What's going on here?
Well then, a month has passed.
And again we take a look at Lithuania and the world and ask:
What's going on here, what's going on?
After our first show,
we received quite a few comments.
and on that occasion I would like to mention once again
that I'm not administering even one
of the internet portals using my name.
By the way I'm not even sure who is running them all.
But I do read the comments.
And so...
among other comments there was one that
well, expressed a sort of disapproval of our intro,
regarding the beginning of this show—
that's it's very old-fashioned.
Indeed you're right.
This intro was created
for state television in 1904.
So it's oh so many years old.
Well, it depends on how Vaida will act,
whether she will change it or not.
But I just want to say that we're reading the comments.
So keep writing.
I'm thinking that later we might even
add a Q&A section to this show
based on your comments.
But now let's begin.
What's going on here, what's going on?
Let's start with Lithuania.
Of course how could one avoid
the last month's raging Lithuanian
tempest of words and epithets.
Where one public figure
calls another various names.
I'm not mentioning any names and will not do so
because the phenomenon itself is more interesting.
Because one public figure
calls another names-
but there's a difference.
One of the public figures
is living life doing whatever
and just happened to say something somewhere
But the other public figure, or figures,
who attack him who spoke up unduly or untimely
is a professional speaker.
There's a huge difference here.
Because those professional speakers,
or professional writers,
they are exerting a strong influence on the public—
the Lithuanian public as well as any other.
And here arose a question:
Is it worth listening to them all?
Perhaps lending an ear is ok
but is it worth heeding?
And in general, who's worth heeding in this world?
How to distinguish
who is worthy of attention and who is not?
Especially considering those professional speakers and writers.
Well I can only-
-a few how to say-
-share my experience of how I do.
Whenever I listen to a professional speaker,
that is one who receives money for his talk.
When I listen to such a speaker or read such a writer,
I always try to imagine-
no actually not imagine but find out,
whether it might have been that a few or ten–something years back
he was talking completely differently.
Then I note myself a question mark regarding such a ... professional speaker.
These days I can without trouble look up on the internet- one can do that-
I look up what he said a few five or ten years ago.
What did he forecast, what of it came true and what did not?
That too is a decent criterion,
when asking oneself: whose words are worth heeding?
Of course if you know that he's a professional and he's receiving money for it
it's always worth considering: Who is paying him that money?
And if he's being paid then: Why? To what end?
Even more so that...
Well my life experience now allows me to say that,
those professional speakers' livelihood carries a heavy burden with it.
A very heavy burden.
Personally I even feel sorry for them
because it is not without reason said that
it is the second oldest profession.
Because, if he's speaking for money,
then he must speak appropriately
so as to please the one who is paying the money.
Of course, asking oneself the question whose words are worth heeding,
not just listen to but also to heed,
it would be considerably easier to turn your attention to logic,
to arguments.
But you see again,
one must be logical oneself and one need to understand the arguments.
That is not always within each one's abilities.
So here I propose both for myself and for you
such very clear criteria.
Might it not have been so that they spoke the opposite a few years ago?
See whether much proved true of what they spoke of
a year or two or three ago.
And always raise the question: Who pays and why?
Then a lot of things will become far clearer.
Well and another criterion—
decency, elementary decency.
One can talk, discuss, argue, criticize everyone all the time however you like.
But after all there are some limits of decency.
And it's one thing to fling around epithets,
to fling around those little insulting words.
That's not hard at all.
And it shows in those who fling around those little scornful words—
it only shows their weakness, that's all, and nothing more.
That too is a decent "marker",
that the words of such people are hardly worth heeding.
But the storms are raging,
it seems they will rage on.
So we couldn't avoid this question,
and such was our response to this month's Lithuanian incident.
In the month of October it's one year since the last election
in Lithuania.
And during this month
the Lithuanian political environment experienced
well I'd say...
astonishing changes,
that will have... long-term consequences.
Well see here, during this month
the Social Democrat party basically shattered,
it fell apart.
And it is one of the parties that ever since
the 11th of March, maybe more accurately since 1992
influenced our lives together with the Conservatives.
All decisions that were made in Lithuania
are essentialy those of the Social Democrats and the Conservatives,
with one or another party joining up along the way.
And now they're basically on the brink of dissolution.
We don't know yet what will become of all this.
But the fact is that the system is crumbling.
The Liberals who always added their modest percentage
to one or the other government
they too... received a strong blow.
It's uncertain what will remain of them.
The Farmers— victors of last year's election,
are disappearing before our eyes.
All scattered, well one wouldn't expect anything else.
And look...
what is our result?
How strange that democracy is.
The one which we live in.
Today there are people in the parliament who determine our fate,
who will make decisions for three more years
and we'll have to live in the context of those decisions.
But who are they representing?
Even the Conservatives who are still holding on,
but their rating is also just a few percent.
In other words our lives today are regulated by
people who, well, I don't know who they represent.
And the political system itself is essentially in ruins.
Completely in ruins.
But this particular parliament
has the audacity,
and this month they're already taking the steps,
they have the audacity to do that
which the parliament before them dared not.
When the Lithuanian people collected those 300`000 signatures
for holding the referendum against selling land to foreigners
that earlier parliament at least evaluated
this heroic effort of the people—
they did collect those 300`000 signatures.
They passed protection laws against selling the land to foreigners.
But this parliament with the Farmers and the Greens at the helm
took upon itself to liquidate these protections.
They started the process this month.
So...
speaking of Lithuania
and all that we just talked about
I'd like to say again:
It is a strange democracy.
But of course it's strange not only in Lithuania.
Not only in Lithuania.
And so, this month there were elections in the European countries.
They also require a short mention.
First the elections in Austria.
They were won by the People's Party— the Austrian People's Party.
The leader is Sebastian Kurz.
He's 31 years old
and he got 31% of the votes.
The election took place because-
The election was the first of its kind in Austria,
because this People's Party was in a coalition with the Social Democrat Party of Austria
and they couldn't agree on the refugee issue.
Therefore a new election was held
where the Social Democrats suffered a crushing defeat
it was their worst result, like in Germany, since post-war times.
And the tendencies are emerging.
What's more interesting when speaking of that Austrian result—
in second place there's the Freedom Party.
The Freedom Party is, if you recall,
Jörg Haider's former party.
In Jörg Heider's time in the year 2000
together with that same Freedom Party they won the elections
and he was elected as chancellor
and the European Union declared a boycott against him.
The Austrians had elected their government but Brussels did not accept that government
and Heider even had to step down.
Later after a few years when he returned again to the highest levels of politics
in unclear circumstances he was killed in an auto accident while driving to his mother.
So now the elections are won again by the same parties
who had won and formed a government in the year 2000.
Again that same People's Party has 31%,
Freedom Party—27%.
They form a strong majority.
And what are their main postulates that would be of interest to us
excluding the minor details?
Refugees.
Again those same refugees.
They are categorically opposed to the refugees.
Generally both parties are quite Euro-sceptical.
And...
there's this rumor spreading...
I don't know, I'm afraid to say whether it's true
but it's floating around on the internet
that they say, just after the election,
that this Kurz is telling Soros' organizations to get out of Austria.
Well...
Maybe it's an internet fake
but that the Turks told the Soros foundations to move
that is an unequivocal fact.
That the Hungarians are driving not only Soros' foundations
but also the Soros' institute out of their country is a fact.
That even earlier, many years ago, Malaysia drove Soros out-
But this would be a separate matter. Malaysia is a very interesting country.
It achieved great results.
It was ruled by a single man for 25 years and
he basically advanced it,
like in Singapore there is one Lee Kuan Yew.
He too ruled for many years.
They too drove away Soros a long time ago.
I just brought up Soros because
Lithuania is currently following the opposite trend.
Somehow everyone else is scared of Soros and even driving him away.
But in Lithuania, all his works are gaining ground anew.
So there.
The Austrian election and its outcome
is a big headache primarily for Germany and Merkel,
where the government still hasn't formed yet.
They're still arguing there,
and a substantial part of those disputes are again due to the refugee question.
I'd call them vagrants.
Vagrants,
running around the world looking for the tastiest handouts
given out for nothing in return.
Increasingly more people in western Europe are starting to understand this
as much as they are...
lulled by their comfortable life.
The number people understanding matters thusly is growing.
And by the way in Germany it's a huge problem for Merkel's party.
A huge problem.
The people below are rebelling. Various party leaders are rebelling.
And practically everywhere there is the same issue:
The issue of those vagrants.
Again, let's turn to Lithuania.
We're doing everything we can here to attract them.
Thank god that hasn't been successful so far,
But our government never ceases to amaze me,
who- I don't know, as the saying goes: "They'd herd a flea to Warsaw",
just to please some comissars of Brussels.
So that's about the election in Austria.
Two quite Euro-sceptic parties won,
and that's now a trend.
One more interesting fact about Austrian elections:
Last year they held a presidential election
and according to the news a representative from that Freedom Party's won the second round.
But for the first time in Austrian history the election was annulled.
They say there were forged ballots.
It turns out that in the citadel of democracy elections are not very democratic at all.
Well it's unclear what happened there but in any case the election was held anew
and were then won by
a representative from the Greens.
And so not even a year passes by
and that Green Party doesn't even make it to the Austrian parliament
if I'm not mistaken,
but even if they did enter they barely passed the barrier.
See what a paradox:
One year ago their representative won the presidential election
but now they don't make it to parliament.
These are trends, trends.
And the same trends are showing in the Czech Republic.
They also held elections this month.
They were won by a party calling itself:
"Action of Dissatisfied Citizens"
It received 30% and is led by one Andrej Babiš.
A 64 year old man,
billionaire, one of the wealthiest people in the Czech Republic.
He had performed the duties of finance minister.
An interesting detail in the Czech Republic—
that "Action of Dissatisfied Citizens" receives 30%,
and the second party, second according to the results
gets only 11%.
That's a huge gap.
And then there's a few more parties
who have approximately similar numbers
but there's a clear leader here, a clear leader.
And what does the winner of the Czech election say?
Note that, the Austrian winner is 31 years old,
and here he's 64.
A completely different generation.
But the ideas are the same.
Again the same.
Euro-sceptic, in favor of their own crown (CZK),
and...
again those vagrants
that he'd rather not see in the Czech Republic.
Those are the prevailing trends in Europe,
in central Europe,
and the elections are indicating it clearly.
Also there were two-
not elections but referendums,
they're called "consultational referendums",
in two regions of Italy:
the Veneto region, the city of Venice is in that region,
and the Lombardy region.
These regions... think that they
work and earn more than the southern regions of Italy.
There's the "North League" that even thinks that northern Italy should secede.
But the groundwork is laid by these consultational referendums.
It was agreed upon with Rome.
There was no ardor unlike in Spain,
it was merely consultational, but...
The proponents of autonomy in these regions
won decisively with over 90%.
It's understood that the first step is already taken.
It's not difficult to predict that soon the next steps will be taken as well.
By the way,
it's worth remembering
that Italy, as a united country
was formed just at the end of the 19th century,
at the beginning of the 20th century.
And if you've visited in Rome, or will visit Rome
in the Piazza Venezia there's this mighty structure
white, radiant.
Contrary to how it might appear at first glance
it's not a building from ancient Rome.
It was built during Mussolini's time
to give a sense of and mark the unification of Italy.
There's a museum there, dedicated not only to the unification of Italy
but generally to Italian statehood
in Piazza Venezia in Rome.
So the state of Italy is only a little over 100 years old.
See how unstable everything is.
How everything is changing right before our eyes.
And the trends are in essence one and the same,
wherever you might look.
In Poland—
there's already a movement for Silesian autonomy.
In Bavaria there is also mounting unrest.
Again the same thing, Germany, as a united Germany in its current form,
that too is only since the 19th century.
Before that, instead of current Germany there were
I don't know, several tens of principalities.
Belgium—
Belgium in its current form only appeared at the beginning of the 19th century.
And those 200 years
didn't help to unite the Walloons and the Flemish
who also don't like each other.
You see this kind of ardor everywhere.
We're not debating now, neither the causes nor whether good or bad,
I'm simply- since the main purpose of this show is
to provide an overview of events
and perhaps to notice some trends,
and provide a slightly different view of the facts
than we hear primarily through state–funded news.
So there.
It's clear that, at the time of recording this show,
There is strong ardor in Barcelona.
The Catalonian parliament did dare to proclaim independence after all
after considerable intermission and doubt.
Madrid of course already said long ago that it will not recognize anything,
whatever might be said.
Responding to Madrid's threats and actions,
both the parliament and autonomy status were repealed,
authority of government was suspended,
and the police commissioner was replaced by Madrid.
The government of Catalonia now of course does not recognize this.
And today, today when we're recording this show,
Catalonia's... main man
called for "democratic resistance".
So he still believes that one can achieve independence
simply through a gentle agreement with Madrid.
The last such attempt, by the way, was in 1934.
It ended in a very bloody civil war in Spain, and...
with the installation of an authoritarian regime led by...
Franco—was the surname of that dictator, Franco.
Even the Catalonian language was forbidden
until that Franco died in I think 1976.
He died and Catalonia recovered some of its rights.
So not a full 100 years have passed,
Madrid and Barcelona are again standing in a similar starting position.
The Catalonians think that it's possible to agree.
We will of course observe how everything will pan out.
But...
hearing what Madrid says... well I don't know.
It is unlikely that it will be possible to agree in a friendly manner.
Then the only variant is—
either that independence will have to be gained by force,
or it will have to be buried to a final rest.
Because out of generally similar events,
only Czechoslovakia...
parted ways like friends, without any quarrel,
without fighting they had a referendum,
they were Czechoslovakia now they're Czech and Slovakia.
They just had an election in the Czech Republic.
Whether Barcelona and Madrid will succeed in doing that...
we will be observing in the upcoming days
A month later when we record the next show we'll be able to discuss it.
But also...
having in mind Catalonia, it's worth noting one thing after all:
While they say that their goal is independence,
their slogan is not like: "Less Madrid, more Barcelona."
No, their slogan is "Less Madrid, more Brussels."
So they're not aiming for independence in the real sense of the word.
Independence, national independence is first and foremost
precedence of law,
then an own currency,
border control,
customs duties and similar things.
First and foremost—precedence of law.
Even if the Catalonians would pull away from the Spaniards,
they would remain in the European Union,
and they would still be one of the regions of EU and that's all.
I always emphasize one and the same thing:
All the EU countries have the same status.
They all have given away part of their sovereignty to the commissars of Brussels.
So when Catalonia says that they want independence
they want independence from Spain.
Because there's an old feud, spanning a 100 years,
with the Castilians.
And they don't like being together with the Castilians.
So we'll see how it goes for them.
Looking at Europe, and...
asking ourselves: What's going on here, what's going on in Europe?
What's happening in Europe—
more specifically in Kiev— again Maidan.
We won't talk about that now, about that Kiev,
about all their reasons for that Maidan.
I just want to show you one aspect of it.
After all, how strange democracy is, not only in Lithuania but also in other places.
And in general—how much strangeness there is in the world.
Well see here:
If somebody had made you a movie or written you a book
whose hero,
were say the president of some country for some time.
Later he's overthrown, a criminal case is brought against him
he flees the country.
An international search for him is issued.
And then this man becomes the governor of a region of a different country.
Then,
his title as governor is revoked from him,
as well as his citizenship in that country.
He's exiled from that country,
then he returns without citizenship
and tries to overthrow the president of the country where he was a regional governor.
But in the beginning he was the president of a different country.
Well if someone brought such a movie scenario,
I think the producer would say: Stop it, who would believe such a thing?
It's just too much fantasy.
But everything happened just like that.
You see, sometimes life is more unreal than even the most fictional movies.
And so that Mikheil Saakashvili...
Was the president of Georgia for a while.
There he has a criminal case against him.
How many times already have they tried to catch and deport him to Georgia.
One way or another they pulled him out.
Apparently he was apprehended in Greece a few years ago.
The Greeks wanted to give him to the Georgians,
but some powers pulled him out.
Then he became the governor of Odessa.
Can you imagine that?
Former Georgian president plus a criminal case becomes the governor of Odessa.
Then they drive him out of there, strip him of his citizenship.
Now he's doing a Maidan in Kiev, preparing the overthrow of Poroshenko.
Again, this is interesting looking back at Lithuania.
Our political elite is equally regarding both Poroshenko and Saakashvili as friends.
I'd like to ask rhetorically:
Who are you supporting in this conflict?
Also, looking back I said:
When you consider whose words are not only worth listening to
but also worth heeding—
here's a prime example for you.
Today there are loads of professional speakers
who pitchforked both one and the other
and one Nadiya Savchenko,
not long ago at all.
Today they pretend that it never happened at all.
So if you heed the words of such people,
then looking back to before, you will-
you could- you see, when you consider,
whose words are worth heeding-
this comparison came to mind just now.
Say you need...
treatment for some sort of disease, right?
There are some people who supposedly could help you.
And now you have to decide:
Whose talk leads to healing?
After all, out of those offering you help
one will be completely empty talk,
who's jumping around helping everyone
but he neither understands anything nor does he actually help anyone.
Life is full of these people who imagine that they understand something
but are just empty talk and nothing more.
Another will offer you some treatment too
but merely wanting to sell you that specific treatment
because he is advocating a business.
And out of all those people maybe only one
is the one whose words and suggestions are worth heeding.
And if you cannot distinguish them—
you will not get well.
And unfortunately to help here...
is impossible.
Everyone when listening
must decide for themselves whose words are worth heeding.
Again, I return to the beginning.
Sometimes we all make the mistake
thinking that the one who speaks pretty words
actually understands something.
You see there are people who can speak well,
but being able to speak does not necessarily imply
that you have anything to say.
We see lots of public figures who can speak well
but...
they don't always have anything to say.
Another thing, looking back to the beginning, about listening and heeding.
Knowledge, or the spreading of some knowledge, does not imply understanding.
Therefore...
How should I say it...
There's no guarantee that the one who speaks nicely-
there's no guarantee of professionality,
neither from the money, you see.
There is no guarantee.
This is the whole difficulty
when deciding whose words are worth heeding.
But as I said, each and every one of us
answers these questions for ourselves
and if you make a mistake then you make a mistake.
But let's continue with the strangeness.
So seeing what's happening in Kiev again we see that Saakashvili
who has done stunning things in his life
that you wouldn't believe if it had not happened before our eyes.
These days, while still under prosecution in Georgia,
now he's organizing a new revolution to overthrow Poroshenko.
In another European country—
an interesting thing happened in Moldova too.
You see...
There they elected Dodon as the president,
a man with the surname Dodon.
And there's a confrontation with the parliament.
And Dodon didn't agree to appoint as defense minister a man
nominated by their parliament.
He nominated his own man they nominated their man,
and they disagree.
What should be done in such an event is not covered by law.
And then, Moldova's constitutional court takes an unprecedented step.
It suspends Dodon's presidential authority for a few hours.
Then they go to the chairman of the parliament.
He approves that minister,
and after a few hours Dodon's authority is reinstated.
A maneuver probably unprecedented in history.
Another point of interest is that of those
judges of the constitutional court—
six of them hold Romanian passports.
And yet they're judges of Moldova's constitutional court,
but their passports are Romanian.
On the whole in Moldova-
to us it might seem like an uninteresting country
but actually it's a very interesting country.
It's interesting because there are great processes going on there.
How should I say it.
The Romanians are laying claim to a large part of Moldova.
Not all Moldovans like to agree with that.
Another interesting thing:
Moldova—what Ukraine was reaching for year after year,
that which started the Maidan in 2013
when Yanukovych didn't sign that Euro–Association Agreement in Vilnius—
the Moldovans already have that Euro–Association Agreement since long ago.
They've lived with that Euro–Association Agreement for several years already.
And they've associated themselves with Europe to such a degree
that today they don't know where to go.
And they've elected that Dodon,
and now there's a conflict there.
Again, we'll observe how it will end up
because...
It's a complete stalemate there.
Dodon was elected by the people, and the parliament was elected by the people.
But today they advocate completely opposing opinions and visions for Moldova.
Dodon is freshly elected, the parliament a little earlier.
And now there will be very interesting processes there.
So those are the interesting events in Europe.
But something happened in Europe that will affect us as well.
All of us, all of us.
Because we all like to drink tea,
and we like it sweet.
But here's what happens on the 1st of October:
The sugar quota law in the EU will no longer be in effect.
This law imposing a quota on the production of sugar
was introduced in the year 1968.
Imagine how long this system was in effect
imposing a quota on sugar.
Now those quotas will no longer be in effect. But where is the dog buried?
Sugar can be produced from sugar beets.
Which Lithuanians have always used to produce sugar.
But sugar can also be produced from sugar canes.
But the production costs of sugar beets and sugar canes are very different.
Now look here,
how the sugar production used to work in Lithuania:
Our farmers sow sugar beets,
then they sell those beets to Lithuanian sugar factories,
and then we sweeten our lives with the produce of those factories.
Some time ago,
the sugar factories were privatized. Now they're mostly in Danish hands.
So we've already lost part of the profits.
Even earlier before that there were sugar customs duties.
In the beginning of the Independence, Lithuania had customs duties on sugar.
We protected our market,
we protected those farmers who make a living from sugar beet production.
Because those are jobs,
profits,
and a whole chain of benefits for Lithuania.
So little by little we
abolished customs tax, then we sold the sugar factories.
Lithuania grew some of those sugar beets
and now a big question comes up:
Will they be able to compete with
with the sugar production that will come from some exotic countries?
So you see what a dilemma we have.
One could say that indeed we're lucky and sugar will become cheaper.
But you see how it is...
yes.
But then,
those who grow sugar beets will be driven off the land.
and those people will have to either emigrate or go to the labor exchange.
Or they will have to change their profile
in the field of agriculture.
But looking at life like that,
anything can be produced cheaper than a Lithuanian could.
Anything.
Flowers can be grown cheaper and it's being done.
Anything. We're now shipping notebooks from Indonesia.
"Made in Indonesia"
There's always somewhere in the world- Beef for example.
It's one thing to release those oxen onto the Argentinian pampas (plains),
let them run around, round them up and slaughter them—no maintenance needed.
And Argentinian beef will always be cheaper than beef made in Lithuania,
or in the European Union.
The EU is solving those issues by subsidizing agriculture.
Almost half of the money that Brussels is distributing in Europe
is dedicated for agriculture to subsidize the farmers in the EU.
to even out the unequal conditions, having in mind the rest of the world.
I just want to emphasize that
when we speak about how the Lithuanian ought to have a better life,
we should always remember what climatic conditions we live in,
that production is not a problem but it needs to be sold too.
To be able to sell you need a market.
To have a market, to be able to function at all in this system
you need to have economic instruments.
Sometimes we greatly simplify in our imagination how-
where does that higher or lower standard of living come from?
That's what follows from such a seemingly simple thing:
some sugar quota was eliminated.
But it was in effect since 1968 and it was not without purpose.
Not without purpose in the EU countries.
So there...
On the one hand sugar might even cheapen,
but on the other hand it will cause problems for those people, Lithuanian people,
who in one way or another live off of work involving the sugar market.
But let's move on to more interesting, I'd say piquant things.
what happened this month in Europe—
Really one would like to exclaim: What's going on here, what's going on?
See...
Since the 1st of October in France
a new ordinance came into force:
That the women who participate in advertisement
whose figure is shown in various ad posters—
if they're shown photoshopped,
in other words embellished,
then it must be noted on that advertisement
that she's not at all like that, "this is embellished".
Such a law was enacted in France.
Such a piquant detail but I thought that, you see,
how useful such a disclaimer would be in so many places.
Oh how many places could use such a disclaimer,
say for example in last year's election
when the winners talked about
a sustainable economy and harmonious families.
It would be funny to add a disclaimer: "somewhat embellished",
just as in those ads in France.
Such a piquant little detail.
But that's not the end of this month's events,
hearing of which makes you want to exclaim:
What's going on here, what's going on?
and once again what's going on?
Listen:
In England there was a suggestion not to use in public
the expression "pregnant woman".
Because there's some formerly male transgender
he's hoping to give birth-
or somesuch- I can't even be bothered to delve into that.
It's difficult to fathom.
But in short,
the English think that the expression "pregnant woman" is offensive.
Apparently pregnant women offend someone.
So they propose to call it "pregnant person".
You see I'm not making this up.
That is, in the regular English press they're appealing to the international public
that we should all think like that.
How can one not exclaim: god oh god, what's going on in this world?
On a related piquant note:
BBC reported:
Walt Disney, that Walt Disney corporation that
makes various cartoons for kids.
It announced a new cartoon
which will have three heroes.
A boy, a girl, and another boy...
Whom both those previous characters regard with equal infatuation.
In other words, again... the problem of a sexual minority.
In a kids' cartoon there will be a representative of a sexual minority
and in particular a plot is built around that.
You see, one could make fun of that.
And once again exclaim: what's going on here, what's going on? But...
But this is a trend... It's a trend.
And if you- you know, plot a graph and see its direction then-
All these facts indicate a certain trend.
Which is very much worth paying attention to and ask ourselves:
Do we really need this trend, we as a society?
Just... Let's ask ourselves.
So far I think that the majority would answer "no".
But then let's again return to the Lithuanian parliament,
which represents who knows whom, where all the parties have collapsed.
They will support these tendencies.
Well and...
Among this strangeness-
But in this case having occurred 500 years ago.
500 years ago,
in the year 1517, October the 31st,
this... then pretty well known theologist, monk, priest—Martin Luther
published his 95 theses.
Those theses were directed against the pope's politics of indulgence.
What was happening during this time?
Well the pope released a papal bull in the 16th century.
So strange things happen not only in our times.
They follow humanity throughout all of history.
He released a papal bull that says:
If you've committed a sin, you can pay some money,
and you will receive that indulgence that you're not sinful anymore,
you've redeemed your sin.
So the church started selling these indulgences
you stand in line and redeem your sins.
So this Martin Luther rebelled against these...
these sin-redemption politics.
He published his theses
this later gave rise to the Christian theologic branch of Lutheranism.
He's the founder.
But see what strange things people had come up with in the 16th century.
So...
We live surrounded by strangeness all the time.
A month will pass, we'll make a new show,
I think there will be plenty more again.
And we'll observe and discuss it.
But here's a totally non-strange thing,
which we began to discuss in the previous show.
A referendum was held not only in Catalonia,
but also in Kurdish- Iranian Kurdish territory.
And if it's unclear today how things will end up in Catalonia,
whether there will be a hot conflict or not,
well the Kurds are already at war.
A very cruel war is taking place.
Casualties, blood, ruins...
It's unclear where the Kurds will end up.
This once again goes to show that
if a country truly desires independence
then very rarely do the people get it without a fight. Very rarely.
Very.
Well then let's rise to an even higher level.
On a global level now, to see what trends were visible this month.
Having in mind what we started in the previous show.
Having in mind China.
The oil exchange in yuans, gold exchange in yuans.
Again those Kurds,
where today they're at war with Iraq there are those islamists.
Everyone is at war with everyone else there.
And right there is also Saudi Arabia.
And so in October this very interesting thing happened.
Saudi Arabia-
Let's begin with a little of: What is Saudi Arabia?
Saudi Arabia in the year 1974—
made a deal with the United States to trade oil exclusively in dollars.
Thus were created those petrodollars.
Thanks to which the United States lives until this day.
Then Saudi Arabia took part in the overthrow of Gorbachev.
And generally played a substantial part in the fall of the Soviet Union.
Because Saudi Arabia again made a deal with the US to lower the oil price.
The Soviet Union was an oil exporter too.
They had calculated a source of income
and when the oil price suddenly dropped they lost that source of income.
Gorbachev was forced to take on debt,
in short he got tangled up in huge problems.
Saudi Arabia served the United States well in this matter.
Later when Russia had the Chechen wars
Saudi Arabia supported those who fought on Chechnya's side.
In Saudi Arabia muslims are educated
and then return to Russian muslim autonomies
such as Tatarstan, Bashkotorstan and similar.
They return with that muslim Wahhabi ideology.
It's that... non-traditional, non-moderate branch of islam.
They return with the radicalism that today is the foundation
that all those islamist groups in the Middle-East are acting upon.
Saudi Arabia
is the United States' most dependable...
one might even say a vassal of sorts.
It's one of the most serious enemies of Russia for the past few decades
in the world in general but of the Arab world primarily.
And so this month,
the Saudi Arabian king who can barely walk,
he's 80 years old after all,
who rarely travels in general—
goes to Moscow for the first time ever.
He arrives in Moscow with an entourage of half a thousand people.
Not just people but as I understand various officials
and other people of concern to Saudi Arabia.
It's an event of grand importance
if you know the context of what Saudi Arabia is and its relations.
Why do I think it acts like this?
It acts like this because in Syria,
the conflict in Syria is coming to an end
and it's turning out unlike predicted
by those that Saudi Arabia relied upon.
The United States were the shield of Saudi Arabia
during those decades since 1974.
It was agreed, that: You sell oil for dollars
and we'll be your protection from Iran;
because they're in a conflict with Iran and so on.
It's a big challenge.
This step is a big challenge to the United States.
And it also indicates certain trends and changes on a global scale
which are worth paying attention to.
And if Lithuania's foreign policy were normal...
then it would be obliged to pay attention to this.
To take a careful look at this step.
Not only did they visit,
they bought weapons from Russia for 3 billions.
Among which is that anti-missile system S-400.
Which by the way the Turks also buy to great objections from the US.
Because it is, well how to put it...
It's naturally treason against the US by both Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
But that's not all.
The Saudi king made a deal with Russia in Moscow,
since they both are main exporters of oil in the world.
They agreed to cut down the oil production.
Saudi Arabia cut the daily oil production norm by about 8%,
in order to keep the oil price up.
By the way that will result in higher petrol prices for us.
See it seems like: Some Saudi Arabia travelling around somewhere.
How is any of that our business?
But all of this will echo back at us
in the form of higher petrol prices not far from now.
But there's another problem here.
Because that oil exchange with yuans will start operations in China.
Now look here, China is the largest oil importer.
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest exporters.
It is interested in the Chinese market.
And the Chinese, probably...
in the short-term future
will start requiring Saudi Arabia to accept yuans in exchange for oil.
But that is essentially at odds with the 1974 agreement
to trade oil in dollars.
You see the battle is fought,
that world redistribution.
Because the one whose currency dominates always has an additional resource.
And today there is a struggle over precisely this:
Which currency will be emitted
and who will always have an additional plus due to that emission.
Until now the dollar was overwhelmingly dominating.
And now for the past few years
we see one and the same trend from all sides.
It's a challenge declared against the dominance of the dollar.
And now Saudi Arabia will be put in a very problematic situation.
If you don't sell oil for yuans— you might lose the Chinese market.
But if you sell that oil for yuans—
you lose good relations with the United States.
Since the Middle-East of today is drowning in chaos.
you can easily predict that you might end up in that zone of chaos yourself.
I'm thinking of Saudi Arabia.
Because the situation is chaotic all around it.
And that's why I think that these people were in Moscow.
Sorting out the future matters of their country.
And that the situation is worsening-
Oh by the way,
that Saudi king hadn't even left and a delegation from Qatar arrived.
And Qatar is a gas exporter, one of the main in the world.
Again going to that Moscow.
See what processes are taking place.
And let's add Germany's president Steinmeyer to this.
Just a few days ago he was in Moscow.
He quite emphatically laid down a wreath on the tomb of the unknown soldier.
But that unknown soldier fought the Germans in World War II.
Yet the German president arrives and quite demonstratively lays down a wreath.
There's also an interesting quote from his speech.
He said that:
Today the interests of big geopolitical players collide.
I'm not quoting word for word. But I'm expanding on his thought a bit.
The interests of big geopolitical players collide.
In other words—the battle for the redistribution of the world begins.
And he names them as the United States, Russia.
He doesn't name China but it's not difficult to add it.
But he adds a second part to his sentence:
But Germany and Russia are neighbors.
In other words he takes Germany out of this geopolitical conflict.
This is exactly what I've been telling you
for who knows how many years now.
That the conflict currently unfolding in the world—
if it's not Germany's
well then it's not Lithuania's either by 1000%.
But even the Germans want to stand aside from
that unfolding conflict.
And it is unfolding, as the Saudi king's visit shows.
And the new sanctions which in October-
The US presented new sanctions against the Russian weapons industry.
In essence the Russians won't even be able to sell weapons
because those countries that would buy from them
would be punished by the Americans.
A great number of tanks were brought to Poland,
unloaded at the port.
In Latvia—military helicopters.
In other words, tension is rising from all sides.
And Steinmeier's visit...
appears to be an attempt to find one's place in the conflict.
and try to minimize the suffering from that coming conflict.
If we take the other side of the world—
North Korea, where also a huge conflict is looming.
A huge US fleet is sailing that way.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers,
aircraft and aircraft carriers,
and so on and so on-
a huge armada is sailing towards North Korea.
But China is also right there.
And the Chinese are observing this process very attentively.
Because that geopolitical conflict,
about which Steinmeier is saying: Seems like it's not our affair.
Or so he'd like it to be.
Those are its participants: China, Russia, the United States.
Well and the European Union kind of is a player as a whole.
Though...
Having in mind all those election results
It's possible that the EU will try to save itself...
separately. At least that's the trend I see.
And the further we go— the less united European politics will be.
And the other three players...
especially China.
There's only one party there ruling for all these years.
And it's considerably easier for them to control the situation.
In the United States by the way, there's currently a battle of the elites.
By the way this month again,
the matter of Trump's impeachment was stimulated.
One even designated funds,
another opened a website called
let's remove Trump, and they're collecting signatures.
In other words, the attempts to overthrow Trump are not calming down.
Which indicates that the elites are divided after all.
But disregarding that,
however much divided that US elite were,
the standing of the dollar is for both sides
the most important thing.
And I think that they will agree on that matter.
Because if not for the dollar
the United States would be completely different.
Not that it wouldn't exist, but it wouldn't be in a dominating role.
And I think that the entire world of the future
and the coming conflicts will revolve around this.
The core essence of it lies right here.
Around the end of the month we will do a review of events
and we'll always be observing those trends
how the world works, and we'll ask:
What's going on here, what's going on?
Until we meet next time.
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