Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing, well these recent developments involving these Israeli tourists in Thailand. I'm going to get to that here in a minute; that's the reason for the thumbnail. This video has gone viral here in Thailand. Not once but twice the issue of Israelis in Thailand - frankly I've done videos about foreigners behaving badly and in recent months and weeks, I've done videos specifically about Israeli's in various places here in Thailand that have been causing problems. More recently there are concerns especially amongst Thai Law Enforcement of folks creating what they believe to be these little enclaves where they can sort of, I guess they were trying to keep like authorities, relevant authorities like the police out. Well, if the police have warrants and just cause, this is Thailand. The Thai Police have authority and jurisdiction over Thai matters. I don't know why this is so difficult for outsiders of any stripe to figure out. We had to deal with this - I don't remember when it was - like a year ago, or a little longer - when the Chinese said they were going to put police on Thai streets because Thailand was so-called not safe or something. Only Thai Police on Thai streets. This is Thailand, that's how that works. And by the way, Thai Police have jurisdiction over matters arising in Thailand, so anybody trying to come in and create some kind of enclave in a very colonialist seeming manner by the way, and by the way you're coming to the wrong country to act that way because Thais are very sensitive to that, this one included. Nobody in this country wants to be colonized. We kept out the biggest colonizers in the world, and by we, I wasn't here, but Thailand kept out the biggest colonizers in the world at the height of their powers, okay? So think how they think now, basically, okay? And on top of that, you are a guest in other people's country. 

It is like this thumbnail. This video that went viral of this woman saying, "my money built your country." No it didn't lady, no it didn't. The Thais built this country; that's who built this country. Yes, did they have help from outside insofar as foreign direct investment, and there was a time under some of the late Kings here in Thailand like Roma 4 and 5, where they did bring in foreign expertise and made Thailand better? Yeah, they did. But some tourist who just showed up here and spent 82 bucks last night on a bucket of beers and some food or something with their friends, no you did not build this country. Period, end of discussion, so stop talking like that. Is that how you talk to a country that accepts you as a guest? Come on! 

Meanwhile, there is all this talk about "Oh, these people have been transferred in because they have mental issues associated with what's going on over there." Okay, there are resorts and clinics and things of this nature to help those people soothe and heal, but I don't know why Thailand then has to be subjected to frankly boorish behaviour for acting as the host under those circumstances. That's not reasonable under any circumstances. And it's interesting, this all came on my radar because of another channel out there on YouTube. I'll put a link in the description below because I saw him covering it. It's Due Dissidence which I don't necessarily agree with them on every little thing, but they bring up some really good points out there from time to time on various issues of the day that I tend to agree with. I also have enjoyed when they guest host on Jimmy Dore; tip of the hat to both Jimmy Dore and the Due Dissidence guys. They can be funny too at times insofar as their observations and things. So again, link in the description below to Due Dissidence for picking that up. Again, I don't agree with every part of their analysis in their video but I do think that they brought up a good point that Thais in Thailand are pretty non-plussed by the situation here insofar as any situation where any outside group would come into Thailand and try to act effectively like colonizers, setting up their own enclaves, telling the locals that we built things here. Yeah you didn't, you didn't, you just didn't. That's just nonsense. 

So again, that said, it brought up a salient point in my mind that I've been trying to get across the last roughly quarter, roughly three months, which is Thailand, along with a lot of other jurisdictions, especially under current circumstances involving international trade, international finance and geopolitics, has been really reassessing “what money is”. What I mean to say is money is a medium of exchange of goods and services. The money itself is not important when a nation state is analysing what is in its best economic interests. What's important is what are the goods and services we are getting for example, accommodating a bunch of foreigners in our country, or for sending out auto parts to some other country. What do we get back? What do we gain? How does Thailand profit in terms of an international trade type of paradigm, okay? 

In the past, I think her name is Kathleen Tyson, she's on Twitter as well, she was involved with Central Banking and she's talked about this a little bit, where look the usage of other countries’ debt as a reserve for other countries is changing because again the whole paradigm of money itself, what is a store of value, is changing in many people's minds. Now it's not all necessarily changing in one direction. Certain people view one thing as an effective store of value while other people view another thing. I'm also not one of these Chicken Littles who is saying, "oh the entire Dollar system is going to go away." No. But what I am saying is the trade relationships are changing and Thailand I've often said, is like, Thailand's position is like standing in the middle of a kaleidoscope and spinning it and watching it spin all around you. The world is changing but Thailand is sort of staying in place and continuing to reassess her national interest when she's looking at which foreigners come into her country, looking at which foreigners are going to be allowed to remain in Thailand long-term, especially on a long-term basis based on inbound fund remittances for example in the terms of pensions, as well as possibly remote worker benefits and remote worker remittances and things. Thailand is sitting there and saying, "well how much is this paper or these ‘ones and zeros” on a computer really going to be worth to the country overall, or should we be reassessing and looking at other countries to have relationships with, rather than the countries we have been dealing with because this whole dynamic of trade currencies and the trading relationship and the supply chains associated with trading is changing. During that type of period of time, a type of period of time where the Thais are reassessing their trade relationships, their relationship with both money, the concept of money, as well as foreign banks, I should say foreign currencies, at the time that Thailand is reassessing all of that, is it really a good idea to be the bad house guest in Thailand, during a period of time when it's reassessing itself in that way? I don't think it's such a good idea and personally I'm always the type a person that hopes for sort of peace and harmony in a sense - notwithstanding my rants and things - I would prefer everybody just get together in a drum circle and sing Kumbaya. I know that's not necessarily possible, but that's what I would prefer. So, I would prefer harmony, amicability, and peace. But that being said, if people are going to come to Thailand and be bad guests and then turn around and say that their money is the reason that they get to do that, right now is not a particularly good time to be doing that when the Thais are reassessing the very concept of money itself.