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JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, the Great Voice of the Great Lakes
 
Hour One
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 1, Block A: Tom Joscelyn, Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; & Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal; and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re:  Taliban claims on 25 Aug  to have taken over a city in southeastern Afghanistan in Paktika province. Kabul govt claims not, along with local governor; but now we have video proof of the control of the district center: burnt-out govt bldgs and police cars. When the got lies, that does not bode well for Afghanistan.  . . .  All districts are heavily contested.  Taliban have a sophisticated guerilla strategy; good at dealing w local tribes and manoeuvering conflicts among them.  This is what happens when you put on a time-based condition. A year and a half is much too short.
Syrian-Arab Coalition.  Deir ez-Zour: contested betw Islamic State and Assad.  IS laid siege for more than three years. In recent weeks Assad with Iran and Russia have beat IS in territory to the west and are moving into the city.  SDF backed by US moving into Deir ez Zour province; what will happen between US and Russia/Iran/Assad/Hezbollah?  Fear that Hezb and Iran can consolidate control.  Deconfliction?  US assures us yes . .  . Oil wells there!
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 1, Block B: Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal and FDD; and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re: memories of 9/11.   We were caught sleeping; still have a seriously incomplete understanding of the enemy Big picture: US govt still has hue gaps of understanding. Need more docs and files released from ObL’s compound – an enormous cache: “A small college-library’s worth”.  Mostly not released publicly. Why?  Mike Pompeo announced more will be released in weeks to come.  Libya: US govt said, It wasn’t al Qaeda – but all material shows that it was.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s bill of indictments against he US: largely propaganda, but has important entries.  Now rolling out four al Q msgs in response to today’s 9/11: Will of one of he 9/11 “—highjackers; also letter from KSM to Pres Obama. 
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 1, Block C: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast and Forbes,com, in re: Chinese central economic command wants to reduce value of the yuan. Drive it down because exports have been suffering: August was a 5.5% increase, well below expectations. Damage to export sector. Currency becoming even less free-market than before.  All in advance of the XIX Party Congress on October 18. Xi Jinping warmly admires Mao. In 2012 he went on a Mao binge when he acceded to Party secretaryship.  Re-centralized economy, strengthened state monopolies, etc.  This has not improved the economy. Bitcoin: China wants to discourage bitcoin investment (has just plummeted from $5000-plus to $4240); they're control freaks, want nothing to do with cryptocurrencies.  . . . The only thing stopping China from being a pre-eminent nation is the Communist Party. The govt prevents its citizens from realizing their  potential – so those determined to do so leave China.
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 1, Block D:  Josh Rogin, Washington Post, in re:   Sanctions on North Korea?  Remains the dominant policy n Washington; lots of back-room dealing and scrambling.  However, it's not enough. Every pressure is incrementally better, but this is just one in a long line of steps.  Sooner rather than later we’ll face the end of Russia’s and China’s willingness to go along with us.  Regime is hardened and ready for sanctions.    . . .  Xi’s entire method is not to solve this. After the Party Congress, we’ll se what his true intentions are.
 
Hour Two
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 2, Block A:  David M Drucker, Washington Examiner, and John Fund, NRO, in re:  . . .  over 6,000 people registered to vote in New Hampshire with out-of-state ID; over 5,000 of them have no current NH address and cannot be found.  How’d they get there? Probably in busses, which can be tracked.  Presidential committee on _____ will be meeting on Tuesday in New Hampshire. Pres Trump asserted 3 million to 5 million illegitimate votes, accounting for his not having won the popular vote. Fifteen states have same-day voter registration. Excellent for giving a bogus address.
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 2, Block B:  David M Drucker, Washington Examiner, and John Fund, NRO, in re: continuation of US politics. Plus recollections of where each was — David Drucker, John Fund Thaddeus McCotter — on 9/11.
EL AL REPORT WITH MALCOLM HOENLEIN
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 2, Block C: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:
-  Netanyahu in Latin America, visits Macri. Also will meet president of Paraguay. Next, to Colombia; conclude in Mexico with Pres Nieto. Sign security and communications agreements.  Group of experts in multiple fields. Big economic conferences in Argentina and Mexico.  Note Chavista stronghold in Bolivarian countries, but not in Argentina or Paraguay or others  http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.811826
- Saudi prince visits Israel?  Vivid rumor.  It’s true that Azerbaijani defense minister has visited Israel. Thirty million Azeris live in Iran.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Did-the-Saudi-Crown-Prince-make-a-covert-visit-to-Israel-504777
- Attack in Syria on rocket and chem weapons factory in Syria, producing for Iran.   Israel had to go after this manufacturing site because it’s a life-and-death matter for Israel. Note that Russia has not condemned the attack.  Iran and its proxies carefully move closer to Israel’s border and take over ever more territory with ever-more-powerful weapons. These are dynamic times.  Western press does not cover this.
- Israeli security agency stopped 70 terrorist attacks in the last two months (ISA- Shin Bet).  
EL AL REPORT WITH MALCOLM HOENLEIN
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 2, Block D: Indiana Hoenlein, in re:  Ancient seals found.  From 3,000 years ago: a trove of clay imprints for documents. Until the time of the King Hezekiah (700 BC), used images, not words; then 2,600 YA, names of clerks in early Hebrew script, UNESCO, kindly take note, Found one of dozens of bulae, name of two of the kings of Israel. When that kingdom was destroyed, the people emigrated to the kingdom of Judah. Find that they were integrated and took more  and more important positions. Right outside City of David. Built in VIII Century BC, later destroyed. See also Josephus.    This is irrefutable – origin, validation of Biblical accounts, of what life was like that then, and all scientific – none of this seems to make a dent in the UN fantasy stories. 
From 7,200 years ago in Jordan Valley: large clay storage vessels reveal class structure in connection with food storage rituals.   . . .
 
Hour Three
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 3, Block A:  John Bolton, AEI, in re:  US national security.
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 3, Block B: Jerry Hendrix, CNAS, in re: North Korea firing.   PM Abe in Vladivostok meeting. We can't afford to  have senior officials saying that the US has no further options in regards to North Korea. We must maintain that we have viable military options; the only way to keep Kim at the table. What has destabilized the intl envt: presidency of D J Trump evinces strategic ambiguity (as did Reagan and Eisenhower).  Fitzgerald accident report: having to decide to seal off lower decks to save the largest number of sailors – and thereby sealing he ate of those still below decks. Combination of multistage rockets with miniaturized weapons: too dangerous for the US to accept. Something has to be one before that point.  Recall that we did nothing about bin Laden for many years, and then it was too late.
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 3, Block C: Simon Constable, in Scotland, in re: 9/11, I was in 1 World Financial Center.  Walked to FDR and as far as possible rom falling tall buildings. Turkey has been a very hot investment for he last year:  Istanbul 100 Index is up 44% this year!  Before dividends. Market is a bull despite the political mess and because they've made a $73 billion backstop for nonperforming loans.  Ergo, huge lending binge.  We did that from 2004 to 2008 and it didn’t end well.  Consider this may blow up in 2018.  . . . Consider having some bonds in your portfolio. It's like your house having a foundation – ten-year Treasurys or high-quality corporate bonds.  China interdicts bitcoin, which went above $5k and dropped 20%. Gold is better than bitcoin (“cruising for a bruising”). Has a 5,000-year history and always can be sold. Ere heir a nuclear war, you could line your gold up around you and it’d absorb the radiation. A famous actress was asked, “How are you ding so well even when you're not working?” “Oh I’ve told everyone to buy aol.”  Oops.
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 3, Block D: Jed Babbin, American Spectator, in re: On 9/11, Jed was in his K St law office in DC; TV was on, one of the towers was already burning. Horrible.
Limited confidence in Pres Trump’s handling of ISIS and other major dangers. It's not what they don't know; it's that what they know is wrong. Pres Bush refused to believe that not everyone n Earth wanted freedom like ours. Recall in 1996 ObL’s big fatwah in a London paper.  . . . 
---and a brief science commentary by John Batchelor. Free-floating planets – floating between stars.
 
Hour Four
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 4, Block A: Michael Neiberg,  Potsdam: The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 4, Block B:  Michael Neiberg,  Potsdam: The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 4, Block C: Paul Collins, The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century
Monday   11 September 2017 / Hour 4, Block D: Paul Collins, The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century
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