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JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast
 
Hour One
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 1, Block A:  Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, in re: North Korea's latest charm offensive
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 1, Block B:  Rick Fisher, Senior Fellow on Asian Military Affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, in re:  Chinese ballistic missiles.  Specs.
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 1, Block C:  Ivan Eland, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute; in re: North Korea. . . .  North Korea developed nuclear weapons in response to American threats. It’d be good to wean South Korea out from under the US security umbrella. I did my Ph.D. on the effects of economic sanctions; usually only short-term effects and best for a small goal.  US in Korea also f/b/o the US?  That’s the imperial frontier thesis. 
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 1, Block D:  Stephen Yates, CEO of D.C. International Advisory, former advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, and candidate for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Idaho, in re: The Emperor Xi Jinping, esp compared to Mao.  China increased its budget by 8.1%, not incl military acquisitions – the budget for which is probably growing even faster.    Trump’s natl defense strategy no longer identifies China as a strategic partner, but calls out China for what it is.  Kissinger’s regrettable policies: we can engage China and normalize it.  Establishment thinking [got us into this pinch]. “The warm bath of conventional thinking.”   We should be moderinizing faster than we are; we should be developing aggressive cyber and other capabilities – we’re just noticing how [aggressive] China’s conduct is — in academe, in culture, in all realms within the US. The comprehensive nature of the challenge China presents may be too large for Americans to grasp. The magnitude of China’s intrusions [compared to those of Russia] is vastly larger.
Also: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-animal-farm-ban-censorship-george-orwell-xi-jinping-power-letter-n-a8235071.html
 
Hour Two
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 2, Block A: Bob Collins, 37-year veteran advisor to the Department of Defense and author of the just-released Pyongyang Republic: North Korea's Capital of Human Rights Denial, in re: Talks about talks with North Korea.  The South Korean opposition party challenged Moon Jae-in about the billions of dollars transferred to North Korea [as a bribe] when the North last pretended to be amenable to amiable discussions.  Tis time around, the South said that the North would give up its weapons, quit testing, do all sorts of highly improbable things.  No word on any of this from the North, of course.
Moon is walking into a situation [beyond his control].  Dan Coates, DNI, expressed dubiety about the North’s doing anything obliging. 
https://www.thedailybeast.com/peace-now-be-careful-the-least-trustworthy-koreans-may-be-ones-from-the-south?ref=home
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 2, Block B: Cleo Paskal, visiting Trudeau Fellow, University of Montreal, and associate Fellow, Chatham House, in re: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-polltracker-india-1.4564733
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/trump-tariffs-steel-aluminum-canada-china-1.4565892
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 2, Block C:  Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS);  in re: The new cold war.
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 2, Block D:  Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS);  in re: The new cold war.
 
Hour Three
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 3, Block A:  Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, in re:  Military
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 3, Block B:  Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, in re:  Military
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 3, Block C:  John Heminway, In Full Flight
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 3, Block D:  John Heminway, In Full Flight
 
Hour Four
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 4, Block A:   Harlow Giles Unger, Mr President
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 4, Block B:   Harlow Giles Unger, Mr President
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 4, Block C:   The Marquis, Laura Auricchio
Wednesday  7 March 2018/ Hour 4, Block D:   The Marquis, Laura Auricchio
 
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