On 8 August 1576, the cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on the island of Hven. Engraving: Schloss Uraniborg, aus Joan Blaeu: Der große Atlas, 1663
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com 
 
Hour One
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 1, Block A:  Charles Burton, professor at Brock University, in re: his recent trip to China, and: http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/0807/c90000-9488434.html.
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 1, Block B: Cleo Paskal, visiting Trudeau Fellow, University of Montreal, and associate Fellow, Chatham House, in re: New European interest in the Indo-Pacific — U.K. and French plans in the Indo-Pacific. With Macron talking about a France-Australia-India Indo-Pacific axis and the U.K. opening three new diplomatic posts in the Pacific (Tonga, Samoa, and Vanuatu), it seems as though some old players are looking to get back in the game.
Also: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/india-will-not-join-us-led-initiative-aimed-at-countering-chinas-bri-2815951.html
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 1, Block C: Josh Rogin, Washington Post, in re: Xinjiang is an independent state, brought into China in the imperialism of the CCP during the 1950s; Uyghurs are a Turkic people, Muslim, with 20 mil in Xinjiang, but half a million have recently been sent to internment camps, also called concentration camps.  Beijing claims this is to eradicate terrorism; in fact, it's pretty clearly a cultural genocide of forcing Uyghurs to abandon religion.  Entire towns being emptied except for the elderly.  Anyone with any connection to the Westerners the camps and never comes out. In Kazakhstan recently, an ethic Kazakh with Chinese parentage was forced to go to China . . . In the US, anyone with family in China daren’t speak against China as all their relatives will be disappeared. Ambassador Kelley E. Currie [US Representative on UN  ECOSOC] speaks about China’s trying to make all this internationally acceptable.  Washington has a situational approach to human rights policy: will wag a finger at North Korea, Venezuela, __ — but it's doing bz with China.   Beijing is collecting the DNA of every Muslim in China. 
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 1, Block D: Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in re: EU (esp Mogherini) is trying to do an end run around sanctions on Iran by making payments through individual European central banks, and dare the US to place sanctions on those.  Before , they all used to set up temporary front-banks; US played whack-a-mole to get rid of each.   Oil transactions are still in dollars; Iran will try to go to non-dollar transactions – Indians were looking at barter-swap transactions, but these are tough workarounds, Meanwhile, the rial is collapsing. If the SWIFT system cuts Iran off, that’s puts a lot of pressure on Iran. Need max pressure till Teheran’s behavior changes or the Iranian people in the streets emplace a new govt.
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 2, Block A:  Rick Fisher, senior Fellow on Asian Military Affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, in re: New Chinese hypersonic glide vehicle: short-range.
https://qz.com/1350327/china-tested-a-hypersonic-weapon-the-us-cant-defend-against/
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 2, Block B:  Stephen Yates, Deputy National Security Adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney from 2001 to 2005; past Idaho Republican Party Chair from 2014 to 2017; in re: Taiwan: under attack from Mainland; Tsai Ing-wen building up military capabilities; US offering verbal support but much less in a practical vein.
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 2, Block C:  Michelle Conlin, Bloomberg,  in re:  Housing.
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 2, Block D: Monica Crowley, London Center for Policy Research, in re: GOP electoral wins yesterday; wild NeverTrumpism.  Ohio 12: 1. Kasich was openly working for the Democrat; 2. Congrats, Democrats —  in the voting, you came close. 
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 3, Block A: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re: New rocket engine company selling engines to smallsat rocket companies
Planetary Resources auctioning off office equipment
Rocket Lab delays next launch until November
Rocket Lab signs deal for 10 launches with UAE company
Rocket Lab signs deal to launch even tinier secondary payloads
SpaceX launches again, reusing Block 5 first stage after only two months
NASA announces dates and first crews for commercial flights
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 3, Block B:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re: Mars Dust storm update: interferes with MRO images. Opportunity silent
Curiosity's third attempt to drill in Vera Rubin Ridge fails
The shrinking and growing of Mars's CO2 icecaps
Landslide on Mars
Want to build your own, scaled version of Curiosity? You can!
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 3, Block C:  Robert M Cutler, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of European, Russian & Eurasian Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa; also Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence (Boston), and Non-Resident Scholar, Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (Dubai), in re:  Central Asian pipelines; high politics.
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 3, Block D:  Bill McGurn, WSJ, in re: Ivy League racism
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 4, Block A: The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made, by Patricia O'Toole
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 4, Block B: The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made, by Patricia O'Toole
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 4, Block C: The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made, by Patricia O'Toole
Wednesday 8 August 2018/ Hour 4, Block D: The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made, by Patricia O'Toole
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