Photo: Caves near Kalbajar, Nagorno-Karabakh, known as "rock symphony" by the locals. See: Hour 3, Block A: Elin Suleymanov, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United State, and author of a reminiscence in the Washington Examiner on his childhood in Kalbejar, a mountain village in the now-disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.  
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 1, Block A: Tim Kane, GOP candidate for Congress from Ohio, with elections on May 8 and August 7 of this year.  Note: Check ballot on both sides! (1 of 2)
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 1, Block B: Tim Kane, GOP candidate for Congress from Ohio, with elections on May 8 and August 7 of this year.  Note: Check ballot on both sides! (1 of 2)
         Timothy Joseph "Tim" Kane (born April 28, 1968) is an American economist, currently serving as a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is a veteran Air Force intelligence officer with two overseas tours of duty. After leaving the service, Kane founded multiple technology firms while pursuing a Ph.D. in economics. After briefly working as a professor of economics, Kane served on the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and was Director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at the Heritage Foundation. He was the lead editor of the 2007 Index of Economic Freedom, co-published by The Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation, and is the author of the book, Bleeding Talent: How the U.S. Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It's Time for a Revolution. Kane co-authored the book, Balance: The Economics of Great Powers from Ancient Rome to Modern America with Glenn Hubbard.
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 1, Block C: Patrick Tucker, technology editor for Defense One, and author of The Naked Future: What Happens in a World That Anticipates Your Every Move?; in re:  Sophisticated weaponry.
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 1, Block D:  Patrick Tucker, technology editor for Defense One, and author of The Naked Future: What Happens in a World That Anticipates Your Every Move?; in re:  Sophisticated weaponry.
 
Hour Two
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 2, Block A:  Sebastian Gorka, Fox News, in re:   In 1957 Ike deployed the Nat Guard t defend school children; many other uses.  Today, the threat of MS13, weapons smuggling, humanitarian toll & potential exploitation by terrorist: president is within his [rights] to defend the border.  Success of thrashing ISIS in Syria: why are we there *& what's our interest?  Issue now is the political regime.   Pres Trump’s default position is always to withdraw; Saudis may put up $4 Bil PA and we can maintain a small force there.  Turkey:  it's a quasi-ally with strategic import but has been captured by an indigenous Ikhwan version of Erdogan’s theology – neo-Ottomanist or NATO?  There are shadows and corners where ISIS can reconstitute itself; we made errors in Mosul and Raqqah.  “The global jihadi movement.”  Al Q very active esp in Africa but also around he world. We need to take the fight to them, andnne better than Mike Pompeo in State and John Bolton in NSC.
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 2, Block B:   Sebastian Gorka, Fox News, in re:   McMaster: “We have filed to impose sufficient costs on Russia.”  How do we blunt Russia’s aggression?   Vide: three of the captive nations – the Baltics – heads of state stand next to our president.  Russia’s current [bad actions] are merely repackaged previous deeds. US: Counteractive. Gerasimov, Chief of general staff.  Russia knows not to provoke too much – rumor they’ll send little green robots.  They push he bayonet  into the flesh until they feel some armor ; if you resist, they stop.  Don't allow them to . .  .  “Reflexive control” – they map our expectations and guide us down the wrong decision path.  Russia is an anti-status quo actor. It's not about logic, it’s about narrative - recall Ben Rhodes’s “the morons in the media.” 
Report that poor weather has cancelled the Marine amphibious assault exercises in Korea.  Mtg on denuclearization of the Stalinist gulag in the north.    Xi Jinping n Moscow?  Entertaining Kim?  Something happened between Kim and XI; White House was informed in advance by China, which s unprecedented; probably read the riot act to Kim.  Japan: has started the biggest organizational shake-up in post-War history.  Short version: Japan is militarizing – Jane’s Defence Weekly has been reporting this for a decade. There are 50,000 US troops in Japan that could the go elsewhere to help our allies. 
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 2, Block C:  Mary Anastasia O’Grady, WSJ Editorial and The Americas; in re: Chile’s economy was left in weakened condition by the socialist Bachelet, who determined to dismantle the Chilean economy, which became “like an ageing housecat.”  Bad polices – too much regulation + high taxes. It's the most successful country in South America, highest GDP per capita, but on the edge. New president is not an economic liberal; need someone pro-market, not pro-business; he may be a bit too populist.   Denounced by a Russian bank, Russian family who fled Russia to Guatemala from Putin; thought they’d got correct documentation, but turned out to have been actual victims of a human trafficking gang. Russian bank accused them of absconding with funds; father sentenced to 19 years in prison in Guatemala.
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 2, Block D: Mary Anastasia O’Grady, WSJ Editorial and The Americas; in re:  Argentine Buenos Aires provincial governor, Ms Vidal, suddenly finds her SUV surrounded by heavies pounding on her car.  She got out f the vehicle, went into the middle of the mob, asked why they were doing this?  People shocked; she forced the leader to say, It's not my fault, these people have got out of hand, which left her in wrath. Finally, she said, ”I’m leaving; you have an appt with my chief of staff. I have to leave now.”   This generated a big change in the political culture of the country.  . . .
 
Hour Three
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 3, Block A: Elin Suleymanov, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United State, and author of a reminiscence in the Washington Examiner; in re: His childhood in Kalbejar a mountain village in the now-disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.  Is very beautiful, has mineral deposits.  Azerbaijanis there were all expelled when Armenia took over, they now live in refugee camps. Poignant photo by Thomas Goltz*. Stories of those displaced are touching.  Some who tried to visit the graveyards of their family were taken hostage by Armenia and are still being held. The Nagorno-Karabakh war is unresolved; [JB: Moscow doesn't seem to want it resolved.] Occupation of Kalbejar was such a blatant violation of laws that the UN passed motions thereon.  . . . .
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Goltz
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 3, Block B: Matt Brodsky, Security Studies Group senior Fellow, & NRO, in re:  White House policies.  Syria. The day after the US pulls out, bad things will happen: In the SW, Hezbollah encroachment from Lebanon toward Golan; in Turkey: vs Kurds; in the Eastern section where the oil is, Iran & Assad will take it over and with that money will reconstruct Syria for their own use while starving the people. What they all want is for the US to disappear. Current, systematic violations of the deconfliction agreements.  Redounds to the disadvantage of US also as we try to cease the Iran nuclear deal.
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 3, Block C:  The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s, by William I Hitchcock
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 3, Block D:  The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s, by William I Hitchcock
 
Hour Four
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 4, Block A: Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor,  by James M. Scott
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 4, Block B: Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor,  by James M. Scott
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 4, Block C: Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor,  by James M. Scott
Thursday 5 April 2018 / Hour 4, Block D: Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor,  by James M. Scott
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