SLT Failure Claims, Election Rejection, and the Offer That Escalated

January 15, 2025

6:00 PM

Do you think ████████████████████████████████████████████████

███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

█████████████████████

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

███████████████████████████

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
9:30 PM

I don't just believe that Sri Lanka Telecom is inefficient.

I believe it is not effective.

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

I believe the organization has failed to meet expectations.

The service is often unreliable, and there have been documented inconsistencies, including issues around refunds.

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

We will seek buyers from abroad with relevant expertise.

Opposition politicians may ask for a chance and promise to manage it properly.

But how many times have you heard that and decided it wasn't true?

Too many.

Once it is owned by private individuals, including organizations such as our SL Family Tree, there is more direct accountability for decisions.

This is an essential step toward getting the work done.

I will not accept further excuses or misleading explanations from the government, which I believe many of you have already seen.

I remember when Thilanga, my mom's brother, was their chairman from 2002 to 2004, he helped with their privatization into a publicly limited corporation in Colombo Stock Exchange. I saw his name in one of SLT's first public financial filings.

He helped set up Rainbow Pages, like I have my very own AngryPages (California, USA), to replace Yellow Pages, which helped save SLT some money.

I hope we can make SL Telecom a successful company again.
Story
9:30 PM (b)

I oppose the Diego Garcia base.

Trump, please consider ████████████████████████

We could offer Sri Lanka to you as a more sensible location, given SL's trade surplus against USA for decades.

Its area is 65,610 sq km.

Or host one or more military bases here.

You could point to the fact US buys $2b, more than 2x what the UK sends us, every year, when negotiating fair deals which include honest people like me.
9:30 PM (c)

I do not accept the outcome of the 2024 election.

I believe ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ to participate in the presidential election.

███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

When they officially refused to let me take part, I felt it violated the country's democratic election rules.

██████████████████████████████████████████

However, we respect the process, even though we regard aspects of it as flawed or irregular and not aligned with our expectations.

We are acquiescing to the outcome for now, although we believe █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

We strongly believe that alternative governance arrangements and reforms are needed because, in our view, the current electoral system has not supported SL's realistic growth.
Story
9:30 PM (d)

Bill & Gloria Gaither - Onward Christian Soldiers/We're Marching to Zion (Medley) (Live)

https://youtu.be/0Vua7LwiAQ0

Verse 1

We walk in step through wind and weather,

Eyes ahead, hearts held together.

Jesus before us, steady and near,

Light in the fog when the road turns unclear.

Verse 2

When fear starts tightening, kindness breaks it,

When hope feels distant, mercy makes it.

Night can’t keep what morning brings—

So raise your voice and let it sing.

Chorus

We’re rising to Israel—holy, holy Israel,

We’re rising to Israel, the city of God.

Jesus, our Savior, keep us, don’t let go—

We cross through Emmanuel’s ground, onward we go.

Verse 3

Crowns and powers shift like seasons,

But Christ remains beyond their reasons.

No door of darkness holds Him in—

He spoke a promise that will win.

Bridge

Come all who love the Lord, come close, come in,

Join the chorus, let joy begin.

Honor and blessing, loud and true—

Jesus the King will carry you.

Chorus

We’re rising to Israel—holy, holy Israel,

We’re rising to Israel, the city of God.

Jesus, our Savior, keep us, don’t let go—

We cross through Emmanuel’s ground, onward we go.

Outro

We rise, we rise—by grace restored,

Israel ahead, with Jesus our Lord.

9:45 PM

I think similarly to the way████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

I also feel that Obama ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

In my view, with Kamala Harris ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

I believe this dynamic ████████████████████████████ Trump.

Larry Page ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████to communicate with Trump, in a way that seems strategic to me.

But if people "just follow orders," I wonder what distinguishes that from the fate of██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

Does Kamala, in your view, ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████?

Bush formed ties with Salman's family, and those relationships have shown loyalty to Trump and the Republican Party, which highlights how alliances shape political behavior.

I question what leads Obama ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

When you are referred to as "Lead Water Hussein" ██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████, that is a serious accusation that deserves careful consideration. I wouldn't readily agree with those easily. I suspect Michael Moore, was Hillary Clinton's ally, who tried to blame Obama for her electoral defeat.

I reject suggestions that people from █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████; such ideas are inaccurate and harmful.

I recognize how narratives blaming leaders like █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

I find those family dynamics ███████████████████████████████████████████████

██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

█████████████████████████████

██████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

If historical circumstances had been different, you might have found yourself in a different place, as I see it.

I perceive Kamala ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

I think she may reflect ████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

I worry you may echo positions you are encouraged to repeat, ████████████████████████████████████████████████.

I strongly disagree with Obama ██████████████████████████████████████████████.

I consider █████████████████████████████████████.

I do not wish to engage further on that point, and I believe there is little you could do to secure support for Kamala from me.

I have a very negative opinion ████████████████████████.

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████

I think poorly of her in political terms, I opine Biden could have done better than her at the elections, despite how he couldn't even string two sentences together at internationalized debates, ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
10:00 PM

Trump, you may choose anyone you wish for SL Ambassador to USA

Whomever you want

I suggest Nath Cooray
10:00 PM (b)

███████████████████

█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

███████████████████████████████████████████
11:45 PM

Alright

Let's stay calm

Things are going alright

Trump will be in the WH within five days

And the efforts to stop him were not successful

I'm thankful to God
12:00 AM

Trump,

I am not sure about Julie Chung. She is South Korean and comes across as very determined and assertive.

She is outspoken and forthright, more so than many previous ambassadors from your great, ultra country.

I think she served under leaders, a vice president, and a secretary of state who were not strong on this issue.

So she was a loyal member of an organization that faced challenges and difficult circumstances.

If she had been part of Google, or working in the US, rather than in an organization that failed like Enron or in a country with fewer resources like SL,

I think she would have been viewed very differently: she might by now be praised for her work.

However, the role is difficult for her.

Whatever you decide, if a replacement is needed I believe Mike Pompeo would be the most suitable choice, and friend; I am skeptical that many other candidates would meet the same standard.

She is a very determined person, yet you need someone who believes in what America can be in Sri Lanka, not merely who she has struggled to realize as a $2 billion sending partner.

I believe a country who sends us $2 billion dollars deserves far more respect than the United States of America is treated or gets from the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

I would welcome the chance to meet her or to support her efforts.

That said, I believe Pompeo is the best person for this particular role.

High-profile figures such as Larry Summers, Sandberg, Chamath, and other American billionaires will be coming here.

She seems more aligned with the diplomatic style common during the Obama era.

She tends to appear █████████████████ and inclined to ███████████████, and common ground, by mostly chasing highest common denominator ideals, which elude US objectives you seem towards aspire between our peoples.

My mind goes to how South Korea has managed its difficult relationship with North Korea.

I am not certain.

It is your team's decision, but I suggest consulting Mike—he has █████████████████████████████████████████████████.

I think those insights may supersede Julie's analysis, particularly around ██████████████████████████████████████ and ███████████████████████ that I find concerning.

I am doubtful she can handle this, because ████████████████████████████████████████████ and I do not believe she has demonstrated ██████████████████████ I think is needed.

Mahinda Samarasinghe, his son Sean, and I have had interactions in the past.

He was saying that if you could be president, anyone could be.

I believe some people here ███████████████████████████████████.

They are unlikely to say that directly to your face.

I also perceive that some individuals hold ██████ that affect their attitudes.

You cannot rely solely on others' opinions; many people will offer views.

But ultimately you must make decisions.

If Mike Pompeo is reluctant, ██████████████████████████████████.

There are other experienced and assertive officials in the US government, and with the right support some could perform effectively.

Tony faced difficulties in that context, and I see similar challenges locally with Julie.

I view this as a sign that █████████████████████████████████.

Pompeo is a different type of leader; he is decisive and assertive rather than passive.

I have been asking for one thing consistently:

I want Pompeo████████████████████████████████████ — I would █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████, and emphasize our strategic positioning ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

I believe I could accomplish more with him in place than with ███████████████████████████████████████████████████.

Julie is not, in my view, █████████████████████ to meet the challenges we face. I'm envious that Lee Kuan Yew got like George Shultz, Helmut Schmidt, and above all, Henry Kissinger. I see Singapore as a US-made story. I see Japan and Taiwan the same. I see China's success was buoyed by US dollars, with their 100s of millions of huddled masses unchained from poverty by state capitalist CCP's profitable exports to the US market.

We are dealing with ████████████████ and ████████████████, and I am concerned she may not be prepared to respond as forcefully as circumstances might require.

Mike is a self-starter with a direct, decisive style that I think would be effective here for all of us.

Did I mention my expectation of ████████████████████████?

Also, in my experience I have not seen Pompeo fail in his prior assignments.
12:00 AM (b)

RECAP:

Previously, on Lehan's diary:

"Trump, I'd pick Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State, or Vice President. Go with Pompeo.

Or Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Why? I think she'd be a good choice."

***

Today, and recently:

"Trump, if you don't have a role for Pompeo, why can't I have him as US ambassador to Sri Lanka?"

You know, I was just as devastated as any, when 4/21 happened, but when I saw Michael Pompeo here

I saw him in the same light as archangel Michael, representing God, when he bravely showed up in an apparent IRGC neighborhood hotbed, representing you, Donald Trump

You could have sent over VP Mike Pence, but between you and me, I always saw Pompeo as just "cooler"

And I just smiled, when the guy was like, talking about how the US can be a partner, and a friend to Sri Lanka

Didn't seem rehearsed to me, the guy's written a cool book, Never Give an Inch, Fighting for the America I Love

I feel like, the holy ghost wrote his words

The holy spirit, writes in mysteriously settling ways
12:00 AM (c)

HUMOR:

You could be advisor to GameFreak

And respond with concern

That's understandable

Some have described Pokemon GO as a national security concern

Some advised that US government officials avoid using Pokemon GO

███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

That raised concerns

My biggest concerns were how they made it difficult to catch certain Pokemon like the evasive Latios and Latias

***

Let's be candid

Just come here

This is a much better opportunity

My crystal ball says

███████████████████████████████████████████████

████████████████████████████████████████████████

What are you doing there?

We have sushi, too

███████████████████████████████████████

██████████████████████████████████████████

You can maintain your current weight.

And not rely on Ozempic

Yes, it's true

I did mention to Kumar that offering discounts might help Ministry of Crab

And a 100% discount for Mahela

Please don't be offended by my frank proposals

Think of it as cooperative deal-making

***

You can have all the sushi or sashimi you like

Okay?

If you speak to Maruha Nichiro Corporation and Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd., ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ which might be a better option than US Steel.

Think about the opportunity

What is more fun?

Are people from Japan really more fun than me?

This is the right place for you to make something cool happen
Story
12:30 AM

Thursday, January 16th.

12:30 a.m.

It may feel to certain MAGA figures like as though██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

████████████████████████████████████████████████

███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
12:30 AM (b)

Satire:

Trump, during debates with Obama

Critically:

"Wow, I am speechless about how you represent ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████. ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████."
4:00 AM

█████████████████████████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ In my view, this situation stems in large part from weak or absent leadership. Too many people here have acted dishonestly or failed to uphold standards of integrity, and as a result many are left in difficult circumstances. I believe that without strong, accountable leadership the country will struggle to recover. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
Inspired by real events, edited for story.