Features
DEFIANT HALEY SPINS DOUBLE-DIGIT LOSS AS A WIN, TAUNTS TRUMP “COME ON DONALD, SHOW US WHAT YOU GOT”
TRUMP WINS WEST HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY
by Vijaya Chandrasoma
Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis dropped out of the presidential race before the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, January 23, after an unexpectedly poor showing in the Iowa caucus and a subsequent drop in national polls. He made the announcement of the suspension of his campaign with a stirring quote he mistakenly attributed to Winston Churchill: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”. Words Churchill never spoke, but did appear, strangely enough, in a 1938 Budweiser beer commercial.
DeSantis joined other Republican challengers like Senator Tim Scott and Indian descent entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who also suspended their campaigns and immediately endorsed Trump for the Republican nomination.
This is Trump’s Superpower. He has lost every election since the 2016 presidential election. His Party lost the House and the Senate in the 2018 midterms. He lost the 2020 presidential election to President Biden by a record seven million votes and an Electoral College landslide. The Party again lost the Senate and suffered a setback in the House in the 2022 midterms, which they had expected to win big in a Red Tsunami, but finally held with a wafer-thin majority. Almost every candidate endorsed by Trump for either House has been defeated. In spite of all these losses, Trump remains the undisputed leader of the Republican Party.
The Superpower transforms previous Republican rivals with leadership aspirations, who had excoriated Trump in the past and had in turn been roundly insulted, even humiliated by him – the classic example being Senator Ted Cruz, the 2016 presidential hopeful, whose wife was described by Trump as being “ugly” and his father falsely accused of involvement in the JFK assassination – into the most unctuous of Trump sycophants.
This Superpower also amazingly empowers him to commit the most heinous of crimes – sexual, fraudulent, seditious, even treasonous, with his guilt beyond doubt – and still ensures that no damage is caused to the loyalty of his Party, and even provides an enhancement in his poll numbers and fundraising capabilities.
The Kryptonite, the ultimate weapon against this Superpower, is the Truth. The Republicans’ refusal to acknowledge and accept the truth staring them in the face indicates that Trump has not changed the Party, he has merely revealed its seething underbelly of white supremacism and authoritarianism. A cult immune to Kryptonite.
The most significant and unexpected Republican to withdraw his candidacy last week and endorse Trump was Tim Scott, the “nice guy” moderate Senator from South Carolina. African-American Scott was appointed to the Senate in 2015 by then South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Trump’s only remaining challenger for the 2024 Republican nomination.
At an interview at CNN’s The State of the Union with Dana Bash last Sunday, Scott said, “All I want is four more years of Donald Trump”, who “does not see White from Black!” and “will unite the country”. At a time that the country has been polarized as never before, entirely by Trump’s racist, anti-immigrant policies and rants about vermin poisoning the pure white blood of America.
Asked why he endorsed Trump for the nomination, instead of his erstwhile South Carolina sponsor, Nikki Haley, Scott said he was thinking of the country as a whole and not just his home state. He danced around several issues, shamelessly twisting his earlier criticisms of Trump playing the permanent victim and whining about grievances and witch hunts. He said what he really meant was that Trump had indeed been “aggrieved” by the Biden administration, which had “weaponized the Department of Justice” to unfairly prosecute him. A blatant lie, the Trump Superpower in action.
Scott refused to answer Dana Bash’s question whether he agreed with Trump’s description of those domestic terrorists convicted and imprisoned for their part in the January 6 insurrection as “hostages”. He said he would rather let “Lady Justice get back her blindfolds”. A performance of brown-nosing (metaphorically, for a black man), reminiscent of the glory lickspittle days of Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham.
The campaign slogan of the last woman, Nikki Haley, standing between Trump and the Republican nomination was: “I am the last best hope of avoiding a rematch between two old men, a contest 75% of Americans don’t want”. She has, on the advice of her powerful sponsor, West Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, finally stepped up from her previously tepid rebukes of Trump to a tougher approach, calling him a bully and a liar, and going after him for his disastrous first term, his electoral losses since his election to the presidency in 2016 and his criminal behavior after his electoral defeat in 2020.
At recent campaign speeches, Trump has continued to make even more outrageously false statements than usual. He said that he beat President Obama in a landslide in 2016, when his presidential rival was Hillary Clinton. He complained that it was Nikki Haley (repeating her name numerous times), who was in charge of security during January 6, 2021 and had failed to summon federal troops to quell the insurrection, confusing Nikki Haley with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A trifecta of hallucinations. Only Trump had the power to summon federal troops, which he chose to ignore as he was rooting for the insurrectionists in their violent attempt to prevent the constitutional transfer of presidential power. An insurrection he had planned and incited. And Nikki Haley was a private citizen who was not even in Washington D.C. on that day of infamy.
There are numerous recent gaffes and losses of memory which indicate that Trump’s mind has turned into a cesspit of hallucinatory delusion. The fact that he still brags about acing a test designed to identify incipient dementia, as he did during his presidency, is proof that he is on the cusp of that disease, which is becoming more transparent at every passing rant.
New Hampshire is a more liberal, New England state, which, unlike Iowa, where only registered Republicans have the right to vote, allows Independents to vote in its Republican primary.
Trump went on to register a win over Haley by double digits, finally garnering 54.5% of the votes to Haley’s 43.2%. Trump won by 11% points, when the polls had projected that he would win by over 30%. The New Hampshire primary showed that the polls, which projected a huge win for Trump, were highly exaggerated, and sowed doubt about the authenticity of even the national polls.
Trump was at his usual ego maniacal worst during his victory speech, flanked by his brand-new sycophants, Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy, who made worshipful speeches about “the greatest American leader in history”. He showed his ire at Haley for refusing to suspend her campaign, and even showed his complete lack of class, even insulting the beautiful dress she wore.
Haley made a gracious but defiant concession speech, congratulating Trump on his victory. However, she did say that she had no intention of dropping out of the race. The best lines in her speech were that “Trump was the right president at the right time….not any more”, “Chaos follows Donald Trump” and “New Hampshire is the first in the nation. It is not the last in the nation. This race is far from over”.
Nikki Haley acted as if she had won the primary, which drove Trump crazy. He was expecting Haley, like DeSantis and the other sycophants, to fold her tent, bow out of the race, kiss the ring and beg for the Vice-President position.
Haley proved she has more balls than all the Republicans who had vied for the Republican nomination, only to tamely and prematurely throw in the towel. She will be in Trump’s face at least till the primary in her home state of South Carolina, in a month. She is gaining more support from Independents and moderate Republicans, who are getting sick and tired of his mean-spirited, mendacious, and whining “permanent victim” posture.
At her announcement that she was staying in the race, Haley said, “What a great night. God is so good. Donald Trump just threw a temper tantrum. He pitched a fit. He was insulting, but I know that’s what he does when he is insecure”. She ended her speech, taunting Trump: “Come on, Donald. Show us what you got!”
Perhaps she has little chance of winning the nomination, but she certainly has got under Trump’s skin, by refusing to quit the campaign and preventing him from claiming the Republican nomination outright after New Hampshire.
Trump was also too obtuse to understand the irony when he branded Haley “an impostor” because she did not concede that she had lost the fight (in his opinion) for the Republican nomination. Strange comment from a man who hasn’t yet conceded an election he lost over three years ago. He has stated that “anybody who contributes to the Haley campaign will be permanently banned from the MAGA camp” (cult?).
Trump may have won the Republican New Hampshire primary, but the real winners last Tuesday were the Democrats, who saw Independent voters, exasperated with the chaos that accompanies Trump, turning up in droves to vote against him. And Independents hold the key to electoral victory in November.
There is a chance that the course of Republican leadership, indeed the whole national election storyline, might undergo an upheaval if one or both of these two protagonist octogenarians suffer mental or physical breakdowns, or worse, before November. Not as unlikely an event as you might think. Believe me, ten months represent a long time in the life of old folks who have long passed the BEST BY date. Especially as both the current principal presidential candidates are already showing distinct signs of decrepitude, with a series of stumbles, falls, gaffes and losses of memory. Aneurysms, dementia, even death can’t be too far away on the horizon.
Also, in an already confused election scenario, the likely entry of Third-Party candidate/s into the presidential race will further complicate calculations to an extent where anything would be possible. Add to this Pandora’s Box the global problems caused by the Israel/Palestine and Russia/Ukraine wars, and we are surely looking at a most unpredictable, even cataclysmic, 2024.
The 2024 Oscar nominations were announced last Tuesday. As expected, Trump secured a nomination in the Best Actor category for his sterling performance as James Bond in the remake of Ian Flemings’s classic, From Russia With Love.
Asked for comment, Trump said, “I am not surprised. That role was made for me. I already have a License to Kill, we call it Presidential Immunity. Besides, I make a much better-looking Bond than the late Sean Connery. My friend, Vladimir Putin, was an excellent Director of the movie. We will do many more great things together in the future”.
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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