Latest / International Flavor: Where the Truth Tastes Better / Bias, Borders, and Breakaways: AI Filters, X ‘Freedom of Reach,’ Canada-China Visa Shift, and Europe’s Tech Detox Playbook

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Bias, Borders, and Breakaways: AI Filters, X ‘Freedom of Reach,’ Canada-China Visa Shift, and Europe’s Tech Detox Playbook · International Flavor: Where the Truth Tastes Better

• 0:00
  Hello, good morning. Welcome. I am Samuel Trapp. This is damn radio. You are listening
• 0:08
  to international flavor coming to you live from the Lake Ozark real estate of the art studio.
• 0:15
  How does that make you feel? I hope it makes you feel good this morning.
• 0:19
  You know, when you're sitting around in a world of nothing but bad news, I mean,
• 0:25
  when do we get good news? And I suppose it's the shock content. Ever since I was a kid,
• 0:31
  you got everybody fighting for a headline. Now everybody's fighting for clicks.
• 0:38
  I believe I'm guilty of this. You go in and you look for the click, what news you're interested in.
• 0:45
  What does that mean? Does it mean that we are creating our own news in part?
• 0:54
  Hmm. It's a curious thought because I believe that your requests, certainly in AI, there's a
• 1:02
  danger in AI, okay? I don't know if everybody knows this, but I've been doing quite a bit of
• 1:08
  research on AI over the last year and getting some things together for me. And I use it pretty
• 1:16
  frequently. And it is getting much, much better extremely quickly. And that in itself is scary.
• 1:26
  I've sent you a couple of stories about AI and how AI, now they're talking about bias, you know,
• 1:36
  AI bias. But the AI bias is something like, and I'm not, how do I want to put this? I don't want
• 1:49
  to be negative about AI because I'm not. I'm extremely positive. But like any platform, like
• 1:54
  any technology, it's going to take a little bit of development. It's going to take a bit of getting
• 2:01
  used to. And what I have discovered using it every day for at least the last year, you know,
• 2:09
  I've been using it for some fantastic things to get things done. And I had a, I did some research on
• 2:21
  my research, okay? And I actually, how do you want to put it? Natively came up with this. It wasn't
• 2:30
  something I read online, but everybody else has come to the same conclusion. So, when, well, not
• 2:37
  the same, but very similar. So, I've shared with you stories before, like in England, that case
• 2:43
  where a Qatari attorney, unlicensed in Britain, hired a British attorney. And he gave the British
• 2:58
  attorney some case law that he had developed on AI. At least he's the one who took the fall for it
• 3:04
  because they went all the way up to the high court. And in the high court, they were smacked down
• 3:10
  because they had a whole bunch of law that was not law. It was a law that didn't exist. And the
• 3:19
  guy who was a lawyer in another country, he's the one who took the blame anyway. No, the guy took the
• 3:28
  punishment anyway because he should have checked. But he, the other guy tried to make it easy on him.
• 3:36
  And that's happened a few times, a few different states here in America. I follow it sometimes. And the
• 3:41
  danger is of submitting incorrect cases. It will research and find for you, potentially, incorrect case
• 3:53
  law. So, you use it on LexisNexis or you use it on Westlaw or any of the big ones. There's quite a few big
• 4:00
  platforms out there that advertise that they have the AI links. And the only way to do it is to build
• 4:08
  your own. And so, you've got to build your own and you have to have your own system and your own
• 4:13
  mechanism for verification, even if you're using any of the big ones. And that's just how it works.
• 4:19
  And it's like that with everything. But the discussions on a whole lot of these places are the
• 4:24
  bias that just your questions have. And I don't know if you've looked at this or not, but if you
• 4:31
  go on to Grok or DeepSeek or any of the, ChatGPT, I think, even has it. A couple other ones have
• 4:39
  them on there. And you have yourself the vocals. So, you're having a vocal discussion with your
• 4:49
  AI. I've done this before. And you put the AI lady up there. I always use a woman. I don't know why.
• 4:55
  I just use a woman to talk back to me. Maybe I like a woman talking back to me. Who knows? But
• 5:01
  I use a woman's voice. But you can pick anything. You can pick like an Australian, I don't know,
• 5:07
  backwoodsman, if you want to, on a lot of these places. You know, please respond to me in Russian.
• 5:12
  I do that all the time. And I use it quite a bit for trying to get direct translation.
• 5:21
  And it's hard to do. And even that, you got to check. Okay? So, because all of these things,
• 5:27
  there are a billion bits of information going out. That's why the power takes so much.
• 5:32
  But you can have it research documents for you and read these documents in grand form. But the
• 5:42
  bias based on your questioning is extremely interesting. There's a lot of discussions going
• 5:49
  up on that. And I say stay tuned on that because there's a lot of discussion about this going on.
• 5:55
  And, you know, there's several different global forums about this AI. And it's very,
• 6:04
  very important. They're using it in military. They're using it
• 6:11
  in analysis of intelligence. Is that frightening or what? There's plenty of frightening stuff.
• 6:17
  Anyway, stay tuned on this, on the AI part. In fact, just while I'm sitting here, JR has all
• 6:24
  the TVs up running on here. I suppose it's not JR. All the TVs are always up. But there's one up
• 6:31
  here that says combating bias in AI. Holy crap. Combating bias in AI. And maybe it was subliminal.
• 6:40
  People talked about your telephone before telling you what you wanted to see. Or your phone spying
• 6:46
  on you. And all of a sudden you start getting news stories that on a discussion you had with
• 6:52
  somebody at lunch and your phone was laying on the side of the table. Who's spying on who?
• 6:57
  Scary stuff, friends and neighbors. Stay tuned because we're going to get into a little bit of
• 7:02
  this. I wanted to share with you this morning, over the last few days of my show, I have been
• 7:11
  sharing with you a lot of the events that went on in Davos. And the fracture that's evident
• 7:22
  in world politics and in some of the things that's going on. The Carney Trump
• 7:30
  discussions that have been, I don't know, that were a big part of the media last week.
• 7:37
  Certainly for me, it was a big deal what they were talking about. I want to share with you,
• 7:42
  and it's a little bit longer than I normally do, but it's a news story from, who is this?
• 7:51
  It's somebody with only 65,000 subscribers. So nobody huge on, it's a news channel,
• 8:00
  but it's not a huge one. And it's a story on Mark Carney. And I brought to you in full his
• 8:16
  speech last week in Davos in front of everybody. And I also brought to you quite a bit of
• 8:22
  on Davos since that time. And Canada and the shift, the diversion on,
• 8:34
  well, maybe the hedging of their bets would be a better way to put it. The hedging of their bets
• 8:42
  with going to China. And one of the things that came out recently, and what China has been doing,
• 8:51
  they did it with America too, by the way, we have this visa free travel to China. So going to China,
• 9:00
  you could never really go before. I mean, you could, but it's a pain in the ass to get a visa.
• 9:06
  And I don't mean your visa mastercard, I mean, getting a visa. So for me, this is a part of my
• 9:11
  life anyway, because I like to travel. And if you go to Russia, my visa, and I've told you about this
• 9:19
  on my Russian stuff, my visa expires the end of February, and I'm all depressed because I have to
• 9:24
  go get another one. And I got fortunate in the last time that I got a three-year Russian visa.
• 9:35
  And usually you get a, it's called a mnogokratnaya,
• 9:42
  more than one time, multiple entry, you get a multiple entry visa to go back and forth.
• 9:49
  When my wife came here from Russia, she got a multiple year, multiple entry visa to come back
• 9:59
  and forth to the United States. Very hard for a Russian to get coming to America, but she had one,
• 10:06
  and she had come back and forth a number of times, traveled the United States, liked it, you know,
• 10:11
  going back and forth. I've done the same thing going back to Russia. But it's no guarantee that
• 10:15
  you'll get a second one. It's no guarantee. They don't have to let you in if they don't want to.
• 10:22
  And so I'm certainly going to apply for a new one, because one of the highlights of my life
• 10:30
  has been being able to go to Russia at will. I've gone once or twice a year, once three times,
• 10:37
  I've gone to sanatoriums, I've gone to some fantastic places over there, and I've got some
• 10:42
  excellent stories of Russia, of Russians, of the culture over there, of all that other stuff.
• 10:48
  It's something that to me is important in life. And visa-free access to travel is one of the
• 10:56
  strong things that people fight for on their passports, right? They rate passports. You can
• 11:03
  go out and you can find a country. America used to be number one. We're somewhere in the, I don't
• 11:09
  remember where, like in the top 20 somewhere, with the visas as far as the number of countries
• 11:15
  we can go to visa-free without getting a visa to go to a country. Russia is advancing, but they're
• 11:22
  much further down the list. And China is pretty far, well, they're getting better, you know,
• 11:28
  where they are down there. I haven't looked at the list in a while. But the last time I looked,
• 11:32
  America was in the, it was between 10 and 20. I want to say 15, 16 down the list now. And we're
• 11:39
  no longer in the top 10. But we used to be in the top 10. And some of your places have the number
• 11:47
  one. I should probably look it up for you and tell you which one it is that have the visa-free
• 11:50
  travel. But of big news are the China-Canada talks. And so I wanted to share with you this.
• 11:58
  And one of the big deals is visa-free access between the two countries. And this is,
• 12:08
  well, at least the Canadians going to China. We may have to check out and see what they've allowed
• 12:13
  on the Canadian side. But they were pretty clear. And I don't think it goes both ways yet. But I
• 12:20
  don't know. We're going to listen to this story because it's a good story. And it falls in line
• 12:26
  with what we've been talking about, about Davos, about the rupture in world politics, about the
• 12:31
  rupture in hegemony and one country rule, although Trump is trying to re-install that, as it were,
• 12:40
  but without any hangers on. It's now brute force, period. We're brute force. Do what we say. And
• 12:47
  he's actually smacked down. There are plenty of stories about Trump tariffs. And he's not going to
• 12:54
  talk to Carney anymore. There's been a bunch of that going on as well over the last couple of days
• 13:00
  as a result of Davos. And so we're going to share this article because when I listened to it, I
• 13:05
  thought it was fairly well done. So here we go. It's called Canada-China Talks Achieve a Major
• 13:11
  Breakthrough. OK. And you can, we're going to listen in even now. Where are we? And to make
• 13:19
  sure we have it. Here we go. In recent years, the relationship between Canada and China has been
• 13:30
  characterized by turbulent exchanges, escalating tensions and trade restrictions. Diplomatic
• 13:36
  spats between the two nations have caused significant rifts, especially in sectors like
• 13:42
  trade, security and international politics. However, a pivotal moment of reconciliation
• 13:48
  occurred in January 2026 when Mark Carney, prime minister of Canada, made his first
• 13:54
  official visit to Beijing in over five years. The meeting marked a dramatic shift in the diplomatic
• 14:00
  and economic relationship between Canada and China, as both leaders signaled a commitment
• 14:05
  to moving beyond past discord. The visit by Mark Carney and his meeting with Xi Jinping,
• 14:12
  president of China, represented an important reset of Canada-China relations. It was not
• 14:17
  just a meeting between two heads of state, but a declaration of intent to rebuild trust and
• 14:23
  cooperation after years of strained interactions. At the heart of this historic meeting was the
• 14:30
  shared desire to open new doors for collaboration and strengthen mutual respect between the two
• 14:36
  nations. With an increasingly complex global environment, the relationship between Canada
• 14:41
  and China is evolving into a more stable and pragmatic partnership. The visit was a clear
• 14:48
  effort to break free from the tensions of the past. For both countries, the reset had far-reaching
• 14:54
  implications across multiple sectors, including trade, travel and diplomacy. This marked a fresh
• 15:01
  opportunity for Canada and China to foster a positive, mutually beneficial relationship moving
• 15:06
  forward. The atmosphere in Beijing was one of cautious optimism as both nations sought to
• 15:12
  reconcile differences and explore areas of shared interest. Trade has long been a cornerstone of
• 15:19
  Canada-China relations, but in recent years, the two countries' economic ties were strained.
• 15:25
  Political disagreements and the imposition of tariffs and trade restrictions created
• 15:30
  obstacles for industries in both nations. In particular, Canada's agricultural exports were
• 15:36
  adversely affected by punitive tariffs, especially in sectors such as canola seed,
• 15:41
  a crop for which China has historically been one of Canada's largest markets. During the high-level
• 15:47
  talks in Beijing, Mark Carney emphasized the importance of rebuilding the agricultural trade
• 15:52
  relationship, noting China used to be the largest market for Canadian canola seed. We want to not
• 15:58
  return to those levels but to surpass them. The discussions were centered on removing the
• 16:04
  barriers that hindered trade and revitalizing Canada's export industry, especially in agriculture.
• 16:10
  One of the major announcements from the talks was a preliminary agreement to reduce tariffs
• 16:16
  on a range of agricultural products. China agreed to lower tariffs on Canadian canola seed
• 16:22
  to approximately 15% by early March 2026, down from the significantly higher tariffs that have
• 16:29
  been imposed in recent years. This move is expected to have a profound impact on the Canadian canola
• 16:36
  industry, which had struggled due to prohibitive tariffs. Industry leaders in Canada expressed
• 16:42
  cautious optimism, hoping that this reduction would restore competitiveness and stabilize the market
• 16:48
  for Canadian producers. The reset in trade also went beyond agriculture. Both countries
• 16:54
  recognized the need to diversify their economic relationships. While the United States remains
• 17:01
  Canada's largest trading partner, there was growing recognition that Canada must reduce
• 17:06
  its reliance on one market. As the global economy continues to evolve and uncertainties mount,
• 17:12
  deepening trade ties with other major economies like China is seen as an essential step in
• 17:19
  ensuring Canada's long-term economic stability. In light of ongoing trade tensions with other
• 17:24
  nations and the risks of over-dependence on one market, Canada has increasingly sought to
• 17:30
  strengthen its relations with China. By improving ties with China, Canada is positioning itself to
• 17:37
  a more prominent role in the global economic system, reducing its vulnerability to market
• 17:43
  fluctuations in the United States and beyond. For China, the benefits of improving trade relations
• 17:49
  with Canada are equally significant. As one of the world's largest consumers of agricultural products,
• 17:57
  China sees the opportunity to source high-quality goods from Canada as a way to enhance its domestic
• 18:03
  market. Beyond agriculture, China is also keen to tap into Canada's vast resources and technology
• 18:10
  sectors. Both leaders expressed interest in expanding collaboration in areas such as clean
• 18:18
  technology, electric vehicles and advanced industries, marking a shared commitment to
• 18:23
  advancing industrial partnerships and technological innovation. Another major outcome of the meeting
• 18:30
  between Mark Carney and Xi Jinping was the announcement of a visa-free travel agreement
• 18:35
  for Canadian citizens. This breakthrough represents a significant shift in people-to-people relations
• 18:41
  which have long been hindered by restrictive visa requirements. The announcement was a welcome
• 18:47
  one for Canadians who for years faced cumbersome visa processes when traveling to China.
• 18:53
  I'm very pleased to share that President Xi, in our meeting today, has committed to ensuring
• 18:58
  visa-free access for Canadians traveling to China, said Mark Carney. This announcement was not just a
• 19:05
  practical step forward, it symbolized the intention of both countries to open up avenues for greater
• 19:11
  engagement, especially in sectors like tourism, education and business. The decision is expected
• 19:19
  to have immediate positive effects on Canadian citizens who will benefit from easier access to
• 19:25
  one of the world's most significant global markets. The visa-free travel arrangement is
• 19:30
  likely to stimulate tourism, academic exchanges and business collaborations between Canada and China.
• 19:37
  More students, tourists and business people will have the opportunity to engage with each other,
• 19:42
  fostering greater cultural understanding and economic ties. This agreement also marks a clear
• 19:48
  signal from both nations that they are ready to overcome past tensions and work together more
• 19:53
  cooperatively. Moreover, this agreement carries symbolic weight as it demonstrates a shift towards
• 19:59
  more open and transparent communication between the two nations. It is a tangible manifestation
• 20:06
  of the reset in diplomatic relations, providing an opportunity for Canadians to experience China
• 20:12
  more directly and for Chinese citizens to visit Canada with fewer bureaucratic hurdles. The high
• 20:20
  Mark Carney and Xi Jinping were not just limited to trade and travel. The discussions also touched
• 20:27
  on broader strategic issues, including security, regional stability and cooperation on global
• 20:34
  challenges. Over the past decade, political disputes, security concerns and retaliatory
• 20:39
  measures had created significant obstacles to meaningful dialogue between Canada and China.
• 20:46
  Diplomatic engagement had become sporadic, with trust eroded on both sides. During the talks,
• 20:53
  both Carney and Xi emphasized the importance of managing differences through constructive dialogue
• 20:59
  and cooperation. They recognized that while their nations may not always agree on every issue,
• 21:06
  there are still areas where they can find common ground. The reset in relations reflects a mutual
• 21:12
  understanding that stability and cooperation are crucial, especially in an increasingly
• 21:17
  unpredictable global environment. The reset also underscores the importance of sustained diplomatic
• 21:24
  efforts as both countries work towards more predictable and transparent engagement. Mark
• 21:30
  Carney stated, we may not agree on all issues, but through continuous communication, we can
• 21:36
  differences effectively and build a foundation of trust for the future. As Mark Carney wrapped up
• 21:42
  his visit to Beijing, both sides expressed optimism about the future of their relationship.
• 21:48
  The announcements made during the visit represent a positive shift in the trajectory of Canada-China
• 21:53
  relations, but the work is far from over. While agreements on visa-free travel and trade have been
• 22:00
  reached, the details of these agreements still need to be fully implemented and new challenges
• 22:05
  may arise in the coming months. The visa-free travel arrangement, for example, requires both
• 22:11
  nations to ensure that administrative and security procedures are in place. Likewise, the reduction
• 22:17
  in tariffs on agricultural products will require further regulatory steps to finalize and ensure
• 22:24
  that both sides uphold their commitments. The implementation of these measures will be crucial
• 22:30
  in determining whether the reset will lead to tangible long-term benefits. The success of the
• 22:35
  reset also depends on the continued political will from both sides to follow through on their
• 22:41
  promises. Canadian business leaders, farmers, and investors are watching closely, hoping that
• 22:47
  the momentum generated by this visit will lead to long-term stability and growth. There are still
• 22:54
  risks and uncertainties, particularly as both countries navigate the changing dynamics of global
• 22:59
  trade and politics. Nevertheless, the reset represents an opportunity to move beyond years
• 23:06
  of diplomatic tension and toward a future of more stable and pragmatic cooperation.
• 23:13
  The high-level talks between Mark Carney and Xi Jinping in January 2026 represent a significant
• 23:20
  turning point in the relationship between Canada and China. The agreements made during the visit
• 23:26
  from the visa-free travel arrangement to trade breakthroughs signal a new chapter in diplomatic
• 23:31
  relations between the two nations. By focusing on areas of mutual interest, both countries have laid
• 23:39
  the groundwork for a stronger, more cooperative future. The road ahead may not be without its
• 23:45
  but for now, both Canada and China are committed to building a more stable and predictable
• 23:51
  relationship. Whether this newfound partnership will endure and thrive will depend on how well
• 23:56
  both nations manage to overcome challenges, stay committed to their promises, and ensure that this
• 24:02
  reset produces tangible results. For now, both nations are focused on turning the page to a new
• 24:09
  chapter in their diplomatic relationship with a clear emphasis on cooperation,
• 24:14
  economic engagement, and people-to-people ties.
• 24:41
  Oh, darn. And then he'd throw it away. That didn't work. At any rate, one impossible thing
• 24:47
  is creating a positive world. It appears to me sometimes. And so I want to focus on
• 24:58
  how important that step is globally and what a punch in the nose it is to the United States
• 25:08
  based upon what happened in Davos last week and these talks ongoing in multiple areas with
• 25:20
  China and other countries, by the way, because they're not alone. Europe is doing the same thing.
• 25:26
  They're creating, they're diversifying, and this is some of the effect of how Trump does it. Now,
• 25:35
  some of it's natural anyway. Some of it has to go this way. So I'm not blaming the old Trumpster.
• 25:42
  I'm saying that these multiple pathways, I speak about this all the time, and how
• 25:50
  the world is changing. You need to either get on board or get off and push. We got to go in the
• 25:59
  right direction here. And the right direction is not all the conflict. I don't prefer to take on a
• 26:10
  world where everything is about dominance. Everything is about I'm in charge. You outliers
• 26:21
  there just follow me. And I don't like that form of leadership. I dislike it. And I've always been
• 26:31
  that way. I'm much more of a cooperative leader. Anybody ever take any of those psychological
• 26:39
  profilers? I'm an INTJ. And the J at the end is a little bit, that's a judgmental portion of it.
• 26:46
  And I haven't done one of these in a long time. In fact, I can't recall what they all mean anymore.
• 26:51
  But I, I believe is intuitive. I'm an intuitive sort of guy, big picture sort of guy. And so
• 26:58
  how, and these, we used to use them for hiring when I was an HR director for Fortune 500 companies.
• 27:05
  We would use them because they're actually a pretty good indicator of how you approach
• 27:11
  problems in life. And if you don't know what they are, get on there. And I forget what it's
• 27:15
  called. The Briggs Myers, Myers Briggs or something like that, personality profile.
• 27:21
  And you can get online and take it. I don't know what they charge you for them these days. Back
• 27:26
  then we were paying, I don't know, a couple hundred bucks every time we sent somebody to
• 27:30
  go get one. And, but they were very useful because that's, and if you're working as part of a team,
• 27:37
  you need various types of people to guide a ship, right? And Trump would be on the,
• 27:49
  on the dictator side for sure, but he's highly performance, you know, performance oriented,
• 27:55
  highly structural, highly negotiating, you know, all those things. So if you can,
• 28:02
  and, and I might look into that for us because it's kind of a cool thing, but, but how you
• 28:08
  approach problems in the world is almost as important as what you do when you get there.
• 28:13
  Okay. And I try because I'm a little bit on the, I'm intuitive, but I'm also a realist. And the
• 28:20
  problem is, is that that means I'm somewhat negative. I don't mean it because I'm really
• 28:26
  not. I'm a generally positive guy, but I think of all the problems that could come up, I'm always
• 28:33
  thinking about it. I started out by talking to you about AI and the bias that is slanted towards
• 28:38
  things. And it's still part of the same focus and the positive outlook of China and Canada
• 28:46
  right now is something that I prefer over the force concepts. I don't like being forced
• 28:56
  to do things myself. And therefore I don't like forcing other people. I believe in more of a
• 29:02
  libertarian stance when it comes to that, you know, whatever you're doing more power to you,
• 29:07
  God bless you. Uh, just don't interfere with what I'm doing. I don't like that. I don't like
• 29:12
  government overreach telling me what I got to do, you know, and, and part of that goes to your Myers
• 29:17
  Briggs personality profile, you know, who you are, how you adjust, how you approach things. Right.
• 29:24
  And, uh, and, and it's important to know who you're dealing with. And I believe that the world
• 29:29
  is changing much of the world has taken shape because of the domineering attitude of the United
• 29:38
  States over the last, at least 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet, uh, the Soviet union and
• 29:44
  how horrible, uh, we deal with international problems. We are dictator. We are colonialists.
• 29:56
  And that is, uh, I don't like that approach. And so I talk about it all the time and a lot of it
• 30:02
  gets to where let's go back to it to a second with the article on Canada and China and the
• 30:08
  positive nature of that 11 minute blurb that I gave to you about the China, Canada talks and
• 30:17
  all the things that they're talking about from canola oil to visa free travel, US citizens
• 30:24
  that go to mainland China. Okay. I've looked into this before. You generally have to have a visa
• 30:32
  and you can get a 10 year multiple entry visa for tourism or business. You can, you have to,
• 30:38
  you can go to their place online. You can, you have to upload documents, submit passports. Now
• 30:43
  it's pretty involved in order to get one, right? There's a couple of visa free options, you know,
• 30:49
  cause I've, I've looked into this recently and, uh, you can go to Chinese visa centers and I'll,
• 30:54
  I'll tell you how I got the Russian one. Cause I'm going to have to go through it again.
• 30:57
  And it's a similar, similar approach over there and coming back the other direction
• 31:04
  from Russia to America, from China to America is, is equally
• 31:11
  hard steps. You know, it's not easy. You know, it's, it's, it's a process definitely. Um,
• 31:18
  and you have to submit your passport physically to the Chinese visa center, Russian visa center too.
• 31:25
  And, uh, some of the, some of them have been simplified over time, but the basic rules are
• 31:30
  this. You have to use an online visa application form. She got to fill out.
• 31:36
  You do the same for Russia, but I think that one's only in written form. I had to go to Houston.
• 31:42
  Uh, first time I got a visa, I went to Washington DC to go get it. And I believe you can go to
• 31:48
  Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, or Houston, uh, Houston, DC, New York, San Francisco,
• 31:57
  uh, any one of the Russian consulate centers to, uh, get a visa. And I've done the Houston
• 32:05
  and the Washington DC to the, go to the Russian consulate to get a visa and take your passport.
• 32:11
  And it's a long wait. When you get there, you better plan a couple of days. Uh, the last time
• 32:17
  I went, it was a mail-in process and it was 10 times better. And I got the three year, but it
• 32:21
  costs me a hell of a lot of money and you, you give it to a private firm, but they take care of
• 32:26
  it for you. A hell of a lot of money. The typical thing, it'd be a couple of 300 bucks. And I think
• 32:31
  I paid, I don't know, seven 50, something like that. But, uh, I don't remember. And, uh, so
• 32:37
  the application process for China is you fill out the application online. You can get a simplified
• 32:45
  tourist visa. You're no longer required to submit along with your visa because here was the pain
• 32:51
  you had to submit your air, air tickets, your round trip tickets. So you buy the tickets and
• 32:58
  then you find out whether or not you can go. And a lot of times they want to know what specific
• 33:03
  hotel you're staying in. You need an invitation from somebody to get a tourist visa. There are
• 33:09
  all kinds of, uh, of, uh, requirements or historically there have been, and they're
• 33:15
  trying to make visa free travel is kind of a priority with a bunch of these people.
• 33:20
  So the documents you got to submit, usually you got to submit your whole passport, the physical
• 33:25
  passport itself with a six month or more validity period, meaning you got at least six months left
• 33:31
  on your, on your passport to a blank pages of a stamp area in the back of your, you know,
• 33:40
  where your visa gets where you, where they stamp it when you come in. Uh, but
• 33:48
  Americans are no longer required to submit to get a simplified tourist visa. You don't have to
• 33:54
  submit your round trip, air tickets, your hotel reservations, or an invitation letter to be a
• 33:59
  tourist. Now for business, you do, it's a different, different sort of deal. The documents,
• 34:04
  you know, you have to get a visa photo, the complete application approved for where you
• 34:10
  reside, a driver's license and utility bill. Usually you can get a, uh, L, uh, which is a
• 34:17
  tourist visa, a business visa, which is class M or a family visit Q Q visa. And then you submit it.
• 34:24
  Well, then they have similar rules for all this and their countries where it's extremely hard.
• 34:28
  Well, as Americans, we've been kind of spoiled, uh, where you could go places and never have to
• 34:34
  worry about these processes because we were up on the top of the list for, for where we would,
• 34:39
  uh, get our, our, our visa when you just show up and showing up, you'd get your visa right there
• 34:48
  when they stamp it. Right. And you stamp it, you make it easy to come in and out. And then
• 34:54
  when you stamp it, you have whatever the time period is per country, you know, 30 days,
• 35:00
  90 days, 180 days. Uh, again, Canada, us used to have one where it was, uh, you could come over
• 35:06
  and you could stay for six months at a time. And so at the border crossing, which you could drive
• 35:10
  across up in Minnesota, we would drive across into Canada and drive back for shopping and for
• 35:15
  whatever. And it's all based on the person who is looking at your visa application. Well, you get a
• 35:21
  jerk, you can probably get out of line, go around a circle and come back. I've told the story before
• 35:27
  about me being an idiot when I was in the military and, uh, went to Mexico from, uh,
• 35:34
  what was the name of that, that place, Fort Huachuca, Fort Huachuca is in Arizona.
• 35:40
  And I was there for, I don't remember, uh, two months or three months for some kind of a
• 35:45
  school and a Russian speaking helicopter school. But, uh, it was, it was for a quick fix set of
• 35:53
  system. Quick fix was a collection and jamming platform for helicopters. And, uh, so I went to
• 35:59
  this school and it was, I was there for a while. I was, uh, you know, uh, took my crew chief. I was
• 36:04
  the interpreter, excuse me. And we would go to, anyway, we went to Mexico and on the way back,
• 36:09
  I wasn't, I was an idiot. You know, I was young, stupid, and thought I was, and I was a smart ass
• 36:13
  in a second. And I have a history of not taking things seriously enough. And so we drive across
• 36:20
  the border. Uh, actually we didn't drive. We drove down to the border in my, my old blazer,
• 36:26
  and we got out and walked across the border, did some, whatever the town is in, uh, across the
• 36:31
  border from Nogales that I don't remember. And we, um, it might even be Nogales. I don't remember,
• 36:37
  but, but, uh, we went into, uh, Nogales right there and crossed the border and we went across
• 36:43
  and we spent the day over there, uh, or the weekend, I don't remember. And then we were
• 36:47
  coming back and I was a smart ass, important safety tip, never be a smart ass because, uh,
• 36:54
  I handed the guy my military ID to get back. Um, you hand, I gave him my military ID and I was
• 37:02
  with seven or eight other military guys. And we were, we went across and we were coming back.
• 37:08
  And, um, on the way back, you know, I'm the smart ass and, uh, the, the border guy,
• 37:18
  the now it's called ice. The, the, uh, border guy standing there says, uh, uh, state your state,
• 37:27
  your country. Well, what country do you, and I'm like, I looked at him like he was nuts. And I was
• 37:32
  like, I was like, I just gave you my military ID. And he says, state your country that you reside
• 37:39
  where you reside. And I said, Jesus, Israel. And I was like, you got my ID. He took me into custody,
• 37:50
  took me upstairs and interrogated me for two, three hours. Don't screw around with those guys.
• 37:55
  It's a bad plan. And the whole reason was because I was a smart ass. So that's an important safety
• 38:00
  tip. But, uh, but I, I never lived that down because I was a senior ranking guy at the damn
• 38:07
  thing. It was my team for God's sake. And, uh, at any rate, it was completely idiotic. And, uh,
• 38:13
  so at any rate, never screw around at the border in any country. Uh, I told the story before of
• 38:20
  when I was in Russia last, uh, I went to Russia several times. Uh, let's see two, three times in
• 38:28
  the last year, I drove across from Georgia, the country of Georgia into, uh, Russia and, and went
• 38:36
  to, uh, I mean, it was awesome. And I got to go to the place where, uh, uh, Sergei Bodrov, uh, famous
• 38:44
  Russian actor was killed in an avalanche while, while doing a movie. And it was a very, very cool
• 38:51
  trip, but driving across coming from Georgia into Russia, there's a border dispute of a little state
• 38:57
  in between the two. I forget the name of it, but, uh, Abkhazia, I don't remember. But, uh, in between
• 39:04
  the two countries, it's a, it's a, you leave one country and you got to exit Georgia and enter
• 39:09
  Russia. And there are, you know, I had a visa. I had a Russian visa. I've had a Russian visa for
• 39:14
  three years and one of the trips when I was driving across and that entry into Russia took about
• 39:22
  an hour and a half. And we were in a line and they were, they were pretty serious at the border,
• 39:30
  both directions, by the way, because we flew in and out of Tbilisi and in Georgia and back and
• 39:36
  forth in between the two, the two countries driving. And I was in a car full of other people.
• 39:41
  You, you, uh, it was like a minivan and there were, I don't know, seven, eight people. And I'm the
• 39:47
  only American. And they were, they kept me and quizzed me for a while, wondering what an American
• 39:55
  was doing coming into Russia by car. And so the other people were kind of upset that we had to
• 40:02
  wait so long. Most of them just showed their Russian. They said, man, you should have got
• 40:05
  your own car and stuff like that. They, well, I didn't know it would take me an hour and a half.
• 40:11
  I figured everybody was in the same car. You know, that when you go on a bus, it's generally a pretty
• 40:15
  quick process. Um, and so, uh, but it can take a while, these visa processes, even after you have
• 40:22
  the visa coming in and out, they want to know what you're specifically coming in for. Other countries
• 40:27
  have serious, um, border patrol guards and you don't screw around when you were there. I would
• 40:33
  have never, ever, ever thought of saying something smart ass like that coming into Russia is my point.
• 40:40
  And I certainly wouldn't going back into Georgia, the other direction. You don't want to get stuck
• 40:45
  in a country where you can't get in. You can't get out. That's a, that's a bad plan, no matter who
• 40:49
  you are. And so I'm perhaps a little more understanding of the visa issues and coming
• 40:55
  back to an end. I think we should have very strict rules and requirements. The rest of the world does
• 41:00
  is my point. Why wouldn't the United States and the United States does it to larger places.
• 41:05
  We all complain a little bit when you fly into Miami or you fly into New York or you fly into
• 41:11
  Dallas, these large international hubs and they make you check your baggage there before you can
• 41:16
  transfer to your next destination flight because those are the big places for coming in and getting
• 41:22
  inspected, uh, into the United States at these large airports. Anyway, that's a long story about
• 41:28
  visa processes and I apologize for that, but the world is a changing. And so I prefer the much,
• 41:35
  the, the shorter variety of trying to get a visa, the shorter variety of trying of,
• 41:41
  of allowing travel in between. And this China, Canada talks, this really is a large breakthrough
• 41:48
  with Canadians being granted visa free travel between Russia and China, between India and China,
• 41:55
  between several other places. And China, China has been opening its doors, uh, quite a bit more,
• 42:04
  uh, regularly for other countries. And so, uh, China is playing well with, uh, others where the
• 42:17
  U S recently hasn't really been. I do like that. We are now have some rules and our borders aren't
• 42:25
  just wide open, you know, uh, coming across. And I, and I, and I do think that, that that was one
• 42:31
  big, I remember when Biden got elected and it was literally within days that the doors were open
• 42:40
  and it was just a flood of people coming in huge numbers. And I was as an American offended by
• 42:51
  that, especially as an American that traveled, I'm not saying our doors shouldn't be open.
• 42:57
  They should be, but other countries don't just open their doors and let people to come through.
• 43:03
  Now the Schengen visa is a visa in a Europe that allows people to travel. Uh, if you can get a
• 43:10
  Schengen, you can go anywhere in the European Union, right. And without a visa, wherever country
• 43:17
  you're from. And this is one of the big things that Ukrainians want. They wanted that Schengen
• 43:21
  visa and they've been given it to them. And these people are going from country to country. I
• 43:26
  complain about that too. They're going from country to country and taking the three months
• 43:30
  of free housing and free money in France. And then they're going to Germany and getting the
• 43:37
  six months free there. Then they're going to Poland and getting the two years free there,
• 43:42
  you know, and, and it's, this is what they are doing. And I've shared stories with you of the
• 43:47
  girl that went to China. She went to China and was like, Hey, they told me I can't stay here
• 43:52
  and we're not getting anything for free. I'm not going to stay here. They haven't,
• 43:55
  they aren't even giving us anything. And she did this on a TikTok video and that thing went viral
• 43:59
  for how stupid that girl was to say something like that. Like me and the smart ass comment
• 44:05
  coming back into the United States and saying, I was from a country that I'm not from,
• 44:10
  uh, just being a smart ass. And, uh, but, but her commentary was, I mean, that's foolish.
• 44:16
  And, and she left and, and it didn't cost her anything. You know, she just had to leave China
• 44:21
  anyway. She was, and she said, I'm just going to, she was very straight up about it. I'm just
• 44:26
  going to another country and I'll take, you know, whatever they're giving me free there. So at any
• 44:30
  rate, a large story. And it's a very, I believe a positive development for China, Canada. And it
• 44:41
  makes me think about the bigger picture. What does it mean for China, Canada, Arctic China,
• 44:49
  you know, Canada's all along the Arctic China. If, if we're worried about China taking over
• 44:57
  Greenland, which I think is foolish propaganda BS, China, nobody, neither Russia nor China has
• 45:04
  any intention of taking over Greenland. So that's, that's nonsensical to even think that way. Uh,
• 45:12
  they don't have any intentions in that regard. Okay. The world's a change in any way. And I
• 45:21
  believe that I prefer Canada's approach with trying to develop that entire story I shared with you
• 45:27
  was quite a positive, a positive development for Canada. And I think our approach instead of a
• 45:35
  militaristic, we're taking over the world sort of thing, which I disapprove of. Uh, although I
• 45:42
  understand the, the, the, what do you call it? The, um, the concept. I get it. I get what Trump
• 45:49
  is trying to do. I just think there are better ways to skin a cat is all I'm saying. And so
• 45:54
  anyway, enough on the visa topic. I wanted to share a few more stories that, uh, remember we
• 45:59
  were talking about free speech and I wanted to share with you, um, a story about free speech
• 46:08
  and Elon Musk. Okay. Uh, X and bullshit go back a very long time. Elon Musk, the owner of X. And
• 46:19
  this is a story, uh, by a guy that I follow all the time. Uh, Tariq Amar, his opinions I kind of
• 46:27
  like. And, uh, this one I'm going to share with you about suppression of freedom of speech. Okay.
• 46:34
  And take from it what you will. I'm not trying to tell you, I, I agree with this or disagree with
• 46:39
  this. I'm sharing it with you is all. And, uh, I have my own thoughts on it, which I will probably
• 46:44
  share when, when I'm done here. But I wanted to share the, uh, the story with you because it's a,
• 46:50
  certainly an interesting story. Elon Musk, who happens to be the world's richest oligarch,
• 46:58
  a major war contractor through his, uh, uh, what do you call it? Satellites given it free to Ukraine
• 47:06
  and whatnot. And self-declared free speech absolutist has claimed that his platform
• 47:14
  strives to be the town square of the internet by promoting and protecting freedom of expression.
• 47:23
  But that is not true entirely. In reality, Musk is a man of strong opinions,
• 47:31
  not merely an uber capitalist. He is also a very right wing libertarian,
• 47:37
  full of odd anxieties, strong enough to produce plenty of posts about whites and their
• 47:44
  civilization disappearing. And when in a really good mood, a greeting that looks like a perfect
• 47:51
  imitation of a fascist salute. Now that's bullshit. In my opinion, remember that one
• 47:55
  where he allegedly was doing a Nazi salute. I don't believe that at all. Just so you know,
• 48:01
  that would all be bad enough if true, but Musk has also taken to promoting people. He likes
• 48:08
  politically and culturally, for instance, those that glorify lobby and make excuses for Israel.
• 48:16
  Okay. If this is the town square, then it's one where you need a microphone to be heard.
• 48:23
  And that microphone is under the control of a biased and overbearing mayor and his buddies.
• 48:31
  Now I'm telling you, I don't necessarily agree with this, but it's a story I wanted to share
• 48:36
  or as Musk's own team has put it, X users have freedom of speech, but not of reach.
• 48:46
  That's an interesting concept, is it not? And I'll share that with you here in a bit.
• 48:51
  On the other hand, the platform systematically suppresses whatever or whoever the owner doesn't
• 48:57
  like much, but by no means all of this de facto censorship is imposed by what X itself
• 49:06
  euphemistically describes as a more reasonable proportionate and effective moderation process.
• 49:15
  What does that mean? That is often by mass demotion, de-boosting rather than a direct ban.
• 49:21
  If you say things that Musk, his ideological buddies, his business partners, and his financiers
• 49:28
  do not like, X is less likely to kick you out, although that option is always there too,
• 49:35
  than to quietly put you in a tight soundproof box. You might think you are speaking to others,
• 49:41
  but X makes sure your voices reach almost no one. Let freedom ring, but in silent mode, please.
• 49:50
  Okay. Now, I'm not saying I agree with this. It's an interesting story.
• 49:55
  There is no topic on X where all of the above is more in evidence than Israel, or to be more precise,
• 50:04
  Palestine and the endless series of crimes Israelis and their accomplices are committing against
• 50:09
  Palestinians from violent, often murderous dispossession to apartheid to de facto mass
• 50:17
  kidnapping and mass torture, including rape to ethnic cleansing by genocide.
• 50:25
  Recently, Grok, X's in-house AI, has revealed that critics of Israeli crimes are being suppressed.
• 50:34
  Their reach is throttled by 80 to almost 100 percent of what it would be otherwise. Prompted
• 50:41
  with a specific phrase, which X users have shared widely, Grok has been delivering detailed
• 50:49
  insights into how the X algorithm censors those who mention and protest against Israel's current
• 50:56
  Gaza genocide, its all-purpose brutality, and rogue state wars of aggression against Lebanon,
• 51:03
  Syria, and Iran. Its habit of assassinations, including of other countries' scientific and
• 51:09
  political elites, as in Iran and Yemen, or the perverse influence it exerts on the U.S. and,
• 51:16
  in general, Western politics. According to at least one usually well-informed observer,
• 51:23
  this is a mass campaign, with Elon Musk censoring hundreds of millions of people
• 51:29
  for a foreign Israeli government. In return, Musk's own customers are calling him
• 51:36
  a huge threat to freedom of speech. Politically, those targeted by X's repression campaign
• 51:44
  are as different as it gets. They include idiosyncratic, very right-wingers such as
• 51:51
  Candace Owens, and generally left-wing voices such as journalists and dissidents like Max
• 51:57
  Blumenthal and Ali Abunimah. Full disclosure, they also include yours truly, that's Tariq
• 52:07
  Cyril Amar, on the left of the spectrum as well, and its fairly representative case too. The
• 52:14
  suppression of the X account, at Tariq Cyril Amar, as reported by Grok, is massive and comprehensive,
• 52:23
  including hiding it and its activity and, in general, reaching 78 to 85 percent suppression.
• 52:31
  But what is most typical is the big fat lie used to justify the censorship,
• 52:38
  that somehow the account's open and honest criticism of Israel and its crimes,
• 52:43
  an explicit anti-Zionist, anti-fascist position, overlaps with anti-Semitism. That is the core
• 52:51
  smear used by all defenders of Israel and its genocide, that to be against crimes and the state
• 52:59
  committing them with no end in sight indicates you are anti-Semitic. This draft lie has long
• 53:10
  lost all credibility among those with half a brain, except in Musk's world, where it's still
• 53:16
  good enough to shape what X users are not only allowed to say, but to hear. Both active and
• 53:24
  passive freedom of speech are a joke there, and all that for Israel. So, let's see.
• 53:37
  There are claims now surfacing on X that somehow this scandal is not quite real, that Grok isn't
• 53:45
  delivering real data, but a mere simulation. That seems very, very far-fetched and is likely to turn
• 53:51
  out to have been yet another untruth. For one thing, X has a proven record of suppressing what
• 53:56
  Israel doesn't like. Last year, Grok itself was suspended when it called the Gaza genocide
• 54:04
  a genocide. Clearly, Musk's AI has gotten a little too perspicacious and honest for its masters.
• 54:18
  In October 2023, while Israel was launching its genocide and speaking about it proudly,
• 54:24
  X purged hundreds of Palestinian accounts, depriving the victims of another way to reach out,
• 54:30
  thus contributing to Israel's policy of siege, blockade, and blackout. It is unclear why Musk
• 54:38
  is behaving like this. Conviction? Fear? Dogged by some real anti-Semitic signals of his own,
• 54:45
  Musk has repeatedly done penance by serving Israel and its propaganda. What is clear is that his
• 54:52
  motives are of decidedly secondary importance. What matters is the atrocious moral failure,
• 55:00
  not his only one, but his worst. And ironically, Musk, who prides himself on being a bit of a
• 55:07
  non-conformist and a maverick, is all too representative of the West's rotten elites as a
• 55:14
  whole, if only he were more exceptional. Now, I don't agree with that all, but you know that here
• 55:21
  I don't mind providing contrary voices. I don't disagree with it either. Now, Grok, when we started
• 55:31
  this show today, we were talking about AI. It's kind of the theme of the show a little bit, is
• 55:35
  talking about the end of censorship and of bias and where the bias comes from and how. Well, if
• 55:44
  you've ever, I've talked about this, when you, especially a couple, three years ago, it's gotten
• 55:51
  better now because there are other things. But if you did a Google search or try going out onto any
• 56:00
  platform out there, Wikipedia even, and try to find a place that isn't slanted so badly to the left
• 56:10
  when you ask it a question, you do a question about, I don't know what, Bruce Jenner,
• 56:20
  and you won't get a story about Bruce Jenner and how well he shone, shined in the
• 56:29
  1976 Olympics. You won't get that. You will get the story about, whatever his name is now,
• 56:38
  Caitlyn Jenner and the noble, the fact that he's an Olympian is no longer even relevant at all.
• 56:47
  The fact that he is now a woman, that is what is relevant. And so there's certainly a bias
• 56:55
  if you go out and you search for that, try it anywhere. You can go to Wikipedia X, any of the
• 57:01
  places where we get a lot of our information, including Grok, they are highly twisted and they
• 57:10
  do depend upon the owner or the board of directors. Certainly when it was anti-Trump, when X, you know,
• 57:23
  why did Elon Musk buy Twitter, for example? I remember that debacle. I remember it. Is it gone
• 57:32
  too far the other way? Is it openness or is it censorship in the other direction? I don't know,
• 57:38
  don't care. But it's an interesting theory to be aware of when you're using Grok or you're using
• 57:44
  any AI or you're using something like Wikipedia or you're watching CNN or you're watching Fox
• 57:53
  News, you're watching news from other sources. This is why the bulk of us are getting our news and
• 58:00
  information from other sources. And for me, I like a wide variety of sources. You know, I like a wide
• 58:10
  variety. But then you wonder if what you're doing is the exact same thing, like your telephone
• 58:18
  listening to you. And worrying about it isn't going to do you any good. Accepting commentary
• 58:26
  is exactly that. And a libertarian point of view toward others' opinions is playing well with
• 58:35
  others. And if you can do that on a global stage, you're probably far better off than if you cannot.
• 58:44
  That's all I'm saying. And when you blanket approve one point of view and despise another
• 58:58
  and refuse to accept the counter argument or refuse to even listen to the counter argument,
• 59:08
  perhaps you should take a pause and put some thought into that, is my point, into how you
• 59:16
  approach the world. And I kind of like the world approach of moderation, of diplomacy, of mediation
• 59:26
  and extremes one way or the other. I'm very much against. So I believe that a well-developed
• 59:35
  worldview means that you listen to all other sources and then share your, hopefully,
• 59:42
  positive commentary. But sometimes with all the news that we saw, all the news that we see
• 59:49
  is so negative that you can't help but become slightly negative yourself. And I'm trying to
• 59:57
  combat that some on my own. There was another story. Now, who's the, when did this one come out?
• 1:00:07
  This was in 2023. Do you remember when Linda Iaccarino, who was the CEO of X, the company
• 1:00:15
  formerly known as Twitter, she revealed the new era of freedom of speech, not reach.
• 1:00:23
  I shared that with you as well. So that actually, I like to back up my facts. And that came from
• 1:00:29
  a news story written on in August of 2023. So that is for real. I wanted to talk about the
• 1:00:38
  dictatorship of Ursula von der Leyen. And it's not me saying that, but I wanted to share this story as
• 1:00:45
  well. Because last week, again, going slightly back to Davos and the approach of the world
• 1:00:52
  toward the economic realities of the world these days, and Trump's dictatorship speech about
• 1:01:00
  give me Greenland or give me death, and Canada going off the rails and headed off to China.
• 1:01:08
  And many people, like I've analyzed for the last few days, talking about Davos and the changes and
• 1:01:13
  what's going on. Kaya Callas has privately complained. Now there's a story about the
• 1:01:21
  dictator von der Leyen. This comes from Politico. European Union foreign policy chief Kaya Callas
• 1:01:29
  is privately complaining about the authoritarian style of European Commission President Ursula
• 1:01:36
  von der Leyen, says Politico yesterday. She views von der Leyen as a dictator,
• 1:01:44
  a senior diplomat told the outlet, adding that there is little or nothing she can do about that.
• 1:01:52
  Isn't that true? Previous reports have described the bitter rivalry between these two senior
• 1:02:00
  officials with the commission president holding the upper hand. Well, of course,
• 1:02:06
  she's the president. Politico named five people in Brussels who it claimed to have the toughest jobs,
• 1:02:12
  including Callas. Another is Paula Pino von der Leyen spokesperson, who the outlet reported is
• 1:02:19
  often left uninformed by her boss, who works in a bunker with strict need to know protocols,
• 1:02:27
  making the current commission at times more secretive than the famously opaque Vatican.
• 1:02:34
  Last week, von der Leyen survived a fourth no confidence vote in the European Parliament
• 1:02:40
  from non-centrist lawmakers who accuse her of lacking transparency and pursuing policies
• 1:02:47
  harmful to the bloc. Well, that's the EU, of course. Her conflict with Callas reportedly
• 1:02:56
  stems from constant efforts to sideline the European External Action Service on key foreign
• 1:03:02
  policy matters. Callas is a former Estonian prime minister, is herself criticized as unfit for her
• 1:03:11
  role. I absolutely believe she is unfit for any role. She is unintelligent and maybe that's the
• 1:03:21
  bias of everything that you hear about her everywhere. But find any piece of information
• 1:03:32
  about her that is positive anyway, including by EU member Slovakia, partly due to her
• 1:03:38
  anti-Russian stance. This lady is hugely anti-Russian. Last September, she was ridiculed
• 1:03:45
  by Moscow and Beijing after appearing to treat it as a revelation that Russia and China
• 1:03:52
  take pride in defeating Axis powers in World War II. A lot of people, appears to me, including
• 1:03:59
  Callas, were unaware that China lost nearly 20 million people in World War II and Russia 26
• 1:04:09
  million. And she expressed surprise about the fact that these two nations honor each other's
• 1:04:16
  anniversary of the corresponding ends of World War II, which for Russia is in May, early May,
• 1:04:26
  and for China, I believe is September, but both in the same year. So both of them this past year
• 1:04:33
  were celebrating 80 years. And anyway, she had no idea that China was even involved in World War
• 1:04:42
  II. And the fact that Russia and China both take pride in defeating the Axis powers of Hitler and
• 1:04:50
  of Emperor, what was his name in Japan? I honestly don't remember myself, but the Axis powers were
• 1:04:59
  Mussolini, Hitler, and damn it, I can't remember the guy from Japan. And it's embarrassing to me
• 1:05:04
  not to know that. But there was a world war for God's sake. And anyway, the Kremlin spokesman
• 1:05:12
  Dmitry Peskov said this weekend that neither Moscow nor Washington believes she can productively be
• 1:05:20
  negotiated with. I happen to agree. I think she's dumb as a bag of hammers, but that's a personal
• 1:05:25
  deal. Political listed NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte described as a Trump whisperer for
• 1:05:33
  European NATO members, Hungary's EU envoy Balint Oder, who must soften Prime Minister Viktor
• 1:05:40
  Orbán's anti-Brussels rhetoric, and veteran trade commissioner Maro Šefkovic dubbed Mr. Fix-It as
• 1:05:47
  those with supposedly the toughest jobs inside of Brussels. And call us number one on that list.
• 1:05:57
  I find it amusing because, of course, they're at each other's throats.
• 1:06:02
  Of course. So I wanted to share that story with you today. So has anybody been following? So
• 1:06:13
  England, Britain, for a long time, there's been a good deal of protest about the open doors that
• 1:06:21
  they are, that the people are, they're calling them boat people, too. They're coming across
• 1:06:26
  hundreds of people on packed boats coming across the English Channel. And so this past weekend,
• 1:06:35
  thousands of people marched through East Sussex town of Crowborough over the weekend to protest
• 1:06:41
  the government plans to house asylum seekers on a former military site. The march came after the
• 1:06:48
  British Home Office announced plans to house 500 male asylum seekers at the former army camp in
• 1:06:57
  Crowborough, a town of about 20,000, as part of a wider effort to end the use of hotels for
• 1:07:04
  temporary accommodations. Men, women and children joined the demonstration in protest. Hundreds of
• 1:07:10
  residents marched toward the former military training camp for a 12th consecutive weekend,
• 1:07:18
  waving St. George's flags and chanting, we want the Labour Party out. Local reports said 27
• 1:07:28
  alleged asylum seekers arrived Thursday, with the government stating they will stay no longer than
• 1:07:35
  three months while their claims are processed. Despite official assurances, protesters marched
• 1:07:42
  through Crowborough expressing concern over the impact of housing undocumented men in the
• 1:07:48
  community. Some cited previous incidents at asylum hotels, including sexual assault, as heightening
• 1:07:55
  their fears over safety. The initiative to house asylum seekers at former military sites is part
• 1:08:03
  of Labour's pledge to end the use of taxpayer-funded asylum hotels by 2029, which currently costs
• 1:08:14
  billions of pounds each year. Early reports said the Home Office plans to resettle as many as 10,000
• 1:08:22
  asylum seekers across the UK at 14 additional shelter sites. Under the plan, migrants would
• 1:08:31
  be accommodated at former military facilities that have been upgraded and could begin receiving
• 1:08:39
  arrivals immediately. Mounting anger over immigration has sparked protests across the UK,
• 1:08:47
  echoing concerns in Spain, Sweden, Germany and other countries. High-profile sexual assault and
• 1:08:53
  violent crime involving migrants have fueled political debate across Europe and intensified
• 1:09:00
  calls for strict immigration and public safety measures. This decades-long migrant crisis is
• 1:09:08
  being driven by conflict, poverty and political instability in the Middle East, Africa and South
• 1:09:16
  Asia. Western interventions, including war in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, as well as support
• 1:09:23
  for uprising in Syria, have destabilized governments and worsened violence across the world,
• 1:09:32
  forcing many to flee. And folks, on a macro level, huge picture, way up in the satellite sphere,
• 1:09:43
  when you look at what the West has done with regime change and violence everywhere,
• 1:09:50
  creating these things. There's a story I want to share with you about the Kurds, who we allegedly
• 1:09:58
  have just abandoned, which we'll get to in just a second here. But these type of conflicts that we
• 1:10:05
  go and create problems. Let's take the example that I always use of Ukraine. Let's go to Ukraine
• 1:10:14
  and what the West has done with Ukraine over the last 20 years, 30. We have played our part
• 1:10:26
  in creating this conflict. And what has happened? Millions, literally millions upon millions,
• 1:10:36
  half the population of Ukraine is no longer there. Half. They had a population of some 40 million,
• 1:10:45
  pretty close to it, when Ukraine was given independence or had its independence back in
• 1:10:54
  whatever year that was, 91, 92, something like that. And now they only have half of that.
• 1:10:59
  And most of that has been in the last four or five years, that the doors are open all over
• 1:11:08
  Europe for these. Why? Because we did our part in creating a conflict to destabilize Russia
• 1:11:15
  for the same macro things that we're trying to do across the world today. We just created
• 1:11:23
  another one in Venezuela. And what did they show on all of the TV? Oh, all the Venezuelan
• 1:11:30
  in Miami are celebrating. Yeah, that's because they're in Miami. They've left. They aren't going
• 1:11:36
  back to Venezuela. They're not going to go back and fix their country. Ukrainians aren't going
• 1:11:41
  back to Ukraine. It's not going to happen. All we're doing is using it as an excuse. Why don't
• 1:11:47
  we help them fix their own world instead of having them come and destabilize ours or the rest of the
• 1:11:55
  world or England? This is happening. It's happening around the world, except in places that
• 1:12:04
  don't allow that sort of thing to happen. But we create a lot of the conditions that destabilize
• 1:12:11
  governments and the world. And I don't mean we, me, and you. I mean we, America, and the West.
• 1:12:20
  We create some of these things. The talk of taking over Greenland, I think of it from this point of
• 1:12:27
  view. What we have already done in Venezuela isn't doing anybody any favors. You have a different
• 1:12:33
  master. That's it. Trump's the new dictator down there. That's it. Maduro was the dictator before.
• 1:12:40
  Now it's Trump. And you may not agree with that philosophy, but what's the difference?
• 1:12:45
  What difference is it to the guy in Venezuela that is looking for a job and looking to raise
• 1:12:50
  a family, that is looking to have something positive in his life? What's he got? You could
• 1:12:56
  say, yeah, but what Trump did is so positive for all of them. Okay. Let's assume that's true.
• 1:13:02
  Who benefits? Who benefits? Big money. Before it was some dictator. Now it's big oil companies.
• 1:13:09
  They're the ones that get to suck all the money out of Venezuela. It ain't going to stay there.
• 1:13:14
  What do we get? Trickle-down economy for Venezuela? We get the trickle-down. Yeah,
• 1:13:20
  well, the pennies they make are great, but the big money is going to the same pockets it always
• 1:13:26
  goes to. Different set of pockets this time, but the same rich, elite, globalist a-holes will get
• 1:13:34
  the money for this one because they're the same rich, elitist, globalist a-holes that do it all
• 1:13:40
  over the world. Same thing's going on in Ukraine. Same thing's going on everywhere.
• 1:13:45
  And what are we doing? We're taking the small stories from England with people protesting what's
• 1:13:51
  going on. Americans protesting about the open borders. Why? Because we all have the same
• 1:13:57
  long-term concerns. And what happens? Your culture is changing from what it used to be,
• 1:14:08
  the way America was when I was a kid, to the realities of now. Anyway, that's a bit too far
• 1:14:13
  further than I wish to go on that. I want to switch back to my, because I haven't talked
• 1:14:21
  about in a little bit, the peace talks that are allegedly going on. They haven't revealed
• 1:14:30
  anything, and it's more just noise. And let's see. Vladimir Zelensky has been encouraged
• 1:14:39
  by Italy to, Jesus, make a deal. Ukraine's Zelensky is losing in the conflict with Russia
• 1:14:48
  and needs to urgently sign a peace deal, says Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.
• 1:14:55
  He made the call in response to Zelensky's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
• 1:15:02
  I probably should have shared that entire speech with you instead of just a critique of it
• 1:15:08
  yesterday. It truly is. If you get a chance, you should go out and listen to it. Maybe I'll share
• 1:15:14
  it on the biggest day in radio, which is Wednesday tomorrow on damn radio. But Salvini made this call
• 1:15:23
  in response to the speech at the World Forum. The Ukrainian leader ridiculed the EU, said it
• 1:15:31
  was indecisive, and insists that it needs to know how to defend itself and use Ukraine to defend
• 1:15:40
  Greenland instead of relying on the US. Zelensky failed to express any gratitude at all for the
• 1:15:46
  receiving 193 billion euro or $227 billion in military and financial assistance from the EU
• 1:15:55
  since the escalation that's taken place since February of 2022. In a post on Facebook
• 1:16:02
  on Sunday, Salvini said that we have heard Zelensky, who, after all the money, effort,
• 1:16:09
  and aid he has received, still has the nerve to complain. My friend, you are losing the war.
• 1:16:17
  You are losing men, credibility, and dignity. Sign a peace agreement as soon as possible,
• 1:16:24
  he wrote. According to Salvini, the choice that the Ukrainian leader faces is between defeat
• 1:16:32
  and a complete rout. I happen to agree with that assessment. On Friday, Italy's foreign
• 1:16:38
  minister Antonio Tajani called Zelensky's speech in Davos not generous, considering the support
• 1:16:47
  which the EU has provided to Kiev. Italian lawmaker Rossano Sasso from Salvini's Legata Nord
• 1:16:56
  Northern League party suggested last week that if the EU truly wants to help the Ukrainian people,
• 1:17:04
  it should stop funding Kiev. He must have been listening to international flavor
• 1:17:08
  and instead asks Zelensky to accept peace. Russian, US, and Ukrainian delegations held two
• 1:17:18
  days of talks in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates earlier this week, using a trilateral
• 1:17:24
  agreement for the first time. I'm sorry, arrangement for the first time since the
• 1:17:30
  conflict's escalation in 2022. Zelensky commented on the negotiations on Sunday
• 1:17:37
  by saying that under no circumstances will Ukraine agree to territorial concessions.
• 1:17:47
  Funny that, isn't it? He will instead continue sending all the remaining men,
• 1:17:53
  which there aren't very many left, to slaughter on the Eastern Front.
• 1:17:59
  Crazy. Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russian President Putin,
• 1:18:08
  his stance is that the territorial issue is, of course, of fundamental importance.
• 1:18:15
  I mean, it's obvious. All you got to do is have a look. He was referring to Donetsk and Lugansk,
• 1:18:21
  as well as Kherson and Cyprus, which have officially joined Russia as of the fall of 2022
• 1:18:29
  as a result of election referendums. Later, Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev insisted that
• 1:18:38
  Zelensky's reluctance to face reality has been delaying the peace process. Well, very much true.
• 1:18:49
  So, have you heard that Zoom is out? France is allegedly getting rid of Teams and Zoom.
• 1:19:02
  Isn't that crazy? And they're going to go with a locally developed app. The French authorities
• 1:19:09
  are planning on phasing out the American teleconferencing services like Teams and Zoom
• 1:19:16
  within a year and replacing them with a domestically developed app.
• 1:19:22
  This from civil service minister delegate David Amil on Saturday. He said the country needs to
• 1:19:32
  detoxify itself from U.S. technology. The bulk of European data is stored on American cloud
• 1:19:40
  services through companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
• 1:19:46
  So, in Russia, they have Wildberries instead of Amazon. They have, what is it called? I can't
• 1:19:57
  remember what their platform is called. But they don't have Google. Oh, they have Yandex. Yandex
• 1:20:06
  instead of Google. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have over two-thirds of the market. And AI majors
• 1:20:15
  dominate the European AI sector. So, they're, of course, talking about diversifying there as well.
• 1:20:26
  Last year, media reports emerged that the European governments and companies
• 1:20:30
  have been rethinking their dependence on major U.S. cloud providers with concerns about their
• 1:20:37
  own data sovereignty, privacy, and political leverage. Isn't that crazy? Earlier this year,
• 1:20:44
  the director of the Center for Cybersecurity in Belgium, Miguel de Broecker, claimed that the EU
• 1:20:52
  has lost the internet because storing data within the block is impossible due to the
• 1:20:59
  dominance of American technology. The official added that EU regulation of AI was blocking
• 1:21:06
  innovation that could improve the situation. I don't know. I think every country is involved
• 1:21:13
  in attempting to find its own share of AI these days. So, we've come right back full circle on
• 1:21:21
  the topic of the day. The UK is complaining about its own dependence on U.S. satellites.
• 1:21:32
  This is, I mean, it's the same concept. A major British contract to build new military
• 1:21:39
  satellites has sparked concern in London about the UK's growing reliance on the U.S. for critical
• 1:21:45
  communication. At the center of the debate is Skynet 6, excuse me, a planned fleet of next
• 1:21:54
  generation military communication satellites that will replace and expand the UK's Skynet system,
• 1:22:00
  which is used to connect armed forces at home and overseas. The 10 billion pound, 14 billion
• 1:22:08
  dollars program is being contested by Airbus, a European aerospace group that has run the UK's
• 1:22:17
  military space program for 25 years, and Lockheed Martin. According to unnamed officials,
• 1:22:25
  there are doubts that the sensitive project should go to a U.S. headquartered company,
• 1:22:31
  as Washington's policies are seen as increasingly unpredictable. Recent remarks by Donald Trump
• 1:22:40
  towards European NATO members over Greenland have heightened concerns that political tensions will
• 1:22:47
  affect defense cooperation. Interesting effects, huh? A decision on which company will get the
• 1:22:55
  contract is expected by the end of 2026. Airbus has large satellite building sites in Stevenage
• 1:23:02
  and Portsmouth employing around 3000 people, and sources told the paper that billions of pounds
• 1:23:08
  of potential exports would be at risk if the company loses its role in the UK program.
• 1:23:13
  Lockheed Martin, of course, is promising to build a UK facility if it wins the contract.
• 1:23:20
  The U.S. pursues its own high-profile military projects in space. Last year, Trump announced
• 1:23:26
  the launch of the Golden Dome, aimed at building a space-integrated shield capable of intercepting
• 1:23:32
  missiles from anywhere in the world. It is a cutting-edge system combining existing defense
• 1:23:39
  with new technology across land, sea, and space, including orbital sensors and interceptors.
• 1:23:45
  Uh-huh. Have you heard that Russia is planning to launch a rival to Starlink?
• 1:23:56
  Yes, indeedy. 300 satellites will be put into orbit by Moscow, Roscosmos, and,
• 1:24:05
  this according to the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov. This came out just recently, last week
• 1:24:13
  or so. Russia is going to launch its own satellite network similar to Starlink.
• 1:24:22
  Starlink provides high-speed internet via the world's largest network of satellites with over
• 1:24:28
  9,000 in low-Earth orbit. The service began rolling out in 2020, and according to the company,
• 1:24:38
  now has 9 million users in more than 150 countries and territories. Officially,
• 1:24:46
  it's not available in Russia. But if you get your satellite little link thing that you can buy and
• 1:24:52
  put on your camper or your car for using in the woods or something, it'll still work in Russia.
• 1:24:59
  But you got to buy it somewhere else. On Friday, Bakanov showed Channel One journalists
• 1:25:05
  a Russian-designed terminal for satellite broadband internet access, saying that it
• 1:25:10
  will allow users anywhere around the globe to stay connected. The head of the country's space agency
• 1:25:17
  added the serial production of the hardware will begin the end of this year. An orbital
• 1:25:22
  constellation of more than 300 satellites will ensure that Russian system called Rosvet,
• 1:25:28
  which means dawn, is fully deployed and operational by next year, said Roscosmos CEO.
• 1:25:36
  It is very important to provide connectivity to all territories not covered by terrestrial
• 1:25:41
  communication networks. In November, the head of Russian Parliament's Info Policy Committee,
• 1:25:48
  Sergei Boyarsky, told TASS that the low-Earth orbit satellite constellation would be Moscow's
• 1:25:54
  star link. The project, developed by Moscow-based aero company Brio 1440,
• 1:25:59
  will allow for a qualitative leap in providing communication to Russia's remote region,
• 1:26:03
  said Boyarsky. Because that is a big problem if you're in the middle of nowhere.
• 1:26:08
  Now, my phone generally works. I have T-Mobile, and I like T-Mobile because,
• 1:26:14
  from what I understand, at least it used to be this way, and T-Mobile is owned by or was owned by
• 1:26:22
  one of the largest, or is associated with, the largest phone and tech company in Europe.
• 1:26:30
  And, therefore, when you go overseas, I get free internet everywhere, you know, and it,
• 1:26:37
  I'll tell you what, it was a little more difficult this time. There were recent,
• 1:26:42
  my last trip to Russia, which was in September, yeah, was about, it was much worse then,
• 1:26:51
  than it has ever been, and it's always been just fine anywhere in the world that you go to a T-Mobile.
• 1:26:57
  They have an international plan that you can get for the same price as, you know, whatever you,
• 1:27:02
  it's, it's global, works everywhere, and you can use it for your directions, you can get,
• 1:27:07
  you know, info, all of that stuff. And, but, now it's a lot worse. They're blocking it.
• 1:27:14
  Google is blocked, everything is blocked inside of Russia, and so it was quite a bit different,
• 1:27:19
  different this year than it was in previous years. Ukraine has received 50,000 Starlink terminals
• 1:27:27
  since 2022 from Elon Musk. Last year, Musk called his satellite internet the backbone of the
• 1:27:33
  Ukrainian army, and said the entire front line would collapse if he turned it off. Officials
• 1:27:42
  in Moscow repeatedly expressed concern about the weaponizing of technology, while the Russian
• 1:27:47
  military has developed effective electronic warfare means that can jam the Starlink signals.
• 1:27:54
  Crazy stuff going on these days, and everyone should pay attention.
• 1:28:02
  Well, we started today with the bias of AI and the internet, and we just finished with the bias
• 1:28:11
  of Starlink and Elon Musk. I hope that you join in every day, and there's an interesting story
• 1:28:21
  coming out tomorrow. I'm gonna, I'm gonna provide quite a bit of information about where we should
• 1:28:27
  go, and what is going to happen with the Ukraine war. I've stayed away from it for nearly a week
• 1:28:36
  now, and we shall have a big update tomorrow on what is going on, the effect of the,
• 1:28:43
  of the discussions this past week, and where do we go from here,
• 1:28:47
  friends and neighbors. This is International Flavor. I'm glad you have joined me this morning
• 1:28:53
  live from the Lake Ozark real estate of the art studio. Hope you join me every day
• 1:28:57
  from 7 30 to 9. Tomorrow's the biggest day in radio history. Every week it occurs on Wednesdays
• 1:29:07
  on DAM radio, and I hope you join us tomorrow here on International Flavor. All of my shows
• 1:29:17
  and all of DAM radio shows are set out there at damradio.com forward slash podcast. You can go
• 1:29:24
  listen to prior, prior shows from all of the wonderful content that we have, and mine personally
• 1:29:30
  are out at internationalflavor.com. Join me every day, and thanks for joining me today.