The John Batchelor Show

Monday 16 November 2015

Air Date: 
November 16, 2015

 

 

Photo, left:  
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host:  Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, the Great Voice of the Great Lakes.
Hour One
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 1, Block A: Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal and FDD.  Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re: . . .   Thoroughgoing lack of planning, of strategy, by the US in the Middle East.  An Islamic terrorist featured in media: al Aboud was the logistics master of the Paris operation – safe houses, training, building explosive jackets, weapons provision, etc.  Been known to European intell for a year; a shoot-out in Belgium; them ISIS does and article on him in its magazine where he taunts Europe: "You caught me, didn't recognize me, let me go, and here I am back in Syria and at work."  Hollande doesn't need new power to fight ISIS; they could have used the info they have now and just didn't bother to get him.  Need better police work. 
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 1, Block B: Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal and FDD.  Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re:  Taliban.  Afghan army surrenders: 65 soldiers and 5 officers surrendered in Helmand; Taliban besieged a base for two weeks, Afghan military and police were helpless so the army surrendered it weapons. We don't know the sequel.  More Arbikai, defections.  We know Taliban are growing in strength in the south.  What's disturbing is Afghan military personnel surrendering: hastening of the deterioration. World is out: Don't fight – give up and go over. Taliban will be wise not to execute them, but let them go home. 
Sinjar: Kurds trying to make it more difficult for ISIS to run supplies from Raqqah to Mosul: Kurds are trying to cut off ISI from being able to resupply its forces on both sides of border.  August 3 1015 was the terrifying invasion of Sinjar, where ISIS mass-murdered and kidnapped women and children.  Hway 47: if you can control it, it'll be harder for ISIS.  Paris operation was modeled after Mumbai; is portable, could cross the Atlantic. Air strikes vs ISIS in Libya and Syria.  
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 1, Block C: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com; in re:  Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous  Republic . . . - to our great shame, the US helped China hunt down and torture Uyghurs.  China may enter in to the Syrian conflict – might not want to do it, but as an ally of Russia and to alarm the US, might.  What's wrong with the Chinese economy?  . .  A bond default? Tried to manage, but last Thursday, the biggest Chinese bond default ever, of a cement company; will reverberate as there are many weak companies in China. Expect an avalanche.  Bond failure:  the debt mkt in China is artificially held together by govt/central banks.  Christmas season is gone; we're into spring ordering, Mkt PMI is down for the eighth straight month.  There's hope that domestic consumption will sustain the economy but the populace doesn't have enough money? and the only thing that'll actually work is structural reform - which the Chinese Communist Party categorically rejects. 
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 1, Block D: Eli Lake, Bloomberg View; in re:  . . . asymmetrical forces; Russian involvement in the Syrian civil war; US bombing of ISIS "caliphate" in Raqqah; the entire tone of the president's press conference suggests that he's lashing out at his critics and [still doesn't get it]. Cf: Guadalcanal: don't creep up slowly, use all your force immediately.  Incrementalism is the losing side.  Disagree: no good for the US to have to occupy ISIS territory.  Pres Obama's press conference: verb shifted into the conditional tense.  
Hour Two
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 2, Block A:  John Fund, NRO; David M Drucker. Washington Examiner; in re: Paris attack and the GOP. ten states are refusing Syrian refugees, incl New Hampshire, The Obama Adm keeps saying, No, you're wrong; we'll bring them in.  President was highly defensive at news conference; many state officials have decided, "We're on our own here" and there's a high chance that there'll be an attack on US soil before the primaries.   Rubio, Cruz, Christie and Fiorina all have depth of knowledge, as does Bush, whose articulation is sometimes questionable.  If the president broke tradition and sent ground forces to Syria, Rand Paul could benefit. France: This is not Charlie Hebdo, it's our 9/11. Looks as though Europe is heading toward war-fighting. 
Michigan governor was pushing for more Syrian refugees; saw the political problem and withdrew.  President did such a great job vetting moderate rebels in Syria . . . Note debate conversation on CBS on Saturday night by Democratic candidates.  Gitmo releases and the Democrats. Democratic debate: sour reaction because of ratings. Clinton playing to run out the clock. Republican debate: Rubio and Cruz still rising.  Trump and Carson still leading. Trump melt-down on Thursday 12 Nov is an illustration that rookies make big mistakes.
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 2, Block B:  John Fund, NRO; David M Drucker. Washington Examiner; in re: How Mrs Clinton shapes the nomination that's already hers – why won't she speak clearly about the threat in Paris and of the ideology?  In fact, she hesitates to answer anything specifically.   All she has to do is run out the clock. Schedule debates on Saturday night so no one watches; get the nomination from the left, then in the general move to the center.  Incoherent. Given her history, she's not as left-wing as Bernie Sanders and the base has become.  "Just win, baby."   Why not be slightly hawkish to capture the moment and maybe bring in some moderate Republicans?   Because you can't take your base for granted. She voted for the Iraq war, following Chuck Schumer; got burned for a decade.  It's all tactical.  Bill Clinton, Sis Souljah; she's a pragmatist, but not conveying why she wants to be president except that she wants to.
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 2, Block C: Pastor William Devlin, REDEEM! and Infinity Bible Church; in re:  Candlelight vigil in London for the victims of Paris attacks – video | World news ; Candlelight vigil, memorial service planned in Oklahoma for Paris victims
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 2, Block D: Jonathan Schanzer, FDD, in re: France Will 'Intensify' IS Bombing in Syria ; US, French warplanes pound IS 'capital' in Syria  It's a new day for Bashar al Assad: as France decides to destroy – forget "degrade" – ISIS, Assad becomes a leading ally and that almost guarantees his political survival.  There may be as many as a thousand different fighting factions is n Syria – even is Assad stays in power; can't guess how much power he'll have or if Syria will be intact.  Are we looking at a 20-year deployment? IF NATO's job is strictly to destroy ISIS, expect a huge bombing campaign?  Jihadists don't go away – look at Taliban, They're back with a bang.  Permanent war inMesopotamia. 
Hour Three
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 3, Block A: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video; in re: Opinion Journal: Gen. Keane: Analyzing the Paris Attacks  Gen. Jack Keane on Friday’s terrorist massacre in Paris and the implications for the war on terror.
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 3, Block B:  Molly O'Toole, Defense One, in re: GUANTANAMO: White House Delays Plan to Close Guantanamo, Again  The long-awaited plan, due this past week, has been delayed indefinitely. Why? 
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 3, Block C:   Michael Ledeen, FDD, in re: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelledeen/2015/11/15/paris-and-beyond/
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 3, Block D: Larry Johnson, No Quarter, in re: The ISIS Suicide Bomber Failure in Paris. The media is an unthinking, irrational magnifying glass that is prone to exaggerate and misinterpret anything that it stares at. Last Friday’s terrorist attack in Paris by ISIS sympathizers (or operators) is a case in point. ISIS is not, as previously claimed by Barack Obama, a Junior Varsity threat. They are real, they are deadly and they must be destroyed.
But let’s be clear about one thing–ISIS is not a terrorist group. ISIS is a defacto state that supports and engages in terrorism as a routine element of its own national security policy. They are both fanatical and brutal. But that does not mean they are extraordinarily competent or talented. In fact, their attempt to use suicide bombers in Paris appears to have been an abject failure. Thank God!
Yes, four different bombs adorning the bodies of four different ISIS operators detonated–three outside the Stade de France, where France and Germany were playing an exhibition soccer match, and one at the Comptoir Voltaire restaurant. Four bombers killed and only one dead non-terrorist. Does this suggest the bombers were competent? No. Just the opposite. They did not know what they were doing.
Hour Four
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 4, Block A: James Taranto, WSJ, Best of the Web, in re:  Non-Islamic Jihadis?  The Democrats’ incoherent foreign-policy debate.
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 4, Block B:  Sebastian v Gorka, Marine Corps University, in re: Using Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty to legalize the war against ISIS [Updated with response to Julian Ku] ; Republican lawmakers urge France to use NATO powers to help in fight against ISIS
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 4, Block C: Bruce Thornton, Hoover, in re:  Environmentalists assume that their opinions are based on hard science. While science does play a role in modern environmentalism, old cultural myths influence much of what many people believe about humanity’s relationship to nature. For some, their belief system approaches a nature worship that has little value for solving the environmental problems troubling the world today. Ancient myths about nature and our relationship to it are deeply embedded in our culture. Particularly influential has been the myth of the Golden Age, a time before civilization when humans lived in harmony with nature, “free from toil and grief,” as the Greek poet Hesiod wrote… http://www.hoover.org/research/religion-environmentalism
Monday 16 November 2015  / Hour 4, Block D:   John Schwarz, NYT, in re: Scientists Study Links Between Climate Change and Extreme Weather A collection of studies examining extreme weather in 2014, including drought, floods and storms, found signs that climate change likely played a role in about half.
 
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