The G20 joint declaration in Delhi is being described as a significant diplomatic win for India. The agreement of a joint statement looked almost impossible a few days ago, given how sharply divided the group was over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the end, we had a declaration that garnered unanimous support from all G20 […]

Thuesday 22nd August, 2023 No sooner had the Indian government announced its decision to impose a 40% tax on onion exports to overcome a shortfall in the domestic supply than Sri Lankan traders jacked up onion prices exponentially. They would not have reacted so swiftly to a drop in onion prices in the international market. […]

During the question-and-answer session, Dr. Dushni Weerakoon questioned the sustainability of Sri Lanka’s non-aligned foreign policy, as it weakened the country’s position in trade negotiations. The expert assertion was certainly not restricted to trade negotiations. Having signed ACSA (Access and Cross Servicing-Agreement) with the US, in August 2017, it would be ridiculous to still talk […...

The developing Indo-Lanka relations, particularly the process since early 2022 should be examined taking into consideration the significant role played by Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in New Delhi Milinda Moragoda, who received the Cabinet rank. At the time President Gotabaya Rajapaksa sent the former UNP Minister, one -time close associate of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, […]

In a veiled attack on China, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval said BRICS could work together on listing terrorists and their proxies under the UN counter-terrorism sanctions regime but emphasised that the process should be free from “politics and double standards.” Ajit Doval made the remarks during the meeting of the National Security Advisers of […]

Udeni Kaluthantri, a 54-year-old port worker, became an overnight sensation last year for reasons that had nothing to do with his job. Days after protesters stormed the presidential palace in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, a video surfaced of Mr Kaluthantri lounging on a bed draped with the presidential flag. Pictures of young men jumping […]

Crisis-hit Pakistan has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over $3bn (£2.4bn) of funding. The deal, which still needs to be approved by the global lender’s board, comes after an eight-month delay. The South Asian nation is facing its worst economic

By DR. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA For a country with a deep crisis, galloping poverty and a very significant Left (JVP-NPP and FSP), there is a paradoxically thin contribution by the leftwing intelligentsia. This can be contrasted by a cursory glance at the volumes of back issues of the Lanka Guardian

by Rajan Philips Last week saw a spate of summits underscoring the global economic and geopolitical headwinds that governments and countries have to cope with and navigate through. First, there was the visit to China by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. This was followed by a state visit to Washington by India’s Prime […]

CNN- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi basked in the most lavish honors that the US can bestow on a visiting leader. But for much of his state visit, the specter of an uninvited guest hovered over Washington and the future of US-India relations. China – and the growing belief that the US is on a collision course with […]

From the viewpoint of the South, the recent visit by a delegation of African political leaders to Russia for the primary purpose of impressing on President Vladimir Putin the need to end the conflict in Ukraine is welcome news. The visit is doubly important for at least two main reasons; first, the mounting economic pressures […]

Two years into the military recapturing power, there does not seem to be a let-up to the torment of the people of Myanmar. The latter are putting up sustained and spirited armed opposition to the military but the ruling junta is yet to contemplate backing down from its harshly repressive treatment of the resisting public. […]

India has done more for Sri Lanka than the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Union Minister for External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar, has told the Indian Express. The IE story, filed from Ahmedabad, said: The Modi government, he [Jaishankar] underlined, is working on developing an “extended neighbourhood” that involves islands in the Indian Ocean, Gulf countries and […]

Inspector Nishantha Silva, who investigated disappearances blamed on the Navy, fled the country in late Nov. 2019. The CID officer secured political asylum in Switzerland with the blessings of the Switzerland embassy in Colombo. The failed bid by Swiss embassy employee, Garnier Francis (ex- Siriyalatha Perera) to leave for Switzerland after implicating security authorities with […]

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva did not mince her words about emerging and heightening crisis tendencies in the global economy. She said, among other things recently, that the IMF’s projection of 2.8 percent global growth for 2023 “is not enough to bring opportunities to businesses and people

By Saman Gunatilake MBBS, MD, FRCP, FCCP, Hon FRACP Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura Consultant Neurologist One of the most quoted phrases of Karl Marx, the German philosopher and political theorist, popularly known as the ‘Father of Communism’, is “History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce”. This quote […]