Philippines & Thailand’s Nuclear Power Project: A Wishful Thinking?

March 28th, so we got only 3 more days for the end of March. How fast time goes. So anyway, very, very excited to be with you. I wasn't planning on being here, but when I came across, uh, this information that I read through, and I'm gonna provide you all the sources and so forth, it triggered something in my mind. And, and, and that is why all of a sudden will Philippines Knowing how Philippines is and Thailand being in talks about establishing a nuclear power plant, and to me was like, no, no, there is more in this than meets the eye, and I'm gonna share my insights with you about this particular development. So, but before I'll do this, like always, let me check, see who is here. Uh, home, home and Willie, as always, from Memphis. West Memphis. So Orwellian Purple, good to see you. Uh, uh, uh, P, Pirawat, Pirawat from Thailand. Wow, good to see you here, man. Pirawat, good to see you. Uh, Kate O'Neill, good to see you. Passport Scotch, good to see you. Truth Seeker, Macian Dorsier, uh, I'm a King 10,000. And Frank Lopez, good to see you. And I see your question there. So, uh, what does— oh, your question, it says, sorry, you have been muted by channel creator. I, I didn't, I didn't mute you, man. I don't know what it is. So, uh, Wong Casey, good to see you, uh, as always. Oh, good to see you. SK Wong from London, good to see you as always. Um, all right, let's get into the topic here as to what I'm going to be covering today, uh, for you so you'll have some sort of an understanding as to where this development is coming from. But before that, FYI, uh, I will be having the community conversation on Saturday at about 12:30, and on the same day at 2100 hours, I will be having my conversation with Carl Zha. So, so for, for that conversation, we didn't decide on the topic, but we're gonna just have a conversation about Asia. It's gonna be mainly on Asia, so I'll post everything for you later on. So, so regarding today's topic, Thailand and Philippines, yeah, they are moving forward with their plan per se. Of course, I won't believe it till I see it, but so far They are talking and saying they're gonna move forward as far as Star Nuclear Reactor by next decade, you know. And to me was the idea of— because it's gonna trigger the questions. And the questions are, uh, let me share them with you here. How significant is this? Now, with the assumption that it will take off the ground, this project will take off the ground. Second thing is, uh, is this— I mean, will it work? Given the corruption, given how conditions are in Philippines and even in Thailand to a degree, economically speaking— that's what I'm going to be focusing on— uh, will it work? And, and the third question that we ought to ask, uh, uh, is that, is this a reflection of the changing economic outlook in Asia? What do I mean by that? I know it's a loaded question. Since Asia is moving forward— when I say Asia, I am referring to China here, because who's leading that charge? It's not the Philippines, it's not Thailand, it's not South Korea, it's not Indonesia or Malaysia. What is China? Now, for Indonesia and Malaysia, they are playing a role into this. Singapore, to a degree. But when it comes down to those two countries, Philippines and and Thailand, no. At the same time, you have to think in terms of, are they seeing where this is headed and they want to sort of get on with it, even when it comes down to generating enough electricity? Well, in this case, Thailand, we need that more so than the Philippines. Philippines, because of its economic infrastructure, is crumbling. You know, more and more articles coming out now about how Marcos Jr., Bongbong, that is, sold out his country. His true face came out, that he was playing both sides when he was running for office. And once he got into power, did about-face. And who's going to end up suffering, or who is already suffering, are the Filipino people. So, and we're gonna get into all this detail, but those are questions that we had to ask, uh, before we detail everything else. Now let me share some headlines with you briefly here, just for you to be aware of what's going on, uh, which I already— by the way, I already posted on the, on the community, uh, that's usually sometimes when I post them there, but I figured in case you didn't see it, I'll share them with you. Uh, there were some security talks between North Korea and and, uh, Russia. The head of the intelligence services, the Russian one that is, his name is, uh, uh, Naryshkin, paid a visit to Pyongyang, North Korea, that is, for the last 3 days. His visit was from Monday through Wednesday, uh, based on what I read and all that. Of course, usually it was disclosed after the fact, and that's normal. Anytime a head of an intelligence service travels, whatever, As one who used to work in Washington, we kind of know the protocol. You don't disclose it, you disclose it after the fact. But that is not the, the point on all this. The point is, why now between North Korea and, and, and, uh, uh, Russia? Especially what just— consider what just took place in Moscow few days ago with, with the, uh, attack over there. And that's back the question: is something brewing? Are they working on something together? Now, some of you put some comments, uh, that could it be like, uh, uh, be like some sort of North Korea can serve as a listening post. Yeah, there's the possibility to that. Of course, despite what they say, where the two officials discussed the strengthening cooperation between the two countries to counter the increase in espionage and plots hatched by hostile forces, end of quote. Yeah, but you're gonna have to think the big picture, uh, about all this one here. The next one is this one. When— say, once again, guys, please, we should refrain from passing judgment. All we are doing is providing the information And we let the facts take us where they may. So now I checked on this from different sources and got almost the confirmation of it. And this has to do with the idea that is Turkey playing both sides? And, uh, because again, Turkey has sold large quantities of weapons to Israel since October 7th. So, and Turkey, sort of the, uh, the items that's been sold to Israel included gunpowder, explosive substances, flammable substances, ammunition, and weapons and parts. I'm gonna provide you a link where I get this from. One of them I get it from Twitter. Let me share it with you first, uh, before I'll do, uh, before I provide you the link to where I get the article that I read in a foreign language. But you, you're going to see it in English language. As a matter of fact, I'm going to do it right now so you'll have it in front of you and you can, uh, check it out yourself. Here it is. I'm going to put it in the chat box for you guys. Yeah, it's right there in the chat box. Oh, it says it's rejected. YouTube rejected my comments. This usually means it's a spam. That is what it says. Let me, let me show you what YouTube wrote. Here is what YouTube wrote, and I'm assuming they're gonna let it show. Yeah, this is what YouTube wrote, so see it, guys, on the chat box. Anyway, I will, I will post the link in the description later on, but for now, let me share the screen with you about where I get that one from my Twitter feed. Then you can, uh and you judge for yourself. So for me, to me, I always knew about Turkey. Turkey can play both sides in, in, into adding, uh, okay, let me remove the picture here first and share this one with you right there, guys. I know you can't see much, but this is from, uh, Jackson Hinckley. That's what I, I got the tweet from, uh, and it says Turkey has uh, sold large quantities of weapons and so forth. But I will, I will share the link with you to the article. All right, let's get into our analysis about Thailand and Philippines. And as I said again, they're going to be unveiling in September because they want to have this by, uh, uh, uh, sort of next decade or so. That's, that's where they aiming at. And what they want to do is they want to cooperate together regarding, uh, the construction of what they called MSRs. MSRs stands for small modular or modular reactors. Those are small ones. I have a, an example of it Uh, that is an old one that in Philippines— this is in Bataan. Of course it was useless, never— it was abandoned and all that stuff. But, but this is exactly what they wanted to do. So the countries, both countries, Thailand and Philippines, uh, talked about installing— as a matter of fact, this conversation is not new, guys. You know, to my knowledge, based on the research that I did, the first time they talked was about in 2000. And by the way, I did came across this article, uh, from, uh, let, let me, let me share the link— not the link, but the location of the article— from Nikkei, uh, uh, Asia. That's where I got the article from, and I give credit to two writers. Uh, the first is Kusuk Kusuk Inu, and the second writer is Yuichi Sega. Those are the two, the two, uh, NECAI staff writers who wrote the article about this particular topic, and that's why I'm going to be reacting to it, because I do have some other information, uh, beside all this. So, so like I said, the conversation started back in 2000. However, in 2011 What happened in 2011? It was a major global event, pertains to nuclear. Let me see what you guys, uh, if you guys can type in that in, in the chat box. You should be familiar with it. So Oh, Japan meltdown. Hoi no kia. You got it. Uh, here's the first person that, uh, yeah, right there. You got it, you got it. Uh, Muslim Revert Fukushima, you got it. Q with 7A Fukushima, exactly. In 2011, so the meltdown at the Japanese Fukushima, uh, Daiichi plant. So what happened? The conversation in 2000 between Thailand and Philippines, kind of all those endeavors were shelved. In other words, why are you gonna be doing it? So the development of this SMRs reignited now Bangkok's interest in nuclear power. This is where— this is the frame or the platform or the background that you need to keep in mind as to how this is coming to But before I'll do this, I'm gonna jump into geography. We're gonna do a little bit of geography and a little bit of history about Thailand, not Philippines. I already did the Philippines before. If you guys can check out some of my older videos, the one was about Philippines, of course, and that's where, uh, I never talked about, uh, Thailand before, and this is why I wanted to do this history and geography about Thailand. So, and again, all I do is brief stuff. I'll provide you the link if you guys want to dig deeper, uh, deeper into, uh, understanding, uh, more about the history and so forth. So now regarding the history of, uh, geography rather. So Thailand, of the, uh, Indo-Chinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, right at the heart of it. If we look at the big map of, of Asia, for that matter, it is located, uh, in, in the northern and eastern hemispheres of trees. First is Myanmar to the north, Laos to the north and east, Cambodia to the east, and Malaysia to the south. The Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea lie to the south and west of Thailand, respectively. The country shares— Thailand, that is, shares its maritime borders with Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand in southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea in the Southwest. This brings me to something that I just thought about, you know. What do you think, will it make more sense for some sort of China and Thailand build some sort of a canal or something? Will it be a good idea to do so or not? What do you guys think? Just out of, you know, food for thoughts, that is, because it just crossed my mind and I wanted to share it with you. Now, regarding the history of Thailand, of course, uh, it's, it's a long history that spans about 20,000 years because it goes all the way back to the Paleolithic hunter-gatherer, from that time to the modern constitutional monarchy in Thailand. Of course, you go through the stages. You go, for example, during when the bronze and rice cultivation emerged in the Northeast around the 3000 BC, and that one was followed by Iron and Thai-speaking people from China. That's what I found very interesting. Yeah, then you move into the first Thai kingdom. Does anybody know what century the first Thai kingdoms arose. If you know the century, type it in the chat box please, and I'm gonna take a look, see if anybody gets it right. The first, first Thai kingdom, that is. What century? Let me see in Muslim Revert, you close, you close. It's closer to 12, not the second, not the second. I'll give you one more try. Okay, it's 13th century, which was influenced, by the way, by Buddhism Khmer and Indian culture. So, and the first one, which was about 1782, is the Chakri dynasty, dynasty that was founded in 1782, which moved the capital to Bangkok and of course resisted the colonialism from European powers. So, and of course, fast forward to the 20th century Thailand modernized and democratized according to the historical record here in 20th century, century, but it faced political turmoil, coups, and devastating, of course, Asian financial crisis. Those are some of the main, uh, and, and I'm gonna provide you a link later on to— as a matter of fact, I'm gonna put it for you right now in the chat box for those who wants to. Oh, not this one. So sorry, this, disregard this last, uh, I gotta copy the link here. Yeah, right there. This is the Thailand history, the brief, brief history. Well, the first thing you're gonna have to think about The, the, uh, is the foundation of the Kingdom of Thailand. Yeah, Ayutthaya, Ayutthaya Kingdom, that was the first, was laid back in 1351. Then you have the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya, was ruled by Thailand's first king. His name was Ramathilodi the first. It was, you know, it was he who proclaimed Buddhism as the official national religion. The city of the, uh, Ayutthaya went on to become the prosperous center of Southeast Asia with more than 1 million inhabitants, comparable to Paris in size and scope. The last— this reign lasted for about 400 years until, until 1767, when the kingdom was annexed, destroyed, and demolished. By whom? Does anybody know historically who demolished and annexed and destroyed the kingdom? In 1767. It's a neighboring country, just to give you a hint. It's a neighboring country. Not the British. No, no, no, no, no. Neighboring country. Not Japan. Not Myanmar. You're getting closer. Start with a B. Cambodia? No, it's Burma. Burmese. Burma. Cam35, you got it. It was Burma. I didn't know that. I was— it was surprising for me when I read up through, uh, the historical record to find out that it was the Burmese forces that annexed. I thought it was Cambodia. Then again, I said, no, it can't be, and it is. So, uh, uh, then it came up, uh, Taksin, uh, Taksin the Great. Now, General Taksin is one of the biggest names in Thai history. If you know Thai history, you should know about Taksin. Born in 1734 in the same city of Ayutthaya, Ayutthaya, yeah, he would go on to play a leading role in its defense. However, when it became clear the city was beyond saving, he managed, if only by the skin of his teeth, to escape its burning ruins. Shortly afterward, determined to fight back, he raised an army and retook Ayutthaya, expelling the Burmese. So apparently the Burmese seems to really, really wreak havoc in, in that part of the country. King, uh, King Taksin was unrelenting in his fight for his nation's independence and even managed to expand his kingdom. However, his drive and combativeness would prove to be his undoing. In 1782, he was deposed, declared insane, and brutally executed in the traditional way by being sealed into velvet sack to conceal the flowing of the royal blood. I did see the image. I don't want to put it for you guys because sometimes it's descriptive. YouTube, I guess, doesn't allow this kind of stuff. So of course, Taksin was succeeded by General Chakri, who would adopt the name Rama, Rama First, at his coronation. And this would be the start of the Chakri dynasty on the Thai throne. Then you move into Bangkok, into Prathet Thai World War II and modern-day Thailand. And I do have a picture of the, uh, of the young king, uh, and his family in 1955. Let me share this picture with you because it's, uh, one of those for the records, you know. I was even— it's black and white, of course, uh, didn't have color at that time, so Here's the picture. I want you to see it. Yeah, and this is the, uh, the young, the young king, uh, Vajara, long gone, and his family, 1955. And the credit to the picture goes to, uh, Weekly Media Common. That's the one. So anyway, I just wanted to share this with you as part of the history, and I will provide you the link to two other links to a longer history of Thailand if you are interested. So, all right, let's get into our conversation here about the, the, uh, small model reactors or SMR. So, well, as I mentioned, uh, earlier, uh, just for you guys to know, Bangkok— so Thailand and, and Philippines rather, I'm sorry— are now sort of moving forward. They want to move forward with this. But of course, it's, it's easier said than done for one reason. Let me start with one, and one of you guys made a, uh, his name is Lim K, made an incredible comment. I read it, he said, and I quote, for Philippines, having nuclear reactor is a joke. That country couldn't afford it with its people suffering in poverty. And Thailand is not in favor of that idea. As it's most suitable with its much closest neighboring countries like Cambodia and Laos. End of quote. Spot on. And this is what I was gonna get into talking about. For the Philippines, it's going to become the issue of the cost. Where is Philippines gonna get this money from, let alone corruption that exists? Look what Marcos Jr. is doing to his country by pivoting, and pivoting is going to end up hurting Philippines economically, which means the people will suffer even further and fall into more poverty than they already are. No, and this is where that idea of the arguments regarding, oh yeah, they are talking about moving forward with this, but no, it's not going to work. And this conversation started, as I said, way back. And the picture, this picture here, guys, This one right here that you're looking at, you know, this is the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in the Philippines that's sat idle since the plant was put into operations back in 1986. This is when those operations were about to— uh, to Reuters for this picture here. So the idea of Thailand and Philippines gonna move forward with this No, I am not going to buy that argument personally. As an analyst, I'm going to have to think in terms of, first of all, the cost. Second, how is that going to change the geopolitical landscape in the region? And third is because, would you allow the US to build that? Because that's what the Philippines is asking for. And I'm gonna disclose to you which American company is already planning that should this move forward, we will be happy to build it. What about reaching out to China, who will have a much better record for all that? And makes you just wonder. This is why I said there is more into this that meet the eye. So the SMRs, of course, generate less power than conventional reactors, just to know, for those who understand, uh, the hydro stuff and, nuclear fusion and so on. It's not my area. All I know is that, based on my reading, that the SMRs is not as, as powerful as the conventional reactor like what it was in Daiichi, uh, in, in Japan and so forth. But they are considered safer. That is one of the things. So the US, UK, and China are among countries now racing to develop them. Washington said in November 2022— here is the key— that it will provide technological support for the SMRs to Thailand government at that time, because the government at that time was led by the Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha back then. Now they got the new prime minister, and this is his picture. Let me share a picture with you. This is the new Thai prime minister. His name is Srettha Thavisin. He's the Thailand current prime minister, and he's the one who's saying and discussing the possibility of rolling out nuclear power with the US. Why is this? Do you guys know why? It's because during the visit of Gina Gina Redondo. She's the US Commerce Secretary. When she went to China, she made two stops, one in Philippines and one in Thailand. This was discussed in Thailand. And right there, first of all, why will they— even if they want to go forward with this, you know, is this means China doesn't have a good a record when it comes down to building nuclear power plants. Makes you just wonder. So, and this conversation between Surat, uh, the Prime Minister of Thailand, the current one, and the, the Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, it was when they met on March 14th this year. Yeah, this year, March 14th. We're talking about 2 weeks ago. And Surata— or Surata, yeah, Surata— said that Thailand will research the safety of SMRs and solicit public input. That tells me nothing is concrete yet. This why I don't see this moving forward, because Philippines can't afford it and Thailand is concerned about the safety of this. And the record for the disasters that could happen with something like this one. So then you're going to have to think about how Asian countries, especially neighboring countries, going to react to that. You know, would you want to have a nuclear power plant in your backyard? Some will say I'm okay with it, others will say no, I don't think so. But there is a reason also, uh, uh, why Thailand will have to move into the this direction. And as I said earlier in the question, is this a reflection of the economic outlook in that part of the world, Asia as a whole? Because Asia is now the engine of the global economy. It's not the US, it's not the EU. We all know this, it's a fact. The wealth has already shifted from the West to the East. The center of gravity, economically, uh, speaking, is China. This is why you see ASEAN moving in certain directions. This is why you're seeing BRICS is moving in certain directions, even though you and I know there are certain players inside both economic blocks that they, they're gonna need to rethink their possessions within this, those two economic blocks. But the reason why Thailand is doing this is because Thailand is running sort of short, is gonna— its resources on natural gas are being exhausted. This is one of the reasons why they're going into this. And with this comes the need for the increase in electricity demands. I went to Bangkok a few years ago. I spent about a short trip. It was about a week and a half to 2 weeks max. That's about it. Uh, I was at the embassy over there, but I used to go out inside, outside Bangkok, and, you know, just walk around and see. And it's crowded and vibrant. City and so forth. But at the same time, I was thinking about, well, I wonder where, where Bangkok is going to be a decade from now as far as the growth of it. And with that growth comes the demand for energy, electricity, and so forth. This is one of them, and this is why the electricity demand is going to grow in line with assumption with the economy. So And this is why there is another element, by the way, which I didn't forget because I read it elsewhere, that Thailand now subscribe and pledge to end carbon neutral or be carbon neutral by 2050. Same thing India said, but you and I know ain't gonna happen because in the case of India, they can't do without coal. And same thing with Thailand. And this is why, even though it's the idea, it's great and so forth, yeah, I hope it works out, but who's gonna pay for it? Nothing is free, especially on a project like this. And second, what are you gonna go hire, a US firm that's gonna charge you 10 times the price? Would you— could ask, for example, China. This is Thailand. If we go on the Philippine side, Philippines faces even more daunting challenges for it to even operate something like this. And guess what? Philippines wants to have this ready by 2030. It's laughable. And it's because concerning also If the haste into building something like this, the safety is going to be compromised. So already, here is the kicker to all this, which I found very— I found very troubling. Here is the kicker to all this: Manila and Washington have already signed an agreement on a civilian nuclear power in November of last year. So that means there's already conversation. And could it be this also during the time of when Marcos Bongbong came to power? And this will allow for the transfer of nuclear material, equipment, and information between the two countries. Well, basically, we're not going to share, some sort of secretive technology with them anyway, because Philippines serves the US interest, not the other way around. So, and think about all this, guys. Think about this. The SMR, okay, the SMRs are considered the leading candidate for adoption by the Philippines. This is what the US firm New Scale Power plans— it plans to invest about $7.5 billion between now and 2031 to build the reactors in, in the Philippines. I just don't see— I just don't see the rationale and the reality for how this could, could, uh, because Philippines needs more than just building a nuclear power plant, needs to have the infrastructure for this, need to have the technology to maintain the safety of all this. Yeah, the US can do it for the Philippines, charging them arms and legs, and the Philippines can afford that. Which means what? We're going to ask them for other things beside the money— political pressure. And you all know what I'm referring to here. Because you have to think the big picture. In case of a conflict in the region, Philippines will be used as a base, a launching pad for the US. This is what I see the problem, uh, and like I mentioned earlier regarding this, uh, regarding this, uh, nuclear part, this plant here, which is a very, very, uh, a minimum small one Uh, this one, because Philippines attempted— they tried to build something like this, uh, in, in Luzon under the former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. But of course, those plans to open the land were abandoned. Why? Because of 1986. What happened in 19— 86 in the Philippines, guys. Does anybody know or remember, or if you read in the history, uh, as to what happened back then? If you know, if you can type that in, we'll greatly appreciate it. 1986, what happened in the Philippines? Uh, the revolt, it was not— uh, okay, you, you're, you're close, Muslim Revert, you are close. It was the revolution. It was the— it was what happened in 1986, was the pro-democracy, so-called pro-democracy movement, which led to the departure of, of course, Marcos And of course, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of that year also. Those are the key two events. And as we all know, of course, the son of Marcos, uh, Ferdinand Marcos, uh, Senior, his son, the current President Marcos Jr., starting now the nuclear power plant. It's not about the Filipino people. Is about the legacy of his father, which is problematic because Philippines cannot afford that. That's one. Then you have a third element, and third element has to do with another country altogether. It's Indonesia. Now Indonesia, one of the largest in the region with about over 270 million people, also has a plan to install some sort of nuclear, uh, uh, plant with the capacity between 1,000 to 2,000 megawatt by 2030. So it goes parallel to all this. So why? It's because, like in India, like in, in, in, in Thailand, to a degree, coal currently accounts for about 60% in Indonesia. This is why they're thinking about doing this, and makes you wonder, is this why Philippines and Thailand wanted to embark on this? Because Indonesia is also doing it. So of course we can't deny the concerns over safety. That is, that is, uh Let me remove this picture. Uh, that is a foregone conclusion because the safety remains high. As you all know what happened, uh, uh, in 2023, and this is according to the article that I, uh, stated to you from the Nikkei Asia. What happened in March 2023? A cylinder containing radioactive, uh, 137 was discovered to be missing at a coal plant in Thailand. Of course, that cylinder was discovered days later, but the incidents, according to the article, and I couldn't agree more, exposed the problem of the lack of oversight. Because if you get a hold of radioactive material, well, what you can do with it is very detrimental. So just imagine if a group get a hold of that, you know. And there is another, the big elephant in the room, and this one has to do with the neighboring country of Myanmar. Why is this important? Myanmar's military government is now deepening— yeah, you heard it— deepening its nuclear cooperation with Russia. So that is very, very important to understand the ramification of something like— now, ramification in the sense of, yes, you think about it from a technological aspects of it, But a country like Myanmar, Myanmar is— will be, in my opinion, no different than the Philippines as far as the infrastructure, you know. And Myanmar, can Myanmar afford something like this? I don't know how the Russians going to do it, the cooperation is going to work out between the two. That remains to be seen, and I don't have an answer for that one at this point. So suffice it to say that for both countries the Philippines and Thailand. It's, it's nicer to be talking about nuclear power plants technology. It's like what France is doing. France is, uh, powering its country through nuclear power plants. The only challenges now for France is that where does it get its uranium to fuel those power plants? Does anybody know? Can you type in, in chat box, where does France get its uranium, uh, from to fuel its, uh, nuclear power plants, because that's how France generates its electricity. And, and I see the same challenge that the Philippines and Thailand is going to be facing, uh, from Niger. Not anymore. You're right, absolutely correct, Matt Becky. You're absolutely correct. Niger, it's done, it's over for, for France. And, uh, uh, Russia, not, not as much. No, especially now with the tensions and all that. Uh, so Russia is not as much. What I found very interesting about France that I need you to know— France now, uh, not France, I'm sorry, UK now just declared that it will no longer, uh, import gas from Russia. You know why I'm laughing? I'm laughing because Russia is gonna— UK is gonna be buying gas from France. And guess where that company in France is getting gas from? From Russia. So it's just very ridiculous. So, so yeah, uh, so this is where I see the challenge for Thailand and Philippines, uh, where they're going to get their uranium from and the cost of it. This is why there are some challenges lies ahead. Uh, the US is pushing for this because we wanted to, uh, uh, sink our claws into both societies, the Philippines and the— or both countries rather, the Philippines and Thailand. I don't know, I don't know how it's gonna bode for those two countries, but the one thing I am certain of is the idea of where the economic outlook for Asia is headed and the possibility that Philippines and, and Thailand could be thinking in these terms. But how can you assume something like this when Marcos Jr. is dragging his country in a different direction altogether. You know, Thailand, uh, I don't live in Thailand, I don't know a lot, but I do know that economically they are also in, in, in, uh, in, in a position of they're going to need some sort of upgrade of their economic infrastructure and so forth. Philippines is even more than, uh than Thailand. And this is where I see those challenges that lies ahead for this country. Uh, I, I just don't know. I don't know why. I don't know why. Oh, Cam35, oh, you said YouTube censored you for typing the word? Oh, Niger? Wow, that's ridiculous. Yeah, come on, YouTube, come on, we're beyond that. Let people just express their opinions. I mean I would appreciate it, YouTube, if you are listening. I would greatly appreciate it if you can let people express their opinion. So, so this is when I see the, the only question that now I am left to wonder about is what will be the role now of Philippines inside ASEAN. Not as much as Thailand, but for Philippines, because I compare Both. I compare literally Philippines inside ASEAN to India inside BRICS. That's usually how I see it. And, and it's gonna be very, very, uh, uh, it's already— I talked to some people from Philippines, conditions are getting a little bit worse economically speaking. And, and, and the, uh, but of course I can understand why Marcos Jr. will do what even he is told to do. It's because the assets of the Marcos family are in the United States, including gold. So, and that is a— and to my knowledge, that Philippines has some natural resources, not to the extent of some other countries, but they do have at least some. So, and makes me just wonder, makes me wonder, when, when Marcos Jr. came to power, was he already preconceived notion for him that I'm gonna put the welfare of my family before my country. You know, I was really hoping, and I mean it, I was hoping for the guy, Marcos Jr., that is to lead Philippines at least on a path of prosperity. It's not going to become prosper next year or 2 years or 3, but at least put the country on that path. And when he made that trip to China, because I was following those developments I said, well, that's a good sign. But I also left that question mark: will he be pressured because of the history? And turns out to be right, is the history of the family. For what Ferdinand Marcos, uh, uh, even, even when I was way back, I do remember the years of, uh, Corazon Aquino. And, and when Ferdinand Marcos came to power and the lavish lifestyle the family was living, I was aware of some of that. And you said, well, okay, maybe that's the old generation or whatever. Now you got the new young generations that understand a little bit better what turns out to be, uh, Bongbong did not understand. So it turns out that he put the welfare of his, uh, uh family first before the, uh, the welfare of the Filipino people. So, and to me, if you are to say in a true democracy, people should have, uh, uh, the ability to remove someone from power if he or she is not doing the work accordingly. That's the way I, I, I, I see it. So by the way, guys, I forgot to share some few pictures with you from the history of Thailand. This, if you go to the link— this is when the Buddhism was adopted and so forth— the link that I posted for you, and I will post it in the, in the description, uh, you're gonna see some of those images. Uh, it's a reflection of the Thailand history, which is a rich, rich history, at least from what I observed when I was there. Uh, very interesting, wonderful people. Very wonderful. Somebody treated me nicely, no issues there whatsoever. So this is during, uh, demonstrations, uh, that took place back then. So I always get wary when I see the word 'we want democracy.' So this is, uh, all right guys, I'm gonna take some questions here, and if will greatly appreciate your support. As always, here is the one for PayPal should you decide to support the channel. Speaking of that, I'd like to give a shout out to TC Kwan, you know, bought me on both platforms, uh, for, uh, for the, the channel and the Asia trip. So thank you so much for your support. I also want to give shout out to Jo— Angelia Jones, thank you so much for buying me 10 cups of coffee. Greatly, greatly appreciated. Of course, Drag88, uh, there's so many of you, so many of you. Jang, uh, uh, Boon, all of you, all of you guys. All I'm seeing— I'm, I'm very, very grateful for your continued support. It means a lot to me, uh, and I want you to know this. So, all right guys, let me answer some questions from you here. Just to remind you, remember to join me on Saturday at 12:30 for the community conversation. And yeah, I know I don't talk geopolitics on the community conversation, and I did ask your vote, and some of you wants to talk about UFOs. I have some information Some of you said, well, that's silly topic. Hey, that's what people wants to talk— the, the, the members in the community, or the community members wants to talk about. So I put thanks for vote, majority rule. To me, that's what democracy mean, you know. I can pick a topic, but I want you to be part of the conversation. It's not just me. I want you to be part of it. You know, the selection of topics, uh, I can just open it for questions. Of course I'm not going to be addressing geopolitics, but that's what they want. Maybe this time we'll do that one, and next time, if any of you has any topic you would like, uh, the community, uh, to talk about during, let me know. I'll put it to vote and we'll vote for it, and the majority will rule on that. That's the way I see it, the way I see it. So, and of course, remember also to join me on Saturday at 2100 hours for for my conversation with Carl Za at that time. So, all right, let me see, uh, some questions from you. Uh, oh, Bobby Law, you wrote, I miss Duterte, he seems like a good leader. Yeah, he was, he was tough, you know. And I know we, we were criti— we criticized him right away as soon as he start clamping on drug dealers. And to me, it was like, no, he's doing the right thing. You don't negotiate with something like that. Except that we trying to push him too far to antagonize China, and he said, no, I won't do that. So I see your point, I see your point. But on the other hand, the Filipino people voted for Marcos Jr. They are living with the consequences. The same like in every other country. Same for us here, same in Canada, Germany, France. Sunak wasn't elected, by the way. He was just appointed. He's not even legitimately a prime minister. But you got the idea. You got the idea. You know, this is where I see, um, all right, let me see. If you will be kind, just put Q so I know it's question. And I will answer it for you. Uh, Chanel, you put, Dr., would you please expose Big Pharma for the criminal they are? Oh yes, they are. You won't want me do it here on, uh, on YouTube. They'll, they'll, they'll, they'll shut it down. I mean, they are censor— they are silencing Dr. Burke, the guy with over 10 million viewers, because he talks. But I can do it on the other platform, and I'd be happy to do that. Actually, I am planning on doing something on the other platform regarding immigration that you guys need to know what's going on here in America and immigration. And I can do the Big Pharma as well, and I do have a lot to say about that one. So I will consider doing it, because if I do one here on this platform, it's going to be the soft version, and I will be limited in what I can say. All right, uh, Timeline Dunkley: if people start leaving certain countries and going to different countries, will the government try to stop them? No, they shouldn't, because why will they stop them? Yeah, they could if they start running to— by blocking their, their, uh, or invalidating their passports or something like that, but that will be tyranny. Right here in the US, people are already leaving. I am considering my options without getting into details on this. Uh, it's because of what I see coming, and because by that time it will be too late for anybody to start making plans. It'll be too late. Yeah, some country is good, but if we are to say we live in a democracy, well, I can go anywhere I want. So, so I can see some countries doing that one. All right, let me see, uh, I— so, ah, you're right, Army with Harmony. Yeah, I am here. I see what's going on in the border. I live in a state that deals with this on a daily basis and What they are not disclosing is unbelievable, unbelievable. And that's why I'm gonna— let me just share one with you just for you guys to know. Did you know that now the immigrants will be given now the right to invite, sponsor anybody they want? Those are the illegals, will be able to sponsor anybody they want. And once those people get here, they will be a afforded a stipend from the government paid by the US tax dollars. I got a problem with that. I have nothing against immigrants. I am an immigrant myself. We all of us here in this country— who is American here? We all came from somewhere, to those who argue. But at the same time, there is something called legal pathway for immigration. That's the way I see it. Whether some of us born here or not, our ancestors came from somewhere the legal way. So, so I will be addressing this kind of stuff, uh, on, on the other, uh, platform. So, all right, let me see another question, uh, here. Uh, I'm gonna scroll all the way up. A question, Dr. O, can you do the community program earlier, like at this time? What, it will be at this time, it will be at this time, uh, the, the 9 o'clock, the 9 PM, that's my conversation with Carl Zah. No, no, I do it around this time. So you are in the EU? Yeah, I usually do it at, uh, 12:15, that's usually my regular time. All right, let me see one more question, guys, and I will sign off here. And, uh, okay, we did that, we did that question. Ateen Wu, good to see you as always. Good to see you, Franny. Yeah, uh, Kevin, I agree with you. I agree with you 100%, 100%. So, all right guys, I hope you find this very informative. I know it's a topic that, uh, uh, I wasn't anticipating, but again, I wanted to Uh, to me, I don't, I don't follow trends. You all know this, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm myself. I don't follow trends, you know. To me, I'd rather be a leader than a follower. Yeah, you can follow sometimes, but when it comes down to this, I have to think in terms of the implication long terms. So the information that I share with you is the one that, that can benefit you a year from today, 2, 3, 4 down the road. I don't want to tell you the, uh, or share the information that is just, oh, some major event happened today and it ends tomorrow because it's been resolved. That is the reason why there's certain topics, and I know they are not too popular with many, but again, I am not about that. I am about the importance of the information. So, so I hope you find this very informative, and as always, I look forward to seeing you next time. As always, remember, geopolitics impacts your daily life in more ways than one. Till next time, guys. Bye-bye.