The John Batchelor Show

March 30, 2017

Air Date: 
March 31, 2017

Photo, left:  Baku
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video. Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents.
 
Hour One
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 1, Block A: David M Drucker, CNN & Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent; in re:  The recent failure of the AHCA bill, what that portends; and what about the Freedom Caucus?  Paul Ryan.  The president’s tweets; the insurance market. Obamacare from a fiscal standpoint.  Follow the money? Members of the Freedom Caucus being petulant and [vindictive] against the president of the United States. Freedom Caucus has stood on policy. “Think tank” politicians.  Mark Meadows of North Carolina, chairman of Freedom Caucus: “no” all the time? The perfect as the enemy of the good. 
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 1, Block B:  Mary Kissel, in re: Judge Gorsuch.
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 1, Block C:  Claudia Rosett, Independent Women’s Forum (in Hong Kong), in re:The UN. The rogue and predatory state of North Korea.  US pours something like $10 billion per year into the UN; and the US effectively legitimizes what goes on at the UN—including North Korea, which originally wasn’t a member of the UN (admitted in 1991, along with South Korea, which is a democratic state, whereas DPRK is run by a criminal gang, tests nukes and missiles, counterfeits US bills; amasses staggering sums in global drugs trade, and genuinely horrendous violence against its citizens.  People say, “The UN may be imperfect but it's all we've got” – in this case, let’s establish something else.  Impossible to reform, it's like reforming Animal Farm.  We need to deal with the grave problems f the modern world;  and the UN, rather than help sufficiently, actually does real damage.  “Radical transparency”?  Yes, that’d help.  It's boring to follow, obfuscatory; extremely complex in its procedures;  it puts you to sleep while picking your pocket. Need to point out the real waste. That would take a serious and constant determination by an American president and his staff, and to inform the America public.  Head of General Assembly was indicted for running a scam then died mysteriously; the Oil for Food program was a massive (almost unimaginable)  theft; the head of that fled to Cyprus, where the UN can't be bothered to pursue him. 
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 1, Block D: Thaddeus McCotter, The  in re: Devin Nunes.  He’s followed he law punctiliously. Has kept everything well within the law.  When people attack that, it's to distract people from their own anxiety, and Evelyn Farkas’s testimony, among others.  WaPo called Chairman Nunes’s visit to the White House “surreptitious” — this is bizarre and inaccurate.  What’s important is the content of the Chairman’s revelations, which the NYT and WaPo refuse to cover.  
 
Hour Two
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 2, Block A:  Mike Singh, Washington Institute; in re:  US Iran Policy and China. Not yet clear what this Administration’s Iran policies are; but returning to the notion of pushing back on Iran, a bipartisan endeavor. . . . 
Michael Singh is the Lane-Swig Senior Fellow and managing director at The Washington Institute and a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council. During his tenure at the White House from 2005 to 2008, Mr. Singh was responsible for devising and coordinating U.S. national security policy toward the region stretching from Morocco to Iran, with a particular emphasis on Iran’s nuclear and regional activities, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syria, and security cooperation in the broader Middle East. Previously, Mr. Singh served as special assistant to secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell and at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv. Mr. Singh served as a Middle East advisor to the Romney presidential campaign from 2011-2012, and co-chaired Mr. Romney’s State Department transition team in 2012.
·         http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/testimony/SinghTestimony20170328.pdf
·         http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/testimony/EisenstadtTestimony20170329.pdf
·         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/tzvi-kahn-congress-ups-ante-with-new-iran-sanctions/
·         http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/26/chinas-combat-drone-presence-in-the-middle-east-is-about-to-get-a-lot-bigger/
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 2, Block B:  Ambassador Ilham Suleymanov, Republic of Azerbaijan;  in re: We appreciate the pragmatic approach of the new US administration.  Awaiting more information on specific policies toward our region, but understood that it’s focused on business, which we welcome.  Our strategic interests coincide about 90%.  In the disagreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Israel has supported Azerbaijan, which of course we much appreciate.  Regrettable that Armenia has begun to send missiles over the border. Iran is one of ur two biggest neighbors; we share a lot of culture; most Azeris are Shi’a, but we have Sunnis, Jews. Christians, many.  We’re secular and democratic; Iran is [not].  
In October of 2011, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev appointed Elin Suleymanov as Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the United States of America. Prior to that, for over five years, Mr. Suleymanov had been the nation’s first Consul General to Los Angeles and the Western States leading the team, which established Azerbaijani diplomatic presence on the West Coast. Earlier, he served as Senior Counselor at the Foreign Relations Department, Office of the President in Baku, Azerbaijan and as Press Officer of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington, DC. Mr. Suleymanov’s experience before joining diplomatic service includes working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Azerbaijan and Glaverbel Czech, a leading manufacturing company in East-Central Europe.
·         http://www.azernews.az/business/110762.html
·         http://www.azernews.az/nation/110760.html
·         http://news.az/articles/politics/119835
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 2, Block C: Jonathan Schanzer, VP for research, FDD; and Merve Tahiroglu, research associate, FDD; in re: Turkey’s foreign minister today lambasted Secretary Tillerson for failing to allow Gulen to be extradited; starting relations on the wrong foot.  Also rage that the US works with Syrian Kurds (Rojava) against Da’ish (ISIS).  Turkey’s military an judiciary have been gutted by Erdogan after last year’s coup attempt; this has weakened Turkey.  Much tension domestically. Rumors that Turkey is unstable, not cohesive. At present, Erdogan has out-muscled everyone and we see no alternative.  Perhaps the end of  Turkish democracy.  It cooperates oddly with Iran — strange bedfellows.  Southeastern Turkey is predominantly Kurdish, wants better human rights in Turkey (Erdogan makes it illegal to speak Kurdish. Even the PKK no loner seeks separatism, simply a bit more autonomy.   Turkey and funding for terrorism:  charities from the US; recall Holy Land Fdn that gave $2 million to Hamas. The Terrorism Task force: not taken down one charity since 2009 [shameful].  
Since joining us in February 2010, Dr. Schanzer has been singularly focused on ensuring that FDD deliver not only accurate and timely research, but also research that is useful to decisionmakers inside the Beltway, across America, and around the world. He worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he played an integral role in the designation of numerous terrorist financiers.  A former research Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Dr. Schanzer has studied Middle East history in four countries.
Merve Tahiroglu is a research associate focusing on Turkey. Merve supports the work of FDD scholars with Turkish language research and analysis on Turkey-related matters. Her research focuses on Turkey’s foreign policy, domestic politics, and Ankara’s ties to Tehran. Merve’s personal areas of interest include Turkey’s Syria policy and Islamic extremism in Turkey.
Born and raised in Istanbul, Merve earned her B.A in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations from Duke University in 2013
·         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/content/uploads/documents/Islamic_State_Networks_Turkey.pdf
·         https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-turkey-set-on-a-collision-course-1490866201
·         https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/world/europe/tillerson-turkey-erdogan-islamic-state-raqqa.html?_r=1
·         http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/29/a-turkish-bankers-arrest-puts-spotlight-on-erdogans-circle-at-awkward-time/
·         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/dr-aykan-erdemir-us-arrests-senior-turkish-banker-for-sanctions-busting/
·         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/schanzer-jonathan-restarting-the-fight-against-terror-funding-charities/
·         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/dr-aykan-erdemir-us-arrests-senior-turkish-banker-for-sanctions-busting/
 
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 2, Block D:  Indiana Hoenlein, in re:
 
Hour Three
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 3, Block A:  Emily Landau, Senior Research Fellow, head of the Arms Control & Regional Security Program, Institute for National Security Studies; in re:  Iran and North Korea. US policies toward North Korea – since at least the Nineties : failure failure failure.  “Strategic patience” – a batty policy — gave DPRK a log opportunity t develop nukes, and it's almost impossible to cause a nuclear power to revert to non-nuclear. Obama administration apparently was not interested even in much keeping track.  . . . Determined proliferators, e.g., Iran and DPRK, are in fact determined.  The JCPOA is similarly flawed to the [early Nineties bad treaty wit North Korea].  
·         http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=13210
·         http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-report-idUSKBN16Z274
·         http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2017/03/30/0401000000AEN20170330006900315.html
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 3, Block B: Avi Issacharoff , Times of Israel; in re: The Arab Summit in Jordan.
 
 
Avi Issacharoff, The Times of Israel's Middle East analyst, fills the same role for Walla, the leading portal in Israel. Until 2012, he was a reporter and commentator on Arab affairs for the Haaretz newspaper. He also lectures on modern Palestinian history at Tel Aviv University, and is currently writing a script for an action-drama series for the Israeli satellite Television "YES."
·         http://www.timesofisrael.com/arab-leaders-send-a-message-to-trump-palestine-first/
·         http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/1.780220
·         https://jo.usembassy.gov/special-representative-international-negotiations-greenblatts-march-27-29-trip-jordan/
·         https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/palestinians-balfour-declaration-100-resisting-past/
·         http://linkis.com/hosted.ap.org/dynami/u5MrP
 
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 3, Block C: Bob Zimmerman
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 3, Block D: Bob Zimmerman
   
Hour Four
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 4, Block A: Seb Gorka
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 4, Block B:  Seb Gorka
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 4, Block C:  Richard Epstein
Thursday  30 March 2017  / Hour 4, Block D:   Richard Epstein
..  ..  ..