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Responsibility of The Muslim World On Israeli Actions In Gaza

Does the Islamic World have any responsibility for the incessant and horrific injustice being committed by Israel towards the Palestinian people?

by Kazi Anwarul Masud

HARRY TRUMAN’S COVER OF ISRAELI AIRSPACE

Does the Islamic World have any responsibility for the incessant and horrific injustice being committed by Israel towards the Palestinian people?  Is it because Harry Truman not only recognized Israel as an independent country and as such gave cover to Israeli air space during the short war with Egypt when Anwar Sadat could have given a death blow to Israel but for the US cover of Israeli air space?

People wait to receive aid supplies in Gaza City, March 17, 2024. (Photo by Mohammed Ali/Xinhua)

HISTORIAN LAWRENCE REES AND ADOLF HITLER                  

Lawrence Rees, historian, and author, in his newest book published in March 2024 titled The Holocaust, wrote that “The fundamental precondition for the Holocaust happening was Adolf Hitler,” he explained that   “Even as far back as 1921, Hitler said that solving the Jewish question was a central question for National Socialism. And you can only solve it by using brute force.” Hitler had no blueprint for the Holocaust at that point, says Rees. But he did have a pathological problem with Jews. “Hitler believed that something needed to be done,” Rees explains, “and that evolved and changed according to circumstances and political opportunism. “An intriguing part of Rees’s book is his determination to figure out when the collective set of initiatives we now call the Final Solution became official Nazi policy. It’s a question that doesn’t come with a straightforward answer, Rees maintained. What is clear, though, is that in the summer of 1940, there was still no concrete plan in place for the extermination of Jews. Furthermore, up until that point, Rees argued, the Nazis were still clinging to the belief that in the long term, the way to solve what they called “the Jewish question” was by expulsion and hard labor. At that point, mass murder was still not the preferred option. By the summer of 1942, however, a sea change had taken place. By that time, the Holocaust was in full swing. Therefore, within the previous two-year period, Rees points out, there were several milestones on the road towards mass extermination. But trying to pinpoint an exact moment where the decision was taken to commit to mass killing is very difficult, says Rees — especially since much of the planning was done in secret without written records. Hitherto, many historians, filmmakers, and writers have pointed to a single meeting where plans for the Holocaust were finally decided upon in the power structures of Nazi officialdom.

WANSEE CONFERENCE AND ABSENCE OF HITLER, HIMMLER AND GOEBBELS

This was known as the Wannsee Conference. It was held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee in January of 1942 and involved several mid-ranking Nazi officials devising a plot to murder Jews over a shorter timescale and in more efficient ways. But even then, Rees says, no final plans were resolved at the infamous conference. He also points out that key figures from the upper tiers of the Nazi hierarchy — Himmler, Goebbels, and Hitler himself — were not present. “I cannot see how there can have been a decision in 1941,” said Rees. ‘By that stage, you can say a decision to implement what we would now call the Holocaust had been The moment of no return for the Holocaust, said the historian, was in the spring and early summer of 1942, when a decision was taken to kill all of the Jews in the General Government in Poland — a German-occupied zone established by Hitler after the joint invasion by the Germans and Soviets in 1939.“By that stage you can say a decision to implement what we would now call the Holocaust had been made,” said Rees. Hungary was beautiful to the Nazis, given the number of Jews that resided there. The Jews were transported to Auschwitz between May and July of 1944, where they were murdered.


AMERICAN PHILOSOPHER HANNAH ARENDT’S BANALITY OF EVIL  AND ADOLPH EICHMAN’S ROLE IN THE EXTERMINATION OF JEWS

This plan for cold-blooded murder was deviously orchestrated by Adolf Eichmann, who at the time was stationed in Budapest.  What did Hannah Arendt mean by the banality of evil? A question asked by American philosopher Hannah Arendt. Lawrence Rees disagreed with Hannah Arendt though she continued to insist that one do evil without being evil. This was the puzzling question that the philosopher Hannah Arendt grappled with when she reported for The New Yorker in 1961 on the war crimes trial of Adolph Eichmann, the Nazi operative responsible for organizing the transportation of millions of Jews and others to various concentration camps in support of the Nazi’s Final Solution. Arendt found Eichmann an ordinary, rather bland, bureaucrat, who in her words, was ‘neither perverted nor sadistic’, but ‘terrifyingly normal’. He acted without any motive other than to diligently advance his career in the Nazi bureaucracy. Eichmann was not an amoral monster, she concluded in her study of the case, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963). Instead, he performed evil deeds without evil intentions, a fact connected to his ‘thoughtlessness’, a disengagement from the reality of his evil acts. Eichmann ‘never realized what he was doing’ due to an ‘inability… to think from the standpoint of somebody else’. Lacking this particular cognitive ability, he ‘committed crimes under circumstances that made it well-nigh impossible for him to know or to feel that he was doing wrong’. Arendt dubbed these collective characteristics of Eichmann ‘the banality of evil’: he was not inherently evil, but merely shallow and clueless, a ‘joiner’, in the words of one contemporary interpreter of Arendt’s thesis: he was a man who drifted into the Nazi Party, in search of purpose and direction, not out of deep ideological belief. In Arendt’s telling, Eichmann reminds us of the protagonist in Albert Camus’s novel The Stranger (1942), who randomly and casually kills a man, but then afterward feels no remorse. There was no particular intention or obvious evil motive: the deed just ‘happened’. This wasn’t Arendt’s first, somewhat superficial impression of Eichmann. Even 10 years after his trial in Israel, she wrote in 1971:I was struck by the manifest shallowness in the doer. ie Eichmann, which made it impossible to trace the uncontestable evil of his deeds to any deeper level of roots or motives. The deeds were monstrous, but the doer – at least the very effective one now on trial – was quite ordinary, commonplace, and neither demonic nor monstrous.

CRITICS OF HANNAH ARENDT

The banality-of-evil thesis was a flashpoint for controversy. To Arendt’s critics, it seemed inexplicable that Eichmann could have played a key role in the Nazi genocide yet had no evil intentions. Gershom Scholem, a fellow philosopher (and theologian), wrote to Arendt in 1963 that her banality-of-evil thesis was merely a slogan that ‘does not impress me, certainly, as the product of profound analysis’. Mary McCarthy, a novelist and good friend of Arendt, voiced sheer incomprehension.

CONCLUSION

On October 6 1981 Islamic extremists assassinated Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt, as he reviewed troops on the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Sadat, who was shot four times, died two hours later. Despite Sadat’s incredible public service record for Egypt (he was instrumental in winning the nation its independence and democratizing it), his controversial peace negotiation with Israel in 1977-78, for which he and Menachem Begin won the Nobel Peace Prize, made him a target of extremists across the Middle East. Sadat had also angered many by allowing the ailing Shah of Iran to die in Egypt rather than be returned to Iran to stand trial for his crimes against the country.

Kazi Anwarul Masud is a retired Bangladeshi diplomat. During his tenure, he worked in several countries as the ambassador of Bangladesh including Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea and Germany

Rebels Hit Russia on Election Day

A message of violent resistance to Vladimir Putin

by Alexander Ziperovich

The Kremlin is rolling out its carefully managed simulacrum of a democratic process, with sham elections in which there is only one conceivable outcome: Vladimir Putin as the unopposed victor, sealed into power for at least another six years, and likely for life. If he completes what will be his sixth term in office, he’ll have been in power longer than Joseph Stalin and Catherine the Great. At the age of 71, Putin is a tsar and a warlord, at the height of his power, and on a bloody mission to resurrect the Russian empire from the dustbin of history. 

File of photo Ukrainian Armed forces, The Freedom of Russian Legion and the Belarussian volunteer division are together in east Ukraine as part of military duties against Putin's regime

But some Russians are refusing to play along, and are instead expressing their political displeasure in a variety of creative and ingenious ways. Some brave Russians are going to the polls and making liberal use of black ink to spoil and destroy ballots, or are deploying a tried-and-true Russian tactic, tossing flaming molotov cocktails to firebomb polling centers. 

Others are heeding the advice of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who recently died under mysterious circumstances in an Arctic penal colony, to show up at noon on Sunday, with massive lines suddenly forming at polling sites today. At least 75 people were detained in connection with the midday protest, but people are clearly willing to risk jail or worse to disrupt what is quite plainly a totalitarian coronation, rather than anything even resembling a genuine election. 

Indeed, there have been dozens of incidents at polling sites across Russia, which ends three days of voting on Sunday. Likewise, people living in occupied Ukraine are also being forced into this parody of democracy, and are literally being made to vote at gunpoint, in what is at least a more honest process. Armed to the teeth, and wearing balaclavas over their faces, Russian soldiers and security personnel are apparently going door to door to compel people to cast a ballot for the dictator who invaded their country.

Democracy this is not. This mock “election” is fooling no one.

However, other Russians are going much further than mere vandalism, executing what the New York Times called “the most sweeping ground attacks into Russia since its military invaded Ukraine two years ago,” or at least since mercenary tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin nearly marched on Moscow, before suddenly halting and turning back. 

For his part, the Wagner chief was liquidated two months to the day after his brazen insurrection fell apart, when his private jet suddenly fell flaming from the sky, perhaps providing something of a lesson to these latest insurgents: once you start, don’t turn back. You can expect no mercy from Vladimir Putin if you fail; politics in Russia is an all-or-nothing affair, with no room for hesitation.

Popular Tyrant

Taken together, it’s a reminder that for all the Kremlin’s efforts at conveying a sense of solidarity and wartime unity to the world, Russia’s political landscape remains deeply fractured, and perhaps far more fragile than it might seem at first glance. 

Still, there’s absolutely no denying Vladimir Putin’s enduring strength, or his apparent political popularity, particularly among older nationalistic Russians fed a heavy diet of Kremlin propaganda, and who are eager to see him recreate the Russian empire over the bones of dead Ukrainians. With the economy damaged by sanctions but still functioning, and major cities well supplied with Western consumer goods, many Russians are keen to ignore a war that seems distant. There have been no new troop mobilizations since 2022, and most Russian soldiers are now being recruited from ethnic minorities in impoverished rural areas, attracted by the high wages offered by the army.

The Levada Center, a rare independent pollster the Kremlin has labeled a “foreign agent,” says Putin’s approval rating is at 86 percent, a staggeringly high number that cannot be dismissed. When asked whether Russia was going in the right direction, 75 percent of the respondents replied yes. That’s the highest number since pollsters began asking that question in Russia, and a signal that Putin’s support remains solid, particularly as the war in Ukraine turns in Moscow’s favor.

While this kind of political polling must be taken with a few large grains of salt, in a country where people lack the freedom to safely dissent, it’s quite clear that many Russians do continue to support Vladimir Putin, and applaud his new Cold War with the West, and his brutal invasion of Ukraine. Like other totalitarian regimes throughout history, Putin’s Russia clearly has a solid base of support, even as vicious repression shores up the rest of society with surveillance, denunciations, violence, and mass arrests.

Free Russia

In a country where freedom of speech is nonexistent, and where even the mildest political protest is illegal, political violence has replaced political discourse for those seeking to resist tyranny in Russia. Three insurgent formations, Free Russia Legion, Siberian Battalion, and Russian Volunteer Corps, assaulted Russian border regions near Belgorod, Kursk, and elsewhere along a 100-mile front with tanks, armored personnel carriers, helicopter gunships, and infantry.

These rebel forces are homegrown units, though they’re allied with and largely supplied by Kyiv. The Russian Volunteer Corps, under the leadership of Denis Kapustin, callsign White Rex, has been associated with troubling far-right Neo-Nazi ideology, though that hasn’t prevented them from being accepted into the loose anti-Kremlin coalition opposing Putin.

In any case, these rebels made some of the deepest incursions into Russia since the beginning of the war this weekend, even as Ukrainian forces have resisted publicly entering Russia proper, per the advice of Washington, which remains wary about provoking nuclear escalation from the Kremlin. As these rebel factions assaulted Russia, Ukraine was attacking Russian oil installations and other critical infrastructure with drones and long-range missiles, in a coordinated effort designed to deny Putin the image of stability and security he would like to project on election day.

Still, preliminary results showed Putin receiving 88% of the vote, and handily winning what was always an utterly predetermined result, even as the Belgorod town of Gorkovsky was captured by Russian rebels today. With a catastrophic war increasingly spilling into Russia, and hostile tanks rolling across Russian borders for the first time since World War II, it’s unclear where exactly we go from here. For Putin, the answer was clear. He said Sunday night on television, “We need to carry out the tasks in the context of the special military operation.”

Certainly, the war in Ukraine seems nowhere near a conclusion, and the notion of peace talks seems extremely unlikely at present. Russian troops are slowly advancing within Ukraine itself, even as American support is being strangled by Kremlin-friendly MAGA Republicans in Congress, and as Putin’s ally Donald Trump begins his third bid for the presidency.

Meanwhile, Putin’s bellicose rhetoric and nuclear brinksmanship has, if anything, gotten sharper and more threatening as the war has progressed. 

In response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent refusal to rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine, Putin said in a recent interview, “We are ready to use weapons, including any weapons — including the [nuclear] weapons you mentioned — if it is a question of the existence of the Russian state or damage to our sovereignty and independence.” The White House Press Secretary castigated his rhetoric around nuclear weapons as “reckless and irresponsible throughout this conflict,” though from a purely strategic standpoint, his terrifying threats seem to have succeeded in preventing more robust Western military support for Ukraine.

Recent reporting revealed there was an extraordinarily high level of concern in the White House that Putin was preparing to detonate a nuclear weapon, back in October of 2022, when Russia’s frontlines seemed to be near collapse. Since the war began, Russia has shifted tactical nukes into Belarus, and U.S. intelligence agencies recently detected plans for a new nuclear anti-satellite weapon in space, like something out of the 007 movie “Goldeneye.” Clearly, the war in Ukraine represents the most dangerous standoff between the West and Russia since the end of the Cold War, a reprise of some of history’s darkest moments, when the entire world sat on the brink of nuclear annihilation. 

Putin’s obsession with Ukraine, and his total indifference to anything living, has brought the world back to that precipice. The violence Russia’s new tsar has set in motion will continue to play out on the charred battlefields and in the ruined cities of Ukraine and now Russia itself, at an enormous cost for both Russians and Ukrainians, and perhaps the entire world. Ultimately, Putin’s legacy is death, though just how much death remains uncertain.

Views are personal

Alexander Ziperovich is a Political analyst and Opinion columnist. He writes about politics, justice, foreign affairs, and culture, dissecting the larger historical and social context behind important events.

Putin set to win with 87.32 pct of votes after 95.04 pct of ballots counted: CEC

Russia’s incumbent President Vladimir Putin gained 87.32 percent of votes in the presidential elections with 95.04 percent of ballots counted by Monday morning, said the Central Election Commission.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly, Moscow, February 29, 2024


Unseating Wickremesinghe — A Winning Formula

Pivotal alliance between Premadasa and Dissanayake, the linchpin in the battle to unseat Wickremesinghe and reshape Sri Lanka's political terrain

Editorial

Elections are looming, or so claim many politicians, yet more than 70% of households in the populace struggle to put daily meals on the table for their families. The opportunistic former IMF employee, Nandalal Weerasinghe, masquerading as a modern economic saviour, along with his cohort, now clamours for a “more independent” central bank, seemingly aiming to plunder the nation. Their recent salary increases reveal their true intentions, and a cursory examination of their asset allocations would expose the hollowness of the “patriotism” they peddle. With over 50% of schoolchildren lacking adequate nutrition, what significance does the valuation of the rupee against the dollar hold? If the prices of essential commodities fail to decrease, what purpose does the central bank’s theatrical performance serve? Who stands to benefit from this charade? Yet here we are again, in the carnival of elections.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake with Sajith Premadasa [File Photo]

The beleaguered and discredited political force of Sri Lanka Podujana Peremuna, commonly known as the Bud Party (Pohottuwa Pakshaya), now faces a significant political quandary as its popularity dwindles. Basil Rajapaksa, one of the prominent founding members of Pohottuwa, known for his political machinations but enjoying scant respect among the general populace for various reasons, is now advocating for holding a general election as a priority. In a surprising turn, he has begun publicly defending the incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who ascended to power through dubious means.

Recalling the so-called Aragalaya, the instalment of Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister, though a blatant manipulation of constitutional clauses, could be argued as a somewhat prudent decision. However, permitting him to assume the presidency was an unwise move for the political party, which Wickremesinghe later exploited to his advantage. Whether Wickremesinghe’s presidency bodes well or ill for the nation is a separate political debate. But for anyone who believes in the sanctity of democracy, Wickremesinghe lacks both the mandate and the moral authority to govern. This is a stark illustration of how democracy can be cynically undermined, often with the tacit approval of the US and its Western allies. Under the guise of the popular dictum of Western politics, “Do as we say, not as we do,” one can evade accountability for purported principles of democracy or the rule of law. The X (formerly Twitter) accounts utilized by foreign diplomats in Colombo to meddle in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs will remain conspicuously silent. Wickremesinghe is well aware of this dynamic and has adeptly played the game to his advantage.

The pertinent question then arises: how can Wickremesinghe be defeated? He stands as a formidable figure, seemingly indispensable for the nation’s progress. However, this perception stems not from genuine merit but from a series of conspicuous failures by a figure seemingly capable of learning from past mistakes. Nonetheless, defeating Wickremesinghe is no simple task, given the deeply entrenched polarization in Sri Lankan politics, driven not only by ideological divides but also by personal agendas revolving around economic and personal gains. Caste considerations also wield a significant influence, a factor that cannot be disregarded. In such a context, forging an alliance to oust Wickremesinghe proves exceedingly challenging. While the Wickremesinghe-Premadasa alliance has been floated, there is scant evidence to suggest that they can overcome deep-rooted trust issues. Wickremesinghe has betrayed Premadasa on numerous occasions and has actively sought to sideline him from politics, widening the chasm between them.

However, a more promising alternative for defeating Wickremesinghe lies in an alliance between Sajith Premadasa’s SJB and Anura Dissanayake’s NPP. If this alliance can be swiftly solidified, it presents a golden opportunity in the upcoming parliamentary elections. This alliance holds greater promise than the successful coalition between the JVP under Somawanasa Amarasinghe and the SLPA under Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1994. Nonetheless, unlike in 1994, this alliance may contend with issues such as caste dynamics, but such challenges can be surmounted. If they succeed, victory in the next elections with a substantial majority is all but assured. Consequently, the two leaders must reach an agreement on crucial matters such as the allocation of the Prime Ministerial and Presidential roles. We posit that opposition leader Sajith Premadasa would make an ideal Presidential candidate, with Anura Dissanayake poised to excel as Prime Minister. Dual are also in a good age. Though reaching such an agreement necessitates significant political concessions, it promises to reshape the political landscape and decisively vanquish Wickremesinghe’s politics.

Should Western Powers Ignore Putin's Red Lines on Russian Security?

The West spends $150 billion on war and $60 billion on supporting poor countries.

by Kazi Anwarul Masud

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT ACCUSES THE US OF DEPLOYING MILITARY BASES NEAR RUSSIAN BORDER

On February 21, 2023, in a speech to the federal assembly in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of deploying military bases near the borders with Russia. He accused the West of enslaving Ukraine for a big war. Putin said: “In the modern world, there should be no division into ‘civilized’ countries and all the rest. We were ready for constructive dialogue with the West. But in response, they received a hypocritical reaction – the expansion of NATO, the missile defense system, and the deployment of military contingents. Neither side has hundreds of military bases around the world like the US does. The whole planet is covered. In December 2021, Russia sent to the West a security guarantee agreement, but all positions were refused.”

Libyan leader Marshal Khalifa Haftar (C) was accorded a ceremonial welcome attended by Russian Defence Minister Gen. Yunus-Bek Yevkurov at a Moscow military airfield, September 26, 2023

RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE

The incoming information suggested that by February, everything was ready for another punitive action in the Donbas (in Ukraine) against which Kyiv threw artillery, planes, and tanks. “They started the war, and we used force to stop it. The next target after the Donbas was an attack on Crimea and Sevastopol. They are now talking about it openly. We protect our homes, and the goal of the West is unlimited power.

The West spends $150 billion on war and $60 billion on supporting poor countries. Endless accusations against Russia were heard at the Munich Conference. The feeling that this was done so that everyone would forget what the West has been doing in recent decades. And they plunged entire regions into chaos, released gin and bottles. Trillions of dollars are at stake under the guise of democracy. In the 1930s, the West opened the way for the Nazis to power in Germany.

In our time, they made anti-Russia out of Ukraine. The project is not new. It goes back to the 19th century. It was cultivated in Austria-Hungary, Poland to tear the historical regions away from our country. The West accelerated this project by supporting the anti-state anti-constitutional coup in 2014 in Kyiv. Russophobia was planted with ideologies. The Armed Forces of Ukraine use Nazi symbols and do not hide whose heirs they are. The West doesn’t give a damn who to bet on in the fight against Russia. The main thing is to fight against us. So, you can use at least terrorists, at least neo-Nazis, at least a bald traitor. And in the 1930s and now the idea is the same: to kindle a hotbed of war in the East. The people of Ukraine have become a hostage of the occupational pro-Western regime, which has been plundering its state for decades.

Nobody cares about people. They are prepared for slaughter and turned into consumables. Sad, scary to talk about it, but true. The responsibility for the escalation lies with the West and the Kyiv regime, for which its people are strangers. The more long-range systems fall back on Ukraine, the further we will be forced to push the threat away from our borders. The elites of the West want to turn a local conflict into a global confrontation. It is about the existence of our country. But they understand that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield. Hence the information attacks, lies, distortion of historical facts, and attacks on the Russian Orthodox Church and culture.

I would like to tell the West – look at the main books of world religions. It says that the family is the union of a man and a woman. But even these sacred values are questioned. The West is trying to undermine our society. But traitors will be held accountable. We will not arrange a witch hunt for those who have abandoned their homeland. Let them live with it. The main thing is that the citizens of Russia gave them a moral assessment. We are proud that the Russians understood our actions in Donbas and supported us. This is a manifestation of patriotism, a feeling that is historically inherent in our people. I want to thank our people for their courage and determination.”

US WAS THE ONLY COUNTRY EVER TO USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Recalling the devastations following the Second World War, Vladimir Putin accused the US of being the only country to use nuclear weapons twice, destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. “They created a precedent.” He also recalled during WWII the United States and Britain reduced Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne, and many other German cities to rubble, without the least military necessity. “It was done ostentatiously and, he said, without any military necessity. They had only one goal, as with the nuclear bombing of Japanese cities: to intimidate the rest of the world.”

US CARPET BOMBING OF VIETNAM AND LAOS

“The United States left a deep scar in the memory of the people of Korea and Vietnam with their carpet bombings and use of napalm and chemical weapons.” In Putin’s narrative, the US continues to occupy Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and other countries, which the US cynically refers to as equals and allies. In his tirade against the US, Putin recalls that the Western elites are even shifting repentance for their historical crimes onto everyone else, demanding that the citizens of their countries and other peoples confess to things they have nothing to do with at all, for example, the period of colonial conquests.

RUDYARD KIPLING’S “WHITE MAN’S BURDEN”

“It is worth reminding the West,” Putin said, “that it began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, followed by the worldwide slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India and Africa, the wars of England and France against China, as a result of which it was forced to open its ports to the opium trade. What they did was get entire nations hooked on drugs and purposefully exterminate entire ethnic groups for the sake of grabbing land and resources, hunting people like animals. Bangladesh at that time being a part of undivided India felt the full brunt of the colonial British ‘civilizing Mission’ detailed by Rudyard Kipling in his ‘White Man’s Burden’.”

PUTIN’S GRIEVANCES OF THE US’ CONTINUED SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA

Putin’s grievances against the US continue for the US demanding more and more sanctions against Russia and the majority of European politicians “obediently” going along with it. In Putin’s narrative, the West clearly understands that by pressuring the EU to completely give up Russian energy and other resources, the United States is practically pushing Europe toward deindustrialization in a bid to get its hands on the entire European market. “The dictates of the US are backed up by crude force, on the law of the fist. Sometimes it is beautifully wrapped; sometimes there is no wrapping at all, but the gist is the same – the law of the fist as Putin’s grievances against the US continue.”

PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING US MILITARY BASES AND NATO EXPANSION

Putin reasons that the deployment and maintenance of hundreds of military bases in all corners of the world, NATO expansion, and attempts to cobble together new military alliances, such as AUKUS and the like, and the creation of the Washington-Seoul-Tokyo military-political chain, is to contain Russia and now an emerging China on the global stage. “These are the principles that underlie US and NATO military doctrines that require total domination. Western elites are presenting their neocolonialist plans with the same hypocrisy, claiming peaceful intentions and talking about some kind of deterrence. This evasive word migrates from one strategy to another but only means one thing – undermining any sovereign centers of power. They have everything in their sights, including Russia’s next-door neighbors – the CIS countries. In launching the sanctions blitzkrieg against Russia, for example, reasons Putin that the whole world would follow the Western command. As it turns out, however, such a bright prospect does not excite everyone – other than complete political masochists and admirers of other unconventional forms of international relations. Most states refuse to ‘snap a salute’ and instead choose the sensible path of cooperation with Russia.”

MULTIPOLARITY DEFEATS PUTIN’S ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE US

“The problem with Putin’s reasoning is that the world has now become multipolar, and the US has to take along other freedom-loving countries to reach a consensus on any global problem. Such self-confidence is a direct product not only of the concept of exceptionalism first mentioned by the French nobleman Marquis de Lafayette, who had a close relationship with George Washington during the American War of Independence. Vladimir Putin’s reasons for the lack of Western press’s enthusiasm for US enmity towards Russia and now China are like Goebbels’s ocean of myths, illusions, and fakes, using extremely aggressive propaganda. ‘The more unbelievable the lie, the quicker people will believe it – that is how they operate,’ according to this principle. They point back at Russia and say: ‘That is the source of all your troubles.’ Russian President wants to make special note of the fact that there is every reason to believe that the Western elites are not going to look for constructive ways out of the global food and energy crisis that they and they alone are to blame for, as a result of their long-term policy, dating back long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They have no intention of solving the problems of injustice and inequality.”

CONCLUSION

Vladimir Putin reasons that the West would rather use other formulas they are more comfortable with. “And here it is important to recall that the West bailed itself out of its early 20th-century challenges with World War I. Profits from World War II helped the United States finally overcome the Great Depression and become the largest economy in the world, and to impose on the planet the power of the dollar as a global reserve currency. And the 1980s crisis – things came to a head in the 1980s again – the West emerged from it unscathed largely by appropriating the inheritance and resources of the collapsed and defunct Soviet Union. Now, to free itself from the latest web of challenges, the Western countries need to dismantle Russia as well as other states that ‘choose a sovereign path of development, at all costs, to be able to further plunder other nations’ wealth and use it to patch their holes’.

Kazi Anwarul Masud is a retired Bangladeshi diplomat. During his tenure, he worked in several countries as the ambassador of Bangladesh including Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea and Germany

Rural Development in Sri Lanka — Part 5

Long-Term Prospective Proposal for Regional Development and Poverty Alleviation in Sri Lanka

by Sirisena Amarasekara


5.1 Introduction

The concept of rural development through city-centred regional development, discussed above, is to build from the present status of rural development to elevate it to another step and consolidate what has been achieved so far. However, the said model alone will have limitations. Rural townships are like mini-growth poles and have a limited scope for expansion. It would also reach a saturation point and be trapped in a low-level equilibrium like the traditional rural development strategies if there is no major push from the national economy. Therefore, complementary to the above approach, several large-scale growth poles in regions with strong economic bases and comparative advantages must be developed to accelerate and sustain national and regional growth momentum.  It could strengthen the above-discussed concept by building backwards and forward linkages of the economy. Central growth poles can stimulate investments in many sectors for a self-sustainable development process. In that case, cities of the divisional municipalities and UCs could become more robust through trickle-down effects.

Galle, Sri Lanka [Photo: Christoph Theisinger/ Unsplah

5.2 Western Region Growth Center.

Over centuries, the Colombo-based Western region has become the country’s commercial capital and the prime growth pole. It accommodates 28.7% of the population and contributes 42.6 % of the Gross Domestic Product. Undoubtedly, the Colombo-based Western Region growth centre must be grown and strengthened further to increase its contribution to the GDP and accommodate more people. There are substantial external economies for investment in this region due to its location, human resources availability, and physical and institutional infrastructure developed over centuries. Most areas of the province are becoming semi-urbanized under different forces such as migration from other regions, in-situ urbanization outside the greater Colombo (expanding small townships into urban areas and villages into small townships, etc.) and pushing human activities from the centre to the rural periphery, which are looking for more space.

As per the Department of Census and Statistics, Western Province’s population density as of 2021 was 1688 per sq. km, and only 36.5 % of its population is urban. It has a large rural population and a rural periphery with backward villages. It shows that the Western region’s growth pole has enormous potential for further development to provide more employment and residential facilities for the unskilled, skilled, and educated youth of the Western and other rural regions. When I was the Secretary to the Ministry of Western Region Development, during 2002/2004, under the initiative and guidance of then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, the “Western Region Megapolis Plan” was prepared with technical inputs from a Singaporean Consultancy firm. After finalizing the plan, I expected further policy directives from the PM to proceed with identifying the implementation mechanisms and resource mobilisation strategies. He advised me to wait until he gave instructions on the next course of action. His government suddenly dissolved, and implementation mechanisms and resource mobilisation strategies were never prepared. Again, the plan was revised and launched under his government in 2016 but faced the same fate again. The plan was shelved by the new government, which came into power at the end of 1019.

However, the Mahinda Rajapakse government (2006/2014) selected one project component of the Megapolis Plan, filling a large sea area adjacent to the Colombo Sea Port for high-end development activities. The implementation commenced with the private sector participation in 2013, known as the Colombo Port City Development Project.  At its inception, the project created great enthusiasm among global investors to invest in it. However, after the change of government in 2015, due to adverse publicity given by the then government and suspending its implementation for about two years, the project’s image was changed from Colombo Port City to China Port City. Consequently, unwanted international geopolitical issues emerged, and inventors’ interests faded. Though the project was reactivated later, it has become challenging to change the project’s image internationally.  As the Sri Lanka High Commissioner to South Africa in 2021, I tried very hard to seek Western missions’ support to canvass the project among investors in their countries.  According to their understanding, it is a Chinese project, not a project of the government of Sri Lanka. This strong perception could not change, and their response was negative.  If the Megapolis plan and Colombo Port City had proceeded as planned, asignificant percentage of the unemployed in the Western region and other rural regions could have found gainful employment, and the pressure on the rural resource base could have been relieved to a significant extent. Further, it could have substantially answered the foreign reserve crisis in 2022. Instead of falsifying for petty political gains, considering the national interest, the Megapolis Plan and Colombo Port City project must be implemented with strong policy support, like the Mahaweli project in the 1980s.  

5.3 Mahaweli Growth Pole

Mahaweli is another resource region created by trans-basing development, which has been substantially completed by this time. It cut across several provincial, district and divisional boundaries, forming a large resource region. Further, it changed the landscape, agroecology, social and business patterns, and their relations with other regions. However, its primary focus was resettling peasants from densely populated villages and strengthening smallholder farming systems and power generation. Like other colonisation schemes, Mahaweli also did not seriously consider the urbanization and development of the secondary and tertiary sectors. Hence, settlers’ next generations have no opportunities within the region. Even before the project’s completion, the problems of the next generation have emerged. If land fragmentation occurs, they will become subsistent farmers like in their original villages. Otherwise, the natural trend will be migration to cities. However, except for Colombo, no other megacities exist in the country. Therefore, secondary and tertiary sector development is essential to prevent Mahaweli settlers from becoming subsistent farmers and out-migration.  As discussed above, to this end, a city-focused development programme may be introduced to promote industries, service sector expansion, and high-density housing. Selected medium-scale towns must be upgraded as urban councils with a futuristic spatial plan. As discussed before, following the In-Situ urbanization model, small townships must be planned and developed as divisional municipalities enclosing their rural peripheries. A second master plan, combining spatial and economic aspects, is essential to consolidate Mahaweli’s achievements and make it a dynamic growth front.

5.4 Hambantota Growth Pole

During the Mahinda Rajapakse Government, Hambantota was planned to develop as the second growth pole, using the international seaport, airport, and Southern Highway. It can become an international commercial hub linking the domestic and global economies. The road network has already been developed to satisfy the needs of a modern mega city. A physical plan has been drafted with zoning for industries, settlements, services, commercial activities, etc. The hard part of the growth pole (seaport, airport, expressway, urban highways) has been done at a massive cost. Like the Western Megapolis plan, implementation mechanisms and resource mobilization strategies are yet to be identified. The physical plan is not enforced and allows uncontrolled, unregulated developments, which would disturb future development. The government must focus on activating the second growth pole instead of misusing massive investments to achieve petty political interests.

5.5 Trincomalee Growth Pole

With a large and deep natural seaport, Trincomalee has vast potential to develop as a megacity with a metropolitan region to provide global and domestic economic linkages. It could become the international gateway for the Mahaweli Region as well.  When I was secretary for The Ministry of Highways, the Road Development Authority developed the concept of the Trincomalee Outer Circular Highway, a crescent with a 10-12 Km radius from north to south of Trincomalee Bay and about fifty (50) kilometres in length. Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the then Defense Secretary, highly supported this idea, offered human resources from the army, and initiated the highway tracing. The idea was to lay the foundation for a planned mega-human settlement using export-oriented heavy industries, power generation and tourism as the economic base. Before investing in the Highway piecemeal, the ministry sought the Cabinet’s approval to do a detailed feasibility study costing several hundred million rupees. However, the proposal was not accepted as some Cabinet members objected to spending significantly on the feasibility study without using that money to construct the road. However, I failed to convince the relevant authorities about the importance of a feasibility study to prevent wrong investments and redundant work and achieve the highest rate of return through minimum capital costs. It was the end of the project.

5.6 Growth Corridors

In addition to the above growth poles, a lengthy development corridor may be established from Hambantota to Trincomalee via Colombo using the expressway network. An area of a five to six-kilometre radius from the interchanges can be developed as growth centres, making it a long corridor from Colombo to Trincomalee, which will interlink all three significant seaports. When I was in the Ministry of Highways, several rounds of discussions were conducted with the RDA, UDA, and National Physical Planning department officials to prepare physical plans for interchanges of the Southern Expressway. However, during my tenure, due to unexpected circumstances, I could not formalise an institutional mechanism to continue the planning process.

Development of the growth poles mentioned above would minimize the need for scattered distribution of economic, social, and physical infrastructure throughout the country at a high cost, giving a low rate of return. It will attract investments, improve economic efficiency, and become competitive in the local and global markets.

6 Conclusions

 Poverty is not a new situation; it has existed for many centuries. Since the pre-independence era, Sri Lanka has been attempting to resolve it immediately, hurriedly, and haphazardly, sacrificing many national resources. Now, we have struck and stagnated or even reversed without solutions. Without growth, the transfer/distribution of income to the large rural community in Sri Lanka for an extended period is impossible. Social welfare must be limited to vulnerable families and people who cannot engage in economic activities. Others must work and earn a living instead of carrying the begging bole forever. Instead of wasting another century, we must develop an economically rational, long-term policy and strategies to resolve rural and urban poverty through economic growth.

The policy of bringing infrastructure to the doorstep of remote/scattered settlements at any cost and helping them to be satisfied with the bare minimum and artificially created comfortability by rural development must come to an end. Solutions for most of the rural problems do not exist within the village.  They must be encouraged to seek better opportunities outside the village and use the present achievements of rural development as the springboard for sustainable development. In brief, the concept is that ‘development can’t be brought to the doorstep of everybody; instead, people must move to where the development can happen or is possible.’ So, the core of the policy should be growth, growth with equity. Instead of artificial interventions, there must be an inbuilt mechanism for the egalitarian distribution of growth benefits. Finally, rural development and poverty alleviation must become irrelevant to the development agenda.  

Concluded

Sirisena Amarasekara is a Sri Lankan public servant and diplomat. He is the former Sri Lankan High Commissioner to South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Angola, Botswana, and Eswatin. He had functioned as the secretary to the Prime Minister on two occasions, and as the secretary to the Cabinet of Sri Lanka. Having completed more than 50 years of public service, Amarasekara is one of the most senior Sri Lankan public servants.