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Episode 483 - The Nobel Peace Prize
Topics:
In this episode of the Iron Fist Velvet Glove podcast, hosts Trevor (Iron Fist), Scott (Velvet Glove), and tech guy Joe discuss various topical matters after a two-week hiatus. The conversation includes the uneasy alliance between the Australian Christian Lobby and the Greens aimed at reducing poker machines in New South Wales, and the recent awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado, supported by figures like Donald Trump. The hosts also delve into the influence of political systems, with a focus on how powerful interests mould politicians like Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Other discussions touch on the economics of China's rare earth minerals and iron ore trade strategies, the diminishing quality of journalism in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and the National Press Club of Australia's controversial cancellation of journalist Chris Hedges' address. The episode wraps up with reflections on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the so-called peace plans proposed by international figures.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome Back
01:00 Australian News and Politics
02:39 Discussion on Gambling and Pokies
06:11 International Affairs and Podcasts
08:31 Debate on Political Systems
26:23 Reflections on Media and Journalism
28:59 Nobel Peace Prize Discussion
29:39 The Invention of Dynamite and Nobel Prizes
31:28 Nobel Peace Prize Controversies
36:16 Trump's Drug Price Reduction Claims
39:13 Prayers in Parliament and Christian Fascism
43:38 China's Trade Tactics and Rare Earths
49:43 China's Iron Ore Strategy
55:13 Israel-Palestine Conflict and Peace Plans
01:03:59 Censorship and Media Influence
01:06:57 Conclusion and Sign-Off
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Transcript
We need to talk about ideas, good ones and bad ones.
Speaker:We need to learn stuff about the world.
Speaker:We need an honest, intelligent, thought provoking, and entertaining
Speaker:review of what the hell happened on this planet in the last seven days.
Speaker:We need to sit back and listen to the Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove.
Speaker:Hello, dear listener.
Speaker:Welcome back.
Speaker:Iron Fist, Velvet Glove podcast.
Speaker:After a two week break, we are back.
Speaker:I'm Trevor, uh, AKA, the Iron Fist over there in regional Queensland.
Speaker:Scott, the Velvet Glove.
Speaker:How are you, Scott?
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:Thanks Trevor.
Speaker:Good day, Joe.
Speaker:Good day, Trevor.
Speaker:Good day listeners.
Speaker:I hope everyone's doing well
Speaker:and we've got Joe, the tech guy back as usual.
Speaker:Evening Al. Yes.
Speaker:If you're in the chat room, say hello.
Speaker:Nobody there yet.
Speaker:But, um, what we're gonna talk about, got a few things to catch up on.
Speaker:We'll do a bit of, um, Australian news, um, and uneasy, well, an
Speaker:alliance between the Australian Christian lobby and the greens.
Speaker:What
Speaker:it's got obviously hasn't read the notes.
Speaker:No, I haven't read the notes.
Speaker:And, um, uh, a few local things.
Speaker:Um, and then Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded, um, not to
Speaker:Trump, but they managed to find somebody possibly even worse.
Speaker:So we'll talk about that.
Speaker:And, um, ah, a bunch of other topics.
Speaker:Maybe a bit of, um, religion bashing in this episode more so
Speaker:than some, uh, more recent ones.
Speaker:Get back to our roots of good old religion bashing at some point.
Speaker:Um, and of course, what's going on with Israel, his plans.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:Sort of Gaza, Israel, Palestine related issues.
Speaker:So yeah, that's the general one.
Speaker:So, um, uh, I don't have actually any, um, sort of boomer stories of my encounters.
Speaker:I haven't had anything of particularly topical at this point,
Speaker:so you miss out on that this week.
Speaker:But, uh, it's all we've good.
Speaker:Unless you guys had a boomer encounter that you wanna relate or
Speaker:No.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Alright.
Speaker:Um, let's see.
Speaker:So Scott, I say that this is a sign, this is hope for you to mend.
Speaker:Bridges with the greens because if the Australian, Christian,
Speaker:Australian, Christian lobby can do it, then surely you can, Scott.
Speaker:No, it's, it's a marriage of convenience over the, um, shutting down late
Speaker:night pokies in New South Wales.
Speaker:Yes, I can understand where they're coming from and that sort of stuff because I
Speaker:would love to see the number of pokies in this country dramatically reduced.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Because, you know, we've got less than, I forget what it is, I did
Speaker:the numbers once, but we've got 10 times as many poker machines in this
Speaker:country as they do even in Vegas.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Is just ridiculous than the number of pokies that we've got.
Speaker:So, you know, my hat's off to both of them, but
Speaker:the NEM enemy is not necessarily my friend, you know?
Speaker:Well,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:So the New South Wales Greens have announced a build a force,
Speaker:the closure of all poker machine venues from 2:00 AM to 10:00 AM.
Speaker:That seems a reasonable law, although some people would argue it's a bit of a
Speaker:nanny state sort of thing to do, I guess.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Let the market decide.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:But you know, when you are pedaling a product that's got highly
Speaker:addictive qualities to it and the consequences are horrendous for people
Speaker:don't have, they don't highly addictive qualities, it's
Speaker:designed to be highly addictive.
Speaker:Yes, yes.
Speaker:By the very nature and over time, you're guaranteed to lose.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Like this.
Speaker:So playing long enough and you'll lose, and you'll lose not only your money,
Speaker:but your family's money and you'll cause enormous damage to yourself and
Speaker:your wider family and the community that then has to support you and
Speaker:your Oh, just it's horrendous stuff.
Speaker:I find it quite depressing.
Speaker:I've mentioned this a few times, but if you go into a club or
Speaker:something like that and, um.
Speaker:You wander through the pokey hall.
Speaker:It, it is so depressing.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:You see it all the time.
Speaker:Like the pubs and everything that used to have live music, they
Speaker:don't have live music anymore.
Speaker:They've got poker machines because they make more money out of it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So the, uh, the ACL wrote to the greens with congratulations and an offer to
Speaker:support the bill however it could.
Speaker:So, um, so they said that, um, what did they say here?
Speaker:The greens in the Australian Christian lobby don't often
Speaker:see eye to eye on things.
Speaker:In fact, until now, we've pretty much been polar opposites of any debate.
Speaker:Um, but there you go.
Speaker:In this polarized society, um, it's brought these people together
Speaker:desperately worried that somebody might be having more fun than they're ah,
Speaker:well, and they're joyless bastards.
Speaker:Why are they against, why would the ACL be against gambling?
Speaker:'cause gambling is a sin.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:They sound active on horse racing and sports betting and other things.
Speaker:I,
Speaker:I think they're maybe not active, but if somebody was to put up a bell banning it,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:They'd
Speaker:probably be in for it.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Is this a biblical thing where the sort of, I
Speaker:don't know.
Speaker:I think it's part of the, I think it's more of the, more of
Speaker:the, um, product, Puritan artwork.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:The um, the Catholics and everything like that.
Speaker:They never have an, have an issue with gambling, you know?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:They often have, you know, they, they, you know, they, uh, when at
Speaker:the school I was working at, they had all sorts of, you know, you buy a
Speaker:ticket to support something or other, and it was just one of those things.
Speaker:It's just, um, God knows.
Speaker:But anyway,
Speaker:even to raffle tickets in that sense.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But yeah.
Speaker:But, um, um, yeah, it's sort of.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Just one of those moral issues mm-hmm.
Speaker:That, uh, conservative Christians have taken a stand on.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:John's in the chat room.
Speaker:Uh, Andrew is as well, Andrew says, looks like you're going to clash with
Speaker:me listening to Donald speaking in the Knesset and Trump's arrived in Israel
Speaker:and talk to the Israeli parliament.
Speaker:He's gotta go over there and make sure his weapons have arrived.
Speaker:Mm, well, I think he's scoping out his hotels.
Speaker:Um, yeah.
Speaker:Reserving spots.
Speaker:I would say
Speaker:his, his primary real estate in Gaza Strip.
Speaker:Mm. That's what I think he'd be up to.
Speaker:So, um, so yeah.
Speaker:Um, have you guys been listening to many podcasts at all?
Speaker:I listen to shit loads of podcasts.
Speaker:You ever listened to Bogan Intelligentsia Scott?
Speaker:No,
Speaker:that's not a bad one.
Speaker:He's an Aussie guy who's interviewing people and, um, commend that one.
Speaker:He listen to the, um, punters politics.
Speaker:I've seen bits and pieces of his, so he is not bad as well.
Speaker:It's not bad.
Speaker:All right, I'll have a look for this one now.
Speaker:Uh, friend of the show, Kim Lackey was on Bogan intelligentsia running through
Speaker:the usual topics of Orcas and Australia's position in Asia and all the rest of it.
Speaker:And just, uh, like we do so often bemoaning that we're not taking a
Speaker:sensible approach to our relationships with, uh, the US and Asia.
Speaker:And, um, and really, you know, both of them are sort of there going,
Speaker:how and why is this the way it is?
Speaker:Why, why is it that our leaders, um, think the way they do?
Speaker:Like, and I think, um, if you look at somebody like Anthony Albanese, if he
Speaker:was not Prime Minister of Australia and he was just Anthony Albanese
Speaker:suburban dad working in accountants office, he'd be the type of guy.
Speaker:Who would be at a Palestinian protest, I think like a pro-Palestinian protest.
Speaker:And he'd be, be bemoaning what Israel is doing to the Flotilla.
Speaker:And, and he'd be, he'd be against Orus and he'd be against, you know, his views
Speaker:would be so much different, I reckon, based on the young Albanese than,
Speaker:mm-hmm.
Speaker:Than the Prime Minister Albanese.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:Compared to the young Al Albanese they're to and cheese.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, he's a very different man.
Speaker:So it's really not a question of how do you convince these people
Speaker:of what is the right approach?
Speaker:'cause I'm sure guys like Paul Keating, Bob Carr, other people have been
Speaker:in his ear saying, you're getting foreign policy completely wrong.
Speaker:And I think something happens where the system grabs hold
Speaker:of people and converts them.
Speaker:Willingly or unwillingly,
Speaker:he, he realizes where his next, um, uh, electoral campaign
Speaker:is coming from, doesn't he?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's, or more importantly, he realizes where the next anti him electoral campaign
Speaker:might come from if he crosses the line.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So it's the factions, it's the preselection deals and battles.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:It's the lobbyists who get their tentacles into them.
Speaker:It's the NewsCorp sort of barrage of propaganda against him.
Speaker:It's the kind of advisors end up in parliament.
Speaker:And I reckon also just the lack of time that these guys
Speaker:have to think about things.
Speaker:They'd be so distracted with the bombarded by a myriad of topics every
Speaker:day, just a time to sit and think.
Speaker:And so I. The kind of explanation is the system of powerful interest
Speaker:varied as they are, play on guys like Albanese and convert them.
Speaker:So it's not so much the, the argument, I reckon it's just the system that
Speaker:molds people into the way the system wants 'em to be behaving, I feel.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, a lot of it would be helped by reducing the sway
Speaker:that money has on politics.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, and the, the continual al you know, election cycle.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:It's just the other thing of it, like, you know, I've banged on about it before,
Speaker:but you know, if you're really wanting to.
Speaker:Run a country efficiently,
Speaker:you'd want at least a five year
Speaker:term, the Chinese Communist Party system.
Speaker:It's a really good system for doing long-term planning on stuff.
Speaker:Well, I've, I've said, you know, make me dictator for life.
Speaker:I'll sort it out.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:It's one of those things, you've gotta be sure that you've got a benevolent
Speaker:dictator before you can actually say that system's the best one.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:You know, I, I think that, um, we've gotta at least look at four year terms in this
Speaker:country, or possibly even five year terms.
Speaker:Like, I, I think there's a pretty good argument for us to actually say,
Speaker:well, we're following the British government's, we're following the
Speaker:British ar, the British Pol uh, political system, which is five year terms.
Speaker:So we're gonna do that over here.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It's one of those things.
Speaker:I don't have a problem with a five year term.
Speaker:And also there is also a, um, circuit breaker too that
Speaker:should, um, anything go too far.
Speaker:You've also got the Governor General that can go in and say, you've got
Speaker:actually go face the people again.
Speaker:You know, which is just one of those things.
Speaker:If in
Speaker:what?
Speaker:Circum Circum.
Speaker:It's dismissal.
Speaker:The dismissal.
Speaker:You know, it's just one of those things I think it should be used in more.
Speaker:Hang on.
Speaker:You are saying the Governor General
Speaker:should be able to
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Should.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Or the president is, should be able to,
Speaker:aren't we talking about it?
Speaker:Only if suppliers,
Speaker:yeah, that's, that's what it was used for.
Speaker:But if you've got something that comes up to you, then you can always knock it back.
Speaker:The legislation can be knocked back and then after that you've got a
Speaker:bitch fight between the parliament and, and the, and the palace.
Speaker:As to which, as to whether or not you want that as person, as Governor General.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:It's just one of those things.
Speaker:I think that, um, once we become a republic, we should have a. An
Speaker:elected president that could still have those powers because those
Speaker:reserve powers are actually quite useful in an extreme circumstance.
Speaker:How to do to, to, to unilaterally call an election or, or basically
Speaker:just the formality of calling it when supply can't be.
Speaker:I just think that saying
Speaker:he, Scott, are you in favor of what, what Kerr did?
Speaker:No, not not of those, not of those exact circumstances.
Speaker:'cause I think Kerr was acting out of his, Kerr was acting on his own, uh,
Speaker:ego, I think more than anything else.
Speaker:But if you have a rogue government that is out there doing something that is
Speaker:completely wrong, then I think the head of state should have the opportunity
Speaker:to actually call the prime minister in, sit him down and say, you've
Speaker:gotta actually back away from this.
Speaker:Or, I'm gonna dissolve Parliament.
Speaker:What,
Speaker:what?
Speaker:Gimme an example of a situation where this independent person.
Speaker:She should be able to force the election.
Speaker:Alright, we'll see you guys are, you guys are against my
Speaker:position on, uh, I'm on, um,
Speaker:what's the word I'm looking for?
Speaker:Prescription.
Speaker:If you had a government that came into office and one of thumping great
Speaker:majority in one term and said, by the way, we're going introduce conscription
Speaker:and everyone, every man and every man and woman aged 18 will have to
Speaker:front up for it, then that would be something that would be so against
Speaker:what the, um, public actually wants.
Speaker:That you could actually see the numbers and everything turn rather
Speaker:quickly against the government.
Speaker:So the pri the president should then call the prime Minister in and say, I
Speaker:think you should back away from this.
Speaker:Otherwise, I'm gonna dissolve Parliament Scott.
Speaker:No, but if, if I thought you were after a democracy, I believe it's a
Speaker:democracy.
Speaker:It's a democracy because you're, you're actually sending them back to the public.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If they win, then the, then the president backand and says, okay, fair enough.
Speaker:I'll step away.
Speaker:So that's only a democracy.
Speaker:If, if it's a, a pre announced pol policy.
Speaker:So a, a government is then restricted to pre announced policies?
Speaker:No, just
Speaker:anything that is particularly
Speaker:unpopular.
Speaker:Particularly unpopular then
Speaker:as determined by opinion polls.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:No, I just think to way if you, if you look at the, if
Speaker:you look at the opinion bowls,
Speaker:which are never manipulated, people, you know, are getting a, a, a full
Speaker:and frank account of what's going on and they couldn't possibly be
Speaker:manipulated into thinking, okay, Trevor,
Speaker:so you're saying that everyone is gonna be in line, people know better than the
Speaker:people and therefore democracy is wrong.
Speaker:So you're saying you're against
Speaker:democracy?
Speaker:Well, well, for example, I would hate the idea of pre conscription.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:And, and if, for example, a, it was never on the cards in
Speaker:any lead up to an election.
Speaker:In either side, you know, the week after an election said, right.
Speaker:Guess what?
Speaker:Surprise, surprise, inscriptions gonna happen next week.
Speaker:I'd be furious and relatable, but I would not want a governor
Speaker:general or president to be going.
Speaker:Well, that's not what you guys said.
Speaker:And we're all gonna have an election again.
Speaker:Like I would just have to suck it up for five years until the next election.
Speaker:So I
Speaker:didn't see it's that bad.
Speaker:I mean, like, you know, okay.
Speaker:You know, Whitlam and Kerr was a different thing.
Speaker:Kerr was acting on his own ego more than, more than anything else.
Speaker:Well,
Speaker:so that was maybe he had the interest.
Speaker:How do you know read his mind?
Speaker:Well, because
Speaker:you need, you didn't know his mind, but, um, I think that that whole position was
Speaker:engineered by Fraser and everything else.
Speaker:You know, they engine, they engineered the position they got them into,
Speaker:they got them, they got them over a barrel, and so they were basically
Speaker:gunning for the Governor General to exercise the reserve powers.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Now, Whitlam lost that election.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:If Whitlam was as popular as Whitlam believes, Whitlam should have
Speaker:won that election in a thumping majority, and he should have
Speaker:booted out, uh, what's his name?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, hey, by the way, that's coming up as the 50th anniversary.
Speaker:Yeah, I know.
Speaker:Of the dismissal.
Speaker:So there'll be all sorts of, um, reflections on that time.
Speaker:The John UE blog is gonna do a series of articles and even
Speaker:a little podcast reflecting.
Speaker:Oh really?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And John UE himself was a senior advisor for Goff Whitlam at the time.
Speaker:So
Speaker:yeah, I Now that chuckles is king, maybe we can have his input.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So, um, well that's, I don't think you're gonna hear anything from Charles in Yeah,
Speaker:that's an interesting, uh, I wouldn't have picked, I was thinking that Scott, or,
Speaker:so it's just one of those things, you know, the only objection
Speaker:that I had was that, um,
Speaker:it seemed to be timed and everything else to benefit Fraser more than anyone else.
Speaker:It just, it didn't actually.
Speaker:Like you would want.
Speaker:The way I would want it exercised is if someone exercises it, you
Speaker:have a new election, both houses, bing, bang, bong, it's over.
Speaker:I think it was deliberately done the way it was done to benefit
Speaker:Fraser and the coalition more than it was to benefit the Labor Party.
Speaker:And the Labor Party were dismissed and they lost the election.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, it's just one of those things now, apparently, you know, if you look back
Speaker:on it and all that sort of stuff, you know, everything I've sort of read on it
Speaker:says that, um, Whitlam never got over it.
Speaker:And he was a bitter old man Right.
Speaker:Until he died.
Speaker:And he said that, um, his election campaign was based on, you have
Speaker:got to correct a gigantic wrong.
Speaker:That was done, it was done to me.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And Fraser came out with different ideas and that sort of stuff.
Speaker:So Fraser looked like the intelligent bloke, whereas written them
Speaker:looked like a ranting raving fool.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:Anyway.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:John in the chat room, uh, you're coming around to my way of thinking about polls.
Speaker:Maybe I am John.
Speaker:So, um, yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Alright.
Speaker:Well, um, uh, yeah, anyway, Bogan, intelligentsia, check that one out.
Speaker:Recent episode Cam Lackey.
Speaker:But of course guys, um, you know, that's my theory on power
Speaker:influencing people like Albanese.
Speaker:I could be wrong, believe it or not.
Speaker:I have been wrong on some topics.
Speaker:No more.
Speaker:So
Speaker:you also accepted that before in the past, which is
Speaker:no more so than when it comes to Korean soldiers in Ukraine.
Speaker:Remember we were talking and we're thinking,
Speaker:yeah, no, you
Speaker:said it was bullshit Right.
Speaker:From Word go.
Speaker:Whereas I had an open mind, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, um, I remember thinking, how will we ever prove this?
Speaker:Like, I thought it was gonna be one of these topics that
Speaker:it was gonna be hard to prove.
Speaker:But then basically Putin and, um, pong Gang, the North Korean leader or
Speaker:whatever is Ill John, whatever it is.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:You know, came out in writing and said, you know, yep.
Speaker:It was all done.
Speaker:And just for the record, here's further proof.
Speaker:This is, um, the dear leader, um, congratulating the
Speaker:soldiers who did fight there.
Speaker:Um, and they're basically in arms crying, uh, over the whole thing.
Speaker:So just, just for a bit of fun, there's not much audio with this
Speaker:all getting a medal
Speaker:song, music
Speaker:clutching.
Speaker:So there we go.
Speaker:Mm. If there was any doubt.
Speaker:Doo what's his name?
Speaker:A beer.
Speaker:Yes, I do.
Speaker:Yes, John.
Speaker:He's in the chat.
Speaker:So how, well there's worst things to be wrong about, I
Speaker:guess, but, uh, it does happen.
Speaker:North Korean soldiers.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But did they, did they have any casualties over there?
Speaker:Did they lose a couple?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How many did they lose?
Speaker:Well, uh, they lost an awful lot because they were told not to surrender.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So there were stories of them basically blowing themselves
Speaker:up with hand grenades if they
Speaker:see, I don't know if that part of the story is correct or not.
Speaker:Well, I
Speaker:mean, you usually, you count on sort of a one third of your casualties
Speaker:are dead and the rest are injured.
Speaker:And the fact that there were so few that were captured suggests that there was a
Speaker:reason why they weren't captured well,
Speaker:I think also, uh, they were in the Kirs region.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And is that the Russian region that Ukraine the Ukrainian into?
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:Um, uh, so yeah, maybe that's.
Speaker:One of the reasons.
Speaker:But, um, anyway, enough about North Korean soldiers.
Speaker:Uh, where were we?
Speaker:Um, yeah,
Speaker:we've been talking about some people who we no longer agree
Speaker:with on issues and, uh mm-hmm.
Speaker:And I find this in, with, with them and with other, uh, boomers I come
Speaker:across and stuff is, well, I came across this quote that I reckon
Speaker:says a lot, apparently by HL Kin.
Speaker:You guys ever heard of him before?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:I hadn't heard of him.
Speaker:But this quote is, for every complex problem there is an answer
Speaker:that is clear, simple, and wrong.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And apparently that wasn't the quote, the actual quote was, explanations exist.
Speaker:They have existed for all time.
Speaker:There is always a well-known solution to every human problem.
Speaker:Neat, plausible, and wrong.
Speaker:So, um, I just find with the people that I disagree with.
Speaker:But, um, it's really hard to talk about nuance, interplay of different
Speaker:factors that weigh in on something.
Speaker:These people want just neat, simple answers to things
Speaker:and a lot of things aren't that simple, hence religion.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It's a lot easier to accept that God did that mm-hmm.
Speaker:Than it was a random event over which I can have absolutely no control.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Whereas at least if there's a God I can pray to them and either
Speaker:they're an asshole and ignore me.
Speaker:Mm. Or they're a nice God.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And, um, heed my prayers.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So yes, John tr in the chat room did try to get that beer.
Speaker:Sorry John, it was afterwards that I actually got to that.
Speaker:So, um, yeah.
Speaker:Look, I also think there's increasingly people on the spectrum and I think
Speaker:I was reading where people who are on the spectrum are more inclined
Speaker:to want definitive black and white answers to things and a binary
Speaker:approach to some of these answers.
Speaker:So, um.
Speaker:A struggle with this is the problem with with scientists.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:Um, because scientists, if you ever listen to them, will go, oh,
Speaker:that's outside my area of expertise.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Mm. Or the best evidence points to this.
Speaker:Or we think it might be this, but we are really not sure.
Speaker:We're still waiting on on more evidence.
Speaker:Mm. Whereas the people who just ignore the science go, oh, we absolutely
Speaker:know that vaccines cause autism.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And they sound so sure and they're so positive about it.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:That people who don't understand just go, oh, well that person
Speaker:knows and that person isn't sure
Speaker:quite RF Gate Jr. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It's just this desire for neat, plausible answers that are just wrong.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:He's simple and wrong.
Speaker:So that was, um, Henry, uh, Louis Lincoln, um, 1880 to 1956.
Speaker:20th century journalist, satirists, social critic, cynic, free thinker.
Speaker:No one is the sage of Baltimore.
Speaker:Um, one of the more influential American writers.
Speaker:You'd heard of him before, Joe.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Quite a lot of his quotes I've seen circulating.
Speaker:Mm. Here's one.
Speaker:So there's a guy who died in 1956, and he wrote in his piece in Defense of Women,
Speaker:this was 1918, he wrote This Civilization in fact rose more and more morland and
Speaker:hysterical, especially under democracy.
Speaker:It tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes.
Speaker:The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed and
Speaker:hence glamorous, to be led to safety by menacing it with an endless series of
Speaker:hob, goblins, most of them imaginary.
Speaker:That's very prescient.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Like a hundred years ago.
Speaker:And, uh.
Speaker:It could have been written today.
Speaker:That one, except maybe we don't use the word hob gobles, but, um, brown people.
Speaker:Um, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Insert there.
Speaker:Um, here's another one.
Speaker:Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want
Speaker:and deserve to get it good and hard.
Speaker:Uh, the public demands certainties, but there are no certainties.
Speaker:And, um, and this one, how does so much false news get into the American
Speaker:newspapers, even the good ones?
Speaker:Is it because journalists as a class are habitual liars?
Speaker:Prefer what is not true to what is true?
Speaker:I don't think it is.
Speaker:Rather is because journalists are in the main, extremely stupid,
Speaker:sentimental and incredulous fellows.
Speaker:'cause nothing is easier than to fool them because the majority of them lack
Speaker:the sharp intelligence that the proper discharge of their duties demands.
Speaker:I give you as Exhibit A of that dear listener, the current A, b, C, like I just
Speaker:find the caliber of journalists there, juvenile and pathetic, and just summoning
Speaker:all the regular mainstream tropes out of
Speaker:American Playbook.
Speaker:Like, it just, it's a very shallow organization.
Speaker:Even someone like everyone seems to have liked, um, who
Speaker:was that political reporter?
Speaker:Laura Tingle.
Speaker:She, she didn't really get into stuff much.
Speaker:She seemed an honest person, but not particularly incisive in No.
Speaker:You've her thinking
Speaker:you've no longer got Kerry O'Brien there.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:No, he was a bloody good.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:Interviewer.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And he never gave anyone any quarter.
Speaker:And I remember, and, you know, say what you like about John Howard, at least
Speaker:he had the guts to front up and talk to Kerry O'Brien at least once a week.
Speaker:Probably felt he had
Speaker:to in those days.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well he probably did feel he had to Yeah.
Speaker:Because there was no Sky News or anything else.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And, um, he actually had the guts to go and face him, although
Speaker:Kerry O'Brien tore him a new one virtually every time they talked.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:It's just that he didn't, didn't stare away, didn't run away from it.
Speaker:He actually faced him.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And he, you know, held his own.
Speaker:But, um, I, I think that O'Brien got the better of him a couple of times.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And it's just one of those things we've no longer got.
Speaker:I don't know whether they're all feeling nervous because the government
Speaker:got involved and demanded that certain people get sacked and everything else.
Speaker:I couldn't tell you.
Speaker:It's just that, um.
Speaker:We seem to have lost something from our national broadcaster.
Speaker:Our national broadcaster used to be fearless.
Speaker:Now it is fearful and I don't know how you're gonna fix that.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Cab de Murdoch.
Speaker:But yeah, Murdoch is gonna die before too long one would hope.
Speaker:Um, yeah.
Speaker:Unfortunately his son is just as big arick, if not worse.
Speaker:Um, yes.
Speaker:Lachlan, um,
Speaker:yeah,
Speaker:he's a real Nazi and apparently it's, he's, he won a court case
Speaker:to get controlled, didn't he?
Speaker:No, he lost that court case.
Speaker:Uh, they've done a deal.
Speaker:They've done a deal.
Speaker:Bought out the other family members.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, yes.
Speaker:So done a deal.
Speaker:I think they're getting billion was taking over basically.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Um, so we're gonna talk a little bit about, uh, the Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker:But, um, whenever I discussed the Nobel Peace Prize with people, which
Speaker:I seem to do quite often, um, you guys familiar with how the Nobel Peace Prize?
Speaker:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker:He, varias
Speaker:did a really good documentary about two weeks ago on him.
Speaker:Who did?
Speaker:Feras is a YouTube channel.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Uh, Canadian, Australian science journalist.
Speaker:Went to University of Sydney, did a physics degree.
Speaker:You wanna tell a story, Jo?
Speaker:The Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker:Nobel Prize.
Speaker:Basically his dad.
Speaker:So, Swedish.
Speaker:Swedish.
Speaker:Norwegian.
Speaker:Norwegian.
Speaker:Norwegian.
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:Um, his dad ran arms factories in Russia for the Czar and lost his money.
Speaker:But basically, Alfred.
Speaker:Studied, uh, and fix the problem of how do you get, um, nitroglycerin more stable.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So invented dynamite.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Uh, and then that still would sweat and explode and then
Speaker:invented gelignite, I think.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Which was a much more stable form.
Speaker:Anyway, um, his aim was to, uh, assist in quarrying and lots of things
Speaker:that were happening at the time, but eventually got into arms manufacturing.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And I think when he was in his forties or fifties, somebody had screwed
Speaker:up, his brother had died and the obituary came out and it was for him.
Speaker:And it was basically the purveyor of death has died.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And
Speaker:went, oh shit.
Speaker:This is a really bad legacy.
Speaker:I'm leaving.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:And so bequeathed a larger grant for, uh, Nobel prizes.
Speaker:Mm. Basically to.
Speaker:Um, why was name raised his gu
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Read his own obituary and thought, uh, that wasn't very good.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And, um, being called the merchant of death, um, for his invention of dynamite.
Speaker:And, um, and in it, it had said he had found ways to kill more
Speaker:people faster than ever before.
Speaker:So, um, but, but he'd
Speaker:also saved so many lives in mining and quarrying.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:So in his final will, he dedicated most of his fortune to creating the Nobel Prizes.
Speaker:So that's how they came about.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:So odds we know, uh, Donald Trump was very, very keen on
Speaker:winning a Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker:Um, he didn't get it this year, so he was awarded to Venezuela's opposition leader.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Maria Corina.
Speaker:Machado, an obscure person you may think, but one who has
Speaker:been discussed on this podcast.
Speaker:Several occasions.
Speaker:Those listeners who are, um, avid listeners, I have a little bit of pride in
Speaker:that, that we, we've got such an obscure person as being discussed a few times.
Speaker:So she was chosen from a secret list of 338 candidates and, um, and
Speaker:they quoted, uh, the Nobel Priest Prize for 2025 goes to a brave and
Speaker:committed champion of peace to a woman who keeps the flame of democracy
Speaker:earning amidst a growing darkness.
Speaker:She's receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work, promoting
Speaker:democratic rights for the people of Venezuela, and for a struggle to
Speaker:achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Speaker:Here's my first issue with this.
Speaker:Even if all that was true, that, you know, she's a tireless
Speaker:worker promoting democracy, isn't that different to peace like.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Should a peace prize be for promoting peace, not necessarily democracy?
Speaker:Oh, maybe their argument is that democracies are more naturally peaceful.
Speaker:Yes, but surely you could find something more directly related to
Speaker:fostering peace than somebody, even if all that was true, which it's not.
Speaker:Um, uh, it's just a very tenuous connection to, to peace, because
Speaker:there's plenty of, there's plenty of democracies around the world that
Speaker:are not particularly peaceful Exhibit A, the United States of America.
Speaker:Uh, what have people said?
Speaker:Well, Barack Obama says, congratulations to the new Nobel Peace
Speaker:Prize Laureate, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:For her courageous struggle to bring democracy to Venezuela should
Speaker:inspire, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:Um, she of course dedicated her Nobel Prize to Donald Trump.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:That tells you something.
Speaker:Her nomination was openly supported by Marco Rubio and some of the
Speaker:most hawkish Republican senators.
Speaker:Um, probably a sign that you're not dealing with a genuine peace lover.
Speaker:Um, now back from episode 440 dealing with, um, Venezuela, there was a
Speaker:leaked, um, recording in which, uh, the Venezuelan coup plotter Maria
Speaker:Carina Machado basically admits, um, that the US government told her
Speaker:it wants her, uh, to collaborate to overthrow, uh, president Maduro.
Speaker:And she, uh, was calling for sanctions on her own country.
Speaker:She was calling on Argentina and Israel to work, uh, in the United Nations to
Speaker:intervene to get, um, sort of action taken against Venezuela, but this woman
Speaker:actively calling for sanctions on her own country and um, uh, and, and actively
Speaker:working towards, uh, regime change.
Speaker:So, um, hardly what you'd call a peace maker.
Speaker:So, um, anyway, uh, that was her, that was, uh, another example of a
Speaker:failure of an institution, by the way.
Speaker:There was a betting scandal, so, um, apparently the odds on her.
Speaker:Um, changed dramatically, and some people won a lot of money betting
Speaker:on her as winning the Nobel Prize.
Speaker:So bit of a scam there for, um, the Nobel Prize Committee.
Speaker:So anyway, Machado wins the Nobel Peace Prize, even if in the best possible light,
Speaker:hardly a good candidate, and in probably the accurate light, a terrible candidate.
Speaker:So, in my humble opinion, but I've been wrong before, uh, I referenced the North
Speaker:Korean soldiers, uh, for a bit of fun.
Speaker:Um, did I put this one in, um, about Trump?
Speaker:He's been negotiating to bring down drug prices.
Speaker:I hope this is in the list here.
Speaker:Let me just see if it's there.
Speaker:Yes, it is.
Speaker:Yeah, he's
Speaker:been killing them.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:You know, if a, if a drug, a medicine, let's say it cost $50, Scott.
Speaker:And you
Speaker:reduced its price by a hundred percent.
Speaker:What would it cost?
Speaker:It was $0.
Speaker:What if you reduced its price by 200% or 300%?
Speaker:Well, then they'd have to pay you for taking the drug.
Speaker:Apparently he's done this.
Speaker:Here's, uh, here's his spokesman talking about it.
Speaker:President is definitely committed to fixing and
Speaker:improving our healthcare system.
Speaker:You saw it again last week when he had one of the largest pharmaceutical companies
Speaker:in the world coming into the Oval Office and promising to lower drug prices by
Speaker:200, 300, 100% in many cases for various types of drugs for American patients.
Speaker:That is a huge fix to a broken system that has been ripping
Speaker:off the American people for far.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Have you heard, um, how he's fixing the drug prices?
Speaker:He's gonna charge the rest of the world twice as much as
Speaker:they're currently being charged.
Speaker:Well, I'm, I'm just sort of lost at the 300% reduction and, and, and how it went.
Speaker:300, 200, 100 or 200?
Speaker:300. 100. Yeah.
Speaker:200, 300. It went in an odd direction.
Speaker:And some poor reporters had she, she wasn't employed clear
Speaker:thinking.
Speaker:She was clear.
Speaker:She was clearly employed because she's a blonde woman.
Speaker:You
Speaker:know, she wants, you know, Donald Trump wants her to be the face
Speaker:of the, um, ad administration.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So he wanted to have a young blonde woman up there.
Speaker:And that's just one of those things.
Speaker:I just think that it's a disgusting thing that he's done.
Speaker:'cause he is got someone who's clearly out of her depth in
Speaker:a job that she can't do well
Speaker:if her job is just to, to talk repeat bullshit.
Speaker:To save him having to do it.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And just to repeat the same bullshit he would say if he was there.
Speaker:You would have to argue that she's doing an excellent job.
Speaker:Well, I suppose so.
Speaker:If you, if you actually, if that's what she was employed to do,
Speaker:I would imagine that he's enormously happy with her performance.
Speaker:He'd be absolutely, he would be absolutely ecstatic with her performance.
Speaker:There we go.
Speaker:Job done.
Speaker:So
Speaker:yeah,
Speaker:before we get to the next topic, just in the chat room, Andrew says,
Speaker:uh, back to the North Korean troops, there were also the stories of how
Speaker:the, um, troops fighting ability, ability was apparently compromised by
Speaker:them being introduced to unrestricted internet and hardcore adult content.
Speaker:Or
Speaker:maybe just Trump's press secretary.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Maybe that too.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That was Caroline Levitt.
Speaker:Um, prayers in Parliament in Texas.
Speaker:I mean, we've spoken about prayers in parliament here in Australia
Speaker:trying to, trying to stop, um.
Speaker:Them actually happening, you know, maybe having a moment
Speaker:silence or something like that.
Speaker:But, um, no,
Speaker:no, no, no.
Speaker:Anything less than a Christian prayer in Parliament is bigotry against Christians.
Speaker:Indeed.
Speaker:It's discrimination.
Speaker:'cause this is the Judeo-Christian nation apparently.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Do we really need anything?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:I don't think we need anything at all.
Speaker:We, we, we, you know, we don't even need a moment silent to contemplate
Speaker:what we're gonna be doing.
Speaker:That's
Speaker:right.
Speaker:Just get on with business,
Speaker:everyone here.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Good.
Speaker:Let's get started.
Speaker:Item one.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:so, um, we've all worked in business.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:How many business meetings have you had where we've had to start with a
Speaker:prayer, with a moment, silence or prayer?
Speaker:Well, if you're in government, there would be a, a quick, um, welcome to Country.
Speaker:Welcome to country.
Speaker:Uh, or, you know, a acknowledgement of, uh, uh, of the traditional owners mm-hmm.
Speaker:Performing a similar function.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Anyway, in Texas, um, they were saying the prayer and people in the
Speaker:gallery, some of them didn't stand up.
Speaker:And so the Texas, uh, governor basically said, if people don't stand for the
Speaker:prayer, they'll be kicked out next time.
Speaker:That's where they're heading.
Speaker:It's part of the Christian fascist journey.
Speaker:How long before you think it's gonna become the Republic of Gilead?
Speaker:It's there already.
Speaker:People just don't realize it.
Speaker:It's, it's there already.
Speaker:It's, it's a bit like, um, we'll talk about it later, but, uh.
Speaker:You know, I've been talking about the Second American civil war.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And this whole, well, it started like historians.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:When they look back and say, well, when could we say it started?
Speaker:And they'll go, uh, when the Trump started getting, um, national Guard
Speaker:from Texas and sending them to Illinois against the wishes of the, uh, governor
Speaker:that's there, there's an interesting hypothesis about this.
Speaker:He's doing this deliberately.
Speaker:He could, he keeps talking about the insurrection act.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:He's sending the troops in because he hopes that they will be attacked.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Because then he can declare insurrection.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:And then he cracked down.
Speaker:You see, he doesn't understand how to run a proper color revolution.
Speaker:'cause you've gotta pay some other people to do that as well.
Speaker:So you've got paid people on both sides.
Speaker:Uhhuh.
Speaker:Uh, so yeah, you bring in the troops, um.
Speaker:You've paid them, you bring
Speaker:in, well, that's what happened on January the sixth, you know?
Speaker:Yes, yes.
Speaker:You bring in other people to fight against them boys,
Speaker:peaceful people who wanted to tour through the set the, um, Congress.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And there were FBI informants amongst them that started all the violence.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So this is how you do a color revolution.
Speaker:He just, he's, he just hasn't read that part of it yet, but he'll get there.
Speaker:But, you know, when they talk about it, when did it start?
Speaker:Uh, I reckon they'll say.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Have you seen the protesters in Portland?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Um, lying down?
Speaker:Um, some in the nude and some in costumes and other things.
Speaker:Oh, the ones
Speaker:in costumes.
Speaker:Because basically they said it is.
Speaker:So blurred that the ice are deliberately pushing it.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And saying, oh, no, no, we were attacked.
Speaker:So they've taken to dressing up in ridiculous costumes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So it's obvious that they're just taking the piss and they
Speaker:are not in any way violent
Speaker:plus Scott, plus Joe if you happen to be Latino or look Latino.
Speaker:Well, that's true.
Speaker:That is not if, if, if you
Speaker:are wearing a costume, a frog costume.
Speaker:Yes, that's right.
Speaker:They really have a hard time going, oh, brown person.
Speaker:Likely, um, likely illegal immigrant will just round 'em up.
Speaker:So, um, yeah, if you're wearing a, that sort of costume
Speaker:helps you, uh, stay away from the attention of the ice agents as well.
Speaker:So, Hmm.
Speaker:Um, yes, but we've digressed, uh, rare earths China and rare Earths,
Speaker:so Donald Trump went out a truth.
Speaker:Which I get to see 'cause I follow the, uh, a Twitter feed
Speaker:that just reproduces his truths.
Speaker:Oh, good God.
Speaker:And he says, it has just been learned that China has taken an extraordinarily
Speaker:aggressive position on trade in sending an extremely hostile letter, letter
Speaker:to the world stating that they were going to effective first November,
Speaker:2025, imposed large scale export controls on virtually every product they
Speaker:make and some not even made by them.
Speaker:This affects all countries without exception and was obviously a
Speaker:plan devised by them years ago.
Speaker:It is absolutely unheard of in international trade and a moral
Speaker:disgrace in dealing with other nations.
Speaker:That's paragraph one.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:You know, to suddenly change your trade deals.
Speaker:That's not him.
Speaker:What's far
Speaker:too coherent to be Donald Trump?
Speaker:Yeah, true.
Speaker:Um, yep.
Speaker:So he says, based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position and
Speaker:speaking only for the USA and not other nations and was similarly threatened
Speaker:starting 1st of November, 2025 or sooner, depending on any further actions
Speaker:or changes taken by China, the United States of America will impose tariffs
Speaker:of 100% on China over and above any tariff that they are currently paying.
Speaker:Also, on November 1st, we will impose export controls on any
Speaker:and all critical software.
Speaker:You might remember this happened a few months ago and like there
Speaker:was a tit for tat, um, exchange, uh, well sort of a tariff.
Speaker:The US put it up 50.
Speaker:So the Chinese matched and the US put up another 25, and the Chinese matched, and,
Speaker:and the Chinese said, once this gets to a hundred, we're not going any further.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Because at that point, nobody's gonna be buying anything, and it's just a
Speaker:waste of our time responding to this.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So once we get to a hundred percent, um, you won't be hearing from us.
Speaker:Not because we want, we've given in, it's because we can't be bothered, which
Speaker:was a, a great response by the Chinese.
Speaker:So, um, Trump finishes off, it's impossible to believe that China
Speaker:would've taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is history.
Speaker:Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Speaker:So, um, so that's in recent times.
Speaker:I mean, just the, you know, this is so typical, isn't it, of the, um, the failure
Speaker:to recognize, you know, the hypocrisy of it, the shame, the shameless hypocrisy.
Speaker:Complaining about sudden changes to trade deals when it's obviously done in
Speaker:retaliation to the shit you've been doing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And um, anyway, so there's a guy called, uh, nor Bertran on Twitter.
Speaker:He's very, very good.
Speaker:Seems a French guy living in China.
Speaker:And, um, he says, um, here's a question I know many are wondering about.
Speaker:Why did China wait until now to use rare Earths as leverage against the us?
Speaker:And he says, a big part is helium.
Speaker:So until 2022, China imported 95% of its helium.
Speaker:And most of that was controlled by the us.
Speaker:So the us um, of the world's 10 largest helium producers,
Speaker:four were American companies.
Speaker:And the remaining six all used American technology and helium isn't just for
Speaker:party balloon gas, it's got plenty of industrial applications for things such
Speaker:as quantum computing, rocket technology, MRI machines and as a coolant for
Speaker:chip lithography equipment, et cetera.
Speaker:So with Helium, the US had a strong card to play if China ever
Speaker:played the rare Earth's card.
Speaker:That was in 2022.
Speaker:So over the past few years, there were gigantic efforts in China
Speaker:to break the helium shackles with seven helium extraction
Speaker:facilities going into production.
Speaker:And, uh, China switching imports from the US to friendly countries
Speaker:like Russia and their research system went into overdrive to find solution
Speaker:for the helium dependency issues.
Speaker:They awarded a prize to somebody in 2024.
Speaker:For outstanding sites and technology achievement enterprise, it was a new
Speaker:helium extraction technology project.
Speaker:Anyway, all of these efforts,
Speaker:so, uh, back in 20 22, 90 5% China imported helium.
Speaker:Two years later, um, China had cut its helium dependency
Speaker:on the US to less than 5%.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:um, helium shackles broken and um, and that's just an example of how other
Speaker:countries almost never retaliate against the US because they're stuck in some way.
Speaker:They've got a soft spot where the US can really screw 'em, but the Chinese just
Speaker:work hard at overcoming any vulnerability that they have to these things.
Speaker:And, um.
Speaker:Gotta tip your hat to them like well done for organizing their society to do that.
Speaker:And then they can just say to the us, okay, now we're gonna
Speaker:screw you on rare earth 'cause we're no longer dependent on you.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Very interesting.
Speaker:Well,
Speaker:I mean, maybe if we wet ourselves from our addiction to oil, we wouldn't
Speaker:have to put up with, um, the Gulf States being quite as arrogant.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Maybe.
Speaker:Maybe.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Um, now if you thought that was interesting, um, I, the other
Speaker:topic is China and Iron ore.
Speaker:So there's a battle between Australia's mining giants and
Speaker:China over the pricing of Iron ore.
Speaker:And just a week ago, China banned dollar denominated trade of Iron ore
Speaker:from Australia's mining giants, BHP.
Speaker:Have you guys heard that?
Speaker:I did hear that, that they had banned the trade of it and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker:I gathered that it, um, I didn't know that they had done it only in
Speaker:US dollars or anything like that.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It says that you can still re B trade is still allowed.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So I think that means that you've got, actually set your price in re B.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And then you'd be able to export it to the United States, to the prc.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:As we don't understand why you can't actually say, okay,
Speaker:that's no worries at all.
Speaker:We'll export in Australian dollars.
Speaker:Well, they'd probably be up for that.
Speaker:It's just they don't want us dollar, I don't,
Speaker:I don't blame them.
Speaker:You know, it's one of those things, if they can, if they, you know, it's,
Speaker:as much as it pains me to say it, I think the United States has
Speaker:overplayed their hand for too long.
Speaker:So now it's time for the rest of the world to turn around and
Speaker:raise the middle finger to them.
Speaker:Mm. So anyway, um.
Speaker:Uh, 5% of Australia's GDP depends on Iron ore exports to China.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:We export 85% of all of our Iron to China.
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:But you see, moaning is important.
Speaker:We can't possibly do anything else other than nick shit out
Speaker:of the ground and sell it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Cheap to other countries.
Speaker:So the story that I just told with Helium, the same thing is happening with Iron
Speaker:Ora in the sense that China looks at that and goes, Hmm, not happy with this.
Speaker:We're getting totally screwed by these Australian companies.
Speaker:We're paying way too much for this.
Speaker:Hang on.
Speaker:BHP isn't an Australian company.
Speaker:Yes it is.
Speaker:That isn't Oh, what, who?
Speaker:Well, it's traded in
Speaker:London.
Speaker:Uh, yeah, but it's also
Speaker:traded in Australia too.
Speaker:It's, it's like domiciled in Australia though.
Speaker:Is it?
Speaker:I thought it a, it is domiciled in Melbourne.
Speaker:Yeah, they tried to shift it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:But, um, uh, they haven't been able to, so, uh, as far as I'm
Speaker:aware, that's why they pay so much tax 'cause they can't right.
Speaker:Gift it.
Speaker:So, um, um, yeah, so, so China's complaining that despite being
Speaker:such a big buyer, they've been getting screwed over on the pricing.
Speaker:So apparently in 2024 to extract a ton of Iron ore costs $10,
Speaker:yet it was selling for 130.
Speaker:So, um, obscene profits for BHP that the Chinese were aware of and didn't like it,
Speaker:so they're doing three things about it.
Speaker:Um, they've established a, it used to be all these different entities would
Speaker:be negotiating with the BHP separately.
Speaker:Now they've got the China Minerals Resources group, a state entity,
Speaker:which is negotiating the Iron ore prices with the mining giants.
Speaker:So all with one voice.
Speaker:Mm. And, uh, developing the world's largest mining project
Speaker:called Dale in Guinea to provide an alternative to Iron ore.
Speaker:And again, we've said banning dollar, denominated Iron ore.
Speaker:So they're working on, um, large Iron ore mine somewhere else to break their
Speaker:dependency on Australia in the same way that they did Helium West Africa.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There we go.
Speaker:So, so there we go.
Speaker:Watch out Australia as China.
Speaker:China sees things like over dependency in a particular area and
Speaker:works really, really hard to make sure they're not vulnerable smart.
Speaker:Um, meanwhile, um, the Dutch government has stolen a Chinese company.
Speaker:So a leading Chinese semiconductor company, Nexia, um, the Dutch obviously
Speaker:acting in coordination with Washington.
Speaker:So, um, yeah, semiconductor company, they've suspended the Chinese CEO
Speaker:From his position, they've appointed a non-Chinese director of the board on
Speaker:the board with decisive voting rights, andd the company shares by placing
Speaker:them under management by a third party trustee, all under the goods availability
Speaker:act in, um, Netherlands, which is a emergency wartime legislation designed
Speaker:for things like the requisition of bread or fuel during a foreign invasion.
Speaker:So, um, so yeah, the Dutch simply acquired a Chinese company
Speaker:and said, thank you very much.
Speaker:Have all that.
Speaker:Do you guys hear any of that in the news?
Speaker:No, I haven't heard that before.
Speaker:Mm. Uh, what else have I got here?
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:um,
Speaker:scroll past that one.
Speaker:Are we ready to talk about Israel?
Speaker:Uh, did you guys look at the 20 point plan at all?
Speaker:No, I,
Speaker:I switched off, but, um, apparently the last of the Israeli
Speaker:hostages have just been released.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, I imagine Netanyahu will be ping them before the camera saying, look at them.
Speaker:They're, they're half starved and everything else.
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:well, I did see, um, Berger.
Speaker:Was in trouble for posting photos of starving Palestinians that
Speaker:turned out to be a hostage.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Oh really?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Because Sky News were making hay about it.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:It's her and the other Flotilla, um, sort of people.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Got some pretty harsh treatment in the hands of the Israelis.
Speaker:Um, yeah.
Speaker:They alleged that the Israelis beat them up, didn't they?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And, uh, dragged 'em by the hair across cells and didn't give them food or
Speaker:water and, um, normal sorts of things that, uh, done in civilized, um,
Speaker:prisons and, um, you know, if somebody was a diabetic, you know, didn't
Speaker:provide insulin and stuff like that.
Speaker:So, um, they had an uncomfortable week after the flotilla was, um,
Speaker:intercepted, rounded up, intercepted.
Speaker:Illegally in international auditors, but um, and she got some
Speaker:pretty harsh treatment as well.
Speaker:So that was, uh, Paul Greta Thunberg.
Speaker:Um, uh, actually just on Greta Thunberg, do you guys ever listen to the podcast?
Speaker:Sizzle Town?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Uh, it's Tony Martin.
Speaker:Uh, it was from Martin Malloy.
Speaker:Um, funny comedian type guy.
Speaker:Uh, it's a bit of an acquired taste podcast, but, uh, sizzle Town and
Speaker:it's, it's, um, a podcast, but supposed to be like a late night call
Speaker:in talk back show where he's the host and these people, fake people call
Speaker:in, talk about all sorts of topics.
Speaker:And one of the regular calls, which is obviously fake 'cause he does all
Speaker:the voices as well, is, uh, there's an old guy who's got a solution for, um,
Speaker:for the for, for generating energy.
Speaker:Which is to harness the power of ranting old men.
Speaker:And, um, and, uh, he, he, you know, this joke that he sort of connected his wires
Speaker:to his brain from his brain to his kettle.
Speaker:And if, if, um, if, um, Tony Martin just says the appropriate words, he
Speaker:will, um, he'll generate enough rage within him so that he'll be able
Speaker:to boil the water in his kettle.
Speaker:It's a stupid concept.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:It was funny.
Speaker:Anyway, you know, he's saying things like, uh, renewables mm-hmm.
Speaker:Solar farms, uh, wind turbines.
Speaker:And, uh, and this guy's going, oh, yes.
Speaker:Like, I'm getting angry now.
Speaker:And, and, and then, and I, he's nearly there.
Speaker:I, I've nearly got the water boiling.
Speaker:And then as the last one, uh, Tony Martin says, Greta Thunberg.
Speaker:And he goes, oh.
Speaker:And it's enough to achieve the energy buildup of an angry, an angry
Speaker:old man and, and boil a kettle.
Speaker:I found news watcher.
Speaker:What's that?
Speaker:Your average Sky News watcher?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:that was it.
Speaker:So it was, it was good fun.
Speaker:I liked it.
Speaker:I've digressed.
Speaker:Um, yeah, she got special, uh, attention there.
Speaker:You know, the 20 point peace plan
Speaker:look, number one, Israel just has a habit of just, um, breaking deals.
Speaker:Breaking rules, yeah.
Speaker:Anyway, so they'll get what they want and then they'll, they'll break the deal
Speaker:because they'll say, oh, the Palestinians have done abided by the peace plan.
Speaker:Um, there was some people with guns shooting at our people, so all bets are
Speaker:off and we're back to shooting each other.
Speaker:Like it just something like that'll happen.
Speaker:So, but item nine of the Peace Plan Gaza will be governed under the
Speaker:temporary transitional governance.
Speaker:Of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee responsible for delivering the
Speaker:day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people of Gaza.
Speaker:This committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international
Speaker:experts with oversight and supervision by a new international transition body,
Speaker:the quote, board of Peace, which will be headed and shared by President Donald J.
Speaker:Trump with other members and heads of states to be announced, including
Speaker:former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Speaker:This body will set the framework and handle the funding for
Speaker:the redevelopment of Gaza.
Speaker:Until such times the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform
Speaker:program as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump's
Speaker:peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi French proposal, and can securely and
Speaker:effectively take back control of Gaza.
Speaker:This body will call on best international standards to create modern and efficient
Speaker:governance that serves the people of Gaza and is conducive to attracting investment.
Speaker:So essentially a colonial power will be in charge of Palestine and And that's,
Speaker:we'll be in charge of the Garza Strip.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And of all people, Tony Blair.
Speaker:Mm. What a great track record he's got in the Middle East.
Speaker:I know he fucked up Iraq.
Speaker:So how, how is it the people who fuck up all the time get these gigs?
Speaker:God knows.
Speaker:' cause he is got friends in
Speaker:high
Speaker:places.
Speaker:He's a Catholic.
Speaker:These people don't pay for the price of Of
Speaker:fucking up.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Some of the comments on Twitter.
Speaker:If you had to pick one man in the world who does not have a great reputation
Speaker:for bringing peace in the Middle East, it would have to be Tony Blair.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Why is the former Labor PM part of Trump's Palestinian peace deal?
Speaker:My, uh, hero Gianni Rafkas war criminals are proposing a
Speaker:war criminal as head of Gaza.
Speaker:It would be precious comedy if it were not so tragic.
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:do you know that Anthony Albanese supports Tony Blair in this position?
Speaker:That doesn't surprise me.
Speaker:Isn't he also a papist?
Speaker:Yeah, but I don't think you can actually say it's entirely the
Speaker:fact that they're both Catholics.
Speaker:It's just one of those things I think, well, it's, I think that our Anthony
Speaker:Albanese is turned on by the fact that he's a former labor Prime minister.
Speaker:I was gonna say
Speaker:Catholic Labor Old Boys Club, isn't it?
Speaker:Well, I think Tony Blair's looking so bloody old.
Speaker:It's about time he steps down there to everything, isn't it?
Speaker:This is a, this is a quote of uh, Anthony Albanese.
Speaker:Tony Blair is someone who's always played a constructive role.
Speaker:He's someone who does look for solutions.
Speaker:Albanese told reporters, he's someone who has been involved in the Middle
Speaker:East issues for some period of time, and I'm sure that he will always
Speaker:play a constructive role because that's the nature of Tony Blair.
Speaker:Honestly, what,
Speaker:honestly,
Speaker:what sort of dystopian world do we fall into?
Speaker:I go back to my earlier comment, like an albanese, if he was not Prime Minister,
Speaker:would not be thinking or saying that.
Speaker:No, surely the system gets to these people and turns them into this.
Speaker:Honestly, for goodness sake words fail me on that one.
Speaker:Um, yeah,
Speaker:so just a colonial, uh, enterprise.
Speaker:It's what's gonna go on there.
Speaker:That was just one of the items in the peace plan.
Speaker:Um, um, Israel will get what they want and then they'll
Speaker:just renege on the plan anyway.
Speaker:Um, we on this podcast over the last almost 10 years, have
Speaker:often referred to Chris Hedges.
Speaker:American, um, reporter was with, um, New York Times.
Speaker:New York Times was foreign con, foreign correspondence for a number of.
Speaker:Us, um, papers spent enormous amount of time in the Middle East.
Speaker:Um, he's a Christian, but he's one of the one of the few Christians
Speaker:you'd ever want to spend time with.
Speaker:In that sense, a decent man in the sort of Jimmy Carter style of
Speaker:decent man despite being Christian.
Speaker:Anyway, um, he was going to be giving an address at the
Speaker:National Press Club of Australia.
Speaker:Did you hear about this?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:And, um, they canceled him and it was all set, and they just said, sorry,
Speaker:we've decided to change our mind.
Speaker:Like, um, he was at the press club and was gonna talk about, um,
Speaker:you know, the, the murder of, of the press in the Gaza conflict.
Speaker:Like what could be more, uh, important, topical, relevant.
Speaker:To address to the National Press Club than that from a very, very distinguished
Speaker:journalist who spent a lot of time in that area and they canceled him.
Speaker:And um, and they put out some merely, uh, words about, you know, oh, we,
Speaker:we withdrew our tentative application to him, or something like that.
Speaker:But, um, people were wondering, um, why did this happen?
Speaker:And one answer might be that the Press Club has sponsors, and those sponsors
Speaker:are people like Raytheon fails, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, like
Speaker:our National Press Club is sponsored by, um, these War Well, this military
Speaker:industrial complex companies, and.
Speaker:It's a fair bet that they put pressure on him and said, um,
Speaker:don't want him, and they've caved.
Speaker:There we go.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What are we up to?
Speaker:8 35. We've done an hour.
Speaker:It's a depressing note to finish on our national place Club
Speaker:with the most relevant speaker.
Speaker:Highly qualified, canceled, and um, probably because of muddied interests.
Speaker:Ah,
Speaker:never
Speaker:happened.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, gentlemen, are you around next week?
Speaker:Yeah, I'm around next week.
Speaker:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker:Very good.
Speaker:I reckon we'll be back next week, dear listener.
Speaker:I don't think it'll be two weeks.
Speaker:I reckon it'll be a week.
Speaker:So we'll see.
Speaker:We'll see.
Speaker:Stay tuned.
Speaker:Talk to you then.
Speaker:Bye for now.
Speaker:And
Speaker:it's a good night from me, and it's a good night from him.
Speaker:Good night.
