{"id":7937,"date":"2022-07-15T11:32:43","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T06:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viewsonnewsonline.com\/?p=7937"},"modified":"2022-07-15T11:32:44","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T06:02:44","slug":"sri-lanka-crisis-hambantota-port-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viewsonnewsonline.com\/sri-lanka-crisis-hambantota-port-g\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lankan lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The Sri Lanka crisis should tell us a story; a story of unbridled power, of clannish politics and of the lack of economic planning. The entire Rajapaksa clan had been propped up by the Sri Lankan people as a strong hand that can take the island nation to great heights. The opposite has happened. Not only that, the entire effort put forth by the Rajapaksas has only enriched themselves and the Chinese. The public has been left in the lurch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lesson from this is for the public, for the Establishment, as well as for the international community. Sparkling optics can take you through the election process and to the chair. Governance, however, needs sterner stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think of the debt burden on a small country like Sri Lanka. It is not just that it defaulted (for the first time) on a loan of $ 51 billion. There will be more to come when the Chinese demand their pound of flesh for constructing a white elephant port (Hambantota) and giant stadium, and many more \u2018facilities\u2019 that are of no use to the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n