The John Batchelor Show

Monday 4 January 2021

Air Date: 
January 04, 2021

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Colleague: Thaddeus McCotter, American Greatness
 
Hour One
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block A: Tom Joscelyn, @thomasjoscelyn, Long War Journal and FDD; and Bill Roggio, @billroggio, Long War Journal and FDD; podcast: Generation Jihad; in re: Robin Simcox, director of the London-based Counter Extremism Group, on the ongoing jihadist threat in Europe and efforts to combat extremism in the U.K. and elsewhere.   Even the definition of “Islamism” and many other relevant words hasn't been accomplished.
 Setting one group against another: US thinks it can use the Taliban to fight al Qaeda. [Nutty.]  Secretary Pompeo in February 2020, said, “Taliban would destroy al Qaeda”!  From the beginning, the US never figured out what it was looking at.  Brits checked out of Afghanistan long ago.
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block B: Tom Joscelyn, @thomasjoscelyn, Long War Journal and FDD; and Bill Roggio, @billroggio, Long War Journal and FDD;  podcast: Generation Jihad;   in re:  Senior al Q members in Iran. At the behest of the US, al Masri, the sub-emir of al Q, was killed by Israel. Obviously, al Qaeda has major operatives in Iran. Why does the US completely fail to see this?  Basic facts.
General Lloyd Austin, nominated to Secretary of Defense. Biden praises him for beginning the retreat from Iraq.   Military need to wait seven years before being appointed to a civilian post. Get rid of the waiver.
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block C: Michael Yon: @Michael_Yon, war correspondent;andGordon Chang, @GordonGChang,Daily Beast, in re:  Extreme aggression by the Mainland CCP government toward Hong Kong. Jimmy Lai, the most distinguished Hong Kong publisher, thrown in jail on invented charges.  Beijing doesn't want him talking; it’s a signal that anyone can be terrorized by the CCP. They kidnap people out of Thailand, do anything they want Agnes Chao, 24 years old, is in a top security prison in solitary confinement, for “illegal assembly” in 2019. She’s threatened and brutalized for participating in one protest of June 2020. The CCP facial recognition technology and interception of communications.  “They're going full Tibet in Hong Kong.”  Xi Jinping thinks he can intimidate anyone. This insurrection may melt away momentarily but will return.  Jimmy Lai spoke out against Beijing when he had a lot to lose. They cannot silence him; they can even kill him, but he will never [cave in].  The CCP knows it can't win a kinetic war in HK, so will widen the fight to Washington and other capitals. During the Biden campaign, they said they’d address human rights matters with China, incl Hong Kong. The HK insurrection have serious doubts about Biden.
 In Portland, I visited the demonstrators in their [space]; they were visibly, heavily drugged.  https://www.foxnews.com/world/hong-kong-media-tycoon-jimmy-lais-bail-revoked
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/hongkong-agneschow-01012021125427...
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block D:  Charles Burton: @cburton001, blogs at RealityChek; and senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Centre for Advancing Canada's Interests Abroad; and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast, in re: 
“U.S. and EU Condemn Jailing of Lawyer Who Reported on Coronavirus in Wuhan.  She was a lawyer. But when the coronavirus began raging in Wuhan, China, Zhang Zhan started reporting as a citizen journalist — offering a candid look at the situation on the ground. Then, after months of sharing videos and text updates on WeChat, Twitter and YouTube — the 37-year-old's social media feeds went dark in May. Authorities detained her, claiming she was spreading lies, according to The New York Times. And on Monday, she was sentenced to four years in prison. One of Zhang's attorneys said she was convicted of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," according to The Associated Press. On Tuesday, the EU, U.K. and U.S. all expressed outrage at her imprisonment. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded Zhang be released.”
There’s growing evidence that the evolution of the virus is not entirely natural.  A lot of factors suggest that the notion of an animal producing the virus is increasingly less credible. Central leadership still refuses to let outsiders into the lab.  Chinese regime is using lawfare to [quash] dissidents.  Dozens of journalists in China have been detained as they investigated the origin of the virus.  They’re not intimidated, nor is the scientific community.
ChinaDem.org    Clearinghouse of information on journalists’s being persecuted in China. Also could use donations.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/29/951258654/u-s-and-eu-condemn-jailing-of-l...
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3115988/chinas-military...
 
Hour Two
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block A:  David Drucker: @DavidMDrucker, Washington Examiner;  &John Fund, @johnfund, NRO, in re: Trump forces want Pence to be Lord High Executioner. Others say he needs to be a potted plant. He’ll have to be a moderator, stage-manage the debate. The law of 1887.   Sen Cruz gets to prove that when Trump needed support, Cruz was there to do so. Conundrum: he’s obliged to do exactly what Trump wants even if it's impossible.
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block B:  David Drucker: @DavidMDrucker, Washington Examiner;  &John Fund, @johnfund, NRO, in re: Domestic politics at this unusual moment.
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block C:  Jed Babbin, Washington Times, in re: 
Solar Wind was penetrated by a foreign actor in March. It may not always be a military attack, but needs to be responded to as though it was. Obama Administration just ignored it. Our deterrents didn't deter a damned thing. NSA, Cybercommand, many others, are quite worried. But can't get the national leadership to formulate a policy, Shameful. Iran will have nuclear weapons within two years.
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block D: Lorenzo Fiori: Direttore Generale Ansaldo Fondazione ; in re: Italy in the time of the virus.  Have received 400,000 vaccine doses since 28 December; only 25% have been distributed. We don't know why.
 
Hour Three
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, @conf_of_pres, Conference of Presidents, in re: Iran announces its intention to enrich uranium to 20%; from 20% to 90% is purely technical. Biden has a “sliver” of time ot persuade Iran to revert to the JCPOA. Provocations on may fronts: a ship in the Persian Gulf was found to have a limpet mine attached to it. An Iranian terrorist cell in Abu Dhabi, apparently intended to target Jews visiting the UAE. Qatar, Iran, Turkey: defending Soleimani.  Much as retaliation against the death of Soleimani. A Korean chemical ship attacked by IRGC, arrested by Iran as “polluting the Gulf.” Bogus.  South Korea much displeased. This weekend, protests n Teheran and elsewhere against Soleimani’s death. Nasrallah says he has missiles pointed at Israel. However, Iranians have torn down posters of Soleimani.  Hezbollah says it’s making PGMs, targeted Israel’s oil patch; has put its missiles in civilian homes.  
   Daniel Pearl, Wall Street Journal journalist, murdered in 2002 by a gang in Pakistan.   The killers now just released in Pakistan by a provincial court. US says it's ready to try them in the US. Has the US lost focus on terrorism?  Intensity of the global network, incl in South America, close to the US. So many aspects coming to the fore. Egypt:  Soleimani used to hand out suitcases filled with cash, multiple millions therein.  Turkey still trying to “reach out” to Israel, despite his fondness for aspects of Nazi Germany and other [regrettable] propensities.  Ergdogan has stashed his cash in walk-in vaults in the basement of his villa in Turkey.
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block B:  Indiana Hoenlein, @conf_of_pres, Conference of Presidents, in re:  An attack on Ashkelon eight centuries ago created the Ashkelon we stand in today.
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block C:  Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness, in re:  The Election of 1876 & What is to be done on January 6, 2020? @AndrewCMcCarthy @NRO @theamgreatness
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block D:  Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness, in re: Devin Nunes received the Presidential Medal of Freedom today.
 
Hour Four
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block A:  Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan,by Steve Coll
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block B:  Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan,by Steve Coll
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block C:  Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan,by Steve Coll
Monday 4 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block D:  Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan,by Steve Coll