The John Batchelor Show

Tuesday 13 October 2020

Air Date: 
October 13, 2020

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 1, Block A: Gregory R Copley, The New Total War of the Twenty-first Century and the Trigger of the Fear Pandemic, in re:  Armenia says the fighting will stop if Turkey leaves.
Turkey is the heavy muscle behind the fighting, and is prepared to commit forces; but the question is,  did Armenia think of this when it began its July attacks?
       There’s a massive amount of Azerbaijani territory—20% of Azerbaijan—that Armenia is occupying;  Azerbaijan has made many offers refused by Armenia, which has always had the upper hand with Russia, Europe and the US. 
       Azerbaijan wasn’t ready for the July missile attack; Armenia didn't adequately prepare for the Sept 27 response. 
       Armenia was reeling from corruption till about a year ago; meanwhile, Azerbaijan has become greatly more economically successful with its oil pipelines. 
       Sukhoi24 apparently shot down.
Turkey has been moving Syrian jihadi mercenaries into Azerbaijan for some time. 
      Russia has a mil base in Armenia. What does Russia want?  Actually, the bulk of Azerbaijani aircraft are Russian—Soviet, and thus rather old.  Russia has a strong interest in maintaining good relations with Azerbaijan.
If Russia is sufficiently displeased with Turkey, and it is, it might force Azerbaijan to re-route the oil pipeline out of Turkey and through Russia.
       Why did Turkey attack Ganja, where the pipeline goes through, just as the flow was starting?
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 1, Block B:  Gregory R Copley, The New Total War of the Twenty-first Century and the Trigger of the Fear Pandemic, in re:  Growing consensus against Turkey’s [meddling] with Greece. 
New provocations; Turkey has a seismic research vessel guarded by it warships. It’s taking on everyone at once—why?  It has 21 major conflicts under way at present. Partly Ergdogan’s ego, and his economy is on the edge of collapse, wants to revive pan-Ottomanism. Is at war, esp with Egypt and Greece; just seized a town in Cyprus, Famagusta.    
      Will Russia do something?  Neither side—Russia or the US--can afford to lose Turkey: naval access for Russia; NATO for the US, as well as a buffer into the Caucasus and Central Asia.
      Either Turkey implodes economically, or someone [defeats it militarily].  NATO  has no political direction or mechanism right now. For the moment, it’s meaningless except for its latent capability. 
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 1, Block C:  Bill McGurn, @wjmcgurn, @WSJOpinion, WSJ editorial page & Main Street column, in re:  Two Ivy stars (Harvard and Yale) have actively discriminated against a minority—Asian-Americans—in the name of affirmative action. It’s now in the Supreme Court. In 2016, Fisher vs University of Texas: all right to use race to decide what student is accepted. Barrett isn't [in agreement with that], which is why Harvard and Yale are terrified of her. Harvard came up with a personality measure invented out of whole cloth; preposterous. 
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 1, Block D:   Steve Yates: 葉望輝, @YatesDCIA , @dciadvisory, and Gordon Chang, Daily Beast, in re: Taiwan threatened by a high-end Mainland video imagining invading Taiwan.  It proposes a war crime; unacceptable.  Yes, the CCP and PLA have done this kind of exercise for decades, incl mock invasions.  Xi Jinping has no successor, the virus has waylaid the planet, he has rivals, and is in active conflict with India, Hong Kong, and others.  Recall that when the PLA attacked India, it was disorganized and failed.  . . . What does China get from this threat?  Nationalism? Macarthur, “I shall return”?  During the Cultural Revolution when China was in its greatest disarray, it was rescued by Nixon and Kissinger.  Balance of deterrence across the Taiwan Strait changed in the mid-Nineties.  The US is not prepared about Taiwan or in other [precincts ] where China is active.  Will allies share the burden of defending Taiwan?
 
Hour Two
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 2, Block A:  Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness, in re: Barrett has been informative on originalism and other legal matters. She’s not lecturing.   Year after year was recognized by her students at Notre Dame as an excellent professor. Democrats are trying to say that the GOP is court-packing—which it clearly is not. 
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 2, Block B:  Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness, in re: 
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 2, Block C:   Joseph Sternberg:  @josephsternberg, @WSJOpinion; Political Economics column; WSJ editorial board;  in re: Jerome Powell Fed Chair.  Stimulus.  In an NPR interview (with the national debt in the twenty trillions): “The time to worry about it is not now,” said Powell.  —If not now, when?  Debt service cost! . .  . When the Baby Boomers retire and collect Social Security, the debt will be vastly more.
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 2, Block D:  Joseph Sternberg:  @josephsternberg, @WSJOpinion; Political Economics column; WSJ editorial board;  in re: Tory backlash against Boris Johnson.  Panic everywhere about everything in Whitehall right now. 
 
Hour Three
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 3, Block A:  Elizabeth Peek, TheHill and Fox News; in re:   There’s still too much of the economy not functioning – airlines hotels, restaurants, and the like.  Amazon has profited greatly from the shutdown; but where we are anyway is amazing. Maersk: worldwide recovery of container shipments as people replenish their inventories.  [Note: Maersk nonetheless is laying off 2,000 employees.]  India, China UK, all engaging in stimulus, which helps the global come-back.  Anxiety about a second wave.  We’re all doing profoundly more testing now than earlier.  Italy does not anticipate a shut-down of the whole country: “We can't handle it.” Yesterday the head of the WHO cautioned against another shutdown as it’s damaging to poor nations—and also to poor people everywhere.  Schools closed in inner cities; a tragedy for the children.  Btw, cases going up isn’t meaningful; deaths and hospital beds are. 
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 3, Block B:  Elizabeth Peek, TheHill and Fox News; in re:   The campaign. Sen Harris told a whopper about Abraham Lincoln.  Underlines the fact that Sen Harris is willing to be a hit-person for Joe Biden.  Both he and Harris refuse to answer straightforward questions of whether or not the Biden administration will pack the court (“No, they don't deserve to know.”—Biden). Yesterday Biden forgot Romney’s name and said he was running for Senate; and Harris twice has said, “The Harris administration.”  GOP ought to refer to Harris as the person whom the Democrats are actually offering as president.
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 3, Block C:   Brenda Shaffer, @ProfBShaffer  @FDD; Georgetown; and Elin Suleymanov,  @ElinSuleymanov, @azembassyus, ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Washington; in re: Nikol Pashinyan, Armenian PM, says, “Only Turkey can stop the shooting,” after an Armenian missile attack —precision-guided missile into a civilian city; a  war crime—on the Azerbaijani town of Ganja. In Moscow, an eleven-hour truce meeting—yet within moments, Armenia sent missiles into Ganja, killed ten people, injured dozens, including children.  Armenia keeps calling for more discussions yet simply doesn’t honor the agreements.  This is a distraction technique.  There’s no place you can hide from a Scud attack.  Why does Pashinyan say only Turkey can solve this? This may be the first classic war of the twenty-first century, Russian systems used against Azerbaijani systems.  What does Pashinyan want from Turkey?  “New wars for new territories.” Turkey’s military actually provides a certain safety for Nakhchivan.  Ergo, Pashinyan fears that Turkey would actually [jump in heavily].  
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 3, Block D: Lorenzo Fiori: Direttore Generale Ansaldo Fondazione, in re: Giuseppi Conte says that Italy can't afford another full lockdown. After 9 PM in Italy, everyone in a restaurant or bar must be s,eated at a table.  Parties: no more than thirty.  No more contact sports. Recommendation that no more than six people at home should congregate.  Masks are compulsory both outdoors and indoors.  Italy’s numbers are still well below those of most of Europe—one-third of France, Germany, Spain.  Campagna and Lombardy are still the two critical regions.  A bit of friction between local regions and the central government.    
 
Hour Four
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 4, Block A:  John Yoo, @BerkeleyLaw; Hoover, AEI; Fox News & Newsweek; in re:  Judge Barrett’s religion was brought up by Feinstein in 2017, when she mocked Roman Catholicism—a political loser.  So far, all they’ve asked has been about Obamacare.  Can’t challenge her qualifications, intelligence ethics so they question her faith. 
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 4, Block B:  Bill Whalen, @Hooverwhalen, @HooverInst, Area 45 blog, in re:  The whopper that Sen Harris told about Lincoln.  Sheridan Sherman and Farragut saved the election; Salmon Chase.  She understood that the media wouldn’t check her in real time.   She’s ruthless on the debate stage.  Traditional that VP candidates launch attacks? Not really.  . . . Pelosi and the 25th Amendment. She’s in her eighties; shouldn’t be talking about age and mental acuity.   
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 4, Block C:  Dr. Haym Benaroya, @haymbenaroya, @NJ_Opinion; Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers; in re:  Turning Dust to Gold: Building a Future on the Moon and Mars.
     “Our continued prosperity and survival as species will in part depend upon space exploration and manned settlement. This will provide resources for our industrial societies and create new opportunities and markets. This book is a journey into our potential future, as several nations today begin seriously to plan and build up their capabilities for manned space flight and settlement on the Moon and Mars.”  The space elevator: a long ribbon made of carbon nanotubes, 60,000 miles toward the Moon; orbits around a point on the Earth’s surface; it’s a huge container that can climb the ribbon, then go into space. 
Tuesday 29 September 2020 / Hour 4, Block D:  Dr. Haym Benaroya, @haymbenaroya, @NJ_Opinion; Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers; in re:  Turning Dust to Gold: Building a Future on the Moon and Mars
https://www.amazon.com/Turning-Dust-Gold-Building-Springer/dp/1441908706...