Transcript of the above video: 

Yeah I have seen the emails and some of the comments; yeah my hair is getting a little bit long. I am kind of growing it out a little bit, frankly in the back I am more worried about it right now than in the front. I am kind of liking it a little longer here. We have been in the sort of the cool season here in Thailand; I am sure I am not going to love it all that much as we move forward into the year and it gets hotter again, so stay tuned on that if you're really all that concerned about my hair, but I have gotten a fair few messages on it, so there you go. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, I will get to that in moment. I titled this the "Incoming Secretary of State". I don't know as of the time of this video whether or not he has been confirmed so I didn't know what the right word was, designee, nominee, but I mean presuming Mr. Rubio is confirmed by the Senate, he is the incoming Secretary of State for the new Administration under Mr. Trump. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Trump nominee speaks up for Uyghurs in Thailand. Quoting directly: "Donald Trump's nominee for US Secretary of State has said that he would lobby Thailand against deporting 48 Uyghurs to China where they would face persecution. Marco Rubio made the comments at his confirmation hearing in Washington on Wednesday. The Republican Senator from Florida is widely expected to be confirmed as the top diplomat in the incoming Trump Administration. Quote: "Will you lobby for Thailand to not-send these Uyghurs back to the horror they will face if they are returned?" "Yes, Rubio". And I urge those who are watching this video go check out that article on the Bangkok Post, you can read all about that in the confirmation hearing, and who's asking him this. That said, quoting directly: "Rubio known to take a hard line on China policy said he would, quote: "yes and the good news is that Thailand is actually a very strong US partner - strong historical ally as well - so that is an area where I think diplomacy could really achieve results because of how important that relationship is and how close it is," he said. Yeah, I couldn't agree more and great sentiments coming from the incoming Secretary of State. I think this gets this Administration off on the right foot with regard to their relationship with Thailand. 

We're looking forward to another Trump Administration and how that is going to impact things here in Thailand. I'm sure it's going to shake things up; I think there are going to be positive implications for things going on out here; negative implications for things going on out here in all manner of areas, be it trade, geopolitics, international relations, whatever you want to talk about. But I think it's worth noting that the incoming Secretary of State went out of his way to note that Thailand and the USA have a strong partnership, that they are strong and old historical allies and people tend to forget that. I especially take note that Americans tend to overlook the fact, I would say forget but most people just don't know, overlook the fact that look our oldest Treaty Alliance with anyone in East Asia is with the Thais. We have the oldest ongoing diplomatic relations - some 190 years now - 200 years of communications between the Americans and the Thais back under the Old Kingdom of Siam - I kind of look at it all as one contiguous thing as is reflected in the Treaty relationships as well, but Thais and Americans, again to quote The Sopranos, have long-standing ties - I mean and no double entendre meant there with Thais and ties, but again I think it is worth noting that yeah, the United States of America and Thailand have this kind of old, for lack of a better term, special relationship. I look forward to seeing how that evolves in the coming weeks and months, and we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as it does.