Guest Post by Martin Armstrong
Protestors swarmed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s palace in Sri Lanka, forcing him to flee and step down. The entire government in Sri Lanka will be restructured. When the people are hungry, no amount of rules and restrictions will prevent them from protesting. Sri Lanka ran out of food and ran out of fuel to cook whatever happened to be available.
Continue reading “Sri Lanka’s Economy Completely Collapsed”
Submitted by Hardscrabble Farmer
Two months ago, we noted the first Arab Spring 2.0 incident when, as a result of soaring food, energy (and everything else) prices, thousands of angry Iraqis took to the street to protest. Needless to say, their complaints did not get much traction, and in the meantime food prices have only exploded to fresh record highs, far surpassing the levels hit in 2011 when riots against, you guessed it, food prices toppled most MENA political regimes (not without some CIA backing).
International Man: Recently, we’ve seen people riot over rising prices—especially food prices—in Sri Lanka, Peru, and other countries.
What is going on here?
Doug Casey: Commodity prices have generally gone up close to 100% in the last year. Soybeans ($17), wheat ($11), and corn ($8) are all at or near all-time highs—and they’re not coming down. Why not? Mainly because of the trillions of currency units printed by central banks in the last year or so. Their prices are now at a new equilibrium level. But there are other reasons besides money printing.
Wheat, soybeans, and corn are basic for feeding people and animals around the world—certainly in the Western world. They’ve become much more expensive to produce. In today’s era of industrial agriculture, fertilizer is of critical importance. All of the main fertilizers—nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium compounds—have tripled or more.
Continue reading “Doug Casey on Food Riots and “Inflation Lockdowns””
Submitted by Dirtperson Steve
Guest Post by Indi Samarajiva
I lived through the end of a civil war — I moved back to Sri Lanka in my twenties, just as the ceasefire fell apart. Do you know what it was like for me? Quite normal. I went to work, I went out, I dated. This is what Americans don’t understand. They’re waiting to get personally punched in the face while ash falls from the sky. That’s not how it happens.
This is how it happens. Precisely what you’re feeling now. The numbing litany of bad news. The ever rising outrages. People suffering, dying, and protesting all around you, while you think about dinner. If you’re trying to carry on while people around you die, your society is not collapsing. It’s already fallen down.
Continue reading “I Lived Through Collapse. America Is Already There.”
#SriLankaBlasts: Aftermath of #Negombo & #Batticaloa churches explosions https://t.co/yp1N937T8t pic.twitter.com/ZxY4VMQ1dv
— RT (@RT_com) April 21, 2019
At least 130 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in a series of explosions at churches and hotels across Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.
At least eight bombings have been reported, with three churches in Kochchikade, Negombo and Batticaloa targeted during Easter services.
Three hotels in the capital Colombo – the Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury – were also hit, followed by two more blasts at a small hotel and a housing complex on the outskirts of the city. Foreign tourists are believed to be among those killed on Sunday.
