How's Sri Lanka Doing?

Discussion in 'BS Forum' started by Acad23, Jul 12, 2022.

  1. Acad23

    Acad23 Well-Known Member

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    First we'll have to remove his ankle monitor.
     
  2. BrowningNagle

    BrowningNagle Well-Known Member

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    Lots of Sri Lankan experts on here who knew
     
  3. Ralebird

    Ralebird Well-Known Member

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    Typical irrelevant comment that Acad thinks is humorous, I guess. (shrug)
     
  4. Acad23

    Acad23 Well-Known Member

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    You're right.

    Not my best work.
     
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  5. The Waterboy

    The Waterboy Well-Known Member

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    That is a good use of protestors fire, make toast
     
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  6. Acad23

    Acad23 Well-Known Member

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    4 down...

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Acad23

    Acad23 Well-Known Member

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  8. Ralebird

    Ralebird Well-Known Member

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    Here's an update from an email from the New York Times:

    View in browser|nytimes.com
    [​IMG]
    July 24, 2022

    [​IMG]
    By German Lopez

    Writer, The Morning

    Good morning. Today, we explain what led to Sri Lanka’s recent protests.

    [​IMG]
    Protesters overtaking the prime minister’s office in Colombo, Sri Lanka.Atul Loke for The New York Times
    Storming the palace
    Sri Lanka’s recent upheaval offers an extreme example of the world’s recent problems. Covid disrupted the country’s major industries, particularly tourism, and then leaders failed to adapt — setting off a chain of economic calamities, including food and fuel shortages. The crisis prompted protests, culminating in the president’s resignation and the installation of a new president on Wednesday.

    My colleague Emily Schmall has been reporting on Sri Lanka. I spoke to her about the country’s crisis.

    What led Sri Lanka to this point?

    For the past six months or so, economic conditions for everyday Sri Lankans have grown increasingly difficult. Things like fuel and cooking gas became increasingly expensive and hard to find, and inflation soared. New government import bans meant goods from overseas like chocolate and coffee beans disappeared.

    In Sri Lanka, there’s a sizable middle class. People are not used to scarcity, so they noticed immediately when things started disappearing from shelves. People were upset about that. And the ability to carry on became all but impossible in the last month or so.

    Eventually, protesters took over the presidential palace. How did that happen?

    It began with the protesters marching toward the president’s mansion on July 9. Government officials tear-gassed them and fired live rounds around them. This infuriated people. A few commandeered a military truck and used it to break down the gate. Hundreds of people then flooded in and found this place essentially abandoned — the president had fled, and there was nobody stopping them from going inside. Then, they did the same at Temple Trees, the prime minister’s official residence.

    But the protesters didn’t ransack the place. They started inviting the public to come in, but in an orderly fashion. Activists were forcing people to queue properly. They treated these homes like museums. They were concerned about not damaging any property.

    After about 24 hours, a gleefulness overtook the place, and some people swam in the president’s pool. They’d done it: They had forced this extremely powerful president — who was accused of war crimes, who was feared — to leave his own home and even the country. But they did it peacefully, without taking up arms.

    So it was an atmosphere of joy and disbelief, with a bit of absurdity and a bit of comedy thrown in — a very Sri Lankan sort of revolution, relatively low-key and polite.

    I can’t help but compare this to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. This seemed much more peaceful.

    Oh, yeah. I couldn’t help thinking of it either.

    There were several differences. For one, these people were not armed. It was also a bit spontaneous, and there was no clear leader. They did not do it in association with any politician or political party.

    But the big difference was that these protesters had widespread support. Ordinary Sri Lankans were applauding them and even participating. People who would otherwise never be involved in activism or protests were happily wandering around the properties, enjoying themselves and basking in the success of this movement.

    In the U.S., we’ve had inflation and supply shortages recently. But this sounds like a whole different level of problems.

    Yes. So in the U.S., Americans have complained about fuel prices. By contrast, Sri Lanka ran out of fuel. It’s not just that it was expensive; it was impossible to find.

    [​IMG]
    A line for fuel in Sri Lanka in May. Atul Loke for The New York Times
    How did the government react?

    Until several months in, there was really no government recognition of the crisis. The dynast Gotabaya Rajapaksa was leading the administration at the time, and he had appointed his brothers and his nephew to his cabinet. He didn’t take a lot of counsel from outside his family.

    There was a lot of denialism among them. They were told repeatedly that the economy was deteriorating. But they were certain tourism would continue to increase after Covid and that would be enough to shore up finances. But that didn’t happen; tourism was starting to come back, but it wasn’t enough.

    I was surprised that so much of the country was run by this one family. Is that unusual in Sri Lankan history?

    It was strange even for Sri Lanka.

    There are a number of families in politics. Rajapaksa was defense secretary when his brother was president from 2005 to 2015.

    But this administration was an extremely brazen example. The Sri Lankan government increasingly looked like a family business. And it was run that way: a lot of secrecy, not much transparency, not many outsiders. The family tried to benefit from the policies the government was imposing.

    Does the new government have the people’s trust?

    Protesters are not happy with Ranil Wickremesinghe, the new president. They feel that his takeover reaffirms the Rajapaksas’ influence because he represents the establishment and because he appointed a friend of the Rajapaksa family as his prime minister.

    What’s next for Sri Lanka?

    In the short term, we probably will see continued turmoil. But people are invested in ensuring Sri Lanka doesn’t fall again into this situation where it’s teetering on autocracy, where there’s little transparency and where the will of the people is ignored. So it’s mostly a positive story.

    More on Emily Schmall: She grew up in DeKalb, Ill., and once had a job detasseling corn. She decided to become a journalist in high school. She began her career at The Miami Herald in 2005 and joined the New Delhi bureau at The Times in 2020.

    Related: Amid the chaos, Sri Lankans found refuge in cricket.
     
  9. CotcheryFan

    CotcheryFan 2018 ROTY Poster Award Winner

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    This will happen in other countries too.
     
  10. Acad23

    Acad23 Well-Known Member

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    Not if they keep their tourism going!
     
  11. Ralebird

    Ralebird Well-Known Member

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    Panama is pretty far removed from Sri Lanka; maybe each country should have its own thread. Or maybe this thread should simply be renamed the "Global Unrest Thread." Any problem, for any reason, anywhere in the world should just have a link dropped; comments on the reason for such are apparently superfluous.
     
  12. Jonathan_Vilma

    Jonathan_Vilma Well-Known Member

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    Do you make the fucking rules?

    Posting Panama in this thread makes a lot of sense. The unrest is very similar.

    You just spent two pages bitching like a little girl about the article acad posted only to post a similar article on page three confirming that there’s some big issues in Sri Lanka.
     
  13. BrowningNagle

    BrowningNagle Well-Known Member

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    I heard they are hacking all kinds of trouble in Vulvaria
     
  14. Acad23

    Acad23 Well-Known Member

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    What's their ESG score?
     
  15. BrowningNagle

    BrowningNagle Well-Known Member

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    It is impenetrable
     
  16. abyzmul

    abyzmul R.J. MacReady, 2018 Funniest Member Award Winner

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    Those little cars are pretty neat. I bet they get 200 miles to the gallon.
     
  17. Ralebird

    Ralebird Well-Known Member

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    If you can't follow the discussion, that's okay. That doesn't mean you get to decide what goes in any thread any more than I do.

    I didn't bitch at all about what Acad posted, I simply pointed out multiple times to him, and now to you, that there is a difference between a news article and an opinion piece and that the writer of his opinion piece was not known for accuracy or honesty. The article I recently posted showed the cause of the unrest was economic in nature and had little or nothing to do with any effort to improve the environment as Acad claimed.

    Again, no one expects everyone here to understand these things, especially when they're more interested in attacking posters than understanding what is written.
     
  18. Ralebird

    Ralebird Well-Known Member

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    While you're on the subject, there appear to be many different ESG scores published with different meanings. Which one did you use in your claim that Sri Lanka was rated at 98?
     
  19. Acad23

    Acad23 Well-Known Member

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    You mean like that opinion piece from German Lopez?

    Sri Lanka's problems are manyfold... the banning of chemical fertiliser caused the crops to fail.

    Who knew people like to eat?

    It should be noted that some of the food shortages are the result of governments placing a higher priority on achieving climate and ESG goals than on food production. One cause of the collapse of the Sri Lankan government was its decision to force farmers to switch from chemical fertilizers (which use natural gas as a key feedstock) to organic fertilizers in April 2021, a mandate that predictably and dramatically reduced crop yields. By the time the Sri Lankan government realized the disaster it had created and attempted to reverse course in November 2021, it was too late.

    Rising Social Unrest Over Energy, Food Shortages Threatens Global Stability
     
  20. Acad23

    Acad23 Well-Known Member

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    Forbes.
     

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