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“CRUSH THE EXISTENCE OF VERMIN”
DONALD TRUMP GOES FULL HITLER ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
by Vijaya Chandrasoma
Much has been written about Trump’s election to the presidency in 2016; his ignorant, incompetent, criminal administration between 2016 and 2020; his Big Lie about a perfectly fair election being “stolen” from him; his fraudulent, criminal and seditious behavior since his defeat that has seen him convicted on fraud and rape, arrested and on bail on four indictments and 91 felony charges.
More has been written about the debasement of the Republican Party, once the Party of Family Values and the Rule of Law, into the authoritarian Party of Trump, with complete disregard for truth, decency, justice, the constitution and the Rule of Law. It is a party which has amazingly all but nominated a twice-impeached former president and a convicted criminal as its candidate for the 2024 presidency.
The Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Ronna McDaniel, said that the RNC will back Trump for the 2024 presidency even as a convicted felon! Interestingly, Ronna McDaniel is a niece of Utah Senator and 2012 Republican nominee for the presidency, Mitt Romney. At a recent speech announcing his retirement from the Senate in 2025, Romney condemned Trump as a “Demagogue”, saying, “It is pretty clear that the Party is inclined to a populist demagogue message”. Previous Trump lawyer, Ty Cobb said last Tuesday at an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, “Trump’s behavior diminishes not only himself but also the United States of America”.
What is emerging of the plans of Trump and his allies if he is elected president in 2024 (he is currently leading President Biden 49% to 45% in recent national polls) are truly terrifying. And these plans are not based on reports from the “fake news media”; they are openly, loudly and proudly ranted by Trump himself during his recent campaign tirades, cheered on by his supporters. These plans include:
Revenge against political opponents, with the weaponization of the FBI, the Department of Justice and Law Enforcement. Trump went full Hitler during a Veteran’s Day campaign speech last Monday:
“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, Fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, lie, steal and cheat on elections, and will do anything possible, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and the American Dream.” He added: “The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within. Despite the hatred and anger of the Radical Left Lunatics who want to destroy our country, we will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN”.
The particular use of the word “vermin” is most significant. Historian, John Meacham said that “Trump is lifting rhetoric from Hitler and the Third Reich. Because to call your opponents vermin, to dehumanize them, is to not only open the door, but to walk through the door towards the most ghastly kinds of crimes”. And we all saw where that door led to at the Nazi concentration camps.
In his last will and testament, signed shortly before his suicide, Hitler wrote that the true meaning of his prophecy of 1939 was to “exterminate the vermin throughout Europe”.
Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, responded, “Those who try to make these assertions are clearly snowflakes suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, and their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House”.
“Entire existence of vermin” crushed, exterminated, baked, gassed – distinctions without a difference. At least they are honest about their intentions.
President Biden assailed Trump’s disgusting rhetoric. “It echoes language you heard in Nazi Germany in the 1930s”. He also recalled a past comment when Trump said that immigrants “were poisoning the blood of our country”.
Our “Country of Immigrants” has always been proudly awash with the blood, pure and impure, of immigrants. Never forget the words engraved on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore”. Those huddled masses, that wretched refuse, they were all immigrants, not vermin. As are the teeming masses huddled on our southern border, yearning to breathe free. They are not, as Trump has often derided them, rapists and murderers. They are human beings, immigrants, certainly not vermin.
So when Trump calls immigrants and leftists vermin, he doesn’t mean “them”, he means “you”. When people tell you who they are and what they are going to do, believe them.
White House Staff of a second Trump administration.
Another terrifying prospect of a second Trump term from 2025 would be the fawning devotion, the unquestioning loyalty of the people he will employ in the highest and lowest posts in his administration.
In 2016, most of his top officials were “yes men”, loyalists who were happy to obey his every command, however unconstitutional, even criminal. But there were a few who did push against Trump’s worst instincts. People like former Defense Secretary James Mattis, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, former Chief of Staff John Kelly, to name just three, who were summarily fired because “they were not loyal enough”, or resigned because they were sick of working for a treasonous criminal. Or as former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, also fired by Trump, said, “a f…ing moron”.
In 2025, however, with the guard-rails removed, the entirety of the Trump administration, including his cabinet and senior diplomats, will be composed of 110% Trump loyalists. A bunch of white supremacist rabble drawn from the radical red, QAnon, Christian, white supremacist politicians of the Party of Trump, backed by the domestic terrorist cults of the KKK, the Proud Boys and the Oathkeepers.
Trump has already stated that he plans to purge the government of at least 50,000 employees, “with a particular focus on corrupt actors in our national security and intelligence apparatus”. He would institute a massive overhaul of federal workers, replacing them with an installation of loyalists. “With you at my side, we will demolish the Deep State, we will expel the political class that hates our country”.
Demolish, expel, exterminate – again, distinctions without a difference.
Immigration
Trump has pledged to “immediately stop the invasion of our southern border” and end illegal immigration.
Travel Bans
“In my second term, we’re going to expand each and every one of those bans because we have no choice. We aren’t bringing anyone in from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security”.
Tests for anyone trying to enter the United States
“I will implement (the) strong idea of logical screening of all immigrants. If you sympathize with Jihadists, you are not getting in. We don’t want you. You’re fired”. In the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel, he will put in place “ideological screening”, for immigrants to identify those “dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots and maniacs and those who empathize with radical Islamic terrorists and extremists”.
In addition to banning many from entering, Trump is vowing a historic removal of immigrants. “We will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history”, vowing to implement a “massive deportation blitz”, including rounding up undocumented and legal immigrants and “concentrating” on detaining them in sprawling “camps” while they wait to be “expelled”.
Concentrating, camps, expel – doesn’t take much imagination to work out the meanings of those words, does it?
Family Separations.
Trump is threatening to restart his policy of family separations at the border, taking children away by force from the arms of their parents. Some of the families so separated during Trump’s first term have never been reunited. “When you say to a family that if you come, we’re going to break you up, they don’t come. We did family separations (during his first term), a lot of people didn’t come. It stopped people coming by the hundreds of thousands because when they hear family separation, they say, well, we better not”. Boasting about the benefits of separating children from their parents – that is the epitome of cruelty.
Foreign Policy.
Trump continues to threaten the withdrawal of the United States from NATO, the longest peacetime military alliance in history, unless they pay their fair share for their collective defense.
Trump claims that “even before I am inaugurated, (in January 2025), I will have settled the war between Russia and Ukraine”, including the “endless flow of American treasure to Ukraine”.
Sure, he will. He will simply end the war by encouraging his mentor, Putin, to illegally annex Ukraine, a sovereign, independent nation. And he will support Putin in his future invasions of the old Soviet Union countries, now sovereign nations under the aegis of NATO.
There are many other changes for the worse which can be expected if Trump wins a second term. These changes, basically culture wars, have little to do with issues that affect the American people. Issues like the economy, jobs and income inequality, inflation, healthcare and the social safety net, gun violence, voting rights, LGBTQ and transgender rights, women’s reproductive freedom, climate change and pollution, etc.
Instead, Trump and the Republican Party are more concerned about delaying the cases of 91 felony charges against Trump till after the November 2024 election; pardons for the rioters convicted of federal offenses for their participation in the January 6, 2021 insurrection; self-pardons of Trump, his family and cronies in all past, present and future crimes.
Trump plans to dismantle the Department of Education, with the federal government exerting more power on public schools and colleges, where the main thrust of educational policies would be an emphasis on Christianity, denial of history, banning of “restricted” books and “schools that will teach students to love their country, not to hate their country as they are taught right now”.
Trump’s policy to combat endemic gun violence in schools would be to encourage schools employing veterans, retired police officers and trained gun owners as armed guards, and permit teachers to carry concealed weapons.
According to him, “as everyone knows, having more guns is the only certain answer to reduce gun violence.”
Just last Tuesday, a Republican Senator challenged a witness, during a hearing, for a fist fight on the Senate floor. On the same day, former Speaker McCarthy elbowed a fellow Republican Senator who had voted against him in the election for the Speakership weeks ago, with a clean blow to the kidneys on the hallowed hallways of the Capitol. Encounters inappropriate even in Junior High School yards rather than in the “highest deliberative body in the world”.
The Republican Party, from Trump downwards (or is it upwards?) is out of control, having shed their collective sense of shame faster and with less embarrassment than a stripper sheds her bikini.
Trump would also encourage police officers to use violence to deter crime. In a recent speech, he said he would authorize police officers to shoot suspected shoplifters caught in the act. “Very simply, if you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store”. Especially if you are black, you will be shot solely on suspicion, no arrest, no trial, just capital punishment for stealing a pack of cigarettes. On the other hand, you can make $2 billion on an illegal real estate deal with the Saudis with impunity. Especially if you are white, and the president’s son-in-law.
Trump Justice, in a nutshell
These are a few reasons that will gladden the hearts of Trump supporters and Make America Great Again, AGAIN. There are more, too lengthy to add to this already prolix essay.
Fortunately, I’ll be long dead, having shuffled off this mortal coil, grieving the tragedy that, for the first time in the history of the greatest democracy in the world, we will be leaving our children and our grandchildren with a future fraught with danger: If Trump wins the White House in 2024.
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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