Transcript of the above video:

Unfortunately, sitting around reading the English language press here in Thailand, one has been bombarded with discussion of the OECD. I went ahead and used kind of one of these memes, this one is from The Lord of the Rings, this is Sean Bean's character, and boy, I'm really sorry, I'm forgetting his name off the top of my head – man, Tolkien fans are going to kill me - but it's the meme where it’s "One does not simply.. " in this case it’s One does not spell Thai, O-E-C-D." I think it's important to point that out. There has just been a massive sort of, I don't know, push or something within the English language press, specifically Bangkok Post, regarding OECD and I thought I'd jump into it. 

Real quick before I get into citations and things, folks have asked us is there anything we can do to support the channel, whatever? We understand you are not monetized; I don't necessarily need to avail myself of a lawyer all the time, or a law firm. Anything we can do? If you want to show some support, my better half and I have set up a restaurant here in Bangkok, downtown Bangkok, Thailand. The name of the restaurant is Pancake Palace, as the name implies breakfast anytime, specifically American breakfast. It was started in my mind as sort of like the counterpoint to The Waffle House; it's just pancakes rather than waffles. Waffles are a little easier to get here in Thailand, so we went with Pancake Palace. But that said, there's also American Diner style food; we also have an English breakfast on the menu. We can throw some of these photos up, but again breakfast anytime, American Diner style food: we've got hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chilli bowls. We've got hot dogs, we have got chilli dogs, we've got Polish sausages, we've got grilled cheese, we've got Coke in glass bottles. So if you're interested, come check it out. 

That said, the reason for the video, first off going over here to Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: New OECD membership drive begins. Quoting directly: “Thailand has set a target of becoming a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development by 2028." Well I know that strictly speaking this was on the party agenda of Bhumjaithai - I mentioned it at the time, I wasn't thrilled about it - it was a kind of at the bottom of the agenda. I noticed during the campaign, there didn't seem to be this constant reminder of OECD and then now that we have the government in place, there is all this talk of OECD; I had a problem with the last government on OECD. Notwithstanding a certain level of personal affinity to Mr. Anutin, and frankly I think that the new Government all things being considered is probably better than anything we've had in a while. That said, I don't like OECD for a variety of reasons, most cheap among them is I think that it's sort of a supranationalist attempt at what I can only describe as kind of a neo-Colonialism, and an example of this is from another article in the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Anutin urged to seek French President's help with Cambodia. I was pretty critical of Paetongtarn on this one. Why do we need to seek the French President's thoughts on anything? I get that Imperial France had this Treaty that they basically imposed upon the region in 1907, and there has been this constant sort of gaslighting that that is somehow like the legitimate, if you will, framework for doing anything in this region. But frankly, Thailand is a sovereign state, Cambodia is a sovereign state, France has nothing to do with this part of the world now; don't know what they have to do with anything. That said, the specific excerpt I quote here, again quoting directly, bangkokpost.com: "He also noted that Thailand could highlight its work to meet standards set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development particularly in enhancing transparency and addressing corruption." For who? To Who? Who are we answering to? This OECD, I think it's based in Brussels isn't it? It's an international, supranationalist body for lack of a better term, you could call it globalist, and what are we benefiting by this? And meanwhile, why does Thailand need to adhere to some foreign body's thoughts on what we need to be doing? Doesn't make any sense to me. 

Meanwhile, over to another article, again from Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, and more of this video is here to highlight the fact that it seems like Bangkok Post can't just stop mentioning OECD. That said, under this article titled: People’s Power reintroduces six stalled bills. Quoting directly: "She said the bill is essential because the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recommends member states adopt the Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR) system to ensure transparent environmental management. Thailand has set a target of becoming a member by 2028." The Bill is essential because offshore entity said so? Do we want to be told what to do by people outside of Thailand? Because I don't. It's one of the reasons I moved here. What I like about Thailand, what I like about the Thais, they don't get told what to do by outsiders; they do what they have got to do. That is part and parcel of national sovereignty. I like that. I really don't get any of this and meanwhile what are the benefits we're accruing from this? From being told what to do. And look, the Pollutants Registry thing, it may be a perfectly sound Idea; it may be a good idea, maybe something Thailand needs. Thailand can come to that decision on her own; we don't need OECD telling us that. Meanwhile again, what are the benefits we're getting out of this, other than heightened scrutiny, a bunch of digitization of our banking system that has made everything less efficient, it has slowed down the velocity of money. In my opinion it is probably hurting the business sector overall. And meanwhile, we are just charging headlong into this. 

Look, I'm very hopeful and I believe this Government has the capacity to be reasonable and change course where it's reasonably required. I'm very hopeful we take another look at this and decide hey, this is Thailand, we don't necessarily need this OECD stuff.