The John Batchelor Show

Wednesday 23 August 2017

Air Date: 
August 23, 2017

Photo: 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com 
 
Hour One
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 1, Block A: James Holmes, professor of strategy at the Naval War College and a former surface warfare officer, in re: the two recent collisions — the two collisions with very large US Naval craft [and both being attacked from port side?] suggest intentionality.  Looks a whole lot like possibly by China. 
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/08/20/1730865/carpio-china-virtually-occupying-sandy-cay
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 1, Block B: Mark Clifford, former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post and a Hong Kong resident since 1992, in re:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-politics-idUSKCN1B00CK
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 1, Block C: Michael Auslin, Hoover, in re: North Korean missiles and warheads.  . . .  North Koreans keep making fools of Americans. An insurmountable psychological barrier to the United States’s overcoming its [habitual, knee-jerk response to DPRK], which has lasted 25 years; we’ll now turn to punishment and deterrence.  The Norks. Successfully isolating the US from East Asia.
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 1, Block D: Michael Auslin, Hoover, in re: Pakistan is not standing alone against the US; it has China at its back.  . . .  US wouldn't worry about DPRK on its own; only because it has China as its support. Same for other malfeasants, including Pakistan.  Not mentioning China in the president’s speech suggests that the US isn't thinking about China’s role – but this is an unpredictable Administration and . . . Section 301 investigation instigated by Robt Leitheiser last week: can hurt China in its increasingly mercantile trade activities. Can protect both the US and its friends and allies.  The weakest part for China is in trade.  “The bloom is off the rose; people see what’s” going on.
India is fighting the Doklam war with China on a 5-inch battleground
ECONOMICTIMES.COM|  Updated: Aug 23, 2017, 05.36 PM IST  /  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/60192637.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
 
Hour Two
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 2, Block A:  Bob Collins, 37-year veteran adviser to the Department of Defense and author of the just-released Pyongyang Republic: North Korea's Capital of Human Rights Denial, in re: Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercise (ultra-freedom guardian)  Ulchi = what the govt does for security; Freedom Guardian simulates a North Korean invasion. Exercise is designed to defend South Korea, the center being Seoul, which is so close to the DMZ. Always begins w some form of attack by DPRK.  Kim carefully tours a weapons factory [North Korea Chemical Institute?] .  . . . Information warfare is DPRK’s front line of defense— always has been, always will be.    China also hates he exercises; it regularly presses for “Freeze for freeze” whereby US stops the joint mil exercises and DPRK stops nukes dvpt.  [Ha-ha]  Every year you have to retrain the staffs; if not, then if there really is a war everyone will be unprepared. Is there antagonism between the generals and admirals (conservative) and liberal RoK presidents (of which Moon is one)? Yes, some tension.
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 2, Block B:  Gordon Chang, Daily Beast and Forbes.com, in re:  China annually steals $300-500 billion from the US, We’re just bleeding.  We should be giving India vast amounts of sat intell and others to be sure that the Indians win and win big in Doklam.
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 2, Block C:  Bruce Bechtol, San Angelo College, in re: North Korean weapons: CNN prints provocative photos of  Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defense Sciences.  Missiles – ranges; Japan or South Korea; but SLBM doesn't need lightening up because the sub can go up close to, say, Hawaii or Guam; easy range of 2000 km.  Norks release pix of their chem/mil advances because the land-based version may become an IRBM or ____, that means they have a solid-fuel missile with the range of an ICBM.
DPRK govt is breaking large SOE front companies into smaller units that are much harder to track – in Malaysia, Mozambique, and many other countries. Very hard for US to enforce sanctions.    Yesterday the US sanctioned ten entities; but that’s just whack-a-mole, as they and China merely change names of sanctioned firms. So, instead of incrementally turning up pressure, we shd go full-bore into across-the-board sanctions against North Korea: a full trade embargo against North Korea. That way, it doesn't matter what [slippery] trick DPRK pull. 
Need joint agy task force immediately start dealing with our allies in ast Asia and also Vietnam and China. If we don’t do that, we won't put a dent in that DPRK network that generates $2 bil PA and pays for their nuclear missile program.
A solid-fuel missile can be set up and fired much faster.
The 15 April parade with the huge canister: if it's anything like the DF31, we’ve just seen another paradigm shift if North Korea’s ability to ___.
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 2, Block D:  Salena Zito, CNN, and New York Post, in re: Trumpits.
 
Hour Three
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 3, Block A:  Monica Crowley, London Center, in re:  The Trump Administration.
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 3, Block B:  Dan Griswold,  ,  in re: Anti-Trumpits.
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 3, Block C:  Eric Trager, Washington Institute, in re:
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 3, Block D:  Bud Weinstein, Southern Methodist University, in re:
 
Hour Four
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 4, Block A: Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, and Hoover; in re: Unions. UAW and Nissan.
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 4, Block B: Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, and Hoover; in re: Unions.
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 4, Block C:  Sidney Blumenthal, Wrestling with Angels: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln Vol. I, 1809 – 1849   (Part VI)
Wednesday  24 August 2017 / Hour 4, Block D:  Sidney Blumenthal, Wrestling with Angels: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln Vol. I, 1809 – 1849   (Part VI)
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