Screen shot: The tiny nomad child, Asifa, who was kidnapped, gang-raped, and bloodily murdered by "Hindu nationalists" to further their battle against Muslim shepherds in India. See: Hour 1, Block C, Sadanand Dhume, 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com
 
Hour One
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 1, Block A:  Sung-Yoon Lee, professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, in re: the Moon-Kim summit on Friday.
Wednesday 25 April 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 navaldiplomat.com, in re:  Chinese navy challenges the Australian navy.  Channel 16; naval visit to Ho Chi Minh City:=. If China has actually contested Australia’s liberty to use international waters, that’s significant. China takes on not just the US but also one of our allies; and an irritant in that it involve Vietnam.  China becomes more aggressive and bold.  If China demands to be the arbiter of all that goes on in the South China Sea . . .  The new Quad – Australia, NZ, Japan, US — may be a Chinese effort to prevent the Quad from coalescing. A mere decade ago, all of southern Asia wanted to be China’s friend; now, everyone is afraid and repelled.   Why have they pushed it so hard? Could be pride/hubris; or, their domestic demographic & economic situation may be not good and Beijing is trying to lock in advances.
https://thediplomat.com/2018/04/south-china-sea-australian-navy-vessels-en-route-to-vietnam-received-warnings-from-chinese-navy/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-southchinasea/china-unveils-monument-to-south-china-sea-island-building-idUSKBN1HV0Y8
http://www.businessinsider.com/australia-confirms-china-military-presence-in-vanuatu-2018-4
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 1, Block C: Sadanand Dhume, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, twitter.com/dhume ; in re: Horrifying crime where an eight-year-old girl from a nomadic shepherd family, Muslims, was murdered buy what were called Hindu nationalist. 
Story at two levels: a terrifying murder of a girl-child; the political element : child from a tribe of Muslim shepherds murdered by Hindus  in Kashmir.  The ruling party, the Hindu BJP, is seen as taking the side of the killers. PM Modi finally spoke months later, same for Rahul Gandhi.  Damage control.  The province of Jammu and Kashmir has Indian troops; the only province where Hindus are in the minority. Refugees from Burma; rising radical Islam, refugee flows, and throw in this combustible crime.  . . . Over the last seventy years, India has done a reasonably good job of calming inter-ethnic violence; also, in this instance the police did a fairly responsible job.  Also, the populace is growing ever more alert and vigilant to such nightmare crimes.   Population of 1.3 billion, meaning that, with regret, there will be a certain number of grisly crimes . . .
Asifa's rape and killing: The girl, her family and the accused ; Police investigation details gruesome rape and killing of eight-year-old Asifa Bano, as outrage in India soars.  She was an 8-year-old girl who, while grazing her horses in a meadow in northern India in January, followed a man into the forest. Days later, Asifa Bano’s small, lifeless body was recovered there. Police say that Asifa was given sedatives and, for three days, raped several times by different men. Asifa’s strangled body was eventually found Jan. 17. Police say she would have been killed sooner had one man not insisted on waiting so that he could rape her a final time.
To ensure she was dead, Asifa’s killers hit her twice on the head with a stone, according to charging documents filed by police in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and published by the Indian news website Firstpost.
In the months since, Asifa’s death has brought anguish to Kathua, the small town where she was killed. But it has also brought division. Asifa’s case is the latest example of India’s religious friction: As some denounce sexual violence and demand justice for Asifa’s family, others demand justice for the men accused.  The eight men accused in connection to the rape and murder are Hindu. Asifa was a Muslim nomad, part of the Bakarwal tribe. Asifa’s father, Mohammad Yusuf Pujwala, told the New York Times that he believes his daughter was killed by the Hindu men for the sole purpose of driving her people away. To add to the volatility of Asifa’s case, police say she was killed in a Hindu temple, and that the temple’s custodian plotted her death as a way to torment the Bakarwals.  Asifa was the pawn. “A child of only 8 years of age who … became a soft target,” police said.   https://baaghi.tv/8-year-olds-rape-murder-inflames-tensions-hindus-musli...
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 1, Block D: Mathew Ha, FDD, in re:  The players are Abe of Japan and Moon of South Korea; but the big dog is China.  Kim, the leader of a failed state, shows up in Beijing and suddenly there’s movement. Did China cause that when it ordered Kim to Beijing then returned him to the arms of his enemies, Moon Jae-in and Pres Trump? The death of /public purge of Kim’s uncle, the last residuum of the old regime.  The visit to China was to remind Kim of his obligations. Over the last months, we’ve seen a marked [flouting] of UN sanctions – overseas workers, important gifts, et al.  . . . Does Pres Trump owe Pres Xi a thank-you for this summit? Won't know at least for weeks.  Thirty North Korean defectors to China, normally illegally returned to DPRK where they're tortured and killed; this time, not.  Xi has announced that he’s going to Pyongyang in June.  . . .  China no longer has an excuse to say, ”We have no special leverage over North Korea.”  Does Xi evidence having power over Moon Jae-in?  Unhh . . . South Korea obviously wants to have good relations with China, so it’s a fine line.  Anticipating twin summits.
Trump says North Korea must get rid of its nuclear weapons.  U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the United States would continue to put "maximum pressure" on North Korea ahead of what he hoped would be positive talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that would lead to Pyongyang's denuclearization    China’s attempted power play hands leverage to Trump on North Korea - The Hill
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 2, Block A:   Tara O, adjunct Fellow, Pacific Forum CSIS, and Fellow at the Institute for Corean-American Studies, in re: the Moon-Kim summit.   Stars and Stripes.   Protesters around a US base there entirely to protect the people of South Korea, days before a conference with the North. Protesters blocking the road to the THAAD [terminal high-altitude defense] site.  Golf course lacked basic amenities so for a year soldiers had to eat MREs and be helo’d out o rotation. Protesters put grandmothers in the fore and linked arm around a PVC pipe, screaming, Finally, police removed them slowly. North Korea through its news agency complained about THAAD. Kim told protesters to let the people know that North Korea is now a nuclear power.  Moon administration decided to move only on the eve of the summit with Kim Jong-un; orders from higher up: _____?  Must have in mind the importance of ROK-US relations.  Now that the THAAD battery is resupplied, will Moon keep it or order it gone? . . .  During the upcoming summit: Is Kim sincere when he says it's OK for US troops to stay in South Korea?  No.  And in denuclearization, Kim is referring to South Korea, which has no nuclear military program so Kim is demanding an end to the US nuke umbrella.  Is Moon surrendering? NO: he’s pro-DPRK, so a victory by Kim will be a victory for Moon.
..  ..  ..
Moon-Kim summit is just around the corner and NK is making an issue of THAAD now (again) through Korea Central News Agency (KCNA).
NK wants Moon government to withdraw the THAAD decision.  NK also asks South Joseon (South Korea) people to also step up the struggle against THAAD.
The road to the THAAD site at Seongju (a former golf course owned by Lotte; Lotte was severely punished by China, and Moon gov't put Lotte head in jail) has been blocked by protesters for over a years.They actually set up road checks, demanded to inspect vehicles and blocked anything related to THAAD from passing.  Of course its all illegal, but the police hadn't/couldn't/wouldn't do anything.  They effectively blocked the construction of needed barracks and cooking/dining facilities. They couldn't even get in to fix leaky roofs or stopped up toilets.  U.S army troops had to be flown in via helicopters (every 2 weeks or so) and eat MRE's while there.  They let the ROK soldiers through.
Finally, the protesters were removed by the police recently. They even had grandmas in the forefront, locking their arms through PVC pipes. 1000s of police vs 100-200 protesters.  The police was very cordial.  It was a tough thing to do as they resisted vehemently.  The construction equipment eventually got through.
Here are some translations of KCNA quotes (my translation):
“The only thing THAAD will intercept is South Joseon’s People’s Fate.”  (by South Joseon, NK means South Korea; it calls itself Joseon.)
“South Korean government’s deployment of THAAD is following the treacherous Park Geun-hye group.”
Regarding the removal of the protesters blocking the access road:
“SK is suppressing the people of South Joseon fighting the oppose THAAD.”
“Even the current South Joseon authority (meaning Moon Jae-in), before he came to power, had denounced the scheme by the U.S. and Park Geun-hy conservative faction to deploy THAAD when he  remarked  ‘The THAAD controversy makes us ashamed to be a true sovereign state’ ‘We demand the suspension of its deployment.”  NK called on Moon Jae-in government to retract the THAAD deployment decision.”
“People of all levels of South Joseon must implement even bolder struggle to completely pull out from the sacred territory the THAAD, which threatens Minjok (Korean people’s) sovereignty, safety, and lives.”
Here's the source of what KCNA said (through a South Korean outlet): http://www.newdaily.co.kr/site/data/html/2018/04/25/2018042500011.html
Here are others reporting on the same topic: 
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-ab&ei=UrvgWuH1CYbu_Qbes72gBg&q=%EC%82%AC%EB%93%9C%EC%97%90+%EC%9D%98%ED%95%B4+%EC%9A%94%EA%B2%A9%EB%8B%B9%ED%95%A0&oq=%EC%82%AC%EB%93%9C%EC%97%90+%EC%9D%98%ED%95%B4+%EC%9A%94%EA%B2%A9%EB%8B%B9%ED%95%A0&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i160k1.61758.68096.0.68424.9.9.0.0.0.0.140.762.8j1.9.0....0...1c.1j2.64.psy-ab..0.5.414....0.Mly_u4RKCjE
All in Korean language; didn't see any in English.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/24/trade-war-with-us-may-be-tipping-point-for-chinas-debt-ridden-economy.html
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 2, Block B:  Andrew Collier, managing director of Orient Capital Research in Hong Kong and author of Shadow Banking and the Rise of Capitalism in China, in re:  Shadow banking in the US caused the financial crisis – stuff Wall St dreamt up; in China, it’s stuff dreamt up by nonbanks. Constitutes half the money in China. At one point, using offshore copper plate and make an onshore, in-China loan. Or someone says, I’ll give you 8% per year if you give me a loan; if you say yes, that’s wholly unregulated shadow banking.   Maximum risk.  Poison in the system – but if people have money and invest it and prosper or lose it on their own, that’s capitalism, so they’re learning the lessons – haven’t yet seen real failure.
The biggest risk is that something like a bank blows up and thousands lose their money.  Shadow banking also could lead to an economic collapse.  . .  Am looking for: unlike what happened last time, we’ll insiste they denclearize befoe we do anythng
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 2, Block C:  Bruce Bechtol, professor at Angelo State University and author of North Korea and Regional Security in the Kim Jong-un Era, in re: . . . The significance of having workers pulled from a nuke facility is probably: workers rarely go there anyway.  The mountain, the site, may not be geologically stable. The real problem is that it's real close to China, any radiological release will go into China. Probably planning to use a new test site; ergo, it's a sham.  Last year, Kim promised to detonate a nuke over the Pacific; now, he says that isn't necessary.  Has proven the capability to send a missile long-range and to bring it back at a designated point.  Un’s father did the same thing:  promised complete dismantlement – ha-ha!   “They drug us along for two years while we made a lot of concessions. When they abandoned their sites, they walked away from talks.” 
.  . .  Am looking for: unlike what happened last time, we’ll insist they denuclearize before we do anything; secondarily, will they move troops away from DMZ, stop proliferating to the tune of $2-3 bil PA around the Middle East and Africa, and will they much improve their own human rights matters?  I’d expect Mr Bolton to demand denuclearizing first. If I were advising Kim (which I’ll never do), I'd advise him to slow-roll dismantlement, for which Trump is pushing. 
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2143171/north-koreas-nuclear-test-site-has-collapsed-and-may-be-why-kim-jong-un
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 2, Block D: Monica Crowley, London Center for Policy Research, in re: The surprising pro-Trump sentiments in Poland, Israel, and among US oil men.  Inexplicably, Trump and Macron have a remarkably jolly personal relationship. Macron can't make that public in France because of the scorn that most of the EU pours on Trump, and has rightly intimidated Macron.   Also: Scooter Libby: Patrick Fitzgerald successfully defended him.   Now James Comey, celebrating 600,000 copies of his book sold, has hired Fitzgerald. The swamp!  Pres Trump issued a shot across the bow to Comey by pardoning Scooter; Comey turns around and hires Fitzgerald.  Trump hires Giuliani on his legal team. Rudy approached Mueller today; conference.  No Russian collusion after a year – there never was any. Rudy’s job is to bring this to a speedy end. 
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 3, Block A:  Steve Moore, American Heritage and Committee to Unleash Prosperity, in re:  Tax rates & tax law.  . . .  we eliminated the state and local tax deduction:: capped at $10,000, so millionaires and billionaires lose.  To document how big this problem will be in California and New York (and Illinois, New Jersey and others):  the solution is to take competition seriously. Rich people will move if you make the tax burden too high.  People are moving to states that cut taxes; the one profiting best from this is Utah.  Indiana, NC, Texas, all do well. New York and other blue states are actually trying to legislate that tax payments be designated “charitable contributions” and so federally deductible.  [ If they do that, the Feds will come down like a ton of bricks.—ed] Tennessee has better public services – schools, roads, police – than New York does. Why??
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 3, Block B:  Salena Zito, Washington Examiner & CNN; in re:  Her new book, The Great Revolt.
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 3, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:  Space: meteors
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 3, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 4, Block A:  Bill McGurn, WSJ, in re:  Trump’s main points.
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 4, Block B:  Bill McGurn,  WSJ, in re:  American public wins or loses based on its stances for or against Trump
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 4, Block C:  Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom, by Russell Shorto
Wednesday 25 April 2018/ Hour 4, Block D:  Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom, by Russell Shorto