The John Batchelor Show

Monday 8 February 2016

Air Date: 
February 08, 2016

Photo, left: 
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes
 
Hour One
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 1, Block A:  Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor  & FDD, in re: The Iraqi army is deploying thousands of soldiers to a military base near Makhmur District, which lies 70 kilometers (43 miles) southeast of Mosul, The Daily Star reported Feb. 8. Three brigades are currently stationed at the base; with the new reinforcements, their number will reach 4,500 soldiers. The base is ideally positioned to launch operations against Islamic State forces in Hawija, a preliminary step to eventually attempting to retake Mosul from the group. Militants seized Mosul in June 2014, and the group has held the city largely unopposed for more than 18 months as Iraqi security forces have battled jidhadists in other areas. However, U.S. Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the commander of the U.S.-led operation against the Islamic State, has said Iraqi generals do not think they will be able to recapture Mosul until the end of this year or early 2017.
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 1, Block B:  Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor  & FDD, in re:  Libyan bo=ig fighter was bombing Derna, in eastern Libya, and Ansar al Sharia (= al Qaeda) shot down the jet.  Confirmed.  Should the US get involved in going after ISIS in Libya?  The real question is: what to do about al Qaeda?  Al Q is taking down jets and seizing territory.  ISIS is nipping at he heels of al q, but is there because it's been defeated by al Q (under multiple different brand names)  elsewhere.   Yemen: Houthis are not the only bad actor regionally – Saudi Natl Guard is battling, al Qaeda has seized much of southern Yemen, highly populated.   Al Q is advertising hat it's in proto-state  condition. Incl in social media.  Building their own Islamic state in Yemen.  Zinjibar: “Life has returned to normal” – under sharia savagery and sadism.  They stoned to death a Muslim accused of committing adultery, but were afraid to show the gruesome murder because they knew that most Muslims deeply disapprove. 
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Jihadists reinforce other rebels during key battle in Aleppo province A crucial battle in Syria's Aleppo province pits Bashar al Assad's regime and its allies against jihadists, Islamists, and other rebel factions.
AQAP confirms military commander killed in US airstrike  Jalal Bala’idi, a prominent AQAP field commander khow is also known as Hamza al Zinjibari, "was killed in a Crusader strike that targeted him while he was amongst the sons of his tribe in Abyan province," the jihadist organization confirmed.
UN, Malian forces retake police base captured by jihadists Attacks like this continue to show that the security situation inside Mali, especially in the north and increasingly in the south, is still volatile despite a French-led counterterrorism mission and an UN peacekeeping force inside the country.
Shabaab regains ground in southern Somalia Over the past two weeks, African Union forces withdrew from the southern Somali towns of Marka, El Ade, and Badhadhe. Al Qaeda's branch in Somalia quickly reoccupied the towns.
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Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com & Daily Beast; Bruce Bechtol, Angelo State; in re:  North Korean missile.  Every single aspect of the missile – three stages — launch, trajectory – all is exactly the same as for a mil platform except the payload which is a bulbous thing. For a test, use a dummy warhead, or a real nuke or chem warhead.   One thing not yet confirmed: Iran and DPRK collaborating on an 80-ton warhead; if so, means DPRK has launched the heaviest, largest payload of its history.  Flew over Japan and Philippines.  Japan put Patriot missile batteries in the middle of Tokyo. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense System —  South Korea is now unhappily obliged to cooperate with the US and the rest of the international community in this.  Washington unwilling to anger Beijing, so will have an ineffective response; a mistaken policy, but clearly what this Administration will do.   ROK needs to add SM3missiles to its ships, and we shd be giving the same technology to the Israelis, since Iran will aim its missiles at Israel.   The 80-ton rocket booster: Treasury has sanctioned SHIG in Iran, and Iranian individuals for visiting North Korea.  Bruce has been a leader in saying that State knew all about Iran-North Korea cooperation, but refused to tell Americans or the world about how bad it actually is.  One of the most unfortunate things about Secy Kerry’s dealing with Iran is that he’s pretended that Iran and DPRK aren’t closely working together.  Since 2003. Completely excluded from the talks with Iran. Expect to se the cooperation increase a great deal in the near future.   It’d be easy for the US to do something effective: start by sanctioning Chinese banks.  North Korea: ICBM technology; can they put it on a missiles? It’ll be a KN-08 mobile missile, not the TaePoDong.
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North Korea and Regional Security in the Kim Jong-un Era: A New International Security Dilemma by Bruce E. Bechtol Jr. ; U.N. Security Council condemns North Korea launch - CNN.com ; North Korea claims it has successfully launched a satellite into space, prompting an ... ; North Korea fires long-range rocket despite warnings - BBC News  ; US, South Korea to discuss deployment of missile defense system | Fox News ; China's foreign exchange reserves are contracting fast and may already be below generally accepted safe levels.  http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2016/02/07/chinas-forex-reserves-may-already-be-below-imf-safety-line/ ; -- North Korea’s Missile Could Hit U.S. by Gordon G. Chang - The launch on Sunday is another sign of Pyongyang’s growing threat, and the impotence of U.S. and global efforts to stop it.
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Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 1, Block D:  Claudia Rosett, FDD & PJ Media: The Rosett Report;  in re: “Strategic patience” -  how Pres Obama early announced that  he intended to respond to failed states, incl North Korea.  Now we have misbehavior to the point of criminality an depravity. What have we learned from strategic patience?  It brings us an enormous amount of rule-violating conduct, pronounced “unacceptable” or “deeply deplorable” by the State Dept. Seems to mean “gross passivity.”  A fave; soon after Pres Obama took office in 2009, DPRK tested a missile for a nuclear strike on the US; Pres Obama said. “Rules must be binding, . . . violations must be punished.”  Ha-ha.    The problem, says the UN, is not the we need more sanctions; we just need to enforce the existing ones. What's Amb Power doing about “unprecedented measures.”  DPRK [North Korea] carried out a nuclear test in early January – a hydrogen test.   Iran for years have been using DPRK for R&D. Everyone worldwide knows this. The Obama Adm has refused to confirm or deny for years.   This has now become extremely dangerous. https://pjmedia.com/claudiarosett/north-koreas-unacceptable-nuclear-missiles/?singlepage=true
 
Hour Two
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  John Fund, NRO; David M Drucker, Senior Congressional correspondent, Washington Examiner; in re:  If Sen Rubio comes in second on Tuesday night, his whole campaign will breathe a large sigh of relief in view of what he’s been put through since Saturday night.  The bookies like Rubio a lot; number two means he’s the come-back kid, but if Ted Cruz comes in second, everything is scrambled: the two candidates whom the establishment fears the most will have come in in a one-two punch. Christie is stubborn, has not much money. Bush has the resources and will go to South Carolina finally to make an impression in this campaign.  Kasich need to do well in NH or consider leaving.   Ted Cruz gets to go around and campaign while no one much looks at him. If he overperforms, lucky him.  Cruz will do well on 1 March in the Southern primaries. But may not be able to grow into other GOP ranks and grow his base — unless Trump actually collapses. There ‘s a modest faction of real conservatives in NH.   JF: “I think NH is the second-most secular state in the Union, after Oregon.”   Those who voted for Obama in 2008 will vote for Trump in 2016??  DMD:  They understand that Trump can be offensive, over the top; but he’s talking about matters that they think candidates should be talking about. 
James Hohmann: “Rubio’s loss means that there will be at least four tickets, and maybe even five, out of New Hampshire on Tuesday night.”
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 2, Block B: John Fund, NRO; David M Drucker, Senior Congressional correspondent, Washington Examiner; in re:  . . .  Mrs Clinton is being rejected by voters who are two generations than she is and national security is a major problem.  They’ve glommed on to the email scandal as yet another reason not to trust her; death by a thousand cuts – policy, like-ability, trust, email – and Mr Comey confirmed today that there is an investigation. Look for another staff shake-up.   Panic in the campaign? Maybe not about NH since they saw the polls coming a mile away, but worried about drip-drip-drip, Bernie Sanders picks up endorsement from prominent liberals.  Firewall?   “Is Bernie Sanders too left for you?” “I don't care, I don't want Clinton.”  Oops.  Are the Dems in Detroit ready to ditch the Clintons?  My college-age son just got an email from Sanders saying he’s staying in the race.
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-again-relies-on-star-power-rather-than...
Tom Rath, a veteran of New Hampshire GOP primaries who is helping Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said Mr. Trump’s bet that people who show up at his rallies will turn out to vote Tuesday is a faulty wager. “Trump doesn’t understand it,” Mr. Rath said. “Nobody at his campaign tells him that’s not the way it works.”
But Steve Duprey, New Hampshire’s Republican National Committeeman, said the Trump campaign’s reliance on rallying large crowds while forgoing the usual data and voter outreach campaigns poses a risk before Tuesday’s primary. On Saturday morning in the lobby of the Courtyard Marriott hotel he owns in Concord, Mr. Duprey showed off a single day’s worth of mail he had just received. The stack of mail included attacks against Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and positive pieces about Mr. Bush. There was nothing from the Trump campaign.
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Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 2, Block C:  James Taranto, WSJ, in re: Mrs Clinton.  “Albright and Steinem are old, trying to beat young women into compliance (‘A special place in Hell for women who don't help women’ ;  ‘People are supporting Bernie because they [favor] boys’).”  Mr Clinton’s past abusive relationships, usually with women.  Younger women are ignorant of those stories since they've been suppressed by the media, using euphemisms such as dalliances, affairs, and the like.  http://www.wsj.com/articles/hill-fire-and-damnation-1454956859?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb ; http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-hillary-fantasy-1454697687  (1 of 2)
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:  James Taranto, WSJ, in re: Mrs Clinton (2 of 2)
 
Hour Three
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:   Mary Kissel, WSJ, in re: the polls and the election.  Opinion Journal: The Rise of the Governors  Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot on Marco Rubio's debate stumble and the effect on New Hampshire's primary. Opinion Journal: New Hampshire’s Sanders-Clinton Showdown  Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot on the Democratic presidential race and Hillary’s bid for the female vote.
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 3, Block B:   Michael Ledeen, FDD, in re: Iran and Pres Obama.  http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelledeen/2016/02/04/what-makes-a-great-president/#1faa509a8732
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 3, Block C:  Peter Berkowitz, Hoover via Real Clear Politics., in re:  end to entitlements? "Cruz, Trump and the Caricature of Conservatism,"
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 3, Block D: Francis Rose, francisrose.com, in re: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/02/08/va-demands-proof-world-war-ii-combat-vet-with-purple-heart-served-in-military.html  ;http://blog.timesunion.com/healthcare/former-albany-va-director-wins-appeal-but-wont-be-back/4162/ ;  http://gazette.com/colorado-springs-veterans-wait-time-doctored-records-to-hide-wait-time-woes/article/1569289
 
Hour Four
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:  King John: Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England: The Road to Magna Carta, by Marc Morris. “In lively, cultured prose, the English historian Morris (The Norman Conquest) investigates the complex road taken by 'Bad King John' to the signing of the Magna Carta in June of 1215. Full of fascinating details, with the added bonus of a translation of the full Magna Carta.” (Publishers Weekly) (1 of 8)
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  King John: Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England: The Road to Magna Carta, by Marc Morris (2 of 8)
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 4, Block C: King John: Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England: The Road to Magna Carta, by Marc Morris (3 of 8)
Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:  King John: Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England: The Road to Magna Carta, by Marc Morris (4 of 8)
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