The Real Secret of the South China Sea

Western – American and European — colonialism is strictly responsible for the current, incendiary sovereignty battle in the South China Sea. It’s the West that came up with most land borders – and maritime borders — of these states.

by Pepe Escobar

Courtesy: Sputnik

( July 28, 2016, Boston, Sri Lanka Guardian) The South China Sea is and will continue to be the ultimate geopolitical flashpoint of the young 21st century – way ahead of the Middle East or Russia’s western borderlands. No less than the future of Asia – as well as the East-West balance of power – is at stake.

To understand the Big Picture, we need to go back to 1890 when Alfred Mahan, then president of the US Naval College, wrote the seminal The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783. Mahan’s central thesis is that the US should go global in search of new markets, and protect these new trade routes through a network of naval bases.

That is the embryo of the US Empire of Bases – which de facto started after the Spanish-American war, over a century ago, when the US graduated to Pacific power status by annexing the Philippines, Hawaii and Guam.

Western – American and European — colonialism is strictly responsible for the current, incendiary sovereignty battle in the South China Sea. It’s the West that came up with most land borders – and maritime borders — of these states.

The roll call is quite impressive. Philippines and Indonesia were divided by Spain and Portugal in 1529. 

The division between Malaysia and Indonesia is owed to the British and the Dutch in 1842. The border between China and Vietnam was imposed to the Chinese by the French in 1887. The Philippines’s borders were concocted by the US and Spain in 1898. The border between Philippines and Malaysia was drawn by the US and the Brits in 1930.

We are talking about borders between different colonial possessions – and that implies intractable problems from the start, subsequently inherited by post-colonial nations. And to think that it had all started as a loose configuration. The best anthropological studies (Bill Solheim’s, for instance) define the semi-nomadic communities who really traveled and traded across the South China Sea from time immemorial as the Nusantao – an Austronesian compound word for “south island” and “people”.

The Nusantao were not a defined ethnic group; rather a maritime internet. Over the centuries, they had many key hubs, from the coastline between central Vietnam and Hong Kong to the Mekong Delta. They were not attached to any “state”, and the notion of “borders” didn’t even exist.

Only by the late 19th century the Westphalian system managed to freeze the South China Sea inside an immovable framework. Which brings us to why China is so sensitive about its borders; because they are directly linked to the “century of humiliation” – when internal Chinese corruption and weakness allowed Western barbarians to take possession of Chinese land.

Tension in the nine-dash line

The eminent Chinese geographer Bai Meichu was a fierce nationalist who drew his own version of what was called the “Chinese National Humiliation Map”. In 1936 he published a map including a “U-shaped line” gobbling up the South China Sea all the way down to James Shoal, which is 1,500 km south of China but only over 100 km off Borneo. Scores of maps copied Meichu’s. Most included the Spratly Islands, but not James Shoal.

The crucial fact is that Bai was the man who actually invented the “nine-dash line”, promoted by the Chinese government – then not yet Communist – as the letter of the law in terms of “historic” Chinese claims over islands in the South China Sea.

Everything stopped when Japan invaded China in 1937. Japan had occupied Taiwan way back in 1895. Now imagine Americans surrendering to the Japanese in the Philippines in 1942. That meant virtually the entire coastline of the South China Sea being controlled by a single empire for the fist time in history. The South China Sea had become a Japanese lake.

Not for long; only until 1945. The Japanese did occupy Woody Island in the Paracels and Itu Aba (today Taiping) in the Spratlys. After the end of WWII and the US nuclear-bombing Japan, the Philippines became independent in 1946; the Spratlys immediately were declared Filipino territory.

In 1947 the Chinese went on overdrive to recover all the Paracels from colonial power France. In parallel, all the islands in the South China Sea got Chinese names. James Shoal was downgraded from a sandbank into a reef (it’s actually underwater; still Beijing sees is as the southernmost point of Chinese territory.)

In December 1947 all the islands were placed under the control of Hainan (itself an island in southern China.) New maps — based on Meichu’s — followed, but now with Chinese names for the islands (or reefs, or shoals). The key problem is that no one explained the meaning of the dashes (which were originally eleven.)

So in June 1947 the Republic of China claimed everything within the line – while proclaiming itself open to negotiate definitive maritime borders with other nations later on. But, for the moment, no borders; that was the birth of the much-maligned “strategic ambiguity” of the South China Sea that lasts to this day.

“Red” China adopted all the maps — and all the decisions. Yet the final maritime border between China and Vietnam, for instance, was decided only in 1999. In 2009 China included a map of the “U-shaped” or “nine-dash line” in a presentation to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf; that was the first time the line officially showed up on an international level.

No wonder other Southeast Asian players were furious. That was the apex of the millennia-old transition from the “maritime internet” of semi-nomadic peoples to the Westphalian system. The post-modern “war” for the South China Sea was on.

Gunboat freedom

In 2013 the Philippines – prodded by the US and Japan – decided to take its case about Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) in the South China Sea to be judged according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Both China and Philippines ratified UNCLOS. The US did not. The Philippines aimed for UNCLOS – not “historical rights”, as the Chinese wanted — to decide what is an island, what is a rock, and who is entitled to claim territorial rights (and thus EEZs) in these surrounding waters.

UNCLOS itself is the result of years of fierce legal battles. Still, key nations – including BRICS members China, India and Brazil, but also, significantly, Vietnam and Malaysia – have been struggling to change an absolutely key provision, making it mandatory for foreign warships to seek permission before sailing through their EEZs.

And here we plunge in truly, deeply troubled waters; the notion of “freedom of navigation”.

For the American empire, “freedom of navigation”, from the West Coast of the US to Asia – through the Pacific, the South China Sea, the Malacca Strait and the Indian Ocean – is strictly subordinated to military strategy. Imagine if one day EEZs would be closed to the US Navy – or if “authorization” would have to be demanded every time; the Empire of Bases would lose “access” to…its own bases.

Add to it trademark Pentagon paranoia; what if a “hostile power” decided to block the global trade on which the US economy depends? (even though the premise — China contemplating such a move — is ludicrous). The Pentagon actually pursues a Freedom of Navigation (FON) program. For all practical purposes, it’s 21st century gunboat diplomacy, as in those aircraft carriers showboating on and off in the South China Sea.

The Holy Grail, as far as the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is concerned, is to come up with a Code of Conduct to solve all maritime conflicts between Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and China. This has been dragging on for years now because mostly the Philippines wanted to frame the Chinese under a set of binding rules but was only ready to talk until all ten ASEAN members had agreed on them first.

Beijing’s strategy is the opposite; bilateral discussions to emphasize its formidable leverage. Thus China assuring the support of Cambodia – quite visible early this week when Cambodia prevented a condemnation of China regarding the South China Sea at a key summit in Laos; China and ASEAN settled for “self-restraint.”

Watch Hillary pivoting

In 2011 the US State Department was absolutely terrified with the planned Obama administration withdrawals from both Iraq and Afghanistan; what would happen to superpower projection? That ended in November 2011, when then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton coined the by now famous “pivot to Asia”.

“Six lines of action” were embedded in the “pivot”. Four of these Clinton nicked from a 2009 report by the Washington think tank CSIS; reinvigorating alliances; cultivating relationships with emerging powers; developing relationships with regional multilateral bodies; and working closely with South East Asian countries on economic issues. Clinton added two more: broad-based military presence in Asia, and the promotion of democracy and human rights.

It was clear from the start – and not only across the global South — that cutting across the rhetorical fog the “pivot” was code for a military offensive to contain China. Even more seriously, this was the geopolitical moment when a South East Asian dispute over maritime territory intersected with the across-the-globe confrontation between the hegemon and a “peer competitor”

What Clinton meant by “engaging emerging powers” was, in her own words, “join us in shaping and participating in a rules-based regional and global order”. This is code for rules coined by the hegemon – as in the whole apparatus of the Washington consensus.

No wonder the South China Sea is immensely strategic, as American hegemony intimately depends on ruling the waves (remember Mahan). That’s the core of the US National Military Strategy. The South China Sea is the crucial link connecting the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and ultimately Europe.

And so we finally discover Rosebud — the ultimate South China Sea “secret”. China under Clinton’s “rule-based regional and global order” effectively means that China must obey and keep the South China Sea open to the US Navy.

That spells out inevitable escalation further on down the sea lanes. China, slowly but surely, is developing an array of sophisticated weapons which could ultimately “deny” the South China Sea to the US Navy, as the Beltway is very much aware.

What makes it even more serious is that we’re talking about irreconcilable imperatives. Beijing characterizes itself as an anti-imperialist power; and that necessarily includes recovering national territories usurped by colonial powers allied with internal Chinese traitors (those islands that The Hague has ruled are no more than “rocks” or even “low-tide elevations”).

The US, for its part, is all about Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny.  As it stands, more than Russia’s western borderlands, the Baltics or “Syraq”, this is where the hegemon “rules” are really being contested. 

And the stakes couldn’t be higher. That’ll be the day when the US Navy is “denied” from the South China Sea; and that’ll be the end of its imperial hegemony.

Brexit shockwaves hit British jobs, banks, automobiles

Shoppers walk past stores on New Bond Street in London, Britain July 9, 2016.

REUTERS/PETER NICHOLLS/FILE PHOTO

BY GILES ELGOOD AND COSTAS PITAS-Thu Jul 28, 2016

Shockwaves from Britain's vote to leave the European Union rocked the economy on Thursday, with thousands of jobs lost at one of the country's biggest banks, big extra costs for Ford, and consumer confidence plunging.

Preparing for a Brexit-related slowdown, Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) said it would cut a further 3,000 jobs. One of Britain's biggest car dealerships, Inchcape, predicted growth in new car registrations would fall.

Ford (F.N) Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said a weaker British pound following the June 23 Brexit vote had cost the company about $60 million in the second quarter

The 2016 impact of Brexit on Ford, which has 30 percent of its European sales in Britain, was expected to be $200 million, and each year until Britain leaves the EU would cost it $400 million to $500 million. Speaking in Detroit, Shanks said all options were on the table for cost cuts in Europe, although Ford was not ready to announce any plant shutdowns.

A month after the referendum, the latest signs of an economic slowdown are likely to fuel expectations of action by the Bank of England on Aug. 4, when many economists believe it will cut interest rates and might start buying bonds again to pump money into the financial system.

"The public are still absorbing the EU referendum result but it is clear that consumer confidence has taken a significant and clear dive," said Stephen Harmston of the YouGov polling organization.

Lloyds, Britain's largest retail bank, said it aims to save 400 million pounds ($530 million) by the end of 2017 by axing the additional jobs on top of 4,000 positions it has already said it would cut from its 75,000-strong workforce. It would close an additional 200 branches.

"Following the EU referendum the outlook for the UK economy is uncertain and, while the precise impact is dependent upon a number of factors including EU negotiations and political and economic events, a deceleration of growth seems likely," it said.

The economy grew fairly robustly in the run-up to the vote but economists expect businesses and consumers to cut back after the referendum shock, although a dive in the pound has helped some companies which make most of their earnings aboard.

Rolls-Royce (RR.L) shares rose sharply after it forecast profits would improve in the second half of the year, helped by a pick-up in deliveries of large aero engines.

Drinks group Diageo, reporting higher sales, said it had not so far seen any impact from Brexit. The company is the world's biggest maker of Scotch whisky, which is mostly exported and would benefit from sterling's weakness.

Another winner was Merlin Entertainments (MERL.L), which runs tourist attractions such as Madame Tussauds waxworks and Legoland and expects to benefit from the lower pound attracting more foreign visitors to its British sites.

But travel company Thomas Cook (TCG.L) cut its profit target as the weak pound, together with attacks in Europe and a failed coup in Turkey, persuaded British customers to change their holiday plans abroad.

An index of British consumer confidence plunged nearly five points to 106.6 in July - matching its biggest fall in six years and hitting its lowest level since 2013, polling firm YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said.

People are particularly worried about what will happen to the value of their homes, the survey found.

The European Commission’s consumer confidence gauge for Britain suffered its biggest monthly drop in July since January 1991, hitting its lowest level since June 2013.

House price growth edged up in July but the data might not yet reflect any impact from the referendum because of a lag, mortgage lender Nationwide said.

Britain's biggest lettings and estate agency company, Countrywide Plc (CWD.L), issued a profit warning, saying that commercial and London residential transactions had stalled after the Brexit vote.

Economists say spending by consumers offers the best hope that Britain can avoid a Brexit-related recession. But retailers said sales fell sharply after the referendum, according to a survey published on Wednesday.

French advertising company JCDecaux (JCDX.PA) said it would reduce investments in Britain, citing uncertainty about the Brexit impact on the economy and advertising revenues.

BUILDERS, RETAILERS UNDER COSH

In construction, growth in activity slowed after the vote, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said.

Contributors to a RICS survey predicted a 1 percent rise in workloads over the next 12 months, down from growth of 2.8 percent that they had foreseen in the first quarter.

Britain's property market has been one of the worst hit sectors since the referendum with shares in housebuilders plunging while investors pulled out cash from commercial funds, forcing many to be suspended.

Construction firms cut back their forecasts for hiring, mirroring moves by British retailers who reported the fastest fall in full-time equivalent employment in two years in the second quarter, as the referendum approached.

But a survey by the British Retail Consortium showed 93 percent of retailers intended to keep staffing levels unchanged in the next three months, compared with 83 percent in the second quarter of last year.

A third survey published on Thursday showed pay awards in Britain stuck in a slow gear. Median pay settlements in the three months to the end of June were worth 1.8 percent for a third month in a row, after a two-year run when increases of 2 percent had become normal, according to XpertHR, an online human resources firm.

"It remains to be seen how the uncertainty around the impact of the Brexit vote will feed through to pay settlements, but we are likely to see pay awards remaining subdued for many months to come," XpertHR's Sheila Attwood said.

In a boost for the British government's drive to encourage investment post-Brexit, French state-owned utility EDF gave the go-ahead on Thursday to an 18 billion pound ($24 billion) nuclear power project in southwest England.

(Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Lawrence White and Bernie Woodall; writing by Giles Elgood,; editing by William Schomberg, Guy Faulconbridge, David Stamp and Peter Graff)

The father of Muslim soldier killed in action just delivered a brutal repudiation of Donald Trump

Humayun Khan was an American Muslim Army soldier who died serving the U.S. after 9/11. His father, Khizr Khan, spoke at the Democratic National Convention and offered a strong rebuke of Donald Trump, saying, "Have you even read the United States Constitution?" (Video: Victoria Walker/The Washington Post;Photo: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

By Philip Bump July 28

Donald Trump was speaking at an event in Iowa, complaining that America was not allowed to waterboard terrorists, when Khizr Khan and his wife walked up to the microphone at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia.

Khan's son, Humayun, was a captain in the U.S. Army. When a vehicle packed with explosives approached his compound in Iraq in 2004, he instructed his men to seek cover as he ran toward it. The car exploded, killing Khan instantly. He was awarded the Bronze Star posthumously.

In 2005, The Washington Post interviewed Khizr Khan. "They did not call him Captain Khan," he said of the men his son led. "They called him 'our captain.' "

"We are honored to stand here as the parents of Captain Humayun Khan," the elder Khan said at the Democratic convention, "and as patriotic American Muslims with undivided loyalty to our country." He spoke of his son's dreams of becoming a military lawyer and how Hillary Clinton had referred to his son as "the best of America."

[Khizr Khan’s loss: A grieving father of a soldier struggles to understand]

Then he focused his attention on Trump.

"If it was up to Donald Trump, [Humayun] never would have been in America," Khan said. "Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country.

From a tender moment between President Obama and Hillary Clinton to Trump’s flashy entrance, here’s a look at top moments from the convention.

Muslim American Khizr Khan, whose son Humayun was killed while serving in the U.S. Army, offered Republican candidate Donald Trump his copy of the Constitution during a speech at the Democratic convention. (The Washington Post)

"Donald Trump," he said, "you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the U.S. Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy." He pulled a copy of the Constitution from his pocket. "In this document, look for the words 'liberty' and 'equal protection of law.' " Earlier this month, Trump promised congressional Republicans that he would defend "Article XII" of the Constitution, which doesn't exist.

"Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery?" Khan asked. "Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America — you will see all faiths, genders, and ethnicities.

"You have sacrificed nothing. And no one."


From a tender moment between President Obama and Hillary Clinton to Trump’s flashy entrance, here’s a look at top moments from the conventions.

[Winners and losers from the final night of the Democratic convention]

In Iowa, according to the Guardian's Ben Jacobs, Trump was talking about polls.


Khizr Khan pauses at the grave of his son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, at Arlington National Cemetery in 2011. Humayun Khan died while serving in Iraq. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

The Africans buying sunshine with their phones

Solar-powered electricity units are removing the need for dangerous kerosene lamps and allowing Africans to stay connected

US president Barack Obama talks with an M-Kopa representative during the Power Africa Innovation Fair in Nairobi last year. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Murithi Mutiga in Nairobi-Thursday 28 July 2016

Julie Njeri did not believe her son when he declared he no longer needed spectacles to read his books and complete his homework.

She took him to the doctor and was told young Peter Mwangi no longer suffered the sharp irritation and redness in his eyes that had resulted in him being given glasses. Peter’s mum exclaimed: “It’s a miracle!”

The explanation was somewhat more tangible. In late 2013, Julie and her husband bought an M-Kopa solar power kit – something 4,000 east Africans now do every week.

The $200 (£150) device comes with two LED bulbs, an LED flashlight, a rechargeable battery, adaptors for charging phones, and it is all charged by a small solar panel that is propped on the roof.

More than 300,000 families in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania who are not connected to the electricity grid have purchased the unit which is linked to the mobile money transfer system M-Pesa.

After paying a deposit of $35 or $25, depending on their M-Pesa credit history, customers are then able to settle the balance through daily mobile phone payments of 50 cents for a year until they own the device outright.

It has brought clean energy to many homes and powers thousands of businesses ranging from small greengrocers in heavily populated low-income settlements to restaurants that can now stay open longer.

More importantly, children like Peter no longer have to use kerosene-powered paraffin lamps to do their studies in dimly lit houses, and their parents enjoy saving the money that was spent on unclean sources of energy.

Chad Larson, one of the co-founders of M-Kopa, said the idea sprung from a talk that the Vodafone executive Nick Hughes gave at Oxford’s business school in 2007.

Hughes, who is credited with the early research work that led to the introduction of M-Pesa in Kenya, told the audience that mobile phones could replace banks in much of the developing world.

  Control unit fixed to a mud wall in a home powered by M-Kopa solar technology in a village in Kenya. Photograph: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg/Getty Images

“The light bulb went on as we listened to Nick explain how mobile phones had an almost insurmountable advantage over banks,” said Larson. “The sim in the mobile was basically like an ID card and mobiles were much easier to access than opening a bank account, a process that had far more formidable barriers to entry.”

A few years after finishing his studies, Larson and a fellow student, Jesse Moore, quit their jobs and moved to Nairobi with Hughes to join the mobile revolution that was taking hold in east Africa.

After dabbling in a number of ventures including a mobile savings account product and a medical helpline where patients could consult doctors via mobile phone, they turned their attention to solar.

Although it has a heavy tech component, M-Kopa is at root a finance business.Kopa means borrow in Swahili and the rapid takeup of the loan product rested on the phenomenal success of the M-Pesa platform run by the Kenyan technology company Safaricom, part-owned by Vodafone.

M-Pesa, through which customers settle their payments, serves as a virtual wallet on mobile phones into which subscribers deposit cash at an M-Pesa agent. They can then use it to pay bills or transfer the money to another customer.

Kenya now has more mobile money accounts than any other country, 31.6m in a nation with a population of 44 million. Eight out of 10 Kenyans operate a bank or mobile account, up from 26.1% in 2009.

Companies such as M-Kopa are riding that wave. It had projected it would be selling 1,000 units a week within two years, but it met that target in half the time and its 1,000-strong sales force in the three east African countries shifts 4,000 units a week. It hopes to have sold 1m units by the end of 2017.

Investors have piled in – a recent $19m investment round was joined by a number of big names including Generation Investment Management, a fund co-founded by the former US vice-president Al Gore, Virgin’s Richard Branson and the AOL co-founder Steve Case.

Larson says the firm plans to expand to up to 15 countries in Africa and Asia in the next five years, tracking the development of mobile money, but says there is still considerable growth potential in east Africa.

M-Kopa’s most potent advertising appears to be the word-of-mouth testimonials of neighbours revealing how they have cut back on expensive and dangerous kerosene lamps thanks to the solar device. This was underlined during a recent trip accompanying a sales team to install a unit at a home in the peri-urban farming settlement of Juja, 30 miles (50km) from Nairobi.

Mary Wanjiku, 23, opened her gate to reveal a typical smallholder farming household including a couple of lively chickens, three goats and a sleepy guard dog lying next to its scrawny brown puppy.

Why was she buying the device? Her motivations were strikingly similar to those of Julie Njeri, who lives across the ridge in the Kamiti neighbourhood.

“I am tired of walking long distances to charge my phone and I heard from others that this will help me save on the amount of money I spend on kerosene,” she said. “But the most important thing is that my daughter and son will be able to do their homework under these lights instead of waking up at 5am to study using sunlight.”

Locally Transmitted Zika Arrives in the United States

BY DAVID FRANCIS-JULY 29, 2016

Since the start of the Zika outbreak, public health experts have warned it’s only a matter of time before the virus, which has been linked both to microcephaly in newborns and Guillain-Barré, a condition that causes paralysis in adults, is transmitted in the United States. That moment appears to have arrived.

On Friday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said that in at least four cases, three men and one woman, have caught the bug locally, meaning it was passed by mosquitoes in the United States. Nearly all previous U.S. cases of Zika were acquired by traveling to areas where the virus has run rampant.

“This means Florida has become the first state in our nation to have local transmission of the Zika virus,” Scott said at a Friday morning press conference.

The cases occurred in a one square mile area in northern Miami, the governor added. For now, he said that is the only place where mosquitoes are known to be transmitting the virus.

“We’re being very aggressive at testing people there; we are testing the mosquitoes there and we spraying to make sure it’s contained,” Scott said, adding that health officials do not think additional transmissions were ongoing.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 1,600 Zika cases in the United States. The vast majority of these were acquired abroad, but there are a few instances of the bug being transmitted through sexual contact on American soil.

The first known transmission of Zika via mosquito on U.S. shores is only likely to heighten concerns about the disease. There’s no vaccine for the virus, and Congress has yet to pass a bill to allocate funding to the CDC to prepare and combat the Zika virus.

Florida, with the help of the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has been aggressively trying to prevent Zika from arriving in the state. The Florida Health Department has been handing out Zika prevention kits to pregnant women. It has also told Florida residents to eliminate standing water where mosquitoes breed.

“We know this virus is most detrimental to expectant mothers,” Scott said. “If you are pregnant or think you might become pregnant contact your OB-GYN [physician].”

The first locally transmitted U.S. case comes a week before the Summer Olympics kick off in Brazil, the epicenter of the outbreak. Some athletes, including American cyclist Tejay van Garderen and Australian golfer Jason Day, are skipping the games due to concerns they will contract Zika there.

Photo credit: GASTON DE CARDENAS/Getty Images

Surgeon General: We Have To ‘Change How Our Country Sees Addiction’

Madeline Diamond-07/29/20

With nearly 2 million people in America addicted to prescription opioids, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is calling the epidemic one of the most “important public health challenges of our time.”

In a conversation with The Huffington Post’s Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington, Murthy discussed key ways to address the crisis on both a governmental and individual level.

“We can work on sharpening our prescribing practices, working with clinicians to ensure we’re treating pain safely and effectively,” Murthy said. He added that clinicians need to be more equipped with skills for “how to recognize and treat substance use disorders to ensure that all the needs of a patient population are cared for.” 

But the most difficult task we must undertake to address the opioid epidemic is to “change how our country sees addiction,” he said.

“For far too many people living with addiction, they feel that they are living with stigma,” Murthy added. 

“Many people see addiction, still, as a character flaw or a bad choice. They don’t recognize that addiction is in fact a chronic disease of the brain.”

He added that if we “shift that cultural perception of addiction,” it will make it easier for people to get help. 

Take a look at the video above to hear more from the conversation.

This video was produced by Will Tooke.

Sri Lanka: Missing Persons — New Report Releases

( July 28, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Years that have passed since the armed conflict in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, did not bring solace to the families of over 16,000 persons who, according to the ICRC’s records, remain missing.

Between October 2014 and November 2015, conducting an island-wide assessment, the ICRC met 395 families of missing persons, including those of missing security forces and police personnel, along with the authorities and organisations providing assistance to these victims.

According to the findings of the Families’ Needs Assessment, to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relative is the most important of the many needs these families have, and, in anticipation of the answers, the families face emotional, economic, legal and administrative difficulties in their daily lives.

While the aim of the assessment was to understand the needs of families of persons who went missing as a consequence of the past armed conflict and to identify means to help address these needs, the ICRC hopes that the findings and recommendations contained in the assessment report will contribute to the development of a comprehensive response to the needs of all missing persons’ families, who continue to suffer in silence.

families_of_missing_persons_in_sri_lanka_-_living_with_uncertainty.pdf by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

 Canada encourages Sri Lanka to move forward in reforms without delays

Thu, Jul 28, 2016,

July 28, Colombo: Canada today, welcoming the positive engagement by Sri Lanka with the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, encouraged the government to take advantage of this momentum to move forward on other reforms without delays.

"We encourage your government to take advantage of this momentum to move forward on other reforms, including those to strengthen good governance and economic stability. It is clear that delays in the implementation of these critical reforms are not in the public interest," Canada's Foreign Minister Stéhene Dion said Thursday.

Addressing a joint press conference after meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Minister Mangala Samaraweera, the Canadian Minister said as has already been conveyed by Prime Minister Trudeau, Canada stands ready to support the Sri Lankan Government to advance peace, accountability, reconciliation and prosperity for all the peoples of Sri Lanka.

Mentioning that Canada is home to a large community from Sri Lanka, including one of the largest Tamil communities outside of Sri Lanka and India, Mr. Dion said Canada welcomes the positive engagement by Sri Lanka with the UN Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, in the context of the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka.

Noting that the government has taken several initial steps to implement the resolution, Minister Dion said more needs to be done.

"We welcome the initial steps taken by your government to implement this Resolution, and we note the progress made toward constitutional reforms. In particular, we note the public commitment for the establishment of the Office of Missing Persons, and the release of some lands in militarized zones. However, much more remains to be accomplished."

He said Canada can share its experience with Sri Lanka on issues such as official languages, the devolution of power, sustainable economic development, empowerment of women, legal expertise, and youth skills development.

Going forward, Canada encourages an inclusive process in Sri Lanka that welcomes the participation of all of society and advocates peaceful pluralism, he said noting the importance of meaningful international involvement in such accountability and reconciliation mechanisms.

Minister Dion said promotion of official languages is critical for advancing the Government's reconciliation efforts, and fostering an inclusive society and Canada is offering its support to the Government to advance the delivery of public services in both Sinhalese and Tamil.

He announced the National L

Singapore looks to Jaffna as it signs trade agreements with Colombo

28 July 2016

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said his government was looking to expand relations beyond Colombo and reach out to Jaffna, after signing a series of free trade agreements with Sri Lanka earlier this month.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was on an official three day visit to Singapore last week, where he signed “four Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), and a Joint Statement between the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore and the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade of Sri Lanka to launch negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement”, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Prime Minister Loong though said his country wanted to go beyond Colombo, stating Sri Lanka can be a gateway “to the Indian Ocean region for Singapore companies”.

During a lunch held to mark Mr WIckremesinghe’s visit Mr Loong highlighted how “since the 19th century, Singapore’s small but vibrant Sri Lankan community has contributed significantly to our development”.

He went on to point out that “Jaffna Tamils in the Straits Settlements’ civil service helped to lay the foundation for Singapore’s administrative and government services”.

The prime minister also spoke of Singapore’s first foreign minister Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, who was born in Jaffna (See our obituary here).

Mr Loong announced that he hoped to “build on our long cultural and people-to-people linkages”. One aspect of that will be helping to restore the Jaffna Public Library, with the Singapore’s foreign ministry stating that the “National Library Board will donate another 500 books to update the Jaffna Public Library’s (JPL’s) collection, as part of its longstanding collaboration with the JPL”.

Singapore has previously assisted with Jaffna Library restoration projects, announcing a youth development program in 2014 designed to help 3,000 youngsters in the district and donating of 10,000 English books.

The country’s deep cultural links with the Tamil people have been particularly longstanding. In 2011, the government announced a new Tamil-language elective for high-ability secondary and junior college students who want to go deeper into the language, its literature and culture under the National Elective Tamil Language Programme (NETP).

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Singapore last year, it was Mr Loong who gifted him with a copy of the Tamil Murasu, which first reported on India’s recognition of Singapore as an independent country in 1965.

“We are going beyond Colombo,” added Mr Loong at last week’s dinner. “To get to know other cities in Sri Lanka better, like Jaffna.”

The Development (Special Provisions) Bill and the Coalition Government 

Thursday, 28 July 2016

“The proposal made by Hon. Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, to publish the Sri Lanka Sustainable Development Bill in a gazette and present the same in Parliament for approval, which was prepared with the view of promoting and implementing the Sri Lanka’s national policy and strategy on sustainable development, establishment of the Sustainable Development Council and making other provisions on other matters, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers,” stated the Government announcement regards decisions taken by the Cabinet on 12 July. 

Regrettably however, the public at large have no knowledge at this stage of the scope, contents and any consequential socio-political and economic impact of the Bill on the country and its citizens. This is despite, Right to Information being a fundamental right as per the Constitution and a specific Right to Information enactments having recently been legislated.

A few months ago, a discussion draft of a bill titled ‘Development (Special Provisions) Bill’ was available in public hands. This draft bill had several provisions which gave rise to significant concern in the mind of Yahapalana activists. They were concerned that this bill could easily result in the Coalition Government, constantly at play at the edge of the marshy land and tossing bond scams, imported high cost metal housing for displaced persons, coal tenders, highway contracts to entities owned by Ministers and controversial VAT impositions, in danger of a fall in to the bog and risk beginning to sink! Let us hope not; as what the nation needs is a government committed to real Yahapalanaya, rule of law, justice, effective public communications, economic resurgence positively touching all segments in society and reconciliation amongst all citizens.

The aforesaid draft bill had a provision to appoint a panel of eminent persons to be consulted by the President and Prime Minister on formulation of National Policies. A Policy Development Office is established (there is such an office already in the Prime Minister’s Office?). The Minister (the Prime Minister as the Minister in Charge of National Policy and Economic Affairs) may make regulations in respect of all matters relating to policy development office, including the appointment of staff and Committees and the functioning under the Office.

The Policy Development Office (PDO) is to assist the Minister to plan, formulate and develop National Policies on all subjects having regard to the provisions of the Act; prepare the macro-economic Policy framework for economic development; set goals and targets to be achieved by every sector of the economy and by every government institution; co-ordinate the implementation of government policies approved.

The Minister is empowered to appoint Committees for PDO on

1.    Economic Policy Committee – to review economic policies and to analyse and interpret current economic development;

2.    Domestic Policy Committee – to coordinate domestic policies with a view to ensuring that they are consistent with the Government-stated goals;

3.    Global Affairs Committee – to review global economic, political, social and environmental developments and their impact on Sri Lanka

4.    Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee – to coordinate and monitor the implementation of the government policy (including proposals in the annual budget) and ensure that decisions and programmes of the Government are consistent with National Policies and to discharge other functions assigned by the Cabinet.

The PDO is required to assist the Cabinet Ministers by submitting reports on Policy Development/Review and Coordination and Implementation of Government Policy.

The Minister will submit the national policy formulated on a subject (or any subject in effect?) to the Cabinet and be placed before parliament for approval and on approval; such policy shall be the National Policy as per the Reserved List of the Constitution

The bill sets the objective of economic development to be “to promote the emergence of a highly competitive social market economy” and empowers the Minister with approval of Cabinet to present to Parliament a Policy Framework for Economic Development to achieve the aforesaid objective. Upon approval of the framework, it becomes the National Policy on Economic Development of the Reserve List of the Constitution. All plans, programmes and schemes for economic development of the Government and Boards of Ministers of the Provinces have to conform with the Policy framework; and its strategies; and the Minister is empowered to issue such strategic directions in order to seek such compliance. Minister is required to present an Annual Report in March each year on Economic Development of the Country during the preceding year

Where a statute passed by a Provincial Council is inconsistent with the Policy framework the Secretary to the Ministry is to make an application to the Supreme Court to make a declaration on the validity of such statute.

The Minister is empowered by a Gazette notice to declare any area, which can be developed for economic activities of manufacturing, tourism, science and technology, finance services, logistics, business and services, and modern fisheries/agriculture or agro business and the order will in addition specify objectives to be achieved and government institutions required to undertake such activities. Every economic development area dedicated to development of modern agriculture and agro business shall be of such scale to ensure the cultivation, production, manufacture, storage and distribution of agricultural products. Similar empowerments apply to modern fisheries being in scale enabling the planning and implementation of coastal fisheries and fish farming, off shore and the construction of ports for deep sea fisheries, infrastructure for value addition manufacture, storage and distribution.

Minister is also empowered with cabinet concurrence to make regulations to give effect to plans, programmes, strategies and schemes approved under the Act, make provision for eliminating delays and administrative barriers and facilitating investment approvals at a single point; it will in addition specify, the procedure and authority for granting tax incentives. These regulations prevail over any other and will come in force on approval by Parliament.

Authorised officers of PDO are empowered to call for any such information as required from any person.

The above provisions are those reflected only in Part 1 Chapters 1 and 2 of the Bill and it repeals the National Planning Council Act of 1956

Though other parts of the bill are time bound with a sunset clause, Part 1 referred to herein is a permanent legal framework.

The critical questions and issues, requiring urgent clarification in the above context are;

1.    Is the Sustainable Development Bill now approved derived from the earlier draft titled ‘Development Special Provisions Bill’?

2.    Will the bill once gazette be placed before the public for review, critique, debate and negotiation and reaching a meeting of minds?

3.    If the response to 1 above is in the affirmative, will the Prime Minister publicly clarify;

a.    What if any will the role of the President be, in connection with policies, decisions and regulations made by the Minister under the Act?

b.    How will the views of the eminent panel be acted upon; will these views be transparently communicated apprising the public; and where the advice of the panel is overlooked, will the Minister publicly provide justifications for such action?

c.    Will the eminent panel be consulted before the Minister makes regulations?

d.    Will the officers of the PDO be public officials or be recruited from outside the public service?

e.    What role and how, will the President and other Cabinet Ministers participate in making policies on all subject; setting goals and targets in all sectors and public institutions; in preparing the macro-economic framework; coordinate implementation of government policies; recognising cross cutting issues impacting on subjects assigned to other Ministers?

f.    What is the role of the Secretary of the Ministry in the PDO or will PM’s handpicked resource persons run it?

g.    Could it be that the former Governor of the Central Bank will hold a prominent position in the PDO?

h.With the Minister, PDO and Committees in place, what roles are left for Ministers and their Chief Accounting Officers?

i.    With the Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee in place, the PDO takes supreme accountability in governance and even marginalises the Finance Minister (as budget proposals also come within the Committee oversight)

j.    Will the PDO assisting Ministers in policy development, policy review, coordination and implementation and submitting the National Policy on a subject result in Ministers and Ministries being made subordinate to the PDO?

k.Will the powers of the Minister to set in place, with cabinet and parliamentary approval, ‘A Policy Framework for Economic Development’ binding the Government, Boards of Ministers of the Provinces; with additional powers to issue strategic directions to assure implementation; and also to have empowerment to compel the Supreme Court to rule on statutes passed by Provincial Councils inconsistent with such policy framework be Constitutional; will its enactment, require special majority and/or approval by a referendum; and will it dilute the genuineness in upholding the principles of subsidiarity?

l.    Will similar issues of Constitutionality arise in regard to the declaration of areas within the control of Provincial councils as Economic Development areas, where operations, scale and activities will be as directed by the Minister?

It will be hard to imagine the Coalition partners, who will find their position in Government and Cabinet so significantly undermined and power centralised in the Prime Minister, will accept this bill as worthy of support without amendment! The centralisation now attempted by this bill may even go beyond the centralised power enjoyed collectively by the previous President( who was also the Finance Minister), the Secretary to the Treasury, Governor of the Central Bank and Minister of Economic Affairs.

Supreme Power of Centralised Governance is what the Prime Minister is hoping for to solve the development challenges of this nation?

This policy and power concentration thunderbolt from the Prime Minister comes at a time the Civil society activists’ are canvassing for Constitutional change to make way for the under noted Reform;

“Defining the Role, Responsibility and Accountability of Chief Accounting Officers

“There is a need to define by way of a Constitutional amendment, the role, responsibilities and accountability division between the head of department (the chief accounting officer) and the political head (called the ‘executive authority’ being either the Minister or the Deputy Minister).

“The executive authority is responsible for policy choices and outcomes, while the chief accounting officer implements the policy and achieves the outcomes by taking responsibility for delivering the outputs defined in the departmental budget. In this way, the Act empowers accounting officers by unambiguously conferring on them a clear set of responsibilities. The accounting officer prepares the departmental budget (specified in terms of measurable objectives) for the Minister to approve and present to the legislature for voting. The accounting officer is then responsible for implementing and managing the budget.”

If the Prime Minister proceeds on the planned lines and are not cautioned and restrained by his coterie of friends and party wise persons, he may have a fall like Humpty Dumpty! And if so what happens to those in civil society, who installed this Yahapalanaya Government in power?