The John Batchelor Show

Wednesday 27 June 2018

Air Date: 
June 27, 2018

Photo: 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com and David Livingston, The Space Show
 
Hour One
Wednesday 27 J2018/ Hour 1, Block A:  Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, in re: Police beat p an elderly veteran of the military, causing people from all over to converge on Jiangsu Province and protest.  Does this mean that the police are fighting the PLA? Army is very, very big. Many vets have been mustered out, have not been given the promised healthcare, have starvation incomes, and now are viewed with contempt by younger people. Tens of thousands of disgruntled vet.. Lots of people will sympathize. AN aggrieved group is starting to get organized, and say to the govt, Dammit, honor your commitments.   And this is the third wave of protests. Truckers’s strike — imagine roads massively clogged. 
China is a lot looser than it used to be, and people are no longer as afraid as they used to be; Xi is just another inflated mediocrity and barely elicits loyalty, so he has to buy them off while trying to impose his singular rule. Recall the parallel strikes in the US; Hoovervilles.   Many citizens share sentiments with the vets more than with anyone in the regime.
http://time.com/5323079/china-army-veterans-protests-xi-jinping/
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 1, Block B:  Tara O, adjunct Fellow at the Pacific Forum and fellow at the Institute for Corean-American Studies, in re: Pres Pak was driven from office, partly on the grounds that she was overly influenced by a friend of her. However a friend of hers is in jail with a different story. Mr Byon: JCTV (cable news net) pointed out that ____ had run a false story about Tablet PC[?]  . . . Candlelight demonstrations / . . . A smear on cable TV and never retracted.  I Korea, libel is a criminal offense. . . . Mr Byon was grabbed and jailed instantly – such a thing had never occurred before. . . . Moon Jae-In on accession immediately moved to take control of major media outlets; now is controlling the smaller ones. Plainly, an attempt to muzzle the press.  Suits and counter-suits.  . .  . Outlets being silenced. Moon admin is moving against sceptics on his policies on North Korea.  Even muzzled North Korean defectors!  Moon putatively a human rights lawyer, is silencing critics across the board. 
See: 38North.com
https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korea-still-building-at-nuclear-research-facility-despite-summit-diplomacy-1530100351
https://freekorea.us/2018/05/31/guest-post-journalist-preemptively-jailed-for-libel-in-south-korea-the-only-oecd-country-to-do-so/
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 1, Block C:  Mark Clifford, former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post and a Hong Kong resident since 1992, in re:  Hong Kong’s current prosperity is different from formerly.  Citizens  of HK have gone through a roller-coaster ride concerning freedoms and life in general. Most Hong Kongers were people who’d fled Mainland; are not now confident about the future – an their children, born in HK, are even less confident. The 1999 handover from England to China; a massive erosion of loyalty to Beijing – regime meddles most negatively – an the economy is adversely affected by the present tsunami of wealth from Mainland. Wealth disparity is one of the greatest in the world.
They were promised a high degree of autonomy, and instead Beijing has withheld democracy, leading to backlash. HK people can make economic choices, but are told by Beijing that they're too immature to make political choices.
Around June 4, 2014, a few people flew a British colonial flag; on 1 July of that year, I saw three people with T-shirts. Now, most Hong Kongers want independence from Beijing. When Beijing feels cornered, it suddenly starts talking the long game.
Now universities require study of Xi Thought.  Curriculum issue is oozing into textbooks; most alienating. One-sixth of young people say they're proud to be Chinese; the others do not. “We’re not Chinese; we’re Hong Kong people.”
Xi has been aggressive toward Taiwan. Says he’ll “punch the US hard.”  Beijing is taking a Singaporean tack – using the law to make life difficult for citizens. Is trying to force HK to speak Mandarin— and now a powerful movement in favor of Cantonese.  Regime trying to force people to use the simplified characters — which HK people categorically refuse. [If you can’t read traditional characters, you can’t read history, poetry, literature!]  Regime watches and intimidates HK citizens. 
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2152609/more-hongkongers-proud-their-identity-chinese-citizens-young
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/2151525/downward-spiral-sino-us-trade-spat-will-hurt-hong
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 1, Block D:  Mark Clifford, former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post and a Hong Kong resident since 1992, in re: . . . Hong Kong in the in-between space between China and the rest of the world.   HK as a regional and global bz hub.  Important for foreign investors to access Mainland investments.  Has an independent judiciary, et al.; a lot better than the Mainland. Real Estate: nanoflats of 160 sq feet. Bloomberg compared the size of a Tesla car with the size of an apartment; about the same.  Half the population lives in govt housing & gets free medical care. Yet someone spent almost $1,000,000 on a parking space recently.  Socially-generous policies are left from British administration.   In a decade, it’ll be prosperous but perhaps not free. 
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2152609/more-hongkongers-proud-their-identity-chinese-citizens-young
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/2151525/downward-spiral-sino-us-trade-spat-will-hurt-hong
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 2, Block A:  Alan Tonelson, independent economic policy analyst who blogs at RealityChek and tweets at @AlanTonelson, in re: proposed curbs on Chinese acquisitions of high-tech companies. The White House has clarified its position vis-à-vis Chinese trade: will base its policy on restricting access to US mil tech by screening Chinese acquisitions of US firms.  Two problems: people wanted to know if Chinese investments wd be restricted even when the acquirer is barely Chinese-owned; and will investors learn if the screenings (proposed Chinese takeovers) standards will be broadened to include not only natl security threats but also economic competition threats.  Peter Navarro calmed mkts yesterday. Today, another WH statement: new CFIUS regs. New restrictions on US corporate tech transfers  . . .  Commerce Dept rules, Wilbur Ross. “Technonationalism” threats from China.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-27/trump-seeks-to-bolster-government-panel-to-curb-china-investment.
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 2, Block B:  James Fanell, retired captain and director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, in re: Chinese lasers used against US airmen; danger and damage.  In Djibouti and South China Sea. 
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/22/politics/pacific-ocean-us-military-jets-lasers-intl/index.html
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 2, Block C:  John Fund, NRO, in re:  Midterm elections; Justice Kennedy’s resignation, and new appointments to the Supreme Court. 
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 2, Block D: Adam White, Hoover, and George Mason Law School; in re: Supreme Court; esp Justice Kennedy’s views.
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 3, Block A:  Monica Crowley, London Center for  Policy Research, in re: Trump & the Supreme Court
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 3, Block B:  Lara M Brown, George Mason, in re:   Local politics
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 3, Block C:  Salena Zito, CNN, et al., in re:  The Great Revolt
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 3, Block D:  Benham Ben Taleblu, FDD, in re: Iran.
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 4, Block A:  Napoleon: A Life, by Andrew Roberts
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 4, Block B:  Napoleon: A Life, by Andrew Roberts
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 4, Block C:  Hotel Mars, episode n.  William Farrand, research scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and member of the Mars Exploration Rover science team; in re: The little rover Opportunity caught in a gigantic dust storm on Mars; as it runs on solar energy and the storm has blocked that, don't know if it’ll ever recover.
Wednesday 27 June 2018/ Hour 4, Block D:  Hotel Mars, episode n.  William Farrand, research scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and member of the Mars Exploration Rover science team; in re: "Every sol [a day on Mars] could be our last. We're going to use every capability that Opportunity has to understand this crater and the story it has to tell as well as we can. That's going to take a long time. If the rover's still alive once we're done, then we'll see what we see."
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