hey, at this hour, american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from gray with we will bring to the iraqi food and medicines and supplies and sleep with ah, everybody i'm exam shuts, you know,

after covering news all over the world founding a $1000000000.00 company, i'm here to tell you, well, as much as i possibly can tell it like it is. so welcome to what we call direct impact. it seems these days to me anyway, like there's every day another group of countries who are forging a coalition to see if there really is strength in numbers, right? you know what they're finding, what, what they're finding is they're really, you've strike the numbers. is it used to be with the superpowers had to invite you to be part of one of these groupings. like, for example, in my part of the world, the yo, i am the organization of american states. you know, which is really controlled by the united states, right? most would argue, still is, or the organization of not ally nations that ended up being kind of on the align

side. not the mon, aligned side today though, and this is important because it gives us a sense of where we are and where things are heading. there seemed to be more a lot more there. you know, obviously the, the big ones are the you. there's also breaks. there's nafta. there's coll mesa, which interestingly enough brings together all of the countries in eastern and southern africa. that specific. and then there's that one that we want to focus on today because this is really the breakout one, right? it's called asi on not asian asi on a s e a. and it's the association of southeast asian nations. and this grouping, by the way, regional countries, once again, they include brunei, cambodia, indonesia, louse, malaysia, me and mar the philippines. second port thailand and you know,

vietnam. they have a population of almost 3 quarters of a 1000000000 people. and a g d, p of 3.2 trillion dollars as big. the reason that these countries are so important is because together, they're now so powerful enough to matter, especially economically that all recent reports seem to show that while our economy here in the united states where we are in our nation's capital law, i'm a block from the white house from where i speak to you. and in fact, other western nations, you know, europe, for example, economies in the next year, possibly the next year or 2 are going to be stagnant, meaning it will actually contract throughout the year while. and here's the payoff, right? the economies of these i see on countries, these asi on nations. i'm going to hit record growth levels, according to many adults, i mean, talk about a yet, right?

now we don't know what's actually going to happen, but that's what a lot of economists are predicting them, predicting that there's going to be a real big difference. what that gives them, by the way, is essentially a vaulted position one they're using now to assert themselves. and pushed back against, for example, western rules and conventions. in fact, it's appearing. and this is, i think, kind of key asi on countries are moving toward an alliance. now, not just geographically because they always have cars or in that region. but more of a real alliance with china. why? well, because what it, what it seems that they're looking for is a very interesting word that really comes into play these days. when you look at the global picture, it's called pragmatism. and community was finally launched on 31st

december 2015. the aim is for the region to be politically cohesive, economically integrated, and socially responsible community. currently, it is proud to be one of the fastest growing consumer markets and biggest economy in the world. and what do we mean by the word pragmatism? what i say that well, i guess we have to start by looking at ourselves, right? my country, our country from where we are now. the u. s. has long been and still is the big dog in the race when it comes to global leadership. there's no question, however, of late because of economic conditions and a view for many countries that we too often lead with a clenched fist. especially when it comes to the use of our military and our need to solve military weapons and infrastructure, kind of losing that edge kind of losing that edge. china, on the other hand,

is leading with infrastructure, key infrastructure. it goes in the country with the aim of building mega infrastructure projects in every country, in every region that it can touch with these deals with these nations, like ozzy on these regional groupings. in most cases, by the way, that is money that they then lend to those countries. so it's not like they're doing it for free or anything. don't get me wrong. so far though, this, this plan, this, this thing they're doing well, it seems to be work. you know, what's interesting about all of this, it's interesting that this is happening, this whole thing with our fee on, despite the fact that the u. s. has been courting see on countries, president biden himself leading the reception. you might remember this mean, do the aussie on countries respect the u. s. as vaulted position, as you see them,

they're playing follow the leader as president biden brings them all out in this ceremony they had at the white house this reception. well, of course they do, of course nobody's saying that they don't respect the united states, that they're not gonna be working with the united states. this is going to continue, but what they also know is that the u. s. is no longer the only game in count no longer the only game in town. in fact, the same could be said these days about many of these regional blocks all the way from the middle east, through africa. and of course, my backyard, latin america. joining us now to talk about this is a former foreign minister of austria koreen can, isaac is a political and list to serve as austria as foreign minister from 2017 to 2019. and she's good enough to join us now because she is really smart when it comes to this stuff. so we're so glad that we have are here, dr. can i so thanks so much for,

for joining us. it's, it's really nice to have you here. why come thank you very much for the invitation . ready let's start with off the on i find that grouping fascinating because the more i read about them, the more that i realize they're well, pardon my ignorance perhaps, but one of those regional groupings that i never paid a lot of attention to. but lately they've been coming up a lot and they've been becoming very, very important. and they're getting the attention of a lot of countries, including, as you saw in that video from president biden, what is it about them that's putting them in this, in this voltage space? if i, if i can use that term well, as i keep saying for at least 20 years or pipelines and airlines and moving east, that music is playing in the east, not in the west and that many voices. so i pointed to the fact that to the 21st century istation century anglin has engage. i always say china, us,

china is so close to diane's. but that is so co tiger staves as we used to call them actor. already back in the late 19 eighties. i give them an amazing country by itself. amazing society. i had the privilege to teach once upon a time in what you mean city for months i gone then. so was one of my most impressive i experience of a swiss young academia bukosa, and then they're just curious to eager to learn their thirsty in every respect. and this is something that, that i'm interesting in many western universities. sandra, it goes from academia to companies, to the corporate world. i used to ega i instance, or esteem i, you're ready to, to renounce on something in order to, to advance. and this is definitely more the case in many societies, was in ozzy and then was into european union for instance. do you think that come, you mentioned vietnam? so, i mean, that's a big, powerful economy right now,

binding some 1000000 people and an economy that compares to some of the biggest in the world these days. oh, do you think a country like vietnam throw in malaysia, throw in all the other countries in the us, you regional grouping? do they understand now that they're togetherness? and then add to that on association with china. makes a much more powerful than if and here's the interesting part of my question than if they. busy had avoided china or maybe not avoided them, but not necessarily relied on so much. relied with them so much and stayed more with the united states have have they have that clicked? do you think in their heads was this is a topic that has been under debate for, for quite some time. i mean, we have to catch word of decoupling from china when it comes to the united states,

which is also forcing other countries into taking a distance from china and not being too dependent. not being too interconnected on a new form of the globalization. and for the other countries, witcher's through that your graphic, proximity, history, demographic bonds are much more connected to the people's republic of china. then come to small to the west. and they are in a court my of course because decoupling is, is inaugural for them. for many, many reasons. i mean, it starts with chinese investments of whether it's wired about and wrote initiative . it goes to a soft power of china, wire deed tourism, a sports industry. you name it, you have it where there's a deep interconnectedness a connection between china and, and those tighter states. and of course you also have japan, which is the kind of arrival in that and you have india as

the decoupling process steps or washing wants to see is a shadow hanging over that the if, if the current situation at all, for many of those austin states it's question where to turn to, but i'm pretty sure data geography, which is always the concept fact of history will have a decisive roland that dr. stay when you are. i'm going to come back to you in just a minute. i want to continue the conversation, but by the way, i do invite you to check out my podcast. it's called the rick sanchez podcast. katcha. it's global and you can find it wherever you get your podcasts. and when we come back to the saudis of what's, what their sudden fascination with president g, like he velvet probably ride back

november 22nd 2022 outraged orthodox christians confronted ukrainian security service offices, looking entrances and exits to keep the oldest monastery. they were looking for alleged russian spies among the monks. we mean dealer seaman nurse and he was in the right form a reason for the brutal crime down one churches parishioners had sung a song about, oh, it's wrong been reason enough to condemn any old dogs, christian attack, imprison and even kill them? russia what i knew, rush up on you to pick it up when you love store noonish store, grow us later i knew each total thought us you used to me stop

a senior bomb. i used to miss dog. this is neatly joke. sand ah, welcome back. this is direct impact. i'm rick sanchez. so recently i don't know if you've noticed or not, but there has been a almost a broken of swords between the saudi arabia and china. more specifically between prince mohammad been solomon and president g. 1 they're gathering their conversations, have been quite public, and it's become very clear that saudi arabia wants to continue to do deals with china. they are collaborating on trade economic military agreements. i mean to the tune of tens of billions of dollars by the way, which for the saudis, i guess it's not that much harder. he put, in fact, as we peruse some of the images of the meetings that we've seen between these 2 countries between these 2 leaders, these 2 men. what we see is a lot of pomp and

a lot of circumstance, right, lot of pomp and circumstance. but when president biden back when president biden went to re on, right, not president g, but president, but the reception was actually kind of dry. it was in fact referred to as a no frills reception. so one can't help but ask, then this goes against historic, right, what is the signal that the saudis are trying to send with this? and joining us now to talk about this is dr. canada, who is the former foreign minister of austria. knows a lot about this particular topic because she has a very keen on the middle east in particular. so let's talk saudi arabia. i am always fascinated by saudi arabia and what they do and what they don't do. but i was very fascinated by making this comparison, which is why don't why i wanted to show this video. i'm almost thinking they trade

they treated or have been treating president g as if he were a us president. if you know what i mean? yes, yes. well, everybody of us remember, so maybe the pictures back in 2018, was it when a president trump made his 1st visit abroad, not to canada, not to mexico? no, he went still to saudi arabia and, and did they do? it was quite there. a warm, cordial atmosphere, dancing and, and swinging, and, and, and cheering, and it had its, its results. but, oh, you, you reminded us of the rather cool reception that president biden received a few months ago. and the, what is, what happened now this time in terms of a drew state were said by president she is the following, the,

the chinese a belong in my assessment to the very few who still take time for with it. i know there the westerners have this kind of instant meetings, very short, very awe, very concise. and it also doesn't leave space and time to really have a profound conversation and to build something like trust. now president, she came to saudi arabia for full 3 days. i think why was it was was issue hours not, not even a day. oh, i'm president, she does is another story came for instance, to serbia which is her small 1000 eastern country in, in, in europe. he, he was there for 5 days. you know, most of a european officials talk a lot about the importance of serbia for the european union, but the never spend more than an hour dubia. ah, so the chinese really take time for the wizard's also when they receive guests. and

it's not only about protocol, but it's really about building trust and this is a good old school diplomacy which can is its results. and so, so the st. they was, it was rich and every regard, it was not on her part for to call. it was not only about ceremonial ah decor, that, that's a leaf. it stresses me, perception know her the, the, and that now a general strategic partnership. and i know that the word strategic partnership pests has become inflationary it's, it's over used. but in that sense, we can really call it a strategic partnership. it's about $30000000000.00 investments. is about investment in artificial intelligence, high tech, nuclear, and achieve that all the was already on the agenda back in 2016 when she came for the 1st time. and what i would say um, from my personal assessment is,

is the one thing that really changed the road to day. little bit is that rather than she suggested in this china or up grade forum, which was attended by about sir, t hat's of state from the arab world. and to use the shanghai trade a stock exchange market for anne and she agreements and to have the you on introduced in their energy agreements. so at all looks sort of commodities which we use for energy. what it's i gas lease young. everything is traded in us dollars. yeah. you asked all at the commodity trade currency and there have been changes over the years. i wrote about that 15 years ago. i was always keen into the topic her will oil betrayed her one day in and why i knew basket will it betrays maybe even in goldhill. so no, this is we up, this is, i gotta stop you here because this is fascinating. what you are, what,

what you just said. i mean on it's almost as if, if i was sitting at the white house right now or at the state department or maybe more the us treasury. and i was watching these conversations that have been taking place between gee and other countries, but more specifically the saudis, i mean, they're the mat daddy's awhile money. i would think these conversations would make me think of 2 things. swift possibly coming to some kind of roll down or, and even, and the dollarization actually being something that could start to happen more in earnest despite the fact that everybody talks about it with these 2 guys talking about that thing that you just said, am i wrong? yeah, well it's, it's a topic that has been around for quite some time a few months ago. even the financial times carried an article on his so everybody

had paid attention to it. i even the f t is talking about the dollarization in a very serious way. but when we break it down to the figures, of course the figures for the time being still there was a different story. the dollar covers about 42 percent of world trade, the u on the chinese, a currency is in charge of something like 3.6 percent for trade. i think 35 percent go to the euro, but things can change very quickly because a currency is built on trust. it's all about trust. otherwise it's colored money. it's colored paper and the. so what is the back up of that currency and what, what is the basis of the trust and is a currency backed up by a sound potential of, of economic activity of commodities like is the case. so for, for,

for the russian currency rubel that is backed up by, by commodities. and, and what does this mean for the future financial system, a road and arcadia, few months ago in which i claim that that bottom line of my text was you can print money. look at quantitative easing a, everything that has been happening ever since the abandoning of the dollar standards in the seventy's and you asked but you cannot print energy. and i think some people world have understood that. so you managed to swift and which is a very powerful tool we have seen it was the reason sanctions. and so what we are in currently is the power of the financial market of insurance market not to be forgot one week because it is sanctions couldn't happen the way to happen if they haven't been also the role of insurance companies and most of them have their

company seeds in london, in frankfort in switzerland. so it's a, it's a north western hemisphere, monopoly insurance market if you want. and we have on the other hand, at the region that has space, it's wells on commodities, but wants to go beyond that. and then in the middle east or west asia, whatever we want to call it. so let's call it more with asia because we are turning into a new period. and also the notion of middle east as i was claim it's, it's a very eurocentric perception because from a london perspective, it was the middle east from a john perspective for them year easter, the nato, austin. and from a she from a very proper geographic perception. it's part of agents must asia sh and, and say, here we have to asian powerhouse china. and we have for the west asian commodity

producers. so all saw the arab gulf states. so i and you chapter has opened the last 3 days. and it's also interesting to put that into the larger picture of china and iran and iraq and saudi arabia because but their enemy, robert albert but, but they are mortal enemies. how in the world is that going to work out? how can china straddle that line up? well, it, it, they, they do it, and this is dest, this is the very interesting part about it, because, unfortunately, u. s. diploma saved freedom. he put it on to inverted comma, she, i was always about either with us or against us and it's either or, but really lemme see, successful diplomacy is not either or within courses and yeah, it's inclusive, it, it has, it has to be inclusive, it has to be we, you know, if i'm doing

a business deal with you, the doctor i would say to you, i want you to hear out my competition and see what they offer you and come back and i'm going to try and beat that. i'm going to try and make you happier than they can make you happy, and they make you happier them, you know, maybe in the future will do business. it's not either you do business with me or i'm never going to talk to him. of vendors that do it it's, it's like what you mentioned earlier, i happen to be latino. so i come from latin america in our world. if you come to do business with me, you better get you better spend some time with me. you're going to be my, my wife and my mother and my family and my kids and i'm going to meet yours. it's not about just sitting down and wrapping things out. so in that sense there, there is almost even a cultural tie to some of the things that you have been telling us. we are out of time professor doctor, this is a been a really important conversation. thanks so much for joining us. you're a delight to talk to him. we'll certainly know your field as the lovey stuff. you all meant he wanted to talk about this. oh, i want to take this

a moment now to remind you of our mission here on this show. it's simple, really what we want to do is kind of de, silo the world. it's kind of like what we were just talking about a moment ago with the good doctor. we've got to stop living in these little boxes that we create for ourselves. cuz truth don't live in boxes, they're everywhere. memory searches, are we looking for you again, right here, where i hope to provide a direct impact i ah ah.

the claims of the king of the belgians leopold the 2nd to the congo where finally authorized by the leading european countries in 18. 85 in the very heart of the african continent. a state under the rule of the belgian monarch was declared since the beginning, the congo free state was total, may him for the local population and functioned as a universal concentration camp. the majority of the population, including women and children, were forced to work on the rubber plantations. those who failed to fulfill their quota were beaten and mutilated to keep the congolese people under control. the king set up the so called forest bleak which were punitive detachments that cast terror on the captured country and its inhabitants, fearing that their subordinates would simply waste bullets hunting for wild animals . the officers demanded that this just gave an answer for every bullet used. and as

proof presented a job hand of an african, it was not uncommon when trying to justify the use of the ammunition. the colonist amputated the hands of not only those who were dead, but also of those who were kept alive. the atrocious exploitation of the congo turned into a real genocide. in only 20 years, the policy of the belgian led to the death of nearly 10000000 people alongside the holocaust. that genocide of the congo population is considered to be one of the grimmest pages in the history of mankind. with awe, every spring and summer,

the melting optic snow reveals abandoned machinery millions of rusty barrels. and the detritus left by human expansion into this most inaccessible of temperature is yep. and your symbol should kick off a summer, but he lowered it. the bus that became has an issue all entails from clean optic travel to heis island home to the biggest polar station on the french, joseph land archipelago a was or more. yeah, because it should. so it means it's when you only see lots of money and i'm but somebody with a summer stay on the oil stuff. looks like you feel like you are a marriage from a serial number 0 membership one year. i've got a serial no boys to premier. please join me at that of the optic pioneers main objective was to explore and conquer these harsh lands. they had no time to think about waste management now, and they could see could remain for centuries, getting my choice of so i'm with want to pull on your scope. i don't really tune

with issue with a general elections that started in nigeria, africa is most populous nation, and largest economy will elected president by president and members of parliament. also had the collect at west must accept the fact that there are other players on the world arena is the security of the country should not be pursued at the expense of others. russia and china slab the west for attempting to monopolize security at the expense of other nation as the un security council molds over a pack the piece for you grade. and.