The John Batchelor Show

Wednesday 4 September 2019

Air Date: 
April 09, 2019

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast, in Hong Kong.
 
Hour One
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 1, Block A:  Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, in re: the Hong Kong protests. Beijing is broadly ignorant of how the rest of the world works – that the protestors will always win – and further are divided among themselves. No one in China believes what Xi Jinping says, although people have a strong sense of Chinese-ness.  The leaders see that this is an ideological challenge; when the populace sees that it's being forced to live in a [constricted] way, it will be displeased.  Deng Xiaoping thought that it’d be peaceable if the income rose – but the more income people have the more they're likely to be interested in liberation. 
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 1, Block B:  Andrew Collier, managing director of Orient Capital Research in Hong Kong and author of Shadow Banking and the Rise of Capitalism in China, in re: the Hong Kong protests. Carrie Lam’s offer to withdraw the original extradition bill was widely well received; but large numbers of young people are angry.  This looks as though it’ll drag on for a while.  Companies have been hurt: airlines, tourism, rentals to tourists, and retail sector all have diminished, but the big multinationals are all right, Investment banks, retailers, and the like, if damaged financially, may have to leave.   Anent Carrie Lam’s earlier effort to quit and its having been denied by Beijing, which has hit back against a wall and doesn't know what to do. Will this affect Mainland in any way?  Not much. 
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 1, Block C:  Claudia Rosett, Independent Women’s Forum, in re: Hong Kong.  The Mainland government is informed about some aspects of democracy; certainly enough to refuse categorically to allow free elections. China has changed in that it’s richer; it’s not Communist, it’s a techno-repressive surveillance state.  This is a warning to the entire world. The essential feature to Xi and his associates is power. 
        Hong Kong citizens know of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs.  The youth are facing guns, tanks, and the armaments of the state; they say they’re willing to die to succeed – the don't want a government that tells them how to think and how to live, and to stay silent. The propaganda-soaked fiction state; the protestors don’t want the propaganda and lies, they want truth and openness. Carrie Lam is a stooge of the devil; Hong Kong people hate her.  At best, she’s a hood ornament; as a political fixture, they find her detestable.
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 1, Block D:  Gregory Copley, Defense and Foreign Affairs, in re: India.   Jammu and Kashmir have lost their autonomous status, having been reclaimed by India. The Line of Control in the Kashmir region: India is strengthening its position there as Beijing is absorbed by Hong Kong.   Has broken the Muslim stranglehold on Jammu and Kashmir – with no media attention, which Beijing can only dream about. Just when Beijing thought it had Pakistan all to itself, the Pakistani PM went to Washington and made a big hit, and the US promised more F16 supplies.  The Pakistan land bridge is not as all-Chinese as China thought. Uzbekistan is developing warmer. Beijing is ham-handed in hits dealings with the pro-democracy demonstrators. Carrie Lam seems to show weakness; reflects badly on Beijing. 
       In England, Hong Kong is the second news item after Brexit and BoJo.  Australia: not a  lot of comments there, but the newly-elected government has been very critical of Chinese intervention into Australian politics and daily life.
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 2, Block A:  Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, in re: the Hong Kong protests.  Dinner last night with the publisher Johnny Lai, and guests including Matt Schlapp, and Gordon and Lydia Chang, was interrupted by thugs on motorcycles who threw small bombs at the house to intimidate.
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 2, Block B:  Michael Yon, veteran war correspondent, who’s been covering the Hong Kong protests, which have drifted from demos to protests and now to the first phase of insurgency. Citizenry see the police as an occupying force. 
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 2, Block C:  Brett Arends, Market Watch, in re: No snap elections in the UK. Potentially chaotic parliamentary situation with no real constitution.  BoJo could be replaced by a government of national unity.  Ironically, those mentioned as PM could be Kenneth Clark or Harriet Harmon, two sort-of consensus figures.  Someone said to me, “For all of Boris Johnson’s exemplary education and erudition, I’m not sure he’s very bright.”
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 2, Block D:  Henry Miller, MD; Hoover; in re: Affordable healthcare.
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 3, Block A:  Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, and Hoover;  in re:  Trade deals
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 3, Block B:  Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, and Hoover;  in re:  Trade deals
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 3, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:  Space rover
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 3, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:  Space rover
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 4, Block A: Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze, by Peter Harmsen
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 4, Block B:  Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze, by Peter Harmsen
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 4, Block C:  Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze, by Peter Harmsen
Wednesday 4 September 2019 / Hour 4, Block D:   Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze, by Peter Harmsen
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