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What are the chances: 1) A high-enough Chinese official was at the same hotel, in a not well-known Asian nation, at the same time, within earshot of 2) a yout

What are the chances: 1) A high-enough Chinese official was at the same hotel, in a not well-known Asian nation, at the same time, within earshot of 2) a youtuber with sufficient hearing, analytical skills, and user base and 3) said official be dumb enough to talk about likely highly classified geopolitics within earshot of said youtuber? Versus: 1) Youtuber is making up said stories for clout/views? * Note: I do not work for the CCP, although I guess that's exactly what someone working for the CCP would say... Edit: I've been informed it was a pizza spot instead of hotel. My point still stands.

DoreenMichele 3y ago
What little I've watched so far of the video indicates this occurred at a pizza place that is one of two eateries on the island and this one is owned by "the government" or people currently high up in the government. The Wikipedia article is confusing. It speaks of both an island and state that use the name Kosrae, lists 6600 total population for the state and 1500 as the largest population of any of the islands, an island named Lelu. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosrae https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosrae So if this is one of two restaurants on a tiny island with fewer than 1500 inhabitants, it's not insane to think he really overheard a government meeting with Chinese officials held at an establishment the government or those officials own. Fact is stranger than fiction and "one in a million" odds means someone will experience it. This is the internet, not the mall in your hometown. People with statistical outlier experiences show up all the time on the internet. So do liars, charlatans and con artists, "but what are the odds..." is a pretty weak argument in this case.
bsder 3y ago
> What are the chances: Higher than you might expect--with some obvious downgrade due to being an "influencer". Reporters used to book flights on routes to SF and SJC before major conferences to eavesdrop. I once was a random fourth in golf in with a judge and two lawyers who talked about how to take advantage of the Chargers/Qualcomm Stadium deals. etc. People like to brag. People get busted for crime all the time because they can't keep their damn mouth shut.
dralley 3y ago
1) Per the claims in the video, the Chinese officials were not "dumb enough to talk about highly classified geopolitics within earshot", quite the opposite. The brand new Governor, on the other hand, was. And supposedly also bragged about being courted by Chinese diplomats with half of his acquaintances. 2) It was a restaurant - one of only two restaurants on the (very small) island. And supposedly owned by the Governor. 3) I'm not sure what the nation being "well known" or not has to do with anything. 4) The youtuber is Chris Hadfield (the astronaut)'s son. I mean it's theoretically possible he could be making it up for views, but if he wanted views there are other topics he could probably milk harder.
illwrks 3y ago
I was on a train last week into work, the train was pretty full. I had my headphones on but not listening to anything and there was a guy next to me on a business call. He proceeds to glance around and then announce to his colleagues on the phone, "this is to be kept within this meeting" and then spills the beans on a multimillion £ property deal they are working on, roughly when money was due to be transferred from whom etc. While he didn't state everything, there was enough information to do thorough research on him and their deal. Depending on who else was listening he potentially painted a target on himself for some form of fraud. The moral of the story... people do dumb things, especially when they think they are 'safe', or they are arrogant.
- dralley 3y ago
  Air France supposedly bugged their first class section to do industrial espionage on behalf of the French government back in the 1980s.
  - illwrks 3y ago
    Amazing. I guess the modern equivalent might be doing the same in a WeWork or other co-working spaces.
pests 3y ago
Ah yes right because nothing ever happens and all stories on the net fake.

DoreenMichele 3y ago

What little I've watched so far of the video indicates this occurred at a pizza place that is one of two eateries on the island and this one is owned by "the government" or people currently high up in the government. The Wikipedia article is confusing. It speaks of both an island and state that use the name Kosrae, lists 6600 total population for the state and 1500 as the largest population of any of the islands, an island named Lelu. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosrae https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosrae So if this is one of two restaurants on a tiny island with fewer than 1500 inhabitants, it's not insane to think he really overheard a government meeting with Chinese officials held at an establishment the government or those officials own. Fact is stranger than fiction and "one in a million" odds means someone will experience it. This is the internet, not the mall in your hometown. People with statistical outlier experiences show up all the time on the internet. So do liars, charlatans and con artists, "but what are the odds..." is a pretty weak argument in this case.

bsder 3y ago

> What are the chances: Higher than you might expect--with some obvious downgrade due to being an "influencer". Reporters used to book flights on routes to SF and SJC before major conferences to eavesdrop. I once was a random fourth in golf in with a judge and two lawyers who talked about how to take advantage of the Chargers/Qualcomm Stadium deals. etc. People like to brag. People get busted for crime all the time because they can't keep their damn mouth shut.

dralley 3y ago

1) Per the claims in the video, the Chinese officials were not "dumb enough to talk about highly classified geopolitics within earshot", quite the opposite. The brand new Governor, on the other hand, was. And supposedly also bragged about being courted by Chinese diplomats with half of his acquaintances. 2) It was a restaurant - one of only two restaurants on the (very small) island. And supposedly owned by the Governor. 3) I'm not sure what the nation being "well known" or not has to do with anything. 4) The youtuber is Chris Hadfield (the astronaut)'s son. I mean it's theoretically possible he could be making it up for views, but if he wanted views there are other topics he could probably milk harder.

illwrks 3y ago

I was on a train last week into work, the train was pretty full. I had my headphones on but not listening to anything and there was a guy next to me on a business call. He proceeds to glance around and then announce to his colleagues on the phone, "this is to be kept within this meeting" and then spills the beans on a multimillion £ property deal they are working on, roughly when money was due to be transferred from whom etc. While he didn't state everything, there was enough information to do thorough research on him and their deal. Depending on who else was listening he potentially painted a target on himself for some form of fraud. The moral of the story... people do dumb things, especially when they think they are 'safe', or they are arrogant.

dralley 3y ago
Air France supposedly bugged their first class section to do industrial espionage on behalf of the French government back in the 1980s.
- illwrks 3y ago
  Amazing. I guess the modern equivalent might be doing the same in a WeWork or other co-working spaces.

pests 3y ago

Ah yes right because nothing ever happens and all stories on the net fake.