Thursday 7 July 2016
Photo, left:
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 7 July 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: Sarah Westwood, Washington Times, in re:
Dir Comey shed some new light on the Clinton server investigation: she wasn’t put under oath nor was her FBI testimony recorded. . . . She might not know what a classified marking looks like?? “Nothing on my server was marked ‘classified’” – hunh? . . . Mens rea* – intent to break a law needs only knowledge that you’re committing an unlawful act, not knowledge of the specific statute. Firewall, homebrew server, et al.; and then the Clinton Foundation: not the Secretary of State. Clinton and staff deleted 30,000 emails, then deleted more, incl some that were classified. Comey said she carried several mobile devices.
* Mens rea: the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime, as opposed to the action or conduct of the accused.
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 1, Block B: Mary Kissel, in re: James Taranto says Mary is the source of the very good idea that the decision by Dir Comey is a decision reminiscent of the decision by John Roberts in 2012: the argument pointed to a decision that Obamacare should be struck down, but the Chief Justice’s conclusion didn’t correspond with the facts. Grave implications for our rule of law: The FBI dir did not do its job. The AG did not do her job. The Supreme Court threw Constitutional issues back to a lower court. The president did not do his job.
The politicization of the FBI – this is what banana republics do. It's the last thing the United States needs at this juncture.
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Brett Arends, in re: Forty-eight hours ago Brett Arends was on our program when the world was prognosticating a won by one or another globally-known figure – Gove or May – Brett proposed Leadsome; and now Michael Gove is gone, May lost, and Leadsome won. Farsighted Brett.
Gove persuaded Boris Johnson to backstab David Cameron and lead the Brexit campaign. Then when it succeeded, Gove backstabbed Johnson. Paranoid wife’s column in the Daily Mail sometimes defies parody. Gove was tarnished; people wanted a Brexit leader, and it came to Andrea Leadsome, a junior minister in the govt, lightweight CV, has been caught embellishing it; but after Gove stabbed Johnson and was tarnished by that she was the Brexiteer left standing. She has a lot of experience as [Home Minister?] A few month ago the Conservative Party was split ‘twixt Remain and Leave; May kept her head down and after the referendum is seen as a unity candidate. The decision is made not by Parliamentary . . . it's a constitutional monarchy; rather, party grassroots select the leader. Elderly, white; envelope-stuffers (“Not all of them are alive”). If Theresa May wins, she’ll push for a general election as soon as she can. Labour is in a terrible mess; Jeremy Corbyn is a farcical figure, has just won 80% [nonconfidence] from his party. No respect. Previous Labour: You could pay £5 and become a voting member of the party – this included many Conservatives who joined un order to mess up the party. “Every single member of Parliament secretly nurses an ambition to become PM.” Every single one is prepared to stab the others in order to achieve his prize.
British Home Secretary Theresa May and Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom will compete for the leadership of the Conservative Party after a July 7 vote by lawmakers eliminated Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove from the running, Reuters reported. May captured 199 votes and Leadsom won 84, while Gove came in third place with 46 votes. Following the day's vote, about 150,000 party members from around the country will choose between May and Leadsom, with a final result expected by Sept. 9. In the lead-up to the Brexit vote, May quietly supported the campaign to remain in the European Union. Leadsom, on the other hand, openly advocated leaving the bloc, a stance that could play better with the Conservative Party's voter base. Whoever it is, the next party leader and prime minister will have the task of negotiating the United Kingdom's next move following the momentous referendum.
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 1, Block D: Josh Rogin, Washington Post, in re: Why the Trump-Corker partnership could never work. Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker travelled to North Carolina with Trump; Trump announces that even though Saddam Hussein was a bad guy he killed terrorists “so good.” So the chairman cut his losses and withdrew. Corker later said: “The perfect vice-president for Donald Trump would be Ivanka.” . . . Trump utters something then his policy advisors go around trying to figure out how to set it in a coherent framework. Trump has no theory; he just says what comes to mind that instant.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/why-the-trump-corker-partnership-could-never-work/2016/07/06/1f476dd2-43ba-11e6-bc99-7d269f8719b1_story.html
Hour Two
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 2, Block A: David Pollock, Washington Institute, in re: a thirteen-year-old girl was asleep, a man crept into her bedroom and stabbed her multiple times; her two sisters were away from home. He was 17, a school dropout, was then shot dead. Why: The constant ocean of incitement with which the Palestinian Authority drenches Palestinians.
US Congress has tried hard to raise awareness of this issue and insist that if the US supports PA with taxpayer money then the PA must pay a concrete price for its anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli incitement. In 2015 it got a commitment from State to cut $80 mil from the $400 million that the US sends directly to Ramallah. This cut has not had the intended effect and the money has now been restored! While part of the PA foments hatred, other parts are cooperating with Israel to cease terrorism. Intentional mixed messages: incite violence and murder and work to stop dome of it. Ergo, we need to continue relations but extract a price for murderous behavior. Even the Quartet – EU, Russia, UN, and US – issued a report that covered this in art. PA allocated $172 million given to terrorists who killed Israelis or to their families. This is blood money to convicted murderers, give them employment benefits, incentives to continue. Official government media, and Cabinet officials. A third of PA govt budget comes from foreign aid: EU and US. Now, the PA doesn't pay – the Palestinian Liberation Movement will pay.
David Pollock, the Kaufman Fellow at The Washington Institute, focuses on the political dynamics of Middle East countries. He is the director of Project Fikra, a program of research, publication, and network-building designed to generate policy ideas for promoting positive change and countering the spread of extremism in the Middle East. At the forefront of this effort is Fikra Forum, a unique Arabic-English bilingual online platform that promotes exchanges between mainstream Muslims and Arab democrats and U.S. decision makers and opinion leaders.
· http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA00/20160706/105161/HHRG-114-FA00-Wstate-PollockD-20160706.pdf
· http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-07-01/the-palestinian-incentive-program-for-killing-jews
· http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/HHRG-114-FA00-Wstate-CarmonY-20160706.pdf
· www.thetower.org /3594-bloomberg-view-palestinian-payments-to-terrorists-and-their-families-fuel-violence/
· freebeacon.com/national-security/palestinian-authority-pays-terrorists-families-140-million-year/
· https://www.commentarymagazine.com/terrorism/us-terror-subsidizing-murder/
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 2, Block B: Tony Badran, in re: Russia annexing part of Ukraine and alarming the Baltics; US deploys warplanes to confront Russia. But in Syria: while in Europe the US and NATO oppose the Russian Federation as villains but in Syria endorse Russia’s efforts to destroy terrorists and fly B52s with SU27s in the tiny airspace. Of course, in Syria, Russia isn't firing at terrorists, rather at US-backed fighters. War in Syria is an onion with endless layers. Russians and Iranians agree on one fundament: keep Assad in power. Absent the regime, Iran loses its land bride to the Med and Russia loses its critical port.
The strategic objectives all center on survival of Assad regime. Iranians are the ground force!
Netanyahu now in Moscow because of US intervention: US bugged out and suddenly the Russians are here with a major sea base in Syria just north of Lebanon; so Israel had zero choice by ti converse with Russia. Israel wants to be sure Hezb can't smuggle advance weapons into Lebanon nor set up . . . Russia in nuke and energy and weapons deals with Iran.
Tony Badran is a research Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he focuses on Lebanon, Hezbollah, Syria, and the geopolitics of the Levant. Born and raised in Lebanon, Tony has testified to the House of Representatives on several occasions regarding U.S. policy toward Iran and Syria.
· http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/badran-tony-why-bibis-visits-to-moscow-mean-bad-news-for-israel/
· http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-truce-idUSKCN0ZM0PZ
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 2, Block C: Michael Rubin, in re: Iranian people expected their lives would improve with the lifting of the sanctions – but the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps dominates all the economy and money always flows there. Will the people’s patience be infinite or will they rise up? The JCPOA: the next Administration cannot simply repeal the agreement – it was structured so Iran got most of the benefits up front, so you'd just relieve Iran of its few remaining obligations. Can use it as a tool by actually enforcing the obligations. This Administration has not done that at all. Consider the Boeing sale: planes can be cannibalized and parts used for Iranian military. It will be be a challenge to whoever is next elected in the US: a quarter-century since Carter; this generation doesn’t really know where red lines are. Next president will face the problem: there’ll be a test from Iran to see how the new president responds. China does the same thing. Iran and China can alternate weekends . . . Will the Obama Adm will it be seen over time as having been an outlier in the continuum? The American Left tends to demonize power; the Right tends to see power as a tool for good or bad. Also: when Kerry negotiates, he wants to get to yes, but Iran and Russia by contrast play a zero-sum game.
Is there any tension between Moscow and Teheran? They have a they enjoy now. Iranian blogosphere and independent press lack some of the optimism on Russia (“Russia will throw us under the bus”). Africa: leaders constantly raise fears of Iranian agents in Africa – with limited resources, they prioritize: nations with vote on non-permanent Security Council or on the IAEA Board of Governors, or where Iran can get logistical assistance - Djibouti and Sudan - and countries mining uranium. There’s an enormous Lebanese diaspora in West Africa and Hezbollah is smuggling arms in to them. Use false ship manifests. Morocco and Senegal cut relations with Iran as it was fomenting religious trouble.
Michael Rubin is a former Pentagon official whose major research areas are the Middle East, Turkey, Iran and diplomacy. Rubin instructs senior military officers deploying to the Middle East and Afghanistan on regional politics, and teaches classes regarding Iran, terrorism, and Arab politics on board deploying U.S. aircraft carriers. Rubin has lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen, both pre- and post-war Iraq, and spent time with the Taliban before 9/11.
· https://www.aei.org/publication/iran-russia-relations/
· http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/russias-cooperation-on-the-iran-deal-is-no-favor-to-washington
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 2, Block D: Patrick Clawson, Washington Institute, in re:
Patrick Clawson is Morningstar senior Fellow and director of research at the Washington Institute, where he directs the Iran Security Initiative. Widely consulted as an analyst and media commentator, he has authored more than 150 articles about the Middle East and international economics and is the author or editor of eighteen books or studies on Iran.
· http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-Iran-deal-a-year-after-There-are-no-benefits-459590
· https://www.algemeiner.com/2016/07/06/on-first-anniversary-of-iran-nuclear-deal-american-credibility-in-middle-east-destroyed-says-former-us-ambassador-to-iraq-turkey/
· http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/irans-modest-economic-changes-since-jcpoa-implementation
· http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-jcpoas-regional-impact-sinking-confidence-in-the-u.s.-balancing-role
· http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/preserving-the-jcpoa-means-sending-iran-the-right-deterrent-signals
· http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/benjamin-weinthal-german-intel-report-charges-iran-seeking-illegal-nuke-missile-tech/
· http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/benjamin-weinthal-germanys-merkel-says-iran-violating-un-missile-regulations/
· http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/olli-heinonen1-uranium-particles-at-parchin-indicate-possible-undeclared-iranian-nuclear-a/
Hour Three
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 3, Block A: Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: Israeli PM travels though Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia. A fundamental re-set of Israeli relations on the continent. Israel gave a lot of aid to 40 countries; Holland gave its aidd via Israel. Now Netanyahu – African leaders want to visit Israel ; fear of Iran is permeating Africa – narcoterrorism, smuggling terrorism; used to be China, now is Iran. When they see how Israel is water-sufficient, increases yields, large herds of cows, excellent medicine, This is the 40th anniversary of the Entebbe raid; Bibi’ s bother was the leader of the rid and he only one to die. Bibi held a summit with eight nations; Tanzania is opening en an embassy in Jerusalem.
Egypt and Hamas: Egypt has good security n the Red Sea, but Gazans have reneged on their promise to stop terrorists’s entry in Egypt, and arms transfer, Today Egypt cancelled a large delegation headed by Marzouk to Cairo: did not get the answers needed and HAMAs is still interacting with ISIS. Hamas concerned about an ISISI takeover of Gaza City? Yes, tensions – but collaborating on training and in weaponry.
Hamas and its tunnels: a couple of chuckleheads – Al Dumb and Al Dumber - stuffed 10K euros into their shoes, smuggled huge funds to the West Bank to terrorists; had permits to go from Gaza to West Bank for trade. One had the hjob of clearing sand from Hamas tunnel-digging sites. Hamas is putting tunnels into civilian locations again, esp mosques; and rockets also.
Excavation in the lower Galilee: Hucoq – found two most important mosaics, Roman-era (Fifth Century BC) synagogues, with scenes of Noah’s ark, animals entering two by two including elephants. Another of the Red Sea parting – chariots and horses, huge fish devouring them.
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 3, Block B: Avi Issacharoff, in re: Abu Allah is a well-known PLO member of Fatah, number 2 or 3 under Arafat; then a debate on who’d win, they elected Abbas. In 209 he was thrown away by Fatah and was not elected to the Central Committee - a sort of coup . Beir Zeit elections as a bellwether. If Abbas does not continue being president, who will succeed him? Each sees himself as the true successor. In the confusion, decided to bring in Abu Allah as consensus candidate. Municipal elections in West Bank? Probably. PA incitement against Israel and Jews? Mostly from today’s social networks. Complaints against Facebook. . . Abbas is doing everything he can to stay in power.
Avi Issacharoff, The Times of Israel's Middle East analyst, fills the same role for Walla, the leading portal in Israel. He is also a guest commentator on many different radio shows and current affairs programs on television. 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." Avi was the Middle East Affairs correspondent for Israeli Public Radio covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Iraq and the Arab countries between the years 2003-2006. Avi directed and edited short documentary films on Israeli television programs dealing with the Middle East. In 2004, together with Amos Harel, he wrote The Seventh War - How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians. A year later the book won an award from the Institute for Strategic Studies for containing the best research on security affairs in Israel. In 2008, Issacharoff and Harel published their second book, entitled, 34 Days - The Story of the Second Lebanon War, which won the same prize.
· http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-abbas-era-2/
· http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/PA-to-boycott-Quartet-following-its-report-on-Mideast-peace-459543
· http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-refusing-to-condemn-terror-surge-not-taking-calls-from-world-statesmen/
· http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8365/palestinians-free-fair-elections
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 3, Block C: Richard A Epstein, Chicago and NYU Law, and Hoover (inter al.), in re: The week after the Fourth of July is a good time to take stock of the presidency of Barack Obama. It is highly unlikely that he will change course in his six remaining months in office, so he will be judged by history on his current record. That record reveals an enormous gap between his grandiose promises and his pitiful performance over the past eight years. The sad truth is that the United States today is weaker economically, more divided socially, and more disrespected across the globe than it was before Obama took office. With few exceptions, he made the wrong choices in all the areas in which he declared the dawn of a new era… (1 of 2) http://www.hoover.org/research/barack-obamas-failed-presidency
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 3, Block D: Richard A Epstein, Chicago and NYU Law, and Hoover (inter al.) (2 of 2)
Hour Four
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 4, Block A: James Taranto, WSJ, in re:
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 4, Block B: James Taranto, WSJ, in re:
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 4, Block C: Robert Zimmerman, behind the black, in re:
Thursday 7 July 2016 / Hour 4, Block D: Robert Zimmerman, behind the black, in re:
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