Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we're discussing, well, I am just discussing my general feelings on where things are at with regard to Thailand at the moment. People have been asking me why are you getting so upset about this? Well I mean if Trump or Biden or Obama had gotten on the phone to I don't know, the Canadian Prime Minister or the Mexican President and had said that, oh we will give you whatever you want and in the case of Trump, Tom Homan, the guy that's running the border right now, "yeah he's an “opponent”, I am not for him. I am on your side; I will give you whatever you want." If Trump did that, I would be so angry at Trump I would be blue in the face. I would be looking purple. I'm very upset, clearly, if you can't tell from my videos, I'm very upset with not only the conduct of the Prime Minister, which I have tried and hoped to give her the benefit of the doubt, but more and more it looks intentional. I mean I don't know how you argue that. I don't want to get into that but, meanwhile the way they've now been trying to spin it, is just bugging me. Let me get to where we are at on this, more the spin of it.

I thought of making this article after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham calls on protesters to obey the law. Quoting directly: "Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai is urging protesters planning to join a protest on Saturday to exercise restraint and avoid actions that could deepen national divisions." Okay, first of all, yeah restraint with regard to, hey I was here in 2010. Nobody wants to see a repeat of that. Restraint as far as violence but the refrain now is we need unity, we need unity. Well where was the National Unity when the Prime Minister was selling us out on the phone to a foreign power. I don't want to hear that, especially when this Prime Minister is unwilling to step down. I would be in favour of some more national unity if she was willing to do the right thing here and admit that either her conduct was wrong, or this is beyond her depth, and she needs to step aside. But to call for national unity and then try to spin this whole thing as it's Hun Sen's fault for leaking it, which okay, maybe there's some culpability there. But at the end of the day, the call says what it says.

Quoting directly: "The protest was organized to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra who has come under fire over her handling of the ongoing border conflict with Cambodia." No, it's not her conduct in the ongoing border conflict, it's the phone call where she referred to the strong man over there, the de facto effectively leader over there, as "uncle" and "we'll give you whatever you want" and the Field Commander on our side of the border as the "opponent". That's the problem. Quoting further: "Speaking on Monday, Mr. Phumtham stressed the need for unity in the face of external threats. Quoting: "What Cambodia wants most is our weakness..." Well we certainly showed it to him through her phone call. Stop blaming us little Thais like we are doing something for being upset about this. It's not a matter of disunity. We have a problem with our Prime Minister because her conduct was disgraceful. Quoting further: "... he said. While affirming citizens' right to express dissent, he cautioned against crossing legal boundaries. Thailand has already endured enough." Yeah, at whose hand, endured enough? It hasn't endured it because we're talking about we have a problem and concerns with what was said, it has endured it because of what she said. Quoting further: "The current conflict has had a profound impact, and further unrest would only worsen the situation..." Well maybe, and again I'm not calling for any kind of violence here, but there needs to be a reckoning on this and it's not anybody who is in the dissenting opinions' fault for what she herself said. Quoting further: "..he added. Meanwhile, representatives from the Ruam Palang Paen Din Pok Pong Athipatai, (United Power of the Land to Protect Sovereignty Group).." - yeah just one thing. Going back to some of these groups over the years, some of these names are a little long, just one man's opinion - that said, again the name of that is United Power of the Land to Protect Sovereignty group, "..led by former United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leader Jatuporn Prompan, met with Metropolitan Police Bureau officials to coordinate protest logistics. Their discussion focused on legal compliance, traffic arrangements and public safety." Good, it sounds like they are trying to peacefully protest; peacefully protest if Prime Minister who is on the phone calling our own Field Commander the "opponent". Sounds like kind of a legitimate peaceful protest to me. Quoting further: “The group plans to set up a stage facing Asok - Din Daeng Road near Victory Monument. They pledged the rally will be peaceful with no weapons, no overnight occupation and no relocation.” Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

I'm not a big fan of seeing these kind of things crop up in the city for a variety of different reasons but like the title of this video and even the thumbnail implies; there is a song I remember from back home - it's an old country song - You've got to Stand for Something or you'll Fall for Anything - and candidly that's what I'm worried about here.  All of this spin, all of this, “well he shouldn't have leaked it”, problem. No it comes down to the fact that you either were too incompetent to know that your communications to this person put Thailand at an extreme disadvantage and really undermined her sovereignty or you had intent. And if there was intent, I mean this is a problem of an order of magnitude more than what we are even talking about right now. But the long story short is I feel like I have to make these videos to say this right now, and to all of those folks, first of all real quick - quick plug. We do have a paid news service now and those folks that want to see some of the longer form content, I'm making roughly two a week, minimum about 30 minutes long these days [email protected]. Also Pancake Palace. Folks here in downtown Bangkok who are interested in American diner style food, we have got cheeseburgers, we have got buffalo wings, we have got chilli and we have got all day breakfast including pancakes. That is Pancake Palace, link in the description below. 

Back to what I was originally saying here, you have got to stand for something or you will fall for anything. If we don't all band together and make it clear - in a peaceful way - that this is unacceptable, what's next? Is Cambodia going to be dictating our border policy to us? And meanwhile, this is a Prime Minister who has courted the World Economic Forum, who have said that they want us all to "own nothing and be happy" and are really into public-private partnerships for their own sake. I'm not necessarily saying that kind of setup is always bad, but for its own sake it is creepy. The whole thing looks very akin to the old Comintern. My point being, this is someone who just doesn't seem to either understand how important sovereignty is or doesn't care and wants to actively undermine it. And in either case it's concerning enough that I don't blame Thais, rank and file Thais, for all wanting to say hey, this isn't acceptable.