International Doublespeak

"The LTTE whose dubious claims backed by horrifying acts are soon forgotten, are allowed to re-arm, talk and then not talk; kill informants, fellow Tamils who oppose them and Muslims, and recruit and arm child soldiers. While the very boundaries of discussion, threaten the foundations of a small unitary state."

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by Arjuna de Zoysa

(February 03, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Language especially in English is being deliberately misused. That is by the political leadership of the developed world and their faithful followers locally. Media such as the CNN and BBC who have entrenched in their portfolios the vested interest of the Western world, give leadership to this enterprise. I am as such, compiling a dictionary of Double-speak, for laypersons to be guided by;

Some striking examples are given below;

Terrorism: Any form of armed conflict, which does not suite the purposes of a Neo-colonialist world is called terrorist action; while others are termed freedom fights, guerrilla struggles etc. For example: Northern Ireland, the IRA which fights against the last bastion of Colonialism by the British; Give periodic warnings of their attacks, thus, in most cases minimizing civilian casualties, are termed terrorists and they have been asked to disarm as part of a peace process; the boundaries of discussion are designed to contain territory within British colonialist histories. In contrast Palestinians who are simply fighting for a basic human right, that is to exist, are treated as terrorists.

The LTTE whose dubious claims backed by horrifying acts are soon forgotten, are allowed to re-arm, talk and then not talk; kill informants, fellow Tamils who oppose them and Muslims, and recruit and arm child soldiers. While the very boundaries of discussion, threaten the foundations of a small unitary state. This is, despite platitudes, foreign trips etc. to study Federalist alternatives, financed by various benefactors from the Western world, some of whom claimed to have banned their activities? Karen rebels in Burma and Chechens on the other hand are termed freedom fighters; and the book according to the gospel of Saint Blair is thrown at the Burmese & the Russians for ‘mis-deamours’.

Aid: Are loans by ‘international’ bankers at high interest rates. Simple currency depreciation during periods of repayments result in very high interest rates, when computed in local currencies. As example if Sri Lanka borrowed at ‘low interest rate’ of 4%, 100 million US$ over a long period of 30 years, our interest payment alone would be twice the capital in $ terms, in local currency it may be even as high as 10-15 times, dependent on currency devaluation. Further if perchance Sri Lankan discovers oil after ten years of faithful payment, and wishes to pay-off the remainder using new found wealth, they would be told in no uncertain terms that all this time they have been paying mainly interest and the capital is still indebted almost wholly. Meanwhile the USA, has a trade deficit of six trillion dollars, by far the highest in the world, but is indebted to no-one except itself; competition there is, but the playing field is grossly uneven !

This incidentally is how the other half of the world remains hungry. The resulting indebtedness means loss of independence and abject servility. Brown Sahibs, and Sahibinis in the beggar nations who accept these handouts; talk of something called development? Maybe development amounts to fattening their personal finances. There isn’t a single country in the world which has developed in this manner, from communist Cuba to capitalist Singapore.

WMD’s: Or weapons of mass destruction. Are those weapons possessed by any state which is opposed to the Bush-Blair doctrine of destructive ‘d`E9tente’. Thus, North Korea, Iran, Syria fall into this category. The Bush-Blair combine is arming themselves so as to be able to exterminate all life forms on this planet several times over, this is termed legitimate self defence. To North Korea, even one or two potential bombs are termed aggression. Perhaps because they do not look like the B-B’s.

Subsidy: Any investment in the future, or financing of a collective need is termed a ‘Subsidy’ and condemned as a loss making enterprise. Accordingly any parent spending on their children’s education, is subsidizing a loss making venture. Spending on ventures which make a profit but destroy tomorrow’s environs is good. Lurching private buses, belching carbon black, not obeying traffic rules and are rude both inside and outside their potential lead coffins, are deemed efficient, and given special duty waivers. The loss of revenue is not termed a subsidy. The list goes on, and threatens the credulity of hardened JBIZ’s.

Fortunately for India a 17th century Indian emperor had no such World Bank induced delusions when he built the Taj Mahal, four centuries later India earns a handsome profit from this monument, built as an expression of love.