JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast
 
Hour One
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 1, Block A:  Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, in re: China's lack of options in Hong Kong.   Signs held by hand in basketball games, one saying, “Google Uyghurs” and the other “Support Free Hong Kong,” were confiscated by guards at US basketball games.      Mr Silver,  NBA commissioner.
       The nine-dash line (also called “cow’s tongue”) shows China’s claim to the South China Sea.  NBA and Disney have endorsed China’s attempt to steal vast territories.  China and the NBA take the position that China owns all this; the entire rest of the world disagrees. Any American who does bz with China is extremely foolish: you’ll [lose your shirt] and make a fool of yourself. Geneva Arbitration Court calls these claims illegal. China pays no attention, as usual. 
       Beijing keeps telling Hong Kong, You’ve got to do what we say – but it’s almost slipped out of its hands, with the people largely in control.  Mr Xi has done nothing, let the situation get worse and worse.  
       US businesspersons should say to China: “[Be civilized,] or we won’t do any business with you.
China is a criminal country: harvesting organs, and the Uyghurs. The US should have the sense not to get involved with such sordid countries.  Silver should resign. Apple is in trouble with Chinese work.
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 1, Block B: Alan Tonelson, independent economic policy analyst who blogs at RealityChek and tweets at @AlanTonelson, in re: the upcoming trade talks.  A Chinese trade delegation is in or arriving in Washington. Liu He, head s very senior and a companion of Xi.  It looks like the last act of Trump trying to show the American public that he’s done all he can to create a deal, and it isn’t working.  Efforts to prevent intellectual property theft and the like aren't working.  I expect no tariffs lifted, although the Oct 5 tariffs may be held off; also, I don’t see the Chinese as interested in offering anything. They may have misread US politics and thing they can wait out Pres Trump.  They can hold out for about one more year. 
       Even Elizabeth Warren sees that her voting base is in love with cheap Chinese goods, so her policies are likely to shift to favoring Beijing.  “Vote for Trump or Xi”?
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 1, Block C: Nury Turkel, Uyghur-American attorney and Board Chair for the Uyghur Human Rights Project, in re: Three young men holding a “Google Uyghur” sign at a basketball game; guards seize it.  Photos in the London papers showing that in Xinjiang the graveyards are being eliminated – graves are trashed, filled with rebar and poured concrete.  This has been going on for a long time. Chinese govt have been treating Uyghurs as subhuman for decades.
       Rumors that China is building crematoria to burn the bodies of [murdered] Uyghurs.  Commercial advertisement: “Recruiting workers for crematoria.”    Women seized and tortured in in prison camps, including sexually.  Men are subject to organ harvesting: foreigners can buy a heart and lungs with only a 48-hour wait.  A train line with hundreds of men shackled and being marched to prison camps.   The uniforms show Kashgar.  Intl community must be mindful that the Chinese govt will do anything, certainly including Potemkin villages.
      We commend the Trump Adm for taking bold steps.   I never imagined that the US govt would sanction the entire Xinjiang police force.   At least 18 c0untries are importing Chinese surveillance systems. 
       Two videos made by drone show ________.   I hope we can get hold of their prisoner lists – three million people are being detained.  The first thing Americans can do is create a public discussion.  It’s unthinkable that the NBA and others would kowtow to Beijing. Also, tell your Congressperson to pass the _______________.   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7553127/Even-death-Uighurs-feel-long-reach-Chinese-state.html
..
Daily Mail:  Satellite images reveal China is destroying Muslim graveyards where generations of Uighur families are buried and replacing them with car parks and playgrounds 'to eradicate the ethnic group's identity'

• Dozens of cemeteries have been destroyed in Xinjiang in north-west China in two years, investigation finds
• Demolition left behind human bones and broken tombs in what activists call a bid to erase Muslims' identity 
• Officials claim urban development and the 'standardisation' of old graves are the reasons for the bulldozing
• But Uighurs say the mass destruction is part of a state crackdown to control every element of their lives
• An estimated one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up into re-education camps 
• The US has banned 28 Chinese firms and said it would curb visas for Beijing officials over the alleged abuses 

Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 1, Block D: Michael Yon, reporter in Hong Kong, in re:  Another night of Hong Kong young people demonstrating – their courageous, and children! The Hong Kong police are huge, carry long batons that they whip around the heads of children with umbrellas.  A policeman holding a rifle shooting rubber bullets at a child on the ground at point-blank range. I must have a hundred videos of this on my Facebook.  They beat people right in front of my camera – they’ve lost control. The brutes swinging at children who have only umbrellas. Conduct beyond the bounds. My livestream shows this; you can see it in their eyes, whether they’re wearing masks or not. Question arises: are they on drugs ?
       The efficient MTR subways system has become a series of battles. Last night the police closed it at 8PM.  In effect, martial law.  They're doing something down there, we don't know what.    A lot of facial recognition cameras have been destroyed, but that’s not reason to shut the whole thing down.
       The police are out of control; brutalizing citizens. They call protestors “cockroaches,” and tear gas, “bug spray.”
See:  https://www.instagram.com/p/B3LGtoxBoxj/
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 2, Block A:  Stephen Yates, former deputy national security advisor to Vice President Cheney and currently CEO of DC International Advisory, in re: China pressuring US institutions, NBA and Apple, and what people in Taiwan are thinking about Hong Kong. October 10, “Ten-Ten Day,” is National Day in Taiwan. Kuomintang formed a democratic republic on Mainland, then moved everything to Taiwan/Formosa.
      The nine-dash line, showing where Beijing is trying to steal vast territories of land and sea. Allegedly free US networks are kowtowing to Beijing.  Shame! ESPN: just paint it over.
       Taiwanese, democratic citizens, used to be ambivalent about “joining” Cha. But now are dialed in to Hong Kong demonstrations and see the courage here. Taiwanese are concerned that some of the [bad Beijing behavior] will reach Taipei.  Bizarrely, Winnie the Pooh has strongly endorsed Tsai Ing-wen’s candidacy  against the current mayor of Kaohsiung, the southern city on the island.  China’s interference in the Taiwanese election: we need to learn from this as they may use the same methods in the US
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 2, Block B:  Rick Fisher, senior Fellow on Asian Military Affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, in re: the logistical considerations of Beijing sending in troops to Hong Kong.  The police serving in Hong Kong are now brutal. They seem to have succumbed to fear or brutality as they're ordered to beat helpless children.  Beijing trying to prevent outside observers from seeing this.  Their brutality is aimed at deterring crowds of a million or more from gathering in future. The Mainland army has received special training for urban combat. Also, a regiment or two are stationed near Hong Kong.
        Insurgencies are well established in Chinese history.  Govt has massive databases; people can be grabbed and “re-educated” or taken to camps.  Drones are an essential tool in an urban envt.  Some can stay up several hours.  Why did ESPN put up a map that includes an illegal annexation of land and sea?  What’s the explanation? “Ignorance” will do.
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 2, Block C:  Ludwig Siegele, The Economist, US technology editor; in re: Breaking up big tech
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 2, Block D:  Paul Gregory,  ,  in re: Siberian shaman walks from Yakutia to the Moscow kreml to cast out demons living in Putin.  Fabulously received along the road.  Gets as far as Irkutsk; the army or Spetsnaz appear, heavily armed, and haul him back to Ulan Ude, where he in effect disappeared.
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 3, Block A: Salena Zito, NY Post, et al., in re: Healthy, small-city politics in eastern Ohio.
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 3, Block B: Veronique de Rugy, Mercatus Center, in re: Pres Trump and tariffs.
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 3, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehidtheBlack.com, in re:  The Grand Solar Minimum (and the auld Maunder Minimum); are we there?
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 3, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehidtheBlack.com, in re:  Space engineering.
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 4, Block A: The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence, by Robert Klara
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 4, Block B:  The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence, by Robert Klara
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 4, Block C: The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence, by Robert Klara
Wednesday 9 October 2019 / Hour 4, Block D:  The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence, by Robert Klara