Painting, above:  Hieronymus Bosch illustrates chaos. See Hour 1, Block A, Michael Vlahos, Naval War College.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 1, Block A: Michael Vlahos, Naval War College (1 of 2), in re:

•  Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in as Turkey's president on Thursday, further heightening his opponents' fears of increased authoritarian rule.

•  Militants battling against the Syrian army in the Golan Heights captured 43 UN peacekeepers, many of Filipino and Fijian origin, and have trapped another 81 in the area, the UN said on Thursday.


•  Talks continue on Friday between Iran and the "6+1" group on a comprehensive agreement to slow the country's nuclear activity in exchange for a lowering of economic sanctions.

EUROPE

•  Russian President  Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine on Friday of supporting peace talks only as a way of stalling to continue military operations.


•  The European Central Bank could be forced to take more aggressive action after preliminary figures released on Friday showed that the annual inflation rate for the euro had shrunk to its lowest level since October 2009.


Ukraine: Pro-Russian separatist rebels in Ukraine announced they would accede to requests from Moscow to allow a "humanitarian corridor" to allow entrapped Ukrainian troops to withdraw. So far, military officials in Kiev have not responded positively. Russia's decision to send soldiers into Ukraine is also forcing President Obama to answer questions over what the United States intends to do to respond to the aggression of President Vladimir Putin. Obama plans to impose new sanctions on Russia, but does not regard its latest moves to be a major escalation -- only a continuation of ongoing activity. US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, meanwhile, called Russia's latest actions a "threat to all of our peace and security." Other options on the table include increased military aid to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the UN estimates that the civilian death toll in eastern Ukraine is rising sharply: on average, some 36 people are killed each day in skirmishes between pro-Ukrainian fighters and separatists.

HACKED: JPMorgan Hack Said to Span Months Via Multiple Flaws—Michael Riley and Jordan Robertson available to discuss new details in their report that Russian hackers attacked JP Morgan and at least four other banks. http://bloom.bg/VSpUry

•  Over 300 Norwegian oil and energy companies have been targeted in a large-scale cyber attack, according to Local, Sophos' Naked Security reported Aug. 28. Norway's National Security Authority issued warnings to the companies impacted and a total of 50 oil companies have been breached with another 250 at risk. Statoil was among those targeted, Statoil spokesman Orjan Haraldstveit confirmed.

•  The government in the United Kingdom raised the international terror threat level to "severe" Aug. 29 because of events in Iraq and Syria, Home Secretary Theresa May said, BBC reported. Severe is the fourth highest of five levels of alerts. The alert level had previously been set at "substantial" beginning July 2011.

AFRICA

•  Nearly 500 Nigerian troops crossed over the border into Cameroon in pursuit of the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram.

•  It is extremely unlikely that the United States did not know about two airstrikes by Egypt and the UAE against Islamist militias fighting for control of Tripoli.

ASIA

•  China has denied accusations from the Pentagon that a Chinese fighter jet flew dangerously close to a U.S. military aircraft.

•  Further breaking from their country's post-War pacifist stance, Japanese defense officials on Friday requested their biggest budget increase ever, with the intent of purchasing new stealth planes, drones, and an advanced submarine.


•  A high-level official at a North Korean bank blacklisted in the US has defected to Russia, taking with him some $5 million, a South Korean newspaper reported on Friday.

•  The Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah has threatened to withdraw from the audit unless election officials meet a series of technical demands by Wednesday.

IS

•  The U.N. now estimates that over 191,000 have died in Syria's three-year war.

•  A federal court in Texas will hold a hearing on Friday on an Iraqi suit seeking to block the sale and transfer of crude from a Kurdish oil tanker currently anchored in the Gulf of Mexico.

•  There's speculation that the US' surveillance flights over Syria could set the stage for an expanded military operation there. Fueling the speculation, Obama has also asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to prepare military options to take on IS.

•  But Obama also continues to press the case for diplomacy. In his remarks on Thursday, he stressed the importance of empowering moderate Sunni elements throughout Iraq and Syria. Secretary of State John Kerry is also embarking on a coalition-building tour at the NATO summit in Wales next week, and is also trying to rally support among Middle East governments.

•  Meanwhile, American intelligence officials continue to identify the Islamic State's American recruits, so far tracking down the names of a dozen who have gone to Syria to join the group.

THE LAPTOP FROM HELL: EXCLUSIVE: Buried in a Dell computer captured    from ISIS in Syria are plans for making bubonic plague bombs and missives on using weapons of mass destruction. Read more

•   “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don’t have a strategy yet,” Obama said from the White House press briefing room.

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 1, Block B: Michael Vlahos, Naval War College (2 of 2). Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Paul Peterson, Hoover, in re:  Education Next piece, "Political Polarization Needlessly Divides the Public on Common Core and NCLB."

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 1, Block D:  Henry I Miller, M.D., Hoover & Forbes.com, in re: Genetic Engineering and the Fight Against Ebola
 'Biopharming' has great potential to create medicines for many diseases, if regulators will get out of the way.

Hour Two

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 2, Block A:  Liz Peek, The Fiscal Times & Fox, in re:  T he horrific attacks of 9/11 emerged from a leadership vacuum similar to the one we are witnessing today. While revisionists (including Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright) like to claim that President Clinton presided over eight years of peace and prosperity, Bill’s willful disregard of numerous attacks on Americans emboldened the jihadists who flew the planes into the Twin Towers.   

Now, after winning another four years in the Oval Office, President Obama is following Clinton’s game plan, shrugging off jihadist threats and risking the security of the country. 

London’s Sunday Times has reported that political concerns prompted Obama to delay green lighting a mission to rescue reporter James Foley, who was subsequently murdered by ISIS. The president was afraid that if the mission failed, he would face recriminations like those hurled at Jimmy Carter after his administration bungled a plan to liberate Americans held in Iran. 

Related: Obama’s Foreign Policy Agenda Begins to Crumble  No one can know whether Obama’s month-long dithering led to the mission’s failure, but since the hostages had been relocated by the time the Special Forces arrived, it is certainly a possibility. Worrying about polling instead of protecting Americans is a hallmark of Obama’s tenure, as it was of Bill Clinton’s. And it’s as dangerous today as it was then.

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 2, Block B:  Salena Zito, RealClearPolitics, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review & Pirates fan, in re: Patients' Angst Spurs Oregon Doctor to Enter Crucial Senate Race— Uncertain times can attract nontraditional, distinctive candidates in American politics.

Pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby, a Portland, Ore., doctor running as the Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, is among a few novices seeking seats in the U.S. House, Senate and governors' mansions across the country this November, competing for the attention of an electorate weary of Washington infighting. CLICK HERE FOR LINK

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 2, Block C:  Jim McTague, Barron's Washington, in re: US budget office downgrades GDP growth estimate to 1.5%  The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday forecast that the U.S. economy will grow by just 1.5 per cent in 2014, undermined by a poor . . .

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 2, Block D:  Ben Casselman, 538, in re:  The Poorest Corner of Town FERGUSON, Mo. — “I am!” “Mike Brown!” “I am!” “Mike Brown!”

Hour Three

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 3, Block A:  Carl Zimmer, in re: Our Microbiome May Be Looking Out for Itself   Microbes are beneficial to humans in many ways, but research suggests they may be influencing our behavior for the sake of their evolutionary success.

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 3, Block B:  John Tamny, Forbes.com, in re: As the best investors in the world will freely admit, they're wrong nearly as often as they're right.  Despite this commercial truth, Hillary Clinton on the left and a chorus of her cheerleaders on the right are bashing President Obama's 'Don't Do Stupid Stuff' policies.  Are they serious? If the best investors are often wrong, why would we expect the low quality people who migrate toward politics to get things right with any frequency? They'll point out that the world is burning, maybe so, but it is largely thanks to 100 years of stupid mistakes by politicians.  If Obama had followed 'Don't Do Stupid Stuff' for his whole presidency he'd be overseeing a booming economy. Maybe he's learned his lesson, and if so, we should be glad.  Since foreign policy involves lives, 'Don't Do Stupid Stuff' is even more crucial, and amounts to policy perfection.  Hillary Clinton Is Wrong, and President Obama Is Right: 'Don't Do Stupid Stuff' Is Policy Perfection

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 3, Block C:  Sid Perkins, Science, in re: How the moon got its shape (planetary science)   Murky interstellar mystery mapped out? (planetary science)   Comet fireworks at Mars? (planetary science)

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 3, Block D:   Matt Wald, in re: Seeing Purpose and Profit in Algae   A pilot plant in Alabama is making diesel fuel out of it and accomplishing other eco-friendly tasks like making clean water from municipal sewage. Investors have taken notice.

Hour Four

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 4, Block A:  Gina Kolata, NYT, in re: The New York Times Publishes "The Smart Patient: Mistakes We Make About Our Health — And How to Avoid Them"

Americans are inundated with medical information. It comes from every direction -- the media, the Internet, well-meaning friends and acquaintances, an ever-proliferating collection of journals. Almost any disease, any ache or pain or condition, now seems accompanied by a flood of advice, often bolstered by research studies or expert opinions, and often conflicting. Is it any wonder we are confused, and thus prone to questionable judgments?

In The Smart Patient: Mistakes We Make About Our Health – And How to Avoid Them, Gina Kolata of The New York Times provides readers with a helpful guide to sorting through this welter and making better decisions for themselves. Kolata, one of the country's most respected medical journalists, tells why anecdotal evidence should be viewed with skepticism, why large random studies are more trustworthy than observational ones, when an independent second opinion is a must, and what questions you should ask your doctor, and -- equally important -- what ones you need to ask yourself. (1 of 2)

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 4, Block B: Gina Kolata, NYT (2 of 2)

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Andrew Lawler, Science magazine, in re: Sailing Sinbad's seas | Science/AAAS | News   news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2014/06/sailing-sinbads-seas  (1 of 2)

Friday  29 August 2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Andrew Lawler, Science magazine, in re: Sailing Sinbad's seas | Science/AAAS | News   news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2014/06/sailing-sinbads-seas  (2 of 2)