The Sri Lanka Crisis Explained
The Sri Lankan tragedy is a cautionary tale for the US and other Western countries.
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What is going on in Sri Lanka?
Following complete economic and social collapse, the Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaska has fled the country. According to Al Jazeera News,
“Thousands of anti-government protesters have stormed into Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office, hours after he was named as acting president.
Men and women breached military defences and entered the premier’s office on Wednesday to raise national flags, after police and troops failed to hold back crowds despite firing tear gas and water cannon.”
All of this is a continuation of the ongoing protests by citizens because of the catastrophic policies and corruption that have led to the total demise of Sri Lanka, who have defaulted on their debt, no longer able to afford basic necessities such as food, fuel and medicine, leading to a humanitarian and economic crisis.
“Sri Lanka’s annual inflation jumped to an all-time high of 54.6 percent in June of 2022 from 29.8 percent in the previous month. It was the highest inflation rate ever recorded and the seventh consecutive double-digit growth in consumer prices amid a persistent shortage of food and fuel due to the country’s depleted foreign exchange reserves.” - Trading Economics
Citizens blame the government for the crisis, and rightly so. Lockdowns debilitated their tourism industry, a significant provider of foreign currency. Then, in 2021, the government imposed radical, ideological bans on all synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, forcing all 2 million farmers to go organic. This resulted in massive yield decreases, and for a country long self-sufficient in rice production, this was a devastating move. According to Foreign Policy,
“domestic rice production fell 20 percent in just the first six months…(and for the first time in history they were) forced to import $450 million worth of rice even as domestic prices for this staple of the national diet surged by around 50 percent. The ban also devastated the nation’s tea crop, its primary export and source of foreign exchange.”
The roots of Sri Lanka’s collapse span back to decades of indebtedness, misallocation of resources, massively expensive infrastructure projects that provided no return on investment, and in the past twenty-something years, a government-turned-family business. The Sri Lankan government basically became an autocratic state, run by the Rajapaskas and their kin.
“The embattled regime profoundly damaged their country with their cronyism, corruption, and financial plundering, in their reckless attempt at implementing the radical United Nations Sustainable Development goals, a global central planning experiment.”
The embattled regime profoundly damaged their country with their cronyism, corruption, and financial plundering, in their reckless attempt at implementing the radical United Nations Sustainable Development goals, a global central planning experiment. The UN SDGs, which may be the 21st century equivalent to the Great Leap Forward, is meant to reduce humanity’s footprint. It’s worth noting that in June 2019, the UN signed an important agreement with the infamous World Economic Forum “to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Sri Lanka former Prime Minister and acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe is an active collaborator of the WEF.
In a discussion with Aruni Shapiro, an author and blogger of Sri Lankan descent, she explained that the proposals put forth by political parties that are lined up to fill the vacuum are proponents of the same kind of central planning.
Shapiro succinctly stated: “They look to the West for ideas, and what ideas do they get from the West?”
Western countries like the Netherlands are imposing similar restrictions to satisfy the UN goals:
“Dutch farmers – who sit as the second-largest agricultural exporter in the world and largest meat exporter in Europe – have brought the Netherlands to a standstill, protesting against Climate Change regulations.
The newly elected government has set up a 55-60 per cent emissions goal by 2030, 70 per cent by 2035, and 80 per cent at 2040. To meet these arbitrary climate targets, they have created a self-inflicted disaster that will see the government drag its agricultural sector up the temple stairs, tear it to bits, and let whatever bloody stumps are left to tumble down the steps for the pleasure of the United Nations climate gods.” -Spectator Australia
Canada is likewise imposing this agenda:
“In December 2020, the Trudeau government unveiled their new climate plan, with a focus on reducing nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.
Farm Credit Canada shows that nitrogen fertilizer prices have increased by 148% between the 2020-21 and 2022-23 fiscal years, rising from $550 per tonne to $1,365 per tonne.” - The Counter Signal
In the US, prices of chemical fertilizers were already soaring before the Russian-Ukrainian war. Bloomberg wrote:
“Since the war began, fertilizer shipments out of Russia have been severely disrupted, with some domestic producers intentionally holding back supply in response to Western sanctions and many major shipping lines unwilling to touch the product if they could even get it.
The Food and Agriculture Organization warned in a report last month that food and feed prices could climb by as much as 22% in the 2022-23 marketing season as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, increasing the risk of malnutrition and even famine.”
Samantha Power, the head of U.S. Aid, commenting on fertilizer shortages, which she blamed on Russia, said, “we are working with countries to think about natural solutions, like manure and compost, and this may hasten transitions that would have been in the interest of farmers to make eventually anyway. So, never let a crisis go to waste.”
It seems that in looking to the West for ideas, Sri Lanka set itself on fire. On a myopic path to meet the centrally planned UN 2030 sustainable development goals, in sync with many Western nations, they severely damaged their country.
This disaster is, of course, not a reflection of a failure of the free market, but rather the result of a utopian global central planning experiment gone awry, at the expense of food and energy security, economic prosperity, and the liberty of citizens around the world.
The Sri Lankan tragedy is a cautionary tale for the US and other Western countries, who are implementing the UN SDGs & “Building Back Better” at warp speed. Though our leaders appear hell-bent on meeting these goals, while sabotaging their energy sectors, food supplies and economies, perhaps this tale will incite them to take a pause. This great central planning experiment is no different in its nature than those of the past, and will inevitably fail. Collectivist utopias ultimately self-destructively collapse under a pile of their own delusions.
Hopefully, we don’t have to relive the horrors of the past to relearn this lesson from history.
Very good as always
Exceptional, Kate! You pulled all the pieces together in an engaging way. No one can view this and not be touched by the needless suffering.