Photo: Ike greet JFK, 1961
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Michael A Vlahos, Johns Hopkins; Gene Marks, Washington Post
Hour One
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 1, Block A: Dan Henninger, WSJ editorial board, in re: 
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 1, Block B: 
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 1, Block C: 
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 1, Block D:  
 
Hour Two
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 2, Block A:  Michael A Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re:  Speculations on how history would have unreeled had Japan not done this or that, or if Germany had . . . 
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 2, Block B:  Michael A Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re: Continue speculations.
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 2, Block C: Gene Marks, Washington Post, in re: small business across the United States.
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 3, Block D: Gene Marks, Washington Post, in re: small business across the United States.
 
Hour Three
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 3, Block A: Gregory Copley, Defense and Foreign Affairs, in re: China.  Pres & Secy of State want bilateral negotiations with North Korea in order to move it out of the grasp of Beijing..  As usual, State Dept and Beijing and the UN prefer the auld, consistently-failed six-party talks. Were DPRK to launch a bomb-laden missile against South Korea, Japan or the US, that would be the complete end of North Korea; so such a decision on Kim’s part is unlikely.
Secy Mattis and CoS Kelly do not grasp the grand-strategy dimension.
A new Silk Road of trade from Japan to South Korea to Sahkalin, perhaps, and into Russia, and thence to Western Europe. China thus stops dominating East Asian trade.
China is bldg. refugee camps along its North Korean border – partly to threaten Kim, whose second-in-command has disappeared.  Trump has delivered a major transformation of the US position in Asia-Pacific.
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 3, Block B: Gregory Copley, Defense and Foreign Affairs, in re: Zimbabwe. Mugabe finally at long last steps aside – and how was China involved?  Mugabe, ZANU, was the PRC’s longest-standing and most steadfast ally in Aica, beginning when he was  fighting in the bush against Rhodesia.   Joshua Nkomo (Shona) was ZAPU, and supported by the then-Soviet Union.  Mugabe’s replacement, the same sort of absolutist dictator, negotiated the shift with Beijing. Britons sent Rory Stewart, a junior Minister, to visit and start cutting deals for UK and Europe.  China is de facto the colonial power of all of Africa. 
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 3, Block C:  Victor Davis Hanson Hoover, in re: "The Second World Wars"
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 3, Block D:  Victor Davis Hanson Hoover, in re: continued
  
Hour Four
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 4, Block A: Robert Zimmerman, Capitalism in Space and BehindtheBlack.com; in re: Blue Origin’s New Shepherd capsule, with windows all around. See exciting vid of the entire flight.  . . . Dragon capsule to ISS.  . . . ULA.  . . . Pima Co, Arizona. 
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 4, Block B: Robert Zimmerman, Capitalism in Space and BehindtheBlack.com; in re: Russia in space. Sea Launch (was a Boeing-Russian partnership; no longer because Russia objected to using Ukrainian rockets); is a floating platform routinely docked in California. In court, Russians said to owe a lot to Boeing.  . . . Indian space agency; cube sats.
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 4, Block C: Jeff Bliss, Pacific Watch, in re: California fires!  Striking photo from Daviota (northern edge of Sta Barbara).  Everything is blood-red everywhere.  Venturi Effect.  
Friday 15 December 2017  / Hour 4, Block D: Jeff Bliss, Pacific Watch, in re: Homeless people in San Francisco camp in front of luxe shops. K9 robot, a few hundred pounds, moves around slowly, with speaker, reminds people not to camp in front of store. Costs $6/hr to rent.  Social media criticized; robot was attacked with barbeque sauce and tarps; lessor gave up for the nonce. SF mayor Ed Lee died suddenly on Tues morning at age 65 of heart attack. Was widely loved.  Was the first Chinese-American to hold the mayoralty there.   
Elon Musk – rockets, tunnels, cars, and now a truck company.  Will orbit a Tesla car, midnight cherry, in space for millennia. Electric semi truck for Texaco order 100 eke Walmart, Anheuser Busch, others.   
LA dog shelter putting dogs on a vegetarian diet.