So we need to do the steps of the action potential. Like how does this happen? How do we change the membrane potential? And then how do we use that to create this wave? So are you ready? First of all, what you have to know is that embedded in the cell membrane of a neuron, you have channels. And tell me, what kind of channels are these? Well, if sodium is pink, this is probably a sodium channel. So tell me, is it open or closed? See my little gate? This is a gated sodium channel. And guess what kind of gated channel this is? A gated potassium channel. These things are closed. If they stay closed, can sodium potassium move in and out of the neuron? Heck no, they cannot. Which is why if we have the sodium potassium pump doing its stuff, the sodium potassium pump is going to establish this pretty strong concentration gradient where sodium is going to want to go in or out. Dude, sodium is going to want to go in. The party's happening inside the cell and the sodium's been being kicked out. The potassium is going to want to go out. It wants to go out exploring to see what else is happening in this world. Thank you, sodium potassium pump, for setting up that gradient. Now, the first thing that happens, if you want to fire an action potential, the first thing that has to happen is you have to have some sort of stimulus.  And I'm going to draw the graph down here because I'm going to try and make my words right here. And if I planned a little bit more, I would have moved those guys up. So I have a little more room for my graph. But my graph is going to be millivolts on one side. And it's going to be time on the other. And you tell me what is the first measurement of millivolts that we should have on our graph. This is my membrane potential. I'm just going to measure it. I'm going to measure changes in it throughout this whole process. Well, remember, we start at negative 70. I probably should say that negative 70 is like a number that I read in some textbook. And some textbooks report something different and every cell is different. But I'm comfortable with negative 70, that number thereabouts. Your membrane potential will stay at negative 70.   And multiple things can happen in this space. But let's just pretend like along comes a nice purple stimulus. And at that point, and I'm going to draw it up here, I'm going to label my point, this is the stimulus. So that's moment number one up there, the stimulus. Okay, what kind of stimulus? Dude, somebody punches you in the face. How about a light goes on? You hear a fantastic noise.    Some kind of stimulus happens. This is crazy. The stimulus will cause stimulus-gated sodium channels to open. Okay? The stimulus causes stimulus-gated sodium channels to open. Okay, seriously? So here's the sodium channel. And what did we say sodium was going to do? Dog-pounds of a big old feather. Sodium is going to rush in. Because sodium potassium pump was kicking it out. Sodium is going to rush in. Now, positive charges just rushed in to this negative 70-ish charged membrane potential. What happens to your membrane potential when positive charges come in? There's only one thing that can happen. The membrane potential increases. Can you visualize that? Positive charges come in to a negative 70-charged place and the charge is going to increase. It's going to become more positive because positive charges came in. And guess what? If the stimulus was big enough to cause a membrane potential change up to about negative 55, that, I need a new color, that's threshold. If threshold is reached, then guess what happens? Then voltage-gated sodium channels open. Okay, the first ones were stimulus-gated. They opened if the stimulus came into the scene. If the stimulus was big enough, enough of them would open and allow enough sodium ions in and change the membrane potential to negative 55 or threshold. And if you reach threshold, voltage-gated sodium channels open. All of them go. And so everything opens. What's going to happen to my membrane potential? Holy madness of opening sodium ions.  Sodium rushes in. I got to make that blue. Sodium rushes in. If the sodium ions rush in, the membrane potential changes and it goes all the way up to positive 30. That's really high. Positive 30 millivolts. And then this is a timing issue. Sodium channels shut. They were open and the stimulus and the voltage caused them to open and they're open for like a millisecond and snap. They snap shut. And can sodium move now? No.  Nothing's happening here. Because the sodium can't come in anymore. So we're not going to continue to get positive. They literally just shut. Now, guess what happens next? Oh, let's make it, sure. We'll make it this color because next, this is, oh, that was number three. This is number four. I'm not going to organize here. I got to make my colors right. There's three. Number four, potassium voltage-gated potassium channels open. Now, in all actuality, those voltage-gated potassium channels open. They start to open at the same moment that the sodium channels opened. The same reaching threshold causes them to open too. But they're slow. And so that it takes them longer to get open. But now they're open. What? So what's going to happen? Potassium is going to go where? Potassium goes out. Oh, show. True story. Bye-bye. What happens to your membrane potential as the potassium ions rush out? You've got to be kidding me. True story, potassium beats cheeks. I'm out of here. Membrane potential goes down, often drops below the resting potential. But then you end up returning to somewhat of a normal resting potential. Why? What helps reestablish that? Let's make this five. Close. Potassium gates close. Gates close. And then who goes to work? I'm sorry, I just changed my mind because I want it this color. Why? Who's going to work? Six sodium-potassium pump reestablishes. Wow, membrane potential. Extinct membrane potential. Did we catch anything? I mean, did we miss anything? Oh my gosh. That is so incredible. There are some details in there that some details that we are going to just, it's more complicated than this, but doesn't this kind of blow your mind? Okay, I'm going to talk about some other key parts of this action potential process. The thing, I'll do that in a second. Okay, you need a break.


This is Global Connections, where we talk about things happening around the world. And today we're going to talk about how is the war going in Southern Gaza. And for this discussion we have Dr. Roopmati Kandakar joins us from New York. Welcome to the show, Roopmati. Aloha, Jay. And it's all my pleasure to be back with you. And it's good going in the war and with us as well. So let's- So is this the end of the beginning? Or is it the beginning of the end? How are we doing in the continuum of this war? Obviously, Israel hasn't quite won the war, but there are hopeful signs that it will not in a not too distant future. What are your thoughts? Jay, right now we see that Israel is progressing well, but there's a lot of- Currently, the fighting is in Khan Yunus. The fighting has intensified over there. And like you discussed, the tunnels were definitely flooded with saltwater, and I think the rats are coming out in that. Lots of civilian damage in this war, but I think it was because there were civilian shields, isn't it, Jay? So the blame is all on the Hamas, which used the humans as shields. And it was such a necessary war, Jay. Almost two months into the war, we see that the overall perspective is that Israel needed to do this. Israel needs to continue this to the end because of the foreseeable attack if left unfinished. That is the main crux in this entire war, Jay. And that is what keeps the IDF going. And this network of tunnels was such a discovery to have a doubled area of the city underneath the city. So you have this kind of preparedness by the Hamas, which was there, and which caught Israel unawares in this war. And so many things came as a learning point for Israel, Jay, in this war that intelligence failure, yes, because nobody expected them to attack on such a force. The terrorist attack to be at such a high level was unexpected. And the hostage situation like we saw last time, it was documented for the timing. A few hostages were exchanged.  But Jay, one story I want to share with you, that there was one circulating that two babies around four years and 10 years, they were being sold by Hamas to another terrorist organization. Has this ever happened in the history of mankind that you have hostages sold to another terrorist organization for future negotiations? I mean, this is such unprecedented stuff that came out in this war against terrorism for Israel that it cannot fathom how to deal with such a situation. So many, you know, it's an asymmetric war. The guerrilla warfare that has been going on with this, it is, you know, the guerrilla warfare is raw. It doesn't have sophistication, like you said. And Israel has sophistication. But these people have used sophistication in guerrilla warfare.  And imagine, this was a place where Israel had given them the keys to flourish, to develop, to exist in peace with each other. It was a place zone where they could live side by side. But they misused it. They misused it. Now today, I mean, for myself personally, when I remember George Bush has said that I want to bomb them to the Stone Age, he meant that they were not meant for them. He was bombing into the Stone Age. He was, he was, you know, furious with what happened to his citizens, the terror attack that happened to every country has the right to do that against a terrorist attack. Because loss of human life, which is not involved in a war-like situation, is always unpardonable. And these people came into houses and took hostages, came into houses and killed families, came into houses and, you know, showed their strength.  You had people being pulled out of cars and burned. You had people in music festivals picked up. So absolutely no nausea. And Israel has shown its strength. And like we always discuss, domestic politics will always continue. But existential crisis has to be resolved instantly. You know, one of the interesting, there's a number of interesting side points on all of this. And we've heard the United Nations and Qataris, you know, call for a ceasefire. We've heard a lot of people, you know, protesting that the Israelis should stop their, you know, their attack on Hamas. And what's interesting is, you know, the academics and the military people, the authors, the thought leaders of Israel who are there and in the United States, ask a simple question in return. And so what are the terms of the ceasefire? You just stop. If you just stop the, you know, the next step is clear. Hamas will attack again. Yes, yes.  So you have to have terms. So what are the terms? Well, the terms are simple. You take a known terrorist organization that is responsible for atrocities now and for quite some time. And you have them surrender. You have them terminated as an organization. And then you have all the hostages return. And Anthony Blinken said, if you do that, the war will stop tomorrow. And indeed, that's what the Israelis are saying, that would, that would end the war right now. So those people, including Antonio Qutera as the United Nations and various, you know, college campuses who say we have to have a ceasefire right now, they don't give you the terms, but the terms are implicit. If you don't have terms, you have a continuation of the terrorism, right? Right. Jay in ceasefire and pseudo liberal language means ask Israel to stop. Isn't it? It's not ceasefire means mutually agreed terms and conditions. There is no mutual in this. The pseudo liberals just want Israel to give up the war and let Hamas start again. You know, Hamas is such an exhaustive machinery. It's not a religious movement. It's not a political movement. It's a self-sustained terrorist organization which fuels on funding from Iran from the antagonistic elements against Israel. So they will reemerge. Ceasefire means a definitive agreement that is not in the foreseeable future because unless there is, unless Hamas ceases to exist, there is no ceasefire question of ceasefire. pseudo liberals and students who want to, you know, you know, the flare up this issue that there has to be a ceasefire. Israel has to give up. Tell me those people who are stripped of for their weapon checking. What a fury there was on news. Where was the fury when Israeli citizens were stripped? Innocent people. Innocent people. These are people who are hiding out in tunnels. These are men who are hiding in tunnels. Then the Israeli soldiers need to check them. That is not a deliberate thing. That is a routine because of the nature of operating of Hamas of suicide belts, which they wear. So you can't keep them. So the kind of double standards that the international media sets up and the international perceptions. And I think it's it's come to a point when even a discussion of ceasefire has made Israel unapologetic about explaining itself. Israel has been put into the situation of not explaining themselves, even when in the United Nations, when the resolution was passed to call for Gaza ceasefire, the veto was from the US. But the reason and UK abstain. So this kind of support for Israel is because of a long standing ties and previous terrorist experience by UK and US. They know they will strike back. And it's a reality of international relations day that when you forgive enemy, it reinforces and it becomes it comes back. And okay, for you, United States, the enemy is in Afghanistan, the distance for Israel. The problem is the proximity, the proximity of Gaza to be one house away from you, one fence away from you. So this cannot be left undone and Jay, the tunnels which were up to Gaza city easily can reach other places. We don't know what is happening in the West Bank as of yet. This is Gaza city, the northern part, especially being combed, but Gaza, the West Bank, the other parts which are there, they are still unknown territory. And unknown means one suicide bomber is enough to blow up a field of soldiers. So they have that kind of why they're asking to strip down their undershorts. And there was there was criticism that, you know, this was unfair and, you know, atrocity that Israel would make them take their clothes off. But there's a very good reason for it, because they come out of hiding, and they could be wearing a bomb. And if they detonated the bomb in front of Israeli soldiers, that would be Israeli casualties. Israel has already lost about 100, 100, and it's been killed 100 of their soldiers. So, but I wanted to go into something else too. You know, you and I talked early in the game about flooding the tunnels. And I think Israel has done some of that, but, you know, it hasn't really done it ubiquitously. And I'm not sure why the reasons have been advanced that perhaps it would kill the hostages. It would drown the hostages. Perhaps it would, you know, make the ground unstable and buildings on top would fall into it. I don't know. I don't think there are any really good reasons not to flood the tunnels. And if you ask me today whether I would refine a suggestion you and I made back very early in October, I would flood them halfway because that would be enough, you know, to make the tunnels non-functional and maybe corrode the ammunition and weapons down there and make the Hamas militants leave the tunnels where the Israelis could pick them up. But what is very interesting about the tunnels is a video made by Deutsche about the tunnels in the south at the border with Egypt. And they interviewed a bunch of Palestinian kids who had really nothing to do. They hated school. They would cut classes. They would walk out of classes. They did not want any education whatsoever. What they did instead is with their occupation. And these are kids that are 10, 11, 12, 13 years old. What do they do? They work on the tunnels across the Egyptian border. And they're paid. They're paid by organizations that want to build these tunnels, probably Hamas. And that's the only job they can get. And they do that for every day, every night. And they keep doing it. And they've been doing it for years. This is a long-term project. And the expectation they have is they will continue to doing it for years. So first it started with smuggling and then smuggling weapons and ammunition. What I find interesting, though, is that these kids, these Palestinians, they're not Hamas necessarily. They're just tunnel workers. It's an occupation. It's what's been going on all through Gaza for all these years. And that's how we have this enormous metro of tunnels all over Gaza. It's these kids who are hired a few shackles to spend all day and all night digging them out. It's not easy to do that. But I think that has to be mentioned. They didn't get there because the militants dug them. They got there because these kids needed some money. The other aspect of the money, and I think it's worth mentioning this too, is that prior to October 7, some 19,000 Palestinians, probably mixed with Hamas, had jobs in southern Israel. They would come out and work, and they would help the Jewish settlements. And they would be in the Jewish settlements. And they'd be making notes and taking back information to Hamas about who was where and where was what, and opening possibilities for the attack. And what I find interesting is that the revelation now that when the attack took place, there were Palestinians who had been working in Israel guiding the militants who were doing the killing. They were there helping the militants. It's very troubling. Right now, Israel has stopped all of that. There are 19,000 people are not employed anymore and are not likely to be employed until this war is over. Furthermore, there are many, many, many times that number who were employed in Israel from the West Bank. And that has also stopped. And there is a debate going on within Israeli government as to whether they should ever be permitted back to go to their jobs in Israel from the West Bank. So this has not only affected the economy of Israel. It has affected the economy of all the people, many, many, many thousands who had jobs from the West Bank and from Gaza into Israel to find that the damage is done. It's another example of Hamas not really giving a damn about how the Palestinians are treated. And right now, we find that there are rockets going off from the humanitarian site that Israel has defined, find that extraordinary. Just the way they were going off from schools and hospitals and playgrounds and the like. Furthermore, the Hamas fighters in the South now are not wearing uniforms. They have uniforms. We know they do, but they're wearing civilian clothing that makes it all the more difficult for the Israeli, the IDF to find them and deal with them. I find that's just another example of a human shield. And finally, one more point, and that is that they are fighting from residences. And in Israel, we all knew that this would be street fighting, building to building, room to room. So it makes it all the more difficult for the IDF to go through a neighborhood knowing that there are Hamas people in civilian clothes, anywhere and everywhere in every residential section. And that's part of the difficulty in taking over the South part of Gaza. Yeah, Jay. I mean, this war has been extraordinary. This entire operation has been extraordinary because of the themselves. They have put the civilian shields in front and the civilians themselves are that kind of those kind of people who are willing to give their lives to shield these people. If you tell me if there's a big question, if it is if the Hamas was hiding in Israel, would the IDF would have used the same strategy as they have used in Gaza city? And my answer to that is a definitive yes, because Israel Army gave them 20 days to evacuate. They gave pamphlets, they gave warnings for civilians to evacuate the area. They want to carry out Hamas elimination operation. If these pamphlets and these warnings were given in the area of Israel that we want to carry out Hamas, you know, coming operation, please evacuate, I am sure I am definitive that the Israeli citizens would have evacuated the area. There was a big problem when the Palestine civilians do not want to evacuate. That's the collateral damage that happened. The shafts of the tunnels entering from houses, from hospitals, from schools and people knowing about it but still keeping quiet. This is what is the Palestine mentality right now. Just to go against Israel doesn't matter what is in front of you. The point is you have to be against Israel. So if this same operation was carried out in Israel and citizens were asked to evacuate, citizens would have evacuated. They have. They would have. They would have. The northern border and the southern border also. Correct. Nobody would have said no, we want to stay here only.  They were not a single civilian is innocent because all of them knew what they are facing. They were given enough warnings to say come out. Imagine a terrorist organization being given a forewarning, please evacuate. How many Hamas fighters would have run away? And a big takeaway in this war is the number of Palestine of Hamas intelligence militants. We have these people who will give us information now about how Hamas operates. They are the surrendering to the IDF and that is a treasure curve of the operatives because you kind of now have a mass understanding of their mentality of the way they operate. You know that was miss generally missing. We had one or two people who would go undercover and you would have double agents and you would have people who would try to give some information. But now there is a mass your intelligence source that Israel has got. And the more that Israel finds and devs into this, you find that the operatives have been aiming for not a minimum damage. They want maximum damage to eliminate and wipe out Israel. So each Hamas terrorist is indoctrinated like you said. Children are involved in Hamas for a very strong point indoctrinated from concerts to working for like you like you mentioned for their school money for their chores. Everything is connected with Hamas. So this is mentality. We spoke about the dimensions. They have a very multidimensional outlook towards Hamas. But Hamas has a single out single dimensional target towards Israel. One of the most interesting side points of this is an article that appeared a couple of days ago about the extraordinary short sell of Israeli stocks. In the week before October 7th, somebody was selling short selling Israeli stocks, a huge number, an unprecedented number. An extraordinary number of these stocks were being sold on the stock markets. Okay. And what was that about? Somebody made a lot of money short selling because after October 7th, all those stocks went down. So the short sell was profitable. Furthermore, of course, the massacre did great damage to the Israeli stocks and stock market and companies and the economy. You say to yourself, this is an asymmetrical war. You have the war with the massacre. You have the war with these guys not in uniform shooting from every apartment in every building. But you also have these external things. You have the propaganda. And now we find that somebody was short selling in the stock market trying to make a buck on atrocities. And to me, that's a new kind of war altogether. You talk about unprecedented things. That is unprecedented.  It's unbelievable. Anyway, I also want to dwell on the fact that whether we're at the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end, in fact, the Israeli brain trust is trying to figure out the day after. And given the kind of engagement they've had with the world community and all the criticism, undeserved criticism about their attack or counter attack on Amos, they're trying to develop a day after strategy. And it probably will be with due regard for what kind of international reaction will come out of it. So I don't think the Israelis are simply going to occupy Amos or occupy Gaza. They're going to organize some kind of governmental arrangement there. And they're going to spend billions of shekels trying to figure out how to rebuild the place in a way that is democratic. That's a long shot, but somehow democratic and which allows the Israelis to live in relative peace on the border. And where Amos is not there and this notion of from the river to the sea is no longer their guiding principle. But what I think is the day after is something being considered. And it is an important concept because it will hopefully resolve these problems about Palestinians living only to be victims, living only to kill Jews. It will perhaps create a more civilized society, a civil society. By the way, there's a video series coming out on YouTube in a few days by an Israeli author called Zionism and Anti-Zionism. And it's a study of the last 100 years of anti-Zionism. And I think we all have to watch it. She's very learned. And I think her name is Hilf, H-I-L-F. And I think this is going to be very interesting. So that put it on your calendar to watch that. Okay, we can talk about it after it airs. Anyway, you were saying what about the day after? Yeah, Jay, the day after is going to be positive for Israel, I hope. Now, coming back to your short selling of stocks, that was a dramatic development. So somebody knew that this was going to happen. And Hamas as a terrorist organization, they go into this kind of funding, Jay, where they draw income out of these sources for now stock market. And they knew how to play it. Maybe the Hamas leadership knew that this attack was coming. So this kind of millions and millions made on the stock market was troublesome, Jay, because if something like this was happening, it is a huge indicator for intelligence to look upon and to study before they take it upon themselves. And now, Jay, to coming back to this beginning of the end of the beginning, Jay, Hamas is a terrorist organization which is destined to go up to the end and each person's end and Israel's end. So this continues because even a single person, now how many were the founding fathers of Hamas? So those few can start it again and take it as a study or take it as research for all time that when Hamas is banned, they will come under another name. They will come under with another identity. These same people will regroup, even if one or two rats are remaining somewhere, they will regroup, reinforce and reestablish themselves, not as powerful as Hamas right now, but eventually Hamas took 33, 34 decades to establish. They will also take a 34, you know, they will change the name. There was a big problem for terrorist organizations. The moment they were banned in the international list, they used to change the name so that they could start a new account, this kind of error financing which takes place. It requires a very comprehensive international strategy and in geopolitics, it requires international support. So that kind of a comprehensive perspective towards terror financing will stop terrorists. Iran made 100 billion dollars when they started trading after the Russia-Ukraine war. Israel, Hamas, what is the direct repercussion of what happened after the Ukraine war? When Iran was under sanctions, they did not have money to eat. Now, after the 100 billion trade, they had money to fund Hamas. That is the difference, Jay, one war makes on the other. The impact that they have on another war is this, that once these countries, which were literally living hand to mouth, had money to distribute, they don't distribute for more development. They distribute for terror activities and when they funded Hamas to carry out this terrorist attack, you see, this is the terror link. This is the terror trail. This is the money trail that moves. And this moves to kill. So, Jay, this finance in terrorism that we talk about is very important to trace it, to trace it and to stop it, to stop the channels which fund it. And Israel has to, like I always say, it has six antagonistic nations against it. It's right in between. It's the only democracy in the Middle East. It's valuable. And the numbers of, you know, you have numerous articles comparing Hitler to Netanyahu. No, it's wrong. He's fighting a movement against terrorism, terrorism against his own country. It's terrorism, Jay, and it is so rampant. And I mean, they forget the shock of October 7th. It's deplorable that they think that, you know, this war should end with Israel laying down arms. This war will only end when Hamas is finished. You know, it's an existential threat for the state of Israel, for sure.  It's really important that the United States maintain its financial support of Israel because it's a war of attrition in many ways. And if the United States does not maintain its funding, and right now that seems to be stuck thanks to an ineffective Congress, that's very troublesome. I'm glad that Joe Biden continues to support it, even though it may cost him politically. I'm glad that he is sending 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition to them as he can without congressional funding. But over time, this is going to be a constraint. And really, we need the United States to step up because, as you say, other countries, other rogue countries are providing funding for Hamas. We can't let that happen and stand by. Israel needs to have at least as much funding and to keep up the war. But let me go to another question, though, Rubati. And we need to talk about this. There's an escalation of the violence on the northern border on the Lebanese border. And this is troubling because it draws off Israeli resources and troops and all that. And it's getting hotter on the Lebanese border. What is going on there? And how does that affect the beginning of the end of the war in Gaza? Lebanon will come in because of Hezbollah. Hezbollah is also funded by Iran. And Hezbollah would have come in a much stronger way in this fight if Joe Biden had not sent the warships on alert immediately. And we know Joe Biden is involved in Middle East Israel politics since 1973. He's a learned man, experienced person and a very strong statesman who sent the right signals, right time. You know, he's been there. So he's done good. And this Lebanese border, the Hezbollah factor, which in this Hezbollah is a much stronger faction, much stronger terrorist organization than Hamas, but they don't want to involve themselves directly in this war because Hamas is really facing its end right now. And they are giving up like rats because Jay, they had this burst of energy. They did it just for Israel retaliation. They wanted to evoke a retaliation. They got it. They wanted the hostages. They got it. They got to know what they can do with the hostages. It was like kind of a rehearsal that they wanted to do. How can they play and negotiate with hostages? And when they are seeing, you know, Israel had to put this restraint on going all out to rescue hostages because the entire terror cells were watching. If Israel had given into demands for the hostages, you know, what kind of implications they would have been all over the world? They would have picked up Israeli citizens as hostages anywhere, anywhere and start negotiation. This kind of muted response that the IDF is given is very deliberate, Jay, because it will be a cost of sad that will be a cost of 200 plus hostages. But it is for the future because otherwise every street, every school, every bus, every walk of every Israeli will be threatened with an impending hostage situation. Because like we know, they had this kind of looking forward to what they can do with 200 hostages because they saw Iran deal with five or six hostages. Yeah, but God, you remind me of an incident that took place in the West Bank only a few days ago where these guys drove a car into into a market in a bus station and just shot people without any cause without any warning. So you have a kind of, you know, spreading of the violence through Hamas and the Palestinian community, I guess. But I want to go to one other thing that you touched on. And that is, so we have this global affair, we have this risk for Israelis everywhere. And we have sort of people arithmetic we should take a look at. And the Israelis have come out in no uncertain terms to point out that the Hamas Ministry of Health is a phony. There's nothing going on with health in Gaza. All these guys that do publish these figures that are wrong and try to excite world opinion, this propaganda, but it's not data in any way. And they claim now this 15,000 Palestinians who have been killed and they come out with this flat statement, Israel denies it and points out that they're not to be believed. At the same time, Israel has said that they have killed 7,000 Hamas fighters and Hamas fighters are embedded in the Palestinian population. So you don't know whether the 15,000 number is right, assuming for a moment that the Israelis are more credible and that 7,000 fighters have been killed. The question is, how many of those should be deducted from whatever amount of Palestinians are reported by the Ministry of Health? To me, that's a rhetorical question. The other point is this guy, Sinwar, the leader, the organizer, the founder of the attack, he was in an Israeli jail. He was traded for that one soldier where they traded 1,000 prisoners. God, I don't think they should have done that. 1,000 prisoners for this one Israeli soldier, and he came back and looked what happened. He was an activated militant, an activated terrorist. And so they're looking for him. They're looking for him in the tunnels. They believe he's still in Gaza. If they find him, they're going to either kill him or try him for the world to see, not clear. And others, there's two or three others that were up there with him in the leadership that organized the massacre. So my question to you is, are they going to find him? Are they going to, what are they going to do with him when they find him? And are they going to be able to find the other leaders of the massacre?  What do you think?  This YIS involved was one who was exchanged for prisoners, like you said. That's why this hostage situation was so difficult to deal with. They did not know who to deal with, who to exchange. And they put their foot down on no men being exchanged because Israeli men coming back, but a murderer and a future terrorist being released was far too difficult to handle right now. And Jay, this Yaya, is a very dangerous person because he plans and plots his kind of the mastermind of this Hamas attack, terrorist attack. And the numbers that they're playing with, that 15,000 on that, 7,000, 5,000 plus paratroopers and terrorists entered Israel on that day. Did they count those numbers? And how many did they kill?  It's not a countdown to your new year. It is an operation which is, and you know that was a terrorist in a single day those were killed in two months with extreme caution, with extreme Reiki, with extreme warnings to citizens to flee and to escape and to evacuate the area. Two months is the time that Israel has taken to catch these Hamas terrorists and civilian shields who have knowingly, I say knowingly very well because Israel has given 20 days of warning to evacuate. That has to be underscored in such a way because Jay, those citizens stayed back. Those citizens stayed back to shield. And it can't be There are threats involved. For example, there's this footage of the terrorists stealing the humanitarian food and supplies. I guess it's drone footage and it shows that the terrorists are beating up and I don't know maybe shooting the Palestinians in order to get the food and supplies. They're taking what the United Nations and others are providing to help the Palestinian people. They're physically taking it with violence. You know, the other, as I mentioned earlier, is that we have these defined areas for, you know, the Palestinians to go to and rockets are coming out of those areas. Even within the last couple of days, dozens of rockets are coming into the south of Israel and toward Tel Aviv from areas that are supposed to be sanctuary for the Palestinians. What do they expect the Israelis to do? Nothing? Jay, to look forward to in this Israel Hamas war is to look forward to getting close to the end of Hamas as a terrorist organization as and one of the main political players in the Gaza region. And Jay, this I say that the Hamas Israel war was Hamas terrorist attack was a direct repercussion of the Russian Ukraine war. And that was because this kind of money that was pumped in the terror financing got these people to come back into the main circuit and be able to launch such a terrorist attack. And Hamas has to disintegrate and be dismissed because this kind of terrorist attack in the future can never ever be expected. And you know, what is that? You cannot, you cannot help that this should happen again in any which way, in any small way, financing, intelligence, everything, Jay. You know, to reveal what Hamas has done, and the Israelis aren't doing that, you know, they're they're they're making more public relations, communications from the families of the hostages about the hostages. And by the way, I don't think we're going to see any more hostages in the near term. We may have lost we may have lost them all. I think people are coming around. Yeah. But, you know, the Israelis are becoming more, what do we call it, public about some of the things they were reluctant to discuss before, like the details of the terror. And as that happens, and assuming that the Israelis do lean out and terminate Hamas and its leadership, it's a message to the whole world, something along the lines that terrorism and atrocities don't really pay. And we're not going to let that happen. And on the other side of the coin, if Israel doesn't do that, it's not permitted to do that. You know, either because of political pressures in the US or or in the EU. And for some reason, Israel cannot conclude this war on the terms that are appropriate. That is the elimination of Hamas. That's also going to be a message to the world, isn't it? And it's going to be something like, yeah, terrorism does pay. We might as well try it here. So I think this is really a global import, don't you? Yes, yes, such a such a valid point. I mean, in international relations today, this is the main main thing, because so many terrorists are on the watch. And that is such undermined fact in this war, because everybody has eyes on this war. There is a hostage situation, there is how the secure nation is dealing with it, how the Hamas is operating, the intelligence that was involved and terror cells. Now, if Israel deals with this, and it will continue for some time, but the terror cells that will get activated, these migrants, which will move out to other countries, are not going to be waiting, ducks, Jake, they are going to be active people, they are going to want, you know, they're going to have those. What is that film style movie style revenge in them, and they want to come back and Rambo style, take, you know, revenge of the ancestors, the ancestors came to, as a terrorist, that has to be told to them, they have been indoctrinated to believe that Hamas is heroic, Hamas is, you know, this is very virtual, like we call it the propaganda war, everything is created in this terrorist organization.  And that kind of mental indoctrination is what is dangerous for every freedom loving democratic citizen all over the world, because two of them, one of them is enough to create a nuisance for a democratic setup.  You know, up to the massacre, the average Israeli did not have a gun. They rely on the military to take care of them. In fact, military people always traveling around with their rifles, you know, on the street quotas in the shops, but not, but now people in Israel are getting gun permits and they're getting guns. And in fact, I read that there are hundreds of thousands of new guns in the hands of civilians in Israel to defend themselves. They're not going to let this happen again. They're not going to let atrocities happen again. They're not going to sit around and wait for the United Nations, which isn't going to do anything, or the International Court to deal with it as war crimes. That's going to shoot them. And in fact, that's what happened in this shooting I mentioned at the bus stop.  And I think we're going to see more of that. And actually, that's a lot easier than waiting for years to investigate and prosecute. It's sad that we don't have an agency either for the war crimes in Ukraine or in Israel for any international organization to step in and A, condemn which the United Nations has not done, and B, organize a war crimes trap. So I think it changes things, and maybe not for the best on a macro scale, but it changes things as to what happens if you want to be a terrorist in a city or a, you know, in a setting where you kill civilians.  Anyway, thank you very much, Robadi. Robadi Kandekar, thank you for joining me on this discussion. We'll come back and discuss it further because it's an ongoing story. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me, Jay Aloha.


Anvita is a psychosexual therapist and she brings the psychological perspective to the advice that the Kamasutra has to give. Welcome, Anvita. Thank you, Seema, and welcome to our podcast this week. Anvita, today's question is a rather different one. It says basically that women over 50 are made to feel like they have aging bodies, that they have unattractive bodies. And unfortunately, that is very true because I was just thinking when I read that sentence, even I get onto the rest of the question in a minute, but even if you go to the films, it's literally whenever you talk about somebody who's slightly older, taking off their clothes, the first reaction is already, did you see that body? So it is unfortunately the case that women over 50 are made to feel like they have unattractive aging bodies and that we're not even supposed to be having sex or thinking about it or enjoying it, especially if you are single. And so the question basically is, I guess to say, we've been talking about the fact that this is good for you, that it's something you should be able to enjoy for the rest of your life. How would you basically get over these hurdles to be able to get to the next step? One, I have to absolutely agree with you because there's this one. So firstly, 50 seems so young today in some way, like 50 from when you think about our parents, there's some pictures that you look at it, but people are much younger today. They dress really differently, they behave very differently. So it feels like it's a very young number, but you're absolutely right. There is definitely a myth out there that says that older you get, the less interested you must be in sex and that your body is not attractive. And they're both myths because people are attracted to each other and sexuality does not, or the need for sex and sexuality doesn't actually reduce with age. And some would say, actually it increases with age. Yeah, absolutely right. Like you were saying that actually as you get older, I've always said this, that the moment you hit menopause, somehow you get liberated. All those things that bothered you about what people would say, what people think, all that goes and along with that, your inhibitions go. So I think that there's a very good potential for women when they get to a certain age to have great sex. But I find that the biggest problem is the disapproval around you. And even though we might say, oh, it doesn't matter, what do you care what somebody's saying? It matters. It's horrible when you hear it. And I get so much abuse for literally talking about sexuality on social media from people who call me names for being old. So I'm abused for being old and talking about it. And it's not just sort of like, oh, you're so old, you shouldn't be talking about it. It's the way that they choose to address you. It is so awful.  Or, oh, this old woman really needs it. She's getting frisky or this old woman. And you can imagine how it sounds when it's said in Punjabi. Oh, this old woman really wants it. She's asking for it. Come on, I'll do this to you. I'll give you that. I mean, it's so coarse.  Who wants to listen to an old woman talking about her sex life?   We're talking about the idea of pleasure. And I'm not talking about minds. And also, there's a million other people you can go and listen to, go and listen to them. Why do you have to come and tell me? But I've realized that this is actually what we're talking about, what this question is about, that it's not enough for them to think, well, here is an old woman who's talking about it. We don't want to listen to her. It's about how dare she talk about it. We have to shut her down. I think it is a big myth.  And you're like, you wonder how can somebody be that disrespectful, even if it's online. But I think there is this image, especially if you think about the South Asian culture, where it's like, if you grow older, your interest in sex needs to reduce and your interest in puja part needs to increase or something. And they are mutually exclusive things in some ways. And one, they don't need to be mutually exclusive. A lot of people can be spiritual and religious and love sexuality and love sex. But also this idea that you need to close one part as if it was something bad or dirty and go to something more pure or spiritual. Once there's this idea that this was, this is not something good. And you need to close this to accept something which is not true. It's a much, you can be very religious, very pure, very spiritual and yet be very sexual. So that this idea that they need to be mutually exclusive, I think is very problematic. Do you remember that movie? I think the Hindi film, But Hai Ho, I think it was called? Yeah, yeah. Do you remember where the mother, she's got a very, very grown up son who's wanting to get married and then she gets pregnant? Yeah. And the judgment around her having sex, the problem was that they were having sex as a couple was the problem. Like the jokes were around the fact that they were still continuing to have sex. And it was as in obviously the child was not something that what would they hear from society? But a lot of comments were around the fact that they were having sex. So it literally people, it seemed like the older you get as couples, you're not having sex. And even if you think about ideas about who can enter who's room and what it is as parents grow older, the acceptance of just barging into a room is literally correlated with age in some ways. It feels like that, you know, I think. And what I want to say is that research has shown us and other things have shown us that actually sex between couples does not, yes, the frequency might reduce or whatever, but the quality of sex actually becomes better. And a lot of women will talk about how they enjoy sex way more as they get older because there's so many pressures that young women feel about like how their bodies need to be perfect, how they need to like, then everything needs to be measured and everything and that are they doing well enough? Are they sexual enough?   So if you speak to older people, they might actually say that they enjoy sex way more as they grow older than when they were younger. And I would love to hear from you when you were talking about, when we talk about this acceptance of the body, I think it's as difficult for women to accept themselves as much it is that society needs to accept them. The self-acceptance I think is a long journey. You know, you're absolutely right on that. The self-acceptance is the longest of the journeys. Okay, so I find that as women get older, a lot of women actually end up not having sex. They remove it from their lives and their heads because they, I guess for a lot of them, the sexual experience has not been a good one through their life. And so when they get to a certain point, because society has this unwritten rule that you get to a certain point, it's behind you now, you shouldn't even be thinking about it. I've personally met a lot of women who are like, oh, thank God we're over it. Yeah, we don't have to worry about it because it had become mature, it had become unpleasurable. And my work has been based as you know, not on sex, but on pleasure, the idea of actually returning you to an idea of what pleasure is exclusive and outside of sex. So pleasure is not just about penetration, it's not just about having sex, but it can come from so many different ways. And I keep saying to women that we have to open up our mind to accepting that again, even if it's in a non-intimidating way. Pleasure yourself by putting lots of perfume on you and feeling really good about yourself. And I think that's where that first step always has to come from, whether it's just about feeling good with perfume, putting perfume or when you dress up or whether it's actually having a sexual relationship. I think it all has to begin here in the brain first. Yeah, I totally hear you because I think you have to the, as you get older, it needs to be you want pleasure because you're absolutely right. If you see it as a chore and it is something that you're doing for somebody else, then the faster you can get out of it, the easier it's going to be.   So it needs to come first from within that you wanted and you're interested in it and how do you make yourself feel like I want to experience this pleasure and what will make me feel good about myself. And when all of that starts is when you can engage with a partner and share a sexual bond with them. So I do think that that's acceptance of self-pleasure is the first step. And of course, the next will have to be breaking down all of the trolling that comes at you from outside, not necessarily online, but from the society around you from your friends, because there will always be somebody out there ready to point out the fact that you're of a certain age and how dare you be thinking about this. And I think that's the next thing.  And I'm sure you're gonna tell us in a minute that it's also quite good for us, isn't it? As we get older, there's a lot of health benefits from sex as you get older in life.  Yeah, and I think women don't stop doing a lot of other things. It is the messaging that we receive. So it's not like they will say, oh, I should stop buying jewelry or clothes or being interested in things and everything. But there is a message that is given is that your interest in sex should start reducing after an age, which, and once again, it's got to do with, and then I don't want to go back to the ideas of patriarchy or whatever, but it is seeped in the ideas of reproduction and sex being something that women do only to produce children. So once the producing age child is ended, then what is the need for women to have sex and be interested in sex? Because that's not something women need, want, are interested in, it's just, they are just reproduction machines. So once that production line is ended, what is the need? So there has to be an owning of saying, I like sex, I'm interested in sex and I want that feeling. I want to, you know, feel that feeling. And that's why I'm interested. And if you don't start breaking those ideas, then you will internalize those messages and start believing like, oh, yeah, I don't want it. I'm not interested in it. Why am I interested in sex? So I think there's some self-searching soul that is important.  I think if you're single, it is, I will appreciate that it is more complicated and it's more difficult than somebody younger being single. And I know that it is, we, I have so many friends who are now single in India and they didn't get married and they're in their 40s or late 30s. And it's a huge problem. And so many of them consider coming abroad because it's still easier to date someone at an older age. So I really think that culture needs to end in India where this idea that if you're older and single, you can't date or you can't, you know, find a boyfriend or girlfriend at that age. Like that for me is very problematic. So I hope that culture is changing and is changed and there is. But what I think is also more complicated is that if you have been in a relationship for a very long time and it has ended, you know, and now you've become single, also the rules of engagement have changed. You know, what might have been traditions of dating initially are different now. So maybe initially you got introduced by friends or you went to a party, you met somebody or it was like friends, friends or a wedding or things like that. And now a lot of it might be online dating. So it is a new way of doing things and you have to be open to doing that new way of doing it. But it can be intimidating. Like it can be intimidating about how do you do a dating profile? What is the swipe right, swipe left? Can I meet a stranger? It's very odd to like people find it difficult to write little gloves about themselves. So all those things I think are very alien. They're very alien territory. And it can be quite complicated for people who have not been used to it. And also the pressure like, it's also could be very difficult to ask for help because people might turn around and say, at this age, why do you need to date someone? You know, like aren't friends or you must be looking for a companion. I feel like always the thing is you're looking for a companion, right? Like companionship or friendship is important right now rather than actually wanting a relationship or romantic relationship as you grow older. And is there any kind of advice that you can actually give to women? Let's go back to the earlier part of the question that, you know, how do you deal with this idea that as your body gets older, whatever it is, it is going to be a little bit more unattractive in your own head, if not in somebody else's head.  It's a natural progression of life. That's what it's going to be like by a certain age. But I think people, women, particularly are made to feel very conscious of it. So is there something that we can suggest? Well, one, like we're saying self-acceptance because there are, when we think about media and we think about images, what we always need to remember and there are some amazing documentaries and movies around this idea is that media is made for men, buy men to deliver to men, right? So everything that is shown is created by men. It is made for men and the audience is men.  And what happens with that is those ideas are promoted again and again, if we think about it. So the idea is that men like younger women, younger women are more beautiful. Ideas of beauty are connected with younger women like you're saying. So somewhere we need to accept that if we keep comparing with a younger body, it's not going to help. It is natural, it is normal as life and there is more to you than your body in some ways. And if you're attractive, your body is attractive. Like it's how you think about yourself and how. There are enough young women who don't find themselves attractive and they could have as tight skin as you want to call it or a wrinkle-free skin if that is what we are calling it. So it is about self-belief, I think. And that you have more to offer, a lot more to offer also besides your body in some ways, you know, your personality, your confidence, your ease, there is a lot maybe there's less drama now, it's more like content, it's peaceful, people don't need to like be all over or fool you and they're no tantrums or something. There'll be so many positive things if you want to start looking. And I'm using stereotypes right now, but what I'm saying is that there might be so many positive things that people might be looking for and you might have to offer or share. So don't put yourself down. I think women put themselves down very easily. Don't put yourself down, believe in yourself, believe you have a lot to share and offer and people will see that, you know, people will enjoy that. Okay, so shifting it from the emotional side because that's always a little bit more difficult to come to grips with and not necessarily something that women will even accomplish by the end of it. But let's try a slightly different argument. Medically, is it beneficial to be having sex as you get older? Absolutely, as in we've said that when we've spoken about men, it stays true for women.  There is other complications, like we have to accept that, that if menopause is hitting, that is a big change in women and they have to go and experience a lot between the hot flashes or lack of lubrication in the vagina and other things, but all of these things can be managed. So go seek medical health around it and be more proactive around it. What we've also learned is that people don't talk about menopause and you and I, and it can be a separate session, but you and I maybe should do a session on menopause because it is a topic that has very little investment in, people are not interested in it. The doctors are not as knowledgeable about it. So you have to go searching for somebody who can tell you about menopause. And one thing I do want to share with you and say is the symptoms of menopause a lot of times confused with depression and many women get prescribed antidepressants because they go and say, I'm having mood swings, I feel very depressed sometimes, I'm feeling very low, I'm feeling lack of energy and everything and they get diagnosed with having depression and actually it is menopause. So we know menopause is there and also risk of breast cancer and cervical cancer also increases when you're over 50. So please go get your mammograms and your pap smears and do it regularly because the risk does increase. It does, but in any way does any of this get impacted by if you're active sexually? Do you think that there might be a beneficial impact on any of these things? Like we say for men that their risk of prostate cancer goes down if they are active. So is there some kind of health benefit aside from depression? It's a good question. I don't know the answer. I will definitely research it and check it and get back if there is, I don't know. I do know that there are a lot of, the health benefits are absolutely there because people feel happier and they feel in a better mood when they experience pleasure. So all those correlations of- Absolutely.  So all that is bound to be good for you, right? Absolutely.  And the idea that you are somebody who's sexually active and enjoying and engaging with pleasure itself needs to have a rebound effect on your self-confidence and how you feel about yourself.  So the more you engage is also reflecting on your robustness, that how you're feeling about yourself. You know what? I have to agree. I find that as women get older and in the older women, the ones who choose to stay sexually active, who desire it and do it are actually a lot more binless. You know, they're a lot more chilled out. They're a lot more, there's a very big difference in the energy that they put out. I've noticed that. And I find in women, in older women who are sexually active or forget sexually active, who are actually aware of their pleasure, who are happy to explore their own pleasure, whatever way that might be, I find that their creative instincts stay higher for longer. And I think there's a great deal to be said about that. And I think what you're saying also is that if there is a sexual energy, it might or might not result in having an orgasm or it might not end up in sex. But there are other ways to engage with your sexual energy where it might be self-pleasure or other creative ways of channeling it. And the other thing I want to say about all the couples having sex, it also seems like the pressure of orgasming reduces as well.  One, men tend to last longer if they are older. It's because they don't come ejaculate so quickly, which gives a longer time for a woman to orgasm, but the pleasure stays for longer. But also this pressure that, oh, I need to now orgasm or the man needs to orgasm, it needs to happen within a time and how is it taking so long and all of that? That seems to reduce in couples as well. So there's enjoyment in the foreplay, the cuddling, the kissing, the hugging, the intimacy, the comfort is there. And many times this whole idea of, oh, I need to orgasm and that's the ultimate pleasure also reduces.  You know how you were saying earlier about how there is this thing about a lot of men will go for younger women. And so a lot of women I've spoken to, older women, will say, well, even if we did want to be with somebody, the guys of our age are going for much younger women, which is just, unfortunately, there's a lot of truth to that. So either women of 50 are looking at much older men. I mean like much, much older because for that much older man, a woman of 50 is that much younger. So it kind of makes sense, which is also not very pleasurable for the woman. I mean, you know, the woman is then having to say, oh my God, I'm going to be with somebody who's that much older or there are the much younger guys who are going through this thing of being interested in the older women, which is sometimes great because it's a natural sort of thing. And sometimes it's more manufactured because as we've said before, that younger guys seem to think that older women maybe don't have so many inhibitions and hence they make easier partners because they don't have to commit to them. So I do think that women, when they get to a certain age, especially if they're older, face so many more obstacles because as it is you're feeling terrible about yourself, you're feeling insecure about how you look, then there is this issue of guys saying, no, no, we want much younger women or whatever. So many barriers to overcome. So as we bring the conversation to an end, is there some kind of advice that you'd like to leave the ladies with to say how to move forward? Yeah, and we've said that before with younger men, just make sure that it's not like that. It's not like, oh, this is easier. You're compromising in some ways because that's what's available and they are just interested in sex and you want much more. Sometimes that happens, not always. I don't want to make a generalised statement like that. I, as in, I think, fortunately, unfortunately, other society we need to change where we don't like go into these traps of only what men are looking for, like younger women and everything. When we start breaking all these ideas of what is beautiful and what is being sold to us is beautiful and what is important in sexuality. So even this idea that in sexuality, what's important is beauty is also a myth, right? Like, who decides who's beautiful and what happens and is it true that every model or every pageant is a great sexual partner? I'm not sure. I'm sure that's a stereotype as well there in some ways. So will it be nice? Do you feel more confident or intimate or with somebody who's kind and gentle and loving towards you than somebody who puts you down but it might be gorgeous? Like, you know, so I do think that there are a lot of myths in the society or assumptions in the society that we need to break. And older women do feel a lot of discrimination and prejudice. They do. It's not easy. I am empathising because there are assumptions made about you. You're told you can and cannot do this. You can dress this way or can't. Like, why will you wear such bright colours? You need to change what you wear, how you dress. This is not appropriate. That's not appropriate. So I think really deciding what you want and what feels good to you. Like, if you like bright colours, go for it. If you feel like a kid's becoming too much, like fine. So I think little bit of once you own yourself, once you own what you like, it will make it much easier. It will make it like you're saying you can get a little bit of that bindas into you. Otherwise, you're just going to find barriers after barrier as you grow older as a woman because people are just going to tell you what you can't do and you kind of maybe have to find your way and find friends who are willing to, you know, join you in this journey rather than put you down and lose friends who put you down or question how you look or what you are. So, yeah, I think these are some just thoughts. That's great, Anvita. Thank you. And you know something, I just want to mention at the end of the program that this is not a one-off. You and I are talking about this, but as we know, somebody's just made a documentary. They came and spoke to me about as women get older, how they start to feel more invisible, you know, what can a woman do to stay visible. And a little later in the year, I'm part of the panel on the British Medical Association, the British Science Association panel, actually, where I'll be talking with Dr. Lee Smith, whose research is on sex in people as they get older and the health benefits of sex in people as they get older. So there's a lot of conversation around it, which is fantastic. And I'm glad that it's becoming bigger at the moment. It's still within the scientific communities. It's still within these kind of panels, but I just hope that this permeates outwards and into society. And we start breaking down some of these taboos because they're just so unnecessary. Yeah, and before we end, you know, we've obviously done a whole session on lubrication, but just a shout out, use the lube, menopause, you know, just leads to dryness, extra dryness, don't feel shy about it. It's your best friend.  It doesn't mean it's the end of the road. It just means you need to get creative and manage and get fine solutions for it. Yes, I'm so pleased you mentioned that because with menopause comes something called hormonal dehydration. So it can cause dryness in every part of you from getting constipated regularly to having a dry throat, to being able to not breathe so well. Your breathing becomes problematic. And yes, lube is one of the most important things. So go and get yourself some really, really good lube because, and lots of it, not just a little bit, don't sort of say, oh, a little bit will do lots of it. Splash out. Well, I certainly hope that this has helped everybody listening and I really, really hope that people will take it on board because I do believe that there are certain benefits to opening up your channels of pleasure in whichever way you choose to open them. Whether you go all the way down the path of sex or just a lot of other things along the way, but the channels of pleasure are connected to your entire energy inside your body. So please do open up those channels, experiment with your pleasure in whichever way that you want to, but give yourself a chance. And if you've enjoyed the video, please do comment, like, subscribe. We always love hearing from you. If you have any more questions, I am on info.seema.anand at gmail.com. And if you need any actual consultation or therapy, as we've said before, this is a generic answer to the questions. If you need specific answers, then please do get in touch with Anvitha at... Anvitha.medanvehel at gmail.com. But as Anvitha always says, you'll find it in the description. So don't worry if you don't know what the spelling is, et cetera, you'll find it all over there. I hope that you're all taken care of yourselves through this second wave. Stay well, look after yourselves, and we will see you next week. See you next time.


But you know what I've experienced and I've taught people is if you go into from my experiences, if you go into an industry that maybe you don't know as well, you have to hire better quality people. And I think it makes you more of a leader and a manager. It's been what I've seen as opposed to people that let's say you knew construction or people that I know no construction. You may have friends like this. They ended up doing the physical work themselves and being stuck in that ground that cycle. Right. I agree. I think that's something that actually was more by accident than by desire because I couldn't do it as a hire for that. I was able to a lot more focus on the business and grow it in the business and as opposed to, Hey, well, we lost somebody. I'm going to go be the superintendent exactly on that site, which I have seen. I know that all the time and they get, you know, you get bogged down and for the next six months, you're running a project as opposed to running the business.


The Chief of Naval Staff, Al-Waz Beirut Gambo gave a lecture at the 10th edition of Secure's West Africa 2022 International Exhibition on Protecting Critical National Infrastructure and Tackling Maritime Crimes Protecting Nigeria's Sports. He gave a lecture in Lagos where he spoke on the Gulf of Guinea being among the most strategic sea lanes of communication to global economy due to its enormous potentials in hydrocarbon, fisheries and other resources for exploration and the exploitation of the global maritime. Vice President Yemi Oshibajo, Federal Republic of Nigeria, I quote, Nigeria loses around $26 billion a year to criminal activities, particularly piracy and syrupy, unquote. This development imposes huge burden on the Nigerian Navy to protect critical infrastructure within Nigeria's environment as well as to tackle all forms of maritime crimes. Frequent abuse of the domain through illicit activities of local and foreign collaborators has continued to illicit concerns from different quarters. More disturbing is the fact that many of these illicit acts are targeted at the nation's economic lifeline for the exacerbating wide-scale poverty. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.