Difficult times in Sri Lanka

The Watercooler
21

Protestors shot by police:

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22

Stay safe everyone :person_gesturing_ok:

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23

Developing ties not with China but India shows wisdom as a first move:

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India helps Sri lanka:

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From what I have seen, that youtube channel is highly biased towards the Modi govt. I guess it’s good to be blatant if you are going to be biased rather than pretend to be balanced.

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26

Govt. workers to be given Friday off to grow food:

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Transport and schools shut down for two weeks:

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28

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

“More than 50 percent of farmers have stopped cultivating crops in the current season (May-August 2022) due to rapidly rising fuel and fertiliser costs.”

Will Australia contribute more?

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29

Gota gone

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30

And Ranil. Which unfortunately doesn’t put food on anyone’s table. Here’s hoping they can start to pu the pieces back together.

31

People are calling for all-party government in the interim. This is a reaction to the previous situation where all power was vested in one person. Elections will be held after six months. Disanayaka and Fonseka are favoured as honest politicians.

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Revolutions can be bloodbaths. But sometimes they can be delightful.

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This is my favorite

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34

This is why Mixed-member proportional representation or party list systems are the preferred form of representative democracy that the majority of the world’s democracies use (or at least some form of a proportional system).

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35

Ānaṇyasutta - Debtlessness

And what is the happiness of debtlessness? It’s when a gentleman owes no debt, large or small, to anyone. When he reflects on this, he’s filled with pleasure and happiness. This is called ‘the happiness of debtlessness’.

SuttaCentral

:dizzy:

Hi. I’m sure we all recall there was a prolonged war in Sri Lanka. I’m not a great believer in the existence of modern ‘civil wars’ because modern weapons seem to not grow on trees. I imagine any country attempting to emerge from a prolonged ‘civil war’ where both sides are armed & debt-funded by the international arms trade will struggle to get on its feet. The resultant excessive debt borrowing, ponzi schemes (to fund government expenditures), money printing, sale/relinquishing of large assets, etc, will often lead to downfall. :slightly_frowning_face:

Vaṇijjāsutta - Trades

“Mendicants, a lay follower should not engage in these five trades. What five? Trade in weapons, living creatures, meat, intoxicants, and poisons. A lay follower should not engage in these five trades.”

SuttaCentral

36

The legislative branch is elected through the proportional system.

The problem is the all powerful executive presidency. All you need is some tone-deaf, unscrupulous/corrupt, megalomaniac to screw things up.

That’s something that definitely need to go.

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That’s why I think it’s great that Switzerland doesn’t even have a head of state. They’re a mix of proportional and semi-direct democracy. Probably the free-est nation I know of, although their population is around 8 million, I’m not sure if that system would work with larger countries.

38

Sir Lanka could be only the beginning, according to the following video:

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40

Please explain how this relates to the Sri Lankan situation.

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I’m sorry if I appear to be bitter and apathetic it’s just I have encountered so much dishonesty lately