Latest / International Flavor: Where the Truth Tastes Better / USAID Demolition, NGO Money Lanes, Orban–Trump Reset, Kenya’s RMB Pivot, and Ukraine’s Risky Theater — Tonight with Samuel Trapp

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USAID Demolition, NGO Money Lanes, Orban–Trump Reset, Kenya’s RMB Pivot, and Ukraine’s Risky Theater — Tonight with Samuel Trapp · International Flavor: Where the Truth Tastes Better

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Incredibly awesome music to bring you some incredibly
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awesome political talk on damn radio Hello, good
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evening.
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Welcome.
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I am Samuel trap.
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This is International flavor or you are listening
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to here live Coming to you live from
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the Lake Ozark real estate of the art
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studio Should you feel the urge you can
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call in this evening 5 7 3 7
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4 6 8 0 2 0 I do
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have a decent amount of Topics to go
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through tonight some that are that are just
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a recap going back and looking at a
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few things that I I'm going to get
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into The I got interested in In Just
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a couple of days ago in oh and
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by the way, I apologize for not being
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available last night I was Really not feeling
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well, and I've got something going around.
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I'm not sure I'm positively out of it
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yet, but I Don't feel I don't know.
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I don't like getting sick.
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And so I just refuse to accept What
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I don't have time for it, it's a
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there's exciting news that you keep seeing I've
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seen it in many many places online and
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all the TV's are up and Keep seeing
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these things about Nancy Pelosi saying she's gonna
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retire.
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Oh my god I thought she'd stick around
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till she died in there and that's what
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they do these days.
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They just stick around until They pass away,
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I don't mean to laugh about that it's
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atrocious what what happens there, but at any
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rate I got interested in discussing Thinking about
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and going I want to go back and
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revisit The US Agency for international development because
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I got curious you don't hear much about
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it anymore and there are There are still
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NGOs everywhere and I wondered how they were
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being funded now if it's just something that
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the State Department is taking over or if
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there's other Funding that's gonna come straight through
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the Legislative branch that'll fund them directly, so
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I want to get into that a little
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bit tonight and See, what is what if
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it comes out that way?
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I have a number of Stories One of
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the big ones that I have been following
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and this wouldn't surprise me the Russians have
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been talking about this for a long time
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and I don't and this it's conspiracy theory
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kinda but it would not surprise me a
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drop with the people that are in charge
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of the planet today and And so the
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story and it came out today Not and
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it's and it's really not very long Not
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very long at all So I want to
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share it with you and I've been trying
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to find other sources for it to see
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Where we can find but let's get to
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the topic and tell you what it is.
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It's up The West is planning according to
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Russia's foreign intelligence services The West is planning
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a major sabotage at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power
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plant and Says that NATO members are pushing
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Kiev To cause an accident at the facility
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and blame it on Russia This is what
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they are saying and so and it wouldn't
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and that Wouldn't surprise me, you know is
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is of course you want to blame it
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on on Russia and so The West is
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urging Kiev to commit a major act of
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sabotage at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant That
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would lead to casualties among Ukrainian and EU
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citizens according to Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service
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and they said one of the proposals Allegedly
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put forward by Kiev's foreign back backers as
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the most effective would be to commit a
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major act of sabotage that will result in
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significant civilian casualties So the West is said
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to be considering orchestrating the incident Zaporizhzhya is
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Europe's Europe's largest nuclear power plant and They
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want to do something there so that it
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leads to a meltdown of The reactor core
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at least one and I believe there are
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six of them there so the Russian Intelligence
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states that British NGO here we are with
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NGOs again Chatham house has already Calculated the
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consequences of such an accident and they have
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determined that the residents of Kiev controlled territories
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and the EU countries near the Ukrainian Western
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borders would be directly in the area of
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the largest Radioactive dispersion and the British think
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-tank Chatham house has noted that the most
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challenging and this is their quote according to
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the the Russians the most challenging aspect of
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implementing such a plot is determining how to
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blame Russia how to attribute responsibility for the
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Catastrophe to Russia so Chatham house is allegedly
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already preparing Arguments for these developments in advance
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so to make sure that the Western public
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unequivocally takes Kiv's side in Determining who is
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responsible for the incident it noted that the
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plan is set to be similar to the
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tragedy of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 which was
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shot down over Eastern Ukraine in 2014 which
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killed 298 people on board the incident occurred
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as Kiv's troops were attempting to retake the
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Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk who said they
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were independent Ukraine and its backers blamed the
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incident on Russia and with no proof of
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course and Russia has said that the plane
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was brought down by a missile only used
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by Kiv and Here's the quote the collective
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West is once again ready to deceive and
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even to kill Ukrainians and citizens of Western
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countries in order to attribute the crimes of
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the Kiev regime to Russia and to justify
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Russophobic policy and efforts to incite the war
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said the SVR crazy sauce, isn't it?
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There's been a lot of news about Zelensky
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giving awards to more Nazi Symbol wearers that
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this is all over the news and in
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it, but you won't see it over here
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but there's plenty of video of it and
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I don't know by the way on November
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6 1943 Soviet troops Expelled and so this
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is a 1943 Soviet troops expelled the Nazis
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from Kiev and the Russians Celebrated that anniversary
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today, and so there's a small article about
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about that as well So Russia has commemorated
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the 82nd anniversary of the Red Army's liberation
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of Kiev from the Nazis Marking a key
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victory in the Battle of the Dnieper and
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one of the most symbolically significant moments of
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World War two The operation to retake the
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capital of the Ukrainian Republic began on November
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1 1943 With Soviet troops from the 1st
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Ukrainian front under general Nikolai Vatutin Launching coordinated
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attacks from the north and the south of
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the city after heavy fighting in a surprise
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maneuver The Nazi forces retreated westward on November
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6 Soviet troops entered the city ending 778
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days of the German occupation of Kiev Although
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September 6 was once a national day of
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remembrance in Soviet and post-soviet Ukraine The
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commemoration has now been removed from the official
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calendar in 2023 Ukrainian authorities dismantled the monument
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that was built honoring general Vatutin and Attempts
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to cast a heroic past of a nation
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into oblivion are doomed to fail There is
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no doubt that the day is approaching when
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this once prosperous land will be liberated from
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the rule of Nazi placeholders who are continuing
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to pillage it in their selfish selfish interests
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Said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova on
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Thursday the German occupation of Kiev which began
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in September 1941 left deep scars on the
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city and its people of the 400,000
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civilians who remained in the city under Nazi
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control fewer than half survived around 100,000
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were deported to concentration camps or forced labor
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Tens of thousands died from starvation cold or
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execution One of the most notorious atrocities was
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the Baba Yar massacre in which over 30
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,000 Jews were killed in just two days
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in Kiev by 1943 the total number of
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victim victims exceeded 120,000 as Soviet troops
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approached the retreating German forces employed a scorched
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-earth policy demolishing critical infrastructure and cultural landmarks
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including the Dormition Cathedral the Kiev Pechersk Lavra
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Monastery the Kiev Conservatory and parts of the
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city's historic Kreschatyk Street Commenting on the anniversary
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the head of the Russian is Nani a
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society Maxine Drebel Said that today's Ukraine is
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occupied not by troops, but by a harmful
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and destructive ideology back then Fascists burned down
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cities now they are burning history culture and
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tradition in 2015 Kiev adopted a package of
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decommunization laws which banned Soviet symbols and elevated
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the so-called fighters for Ukraine's independence some
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of whom collaborated with Nazi Germany and took
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part in mass killings of civilians to the
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status of National hero likes to pun Bandera
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and there there are others and I wanted
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to share with you the The what Zelensky
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did where is that?
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Where is that story I had it pulled
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up and now I can't find the Doggone
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thing and it's a it's a it is
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a good story.
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Well, it's a terrible story, but it shows
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quite a bit of Symbols that Zelensky was
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was Honoring on that on there on their
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uniforms and whatnot and Straight-up Nazi symbols
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on the wall behind him.
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It's crazy There was another Victor Orban is
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coming to the United States, and he's coming
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to meet Trump and It says that these
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conservative allies and friends are repairing Biden-era
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damage between the two and This is actually
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one of the stories that got me Reminded
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to go after and look at all the
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NGOs that are still out there and see
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how they're getting funded these days But let's
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share a little bit about what is going
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on with a Hungarian Prime Minister Orban here
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Let's see here Victor Orban intends to open
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a new phase of Relations with the u
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.s. Now remember this is where they were
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supposed to have Hungary is a place where
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they were supposed to have a Summit another
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one between Putin and Trump maybe with Orban
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coming over here that idea will be I
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don't know what will be Reborn You know,
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we never know what'll happen over there But
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he's coming over this week the Hungarian leader
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a close conservative political ally of Trump noted
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on Exxon Thursday that new opportunities have emerged
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following years of tension under Biden's administration and
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What he wrote was And he's at p
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.m. Underscore Victor Orban It's how you follow
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him on X and it's since in his
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quote was since president at real Donald Trump's
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re-election new opportunities have emerged in Hungarian
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American relations The first 10 months of this
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year marked the initial phase during which we
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repaired the damage Hungary and Hungarian American relations
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suffered under the Biden administration Isn't that crazy?
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The politically motivated sanctions have disappeared American funding
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for NGOs attacking Hungary has ended and we
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can once again travel to the United States
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without a visa With this the first phase
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has come to an end today We are
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traveling to Washington to open a new chapter
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in Hungarian American relations with President Trump Our
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goal is to establish a strategic partnership That
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includes energy cooperation investment defense collaboration and discussions
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on the post-war landscape following the Russia
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Ukraine conflict we're working on an agreement based
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on mutual benefit one that serves the interests
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of every Hungarian citizen, I think that was
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in a way a a Good statement there
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USAID Was accused way back when of funding
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anti or bun groups in March Hungary sovereignty
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Protection office accused foreign donors of channeling nearly
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70 million bucks To organizations that tried to
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undermine the Orban government The report identified the
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US Democratic Party and its allies among business
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elites as one of the main Contributors, how
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about that working alongside EU leadership and major?
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Western foundations including the Open Society Foundation the
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Rockefeller Foundation and the German Marshall Fund Hmm
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curious between 2022 and 24 US Agency for
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International Development Transferred over 10 million dollars to
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Hungarian activist groups The Trump administration has since
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moved to dismantle USAID Claiming it wasted taxpayer
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funds on ideologically driven projects that did not
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serve the u.s Biden era pressure relations
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between Budapest and Washington deteriorated sharply under the
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Biden administration They accused Orban of undermining democracy
17:45
and failing to downgrade his ties with Moscow
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in 2024 US Ambassador David Pressman labeled Orban
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a Temporary leader who could not simply wait
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out American pressure since he warned Washington was
18:04
not sitting idle the u.s. Imposed visa
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restrictions on Hungarian passport holders in 2021 citing
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security concerns measures that Trump lifted in September
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Orban has consistently criticized Western military aid to
18:23
Ukraine argues that conflict causes economic damage to
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the European Union He said the Biden administration
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Was part of a pro-war international interest
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group pushing for hostilities The Hungarian leader expressed
18:38
strong support for the old trumpster and his
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mediation efforts Including a summit between Trump and
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Putin in Budapest that was proposed last month
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Although both sides agree in principle the meeting
18:52
was postponed postponed after disagreements emerged over the
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agenda So sanctions exemptions and energy security, let's
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talk a little bit about that Following the
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delay of the summit the Trump administration imposed
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new sanctions on Russian oil Companies Hungary which
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depends on Russian crude for its refineries is
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sinking Exemptions expect that to be talked about
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when they come over Budapest has condemned gives
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attacks on the Druzhba pipeline which Allows Russian
19:27
oil to flow to Hungary and is accused
19:29
Brussels of ignoring its own legitimate energy concerns
19:33
for the sake of pro-kiev policies Ukraine
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justifies its sabotage attempt claiming that no nation
19:40
should buy Russian products anyway and blasting Hungary's
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opposition to its bids to join EU and
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NATO because Orban says, you know, he will
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not he will not Agree to that at
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all on behalf of them If you remember
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way back when the Ukrainian attacks on the
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Russian Druzhba pipeline Kiev struck it, you know
20:07
hitting supplies of oil to Hungary and Slovakia
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Three times in August and Trump was said
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at the time that he was very angry
20:16
about it, and he didn't like Kiev attacking
20:21
Those pipelines that disadvantaged what Budapest was trying
20:28
to do there was another story similar on
20:32
this topic that said where did that one
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go?
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Yep, here it is This one came out
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just today And I think it's important to
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note because this story Kiev is trying to
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conscript ethnic Hungarians, so Kids controversial conscription crews
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these Mobilization guys are attempting to enlist a
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group of ethnic Hungarian students in Ukraine's Western
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Transcarpathia Region said Hungary's foreign minister Peter so
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Gerto Ukrainian draft our officers deceived four students
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at the Transcarpathian Hungarian University in the town
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of Beregovoy Where a significant ethnic?
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Hungarian minority is based and they showed up
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at a local recruitment center Then they were
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forcefully held at the facility and pressured They
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tried to pressure them to join the military
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Sajardo said in a Facebook post that the
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students were eventually released and the Hungarian foreign
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minister has been in constant contact with the
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Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association That represents an estimated
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one hundred to a hundred and fifty thousand
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ethnic Hungarians in the region and the administration
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of the university the Ukrainian legislation is clear
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These students are exempt from conscription He said
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the fact that the four men avoided illegal
22:16
mobilization is good news But at the same
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time these type activities stressed the importance of
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peace between Russia and Ukraine The sooner there
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is peace the sooner this conscription will stop
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the regional territorial center of recruitment and social
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support Issued a statement on Thursday saying the
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claims of students being detained were untrue and
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Manipulative is what they say the men had
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been summoned to confirm their personal data But
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it turned out that three of them had
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not undergone the obligatory medical examination The Hungarians
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left the recruitment center as soon as the
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checkups were complete is what they say So
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who knows there are two sides well sometimes
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multiple million sides to every story That we
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wish to go through Let's see Remember me
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last night telling you about those horrible videos
23:18
of The Ukrainians blowing up their own citizens
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trying to get to the Russian To the
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Russian side of the of the Frontline
23:37
they were trying to get over there, and
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they blew him up right in the road
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well There's a large opinion piece that I
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encourage you to read you might go and
23:46
check out Ukraine slaughters civilians again, and then
23:52
blames Russia for it, and it's written by
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a Canadian journalist named Ava Bartlett, and so
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if you look her up She has done
24:06
Military style coverage and conflict zones in the
24:11
Middle East in Syria and Palestine and then
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in in Kiev well in Ukraine also and
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Basically I'll give a quick summary of the
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shocking video published on Russian media and telegram
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Showed the last moments of two civilians before
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they were killed by Ukrainian drones in Kupyansk
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east of the city of Kharkov The drone
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observed the first man carrying a white flag
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Universal sign for surrender I watched it is
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these are terrible or in the case of
24:45
civilians that they pose no threat before flying
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right at him Blowing him apart and injuring
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the dog walking beside him who died as
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well The second civilian upon reaching the body
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of the first crossed himself and walked on
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he was praying on his knees Repeat crossing
25:03
himself repeatedly as a drone hovered observing him
25:07
and then went on to strike him blowing
25:08
him apart as well Ukrainian media not for
25:13
the first time blamed Russian drone operators Yet
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as Russian war correspondent Alexander Semenyov pointed out
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the men were walking east on a road
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in territory controlled by the Russian Army There
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are no targets for our drones on our
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rear roads and there cannot be He wrote
25:35
predicting Ukraine propagandists would blame Russia for this
25:39
crime as well In fact a week prior
25:44
war correspondent Evgeny Podubny posted a video showing
25:49
how a Russian drone operator Elsewhere in Kupyansk
25:52
went out of his way to avoid scaring
25:55
civilians The operator was searching for a military
25:58
target But the first two crossed paths were
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two teenagers on a scooter in a second
26:04
The drone stops moving to avoid frightening the
26:07
young men after waiting for the scooter to
26:10
leave The operator steered the drone in the
26:13
opposite direction in the same post he noted
26:15
a video was posted on social media by
26:17
one of the teams teens who filmed the
26:20
drone and Said thank you for a second
26:23
life and the article goes on for you
26:27
know, quite a few examples talks about Other
26:31
examples of the same thing it's it's It's
26:37
really horrible what is going on over there
26:42
The neo-nazi problem that opinion was another
26:46
that you should read that one's written by
26:48
a political analyst called Nadezhda Romanenko and The
26:54
videos are ridiculous in there and there's plenty
26:57
of them with Zelensky over there presenting to
27:01
swastika wear and an SS symbol wear in
27:04
groups and it's I may share it with
27:10
you further on down the Down the line
27:14
here, but I wanted to cover a story
27:19
that That I want, you know That wanted
27:25
to get to something a little bit further
27:27
afield and talk about the Chinese currency because
27:34
remember I have I am of the belief
27:39
and opinion that the Dollarization is coming.
27:46
Anyway, that is what I Believe I believe
27:51
Dollarization is on its way and I believe
27:56
it's How do I how do you put
28:01
it it's a foregone conclusion It's the other
28:04
rest of the world is doing it and
28:06
there was a recent story this one came
28:08
out What was the date on this story?
28:14
Darn it.
28:14
It doesn't have it was in the last
28:16
week and it's basically Kenya's conversion Kenya now
28:21
is converting Chinese debt to its Currency which
28:28
is the renminbi and It's economic You know,
28:33
it's not saying they have strained u.s.
28:35
Ties, but but get this it last month
28:39
Kenya's Treasury secretary announced that the country converted
28:43
three major Chinese loans from US dollars into
28:48
their own currency So the original dollar loans
28:52
were worth about five billion dollars when agreed
28:55
with China their XM Bank in 2014 and
29:00
15 the funds were used to pay Chinese
29:04
contractors for construction of Kenya's standard gauge railway
29:10
Connecting Mombasa with Nairobi now remember I talked
29:14
about these sorts of these sorts of Infrastructure
29:19
projects that China is making deals on all
29:24
over the planet and I've done quite a
29:26
bit of talking about So these funds were
29:30
Where these loans started in 2014 and 15?
29:34
While this is the first time that China
29:37
has agreed to a currency conversion with an
29:40
African country Ethiopia's move to initiate talks with
29:46
Beijing on converting part of its own debt
29:49
Suggests that others will soon follow The loan
29:53
conversion will be seen as both a sign
29:56
of a Kenyan pivot towards China and as
29:59
a milestone for Chinese efforts to internationalize its
30:03
own currency But this move comes as JD
30:07
Vance Reportedly plans to visit Kenya in late
30:11
November.
30:12
He'll be the first US vice president to
30:14
do so since 2010 and it could be
30:18
seen as A Exacerbating already strained u.s.
30:26
Kenya relationships, but such narratives are too quick
30:28
to attach a wider geopolitical attention to Kenya's
30:33
economic program Kenyan president Ruto is pursuing interlinked
30:40
goals of economic stability and political survival ahead
30:44
of his own election in 2027 so when
30:47
Kenya is hit by a wider withdrawal of
30:49
u.s. Initiatives in Africa the closer Kenya
30:52
China relations are primarily reflect flexion of Kenya's
30:56
government economic goals rather than a rejection of
31:00
the dollar I'm not sure that I that
31:03
I agree with that because it still is
31:06
a continual path down the road of I
31:11
Don't want to call it De-dollarization, but
31:13
of using your intern your your own currency,
31:16
and that's a big deal So the conversion
31:19
of the outstanding loan principle is 3.5
31:23
billion It's above you know above all it's
31:26
a it's a move to reduce the pressure
31:28
of Kenya's debt burden Which has doubled as
31:31
a share of D GDP in the last
31:34
10 years so China is by far Kenya's
31:39
largest creditor You know But this commercial borrowing
31:45
and loans account for a high overall share
31:48
of Kenyan debt But Chinese railway loans have
31:52
proven You know that they're That they help
31:57
build this infrastructure, but the interest rates have
32:00
gone up So two of the loans were
32:02
set at three and three point six percent
32:04
above the US market rate So in the
32:07
five-year grace periods expired in nineteen and
32:09
twenty so a total interest cost was around
32:12
four percent So the conversion into renminbi shifts
32:16
them into China's lower interest rates of three
32:19
percent So China is encouraging these people to
32:22
refinance their debt.
32:23
This is all pressure on the dollar to
32:27
and China is I don't want to call
32:32
it predatory But they're doing they're doing some
32:35
very interesting things to make sure that this
32:38
happens Kenya's fiscal challenges Which led to the
32:41
government?
32:42
attempts to impose higher taxes under Guess what?
32:47
international monetary fund conditions that were put into
32:51
place or a catalyst for a major youth
32:54
-led protest in 2024 and President Ruto's government
32:59
is aware of similar triggers and has scrambled
33:01
to reduce liquidity pressure which lessens the urgency
33:04
to agree to new IMF programs Excuse me
33:11
Savings on interest costs with China are just
33:14
one element of Kenya's strategy to manage its
33:17
own debt Which draws upon diverse international partnerships
33:20
equally critical have been to 1.5 billion
33:24
euro bond issuances this year and a UAE
33:27
backed commercial loan as well So they have
33:30
those and I wanted to dig further into
33:33
some of those some of those Financial issues
33:41
and so I got a couple of topics
33:43
that I wanted to get to and I'm
33:44
not sure how long they will take to
33:48
get through them, but I have a decent
33:50
amount of Of Content on these and I
33:56
wanted to start with I think I'm gonna
34:00
start on USAID because I went back and
34:04
did a Segment a little bit of research
34:09
trying to find out what's going on in
34:12
the Legislative branch trying to fund these N
34:20
GO's and things that used to be funded
34:22
by US Agency for International Development including Rubio
34:27
stating that a lot of these sorts of
34:30
things have been taken over and transferred to
34:32
the State Department because I think this is
34:34
important stuff and And I want to see
34:38
it go away, but I'll Being a doubting
34:43
Samuel, I believe that a lot of this
34:46
is just going to be still funded either
34:52
directly by Congress all these NGOs or On
34:57
the sly still through the State Department budgets
35:00
and which seems to be the case So
35:02
I've got a little bit to go through
35:05
for you here So, let's start with the
35:09
world's reaction to Washington pulling the plug on
35:13
USAID after the old Trumpster Who took office
35:19
in in January?
35:22
and on January 20 the White House froze
35:25
most foreign aid for a 90-day review
35:28
and Within weeks the administration began ripping out,
35:32
you know All kinds of funding and plumbing
35:36
Terminated the vast majority of USAID programs and
35:39
shifted the other parts under the state by
35:42
March the number That everyone quoted was pretty
35:47
much the same 83% of US Agency
35:51
for International Development's programs were gone That's you
35:56
know It's a pretty good amputation of u
36:00
.s. Development capacity within a number of weeks
36:04
Independent trackers started laying out timelines European analysts
36:08
noted a gap that nobody could fill on
36:11
such short notice Even federal judges were trying
36:15
to get the administration to zero out appropriated
36:19
funds You know, but the machine wasn't just
36:23
turned off.
36:24
It was Dismantled and wheeled out of the
36:27
building.
36:27
I mean is gone is is what everybody
36:30
says But the rest of the world reacted,
36:34
you know, well in various ways, but most
36:40
mostly not no applause I Was applauding it.
36:45
I gotta tell you but around the world
36:47
there was alarm Resignation and a good amount
36:51
of people saying we told you so that
36:54
you know, you can't trust the u.s.
36:55
Basically.
36:56
Well, yeah, but it's a freaking NGOs Who
37:01
in the world said that they should be
37:03
funded by the government outside of anything having
37:07
do I still?
37:07
appreciate the argument and how all this nonsense
37:10
went down for so many years, so A
37:14
European foreign policy people, you know, they were
37:17
pretty brutal, you know about it the u
37:20
.s. Is abandoning us abandoning a key tool
37:23
of influence, you know, and there's a crises
37:26
that are stacking up, you know, the the
37:28
European Council on foreign relations said that Retrenchment
37:33
is gonna boomerang as humanitarian shocks and political
37:37
instability land on Europe's doorstep Yeah, but why
37:40
should the u.s. Fund all that?
37:42
That's what I want to know European Parliament's
37:45
and think tanks You know was said that
37:47
by mid-march They said 83 percent of
37:51
USAID programs were shut and a 60 billion
37:55
dollar gap Was out there when they admit
37:59
the EU couldn't pay Because it had its
38:03
own budget problems translation Washington created a vacuum
38:07
and Europe can't fill it overnight.
38:09
Well, I don't understand why we should pay
38:12
for all this crap anyway editorials and briefings
38:15
across the world said it was You know
38:19
strategic the Guardian called out the geopolitical cost,
38:23
you know Of course, they say they're losing
38:26
ground to competitors who they also published reporting
38:30
from West Africa that complicates the saintly image
38:34
of big-box aid That you know Europeans
38:38
aren't romantic about, you know development But they're
38:41
they they sure like what it buys in
38:44
their own influence, right?
38:46
And they see the u.s. Dumping a
38:48
tool.
38:49
It spent decades Refining but it's not refining.
38:52
It's a bunch of criminals, you know that
38:54
they pay themselves these inflated salaries They they
38:58
take college kids and instantly give them two
39:01
to three hundred thousand dollars a year for
39:03
crap jobs All you got to do is
39:06
go over and be a social media Influencer
39:09
in Ukraine and they pay you but tons
39:11
of money.
39:11
It's nonsense so Africa says the African press,
39:17
you know for them.
39:18
It's you know anger They Balance basically up
39:24
over here yawn, and I'm really sorry to
39:26
to two basic truths one The cuts definitely
39:29
hurt and to over reliance on US pipelines
39:33
was always a risk the Daily Maverick did
39:36
modeling and warn the math was ugly millions
39:38
shoved toward extreme poverty as the program money
39:43
Evaporated now, I disagree with that, you know
39:46
millions of people shoved toward extreme poverty They
39:49
weren't saving the poverty.
39:50
It'd be different if they were something being
39:53
done but it's just handout money and a
39:56
tenth of what it ought to be because
39:58
the cost of these NGOs was all extremely
40:01
top-heavy and all these people that pocketed
40:04
all kinds of money and and then they
40:06
would you know all of the funding thing
40:08
that Rubio would talk about or anybody would
40:10
talk about doge would talk about when when
40:13
they were Starting these issues and you know,
40:17
I'm frankly glad it happened three years from
40:19
now.
40:20
Oh, it'll be back and they're trying to
40:22
do it even now, so but it's it's
40:26
I Don't know the East African clocked the
40:31
politics taking all assistance on day one Jolted
40:35
governments and NGOs that run on predictable cash
40:39
flow.
40:39
Yeah Free money basically Columnists called for you
40:45
know, getting rid of donor dependence and building
40:47
domestic revenue, but they said that's a long
40:50
way away So right now They say Africa
40:53
still needs free money.
40:55
I don't I don't agree with that Reuters
40:59
string of Dispatches from Haiti to southern Africa
41:04
says that clinics are shutting down on Fridays
41:07
Malnutrition screenings are suspended in HIV and TB
41:11
lines aren't always You know getting covered because
41:14
the funding is walking away UNICEF warned of
41:17
a 20% budget drop by 2026 with
41:21
US cuts as a central driver, but why
41:23
in the world are we paying for all
41:25
this?
41:25
Why what I mean, I don't understand that
41:28
the World Health Organization Flagged TB response in
41:34
high-burden countries where USA ID had paid
41:38
over a quarter of the costs historically For
41:43
that yeah, but it cost three times that
41:46
to pay all the salaries of the DNC
41:48
that are doing it So how about let's
41:51
talk about some faith-based in humanitarian people,
41:55
you know that I wanted to find out
41:56
about that They're basically saying people are gonna
41:59
die because of a policy changes Caritas internationales,
42:05
which is the Vatican's global charity network?
42:09
said catastrophic reckless and warned that abrupt shutdowns
42:14
would kill people Amnesty International called the cuts
42:18
chaotic and they documented studies where life-saving
42:22
services were frozen midstream But again, nobody ever
42:28
says why the u.s. Has to be
42:30
the one to fund this I am UNICEF
42:35
said fewer vaccines fewer kids in school less
42:39
protection from trafficking and recruitment you don't have
42:43
to agree with that, you know, but When
42:46
when the biggest donor?
42:49
jolts the system They say that the people
42:53
on the margins, you know that are in
42:55
these extremes Scenarios that they pay the most
42:58
and they pay first.
42:59
I Disagree, I think the people that are
43:02
the top heavy ones pay first and they
43:05
you know, but they've got so much money
43:06
It doesn't freaking matter most time.
43:08
They just move on to the next freebie
43:10
job where you don't have to do anything
43:11
You know high paid high paid do-gooder,
43:15
right?
43:15
What kind of job is that?
43:17
Seriously how hard can it be to distribute
43:20
free money and keep a hell of a
43:22
lot of it for yourself, right?
43:25
Anyway, I'm probably bitching that I shouldn't be
43:27
bitching about because it's probably not all that
43:30
terrible But I'm telling you there are many
43:33
many many of these programs are just crap
43:36
And we all know that Let's see Development
43:41
watchers people who actually read spreadsheets said that
43:45
this wasn't about You know tweaking priorities the
43:51
Kaiser Family Foundation compiled the freeze the cancellation
43:56
the Relocation to being under state and the
44:02
knife fights, you know in court over rescission
44:06
Analysts at the Center for Global Development have
44:09
country and sector level estimates based on leaked
44:12
termination list and The conclusion was pretty consistent
44:17
for these guys.
44:19
It's a cliff not a slope I mean,
44:21
they're just cutting it and frankly, you know
44:24
if you're gonna get rid of it Anyway,
44:26
probably, you know, just like in Seinfeld, you
44:29
know when Seinfeld George we're talking about getting
44:32
rid of a girlfriend Like a band-aid
44:35
rip it off.
44:36
Yep, rip it off be done with it.
44:38
So let's talk about u.s. Courts in
44:40
Congress, right?
44:42
the subplot so while the executive branch of
44:45
you know, unilaterally cut off millions courts tried
44:49
and still are To challenge the idea that
44:53
the president can cancel Congressionally appropriated funds by
44:57
running out the clock with rescission Reuters coverage
45:01
said judges tapped on the brakes, but the
45:04
relief was partial and they didn't Force the
45:06
administration to restart canceled contracts Congress is split
45:11
some try to keep discreet lines alive global
45:15
health here refugee fund there But the administrative
45:18
machinery that runs those lines the NGOs parts
45:22
anyway had already been gutted So, you know
45:27
And hopefully this will stick, you know and
45:29
I'm wondering because you want to see my
45:32
main my main theory was that it the
45:35
the a-holes in the Legislative branch are
45:41
just gonna refund it Directly instead of doing
45:44
it, you know They'll refund these NGOs with
45:47
government money and do the exact same thing
45:50
With zero oversight just like it was before
45:53
with no no controls of any kind just
45:56
hand money to you know, whatever whatever Senators,
46:02
you know nephew is running whatever, you know
46:04
global recipient of free money at a huge
46:09
salary and then passing on a tiny portion
46:12
to People that are in need and get
46:15
in are supposed to be the ones getting
46:17
the bulk of the money Doesn't appear that
46:19
way let's talk about the China and Russia
46:23
Angle what they have said so Beijing says
46:27
that the shutdown, you know in this getting
46:30
rid of the NGOs and stuff is proof
46:34
That the u.s. Only funds you funds
46:39
these things when it's convenient They said that
46:43
the u.s. Closure show that America is
46:46
turning inward Well, maybe that's partial and they
46:50
called it a win-win Whether you buy
46:54
that or not It's cheap for them to
46:56
say, you know, and it's expensive to counter
46:59
it once you you know, shut off your
47:01
own NGO Funding so Chinese commentators didn't need
47:07
to you know They note that less US
47:10
money in global media and civil society means
47:13
fewer critical stories about China in Western Outlets,
47:17
so it's a self-inflicted information deficit, so
47:22
You know, it's a For the u.s.
47:25
Says the u.s. Is all about, you
47:27
know telling these whatever Lies they wish to
47:31
do over the planet and and you know
47:35
and a lot of it has to do
47:37
with these extremely left-wing Things that none
47:43
of us support anyway Well, let's see, but
47:48
it does it's definitely Uncomfortable for the aid
47:51
lobby these days and that makes me happy
47:54
some African reporting and commentary argue that that
47:58
big NGOs Grabbed most of the money drove
48:01
up local salaries and then the when the
48:06
grants were over they you know, it wasn't
48:09
that big of a It wasn't as big
48:12
as it could have been because the money
48:14
wasn't getting there Anyway, all of these people
48:17
were having these huge salaries because they were
48:19
NGO guys the Guardian Described These West African
48:27
voices as stop start aid packages and broken
48:31
promises Yeah, the u.s. Exit was a
48:34
strategic goal and yes the old models Were
48:39
paternalistic and both are True together is what
48:44
the Guardian said and so, you know Everybody
48:48
you can understand both points of view you
48:51
can understand that Okay, maybe that maybe there's
48:54
some people that you would prefer to help
48:57
aren't getting help But I look at it
49:00
as more of a point of view Well,
49:01
the the system itself was so cocked up
49:04
Why in the world would you want to
49:05
continue to fund it the way that the
49:08
way that it has been being funded?
49:10
so, I don't know the Where are we?
49:17
Who warned that TB programs will slip quickly
49:22
without u.s. aids one-fourth share of
49:27
Donor funding in the Washington Post said the
49:31
axe coming over the u.s. Pledge Threatened
49:35
childhood immunization pipelines that according to them saved
49:40
tens of millions of lives, right so we're
49:45
just supposed to pay for this forever because
49:49
Tens of millions of lives are out there.
49:52
We're supposed to do this, right?
49:54
What about the rest of the world?
49:56
You know, where does the rest of the
49:58
money come from?
49:59
Why is our percentage so high?
50:02
That's what I want to know UNICEF said
50:06
tell it said budget shrinkage and program triage
50:10
coming in 2025 and 26 But I want
50:16
to know where it's coming from, you know
50:18
where that and and I haven't seen it
50:19
I wanted to have a look at You
50:23
know, if you want the policy All I
50:25
wanted to do is do it legally one
50:27
theme in foreign coverage everywhere that American Audiences
50:32
sometimes miss is Process does matter because it
50:39
signals reliability When u.s. Court say the
50:42
White House can't time out Congress's purse power
50:46
editors and other capitals Similarly say well, yeah,
50:52
they don't it's not because they love the
50:54
process because they just want something more Predictable
51:00
What about us wanting something more predictable?
51:04
What about us wanting to know where why?
51:09
We have no programs that take care of
51:12
our own people But all the money all
51:14
over the world is supposed to come for
51:16
us from us to take care of everyone
51:18
else What do we do for our own
51:21
here?
51:21
Not enough?
51:23
You know Anyway businesses NGOs and ministries, you
51:28
know, they budget on multi-year cycles, so
51:34
they want to they're trying to regroup and
51:39
use European Chinese Gulf state financing and things
51:45
like that, but these are these aren't as
51:51
For my view these are not as easy
51:53
So every time I go through and I
51:56
read all these stories about where the money
51:58
is gone and what it's happening it's always
52:00
it's always an Expectation that the u.s.
52:06
Is supposed to we have to be Consistent
52:08
we have to consistently fund all of these
52:11
programs.
52:12
Why?
52:14
Why do we have to consistently fund them
52:19
I Tell you what, you know There were
52:24
talks remember all the talks about stopping and
52:27
starting in the waivers that they wanted to
52:29
be granted field teams were told that emergency
52:32
exceptions existed, but then the They were not
52:37
paid anyway And they were Trump didn't want
52:41
to pay them and get rid of it.
52:43
That's refugee stories from the New York Times
52:46
back in February You know, they froze money
52:50
and then didn't give it to him Contractor
52:52
and local staff layoffs man.
52:54
This was awesome.
52:55
I thought it was great So drivers were
52:58
read hired to let go nurses shifted to
53:00
private clinics Project vehicles were parked in West
53:04
Africa that it was the the clinic no
53:08
longer running on the weekend This is the
53:10
Guardian saying, you know that story research and
53:14
trials paused You know New contracts new ways
53:22
to get him says Reuters says USAID would
53:26
take at least on the tuberculosis side that
53:30
it would take literally six to eighteen months
53:33
to rebuild the structure that was there because
53:36
of the freebies that The u.s. Was
53:40
passing out and the UN Agencies are trying
53:44
to figure out how to do this UNICEF
53:47
and others are cutting programming and staff UN
53:51
system is not a bottomless pit, you know
53:57
But American money is Whenever you read these
54:01
things like geez look what America did and
54:04
it didn't that's it It's oh, it's never
54:07
anything except gee there was all this free
54:09
money and now there isn't that that's it
54:12
And so Trump is all guilty.
54:14
I like that.
54:15
It was that it was taken out.
54:17
So let's say There's there's a couple other
54:22
things even the president called the impacts Devastating
54:26
at one point and insisted that others should
54:29
pick up the tab and I happen to
54:32
agree with that thought processes court courts blocked
54:35
some of the cancellations state of The Secretary
54:40
of State's office carved out small exceptions, you
54:44
know there were some of these things that
54:46
still continued to work, but none of the
54:49
huge headlines chained in the it changed in
54:52
the 83% is a very serious number
54:56
that those programs were really taken apart And
55:00
I remember watching Rubio a little bit later
55:03
In April, I think it was where he
55:07
was saying well we've brought some of the
55:11
programs that we wish to keep are Coming
55:14
under the Department of State and they will
55:16
have some oversight they will have some review
55:19
some direction from the government and not just
55:23
NGO people doing what they want, you know
55:26
jacking up salaries for people that run them.
55:29
So What about the partners let's talk about
55:33
foreign ministers and finance people That you know,
55:38
they don't They want to watch money people
55:41
and logistics.
55:42
So here's what they're saying in Nairobi Pretoria
55:46
Lima, Jakarta US reliability is in question not
55:52
because a single budget line moved but because
55:55
the entire delivery platform was scrapped well You
56:01
did anybody think that the u.s. Will
56:04
just start all this up when the old
56:06
trumpsters gone from office I Think it'll go
56:11
back to The way things were sadly I
56:15
really do You know allegedly Europe is attempting
56:20
to replace some of the With its own
56:24
politics and fiscal rules and things like that,
56:27
but they don't have the money for it
56:29
And we don't either by the way, who
56:31
does have the money China is starting to
56:34
fill some of the gaps and they You
56:38
know, they are advertising Their own development models
56:43
in the PRC state media is already Rolling
56:47
out a number of these sorts of programs
56:50
to fill it in and do a lot
56:51
more on the especially in the global South
56:56
so, I don't know it's I Say aid
57:01
isn't charity.
57:03
It's supposed to be an instrument for change
57:07
so You know don't act surprised when other
57:12
When a country takes it away, you know
57:14
if they can't afford it Well if the
57:17
instrument of change should be in the United
57:20
States first, don't you think I sure do
57:23
If it's our money, why are we funding
57:26
weirdo programs?
57:28
And I don't know Zimbabwe, you know, and
57:31
I made that up I don't know of
57:32
any in specific but Rubio had lists and
57:35
lists of them that he was reading because
57:37
remember he had that one It's one of
57:38
my favorites to watch of him when he
57:42
was interviewed on Capitol Hill and one of
57:45
the senators go I I wish I could
57:48
withdraw my vote for voting for you.
57:50
And he said well, I brought the numbers
57:52
He goes tell me what potential?
57:55
Good, we got out of funding I Don't
57:59
know Kindergarten drag shows or whatever and I
58:03
don't remember the exact ones kindergarten drag shows
58:06
that took a place In this country or
58:09
whatever, but the old model was just rot.
58:12
It was rotted It was bloated you'd have
58:16
fly-in consultants You'd have starting and stopping
58:19
that but you know, they said it before
58:21
we did the inefficiency Was huge and the
58:26
demolition frankly needed to happen, you know The
58:33
courts, you know the courts didn't give these
58:36
people what they wanted on this day They
58:38
said that the US Constitution still means something
58:41
in appropriations But it didn't put field nurses
58:44
back on payroll.
58:46
You know what I mean?
58:47
So What does the replacement actually look like
58:51
of the 17?
58:51
After the 17 Percent
59:02
went back to the Secretary of State's office.
59:06
So the state's Office of Foreign Assistance Still
59:11
does a bit of Some of the things
59:14
that were removed public diplomacy media crowds, you
59:18
know You can still push for more money
59:20
But as the development trades have said in
59:23
plain English That is certainly not a one
59:26
-for-one swap of USAID's project design then
59:29
which had contracting Field presence all these other
59:34
things you can outsource some pieces, but you
59:37
can't outsource the institutional money or relationships That
59:43
is what the foreign commentariat kept circling back
59:46
to So even if they could open these
59:52
Pipelines, I suppose you could call them later
59:54
the people this this this was a a
1:00:00
Hand grenade thrown into the entire system.
1:00:03
Frankly.
1:00:03
I loved it And so I will you
1:00:05
know, what what is the next you know
1:00:07
that that foreign capitals are are gaming on
1:00:11
they're saying that TB and immune is immunization
1:00:14
is recovering but it'll take longer to get
1:00:17
there through Who and UNICEF and they've already
1:00:21
adjusted their expectations downward because the u.s.
1:00:24
Isn't just funding at all USAID's Media lines,
1:00:29
that's what I wanted to get rid of
1:00:31
those are gone So the National Endowment for
1:00:34
Democracy though is funded straight through Congress now
1:00:37
again But smaller they are a little bit
1:00:42
smaller so fewer fewer Propaganda outlets on the
1:00:47
u.s. Side and people are taking some
1:00:50
notice on that European Council on foreign relations
1:00:53
Ours are saying that the EU should step
1:00:56
up amid foreign aid cuts from the Trump
1:00:59
administration, so I Don't know in one of
1:01:03
the stranger turns the president called the downstream
1:01:07
effects devastating like I told you before even
1:01:11
while they were still looking to do deeper
1:01:13
cuts and you know, it's They want to
1:01:17
get rid of them.
1:01:18
So I mean there was there's plenty to
1:01:20
see in that but it looks like it's
1:01:24
been pretty damn complete and I I Like
1:01:29
it that it that it is staying that
1:01:33
way and You know, I wanted to talk
1:01:36
about that But I also wanted to dig
1:01:38
in a little bit if I could Into
1:01:42
because I started with that Kenya story about
1:01:46
swapping the Chinese debt into its own currency,
1:01:52
which is actually not quite De-dollarization, but
1:01:58
it will have an impact and the fact
1:02:01
that a couple other countries are doing the
1:02:03
same thing.
1:02:04
So Who's likely the next ones?
1:02:07
I did a little bit of research on
1:02:09
that and what did Kenya actually do?
1:02:12
They converted the big standard gauge railway loans
1:02:18
From US dollars to their own currency and
1:02:22
that helped them lower the interest costs of
1:02:25
their own loan and The annual savings was
1:02:29
about two hundred and fifteen million dollars, right?
1:02:34
business daily Africa ran the math and said
1:02:37
that this is Economically good for them.
1:02:41
This is why they are doing it and
1:02:42
you're gonna run into more and more of
1:02:44
this Because interest rates in China are far
1:02:47
lower than they are here why this makes
1:02:51
sense for They're saying that Nairobi is gonna
1:02:54
have this issue because federal driven US dollar
1:02:58
rates Are killing budgets right China has to
1:03:04
trade rate cuts so they give a rate
1:03:07
cut to switch to the the Local currency
1:03:12
so that is I mean, it's a hell
1:03:14
of a plan and it means well Remember,
1:03:19
we're still in negotiation with China.
1:03:21
Things aren't things aren't all that wonderful.
1:03:24
Oh, by the way, did you see the
1:03:25
the Jaishankar video where he came out and
1:03:30
he said and he did it again and
1:03:32
I love listen to that guy You should
1:03:34
go out and look at it on YouTube
1:03:35
and see I'll see if I can find
1:03:36
it and play it for you on Sunday
1:03:38
night, maybe they'll I'll do a bit of
1:03:40
a bit more of a deep dive into
1:03:42
that because he was talking about Even after
1:03:47
all of the attacks on India by President
1:03:51
Trump over the last several weeks That India
1:03:55
isn't the largest Purchaser of Russian oil and
1:04:02
gas oil is China gas is still Europe
1:04:08
That buys over from and that's not India
1:04:12
And so he they're the ones taking all
1:04:14
this attention and it was a pretty good
1:04:16
a pretty good It was only a five
1:04:20
-minute speech by him, but it was a
1:04:22
it was a pretty powerful and you know
1:04:24
once again, he he did pretty well, anyway,
1:04:27
let's get back to the debt switch and
1:04:30
what's happening with these debts because remember a
1:04:33
Lot of debt why why are people getting
1:04:36
debt not from the International Monetary Fund not
1:04:39
from the World Bank and they're getting them
1:04:41
direct from China's belts and roads initiatives or
1:04:46
through other funding direct funding of projects straight
1:04:52
up by the various banks in China Well,
1:04:58
they're doing it because China doesn't demand That
1:05:03
they I Don't know back Gaze or whatever
1:05:08
that you have to that you have to
1:05:10
accept these other conditions in order for the
1:05:12
IMF to fund you or to recommend funding
1:05:17
so China doesn't do that.
1:05:20
And so now they have a lot of
1:05:21
debt out there that they own from other
1:05:24
countries and The they're encouraging them just like
1:05:28
they did in Kenya.
1:05:29
They're encouraging them to swap and switch to
1:05:36
Their national currencies but trading in their own
1:05:40
national currencies Which is becoming easier and easier
1:05:43
as they go and if it's saving like
1:05:46
it did in Kenya 213 215 I'm sorry
1:05:50
million a year Hell, why wouldn't you do
1:05:54
it?
1:05:55
You know instead you're gonna stay in the
1:05:57
dollar.
1:05:57
What's Trump gonna do about that one?
1:05:59
The dollar is What this is this is
1:06:03
gonna this will cause it to take a
1:06:05
bit of a hit, you know over time,
1:06:07
so let's see and The Fed rates, you
1:06:11
know, the US dollar rates are still hurting
1:06:14
and Kenya and China linked imports Are now
1:06:18
going to be paid in RMB and that's
1:06:23
according to a lot of think tanks including
1:06:24
one of them that Chatham house, too So
1:06:27
the RMB markets are getting thinner for you
1:06:32
know less costly for African countries and No
1:06:37
matter how you slice it Their funding is
1:06:40
still less costly than the US dollar alternatives
1:06:44
through IMF and World Bank so If a
1:06:48
government's hard currency are mostly US dollars and
1:06:51
euro switching debt To Into Chinese money
1:07:02
Doesn't eliminate in all currency risk, but it
1:07:05
certainly lessens it.
1:07:06
So who else is moving towards these?
1:07:09
Let's let's get a bit of a list
1:07:10
here.
1:07:11
Okay?
1:07:12
because We want to know if it's d
1:07:15
dollarization or if it's just smart finance It
1:07:18
appears to me to be the smart financing
1:07:20
if it's going to save you 213 Million
1:07:24
a year, of course, you're gonna do it
1:07:26
if all things else being equal, right?
1:07:29
So let's look at Ethiopia in formal talks
1:07:32
with Beijing to convert parts of of its
1:07:35
own 5.38 billion China debt There they're
1:07:39
in that conversation right now, and if they
1:07:42
do swap that it's gonna save them Probably
1:07:45
double what it's gonna say what it's saving
1:07:48
currently in Kenya.
1:07:49
So Ethiopia definitely Indonesia is planning to debut
1:07:54
offshore Bonds with China and talking with China
1:08:00
about Refinancing all its own high-speed rail
1:08:03
debt.
1:08:03
That's Bloomberg is reporting that Bloomberg's the one
1:08:06
who reported the Ethiopian talks with China to
1:08:10
convert dollar loans to you on and the
1:08:13
same thing This is in mid-october the
1:08:16
same thing Indonesia plans to do Debut yuan
1:08:20
bonds same thing Egypt Memorandum of understanding already
1:08:25
exists to expand local currency settlements and explore
1:08:31
Chinese cooperation Chinese Development Bank is what that
1:08:34
is a pipeline step for liquidity in North
1:08:38
Africa That's that's Egypt there Egypt's doing it
1:08:41
too And so China keeps widening these lines
1:08:46
and clearing houses and publicity Pushes all across
1:08:50
all kinds of borders and that that one
1:08:53
was brought to you by Reuters that that
1:08:56
was It was initially in April, but it
1:09:01
was updated in late August that story So
1:09:05
again, there's the the question.
1:09:07
I wanted to know is is this real
1:09:09
d dollar a d dollar ization?
1:09:12
or Smart refinancing or is it refinancing that
1:09:17
just results in d dollar ization?
1:09:20
But it's the same effect no matter how
1:09:22
you slice it anyway, right?
1:09:27
Let's go through the payments the RMB still
1:09:31
sits around about all Global Payments and they
1:09:37
keep they are going up there There at
1:09:41
3% reserve share is still 2%
1:09:45
of disclosed global Financial reserves and that's according
1:09:49
to the IMF and the Fed so the
1:09:52
dollar is still the big dog That's not
1:09:54
anything that people don't but for a handful
1:09:58
of debt stressed countries with major China Exposure
1:10:01
chop swapping to the yuan can produce real
1:10:05
cash flow Relief which is why can you
1:10:09
did it and Ethiopia and Egypt are In
1:10:14
Indonesia are probably going that way, too so
1:10:20
Huh, I Find it very interesting that this
1:10:24
is what they are doing.
1:10:26
Oh, and I forgot I found one more
1:10:28
little comment that What because I wondered if
1:10:35
there were still any Man I can't believe
1:10:39
I forgot this points at the bottom of
1:10:41
my my bricks because I'm such a bricks
1:10:44
a bricks Connoisseur and have a look at
1:10:50
it.
1:10:50
I wanted to know if u.s. Funds
1:10:53
we're still NGOs or Or think tanks or
1:10:58
whatever funded by the u.s. That there
1:11:03
are still NGOs that Counter bricks that are
1:11:07
attacking bricks and that answer turned out to
1:11:11
be yes national endowment for democracy and several
1:11:16
others still get grants to attack bricks countries
1:11:23
and the bricks discussions, so They're not as
1:11:28
large as they used to be they're down
1:11:30
post USAID for international development, but they're not
1:11:34
gone so there's still plenty of anti bricks
1:11:41
info Being pushed out these days but USAID
1:11:49
agency for international development is Hopefully not coming
1:11:56
back anytime soon So there you have it
1:12:03
Let's see, there were a couple other good
1:12:06
stories I wanted to get to on these
1:12:08
opinion pieces especially there's quite a bit of
1:12:14
Discussion about New York going on around the
1:12:19
world People are talking about this I'm sure
1:12:24
people if they've paid any attention to anything
1:12:27
at all Trump saying that people are going
1:12:31
to be fleeing the communism in New York
1:12:35
City, right and It's it's a very interesting
1:12:44
story that came out this evening by a
1:12:48
guy named Graham Hurt said as I think
1:12:52
how you say it he's for an Australian
1:12:53
journalist and a media lawyer And so this
1:12:59
week This and he is this this guy
1:13:02
is young this Zoran Mamdani And I don't
1:13:05
I I knew nothing about him until they
1:13:08
were all talking about it All talking about
1:13:12
it on election day So mom dummies victory
1:13:16
was nothing to write home about his main
1:13:19
opponents were the aging and tarnished Former Democratic
1:13:23
governor Andrew Cuomo who has been plagued by
1:13:27
sexual harassment claims for years and the uninspiring
1:13:31
Republican Curtis Silva in an election characterized by
1:13:36
record voter turnout over two million New Yorkers
1:13:41
voted Mom, Donnie won with 51% of
1:13:46
the vote Cuomo received 42% and Silva
1:13:50
got 7% What makes the victory?
1:13:54
significant is that he is self-styled as
1:13:59
a Democratic Socialist and he was Elected mayor
1:14:04
without being endorsed by the Democratic Party leadership.
1:14:08
Most of whom including Chuck Schumer Refused to
1:14:13
endorse him at all Mom Donnie is a
1:14:17
34 year old Muslim of Indian heritage who
1:14:21
was born in Uganda His father is a
1:14:24
prominent black studies academic and his mother is
1:14:27
an acclaimed filmmaker So mom Donnie a former
1:14:31
celebrity rapper social worker and state assemblyman ran
1:14:36
on a left-wing populist program that focused
1:14:39
exclusively on Alleviating cost-of-living pressure for
1:14:43
ordinary New Yorkers He promised to deliver rent
1:14:47
freezes free public transportation free childcare City owned
1:14:52
grocery stores and universal health care He promised
1:14:56
to build 200,000 affordable new houses with
1:14:59
union labor.
1:15:00
I wonder how he's gonna pull this off
1:15:03
Whether he can actually he implement this program
1:15:06
is by no means Clear New York City
1:15:10
is five billion dollars in debt and the
1:15:13
New York State Government and governor can severely
1:15:17
limit what a New York mayor can do
1:15:19
But mom Donnie is a strong critic of
1:15:22
America's support for Netanyahu and Zelensky so I'm
1:15:26
for him for that and has stated explicitly
1:15:29
that he would fund his reforms by increasing
1:15:33
taxes on New York based Corporations and the
1:15:37
ultra-rich that control them.
1:15:40
So the program Contrasts with my MAGA for
1:15:46
sure and which is based on magical thinking
1:15:50
demonizing America's supposed internal enemies and leaving America's
1:15:55
economic structure and whiting inequalities of wealth intact
1:15:59
now, I don't agree with that sentence, but
1:16:02
It's still part of this article that I
1:16:05
am that I am What do you call
1:16:08
it commandeering?
1:16:09
Mom, Donnie maintained throughout the campaign that unlike
1:16:13
Trump I can deliver for the working-class
1:16:18
He you know if his economic program was
1:16:21
implemented It would benefit those groups that he
1:16:25
represents in any rational view cost of living
1:16:28
pressure on ordinary Americans can only be relieved
1:16:31
by redistributing wealth Downwards from the haves to
1:16:35
the have-nots But some left-wing commentators
1:16:38
have seen mom Donnie's rapid political ascendancy is
1:16:43
a transformation of the Democratic Party into a
1:16:46
party that is as it once was focused
1:16:50
on representing the traditional working class and other
1:16:54
groups in society that have been pauperized and
1:16:59
alienated by Globalization interesting take right-wing commentators
1:17:06
say that mom Donnie's a communist a terrorist
1:17:09
sympathizer an Anti-semite and see him as
1:17:13
a dangerous threat to America.
1:17:16
I Don't know but this lady thinks that
1:17:20
These views are fundamentally mistaken He is a
1:17:26
peculiarly New York phenomenon, and there is no
1:17:30
Possibility that his radical economic program will be
1:17:34
adopted by the current Democratic Party leadership Despite
1:17:38
his claim that his campaign is a referendum
1:17:41
on where the Democratic Party goes in the
1:17:44
future Nor is mom Donnie a serious threat
1:17:47
to American society in Fact his reform program
1:17:51
is a modest one That at present stands
1:17:56
little chance of attracting a majority of American
1:18:00
voters who remain content to vote for the
1:18:05
flailing and increasingly irrelevant Democratic Party or alternatively
1:18:11
Trump re-energized populist Republican Party New York
1:18:16
is a democratic city in a democratic state
1:18:19
when Kennedy and Clinton Launched their political careers.
1:18:23
They ran for the Senate in New York
1:18:25
and were elected unopposed basically Donald Trump and
1:18:30
Musk implicitly acknowledged this fact when they endorsed
1:18:34
Andrew Cuomo rather than mom Donnie's Republican opponent
1:18:38
in A desperate attempt to prevent him from
1:18:42
Donnie from being elected New York City has
1:18:45
had left-wing populist mayors in the past
1:18:48
most notably Fiorello LaGuardia and more recently bill
1:18:54
de Blasio Mom Donnie's of grassroots politician who
1:18:59
stayed on message throughout his campaign and it
1:19:01
was based on his own personal brand of
1:19:05
savvy and sophisticated use of social media He
1:19:09
focused on winning over young New Yorkers who
1:19:12
have been left behind by globalization together with
1:19:18
Disaffected workers Black people and members of immigrant
1:19:22
communities that have suffered similar fates New York
1:19:26
is the most expensive city in America to
1:19:29
live in.
1:19:30
I wonder if that's true I always started
1:19:32
with San Francisco, but maybe it is it
1:19:36
is still New York the Democratic Party leadership
1:19:39
views mom Donnie as an aberration and a
1:19:43
threat and Refused to support him.
1:19:46
It is unsurprising that major media networks Pointedly
1:19:51
refused to endorse him the modern-day Democratic
1:19:55
Party which is not represented the working class
1:19:58
for decades is Committed to protecting the interests
1:20:02
of global elites Hence, it's a lot slavish
1:20:06
adherence to their woke globalist ideologies such as
1:20:11
catastrophic climate change Diversity privileges and the me
1:20:17
too movement and transgender rights even though these
1:20:21
ideologies continue to alienate an increasingly large number
1:20:26
of ordinary American voters Roosevelt's pragmatic New Deal
1:20:32
reforms which broadly favored the working-class Trade
1:20:36
unions and minorities have been wound back since
1:20:40
the 70s not only by Republicans but just
1:20:44
as brutally by Democratic presidents Clinton and Obama
1:20:48
That is why the traditional working-class together
1:20:52
with large segments of black and Latino communities
1:20:56
Have deserted the Democratic Party over the last
1:20:59
decade and now vote for Trump.
1:21:02
They do so not Necessarily because they believe
1:21:06
in Trump's populism But because they refuse to
1:21:09
vote for a party that no longer even
1:21:12
pretends to represent them It is true The
1:21:16
Democratic Party has always tolerated left-wing populist
1:21:20
For example, William Jennings Bryan Huey Long George
1:21:24
Wallace and Bernie Sanders But only so long
1:21:28
as there remain local politicians and do not
1:21:30
attempt to radically refashion the party's economic agenda
1:21:35
The Democratic Party can therefore live with Mamdani
1:21:38
unless his mayoral victory Sparks a wider movement
1:21:42
to radicalize the party if that occurs this
1:21:47
is the the the image Mamdani will be
1:21:50
ruthlessly cut down as Bernie Sanders was in
1:21:55
2016 by Hillary Clinton and the glass ceiling
1:21:59
and transgender rights brigades The conservative critique of
1:22:04
Mamdani and the well-funded smear can campaign
1:22:07
conducted against him is of course absurd in
1:22:11
irrational, but McCarthyism and anti-intellectualism Are now
1:22:16
at the heart of contemporary American politics Mamdani
1:22:22
is neither a communist or a terrorist sympathizer
1:22:25
Nor is he anti-semite in fact many
1:22:29
New York Jews opposed the mass killings in
1:22:32
Gaza and enthusiastically support Mamdani in the UK
1:22:38
Australia and most eastern European countries Mamdani would
1:22:42
be seen as a mainstream social Democrat But
1:22:47
in America an explicit social Democrat Economic agenda
1:22:52
is always demonized as communism hmm Perceptive where'd
1:23:01
that go?
1:23:03
American historians in the 50s most notably Lewis
1:23:07
Hart viewed America as being perpetually trapped in
1:23:11
a liberal liberal capitalist consensus in which socialism
1:23:17
Even its moderate social democratic form has failed
1:23:21
to emerge as a significant political force Unlike
1:23:24
in the UK Australia and most European nations
1:23:28
There are powerful social democratic labor parties that
1:23:31
have shaped politics Since the earliest 20th century
1:23:35
the complete failure of socialism in America Explains
1:23:39
why the Democratic Party in the 70s so
1:23:42
eagerly adopted pro-globalist Ideology like Affirmative action
1:23:48
and gay rights and why it remains so
1:23:52
firmly wedded to their woke globalist ideology today
1:23:58
Contemporary America is no longer liberal indeed.
1:24:03
It has become illiberal under Trump's right-wing
1:24:08
populist presidency and that is unlikely to change
1:24:12
in the foreseeable future the power elites a
1:24:17
term coined by Historian see right mills in
1:24:20
the 50s that control America can live with
1:24:23
Trump Because they know he will protect their
1:24:26
economic interests, which he does all the time
1:24:29
Even those among the elites would much prefer
1:24:33
Democrat president Friday a lot Ideological reasons they
1:24:38
will tolerate Trump as does the current Democratic
1:24:42
Party leadership The truth is that the Democratic
1:24:45
Party funded by large corporation and fixated on
1:24:48
cultural wars would rather lose Elections to MAGA
1:24:52
Republicans then permit a moderate reformist like Mumdami
1:24:55
To radically reshape the party's economic program How
1:25:00
else can one explain the party's decision to
1:25:03
run Hillary Clinton for president in 2016?
1:25:08
Persist with the dysfunctional Biden as a presidential
1:25:11
candidate and replace him with the inept candidate
1:25:15
a diversity candidate Kamala Harris Harris is determined
1:25:19
to run again in 2028 and the Democratic
1:25:21
Party might allow her to do so Ensuring
1:25:24
yet another Presidential election defeat the Democratic Party
1:25:29
sees Mamdani as a radical threat But it
1:25:32
would rather sponsor endless and pointless No King's
1:25:35
demonstration than adopt economic programs like Mumdani's That
1:25:40
is the only agenda that will allow them
1:25:42
to begin to effectively counter Trump's right-wing
1:25:46
populism Mumdani's fate is mirror is likely to
1:25:50
mirror that of other American socialists and left
1:25:53
-wing populists His influence will be severely curtailed
1:25:57
by the Democratic Party leadership and he will
1:25:59
remain a marginalized and localized New York political
1:26:03
figure that is in large part because Mumdani's
1:26:08
Reformist economic program is still anathema to the
1:26:12
vast majority of American voters His agenda clearly
1:26:15
resonates with a majority of disaffected voters in
1:26:19
New York City But it is electoral poison
1:26:22
elsewhere Especially in the Midwest and the American
1:26:26
South only a radical reformed Democratic Party could
1:26:30
alter this state of affairs and That would
1:26:34
be a herculean political task that shows no
1:26:39
sign of Embracing Mamdani's likely fate does not
1:26:44
bode well for America's future But in rejecting
1:26:49
and demonizing the basic principles of social democracy
1:26:54
including moderate reformist economic programs America has condemned
1:27:00
itself to right-wing populist future that can
1:27:04
only become progressively more unstable Illiberal and irrationally
1:27:12
dysfunctional to believe that Zoran Mumdani can single
1:27:17
-handedly reverse the current trajectory of Contemporary American
1:27:23
politics is a naive illusion Unpalatable as it
1:27:30
may be it is the real meaning of
1:27:34
his election victory This week I Liked that
1:27:40
article and even though I don't agree with
1:27:42
it all But I wanted to share it
1:27:45
with you because I thought that the New
1:27:46
York story.
1:27:47
I was interested because he was Where was
1:27:53
he born again this guy?
1:27:54
I forget where he was was was born
1:27:58
Where'd he go?
1:27:59
Um They're Uganda, that's what I thought I
1:28:05
wanted to say it But he's of Indian
1:28:07
heritage, and he's Muslim and he's from Uganda,
1:28:11
so I don't know I think I think
1:28:16
I Agree with the bulk of what was
1:28:19
said in here that he really isn't gonna
1:28:21
have all that big of an effect on
1:28:23
National politics, that's what I think and worrying
1:28:27
about him Probably Isn't Something you should waste
1:28:34
your time on Especially if you don't live
1:28:37
in New York City and trust me New
1:28:40
York State is gonna try to curtail what
1:28:42
he can do anyway Especially if he's if
1:28:45
their budget deficit is as big as they
1:28:47
list on here At any rate I have
1:28:51
covered all I plan to cover tonight I
1:28:56
Will be back with you on Sunday evening
1:29:03
Nine o'clock until 1030 and I Have
1:29:09
a Research paper in the works for that
1:29:13
that I would like to share with you
1:29:16
That we're gonna talk about and I would
1:29:18
be happy to discuss that with you at
1:29:21
that time You can listen to me Sunday
1:29:24
through Thursday nights 9 p.m. To 1030
1:29:27
p.m. You can always go out to
1:29:29
internationalflavor.com and Rerun the shows at your
1:29:35
convenience JR does a great job of putting
1:29:38
them all out at damn radio.com forward
1:29:40
slash live as well and So you have
1:29:44
plenty of opportunities to go and listen to
1:29:47
them Damn radio.com forward slash schedule if
1:29:51
you want to find out what's up on
1:29:53
this schedule.
1:29:53
Have a very good night damn radio damn