Rajapaksa Says Sirisena And Ranil Borrowed US $ 7.4 Billion In Foreign Loans

April 28, 2016 

Amidst claims by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that his government was saddled with a Rs. 10 trillion debt mostly left by the previous administration, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa today said that since January 2015, incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena and Wickremesinghe have borrowed a staggering US $ 7,436 million in foreign loans alone.

In a statement issued today, Rajapaksa said that of the borrowings, the government has to pay back US $ 3.2 billion before end of this year. “This is apart from the hundreds of billions of Rupees the government has been borrowing in the domestic market by issuing treasury bills and bonds. Now the government is trying to collect taxes from the people to repay these debts,” he said.

Rajapaksa also called upon the people to rise up against the government for imposing additional burdens by way of increasing the Value Added Tax from 11% to 15%.

“Though the government has been saying that they have had to borrow heavily to pay off the debts taken by my government, that is not true. In 1977, Mrs. Bandaranaike left behind a debt to GDP ratio of 68.6%. When the UNP was voted out in 1994, this had increased to 95.1%. When President Kumaratunga lost to the UNP in 2001, the debt to GDP ratio was 103.3%. It was still 102.3% when the UNP was voted out in 2004. When I assumed office in 2005, it had declined to 90.6%. By the time I left office in January 2015,the debt to GDP ratio was 75.5% – the lowest since 1979. Even if the debt of all public enterprises is added to the government debt, the debt to GDP ratio will still be much lower than it was more than a quarter of a century ago,” he said.

He accused the Yahapalanaya government of increasing taxes to find money for their political survival. “This is another cynical trick on the part of a government that won power through, and is sustained by deception. This is why the people should rise up as one against the impending tax increases,” he said.

While emphasizing that no state can exist without taxes, he noted that taxes have to be justifiable and reasonable. “The international prices of virtually everything that we import declined after this government came into power in January last year,” he said.

According to the former President, the current government should sell petrol at less than Rs. 80 and diesel less than Rs. 50 per litre, based on the current world market prices.

“Though international sugar prices have declined since 2014, the government has not passed the benefit onto the consumer. The import levy on sugar was reduced to Rs. 18 with much fanfare in January 2015. Bu tin September 2015, it was increased to Rs. 30. The international price of milk powder has declined by as much as 60% since I was in office. The yahapalana budget for 2016 fixed the price of a 400 gram packet of milk powder at Rs. 295 which means that the retail value of a tonne of milk powder in Sri Lanka is Rs. 737,500 when the world market price is something like Rs. 290,000. Leaving aside a small amount for shipping and packing, the difference is what the government takes as taxes and importers get as profits,” he said.

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Sri Lanka among six high leverage risk countries: Moody’s

Friday, 29 April 2016

Sri Lanka has been categorised among six high leverage risk countries by Moody’s along with China, Japan, Mongolia, Hong Kong and Macao as high public, private sector leverage poses credit risks across the Asia Pacific region. 

With regard to Sri Lanka, Moody’s said Sri Lanka has a very high debt burden compared to its rating peers. General government debt stood at around 76.0% of GDP in 2015, up from 71.6% five years earlier, and well above the 48.6% median for B-rated sovereigns. Interest payments consume nearly a third of government revenues – much higher than rating peers.  

More than 40% of Government debt is denominated in foreign currency. This exposes the Government to a larger repayment burden in the event of a depreciation in the local currency, as happened in late 2015. 

Reliance on bilateral and multilateral lenders reduces but doesn’t eliminate vulnerability to international market volatility, as financing strains posed by falls in capital inflows in recent months have shown. 

Moody’s said the authorities are negotiating a financial assistance program with the IMF, which should partly cover the country’s external financing needs over the next three years. The Government also plans to raise currently very low revenues, and has announced some increases in tax rates. However, slower growth and uncertainty about the efficiency of efforts to improve tax collection imply that Government debt is unlikely to fall in the near future.

With regard to State-owned enterprise contingent liabilities, Moody’s said in Sri Lanka, contingent liabilities pose a risk to the Government’s balance sheet. In January 2015, the country’s Finance Minister indicated that such liabilities were worth around Rs. 1.4 trillion ($10.0 billion, 13.8% of GDP), taking into account Treasury guarantees and outstanding domestic and external SOE borrowing. However, a recent audit of SOE finances has revealed an additional Rs. 1.1 trillion of liabilities. 

Some of the SOEs, including SriLankan Airlines (unrated), have been running operating losses for several years.

“Crystallisation of a portion of SOE-related contingent liabilities could significantly worsen the Government’s fiscal metrics,” Moody’s added.

Changing political scenario affected Sri Lanka economy

Apr 28, 2016

Sri Lanka's ailing economy grew at a slower-than-expected 4.8% last year, the country's Central Bank said on Wednesday, attributing it to changing political scenario and the resultant policy uncertainties.

In the 2015 CentralBank annual report, released in Columbo, the growth in 2015 was recorded at 4.8% down from 4.9% in 2014.

"There was a slight decrease due to the two major elections held and the outflow of foreign investment due to current global slow down," Nandalal Weerasinghe, deputy governor of the Central Bank said.

He said that the public service salary increase had led to the growth in consumption levels, this in turn had an effect on the growth in the service sectors.

In 2015 the country faced two elections, the presidential election in January and the parliamentary election held seven months later.

"The changing political scenario had impacted on the investments in the industrial sector which slowed down the economy," Weerasinghe said.

The fiscal deficit increased to 7.4% in 2015 as the government failed to realize the expected revenue levels.

The 2015 annual report rates Sri Lanka's GDP to be $82.3 billion.

The government hopes to finalize its agreement with the IMF to seek support worth 1 billion to 1.25 billion dollars during the next few days, Weerasinghe added.  - 
- http://www.business-standard.com

Bestial Sugath Kumara who threatened and berated president because Gnanassara was jailed , arrested at Airport

(Lanka-e-News-28.April.2016, 11.45PM) An individual who scolded the president and Ekneliyagoda who is still missing  in most  foul,  filthy and disgraceful language in a video footage published via the face book over the remanding of the robed monk Galagodaaththe  Gnanassara on the 25 th of January for 14 days , and siding with the monk was arrested at the Katunayake Airport yesterday evening when he arrived from Malaysia, by the CID on a warrant issued by court. 

Gnanassara was arrested on 25 th January and remanded on charges of contempt of court and threatening  wife of Ekneliyagoda within the court premises. 

Nobody can  threaten another  via the social network. The president too enjoys that right to protection as a citizen. 

This suspect who was arrested , via that video footage had not only scolded the president but even missing Ekneliyagoda in most insolent and vicious language . The  language  was so foul and filthy that no person with a sense of decency can endure the abuse. 

This individual who conducted himself this disgracefully and unashamedly is 42 years old Sugath Kumara Lakman residing at Wattala.

Another stupid woman who got encouraged  following Sugath Kumara’s barbaric conduct and abuse had also imitated him (of all people) by releasing a video footage  containing foul and vicious language to the social network. The civilized society is eagerly waiting for the day when the barbaric culture created and stoked   by Gnanassaras will crash headlong. 

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by     (2016-04-28 23:57:19)

Police fire tear gas to disperse protesting students

2016-04-28
The Police had used water cannons and fired tear gas to disperse the medical students who were protesting near the Lotus Road in Colombo against the Private Medical University Malambe. Police said the students tried to walk towards the Presidential Secretariat.

GOVT. URGES MEDIA TO STOP USING THE TERM “JOINT OPPOSITION”

28/04/2016

The Government has requested all media organizations and journalists to refrain from using the term ‘Joint Opposition,’ warning that usage of the term was in violation of the law.

Issuing a media release, newly appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media, Attorney-at-Law Nimal Bopage pointed out that the the Government and the Opposition have been clearly defined in Parliament. However, it has been observed that a section of MPs representing one of the constituent parties of the Government are referring to themselves as the “Joint Opposition” without any connection with the Opposition Leader or Chief Opposition Whip. It has further been observed that certain media institutions and journalists are also aiding and abetting this excercise by using the term without question.

The statement added that the Speaker of Parliament had also emphasized the errorneous nature of this term and yet, journalists were continuing to use the term, bringing great harm to their profession.

Continued usage of the term by journalists and media institutions would set an “unnecessary, harmful and illegal precedent,” which others with vested interests may exploit in an attempt to advance their own agendas, the Ministry argued. It urged journalists to refrain from using the term in future in order to prevent bringing both themselves and their media institutions into disrepute.
Sunday Times

Baratha Luxhman murder suspect reward prisons authority! 

Apr 28, 2016

Information’s release that Dematagoda Chaminda, an underworld gangster who has been arrested on doubt with the murder of Bharatha Lukshman has induced a prison authority.

Police information’s released when the anti corruption force situated in Panadura Walana questioned one Tharindu Prabath who was in charge of the finances of Dematagoda Chaminda.

The latter has disclosed information that during the five months period of Chaminda’s arrest he has given more than one million rupees as bribes to the prison’s officers.

In addition to the prison’s chief, prison officers and policemen’s are among in the list.

According to Tharindu’s 158 page note book, the latter has noted, he has bribed four police stations including a sum of Rs. 30,000 to buy liquor for the prisons officers New Year party.

The book notes whenever a visit is made to see Chaminda a sum of Rs. 5000 has been bribed for each coordinating officials of the prisons and that he takes a total of Rs. 30,000 to prisons for each visit to see Chaminda.

Meantime a sum of Rs. five laks has been paid for a lawyer and another Rs. 150,000 has been paid for a clergy.
 
Reports reaching us confirm that much information contain in the book about connections with big businessmen’s.

SriLankan Air Nose-Dives Into Disaster

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –April 28, 2016

Shyamon Jayasinghe

The SriLankan Airline story is now out. Those who still sing the praises of the ten year rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa and cry for his return need not look elsewhere to pause and check their urge and rage.

The episode is part of the narrative of a style of governance that had been disastrously dysfunctional, thereby creating the potential for a nation’s ruin. It adds to the numerous historical instances where authoritarian regimes can go wrong,haywire and sore. It behoves us, therefore, to extricate ourselves of any personal bitterness and examine the episode even clinically as a case study or pointer for the future. In this way, alone, we can convert a major failure into a learning experience.

It is on record that since 1998, under the previous arrangement of partnership with the Emirates, SriLankan Airline showed significant profits. The name wasn’t glamorous but we had a national airline to be proud of and to boost our tourism and international say; yet it was never a burden on our economy. Our staff was gainfully employed and the engine was well in motion. There was no burden on the national exchequer.

Can you remember how the rot set in? Reportedly it was a purely personal incident that pricked the pride of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Mahinda had to get back quickly from London to Colombo and his staff demanded special seats in the airline for that purpose. Being a professionally run affair the Airline management refused to make that accomodation because that would have caused inconvenience to heaps of passengers and tarnished the business image of the airline. To the Rajapaksa team it was like seeking accomodation and diverting a CTB bus. But that’s not how it all works when it comes to international airline behaviour.

According to reports the President was annoyed. A few days after, government withdrew the travel visa given to the director Peter Hill and in the unholy year of 2007 the partnership with Emirates was abrogated. Reported profits to Sri Lanka at that point in time was about 7 billion rupees.

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SriLankan Airlines passengers offloaded after box containing butane torch caught fire


April 29, 2016
A SriLankan Airlines flight made to return to Changi Airport for “security reasons” two weeks ago did so because a checked-in box had caught fire, injuring a baggage handler, said the Singaporean police in a statement on Thursday (April 28).

 The box contained a culinary butane torch belonging to five Sri Lankan men who had been in Singapore for a cooking competition. Such torches are classified as dangerous goods under aviation laws.

Police received a call informing them of the incident involving flight UL309 at around 7pm on April 14, about an hour before take-off.

 A 22-year-old baggage handler suffered minor injuries and received outpatient treatment.

 “For safety and security reasons, (the flight) was thus advised to return to Changi International Airport for further checks. (It) subsequently resumed its outbound journey to Sri Lanka later that night,” said the police. 

Flight UL309 eventually arrived in Sri Lankan capital Colombo past midnight on April 15 after being delayed for three hours. 

The five passengers, along with all their baggage, were offloaded from the flight. Following investigations, three of them were given a stern warning. No further action was taken against the remaining two passengers. 

Airport police had requested that all check-in baggage was to be screened once more after the flight returned to Singapore and interviewed a few passengers, said the airline in a statement on its website on April 15. 

In its statement on Thursday, the police and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said it hoped to remind travellers that articles or substances capable of posing “significant risk to health, safety or property when transported by air” are classified as dangerous goods. 

Such items, such as fireworks, flares and camping gas, are not allowed to be carried by passengers either in the aircraft cabin or their baggage. Travellers can refer to the CAAS website for more details. 

Source: Straits 
Times  -Agencies 

Airstrike destroys Syrian hospital amid fears of ‘catastrophic’ turn in fighting
An airstrike hit a hospital supported by the aid group Doctors Without Borders in the Syrian city. At least 14 patients and medical staffers are reported dead.

By Erin Cunningham-April 28 

ISTANBUL — An onslaught of airstrikes in rebel-held areas of the Syrian city of Aleppo has killed scores and destroyed a hospital supported by international aid groups, activists and humanitarian workers said Thursday, prompting the United Nations to warn of a “catastrophic deterioration” that could intensify an already dire humanitarian crisis.

A two-month-old cease-fire had brought a brief respite to areas of Syria racked by fighting. But in a 24-hour period between Wednesday and Thursday, at least 60 people — including children and doctors — were killed in rebel-controlled neighborhoods of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and once the country’s commercial center.

Airstrikes Wednesday night collapsed a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), killing patients and staff members, including one of the city’s last pediatricians, the two aid groups said. The strikes were the latest in a series of increasingly violent attacks that have violated the truce, raising fears of a complete breakdown of efforts to end the years-long conflict.

“I cannot express how high the stakes are for the next hours and days,” the chairman of the United Nations’ humanitarian task force on Syria, Jan Egeland, told reporters in Geneva.

Egeland said Aleppo, which Syrian officials have said will be the target of an upcoming offensive, had suffered “a catastrophic deterioration” in the previous 24 to 48 hours.

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50,000 People Are Dead. So Why Won’t Obama Push for an Arms Embargo in South Sudan?

BY SIOBHÁN O'GRADY-APRIL 28, 2016 

South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar returned to Juba this week, eight months after he and his rival, President Salva Kiir, signed a peace deal that required him to go back to the capital and resume his post as first vice president.

Washington has cautiously accepted Machar’s delayed return as a crucial step toward lasting peace in the country, where more than 50,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced since infighting between Machar and Kiir burst into large-scale conflict in late 2013.

But on Wednesday, Donald Booth, U.S. special envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, warned the United States would not hesitate to push forward with both sanctions and an arms embargo if the warring parties fail to work effectively with each other on the path toward peace.

“We have everything at the table,” Booth told lawmakers at a House Foreign Relations Committee hearing, the same day the United States committed an additional $86 million in aid to the country. “We are prepared to look at sanctions, we’re prepared to look at an arms embargo.”

But for now, Booth said Washington will push forward with a public financing accountability program to track spending from both sides of the conflict in order to reduce the likelihood of arms purchases.
“We all agree there are far too many arms in South Sudan, and they certainly don’t need any more,” Booth said. “If we can use the financial side to get at preventing additional weapons from getting into South Sudan, that would be an easier way to do it and a more effective way to do it.”

American lawmakers, frustrated by how long the deadly civil war and inefficient peace process have dragged on, aren’t sure that will be enough. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, questioned why Washington would hesitate to push for an arms embargo now that both Machar and Kiir are in the same place.

“One of my frustrations through all of this is that we have not utilized the arms embargo,” he said. He added that it is one of the only means he believes could reduce the risk that Machar’s return will further destabilize Juba and push the country back into chaos.

“They’re now confined in the capital, and one miscommunication could spark an absolute explosion,” he said. “The loss of human life in that crossfire would really be catastrophic.”

In fact, a miscommunication is largely to blame for the nearly two-and-a-half-year conflict in South Sudan, which began after rumors spread that Machar was plotting to overthrow Kiir in a coup. Scuffles in a military barracks quickly turned into widespread ethnic killings in the country, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011 with tremendous support from the United States.

In the early days of the conflict, scores of men from Machar’s Nuer ethnic group were rounded up and slaughtered by Kiir’s forces, which were largely Dinka. Machar’s forces retaliated, and since then both sides have carried out large-scale abuse against civilians. Machar has been accused of recruiting thousands of child soldiers, and civilians say government soldiers loyal to Kiir used amphibious government tanks to hunt for innocent Nuer when they tried to hide in the country’s swamps. Once the soldiers caught the Nuer, humanitarians say, they would be raped and killed.

Booth said an arms embargo would be impossible without support from South Sudan’s neighbors and from other members of the U.N. Security Council, including Russia, which has been unwilling to move forward with it.

But an American who works on South Sudanese policy and is familiar with the Security Council negotiations, told Foreign Policy that it was “disconcerting” to hear Booth’s lack of enthusiasm for the viability of an arms embargo.

“Other council members believe very strongly that the United States is not pursuing this wholeheartedly,” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve relationships with policymakers working on South Sudan. “Every council member I’ve spoken with has said that if the U.S. doesn’t want it, it’s not going to happen. So it’s funny the U.S. is blaming the council dynamics when the U.S. is not really behind this.”

“It’s not going to be an easy lift at the council, but if they don’t want to put the diplomatic weight behind it, they won’t see the results behind it,” he said.

Machar agreed to return to South Sudan when he signed August’s peace deal, and by November, Washington was adamant that the security situation was safe enough for him to return. Machar disagreed, and refused to go back. In an October interview with FP, Machar described as suicidal Booth’s suggestions that he return to Juba, then delayed doing so for an additional six months. He finally agreed to go back on April 18, but was delayed again and again after he tried to bring additional weaponry from Ethiopia.

Before Machar went home on Tuesday, the State Department accused Kiir of obstructing the rebel leader’s return. It also accused Machar of adding new, elaborate demands to his previously negotiated conditions for going home.

Now the United States and other donors are treading carefully around the two leaders, hoping they can reconcile their differences for long enough to enact the transitional government and stabilize the country before diving into massive reforms.

For some lawmakers, that’s not a good enough excuse.

“There shouldn’t be arms coming in from either side,” said Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), who sat in on the hearing although he does not serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee. “Why are we allowing war criminals and war profiteers to dictate our policies while they deliberately lie, cheat, and steal from us?”

Photo credit: SAMIR BOL/Getty Images

Threats to democratic development in South Asia intensifying

April 27, 2016, 12:00 pm 

Bangladesh police suspect banned Islamist outfits are behind the recent murders of liberal activists - AFP

The international community's and other quarters' fixation with 'emerging economies', however, could have the effect of governments claiming to be democratic in the global South, ignoring or playing down the need for democratic development with secularism as a cornerstone. Countries of this region, such as Bangladesh, are certainly scoring high from the viewpoint of economic growth. More and more major business houses in this region, including some from Sri Lanka, are investing in business projects in Bangladesh in view of the promise shown by the latter as a growth and IPO destination.

The brutal killing of Professor Rezaul Karim Siddique in Rajshahi, Bangladesh on Saturday, apparently by anti-secular extremists should place not only Bangladesh but South Asia on the alert. This is because the gruesome murder was the veritable writing on the wall that political and religious extremism is growing very disturbingly in this region, which is also glorified by the international community as being home to a number of ‘emerging economies’. The latter are seen widely as role models for the rest of the world’s economies.

However, is ‘emerging’ status synonymous with democratic development? If Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, in the Mahinda Rajapaksa years, for instance, are anything to go by, this need not necessarily be so. A country could enjoy all the features which are believed to be characteristic of ‘emerging economies’ and still be plagued by conditions which militate against democratic development, such as, religious extremism and the fierce parading of identity politics. Since the killing of the university Don, two gay rights activists have been done to death in Bangladesh, pointing to an upsurge in violence against those being seen as in some way 'different' to those conceptualized as the majority community.

The foregoing begs the question: what is democratic development? This issue is yet to be taken up and explored fully by even Sri Lanka’s universities and think tanks but it ought to be plain to see that a country notable for democratic development would not only be working steadily towards the equal empowerment of persons and groups, on the basis of principles and institutions typical of representative governance, but would be also doing so on a secular basis.

The latter condition is a principal catalyst in the democratic process and it essentially stands for the firm separation of religion and politics. If secularism is to thrive in a country, one would not be having governments favouring and empowering this or that religious identity group on the basis of the belief that these groups have prior claims over the allegiance, attention and resource allocation of governments, for example. We would have none of this in a country marked by democratic development.

In a country notable for democratic development, while religious freedom would be a solid reality, it would not be considered obligatory for governments of such countries to foster this or that religion on the belief that they enjoy some sort of unquestioned and entrenched privileges in the state. This would be a total violation of democratic principles and values. In other words, religious considerations and the political process simply should not mix in a country which is home to democratic development. On the other hand, governments standing for democratic development would ensure that equality in every respect flourishes within their state boundaries.

While Bangladesh, under an Awami League administration in particular, is unlikely to pander to this or that religious identity group, it is a fact that the forces of political and religious extremism are active in Bangladesh. Prof. Siddique’s and the gay rights activists' killings are the latest evidence to emerge that the threats to secularism are strong in Bangladesh. That is, minority identities and rights of any sort are not going to be tolerated by those who see themselves as representing majority rights and privileges. Needless to say, such positions are not endorsed by the Bangladesh government. But to the extent to which such extremism is not contained, to the same degree would intolerance, religious fanaticism and divisive identity politics thrive in Bangladesh and elsewhere. But democratic development, as understood here, is the answer to extremism in all its manifestations.

However, from the above point of view, there is a glaring democratic development deficit even in Sri Lanka. In these times when constitutional reform is being spoken of very audibly by the Lankan authorities, attention needs to be paid by all progressive sections in this country to the need to foster and establish in Sri Lanka a truly secular state which would be always sensitive to the need to perpetuate religious freedom and equality within it. It needs to be seen that democracy in the truest sense of the word could flourish only on a secular basis.

At present, constitutionally speaking, Sri Lanka is in a ‘no man’s land’. It is up to those charting the constitutional reform process here to ensure that Sri Lanka is not confused with a theocracy. There could be no baulking at taking Sri Lanka on the road of democratic development and none other. Equal empowerment of persons and groups, remains the challenge.

The international community's and other quarters' fixation with 'emerging economies', however, could have the effect of governments claiming to be democratic in the global South, ignoring or playing down the need for democratic development with secularism as a cornerstone. Countries of this region, such as Bangladesh, are certainly scoring high from the viewpoint of economic growth. More and more major business houses in this region, including some from Sri Lanka, are investing in business projects in Bangladesh in view of the promise shown by the latter as a growth and IPO destination.

As in the case of a number of other South Asian countries, Bangladesh too has a highly consumer oriented and growing middle class whose buying capability is being increasingly prized by South Asian blue chip companies. Needless to say, Bangladesh is also a prime apparel exporter in South Asia. The growing economic strength of Bangladesh, therefore, has to be noticed and valued. She is certainly an 'emerging economy' and a very promising one at that.

Nevertheless, in these 'emerging economies' of South Asia, including Sri Lanka, it would be most counter-productive to try a trade-off between democratic development and economic growth. Social disintegration which comes in the wake of ethnic violence, for example, would bring to nought all attempts at initiating material growth. This lesson was lost on Sri Lanka, as proved a few years back when anti-Muslim violence broke out in this country's South. Moreover, it was never realized by Sri Lanka's ruling elites that ethnic violence on the lines of July 1983 could be winked at only at the expense of the country's overall development. Those countries which forget the lessons of history are bound to recommit the blunders of the past, producing the same results in the process. 

Groups urge Trudeau to cancel Saudi arms deal

April 27, 2016
Several human rights groups have issued an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, asking him to cancel the $15-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

“To provide such a large supply of lethal weapons to a regime with such an appalling record of human rights abuses is immoral and unethical,” says the letter signed by representatives of Amnesty International Canada, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, and other agencies.

“The government has had every opportunity to uphold this position, but has chosen not to. We therefore ask the government to rescind the export permits, ensuring that this deal does not go ahead unless and until relevant human rights concerns have been resolved.”

The deal, made by the previous Conservative government, gave Canadian company General Dynamics Land Systems a 15-year contract to manufacture light-armoured military vehicles for Saudi Arabia.

The new Liberal government proceeded with the contract, calling it a done deal that could not be cancelled. But earlier this month, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion came under fire for quietly approving the export of the bulk of the LAV3s to the desert kingdom. Critics said Dion’s final approval shows the contract was not a done deal and could have been avoided. 

Dion has said that there is no evidence that Saudi forces will use Canadian-made LAVs against its own people.

But Alex Neve, the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, told a news conference in Ottawa Wednesday that “mounting information” about Saudi forces’ human rights violations suggests otherwise.

“The likelihood that these light armoured vehicles will end up implicated in that is very serious,” Neve said.

Trudeau has defended his government’s decision to sign the export permits, saying that the issue is a “matter of principle,” and Canada must respect its contracts.

But the open letter to the prime minister says the Saudi contract “is precisely the type of deal that Canada’s export controls are intended to prevent.

“The Government of Canada must enforce our existing export control policy and regulations, which should prohibit arms sales to governments that have a ‘persistent record of serious violations of the human rights of their citizens,’ and that are ‘involved in or under imminent threat of hostilities,’” the letter says.

The contract is expected to create about 3,000 jobs in Ontario.

Defending Democracy to the Last Drop of Oil

written by eric margolis-saturday april 23, 2016

Poor President Barack Obama flew to Saudi Arabia this past week but its ruler, King Salman, was too busy to greet him at Riyadh’s airport.

This snub was seen across the Arab world as a huge insult and violation of traditional desert hospitality. Obama should have refused to deplane and flown home.

Alas, he did not. Obama went to kow-tow to the new Saudi monarch and his hot-headed son, Crown Prince Muhammed bin Nayef. They are furious that Obama has refused to attack Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Syria’s Assad regime.

They are also angry as hornets that the US may allow relatives of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi royal family, which is widely suspected of being involved in the attack.

Interestingly, survivors of the 34 American sailors killed aboard the USS Liberty when it was attacked by Israeli warplanes in 1967, have been denied any legal recourse.

The Saudis, who are also petrified of Iran, threw a fit, threatening to pull $750 billion of investments from the US. Other leaders of the Gulf sheikdoms sided with the Saudis but rather more discreetly.

Ignoring the stinging snub he had just suffered, Obama assured the Saudis and Gulf monarchs that the US would defend them against all military threats – in effect, reasserting their role as western protectorates. So much for promoting democracy.

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states have been de facto US-British-French protectorates since the end of World War II. They sell the western powers oil at rock bottom prices and buy fabulous amounts of arms from these powers in exchange for the west protecting the ruling families.

As Libya’s late Muammar Kadaffi once told me, “the Saudis and Gulf emirates are very rich families paying the west for protection and living behind high walls.”

Kadaffi’s overthrow and murder was aided by the western powers, notably France, and the oil sheiks. Kadaffi constantly denounced the Saudis and their Gulf neighbors as robbers, traitors to the Arab cause, and puppets of the west.

Many Arabs and Iranians agreed with Kadaffi. While Islam commands all Muslims to share their wealth with the needy and aid fellow Muslims in distress, the Saudis spent untold billions in casinos, palaces and European hookers while millions of Muslims starved. The Saudis spent even more billions for western high-tech arms they cannot use.

During the dreadful war in Bosnia, 1992-1995, the Saudis, who arrogate to themselves the title of "Defenders of Islam” and its holy places, averted their eyes as hundreds of thousands of Bosnians were massacred, raped, driven from their homes by Serbs, and mosques blown up.

The Saudi dynasty has clung to power through lavish social spending and cutting off the heads of dissidents, who are routinely framed with charges of drug dealing. The Saudis have one of the world’s worst human rights records.

Saudi’s royals are afraid of their own military, so keep it feeble and inept aside from the air force. They rely on the National Guard, a Bedouin tribal forces also known as the White Army. In the past, Pakistan was paid to keep 40,000 troops in Saudi to protect the royal family. These soldiers are long gone, but the Saudis are pressing impoverished Pakistan to return its military contingent.

The US-backed and supplied Saudi war against dirt-poor Yemen has shown its military to be incompetent and heedless of civilian casualties. The Saudis run the risk of becoming stuck in a protracted guerilla war in Yemen’s wild mountains.

The US, Britain and France maintain discreet military bases in the kingdom and Gulf coast. The US Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, where a pro-democracy uprising was recently crushed by rented Pakistani police and troops. Reports say 30,000 Pakistani troops may be stationed in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Earlier this month, the Saudis and Egypt’s military junta announced they would build a bridge across the narrow Strait of Tiran (leading to the Red Sea) to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The clear purpose of a large bridge in this remote, desolate region is to facilitate the passage of Egyptian troops and armor into Saudi Arabia to protect the Saudis. Egypt now relies on Saudi cash to stay afloat.

But Saudi Arabia’s seemingly endless supply of money is now threatened by the precipitous drop in world oil prices. Riyadh just announced it will seek $10 billion in loans from abroad to offset a budget shortfall. This is unprecedented and leads many to wonder if the days of free-spending Saudis are over. Add rumors of a bitter power-struggle in the 6,000-member royal family and growing internal dissent and uber-reactionary Saudi Arabia may become the Mideast’s newest hotspot.

Reprinted with permission from EricMargolis.com.