Sri Lanka, Jan. 15 -- Last week's insurrection at the Capitol in Washington DC was a jarring reminder of what Joe Biden will inherit when he takes over the US presidency on January 20. Trump's legacy, apart from the personal and national shame of his egging on the challenge to the citadel of American democracy on January 6, will be a country not only racked by COVID-19 and economic crisis but one whose polity has been rent asunder, exposing deep wounds that won't easily be healed.

While Democrat victories in the run-off senatorial races in Georgia on the same day delivered Biden's party the slimmest of Congressional majorities and the prospect of some centrist legislative success, truth be his principal and his heavy presidential burden ...