Indian debt trap rather than the Chins! Utter myopia in the MEA.We will have to spend several billions just to counter the "
Chins in the island.Centuries old prophecy allegedly in an ancient Trick Mobil is coming true...about the yellow race coming to the island.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by rsingh »

^^^
I had this thought. But knowing Lanka's "hate India at any cost" syndrom , we will be accused of patronising a small neighbour. Let the to cook in their own juice. It is a good example for other countries.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by chetak »

Philip wrote:I cannot understand why we don't lend SL Money.Let it be caught in an Indian debt trap rather than the Chins! Utter myopia in the MEA.We will have to spend several billions just to counter the "
Chins in the island.Centuries old prophecy allegedly in an ancient Trick Mobil is coming true...about the yellow race coming to the island.
If some Indian govt were to give or lend billions to any other country, that govt will either fall pronto or lose the next election, come what may.

Our own people need the money first and we are simply not in the league of commie china, wonderful, autocratic, election free china where even the slightest criticism of their govt will quickly be confronted by the business end of an AK on full automatic.

Of course, they have full freedom there too, freedom to choose the coffin that they wish to be buried in.

Vitamin M therapy, just like charity, begins at home.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

1. We can't compete with the Chinese in throwing money.
2. We setup perverse incentive for Sri Lanka to keep milking us in the future.
3. Green light our other neighbors to follow the Lankan template.

I recall quite a few calls on this very forum that India needs to take the fight to South China sea. If India cannot take the fight to China 250 km off the Indian coast to take the fight to South China sea! Are you kidding me?

Think over it again. India cannot dislodge China 250 km off our coast when the Chinese supply line is at least be over 8,000 km away? The very same folks want India to "show China" whatever that means 250 km off their coast and 8,000 km from our mainland? Does that make sense or is it fear in one case and bravado in the other case?
Philip
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

We've given Vietnam $500M for milware.$1B as a loan to SL isn't difficult.Spending sev.billions to counter the Chinese entrenched thete is even more expensive.We're helping the Afghans too heavily and worst of all.....how many billions are we throwing away to duplicitous Kashmiri politicos?

If we assist SL in some of its development projects we will have the right to get the viability of the same, so that it would not be a burden to both sides late on.Htota is a white elephant.The Chinese really want the thousands of hectares attached to the deal where they will set up a massive logistic base for their forces in the IOR just as the US uses DG with pre- positioned ships.
chetak
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by chetak »

Philip wrote:We've given Vietnam $500M for milware.$1B as a loan to SL isn't difficult.Spending sev.billions to counter the Chinese entrenched thete is even more expensive.We're helping the Afghans too heavily and worst of all.....how many billions are we throwing away to duplicitous Kashmiri politicos?

If we assist SL in some of its development projects we will have the right to get the viability of the same, so that it would not be a burden to both sides late on.Htota is a white elephant.The Chinese really want the thousands of hectares attached to the deal where they will set up a massive logistic base for their forces in the IOR just as the US uses DG with pre- positioned ships.
I see your point but these are all really very piddly sums that pale in significance compared to the chinese largesse.

The SLs entered into agreements with the hans just to spark off an aid war between India and china while SL sat pretty collecting hafta from both suitors, or so they thought.

They are not babes in the woods either, they well know India's legitimate security concerns just as well as we do. We did help them out with the ltte goondas, help that the SLs have not publicly endorsed and nor has the GoI sought such an endorsement. Yes, there have been stray mentions here and there but nothing to acknowledge the sheer scale of assistance that the GoI provided.

In spite of knowing all this, they went ahead with the hans and just see where they are now. Truly f(uked and far from home and it's all their sole doing.

We should keep clear. Talk, visit them, say hello and whatnot but this time their evil cunning has got them caught in their own trap, caught really good and tight.

why don't they ask their corrupt previous, too clever by half president why he did what he did??

They have a visceral and off putting hatred towards India. It's OK for them to feel that way.

Just like there are Indian bengalis and beedi bengalis, there are Indian tamils and non Indian tamils. The two simply do not mix, in spite of what the "dravidians" say, non Indian tamils are no concern of ours.

Unless there is a very specific separatist agenda to mix the two categories.

I don't think India can allow any military buildup by the hans in hambantota.
pankajs
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

We are giving "Vietnam $500M for milware" i.e. $500 million loan to buy Indian military hardware vs $1 Billion to re-pay another loan or build some nonviable project.

Can someone spot the difference?
Philip
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

Please! This is what I am advocating.SL has a funding need for let's say infrastructure.We provide it with a loan and an Indian co. get's the work.It's not a dole! What the GOSL wanted at HT was a port which would benefit the south of the island.We declined to help a few times when asked first.What we should 've done was to examine the viability and downsized the development or broken it up into phases more affordable and which would've served the purpose of increasing development in the island's south.After all," beggars can't be choosers" !
The cash rich Chins simply pandered to the Lankans with their v.deep pockets and they swallowed the bait.
pankajs
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

We do not fund loan "repayment" nor do we fund nonviable projects like Hambantota. Is that too difficult to understand?

Please spare us your "After all," beggars can't be choosers". Just google the latest of Hambantota and the expansion that is being planned. Sri Lanka not only choose to build the nonviable Hanbantota it is also contemplating expansion. OTOH, Indian firms did bid for projects in Colombo port and other projects.

Hambantota was offered to India on Sri Lankan terms. With as you put it "The cash rich Chins simply pandered to the Lankans with their v.deep pockets" how did India plan to swing the Hambantota project and downsize it with the ever present Chin financing just a call away? Didn't other projects that India/Indian firms bid for go to China e.g. like some Colombo port projects? By your logic that shouldn't have happened. That simply tells us that showing up was not the criteria.

Unless they see the danger we can do zlich except enter a bidding war with China which again we are bound to loose. I say leave Sri Lanka alone to commit harakiri if that is what they want. We can deal with China in Sri Lanka if it comes to that.
chetak
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by chetak »

Philip wrote:Please! This is what I am advocating.SL has a funding need for let's say infrastructure.We provide it with a loan and an Indian co. get's the work.It's not a dole! What the GOSL wanted at HT was a port which would benefit the south of the island.We declined to help a few times when asked first.What we should 've done was to examine the viability and downsized the development or broken it up into phases more affordable and which would've served the purpose of increasing development in the island's south.After all," beggars can't be choosers" !
The cash rich Chins simply pandered to the Lankans with their v.deep pockets and they swallowed the bait.
Saar,

I know that they asked us first on the port issue but then the lankans have always been asking for a lot from India with no let up on the anti India sentiment front.

don't forget the ridiculous demand for the rail/road bridge link to the "mainland" which they want us to fund completely.

These guys are just beedis with another name. Same feeling of god given entitlement and limitless expectation for free but always in the forefront with the anti India sentiment and their right to parade it, just like the beedis.

And again, just like the beedis, the govt speaks in one voice, the opposition in another entirely different voice and come election time, the govts may change but the voices remain as before.

Left to themselves, the SLs are doing OK from whatever I sometimes see of them. Best to let sleeping dogs lie or we will be overrun with fleas once again. The eelam goondas are slowly regrouping once again, learned from past mistakes, surreptitiously taken over almost all of the Indian coastline relevant to them and are feeling their oats and just about starting to flex their muscles once again. Do not discount the koodankulam, jallikattu and now the sterlite issues. A slender and common thread runs through them all.

There were distinct tamil issues pushed by the dravidian side and there were the distinct sinhala issues pushed by the SLs. The GoI simply lost interest along the way.

The dogs are beginning to bark once again and we now need to factor in the proximity of the hans to the eelam issue and it flowering once again, sooner rather than later.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by DavidD »

chetak wrote:
Philip wrote:I cannot understand why we don't lend SL Money.Let it be caught in an Indian debt trap rather than the Chins! Utter myopia in the MEA.We will have to spend several billions just to counter the "
Chins in the island.Centuries old prophecy allegedly in an ancient Trick Mobil is coming true...about the yellow race coming to the island.
If some Indian govt were to give or lend billions to any other country, that govt will either fall pronto or lose the next election, come what may.

Our own people need the money first and we are simply not in the league of commie china, wonderful, autocratic, election free china where even the slightest criticism of their govt will quickly be confronted by the business end of an AK on full automatic.

Of course, they have full freedom there too, freedom to choose the coffin that they wish to be buried in.

Vitamin M therapy, just like charity, begins at home.
Actually cremation is mandatory in China, coffins take too much space.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

https://www.livemint.com/Politics/34gwx ... -port.html
Sri Lanka to move naval unit to China-run Hambantota port
Colombo: Sri Lanka will move its southern naval headquarters to the Hambantota port which is now leased to China, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Saturday.

In his talks with Chinese leaders, Wickremesinghe made it clear that the port will not be allowed to be used for any military purposes, the prime minister’s office said.

In December last year, Sri Lanka handed over the control of the southern sea port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease for $1.12 billion, amid concern over Beijing’s efforts to expand influence in the region.

Opposition leaders have dubbed the deal as a sell out to China. Today’s announcement came amid India’s concerns that Hambantota could be used by China for military purposes.

“The Sri Lanka navy is moving its Southern Command to Hambantota. There is no need to be frightened as security of the port will be under the control of the Sri Lanka Navy,” the office quoted Wickremesinghe as saying.

The state-run China Merchant Port Holdings last week paid the final payment of $585 million out of the $1.12 billion price for a 70% stake of the port.

Earlier, China had withheld the Hambantota Port deal’s final tranche of $585 million to Sri Lanka due to Colombo’s objection over its plan to use a man-made island for entertainment purposes, a media report had said.

Sri Lanka has also informed the Chinese that Hambantota cannot be used for military purposes,” the statement said.
The proposal for a "man-made island for entertainment purposes" looks like the first step towards deployment of PLAN at Hambantota by starting with a R&R facility.

Perhaps that is how it was understood by Sri Lanka or rather they were told of what the trajectory was. So Lanka decided to shift its Southern Command to Hambantota. What will the Chinese do now? Will they still keep insisting for the R&R facility.

This is getting interesting by the day.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Bhaskar_T »

For a Srilankan Airport (close to Hambantota port) who had no takers, India acquiring a major stake is a good thing? Does it help strategically?

https://rightlog.in/2018/07/sri-lanka-i ... irport-01/
chetak
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by chetak »

Bhaskar_T wrote:For a Srilankan Airport (close to Hambantota port) who had no takers, India acquiring a major stake is a good thing? Does it help strategically?

https://rightlog.in/2018/07/sri-lanka-i ... irport-01/
Indian military may have landing rights at the airport, if we have done our homework well.
pankajs
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

+ ATC Radar data
+ Coming and goings of Chinese to the port via the Airport

But unless we have such an *understanding* with the Sri Lankans it will be money sunk.
chetak
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by chetak »

pankajs wrote:+ ATC Radar data
+ Coming and goings of Chinese to the port via the Airport

But unless we have such an *understanding* with the Sri Lankans it will be money sunk.
A few families settled there could have been "purchased" by the intelligence guys and numerous SL "workers" "encouraged" to report on the comings and goings.

The chinese have leased the port and some land there There would have been any number of places for people to watch and report while normally going about their farming, no??

A few "fishing" boats in view of hambantota but outside SL territorial waters (12 mile limit) could have kept watch.

Why buy the cow, if all you needed was the milk ??

I am very sure that India will position suitable radars, COMINT as well as hydrophone arrays closeby (to record whale songs) as well as other required cutlery suitable for a gourmet meal.

Image

Hambantota port and the surroundings
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by dinesha »

Sri Lanka Hopes India Will Take Stake in Airport With No Flights
https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-e ... no-flights
"Just like the port without ships, there is also an airport without planes in Mattala," Wickremesinghe told lawmakers. "We spoke first to the Chinese about the Mattala airport, but we did not get a favorable response. So we are in discussions with India. In the future, I believe Mattala will also be an airport free of debt that will attract flights."
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by dinesha »

China’s “debt trap” is even worse than we thought
https://qz.com/1317234/chinas-debt-trap ... e-thought/
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by Supratik »

pankajs
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion

Post by pankajs »

^
We need to be very careful when we use the word checkmate.
Locked