Monday 11 November 2013
Photo, above: New York Times front page, 11 November 1918
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Hour One
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 1, Block A: Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re: Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, in re: the senior member of Haqqani Network, Nasiruddin Haqqani, killed in Islamabad by assassins on a motorcycle. By whom? Dunno. At this stage, not likely related to the US. Nasiruddin Haqqani had gone to Gulf often to raise funds; longtime ally of al Q. The murder couldn’t have occurred without the approval of the ISI (Interservices Radio Mullah: a mullah named Fazlulla elected to replace _; head of the shura made final choice. This fellow led fight against polio shots; rants and raves and is extremely nutty. " The selection of the Afghanistan-based Mullah Fazlullah as the first non-Mehsud Ameer of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) could not have materialised without the backing of the Ameer of the Afghan Taliban Mulla Mohammad Omar, well-informed sources in the establishment have disclosed."
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 1, Block B: Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re: Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, in re: young men inducted into terrorist networks, incl Syria; many of these with British papers. Close enough to Europe to launch attacks into Europe. French, Germans. Dutch, all much concerned about this. Also, with those passports, "you walk right into Kennedy." Al Q long has sought those "golden passports" in order to send agents into the West. Al Qaeda's playbook reads: Hit New York. Hit New York. Hit New York.
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 1, Block C: Lara M Brown, political analyst and author; Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review & Pirates fan, in re: why did Pres Obama decline to attend the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address? Pres Obama has made much of the parallels between his presidency and Lincoln's, yet in this celebration he will not be present. People there are "crushed," including his ardent supporters. It wasn't about Pres Obama's presentation, it was about his respecting the moment. Any president of the United States, any time, would want to be at a celebration of the Gettysburg Address. As recently as this past August, he chose to commemorate the 50h anniversary of the Rev Martin Luther King's speech.
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 1, Block D: Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 1, Block D: Jed Babbin, in re: The American Spectator : Game of Fools Has the Obama Administration broken with the state f Israel: the Israelis are aghast at what Obama is trying to do with Iran – chasing it the way a puppy would chase a tennis ball. France, of all nations, also is appalled. Kerry and Netanyahu have been trading insults all week. (Kerry: "Israel isn’t serious about the peace process.") . . . Saudis are scared to death of Russia's and Iran's influence in Syria.
Hour Two
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 2, Block A: John Fund, National Review Online, and David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Sr Congressional correspondent, in re: Obamacare, and Congress returning
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 2, Block B: David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Sr Congressional correspondent, and John Fund, National Review Online, in re: fraud among the navigators
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 2, Block C: Melik Kaylan, Forbes.com, in re: Why does it matter to the rest of us what happens in Georgia and environs? Answer: if the West cannot help an aspiring ally with dreams of joining Nato and the EU, cannot even protect it from Russian hegemony, what are we doing meddling in the Middle East or anywhere else? And if we can’t help Georgia, then what is left of the West’s victory in the Cold War?
I reported on the national elections in Tbilisi, Georgia, last October. On one occasion, I was shown a text from a politician of the party who won the election to a politician of the ruling party that lost (that of President Saakashvili). The text was nothing more nor less than a threat: the receiver should dump his affiliation to the President now, before the election, or face prosecution after. That entire campaign reeked of . . . "Globalism is revolutionary."
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 2, Block D: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: The number of jobs in China is tumbling. So how can Beijing's National Bureau of Statistics report robust growth? Li Ke-qiang, in a speech released last week, said a 7.2% annual increase in China’s gross domestic product creates 10 million new jobs a year. The premier, therefore, believes each percentage point of growth produces 1.4 million jobs.
Morgan Stanley’s Ruchir Sharma, writing in the Wall Street Journal just before the release of Li’s speech, told us that each percentage point of growth results in 1.6 million to 1.7 million new jobs. Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that last year China’s GDP jumped 7.7%. Applying Sharma’s formula, the economy should have created 12.3 to 13.1 million new jobs in 2012. Applying Premier Li’s formula, the number is 10.8 million new jobs.
So how many jobs were in fact created last year? . . .
Hour Three
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 3, Block A: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Iran's capability to move ahead in its nuclear program, and break-out: how to get to the point of having all the needed materials for a nuclear weapon. Javed Zarif, foreign minister: "Iran's right to enrichment" – which does not exist under intl law. In exchange for gestures not incl ceasing Pn production or U enrichment, US wants to offer no restrictions on gold trading, and releasing billions of dollars in embargoed funds. Kerry said, No diminution of core architecture – which isn’t quite accurate, and what precisely does it mean? Israeli PM meeting with leaders of France and Russia. "Much better deal" = Iranians cannot reverse, and cessation of nuclear program. Look at photo of Putin meeting with the king of Saudi Arabia. What brought the Iranians to the negotiating table has been sanctions. Khamenei took away homes from Iranian people; somehow accumulated $95 billion. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is ready to go nuclear, has a big investment in Pakistani nukes. Translation: the deal in Geneva = a nuclear arms race in the Gulf.
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 3, Block B: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Increasing violence; incitement by PA: shootings, attempted stabbings emanating from the West Bank. Lausanne issues 108-pge report n Arafat's remains: polonium poisoning? Polonium 210 has a half-life of eight days, so no way could it be discerned years later Both France and Britain says polonium poisoning is highly unlikely. This bogus claim was used to incite young people in a way that will inevitably bring on hurt. Brandeis al Quds University in East Jerusalem: Nazi salutes. Back-clad youth with masks carrying weapons also carried maps with all of Israel incorporated into Palestine. Liberman has been vindicated in the legal system after 17 years of investigation, now re-installed as foreign minister, could form an alliance with other parties and run against Netanyahu.
Kerry lobbies for Iran diplomacy 'US Senate will wait before moving ahead on new Iran sanctions' Kerry to brief US Senate committee on the status of negotiations for a deal on Iran's nuclear program; aide says Senate will hear him out, but ready to move forward on new sanctions if Obama giving away too much in talks.
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 3, Block C: Dave Cooper, Navy SEAL Foundation, in re: Join us in honoring our nation's bravest. Originally approved in 1938 as “Armistice Day” to honor veterans of World War I, the Act of 1938 was amended in 1954 to proclaim November 11th as a day to honor American veterans of all wars – Veterans Day.
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 3, Block D: Bruce Webster, AndStillIPersist.com, in re: There are two basic courses that a project such as this takes at this point: oscillation or off-line. Oscillation is what happens when the developer continues to push ahead, attempting to fix/stabilize a live system. The system may improve marginally, but then new problems are uncovered and/or introduced by the on-going changes. I have seen projects go like this for months, with the essential fixes perpetually 4 to 8 weeks away, and the system never really behaving acceptably. Off-line is the wiser move. The system is taken down for the time being, and an effort is made to make it acceptable. At this point, those who are wise will insist on more, not less, time for development and more, not less, time and resources for software quality assurance, including testing. They may even recommend pulling the plug altogether, or at least going back to something close to the start. . . .
Hour Four
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 4, Block A: Zumwalt: The Life and Times of Admiral Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt, Jr. by Larry Berman (1 of 4)
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 4, Block B: Zumwalt: The Life and Times of Admiral Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt, Jr. by Larry Berman (2 of 4)
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 4, Block C: Zumwalt: The Life and Times of Admiral Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt, Jr. by Larry Berman (3 of 4)
Monday 11 November 2013 / Hour 4, Block D: Zumwalt: The Life and Times of Admiral Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt, Jr. by Larry Berman (4 of 4)
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Music
Hour 1: Infamous.
Hour 2: Patriot Games. Lincoln. Call of Duty. Michael Clayton.
Hour 3: Thirteen Days. Live Free or Die Hard.
Hour 4: Thirteen Days.