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JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Gordon Chang, The Daily Beast. David Livingston, The Space Show. 
 
Hour One
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 1, Block A:  Sung-Yoon Lee, professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, in re: the Trump-Moon meeting.  Kim Jong-eun game-playing:  his nation is on the verge of complete nuclear break-out.   Step 1: Act crazy, dress weird, be a buffoon  2: Kill cronies, threaten a sea of fire  3: Smile and say, I didn’t mean that. Let’s meet.
We need to abstain from any kind of front-loaded concessions. . . .  If it doesn’t happen n 12 June, I think it’ll nonetheless happen this year.   . . .
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 1, Block B: James Holmes, first holder of the Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College and blogger at The Naval Diplomat (https://navaldiplomat.com/), in re:  RMPAC — Disinviting China – a major shift.  “A wrestling match” among all stakeholders.   . . .  China has militarized the South China Sea. Shockingly direct threat to Taiwan.  . . . If China cannot defend the soi-disant islands, then they become daggers pointed at China?  Hmm – not sure that the US would do more than neutralize them.  . . . Our leadership finally are taking the [conditions of the Navy] seriously.
Adm Phillip Davidson, new PACOM commander: a tough guy. Hope he’ll follow Harry Harris. US may re-name this the Indo-Pacific Command.
China tests bombers on South China Sea island    https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/20/asia/south-china-sea-bombers-islands-intl/index.html  ;  https://news.usni.org/2018/05/23/china-disinvited-participating-2018-rimpac-exercise
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 1, Block C:  Josh Rogin, Washington Post, in re:  Confucius Institutes:  Communist China is infiltrating our colleges – the velvet glove around the iron [knife].--Sen Cruz.    Josh signed up for a Confucius 101 class in DC at my alma mater;   was benign teaching. The Problem is what goes on between the Chinese and the US officials who sign them up Opaque contracts and arrangements leading to restrictions on academic freedom, control by CCP, and law-enforcement officials’ saying that these are perfect outposts for CCP intelligence gathering. Head of FBI, Chris Wray, is investigating this.   Note that Chinese Students’s and Scholars’s Assn are also organizing – no way for a university to monitor this.   Are opaque and funded by the Chinese govt.  Can we reduce the risks? Yes. Are we good at that? No.
The alternative is to ban any Chinese govt cooperation, [which I find to be too strict].   How about, No Confucius Inst here if we can't have a George Washington Institute in China (which we currently cannot). Do we really want to do that? [Editor: yes] Chinese customers who pay full freight at US schools are helpful to the budget.   . .  Stifle critical discussion of China . . . Chinese Communist Party persecution of families who don't toe the line. 
Gordon: You wouldn't inject cancer cells into your body, and if you find them, you cut them out. This is what we have to do here.  Josh:  Chinese authoritarian mix of education, trade, espionage, theft.  Chinese worldwide aggression.  Cf: 1930s Soviet recruitment of English students on campuses?  Not recruiting Americans but definitely recruiting overseas Chinese students into the Chinese [KGB]. 
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 1, Block D:  Gordon Chang, in re: When Trump met w  Moon & they had a joint presser, Trump displeased w Mnuchin’s “very comprehensive framework.”   . .  Some relief for ZTE, no 301 tariffs, & China agreed to things they should have done in the first place, such as lift ag tariffs. “They promise and then they don't” – both Beijing and Pyongyang see the Americans as suitable to be played as suckers. Trade & DPK – two crises intersecting each other.  Last year 88.8% f Chinese sales were to the US; Chinese economy is export-dependent. Could impose real costs on China.  Xi could lose  if Trump presses [hard]; and Xi could have a problem because he’s Chairman of Everything,
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 2, Block A:  Tara O, adjunct Fellow, Pacific Forum CSIS, and Fellow at the Institute for Corean-American Studies, in re: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/22/north-koreas-nuclear-test-site-is-blowing-up-punggye-ri-just-for-show
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 2, Block B:  Alan Tonelson, independent economic policy analyst who blogs at RealityChek and tweets at @AlanTonelson, in re: Package of warmed-over compromises. We may not see them for months and months – Chinese think he can huff and puff; but it’ll take real action to [back them off]. Trump is being whipsawed between two opposing [US] factions; and a pastiche of proposals, many with contradictions to each other.  Want fairer treatment by Chinese govt of US companies.  If they get that, they’ll invest more, w the investment coming right back here; ergo, the trade gap will widen.  . . . Wilbur Ross failed monumentally last year; now he’s going to Beijing to encourage them to buy ore US products.  Absent major press by Trump, expect warmed-over version of last year.  Chinese have learned that it's easy to pursue a divide-and-conquer strategy – American farm lobby does China’s work, eke the American metal trades.  Require a full-court-press PR campaign explaining to the US public what the stakes are in the US-China rivalry.
Chinese govt owns ZTE; where will Ross find [suitable]new managers?  If he lets China off the hook, he shreds his case for Iran.  We haven’t violated sanctions once.   https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-23/trump-says-u-s-china-trade-deal-could-be-too-hard-to-get-done
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 2, Block C:  Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, in re:  F35s used by Israel in Syria.  The anti-aircraft weaponeers on the Russian side and the F35 on the US side: two heavyweight prizefighters.   . . .
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 2, Block D:  Monica Crowley, London Center for Policy Research, in re:    Trump polling
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block A: Hotel Mars, episode n.  David Livingston , the Space Show, and Bill Harwood, CBS space; in re:  
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block B:  J W Verret, Senior Affiliated Scholar, Mercatus Center,  in re: Dodd Frank.   After being praised by politicians as the financial system’s magic bullet, Dodd-Frank, which turns two on July 21st, is, in effect, riddled with half-baked solutions, corrupted by special interests, and poised to create, not prevent, the next financial crisis.
Upon Dodd-Frank’s first anniversary, Mercatus scholars weighed in on its impact and voiced concerns that still hold true today. Former Freddie Mac Economist Arnold Kling noted that one of the key aims of Dodd-Frank, solving the “too big to fail” problem, was unsuccessful. J. W. Verret, member of the Financial Markets Working Group, explained how investors have suffered from high compliance costs, and Todd Zywicki voiced concerns about the structure of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block C:  Andrew C. McCarthy, is a senior Fellow at National Review Institute ,  contributing editor at National Review;  former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and led the terrorism prosecution against the “Blind Sheikh”; in re:  moles
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block D:  Andrew C. McCarthy, is a senior Fellow at National Review Institute ,  contributing editor at National Review;  former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and led the terrorism prosecution against the “Blind Sheikh”; in re:  moles
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block A:  Code Warriors: NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union, by Stephen Budiansky
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block B: Code Warriors: NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union, by Stephen Budiansky
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block C: Henry D. Sokolski, Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, in re: North Korean and Iranian nukes: development, mfr, timelines speed bumps; delivery systems.
Wednesday 23 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block D:  Henry D. Sokolski, Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, in re: Middle Eastern nukes, incl Mahgrebi: Egypt, Tunisia, and (gasp) Turkey.
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