China's BRI: An Alternative for International Cooperation & Peace?

Hello everybody and welcome to Geopolitical Trends. So excited to be with you. I have a, an interesting discussion I'm going to go through today regarding the recent summit of the BRI, the Belt and Road Initiative, uh, because they're celebrating the 10th, uh, uh, anniversary. So, but that's not what I'm going to be talking about. I'm going to be talking about the fundamental question Is the BRI an alternative to peace given what's going on, the chaos around the world? This is what I'm going to be addressing in this live stream. I also going to be addressing two topics pertaining or, or have something to do with the BRI. But so this is what I'm going to be addressing today. So I welcome all of you from whatever part of the world you are joining me from. Oh, Taiwan, uh Let me see here. Taiwan Steel, you say nice guest Dr. O this morning. Yeah, about the guest I had yesterday, uh, you know, uh, Handai, it was an incredible conversation. So I intend to bring him back again. So we'll, uh, we'll be doing this. Just FYI, guys, if you can prepare some 2 or 3 questions, I'm gonna take 2 or 3 questions towards the end. So I will do this. But before I'll do anything, like I always do, this is my way of showing respect for all of you, you know. To me, like, like the conversation yesterday, uh, respect, uh, uh, it's not given or taken. Respect is earned. So I have to earn your respect. So that's one way of the way I do it, is by expressing my thanks and sincere, uh, appreciation for your support. So this is why I do this. I know some gets a little bit frustrated because I take few minutes. But come on, man, that's the common, uh, the sort of the common sense, but also the right thing to do. So, so I thank you so much all for your support. And please, if this is your first time on this channel, make sure to hit that subscribe button and hit the bell so you'll get a notification anytime I come on the air, uh, doing a show. 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Because if I am not to do the research and, uh, what's necessary for me to ensure that the information I'm sharing with you is as accurate and, and, uh, and, uh, up to date, basically. So the, uh, I also want to highlight to you one more time, for those who might be interested in, uh, uh, reading my, uh, Saudi book, uh, I'm giving a copy for free. If you can just sign up for it right here, I'm gonna show it to you, and I put a link for you guys. Just sign up for this, and, and Mike, my word, I will not, uh, give your email or whatever you're gonna sign up from to— this stays with me here. And this is just for this, strictly for this. So if you feel like, uh, wanting to have a copy of my Saudi book, uh, here is an opportunity for for you to sign up for this and you can upload it. All right, let's, uh, uh, like I said, I hope you guys enjoyed yesterday, uh, my guest, which by the way I am gonna invite him back up again on the channel, both channels here and the other one. So it was a very interesting conversation, you know, somebody I, I admire, I respect, because truth matters, you know. I'm sure we— I already saw some comments and— but who cares? You know, if people cannot stomach the truth, that's their problem. It's not mine, it's not the guest, it's not— and for some who will say, what, the guest is a liar, it's like, hold on a second, what makes you think and jump into that conclusion because you didn't like what he was stating? And all he was stating was the facts. Those are pragmatic analysis. It was the truth and it was the reality on the ground. You know, let alone that, it is my own opinion here that I think this is his deep love for his native country. He doesn't want to see it what it is. That is the whole reason why we were talking about India, and we didn't even delve deeper into this. I intend to do this in the second part when I invite him. And yes, some of you have asked me to invite Dr. Kishore. I will reach out to him and extend an invitation, and we just go from there. So, all right guys, let's talk about our topic today because, uh, and again, I'm gonna start with 3 very, very, uh, interesting questions. You might— some of them might consider them like provocative, whatever. It is nothing but to just stimulate our thinking. The first question is, is the BRI, the Belt and Road Initiative, is the BRI road to nowhere, as the West claimed. Because I read some literature, not all of it of course in the West, but this is from the main establishments in England, in Germany, in the US, France, and Canada to a degree. Most of them— Australia— most of them converge in one particular theme, and that particular theme is that the BRI is a road to nowhere. So that's why I'm gonna put that question: is it or is it not? Well, based on what I'm gonna share with you, you guys reach your own conclusion. Second question: can BRI— you know, you all know the chaos that's going around the world, right? Can BRI be an alternative to peace? All the chaos we have, could BRI pave the way for some global, global peace and stability? And cooperation and prosperity. And all those are questions, you know. And, and third thing we need to consider, not in a form of question, but rather an optics, the optics of it. What do I mean by this? If you only realize the time frame as to when the BRI Summit, the 10th anniversary in China, was held during the same time the, the Middle East is burned by the Arab-Israeli conflict. So what a, what a opposite ends of two ends of the spectrum. One of them advocating for conflicts and, and, and wars and, and, and, and, uh, uh, human suffering. The other one is pushing for cooperation, for prosperity and economic, uh, upgrading. This is what I found very, very interesting within this, uh, uh, Global Optics to place this, which by the way, nothing was mentioned much about. There are some articles here and there about the, the, the, the BRICS summits, rather. Nothing was like in, in detail. No, no. This is why I had to do my own research for this, and I got a copy of the speech of President Xi, and I'm gonna detail few on it. I'm gonna put the link for the entire speech and, and, and we just go from there. Uh, let me see. By the way, just make sure to let me know where you are joining me from. I know some of you already, but if you will be kind, then just type that on the chat box. I will greatly appreciate it. I always like to know, uh, the international viewers where they are, uh, joining me from here. So, well, here's the thing. It was an article by, uh, Manny, uh, that, that sort of addressed what this BRI is all about. And, and I found it very interesting, uh, and I wanted to share this with you, and I'll put the link for you, of course. And this is why it was important for China to mark the 10th anniversary this year, 2023, because remember, President Xi launched the initiative in 2013. At that time, I was asking the question, okay, what is this BRI going to be all about, you know? What is this? At that time I was still in Washington. The conversation was about, okay, what is China's aim here? And so forth. So, well, the flagship for the BRI started in 2013. So this is why it was the 10th anniversary for this one. And of course, the billions of dollars involved in, in to fund like the, this, the constructions of roads, ports, other critical information, infrastructure rather, around the world. So it is important for us to really pause and think and even reflect. And this is according to Min Yi, because I couldn't agree more with, with the, with the assessment of her assessments of this, about the significance of the where the BRI was in 2013, where it is today. And by the way, they are now moving to the second phase This is what, what this— what was the speech of President Xi was about. It's not about gloating about BRI. No, no, China doesn't do that. It's not part of their culture. It's not part of the, you know, you know, they don't brag. China tends to do things quietly. That's just a reflection of how the culture is, you know. I remember when I used to travel to Paris and I'll see some Chinese, uh, tourists in, in Champs-Élysées You know, they go into Cartier where you wouldn't even guess that they are so wealthy because they just like to keep a low profile. For us in the West, we flaunt our wealth, we flaunt, oh, I am rich, and all that stuff. Chinese tends to do it differently. So, so it becomes the idea of this, uh, summit or 10th anniversary, the significance of it, because it reflects, uh, of China's financial and economic aspects. That's the way I see it, that's the way I read it. Also, uh, it's exactly what, uh, uh, uh, Man Yi did in her article. So, but one thing that has to come forward, because we have to ask that question, is the effectiveness of this initiative. Because now you reach the 10th anniversary, that's a decade, of course you're going to have to evaluate where things are. It will be unpragmatic to assume that no assessment will need to be done, no evaluation will need to be done about this. And I think this is why the message that President Xi was conveying is that now we are moving to the second phase of it, which means what? And again, this is my opinion, that whatever has been achieved at the beginning of the first decade of the initiative has been working. Otherwise, why would you move to the second phase of it? So this is what I found very interesting. But here's the thing, before I'll get into the— I'm not going to talk about all the 8 points that President Xi mentioned in his keynote speech. I, I'm gonna pick 2 or 3 just to expand on those But I'm going to tie all this to two other key points that I need you to understand. I'm going to address one of them is that India was not invited. That's one. But before we say this, could we also say that India rejected the invitation? And I found articles that suggest both directions. Second thing, it has to do with none other than Thailand. Yeah, the Thailand PM pitched— listen carefully, guys— pitched a $27.4 billion land bridge across the narrow, uh, Isthmus of Kra. Yeah, this is in southern Thailand, which means what? This is gonna bypass— in my opinion, you know, knowing the geography of that part of the world— it's gonna bypass the Malacca Strait. And if I am to think, okay, if China— which, by the way, this is going to be part of the BRI— but I am to think, if China is thinking strategically, they better not count on Malacca Strait being the only channel by which all goods comes to China through that. Because if there is, uh, if that point is choked, the economy of China will suffer, energy will suffer, because China depends a lot on energy. So, okay, and I'm gonna talk about this briefly here. The third one, which by the way, this has happened a few years ago, but now it's coming to the forefront, and I will tell you why. And this one has to do with China approving Iran to use the Beidou satellite system. We don't hear much about it here in the West, but I mark my word on it that there are concerns in Washington about now China is sharing this technology with China— with Iran for it to be used, uh, to use the Beidou satellite system. You all know the GPS controlled by the US. China went ahead and built its own, which to me it's a game changer in the Middle East altogether. This is why we never took it upon us to go and attack Iran. And I intend to address this one as well. So, so let's talk about, uh, let's talk about the, uh, presidency, the keynote speech, which by the way, there were a lot, a lot of attendees there. Of course, some Western media said, well, this was not a good attended in comparison to 2019. Well, yeah, that's different time, but that doesn't mean you're gonna have to minimize the impact of something like this when you consider what has been achieved thus far in other countries. And I have pictures, guys, I'm gonna share with you. What I do find very interesting, uh, uh, uh, Where is it? This is an image— pardon me, by the way— of some of the attendees. You look at President Putin here, uh, this is the, uh, the one behind him is, uh, uh, Orbán. Uh, I couldn't tell, I think two from Africa, one from Eastern Europe, Brazil— not Brazil, the Argentina, and so forth. So, uh, what I found very interesting was the statement by the US ambassador Burns. Why is this important? Because right after the speech of President Xi, Burns came forward, which he's an ambassador, he's entitled to provide a comment, whatever. But with the keyword that he focused on was that the debt trap. I find it very hilarious that they are focusing— they meaning the, uh, uh, the embassy or Burns himself because he had to have the talking points. That's where the focus on, rather than let's talk about what has been achieved. None of that came forward. And within that frame, at the same time— here is what's interesting, guys— at the same time, Egypt went ahead and signed a memorandum of understanding with China to use about 400 billion yuan in some bonds that will be managed in yuan, not in US dollar. And I'm going to look into this in more detail, uh, before I'll do a live stream on it or a video on it. Again, the timing of it, it's not a coincidence, the timing of it. When you consider what, for example, China has built for Algeria— and I'm going to show you, uh, some pictures as I move forward here— so So let's talk about, uh, those key points that President Xi talked about. So, and President Xi mentioned about 8, 8 major points. Uh, those are— the purpose of those is to support the quality, the, uh, developments of the BRI, you know. And even with that, I remember, and I'm going to share this with you, this is a book by a friend of mine Uh, Daquan Fang, you know, he autographed it for me. If you can see the— notice the autograph. This is an interesting book about the, the whole notion of the BRI. He spent quite a time composing this together. Very, very interesting book if you ever get a chance to read it, and I'll put the link for you guys. You can take a look at that. So, and he named it the China Millennium Transformation, the Belt and Road Initiative. It's, it's very interesting to understand this dynamic. So, so let me share the first, uh, uh, key point. What China— what President Xi mentioned, he said that China will build a multi-dimensional Belt and Road connectivity network. What did he mean by this? Well, basically what President Xi was referring to is that China, through the BRI, will speed up the high-quality developments of the China-Europe Railway Express. Now you see why the G20 had to talk about the corridor from India to Europe. India is in no position to do it. You all heard the conversation I had yesterday with my guest Jasan. You know, he was spot on, pragmatic, realistic. You know, India is aspiring to become is India is not what it is. Two separate things. That's like me saying, I, oh, I wish to be a billionaire. Well, that's a wish. Reality suggests otherwise. And this is exactly what, uh, uh, President Xi was referring to. So this China-Europe Railway Express, this also will go through the participation of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor. Then you look at the China-Europe Railway Express Cooperation Forum. All those three, this is how that project, the high development, is going to go through. President Xi also noted that together— they didn't say China— together with other parties, we built new logistic corridors across the Euro-Asian continent linked by direct railway and road transportation. Why is this important for you to understand from a geopolitical, not an economic— let's think about geopolitical first. This is why I said Euro-Asia region is so crucial, very. And the stability in that part of the world, it's gonna pave the way for the, the prosperity economically because it will reflect economically into— this is part of it. Why? For us, sort of the West trying to foment more tensions in Europe. You all heard about the, uh, the, the, uh, Azerbaijan and, uh, uh, what's the other name? I draw a blank on it. Armenia. Yeah, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Sometimes those, those clashes just erupt out of the blue. Yeah, they've been fomented because you want to create instability. Because if there is stability, that means there is progress economically, the country is good further. This is, in my opinion, what's hindering India from moving forward. It will never move, move forward until it resolved its domestic ethnic tensions, instability, whatever term you want to use. That's an example of it. So, uh, I looked at the second, uh, uh, uh, uh, aspects, but I put an asterisk on it for my own, as to remind myself how important that is. And this one, just listen carefully, guys. Uh, according to President Xi's speech, he says, and the headline of it is, China will support an open world economy. Because it's, it's, it's so— if you think about the massive The world is, is, is changing. We all know geopolitically, economically is also changing. How so, you may ask? You know, I've been arguing for the last 7 or 8 years. Yeah, 8 years I've been arguing the wealth is shifting. I keep repeating this in most of my writing at that time. That was my way of saying you people in the West need to pay attention. The, the wealth is shifting from the West to the East. I mean, has been shifting, now it's already shifted. This is why you see in Saudi Arabia, for example, pivoting, you know, they, they turning their back on the US. We still have ties with the Saudis and so forth, but Saudis are having different calculations. You look at Qatar, for example, went ahead and signed a 25-year deal with China regarding liquefied natural gas. And by the way, Qatar did also now one with France for 27 years. Tells you what? It tells you that France doesn't care about the European Union. They cares about their own interest. And they seeing where— because Qatar refused to provide the whole EU with the liquefied natural gas. They said, well, sorry, you kind of made your own decisions as far as sanctions for Russia. Now you're going to have to deal with the consequences. Second, we— Qatar in this case— gave our word to China. That's where the contract is, 25 years. So, so why is this important, uh, this point of China will support an open world economy? It's because when you consider the total trade in goods and services expected to exceed $32 trillion and about $5 trillion respectively in 2024. We're talking about next year— between— I'm sorry, between 2024 and 2028. Well, just 4 years from now. So, so what President Xi mentioned was that China will establish pilot zones for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation and enter into free trade agreements and investment protection treaties with more countries. Why is this important, you may ask? You all know about TTP, the Transatlantic, uh, uh, agreement that we backed during President, uh, uh, uh, Trump. What a hidden created this trade tensions with, with China. Yeah, the argument was, well, they are ripping us. Well, wait a minute, wait a minute, you know, nobody's ripping anybody unless you allow it. You know, what do we manufacture here? Let's just put it on the table. Let's talk straightforward. What do we produce besides weapons? What do we produce here? You know, the, the phone, the glass, the— this mic here, everything is produced 50% of it, like my guest yesterday, Jasan, said, is produced in China. So why are we saying what they're ripping? No, come on, what is the truth into this? We can't produce anything. We are not a producing nation, we are a consuming nation. Straightforward. And this is why China had to think in terms of free trade agreements and investment protection treaties with more countries. He added, presidency, that is, that China will remove all restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector, and China will hold the Global Digital Trade Expo annually. I don't know what the objective of this, the Global Digital Trade Expo. I, I don't know. I, I can't speculate on something I don't know completely, and I just don't see— I don't know, really, I couldn't understand or figure out exactly why did President Xi has to say this one, unless there is something objective for it. So number 3, I find it also very interesting, and I put an asterisk on it: China will carry out practical cooperation for the BRI. What did President Xi meant by practical? So, and in this, President Xi explained that China vowed more financing support for the BRI projects on the basis of market and business operation. This is where the US ambassador already jumped on the debt trap argument narrative, because remember, when you keep repeating things that— like what we heard about the, the human rights abuses in Xinjiang when it was none of that We all know the truth, you know, none of it. The media tends to keep repeating things here because average Joe, average Jane here in, in the collective West, for that matter, they just don't take step back and think critically about what are they hearing. Their governments can feed them whatever. We have the same here. And this one's going to be done, uh, that China development— there are two financial institutions in China that's going to involved in this. China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. Now I know about the China Development Bank because when I did the research about my REM book, I had to mention this at that time when China invited countries, and I think they had about a capital of $100 billion. China put up the, the highest, highest percentage of it. Now, does that mean that China has the final say? I do not know. And if it is, that would be problematic. But on the other hand, it shouldn't be problematic because if, if you are coming to an investment with much percentage, you should have a say. We do the same for NATO budget. For NATO, the North Treaty, uh, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, its budget, we put up 70% of it. So we have a say into what's going on. That could be the case here. So both of them, and this each one of them, meaning the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, each of them will put up about 350 billion yuan, the equivalency of $48.75 billion US financing window. And that in addition to an, an $80 billion yuan will be injected into the Silk Road funds. So I can see why the US ambassador was saying, well, that's a, that's a debt trap. Well, hold on a second, let's break it down so we can understand instead of just saying statements like this just in the air. If China's gonna loan money to other countries, which most likely will be the case, and it has to be paid back, China's not gonna just take that out of pocket and give it because It just doesn't make sense, business sense. You know what China is doing differently than the IMF and World Bank is that the interest will be very low in comparison to IMF and World Bank. As a matter of fact, the IMF and World Bank have increased now the loans by about $125 billion. That's how much more they're going to add more money. The latest being the summit that took place in Marrakesh City in Morocco. I was following, uh, with that case, and, and I was like, I hope Morocco doesn't sign the paper. And, and Morocco end up getting a loan from the IMF for about $1.2, I think, or $2 billion. It's not much, but it's still very concerning because if the interest on it is so high, if the dollar raised the interest rate, if the US raised interest rate all the countries that have the, the loans from the IMF is going to jack up. This is what keeps certain countries in Africa, what it was before in Latin America. That's why Argentina still in massive debt, because the IMF loan they got back in the '80s, they couldn't pay it off because the interest is compounded. The other thing is that President Xi talked about, and there are a few, and I'm gonna post all this for you. Another one that I found very interesting has to do with technology. Uh, President Xi mentioned that China will continue to advance scientific and technological innovation. Very interesting. Why is this? You all see where the, the world is moving towards— the application of AI. Everything is scientific. The, you know, the, the, the upcoming new generation, the young generation, uh, they're not going to survive without a phone. They're not going to, you know It's a different world. So, but China's thinking about it in terms of the innovation aspects of it, because technology play a major role one way or another. Look at just the problem we have here for us. We don't produce enough STEM students— science, uh, technology, math, and engineering. We don't have much. We don't produce in comparison to China. So what President Xi said is that China in this case will also increase the number of joint Laboratories built with other— not— he didn't say with other countries, it's built with other Belt and Road parties. In other words, countries who are involved in a BRI, you know. Uh, and he, uh, China intends about to increase this by about 100, uh, uh, lab in the next 5 years. And what's the purpose for it? Is to support young scientists from other countries to work on short-term programs, uh, uh, in China. He also said that China will put forward the global initiative for artificial intelligence because he can't ignore this. It's, it's part of the conversation and he will have to take a part of it. Uh, also China talked about— or Xi, that is— talked about the support for people-to-people exchange and the promotion of integrity, Belt and Road Initiative. Integrity means, I think, they're gonna— what he meant, and I could be wrong on this, that they're gonna have to ensure that there is an evaluation system by which to assess the progress of any initiative and also to check on corruption. Yeah, let's not, uh, uh, I am sure in, in China's culture, I think that Some have been arrested, uh, some officials that have been involved in some corruptions have been dealt with swiftly. I wish we had that here in the US. We don't. This is one, one of the problems we have in our system that is not allowing for accountability. To me, you get involved in corruption and you need to be investigated the next day, and if it found that you were guilty, you were sent to prison. End of story. There is no ifs and buts. The assets will be seized, or seized, that is what's been stolen, not everything, what's been stolen. And you'll be put in jail for a long, long time. That's the way I will do it. I'm not being heartless, I'm being realistic, you know, punishments for a crime, simple as that. Our law is we have set of laws for one category of society, we have another set of laws for others. That, that's the way it is. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is. So, so now let me get involved— not involved, rather, but share with you some images. This is just one sign inside China for the, the summit itself, the 10th anniversary of the BRI. Uh, of course, as you may know, President Putin was the a guest of honor, uh, for— because he's— he has a close friendship with, uh, with President Xi, and, uh, welcomed him with red carpet treatments. That usually says a lot in, in, in a diplomatic protocol. That's usually how, how it works. So now let me share some, uh, some images. I forgot to put a note on this. This is a, a highway that's been constructed through this BRI, the Belt and Road Initiative. Uh, I forgot where it was, and I know it's in Asia somewhere, but the other ones I have images of them. So first of all, here is a map for you to see, uh, where, uh, and I'm going to bring the conversation about India, why India was not invited or why India rejected. Depends how you look at it, but China doesn't care, and India won't matter anyway. Doesn't matter whether it's there or not. So, so here's what's interesting, and you all remember when I mentioned about the, the, uh, Euroasia. Why is this important? It's very, very important. So you need to understand, uh, where the maritime one and where the overland, uh, uh, uh, when you look at, uh, Iran, you look at Turkey, when you look at Russia, of course Kazakhstan. All is this very, very important to see how it's important. Another map that I found indicates clearly, uh, and why is this important? It is important because I wanted to highlight to you, uh, uh, to put in perspective the conversation I had with you about the Maldives. That's why I said it matters geopolitically and economically. You look up where India is, you look at where Sri Lanka is, and the Maldives is closer by. And this is why it's very important to understand the access to the Indian Ocean. That will be very, very crucial, especially for China, and let alone not just China, for the world, uh, trade or the world global, uh, uh, uh, transits of goods. You're looking at about 1/4 of the world goods transit through the Indian Ocean. Is why I figure I wanted to highlight this one to you. Of course, up north, you look at Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iran, and Turkey. Uh, that's, that's, that's the Silk Road Economic Belt. That's why it's very, very important. And all this has to be put in perspective. And why? It's because you look at so far certain countries. I take, for example, the European freight that's been built through this BRI. Here is one. This is why Europe— excuse me— this is why this corridor that India was pushing through the G20, it's useless. It's not gonna work. Yeah, it will take a decade before it will even take off. And how will you take off when India can't even afford? You hear that narrative about what India is the fifth largest, uh, global economy, but, but does it— what does it show for? You know, this is why I don't understand this, uh, India's rivalry instead of with China. How can you get into rivalry when you can't compete economically? One. And second, why won't you use your logic? This is Indian government, not Indian people, Indian government Why won't they use the logic to think in terms, well, maybe we should have our neighbor China, it's large economy, we could ride with them on that, benefit from it, and enter into cooperation instead of being used by the West. That, that's what I don't get it. I don't understand how they think, which will benefit Indian citizens, prosper the country economically, get rid of the slums, get rid of the ethnic tensions, the killing of the minorities and so forth. And live in peace, you know. So when India says, well, we are the spokesperson for the Global South, that's nothing but hype. India cannot afford to be the spokesperson. India cannot even be the spokesperson for Southeast Asia to begin with. So, so here is an example of the BRI projects. This is a high-speed train that was in Laos. Yes. Whoever thought this is in Laos? I found another one here. There's this one here that's in Laos that was built through the Build, uh, the BRI, through the BRI. Now you look at, as I mentioned earlier, Europe, and if you think about this one here, okay, And you put back the map that I showed, showed you earlier, and you look at where Rotterdam for, uh, for Holland, you look at Italy, you look at Greece, you look at Russia, you look at Germany, Turkey. You know, this is why I think we've been seeing— we in the United States, in Washington, we've been watching that Europe is kind of moving east and we had to figure out a way to create some tension to hold them back. Now we are at full speed as far as deindustrializing Europe, mainly Germany, because if you deindustrialize Germany, you deindustrialize the entire Europe, because what is the strongest economy in Europe? It's Germany. So, and this is why I found it very ironic that the German Chancellor, who is like, to me, it's clueless. He can't be in— when you don't have common sense, politically speaking, yeah, you can give, uh, this enormous speeches and all, it won't matter if you couldn't translate that into reality, the geopolitical nuances that exist into reality. If you couldn't, if you couldn't translate the changes that's taking place on the global stage into how you move your country to go in parallel with those changes taking place, then you are useless politically speaking, and let alone being a weak leader, which means you are just under the thumb of others. This is why I don't understand. That's why I put the post for you guys on the community about him laughing at the statements by, uh, President Putin about the human suffering in Gaza. I didn't understand the logic for him to be laughing at something like this. Yeah, you might disagree with whomever, but it's not something you laugh at. That just shows how inhumane you can be. You know, that's like the saying goes, I'd rather be uneducated but humane than vice versa. Of course, it's nice if you can be educated and humane at the same time. But those politicians, you know, I feel sad for the Germans. They are longing for the years of Angela Merkel. He was great leader for them. So let's go back to this, uh, BRI quickly before I'll jump into the two other, uh, topics there. Uh, so the idea of this BRI expansion, this is why I'm saying this anniversary was nothing but, hey guys, We've done with phase 1, now we are moving into phase 2. That is the importance of it. So, and you look at the progress that been done so far in some parts of the world. For example, I found some images in Africa, because you all know China's Africa ties economically. You know, China of course wanted to secure access to resources. China's not doing it for free. Let's put that on the table. And anybody in the right mind will know this reality. If you think otherwise, then you are mistaken. But at the same time, it's done in conjunction with a cooperation level. In other words, win-win. You know, China is not imposing its will on Africans, and Africans is not sort of accepting the terms that they don't agree. As a matter of fact, Recently, China is renegotiating the terms with some African countries because of the debt. And China said, sure, we'll be willing to renegotiate the terms. Of course, the African countries will have to repay at some point down the road, but that was the agreement from the get-go. If you are not interested, then don't get involved. And I give you a quick example. In Morocco, the city of Tangier up north Uh, I think China was about to build some infrastructure of sort, but they wanted to make sure that the percentages are clear on everything because they have to have part of whatever. They're going to invest their money, their manpower, they're going to create jobs, of course, their, their know-how and so forth. So they have to be compensated for because that's an investment. Then the monarchy in Morocco said, no way, I'm not interested in this, because they didn't want to either give up the percentages to the Chinese in case Morocco doesn't hold its end of the bargain. And China said, no harm is done, you don't want to move forward, no harm is done. So the city is where the way it is instead of improving the infrastructure of the city. But that's the decision anyway. So, so I found an example in country that you will think, oh, it's so poor, why will even be anybody interested? Well, guess what? Part of that, uh, build, uh, BRI took an interest in it. What are you looking at? You're looking at, at a thermal power plant in Zimbabwe that is built by China. So what's the benefit of this? This is for nuclear weapon? No, generating electricity, let alone the thermal powers. That's going to help because most African countries This is why Russia now is going to build the nuclear power plants for Burkina Faso. It's not France that's going to build that, even though France has good technolo— has good knowledge of power plant, uh, power plants. Uh, there are a lot of power plants in, in nuclear power plants in France. France has good knowledge of that, but did they ever think of building one for Burkina Faso so they can generate electricity? No, what France was doing is taking uranium out of cheap, about 89 cents a pound from what I, uh, find out. So, so this is an example in Burkina— in, I'm sorry, in Zimbabwe. I have also another image that China built in Algeria. This is why Egypt went ahead and issued bond in the Chinese yuan and not the US dollar. So that's a, that's a major highway, you know. The other one that I, I remember, I didn't see it when I was in Djibouti. This is in Djibouti. It wasn't there when I was there in 2006, I think, or '07, somewhere around that time. This is later on. This is what China built, and China has a presence at that port. So two other countries, Japan and the United States But the presence of China there, it's not a naval military, but rather for economic aspects. That's in Djibouti. And the last one I'm going to share with you is from Kenya. Oh, I'm sorry, it's from Kenya, Nairobi. This train and the whole railroad and so forth was built by, by, uh, uh, China as part of the projects, the BRI. It says right there, Nairobi Terminus. Terminus is terminal. That's a French word for terminal. So that's in Nairobi, Kenya. So my point in all this is to highlight to you the importance of this. And this is why we— I had to decide yesterday, you guys need to understand what does the, the, the speech by President Xi meant for you to understand. Are we looking at a BRI now as the another alternative? To conflicts and so forth, so you can establish peace, you know. Of course, you reach your conclusion for that. Oh, I got the wrong screen here. All right, let's maybe get to two other key points. And the two other key points had to do one with India. Was India invited? No. But on the other hand, uh, India rejected. I don't know whether he was invited or not. That's why I can't confirm this, that I saw both I saw that India was not invited, but I also saw or found out that India rejected. Well, if you reject an invitation, that means you were invited. So that begs the logical question: who's in her right mind will turn down an invitation like this that can benefit your country? Only Narendra Modi who will do that, and he did. So turned it down. So India rejected China's invitation. That's what I found, to attend the Belt and Road Initiative meeting, which was scheduled to take place, as you remember, uh, it took place a few days ago. So, so here is what's interesting. This is the second time India has turned down an official invite from China to attend BRI Forum. So the first time, by the way, was in 2017. Based on the research that I found, which to me it's mind-boggling. It's really mind-boggling how stupid is of the Indian government thinking that to miss an opportunity, economic one, that is not for the government, it's for the people. I, I talk about India because I truly like India, you know. It just saddens me to say, to see that over the years, decades, nothing has improved. You still seeing the massive slums, you still seeing the massive poverty. You know, you telling me, is this how incompetent the government is? Well, apparently it is. You know, things weren't this bad when Vajpayee was, was in charge, when Mama Hans Singh, even though Mama Hans Singh had some issues as well, But at least you didn't have this massive tensions and, and, and against minorities and ethnic groups and so forth. Why would you want to go and target the Christians or the Muslims or whatever other ethnicity or religious, uh, uh, group? Why, why we still seeing what's going on in Manipur and yet Modi is Prime Minister? Modi is staying silent. You know, this is why I, I really respected the guest yesterday, John Satt. He was spot on. You know, there are those who say, well, he's talking negative. No, no, that's his deep love for his country. You know, sometimes when you criticize, not because you want to be nasty, whatever, it's because you care so much. I criticize my own government here because I am concerned where my country is headed. You know, I don't want my offspring to be dealing with some nonsense problems that they didn't create. I don't want them to be struggling with debts that they didn't contribute to. It's not their fault. So I have to criticize my government because that's the right thing for a citizen to do. You know, if I am to only say and clap on my governments and all the time— no, I'll clap when the clapping is deserved. But I will criticize when it matters. This is why I don't understand about India. So India now is being used by the West. I mean, how could they not see that? But it's their country, they can decide whatever they can. It's their decision, you know. Who am I to, to, to disagree with them on that? Whatever, that's their, their country. The second thing has to do with, uh, Thailand. You may ask, well, why Thailand? Like I mentioned earlier, check this out, guys. And I have— this one has to do with the PM, uh, uh, uh, when he pitched the $27 billion land bridge. If you just look at the direction of it to bypass the Malacca Strait, and I think— I am convinced And this is my, my opinion. I am convinced that China's thinking strategically 5, 10 years from today, which means what? Within this time frame, China is expecting some major conflict vis-à-vis Taiwan with the United States and the other, other countries— Japan, South Korea, Philippines to a degree, Australia, and maybe, maybe New Zealand. This is what I'm seeing. So, and that's just going to change the calculus for every country in that part, you know. Look at bypassing India altogether. So, and this is why I couldn't quite understand how come India doesn't see that. Malaysia and Indonesia seems to understand this, seems to maintain that neutrality, of course, but because they are seeing the economic aspects of it. India doesn't, you know. Singapore, or to a degree— I do remember yesterday when my guest mentioned about the presence of military, I think he meant because we do have fueling station there. It won't be technically— it won't be the equivalency of a military base, but our 7th Fleet, usually that's where they refuel. That's an agreement with the Singaporean government. But it's not the, like, the way you and I understand the presence of a military base, like in Philippines, like in South Korea, like in Japan. So, so this one is very interesting that I found, uh, the, uh, Thailand decided to move forward on this. And the third one I want to talk to you about has to do with Iran. This one is completely on a different trajectory altogether, but the impact of it will have major ramifications. Let me share a satellite— uh, satellite— I'll share an image with you of a satellite. This is a Chinese Beidou GPS, uh, not GPS, what they call them, uh, yeah, Beidou satellite system. I'm sorry. So So what's in— what's interesting about this, and this conversation was, by the way, a few years ago, but now it's coming to the fore. Why is coming to the fore? Because of what the statements of the foreign minister of Iran said about Israel. And what did— because most of the Israel movements is done through our own satellites. Israel doesn't have any satellites up there. We are the one giving intelligence and imagery and all the stuff to Israel. So, and why is this important? Because the foreign minister of Iran, and he said, Israel, you do have a peace— you do have a window for peace if you want to take it, but also if you cross into Gaza, we will come in. And when you say something like this confidently, because that's what I saw in the statements of the foreign minister, wasn't about wavering wasn't about chest thumping, and I'm gonna say this or say that. No, no, no, no, no, no. It was calm, it was confident, and it was certain. Because China is sharing the technology with Iran regarding this aspect, because the GPS system— remember, we the one we're controlling that back then. Everything has to navigate through the GPS. Well, this is where the concern for the US is, because If you are able to develop technology that can rival that GPS, which means you can shut down the satellites, and if you shut down the satellites, you make everything on the ground that is guidedly through— guided through satellites blind. It'll become blind. So mind you that China developed a laser technology. I was aware of it few years ago. And I am certain that technology wasn't for just testing the waters. It was specifically— China wants to ensure that it has that capability of shutting down, uh, or zapping a satellite, which will make everything, uh, including our missiles, our stuff, will be blind basically. But that's the miscalculation for us on our parts. So the close cooperation between China and Iran continues. I said this few years ago about the military cooperation is gonna sort of further expand into some very advanced technological— China is not gonna share everything with Iran. No country ever does that. Even for us that now we decided to create this, uh, submarine— not create, but build the submarines for Australia and all that, nuclear submarine. Australians will have no access to that. We will be the one deciding. Australians will be just like a servant, no more, no less. We have it right now as we speak at Pine Gap. As I always said, Pine Gap— there is a section inside Pine Gap that is off-limits to Australian citizens. You cannot get in, only for Americans, and you have to have a certain level of security clearance that goes beyond a top secret. And yes, there are about 5 or 6 levels, uh, 1, 2, 3, 4 levels above top secret without getting into all this here. So, so, and this is why I've always argued that China and Iran, close military-to-military relations, it didn't start 2 days ago, uh, 2 years ago, 3 years ago. He started back in the '80s, but he went gradually. China does things quietly. China doesn't need to boost on that. And this is why I believe why the Prime Minister of Iran said what he said. And did, did, did, did Israel move to Gaza? They said what they are thinking about it. I have my doubts. And even if they move It won't be the way that's these hypes of, uh, now, because they know what the reaction is going to be. Because now Iran's technology, especially missiles, have been advanced. I mean, if they develop hypersonic, that's a serious problems. So this is why I see this, uh, uh, the China cooperation, which by the way, uh, when I wrote the book about Iran I disclosed that back then, that, uh, China has helped Iran boost what is known— most countries have this doctrine of, uh, anti-access area denial, known as A2/AD. Most countries have those. It depends, they have different terminology for it. So, and this is why I am not surprised that Iran now is developing ballistic missile technology. They developed also anti-ship cruise missiles and advanced anti-ship, uh, uh, mines, uh, that, uh, China has helped, uh, Iran. This is why the US and Israel will have to think twice. I, I just don't see, uh, us attacking Iran or Israel attacking Iran. Israel cannot do it, by the way, just FYI. If Israel go alone, they can do it. Israel cannot do anything alone, I guarantee you this. You're going to see two countries coming to the aid, United States and the UK, because UK is just another— I don't know if UK has a sovereignty or not. Yes, they have a monarchy, whatever, but who, who cares about this one? So, but this is when I see the major changes that, uh, with this Beidou navigation satellite system, Iran's going to benefit from it. And, uh, that, that just, uh, after our GPS enter into a full system, full operation in back in 1995, and that's what it became. By the way, if you are an American watching this, that's why it became easier for the government to spy on all of us. You know, when you get into your car and you do the GPS, uh, and, and the car already knows what your location is, where you're living from. How do they know that? Well, it's through the GPS. China said, no, I ain't gonna be part of that. Uh, Russia also has its own cables under the sea for the internet. Yeah, they don't want to go through Europe. It's all holding the end of the stick. That's why we were able to listen in to the phone, cell phone of the former Chancellor Angela Merkel. You spy on an ally, well, you all know the rest. Europe is weak anyway, like I always say, and you can quote me on this: Europe is like the child that never grows up and is always in constant need of discipline and guidance. That's my word of the day. So, so this is why when China developed successfully, uh, this final, uh, uh, Beidou satellites and launched it into orbit. And that completed the navigation network that's been putting in for years. No, so because US was owning GPS, which means controlling, uh, but the, uh, Beidou, uh, system have been operating on a different capacities. Oh, and now you get some other countries. This is why, FYI, Why Russia and China, they're gonna be building and working on a lab in space on the other side of the moon. Maybe one day I'll do a live stream on this because that is very interesting, what's on the other side of the moon, the dark side. So, and this is why you think about it, when for us we had that advantage, not anymore with the GPS. Why? Because cruise missiles can engage more successfully than ballistic missiles, you know, thanks to GPS. But Iran also has made serious progress into all this, and this is where you see in this difference why things have changed and, and going the way they are going. So, all right guys, let me see, uh, yeah, and the Merkel— yeah, you're right, you're absolutely correct. Under Merkel, it was in the— Merkel was great, was greatly. And believe it or not, she wasn't a politician. Merkel background was chemistry. She was a chemist, she was a scientist. It's her analytical brain that really navigated how to move Germany. And then Germans loved her. 16 years and she had enough, and Germany was doing top. Economically. We saw that and we were concerned, and we start to say, no, no, no, no, no, no, we can't let Germany get closer to the East, Russia in that matter, because of energy. Now even Olaf Scholz, even as incompetent as he is, he's now this— wanted to go with China. And I think he's gonna— soon you might hear him a trip to Washington, which means he's been summoned to toe the line or else. That's the way I see it. That's the way I see it. So, all right guys, once again, if this is your first time here, please make sure to hit the like button and, and subscribe because this is how we move this channel forward. I, I do know, I know some of you expressed this, that the channel somehow is suppressed for for some reason. I don't know why. So if you know the answer, please tell me, let me know. So anyway, let me see some of you joining me from, and I will take a question or two, guys. All right, I'm going all the way to the top, guys, just to— and I appreciate you guys being here. And yes, yesterday the interview had to be at 8 PM because my guest was in Asia, which was 10 AM his time, whatever part of the world he was in. And, and that's the reason why I had to do— usually I do interviews different time, but nighttime sometimes, that's all. It's, it's recorded there so you can see it later on. So, all right, I'm scrolling down just to see if there is any question, and, uh, if not, I will sign off and I will see you again. Oh, question. Uh, oh, Tom Putra, good to see you, Tom. I haven't seen you for a while. Hope all is well. So question: what happened to the Build Back Better World Project? No, all that is nothing but a hype. We just talk more than, you know, you can— there's the saying, you all know the saying, guys. You can tell a man by what he does, not by what he says. You know, this is why the G20 in India was nothing but hype. We're gonna have to create an imaginary project to rival the BRI when you and I, you, Tamputra, and all of you know the truth. How they gonna rival, uh, uh, BRI? It's been in the works over decade. And now you're saying you're going to build a corridor from India? India doesn't have the infrastructure for it. So the Build Back Better, same in the US, those conversations are for domestic audience, no more, no less. We all know Biden is not qualified to be president. I've said this before, and I'll tell him to his face if I ever get a chance, which usually I am not even interested in meeting the president no matter what. So Build Back Better, it was nothing but a hype, you know. Don't take, uh, uh, what the government says. Nothing, nothing. I live here, I was in Washington, I worked inside the government back then to the point where I saw what I saw and I said, I'm done, it's enough, I can't be part of this. I was just kidding, I'm a clear conscious left. Okay, let me see another question for you. Oh, oh, look at this. SK1: Hi David, I made contact with Carl Z. Reference: you two team up for show. He is not aware that you tried to contact him in past. Please try again. I will. Oh, thank you so much, SK1. Thank you so much. I will reach out to, to, to Carl. I'm, I'm aware of Carl. Uh, and I always used to say, you know, one day I would love to have a conversation with him because to me it doesn't matter, or whatever, level-headed people. I, I will, I'll welcome anybody, you know, as long as— here is my condition— as long as you will be a benefit to my viewers, because your time means a lot to me. And I promise you, we never ever waste your time because I don't want my time to be wasted I will not waste your time. So thank you so much, SK. I really appreciate it. And I will reach out to him this afternoon. I know he's— based on some of you mentioned to me, he's in China. So I'm waiting till he's done with that, and I will reach out to him. And I will look forward to that conversation. So thank you so much again. It's nice to read up sometimes. Uh, Coach Ohoy, good to see you from Malaysia as always. To see you. Uh, I'm looking for, uh— oh, you're absolutely correct, Bonnie. War on Terror. Yeah, yeah. I'm, you know, it was easy sold for the Americans. This is sometimes what the— this is what President Biden is doing right now with this Israeli conflict and so forth. What are we getting involved for, you know? Because we never played an honest, uh, broker to begin with. So who gives us the right or the legitimacy to even talk about peace when we couldn't be an honest broker? So if you can do it, if you can stand the, the heat in the kitchen, get out. Simple as that. So you're absolutely correct. You're absolutely correct. Uh, I wish I can read this language. But thank you, whatever. I'm assuming— I don't know, I, I don't read it. So thank you for sharing that. So, uh, okay, let me see again. Uh, okay, let me see here. You got a question from Anjup Deep. Thank you very much, Anjup, for your question here. You wrote If China is financing the BRI with their US dollar surplus, does that mean they are passing the US time bomb to some— someone else? You meant to say someone else. The US dollar is bound to blow at some point. A great question, a great question. I am not a financial advisor. I don't— it's not my area, but I can at least mention few things that I— based on what I know. Yeah, that is— as a matter of fact, you brought up a good point, uh, Andrew, whether it was, uh, the financing was that was done through the yuan or through the dollar. Believe it or not, I don't know. And that was— will be the first thing I am gonna do as soon as I log off here. I'll reach out to some of people I know, and I need to find that out because my assumption has always been that the projects are financed in the yuan. And I could be wrong. You all remember Richard Turan, you know, he lives in that part of the world, so it would be the first one I'm going to reach out to to find out. And, and yeah, it makes more sense, but it would be concerned for those other countries. I can see that because the notion that the US dollar will always be forever a strong currency— no, fiat currency at some point— look at just history. So you— that is an interesting question, and, and, and it's— I'm gonna have to have a financial guy specifically come over to the show, and I hope you'll come up again on a live stream with this specific question because that is perfect. It makes perfect sense, you know. On the other hand, I'm— what's leading me to say, well, if African countries are jumping on this infrastructure they must have been doing it in a different currency because none of them wants to have the loans through the IMF and so forth because they're going to be sinking in debt. Look no further than Argentina, and there are some in, in Africa that they are. So very, very, very great question. I'm gonna, uh, have to, uh, call and find out about this one here and, and, and maybe invite a financial advisor for this. So thank you so much, Angel. Really appreciate it. A very, very interesting question. Yeah. Oh, oh, you wrote this, Tom Putra. That Trump hoax was first created by India— through— it was created through India. It was the US narrative, especially with the Treasury Department. It's because we, as a matter of fact, threatened India Uh, at one point, if they don't stop buying oil from Iran, we threaten them with sanctions at the time. And the sanctions were about the financial aspects. So, uh, yes, it might come through because India now became the, the, the, the, the loudspeaker for the US, uh, sort of pushing agenda. Otherwise, how would you explain their stand now on, uh, rejecting, for example, the BRICS currency? China already said— wait, wait, uh, India, I'm sorry, already said, well, we don't want— well, wait a minute, wait a minute, it's not going to be imposed on you, you know, that's just for among yourselves. You still, you India can still trade with other countries in rupees if they want to buy rupees. The question is, who is interested in rupees? You look at Russia right now, how much rupees that it has. What it's gonna do with it? Let alone India was getting oil at a cheap from Russia, turning around and selling it to Europe for twice or three times the amount of price. It's their oil, they can do whatever. But at the same time, why don't you pay the Russians in ruble or pay them in yuan? At least a currency that is of value, shall we say. So Yeah, that will be very interesting. Okay, let me see here. All right, you got a question here. What does the recent Country Garden default mean for China domestically? Any reverberation regionally and internationally? Uh, no, not necessarily. But at the same time, we're talking about, uh, a default. Usually they'll try to prevent the default from happening to begin with. Now, that doesn't mean if hypothetically if, if a multinational corporation that is based in China, from China, and end up like what Evergrande, for example, getting into, you're gonna let the company, you know, and, and you're gonna have to ensure that is not tied to some other aspects of the, uh, where China will allow foreign investments and so forth. This is why President Xi had to talk about strengthening the foreign investments, because they want to ensure— because any investor, what if I am to invest in gold, if I am to invest in uranium, if I am to invest What is the first thing I will be looking for? I will be looking for the, first of all, the financial, uh, uh, uh, well, uh, health of the company. That's one. And second, of course, looking at the financial sheets and so on and the, uh, balance sheets and so forth. But also I'm going to be looking at the region where the operations are and looking exactly at the stability. That is the first thing I will look at. So, so yeah, that, that could happen, but it's— I don't see, because China will be very careful allowing that, because its credibility will be in line. And especially if they are moving now to the second phase of the BRI, there is a lot of hopes on this. Most countries wanted to go that direction because they are tired of conflicts, tired of war, tired of this, but also seeing that the world Uh, uh, the world is changing. And, uh, yes, Taiwan, uh, here. Oh, Taiwan still. Yes, Canada has gold mine. It does. As a matter of fact, one of the video I did, you guys, recently was for a gold mine company that they reached out and wants me do analysis for them. And I do those once a while, you know. I, I do them, they ask me to do it, and, and they pay me for it, by the way. Just to let you know, because I share with you that's the— they do. I'm even interested investing in gold and silver for that. All right, let me see any other question down the road. Okay, Mr. Oualaalou, can you please talk about the corridor that Israel and US wants to build. And, and what is— what the difference with the BRI? Yeah, it's just nothing but hypes again. Because remember, when we get involved in conflicts, we have to distract the masses here from something else. So you create some— and what corridor is going to work? You look at just the gas right now in the Mediterranean, you know, there are already some countries like Egypt moving the direction to, I think, Algeria, or vice versa. Uh, they already, uh, that access to gas in the Mediterranean is going to lead to geopolitical tensions because not just Israel has the right to that. You got about 3 other countries: Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Egypt to a degree, and Israel. So, so, so when the US said, well, we're gonna build the corridor, no, it's nothing but hypes. That's like Build Back Better. Nothing's gonna happen. Nothing's gonna materialize. And where are we gonna get the money from? You know, we, we, we sank in into that. A lot of people, a lot of Americans have no clue what lies ahead. This debt will have to be paid one way or another in some form or shape. You know, to me it's like, is it fair for the next generation for them to be sucked in into this debt that they didn't create? It's not right. You know, our politicians don't give a damn because we have corruption. It's because we don't have accountability. If we are to hold politicians accountable, we won't see this mess by saying, hey, you are there to represent our interest. You divert from that, you're out. And if you get involved in corruption, you're in jail. And I will put you— if it were up to me, I will put you for a long, long time, because public trust, you can't betray that. Now, you— when some people approached me to run for Congress, I said, I can't, no, I won't. You know why? Because I know that's too corrupted for me to be there. Second, it was my fear that I will not live up to the trust than my constituents will put on me, because that will be a responsibility. Because every time I go to bed, I will ask myself, like I do now with my students, have I given 110% effort for their own interest? That's why I disagreed with the university I was in, without naming names here. I had to leave. I couldn't in clear conscience shortchange my students. There is no hell I will do that. No way, no way. I can't, because it's not right thing to do. Same thing. So I said no, I, I'm not, I'm not a material for Congress. I, I, I— corruption and all that, I don't like that kind of stuff. So, so I rather be on this side here. I like what I'm doing here with you guys. This is what I like, and that's it. So I just hope to grow it and we get more support, and that's all I can That's all I can do. So the system for us is, is, is gone. It's gone, really, it's gone, it's gone. It's, it's my country, saddens me, but at the same, like I always say, I don't shy away from calling a spade a spade if, if it is my own country. Heck, I had it with my own family. Somebody cross the line or something, I'll put them in their spot. I don't care, cousin or not, brother or not, uncle or not, you know, what's right, it's right, end of story. So to me, that's, you know, that you live by a standard. It's not what you— it's not what you say, it's what you do, you know. Judge a man by what he does. That's, that's the keyword to it. Okay, let me see here. Oh, Hussein, you're absolutely correct. Hussein, the West has lost Africa. You're absolutely correct, because we never had a foreign policy towards Africa for last 3 or 4 decades. And you know why? Because Africa to us was like the forgotten continent. You know what's there? It's just poverty and all that stuff. Well, no, no, no, no, we contributed to that by allowing other Western nations to take advantage and keep the poverty where it is. You know, the massive wealth Africa has, it shouldn't be where it is. They should progress, they should enjoy the natural resources that they've been given naturally, you know, But why will France take advantage of that? Why will the Dutch, the Belgium, the Portuguese, the, the, the, uh, the, the, uh, British, the American? No, no, for us is— and now China is there, Russia is there, all of a sudden we are taking interest. It's too late for a simple reason: Africans will not trust the Americans. And how could you? You know, ask anybody, can you trust the Americans? And when I say Americans, once again, the government. It's not the people. They are decent American people. I'm telling you this, like every other nation, they are decent American people. Just please do not lump everybody in one. No, but yeah, Africa would never, because we never care, because we were playing, uh, double standard. Double standard. Yeah. Oh, Athene Wu, your question: I agree with the theory that if a superpower stretches beyond its limit, it will get blowbacks or even diminish. China's BRI is a huge global project. Would China stretch itself too much? Great, great, great question. Yeah, for the idea of stretching, the theory of the superpower This one brought me back— brings me back, rather, not brought me— brings me back to the, uh, you're all familiar with the, uh, Greek philosopher Thucydides? I don't know if any of you are familiar. You know, he's the one who argued the theory of superpowers. When an emerging superpower tries to replace a sitting superpower, clash tends to ensue. You know, uh, it's called Thucydides, uh, uh, trap Or the series theory and so forth. Now in this case, China is going to have to be very careful how far it's going to go, because remember, this is not just China by itself. Those countries will also have to contribute to, to the project. So because if you are to go this global, yes, is China taking the lead because it's its project, it's going to have to fund most of it because if that is what it wants But also doesn't strike me like China will go beyond its limits. And for one reason I'm saying this, and correct me if I'm wrong, but China is gonna always revert back to its history. China wasn't a rich country back then, you know. So all of a sudden now with the massive wealth, it's not go about just flaunting that, it's not going about just wasting that. It's not about going involved in conflicts all over the world. They're going to be very careful in thinking about a rainy day. So its projects will be well calculated, well versed, in my opinion. And this is what explained to me why for the second time they've been reaching out to India, inviting it, but India keep turning it down. It's because China's culture a history how it started. I mean, heck, it's only in the '60s, it was an agricultural country. What did China have in the '60s, '70s? And in the span of 30 years or 40 years, whatever that is, look where they are. So I don't see that. I don't see that, that China is going to stretch itself too much to the point of having things blow back on it. You know, it's not going to make the same mistake the United States did. And the reason you can conclude this by seeing where it is today— China could have a military base in any country it wants, but it's not doing it. Where, where is China's presence overseas? I can think of two locations: Cambodia and, uh, Djibouti. But even in Djibouti, it's more of economic. It's a small naval presence. That doesn't matter much in comparison to what we have there. I was there, I saw with my own eyes. In Cambodia, they are working on it. How big is going to be, I don't know yet. But even if it is a full-blown military base, you know, you compare how many bases we have around the world— 756 or 750, be exact, somewhere around that time. So you think about the cost As a matter of fact, I'll share this with you guys. For every base, it takes about $1 million in electricity on a monthly basis. So China's not going to make the same mistake. I don't see them doing that, uh, only in one condition: if they got a different leadership. This is why steady for them, it works for their system. They can have this 4-year presidency election, president, presidential elections as well. It won't work for China system. For us, look what it's doing, you know. We got from one government to the next, nothing gets done, nothing. Uh, uh, yeah, it's just, uh, all right. I see question here. Afif Afif Khan question: Does Israel knew about the Hamas attack? I guess they knew about the attack that was coming to them. Israel wanted an excuse to start a war to expand its territory. A good point, except the last part, the last part I would not agree with that. They, they, they're not thinking of expanding. They already expand through the settlements. They won't go into the Gaza and the West Bank. Those are because that's how the territory was carved out back then. No, where the question will be is that if they knew about it, which in my opinion and my own contact based on what I asked, is that the Egyptian intelligence service did warn the Israelis. So the only thing that left me with the notion that Netanyahu wanted to have these destructions because he's not well-liked inside, they don't want him in the government. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of Israelis inside asking for him to leave immediately. They don't want him, uh, anymore. For that, you know, uh, the US did— the US knew about it. Oh, of course, uh, the CIA and Mossad work together. There is no way they didn't know. And for the US is also an excuse, uh, why? Because our presidential elections is coming. The Biden administration wants to show that, oh, we're gonna have to get involved. And once we get involved, the the, the administration will say, I need the next 4 years to continue or end this war. So in other words, we create something to justify something. That's what— but for them to expand their territory, no, I don't see them doing that because they are already now under the microscope. And second thing, this, uh, this event between them and Hamas exposed now the vulnerabilities of Israel's security. That's, that's, that's why I don't see them going this full-blown attack and attacking Iran and all. It's nothing but hype, but it's nothing but hype. Uh, remember, we're not even talking about the other militias that are under Iran's control, not even activated yet. So that's why Israel now is in a bad position than what it— what— when it was prior to this. So And with the— what they did as far as the, you know, attacking a hospital and so forth and all that, it's, it's uncalled for. It's uncalled for. Oh, Roderick, uh, Roderick Thompson, thank you so much for— appreciate it. Love your videos, they are very informative. You're almost welcome. I truly appreciate it. All right guys, uh, I wish I can stay with you for long, but I just— I have some other stuff to do. And by the way, I'm very excited, guys. We got 7 members left to reach 100. I need 7 members. If you guys, any of you, will be kind enough to support this one here, uh, 7 for us to reach the, uh, uh, uh, uh, the membership for the channel so I can do this, uh, exclusive Q&A for you, for the members. So, oh, I see question from The Emancipator. Question: Has America updated their missile capabilities? Uh, because the ones I have known of, uh, are old, GPS coordinate dependent. Good point. No, no, we are— what we are planning in doing, on doing now, there's some conversation about, oh, we having to now react to Oh my gosh, we are concerned China's upgrading its nuclear capabilities. We're gonna have to upgrade our— but how many nuclear warheads or weapons China have in comparison to how many we have? 5,000 plus to 4,430, I think, or 412, something like that. So you can just see the hypes. And this is why the budget, defense budget for the US is only gonna go up. No, I don't see the one Where you're going to see the change is in the conflict. This is why we are sending the two aircraft carriers. And as a matter of fact, even now Turkey threatened to react if Israel doesn't stop, which means react to Israel but react to the US also for sending the, you know, and Turkey is no small matter either. So, so the short answer is no, I don't see that happening. All right guys, I, I am going to sign off here. I hope you find this very informative. Please once again hit that like button, share this video with others, spread the word about the channel. I would really appreciate it. And don't forget to subscribe. As always, remember, geopolitics impact your daily life in more ways than one. Till next time, bye-bye.