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India’s election fever, Sri Lanka’s headache
From the sidelines By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya With one year to go for a general election expected to be held in May 2014,political parties in India seem to be gearing up into campaign mode already. The stakes are high for the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which has been shaken in recent months by the exit [...]
Talk at the Cafe Spectator
Thondaman carries gifts for Indian poachers
Minister Arumugam Thondaman visited the Anuradhapura Prison with gifts to see a group of more than 15 South Indian fishermen. Together with police officials, bodyguards and cameramen, he held a meeting inside the prison with the fishermen who had been arrested while in Sri Lankan waters in the west coast near Mannar. Minister Thondaman asked [...]
Political Column
Major initiative to kiss and make up with Uncle Sam
Central Bank and Sri Lanka’s embassy in Washington hire expensive PR firms to turn foe into friend; EAM left out of DPL process Moves to improve ties with India also, but New Delhi insists on 13th Amendment and LLRC recommendations By Our Political Editor It was just this week that top government officials scoffed at [...]
5th Column
Winning battles on a political minefield
My Dear General, I thought of writing to you when I heard that the political party that you formed had finally been granted official recognition by the Commissioner of Elections. I suppose congratulations are in order but I’m afraid there is much more to be done. Of course, General, we remember you as one of [...]
The Economic Analysis
Writing on the wall: Mind the trade gap
Early signs point to another massive trade deficit this year. The trade gap of US$ 780.4 million for the first month of the year, when projected for the year, amounts to US$ 9.36 billion. This is of the same magnitude as of last year and about 4 percent less than the trade deficit of 9.7 [...]
Focus on Rights
We have no ‘sovereignty’ despite boastful talk
It is exquisitely humorous that state media propagandists still believe that legitimate criticism leveled at the government may be suppressed through vicious barbs aimed at dissidents accusing them of supporting the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). They must realize in no uncertain terms that these allegations only expose the mala fides of their [...]