This is the SF Productions podcast network This is a 10 Thursday at three that Darren Pamela Fertin Oh, not another British narrative show and the video journal of popular culture. I'm Mark Schmidbauer and I'm Wilbert Neil And tonight we're gonna start into our the next phase of comic books Marvel Comics Marvel, that's right But before we get into the big extravaganza, we just want to tell you that we're on Tuesdays at 6 Wednesdays at 10 and Thursdays at 3 p.m We're at ACTV cable 21 That's right, and if you want to write us and tell us to stop doing this back-and-forth thing. We're at post office box 15 14 11 Columbus, Ohio 4 3 2 1 5 Oh just cut that out anyways and also want to Want to thank a member of the fourth estate Contacted me just yesterday for an interview. Yes, one of the fine people of the Worthington High School newspaper have Have contacted me last night And so you'll want to rush out to your newsstand to pick that up So just just go to the school that they excuse me. I want to get a copy of the paper I didn't get it in a homeroom. I my home room ran out So can I go up to the counter and sit down like can't get a copy of the paper? Yes, a copy of the paper So there you go Boy, they'll love us. That's right. Ask us to do another dark day ever again. That's right We blew this opportunity either that or they'll have us to come to all their home games. Yeah well You know Marvel comics Exactly the little Marvel comics by golly. They've been around for quite some time Well, I'd say they started off as other companies and right it just kind of branched into Marvel So I thought seriously about in fact We were we wanted to have somebody to come in to really to help us with this one I wanted to do it, you know, kind of like we did the DC one, but then That didn't happen. So we decided to do it this way. That's right. We're just gonna do it by characters and tonight starting with The human element. Yes Human element of Marvel comics. That's right the human element meaning characters who are basically Super-powered humans or enhanced humans, let's say Start with a quick question. What was the difference between an enhanced human and say a mutant? Okay? Mutants are born with their ability and they come to the fore later It's kind of like having an allergy and as you get older and it kind of kicks in Okay, we're a super-powered or an enhanced human if somebody who was just normal until something happens To give them whatever powers it was usually they're concerning cosmic rays or a radiation or some kind of a Drug treatment, right? Something like that.  It was a medical treatment. Yeah, it was never drug It was never drugs back then. Oh, no medical treatment. Okay, but let's um Well, let's okay. We'll start with this guy here Captain America here. I've got a picture here Captain America It was kind of like one of the earliest of the Marvel. Yeah, he was right there pretty much the beginning. Yes, exactly and he um Grelian the story kind of behind him as Steve Rogers was a little wimpy guy who um His brother had gone off and all his friends had gone off to sign up for World War two and It's like he he was just too small and puny that he went and Tried but um, they told him no, you're just too small and puny and so He felt really bad Well a doctor who just happened to be there at the recruiting office at the time hung out Young man. Well, let me let me take you outside here and we see that you really want to help So we've got this new development that we're working on here And we'll we'll put you into this program and see if we can do some things to you So we can help you and all like this is so he volunteered for that and what it was It was this a medical treatment a medical and exercise treatment where um, well, they gave it they injected him with some strange wonderful new Formula But it wasn't a drug. It's right. It wasn't a drug and it and it wasn't steroids or anything like that But it was some medical formula that his doctor Injected him with super juice which imbued him with some great powerful muscles almost immediately And then they put him through an exercise thing and put him through a training program and everything and he became the first Super soldier right and that was the super soldier program and certainly Virtually all the other comic book companies did did take off some of them. Yeah. Yeah, yeah Because that was such a durable concept Especially during World War two everybody have their own fighting soldier their own fighting super soldier a guy like well wasn't Kevin glory Yeah, Kevin glory never get him and he's he's on the shield and the shield Right, there's even one in the in the green hornet comment looks they've gotten somebody that's well like an early green hornet They you're gonna they're doing this whole story about a super soldier kind of program and by go there's somebody there. It's anyway he Graduates from the program and they decide well, this is just great But we can't let you just go out there as Steve Rogers. Well, we've got to give you a an identity somebody to bolster the fighting man out there and and and give them somebody to look look up to and Everything like that will give you this red white and blue suit and a wonderful shield and everything actually his first shield though was kind of a triangular kind of thing right and so um he went out is America's number one fighting guy there and super soldier and all that but When he when he graduated from the program and he found out how successful it was they wanted to do more but um It's assassin came in a shot the doctor Formula kind of died with him Formula and somebody shoots the doctor every time he just he just the formula pretty much died with the doctor and so Steve was out there and he's Captain America and Bucky were out there fighting in World War two and then uh Because in the 1940s every superhero had a sidekick exactly They just you get me a super hero without a little super sidekick there with you So um now it's Bucky of superpowers or he's just a no little bucky was just a scrappy kind of Whirly little kid kind of street smart, you know, you know a punk kid and Cap took him under his wing and said well by golly with your smarts and my power we can go out there and kick some Nazi but So that's that's pretty much how that went and then I guess the original Bucky got killed somewhere along the line Yeah, and so pretty common actually. Yeah, that's it's like people I think that I think that happened right around the time when we had the We had all the all the various hero and sidekicks Looked upon as well. There might be something untoward happening there. Exactly two guys hanging around all the time, you know And no women around.  Yeah That's what we'll do.  So um they did and then um, well Let's see cap also got frozen in the ice somehow One of his run-ins with his major enemy the Red Skull Ends up getting frozen in the ice and so he's preserved and then um Well, that's about 20 years later. They find him and thaw him out and by golly. He's just good as new Captain America And it's still the same Steve Rogers that started in the current continuity. Well, I suppose it's a Technically it's the same Clark Kent. It's the same Bruce Wayne in the DC world I suppose so it's still basically the same Steve and well the freezing thing kind of right that kind of explain And also the super soldier serum keeps him from aging and ah and also will the freezing, you know It kind of helps.  Yeah now This is something I want to get into more as we go into into Marvel and that is the idea of Why can't Marvel make a decent movie well, why can't the companies that that that get Marvel characters make a decent movie I Movie that makes big money like DC's heroes films Well, I think it's the idea that DC's heroes are more More super that season be what it always was me. Um, they're their heroes were just more super Marvel heroes had problems they they were more human and They had more frail more failed more frailty frailty even though they were super they still had more frailty they so um It's kind of in there somewhere and people relate more Somehow to the DC heroes as being heroes right and where the Marvel heroes is like well We could just do a movie, you know basically and but I mean all this guy in there We just as an example this Captain America movie, which I haven't seen but I've I've heard a lot of people tell me about you know and it's apparently The people who did the movie just went ahead and changed all these various things like Red Skull. He's Italian I mean that kind of thing was going on I know I don't know what the deal was and that's it just seemed like over and over and over again We had you know heroes things that just didn't make any sense. I Don't get it anyway Well, it's somewhere in artistic license and all that they buy they buy the rights to do the thing And it's kind of well that we can do whatever we want. So I Never made sense to me, but no there we are. Hey Who's that up there that's a camera? Hey, hey, that's camera. Hey, hey, yo Hey Good that guy out of there Okay, so Captain America that's that's what heroes and then well kind of the staple the Staple of the the modern hero I guess is the year year Well this guy here No, no, you're not doing that right now That's right. Spider-Man Spider-Man Spider-Man Spider-Man Spider-Man Spider-M который Spider-Man Spider-Man Spider-Man Spider-Man Spider-Man Spider-Man Oh no! Oh! Earthquakes! All the heroes are falling over. And it's all Spider-Man's fault. Let's see what the secret war is going on. I guess so. Dr. Doom or somebody else's. Yeah. And in an earthquake. Anyway, Spider-Man's a-list was Peter Parker. Peter Parker was just your average high school student who really liked science. And he was really into science. And he was considered kind of a nerd and a geek by the jock community of the high school and everything. Right. Well, I mean, the girls kind of felt sorry for him, you know. But he was always going to these science classes and science lectures and things. And there was one lecture one time at one university that he decided to go to. It was going to talk about radiation. And it's uses in the home or something like that. Some great new, new process for radiation. So he went to this and the doctors there talking and he's got the machines going and everything and he's paying attention. And he feels this tingle in his hand because this spider's falling down and bitten it. And so he, well, he kills the spider and he goes on about his business, doesn't think anymore about it, but he starts getting groggy, headachey and things. He leaves and he's not paying attention to where he's going. There's a car racing, barreling down after him. And so he moves out of the way and the car goes by and he realizes he's up on the side of a building. And he's like, what the heck is going on here? And then he remembers the spider bite, which is probably big red and swollen by now. And glowing, in fact, because this spider had come down and had gotten between the rays of the machine that was going on there and got him bewed with radiation. Ooh, that radiation. That radiation stuff. My golly, that's awful. And so he became imbued with the powers of a spider. Hey, what's going on there? Who's that? Hey, what's going on there? Yeah, that's just old Spidey there, making another appearance. What happens then is he figures all this out with his great scientific brain that's been imbued with these powers of a spider. And so he says, well, hey, I've got this. I'm gonna make some money off of it. Yeah, see, this was one of the first heroes that his first, you know, his first inclination is the almighty daughter. I'm gonna make some money off of this whole thing here. And then I can help my poor old Aunt May and Uncle Ben, who have raised me since my parents died. Right, so he goes home and, heck, this spider, this Peter Parker is just a whiz. He sews the suit together and he goes and he's gonna like be on Johnny Carson or some big show like that. And so he goes to the station and he's about to be on the show and some guy comes running through and the guard's like, hey, stop that man. He just stole all the money that was in the whole building or something like that. All the men's like, I'm too busy. I'm too busy being a star. That's right. And so he lets the guy go. And so, well, you gotta stop him. He's like, yeah, well, that's your job.  So he goes ahead, does the show, get some money. You know, he's all happy. He goes home and presents it to Aunt May and Uncle Ben and they're all happy and stuff. And then, well, a couple of days later, well, he doesn't tell him how he got the money, really. Right, just that he got some money. Just that he got some money. Right. And a couple of days later, he's coming home from school and there's police cars and everything around his house. What had happened was this, somebody had broken into the house. Uncle Ben had stopped him and got shot. Got killed. And when he finds the guy, finally it's the same darn guy that was running out of the studio with all the money. And so he's like, if I would have stopped him then, Uncle Ben would still be alive. Aunt May wouldn't be a widow. I wouldn't be feeling so bad about everything. And so from- So this began his period of neurosis. Which pretty much continues to this day. It's kind of that thing in there. He decides then with great power comes great responsibility. Oh, yes. Can you be a superhero without having a neurosis? Well, but it seems like Spiderman has far more than anybody else. Well, no, I'll say all the Marvel characters have. Some sort of neurosis that drives them on. Kind of like Captain Kirk. That constant sense to move on. That's right. No, you can't hear me. That's who I am. If you take away my fear, then I'll have nothing. No, but anyway, so Spiderman goes ahead and he develops web shooters with his great scientific power that can shoot out webs so he can swing through the town and he just thinks he'll be everybody's friend. Whoa, here he comes now, fly it in. Wow. Whoa. There he is, fly it in once again. And he can, well, he has the powers of a spider. He can climb all over things and hang upside down these huge suction cups on his hands. That's just perfect. That's right. So, but anyway, oh, that didn't work. They do really work though. Anyway, he can climb all over a place and he's just got a bunch of villains that come after him too and he's had his share of troubles but, well, we'll get into more of that later. Another group. Well, I was gonna say, if you're going by these guys down here, you gotta go into the next one, I think the next major radioactive type hero. Oh, you mean daredevil? Well, well, no, actually, well, there's another one, but it's daredevil as well. Daredevil is later, well, okay. We'll go into the next, this one's actually a super group. Oh, okay. The Fantastic Four led by Reed Richards. Mr. Fantastic. The stretching guy. Another side, apparently with a heck of an ego calling himself Mr. Fantastic. What an ego this guy has. I see, that's indeed. And basically, Reed Richards is your, well, he's just a brain-y college professor, kind of a guy and he's always liked science and science is his whole life and so he gets together with an old friend of his, well, they went to school together, college together. Right. Ben Grimm. Right. Who was kind of one of the football hero and everything like that. And he always admired Big Brain as he called Mr., well, Reed Richards at that time. And besides, he'll help him out on any venture that he has going. And so it's like, Reed develops a rocket. Yeah. And he wants to test this rocket, but he can't get NASA approval to do it. So he decides to do it pretty much on his own. Kind of like salvage one actually, that kind of Andy Griffiths. Kind of, kind of. And he gets together with, well, let's see. He has a young friend named Johnny Storm and Johnny's sister, Sue, who reads kind of sweet on. Yeah, well, you know. He's gonna take them all up in this rocket here together. They all decide to help him out. And so they go up and they get bombarded by cosmic rays.  Well, I guess they sure did, because not only did they lose control of the rocket and end up crashing it, but they kind of lose control of their own normal human self. That's right. Reed's developed this ability to become elastic and just stretch all over the place. Johnny felt he was just burning up and his suit burned off of him and he just became like a ball of fire. But then he found out that he was still in kind of a human form. He could fly and he could control fire. He could throw fire. He could do all kinds of things. Sue kind of had a bad headache and sat down and headache woman, she turned invisible. Had a headache and just turned invisible. Only power we've got. She has a migraine every time. Turns invisible.   And he actually became like a rock creature. And developed the name of the thing. The thing. He was just a big, rocky thing. And Reed sees that they've all got these special, different powers. They've all been imbued with these powers and he says, well, hey, hey, we should try to put these to good use and to help humanity. That's right.  Defenders of right and good and everything. Nice people and things. Yes, and savers of the world from anything bad and evil and alien and cosmic or something like that. I think Stan Lee possibly put it better than that, but I'm just guessing. And they were pretty much one of the first modern superteams. Right. And right away they just started running into all sorts of strange things, but we're just gonna talk really about the human and the heroes today. Well, one thing I wanted to say about Fantastic Four is, I mean, from what I've seen of them, it seems like almost pretty much all the time they're breaking up. What's the deal with this? Seems like every time you turn around, they're breaking up. Well, one member or another will leave or somebody gets fed up with the whole thing and says, well, Ben, all through their early incarnation was like, well, I'm just a rock creature and nobody likes me. So maybe I should just go off by myself, which he did a few times, but then they always get him to agree to come back because by himself, I mean, he's just, he's got no friends and everything. At least with them, it's like family. You know, he feels like he's got somebody to like him. And then when he does get a girlfriend, well, she's blind and she appreciates him for himself. And cause she can't see him and so she's not afraid of him and people were always running from him and everything. So he just felt better with a blind girlfriend. So let's see, Johnny at one point, he just went, get so it's like his flame became more and more intense and it started frying his brain kinda. Wow, he just became white hot and he just kinda left. And he linked up with some alien girl for a while. So they had to bring somebody else in. So let's see, one time when Ben left, they brought in She-Hulk who's another human that became imbued with powers, but we, well, we'll talk about her a little later. And there have been different people that have joined the Fantastic Four from time to time, but it's still basically the basic four there, Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben. Okay, well, I mentioned the Hulk, so let's talk about the Hulk here. Dr. David Banner. Or Dr. Bruce Banner. Or Bruce David Banner. Or David Bruce Banner, or whatever you want to. Take your thing. Line it up there. Dr.  This kinda happens a lot in the Marvel Universe. You start off with? Wimpy scientist guy.  And they're doing this big test on this new atom bomb, which of course, well, we'll put out large amounts of radiation.  And the countdown is going. Well, we can have that. I've gotta go out there and rescue this kid. Okay, now I have a question then. Okay. If these were technically the same type of radiation, then why did it turn one person into the Incredible Hulk and another person into the Incredible Colossal Man? Well, now see, that's just one of those big, well, cause radiation, we don't really know what happened. That's right, it does lots of different things. It grows things bigger, it turns them green. What can we tell you? Anyway, he was out there and he knocked the kid out of the way, but he got the full, pretty much the full brunt of the radioactive blast there. And they just thought he was a goner. Yep. But they found him a little later and he seemed to be okay. But when they woke him up, he got big and green and jumped away. The Hulk, he's pretty much, he gets big and green and jumps. That's true, Hulk is mad. And he jumped, he can jump like a mile at a time, and so he just kind of jumped away and became like a bad guy for a long time until he calmed down and became Dr. Banner again. Well, yes, it's about time to get out of here. Well, next time on the show, we're gonna have Wilbert and Marty doing disco. And next time for the comic book show, three shows from now, we'll be doing the second part of Marvel and guess we'll go more into the humans and then what are we moving into next time? Gee, let's see, what do we have here? We have wizards, aliens, gods, bad guys. And just everybody else, except you and Amy. But then we're saving the best, though, for laughs. Some mutants, we'll be doing the next time after that. That's right, that's right. We've got a TV show in there too, but what are we gonna wait? Well, we'll see, we'll see. For all of us here at Vasway's land, or at least for us too, that's right. We'll see you next time. Good night.


You're off the hook, right? Surely being helpful is in a crime. It's in the Boy Scout motto. Well, there are crimes that cover being just a little too helpful. You can be charged as an accessory, which is hilariously ironic if you're part of a gang that steals belts and handbags. There are two kinds of accessories. Those who help before or during the crime and those who help after the crime has already happened. Accessories who help before or during the crime are also usually called principles. So how do you become this kind of accessory? Well, first you need the right intent. You need to intend for a crime to be committed and also intend to assist in the commission of that crime. So, imagine that your friend is committing a burglary and you walk by and decide to help. Then you would be an accessory. Now, if you see your friend carrying a TV and decide to help and because that TV isn't his, you help him steal it without realizing, that wouldn't make you an accessory because you didn't mean for a burglary to be committed or to assist with one.  The second thing you need to be an accessory is to aid in the crime, either before or during. You don't actually have to commit it. Just aid the person who does commit it. You could buy the supplies or you could drive the getaway car or you could even just offer to assist providing encouragement to the person committing the crime even if they don't use your help. As a matter of fact, you can even be an accessory where the person committing the crime doesn't know you're helping or where your help isn't any help at all. It's a different less serious offense if you help someone after they've committed a crime. This is called being an accessory after the fact. The difference is that if you help someone commit a crime, you are guilty of that crime. If you help someone after they've committed a crime, it's a different crime that doesn't rank as high and won't involve its harsh of a punishment when you're caught. Some places have emerged this crime with the broader crime of obstructing justice. Basically, to be an accessory after the fact, you need to help someone who committed a felony, a category of more serious crimes. The difference is that the help comes after the crime has been completed. This usually means after the criminalists left the crime scene. So, hiding someone or lying to the police would both count. Another crime that involves people working together is a conspiracy. This is where two or more people agree, in advance, to commit a crime or help someone commit a crime. The conspirators have to take some step towards the crime aside from just talking about it. And they have to agree to commit a specific crime, not just agree to be criminals. In some places, you can even have a criminal conspiracy where one side of the agreement doesn't actually mean to do their end of the deal, like when a cop is setting up a criminal. Conspiracy is a big deal not so much for the crime itself, but because a conspirator is automatically liable for every other crime committed by any co-conspirators to accomplish the goal of the conspiracy. So, if you join a huge bank robbing gang to drive the getaway car, and this happens, you're going to jail for murder. So, conspiracy charges are an effective way to convict people for more crimes. And there you have it.


Policy decisions about healthcare coverage in Canada and the United States in the 1960s placed two virtually identical systems on different evolutionary paths in the physician and hospital sectors. However, prescription drug coverage remained outside Canada's single-payer model, and employer-based coverage continued to be the norm for the workforce population, as is the case across the broad healthcare system in the United States. As a result, the current debate about pharmacare in Canada mirrors in political microcosm, the larger debate, on universal health insurance among American Democrats. In each case, the near-term prospects for a single-payer plan appear slim. This article was authored by Carolyn Hughes Tuey.


The India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor emerged as a talking point at the recently concluded G20 summit held in the Indian capital of New Delhi. While the United States has quickly jumped onto the bandwagon, what are the political realities of Eurasia and West Asia? And how will those factors play out in turning this pipe dream into a viable transcontinental infrastructure project? And the governor of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa has voiced complaints regarding U.S. military bases at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Why is the governor at loggerheads with the Japanese government itself when it comes to the question of U.S. military presence in the country? Salam's you're watching The Daily Debrief coming to you from the People's Dispatch Studios here in New Delhi with me Siddharth Ani and I'd like to take this opportunity to ask you to subscribe to our YouTube channel. First up on the show today, we're talking about the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor, an infrastructure project aiming to utilize multimodal transport, sea and rail primarily, to link, as the name indicates, India to Europe via West Asia. Now the U.S. has jumped onto the project which looks to use the Haifa port in Israel run by the Adani Group as a major hub through which this trade will take place. While this pipe dream may work for Israel, the foreign, maybe a foreign policy win for the starved Biden administration and even for Indian companies who are looking to expand port operational capabilities as well as get bigger contracts. It doesn't, however, seem to account for the political realities of the region, developments and relations between China and Russia on the one hand and West Asia's clear inclination to pursue an independent future free of Western agendas. Prabhu Prakash and New Slick's editor-in-chief is with us now. Let's go over to him for more on this story. Prabhu, at the G20 summit in New Delhi, there was discussion on this proposed infrastructure corridor linking Europe, West Asia and South Asia. What do you make of these conversations in the context of existing trade corridors, of course, and also we'll get to it later, perhaps the Belt and Road Initiative. Well, let's put it this way, it is somehow being contrasted or in some sense supposed to be competing with the Belt Road Initiative and to me, that doesn't really make much sense, but if we look at the map, the Belt Road Initiative was really to connect China, essentially East Asia to West Asia, via Central Asia and also to Europe and the possibility of connecting also South Asia and Southeast Asia, some of which have not practised. Yes, there is a Pakistan route, but India is not a participant and Southeast Asia, again, is not clear to what extent their participants are not, but they have a periway trade agreement with China, which includes a common market in some sense. So, the question is, I don't understand the competition because Europe to South Asia, again, a land route and a sea route combination would mean a combination, what is called a multimodal transport, that means you have containers, ships say, and those containers should be loaded onto trains and then after the land, they should be again offloaded and again then via ship to India. Now, we already have a ship-to-ship link with the Mediterranean via the Swiss Canal and if we want larger tankers, of course, they come via the South of Africa. So, I am not very sure what is this gap that it is seeking to meet, except to connect Europe to West Asia, that seems to be one of the objectives. Again, these are already there. There are ports on the Mediterranean and, of course, they connect to the land of West Asia. If a route, railway routes or rail connections have to be built, then, of course, there is how they repair railway lines. There is a GCC who are also trying to build a railway link and that sort of is running along the Persian Gulf. So, all of these efforts are already on the exist. In what way we supplement that if they are coming in, Europe coming in, it is not very clear to me. So, that is one ambiguity of the whole project. The second, of course, is the question which I think we should discuss further, who have the ability to build such projects, who have the capability of building such projects, where is the money going to come from? But also, the joker in the pack, the two parties who are in a sense a problem for this project. One is Saudi Arabia and its relationship with Israel. Now, that is a big problem right now. And apparently, Saudi Arabia is pulling out of its backdoor negotiations with Israel. There are some links or leaks to that effect. We do not know how far that is true. The second is Turkey. Now, Turkey considers itself a major player and the fact that Turkey has a different objective or a different set of possibilities. It is offering Turkey as an anchor point, not Greece. These are all things to be taken to account. So, I think these are some of the issues that perhaps we need to discuss here. Yes, absolutely. So, coming to that first aspect that you mentioned, some of the experts who have been commenting on this corridor have said that over 3000 kilometers of railroads still need to be built. These are the kind of gaps that exist if you look at the map in this proposed corridor. And the assumption is that no one other than Chinese companies at present have the capability to engage in that kind of an infrastructure or construction project when it comes to the railroads. But China is of course not a part of this discussion at this point, even though they might later on of course use the corridor if it does come into existence. How do you kind of balance those things out? You know, theoretically the Japanese, the Koreans, the Indians, the Europeans can build the corridor. So, China of course is the largest player today in terms of building railway lines both in their own country and for example in Africa and of course the Belt Road Initiative also has railway lines going through Central Asia. Compared to that, India has more or less been looking at its own network, railway network and then the process of upgrading it. They are not undertaking major projects like this abroad as of now. Of course, they can say they will do it in the future. European seems to be of the downswing. They really are not building, once upon a time they used to be railroad builders, not that we can see major activities of that they are undertaking either. The United States as we know, has it even built its own railway network or upgraded railway network? It has a large one, but it is really not upgrading the network, its ability to keep that network functional itself is a question mark. So, given all of that, yes, it is a question of money and companies who want to come in and build that and without the Chinese coming in, you are really looking at the oil money that is there with Saudi Arabia, that is there with United Arab Emirates, with Qatar for example, Kuwait, all of whom can fund but who can build it is an open question. But I think that the funding part of it and who is a player is going to be a big question mark and yes, you are actually right. The ability of a lot of countries to come in and put a project of this kind on the ground is not an easy task. But I think the political questions over this are the bigger ones. In the sense, what we do with Israel being thought of by Europe and tacitly by India as a major player in all of this, that the first link between Europe is going to be with Haifa, Israel and of course, Mr. Adani apparently has taken over that port, that part of it already in the background. But the point is, Israel and its current path that it is travelling of as you know, really expropriating, increasing Palestinian lands, throwing out Palestinian people, not only having them as second-class citizens but effectively confining them increasingly to ghettos. This is not a two-state solution. It's a one-state solution and expropriation of the other section, the other state that is in process and they have also said the whole process, the peace process that started long back in the 90s, that's now dead effectively. And this with that as a fulcrum in West Asia today seems to be something which is not going to pass the muster. Saudi Arabia was in talks with Israel behind the scenes, that's what the United States are telling us. But at the moment, it doesn't look like they're going to go forward. The Abraham Accords, which is what the United States really wants to push, made themselves as the hosts of the Abraham Accords. They were the ones who are pushing it and they were the ones who are acting as the priests, high priests of those marriages. That seems to have now gone to the back burner because those countries are not interested anymore in the American, European Union, Israel axis as determining the future of West Asia. If you see now, West Asian countries want to work out their own future, we have discussed it in the past as well. And Turkey is a player, leaving it out is not going to work. Egypt is a player, leaving it out is not going to work. So having all these players out and India coming in to replace China, which is what the United States seems to be trying to do, is again not going to work because we have a dependent relationship with all these countries in any case. We don't need an IMEC to have our relationship with these countries. But we cannot act as a bridge between Israel and West Asian countries today. That's not going to work at all. They would not trust anybody but themselves now to straighten out their own internal nations. And you can see all these countries are trying for your procema. We already saw that in GCC Gulf Council when they re-admitted Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia continuing to talk, Turkey wanting to enter into the mix. If we put all of it together, West Asia seems to be on the trajectory of its own and it is sailing out of the orbit of the United States and European Union. And Israel is really looked upon as an outpost of the West in what is called by the West at least as Near East or Middle East, and that is not going to work in the West Asian. If you look at the respective sizes, the economies, the kind of wealth they have in terms of oil, the resources they have, and simple area of that place, now the population of that, Israel is really a very small player in all of this. And it is only such a big player because it has been really been asked to operate on the genre of the West in that part of the world. It's an outpost of the West which is a power projection, military projection of the NATO as well as of course the United States primarily in order to control West Asia with of course the sixth fleet and all the military bases the United States has. As we have seen, none of that really works. Iraq war, they finally lost. In the case of Afghanistan, they lost. In the case of Libya, they've destroyed the country, but they have not been able to control the oil wealth of that place either, which was their original intention. So all of these projects, what I will call the imperial projects of the West have really failed and to think that this kind of IMAC project will somehow revive the western fortunes by drawing West Asia into the European orbit with some support from India. It doesn't seem to be geostrategically a viable project anymore. The center of gravity, center of gravity of Eurasia is shifting to the Eurasian land mass and the center of gravity of Iranian land. Eurasian land mass is really the center of gravity between Russia, China and India with West Asia's coming together as a possible fourth block. Of course, we have the ASEAN, let's talk about that. They are the most, the dynamically one of the most vibrant economies in the world today. This is the center of gravity. Europe increasingly is looking like a power which doesn't know where to go. It's a bit of a has been still feeling the imperial glories of the past, but that are there. They're only able to do some saber rattling in Africa, thinking that Africans still listen to them, which also is not working. So I don't think the center of gravity today in this entire region is with the European Union and I think that's the big mistake. India is also making to believe that that they could bring themselves back with the European Union to counterbalance China. Of course, having still friendly relations with Russia, that this kind of geostrategic understanding that India seems to have, I don't think is what is in conformity with the way the world is moving. I'll be last bit on Turkey and it's sort of at least perceived or even otherwise. There was a meeting recently between Putin and Erdogan. They sort of brokered the Black Sea grain deal for as long as it did run for about a year. The increasing closeness with Russia, is that something that the players behind the scene like the United States are looking to counter in some way? Turkey is like India. It's a swing player. It's not a poll in that sense of the political scenario. The polls are very obvious today, Russia and China on one side and United States on the other with European Union and not counting small players like Australia and this, but these are really the two polls. And then you have swing players who have leverage because of these two polls, who have the leverage to play in all of this and they don't necessarily have to align with one or the other. That's why the word multiple alignment with foreign minister is very fond of the Indian foreign minister. Turkey has been playing the multiple alignment game for quite some time. It's a part of NATO. It fights in Greece and obviously the European powers are much closer to Greece than they're going to be ever with Turkey. Let's play a place in very clearly for what it is. Turkey is whatever it might, Ankara, Istanbul elite may feel, particularly Istanbul elite is not considered European. They are Asiatic whether they like it or not. Therefore the future whether they want it or not is in Asia and that's what the Europe has said very clearly a number of times and it's not going to change. So given all of this, I think Turkey will act as a swing player. It is a part of NATO officially and you know that how comfortable NATO is about it at the moment, but at the same time the center of gravity, the economic center of gravity shifts more towards Asia than and less from moving away from Europe. Turkey also knows where its future is and I think therefore Turkey is not going to burn its bridges with West Asia, with Russia. It will also keep its relationship with the United States, keep them guessing and with European Union and with particularly taking Greece as a major element in that they're going to be at cross purposes. So there is a lot of issues over there. That's not something that we can discuss today in this context. So as far as the IMEK project project is concerned, they have quite clearly shown they're going to play a spoiler. All right, thanks very much Prabir. Interesting also, we left out a discussion on the United States and co-opting sort of this project from their point of view, perhaps displaying the Biden administration's kind of desperation to clutch at any kind of straws that that kind of offsets the bankruptcy of their foreign policy over the past few years heading up to the elections. But thanks very much for that detailed kind of analysis on what's going on with the IMEK and hope to have you back on the show very soon. Thank you. And for our second and final bit for today's show, Denny Tamaki, the governor of the Japanese prefecture Okinawa, has voiced complaints at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva against military bases in his region. He said the large and disproportionate U.S. military presence hinders peace in Okinawa, reduces the participation of locals in governance and decision making, and also that Japan's tense relations with its neighbor as well as its push towards militarization are a cause for concern that demand international attention. Okinawa accounts for just 0.6 percent of Japan's land area but hosts over 70 percent of the United States is over 30,000 troops in the country. Anish covers the region for People's Dispatch and is with us now. Anish, I guess it's significant that the governor of Okinawa has brought up the threat to peace that the continued U.S. military presence in his prefecture specifically is to peace in the region as I was mentioning and hoping that the Japanese government accelerates instead diplomatic efforts to work on its ties with other countries in the region. How significantly do you view these statements at the UN Human Rights Council? Well, coming at a time when Japan is trying to become the spirit for a very pro-U.S. sort of access in the Asia Pacific region and it has played a big role. Recently, we have seen the current government under Fisheela trying to expand the military expenditure and also to expand military bases or the presence of military bases, not just from Okinawa and spread it out throughout the entire archipelago. All of these definitely are part of a larger plan to obviously militarize Japan and the couple of years. So the Okinawan governor's statement at the Human Rights Council talking about peace and how that is threatening rights of average Okinawans is something that is far more significant than most media reports would like to give credit to, primarily because obviously connecting peace and with human rights is something that is very rarely done. It has not been done before, but it's very rarely done because it is basically asking for deceleration of any kind of tensions in the region. It is calling for opposing militarization of the region, not just from the United States but also from Japan. So these specific things, obviously these are context of it. These are not something that is specifically brought up in very detailed manner by the governor. But definitely this is the context in which this is happening and that is the reason why Okinawans who have to deal with about 70% of US military infrastructure based in Japan and more than two thirds of the troops that come to Japan clearly have a significant interest in peace as well because obviously there is a long history of this island being at the center of the Pacific theater, a very bloody center in fact and in that case it was and also the long history of occupation that was only related decades after Japan was given its due constitution. So all of these factors definitely have an impact on how you've announced you and primarily one of the reasons why most Okinawans continue to support these pro-peace campaigns, pro-peace candidates be it Governor Tamaki or for that matter when it comes to parliamentary elections or local elections in most cases if not all of them. And so this is something that is to bring that up, to internationalize this matter is necessary because obviously when you're talking about peace it has to be internationalized in some way or and using this platform is something that is quite important and like should be considered in a way that does not undermine significance of this. Domestically though Anish we've seen the government in Japan and most recently even the Supreme Court trying to quash the desire for peace that like you were mentioning day to day Okinawans have and probably maybe not just limited to of course Okinawans only. How do you see the political dynamic in the country that is contributing to this increased sort of militarization and why is the establishment trying to quash voices for peace and against increased military presence? Well there is an ideological reason but primarily Japan has always presented itself as the most steadfast ally especially a developed nation being a steadfast ally in the region and that has always worked in USA's favor in many cases. There is also in the case of the Japanese Supreme Court which actually rejected the plea against the base expansion and asked government to the local government the prefectural government to give access to areas that were needed for the expansion of bases at the time contentiously as it might be was barely a matter of legality because obviously when you sign treaties of military nature it's not necessarily illegal it might be contentious nevertheless. There are definitely you know a very split or divided sort of population opinion like among the Japanese population and that is something that needs to be considered. While many of them want Okinawan's burden to be spread out throughout the rest of the Japanese territories most of them and asked if they would welcome a base in their cities said that they would not. So this clearly shows that there is a divide in how the Japanese a large part of the Japanese public kind of perceive the American military presence in their country because most of them really do not have to deal with the US military bases in their backyard. They do not have to and we have to remember that this has had a significant level of impunity that has been afforded to the Americans not only when troops commit crimes in Japan but also in during the COVID-19 pandemic when at one point in time we remember we have proposed about this in the show of how many of them like were infected like most of the infections came from Okinawa at that time and that clearly shows a very disproportionately large number in fact more than a quarter of the infections at one point where from Okinawa and all of these factors were completely you know under the carpet by the Japanese government at the time. So obviously there is the ideological factor of the anti-communism, the conservatism, the significantly growing right wing tendencies within the ruling party that is pushing forward this sort of militarization but then there is also on the ground a significant perception who are not ready to actually appreciate American military presence in their backyard as well and it's not just the Okinawans. The Okinawans are facing the front of it but then the rest of the Japanese are also not ready to welcome it and this is something that the Japanese government tries to underplay very often and that is going to be at their own detriment in the long run I think. All right thanks very much Anish for that update reminder that 30,000 also American troops are stationed in Japan and Okinawa even though it's a very small part of the country like Anish was saying host the vast majority of them we leave it there for today Anish thanks so much. That's a wrap on this episode of The Daily Debrief as always we take this opportunity to invite you to head to our website peoplethispatch.org for details on these stories of course but also all of the other work we do don't also forget to follow us on the social media platform with your choice we're on Twitter Instagram and Facebook if you haven't done so already we'll be back same time same place with another episode tomorrow until then stay safe thanks for watching goodbye