largest law, official word from pakistan, military spokesman on the hospice situation. later until later on monday afternoon to me is that the operation is still going on. it's not yet. i mean, in my hand, hard to tv to some of us i just time to show you this before we go at attachment of the russian naval fleet set sail to participate with chinese counterparts in joint drilled dubbed marine interaction 2022. the exercises will be conducted in the east china sea from december, 21st to 27th plans and could rockets and artillery target practice. coordinating communication as well as holding on the submarine tactics. a large array of various naval weapons or plan to be deployed in the live fire drills. the main stated goal by authorities is to strengthen naval cooperation between the russian federation, the peoples republic of china, maintain peace and stability. in the asia pacific region writes

a trip to the modus operandi to you next, where i'm and then there's something by catch ortiz, new show, and moments. and then maureen, here at the a a ah, his hello, i'm manila chan you were tuned into modus operandi. the show that explores the methods and patterns of foreign policy all around the world and the history that reverberates our lives today. now it's an island and turmoil. sri longer is facing its worth financial food and energy crisis, since it's dependence from britain. in 1948. unicef says one in 4 children age 6

and under our malnourished as families across the island say they are skipping meals in order to balance household budget. the civic anger began brewing spring of 2022 and by summer it swelled to see be our string of president and go to bio roger pox. so with a crisis being felt by the public and a crisis of confidence being felt by the government, what will become of the 22000000 residents? and this bank rep nation will discuss all that and more coming up. all right, let's get into the m o me after a series of tax cuts issued by a former president and go to bio roger pox. 2019 followed by allegations of rampant corruption in this political dynasty family. this south asian nation is now facing

a crisis. food insecurity is rising. fuel prices are rising, household, stables, food products like flour and grain are increasingly difficult to obtain. so to dig a little deeper into this humanitarian issue, facing the island, we are being joined by tomato sala ku dean. she is the director of south asia programs at the us institute of peace to mont. thank you for being with us. come on a 1st. what is happening in sri lanka? what sort of price increases? are you seeing or are people out of work? i mean, what is day to day life in sri lanka, like since the economy went bust? i mean, i think you're seeing for a middle income country, the economic impact on people is astronomical. they're experiencing inflation, food and lation like they've never seen before. so these are people who are used to

being able to find the food. first of all, you aren't able to find it and then it's so expensive, it's very hard to purchase food in stores. second of all you saw, especially earlier the summer we saw the long, long lines for petrol, for gasoline, there's restrictions on who could get it. and even if people waited all day, they weren't able to get it. and then on cooking gas. so these are 3 very important things, you know, food inflation was touching 90 percent where people just couldn't afford anything. people couldn't buy patrol, couldn't go to work, couldn't go to school because they couldn't put no gas in their cars or rick shot drivers. public transport wasn't moving. so you know, this is something that sri lankan haven't experienced before at this level. so it really was a dire economic crisis. the country's inflation hit a staggering 39 point one percent back in may,

which led to throngs of protesters taking to the streets and later the presidential palace. forcing out roger pox a who fled overseas, reportedly to singapore. now in 2016, the american ambassador to the un, samantha power, called sri lanka, quote, a global champion of human rights and democratic accountability. how do you find her comments now after president roger pox, a was ousted for corruption. i think her commons reflect the shrunken people and civil society really does champion human rights. i think after the end of the civil war, you've seen complains about civil rights of human rights since 2009 and even before that because of treatment of minorities during the war. now, successive governments, i think you had a unity government at the time when was trying to have good governance. but since

then, the roger boxes, when they come into power, you know, it's been plagued with cronyism, nepotism, the military taking over most, you know, having some military presence or former military officials in almost every role in the civilian government. and so it's been played by that sort of corruption. and that is really, i think, remarkable why you saw sri lumpkins of all stripes. stand up. you know, it's the economic crisis, but it's also the political crisis. stand up and demand for go to buy a raj asa and his government to leave. and so let's not forget the remarkable nature of the protest, the sustain non violent protests that really removed roger pox administration. while protests have since quelled the new president renewal rec, my sing, huh. is now in talks with the i am asked for a bailout package after the island ran out

a foreign reserve currency to pay back its debt. a move, a lot of people have criticized as to o pig and with too many strings attached primarily to the west. the i m. s. visited sri lanka and made promises to restore macro economic stability and debt sustainability while protecting the poor, the vulnerable safeguarding financial stability, and even stepping up structural reforms to address corruption and those roller abilities and unlocks relock as growth for potential or potential growth. so for example, food insecurity is rising in the country. unicef says one out of 4 kids under age 6 and for longer are mal norrish. now, they expect that number to grow as inflation begins to skyrocket. what organizations or countries even are helping the starving children in that country? exactly. this is a country that is not used middle income country. i think one of the most important

things we can do is as, as i m f, loans and other things come in is think about what other countries can give food, aid and assistance. japan, india. and you know, these are some of the largest countries that can bring assistance. the united states has pledged or invited over the summer pledge, the systems, especially for children. we need a unity of action around the world. this is not going to be only in sri lanka, this high loans, high inflation disruption of world grain production because of the warranty cream is affecting lots of countries. and i think sri lanka is the canary in the coal mine is showing you that middle income countries can fall to a place where children are experiencing so much malnourishment. and i think we really need to think about how the world that you and especially donor countries can go beyond just loans,

but really help in terms of food assistance. sri lanka is also facing an energy crisis. what's causing that and, and how do we put an end to it? i mean, this is a global energy crisis. so you have high energy prices globally because of the war in green. and it is really affecting countries like sure, lot that are ex, important dependent that they have to import and energy and fuel. i think there are a couple of things. one, obviously is the global prices and inflation. and once you default and sure luck i did, it makes it that much higher to get harder to get credit and to buy fuel and other things. india has come to their assistance in terms of that help them with immediate needs. i think longer term there's also internal problems that she longer has in terms of managing fuel and managing its dependence on external fuel. and so i think you have do both at the same time it solving the economic crisis and

helping countries that have are facing the shock of global energy prices. but also thinking about how to better manage internally as energy costs. the sri lankan government is also imposing a ban on numerous imports of common goods and products to the country. why are they doing that? well, i mean, look, you have, you have very little in terms of a foreign reserve. so you have very little in terms of for reserves of dollars. and so a country like sure longer that is largely import dependent has to restrict some sort of of the import so as not to spend all their dollars before their i am f loon and other loans, excuse me, come through. so this is really crucial that they are cutting back costs. you can see the president vicar missing as new budget is supposed to be cutting costs in

terms of spending. that is one way to save reserves, but also you have to limit, especially in terms of luxury goods and other things really limit where you're spending those precious dollars in terms of importing things. so they have to see those that foreign reserve to import things like fuel like energy, crucial food, stuff that you can't get into longer. i think in the long term they have to think about the, you know, the tax to g d p ratio, but also the exports. how can you restart export in the country so that you actually do have more of a foreign reserves? i think for sure long those are dependent really on t, a big export on tourism, which isn't doing great, and then on remittances. and with a pandemic, all of those things were affected. and of course, mismanagement by the roger boxes. the country suffered a civil war and issues surrounding the tamil tigers. have those wounds healed and

do you think all parties can come together now to prevent an even greater humanitarian crisis from erupting? i, you know, the civil war into long lasted for decades and the wounds of that have not healed. i mean, we ostensibly had an end to wish along the civil war in 2009. but the way in which, you know, the singly nationalist military really put down on the thomas tigers and you know, others, the terminal minority in general has left unhealed wounds across the country. and so while we're talking about people coming in to the streets that represent all sri lumpkins, let's not forget that the tunnel minority has been protesting and seeking justice and reconciliation for years even before this crisis. and i think while the sri lankan are united because of the economic crisis,

the political crisis is just as important and the to reinforce each other. you know, with the as l p p, this is roger pock says supportive, they're political party, still dominating the government. and renew vicar missing of the new president being brought into power by them. you still have the political causes of the original problems, right? so you haven't resolved this. you don't have a representative government that represents all interests. you don't have a pathway to reconciliation. i think that's really important, even though we're looking at the acute problem of the economic crisis, we can't forget that the larger problem of minority rates of reconciliation after the civil war of a more representative government is really important. and that's why you still see protesters coming out seeking new collections or more accountability,

more credibility in the government. i think until and unless you repeal or change the executive presidency. and until and unless you have fresh elections that signal more legitimacy that you can have a more representative government, you're not going to start a pathway to healing the longstanding one's sri lanka is a smaller country, both in geographic size and in population. so in terms of geo politics, why is sri lanka so important and, and why is there crisis so relevant to modern politics? i think she's on the 1st and foremost is emblematic of what a lot of similarly placed countries are going through. so it's not so much that she long and of itself is so important. but it's story a one where political cronyism, political elite or depending on borrowing have led have cause mismanagement corruption and have led their country to be overly

dependent on foreign loans. and then come into default, so you see a lot of countries, not just in south asia, we're seeing problems in pakistan going to the i m f. but right now the world is focused on zam b. s. you have other similarly situated middle income countries, that in the last 1020 years have become far too dependent on international loans. and while we talk about chinese debt diplomacy, our jet debt trap as one of the factors, i would say that is an exacerbating factor. their loans to china, i think it is the whole mindset of countries that are more and more authoritarian, more populous for leaders are allowed to take these loans and then not be able to pay them back, hoping that they'll just go away in the end. it causes a crisis for the people in the country. so 1st and foremost, i would say that it's a warning sign to similarly place countries. second of all, i mean if we're thinking about the us china, strategic competition than china,

then sri lanka is a place where we see this playing out. so the, the largest countries that have lent money to sri lanka. obviously china is up there, but it's japan, india, these are countries, china, japan, and india that are in the quad alliance with australia and the united states. and so they have an interest in the, in the pacific you know, having a rules based in the pacific and sri lanka is a very important place in the, in the pacific. it is right in india's backyard. i think it's notable here to see that while many of the loans that show on guys facing default on our, from china, the aid that they've received is largely from india. and so this is a place where you're seeing that she has strategic competition. we just side the other day with the chinese and indian embassies in colombo, getting into a bit of a public twitter spat over

a chinese vessel being port at the port in ha mendota. so you, you're seeing in real time that friction in terms of inner pacific competition, competition with china and here very clearly, india and japan on one side with china on the other to monticello, redeem, thank you so much for being with us today. now as inflation skyrockets, amid the political crisis in sri lanka, there are non governmental locals who are helping their neighbors. moses a cached a silva of voice for the voiceless foundation has been on the ground helping the needy during this crisis. he says, it's not just a matter of food shortages that the island is facing. the fuel shortage is making it difficult for locals to cook the food that they do have listen to me saturday. so concept call her community teacher on the 1st of june,

that the most recent, a situation that we faced. we used to the same address as 2 people, but then we came across a certain families who are not able to call us. if you look at the last 3 months, we've out of courtesy mind the loud to fly and ask to be signed up for a picture that you guys have all that people who are not able to cook at home and very specifically is open. so therefore, the, to the crises right now, i see a lot of people. so to me, i would say for these, these people who are copying to have a company kitchens. this at my only one me, which the provide them on data bases. so i am seeing very much the law in government that middle income people, i severely affected the side foundation at the this a lot of essentials. and next, when we return, we'll look into who and what agencies are attempting to help sri lanka. will these

agencies actually help or harm the still developing nation? don't go anywhere. the ammo will be right back. ah oh ah, is your media a reflection of reality? in a world transformed what will make you feel safe? isolation, community? are you going the right way, or are you being that somewhere? direct? what is true? what is faith?

in the world corrupted, you need to descend a join us in the depths. will remain in the shallows. the news. alright, we now know where this island nation stands today, but how exactly did sri lanka get here? and who's really trying to help which country they're stepping in to stop the financial bleeding. this nation of some 22000000 suffering for that. we are joined by carlos the sousa. he is the director of vancho bell asset management in zurich, switzerland before joining bought about carlos was actually the lead emerging markets economist at oxford economics and organization specializing in global

forecasting and quantitative analysis. carla, thank you for being with us. carlos right now, sri lanka is in the process of debt restructuring after it failed to pay some of its bilateral debts for the 1st time in the country's history. at the start of may 2022 and they been meeting with the i m f, the international monetary fund to sort out a new loan program and find a new path to pay back its creditors. many people criticize this as a debt trap that will further send island deeper into debt. how do you read this forthcoming? i am ass loan. i didn't qualify in the program. in any way i am, if lending is done, a confessional rates could not get bored. now. ready borrow from any other credits or lower rates than it can from the m. s. perhaps from multilaterals or similar interest rates. so i definitely will know what if i do that. i think

the government got itself in a dead traps in the previous years. and now it has to get out of it and going through the math to get a program of reforms and to be able. ready to postpone these deaths and to restructure including haircuts falls against public stats, it's just a normal procedure. the cell grands undertake whenever they get into that crisis. the us state department boasts of strong diplomatic ties with the island and, and launch the $2000000000.00 it has given the country. the problem is that is the total amount in a given since the countries independence from britain back in 1948. now for comparison, the u. s. department of defense gets an annual budget. well over $700000000000.00. the u. s. with a new round of grants through usa id. now coming in with about $6000000.00 in

humanitarian assistance, will provide cash assistance, short term jobs, and agriculture supplies such as seeds directly to the crisis, effective people to meet obviously their basic needs. now this new grant funding builds on a $120000000.00 in new loans, through the department, or excuse me, the development finance corporation the df seat. now for geo geopolitical purposes, it would actually be who the us to simply just give sri lanka this lump sum as a grant, not really a loan. it's really not a lot of money for the us. what sort of strings do you think will be attached to this us economic intervention, d, f. c, loans to my knowledge. there's not a lot of experience in general with the c long business, and relatively new instrument that is being used by the united states. but they typically don't come attached with

a lot of strains because they are proposed fully linked to your political interest . so i don't think this particularly will come attached with a lot of strengths. to be honest, i would highlight that the reason why i have not received historically a lot of grams is because really, sorry, is not a low income country, rather than mailed in country that got into the payment crisis in crisis recently. so, you know, it's not common for sure, lank out to not be able to cover it. it's a force of basic needs. this is just a temporary crisis situation, but it's different from say, many subs are in africa. countries that typically receive a lot of grants every year and have done so for, for several decades. and it's in a different sort of situation. and structure is a different kind of country. so data that will justify wise rebecca has not received so many grams in the past. us treasury secretary janet yellen at

a g 20 meeting in bali in july singled out china as quote, dragging its feet when it came to discussions about that restructuring through the iron framework. now, china holds about 44 percent of the country's debt, totaling some $5000000000.00 us dollars. so other estimates put that dollar figure as double that japan is a far distance. second, creditor coming in at about 32 percent. the us holding just one percent of the countries $51000000000.00 total debt. do you foresee china stepping in aid this country? and what would that look like if it did? well, what the secretary yelling was referring to was about china. yeah. driving speed with respect with regards to the restructuring that and i think also in regards to

yoga and chat the so the 3 nations that have requested to be part of the common framework. this was the new setup that was created after the crisis to restructure. ready public that of low income countries in particular. so these framework that's not apply in the exact same way. but it is well known that land, china typically doesn't want to take principles haircuts. and the way that they have in the past restructure that's bilateral debts, with, with their, with their partners is just postponing that maturities. in some cases, i believe there's been some good options in the interest rates. but to the public knowledge, at least there has been no haircuts. and what it is known so far is that it is similar in the case of the ambiance. so we would expect that release in the, in the sense of lengthening maturities, but not so much in the sense of china taken at erica. this is probably going to be

similar in the case of re lanka and hopefully because of the economic situation is being so dire more severe in some ways it was the case in avia than china will probably move. ready forward or hopefully move forward with the restructuring a bit faster than dave in the jason'll, zambia was to quite a long time and he's just been recently being finalized in the bilateral case, not yet on the commercial credits are case, which will happen in the next few months, carlos, this is a avant about asset management. thank you for being with us today. now at the time of this taping, sri lanka has yet to hash out a direct plan on how to shore up its finances or immediately bring down the inflation that's causing so much financial difficulty for the average sri lankan.

and that is going to do it for this weeks episode of modus operandi the show that digs deep into foreign policy. i'm your host manila chan. thank you for tuning in. we'll see you again next week to figure out the m. o. ah oh what else should seem wrong? i just don't. i mean you have to see how does dean become to the attitude and engagement equals the trail. when so many find themselves worlds apart, we choose to look for common ground.

the joggers archipelago coma the jo, san diego garcia, the largest island in the archipelago is now the location of a very large u. s. military base. you get given med, give out to the u. s. government to me immediately base and just deported. all of the juggle send people from their country so they can return back on the island. no, but we are fighting. that's why i'm fight. we'll fighting for the right. so i, we do not consider that the right to self determination actually applies to the trickle. since i don't the question, no self determination, the legal advice we've received is actually the trickle. since we're not and all not a people for me, it's time to move on and see what we can do. a full,

the gender said community to return back home is knowledge support from the united nation high commission, african united, michelle. you don't care about christian people. ah, the headlines right now you're, we're not you international as president putin has landed in minutes for discussions with isabella rushing to counterpart on all sorts of ties and part of their relationship. but also a parenting includes issues related to the import of energy, notably that of gap, at least 2 civilians are killed and several more wounded and ukrainian artillery strikes this on a hospital in the city of don yet. so we speak to a resident surgeon as a result of the show in one military man who came to us with traumatic brain injury was killed in the 2nd military man was also also only numbers show a dismal turn out for parliamentary elections into nicea coming. well over a decade after the arabs.