Painting, above: Prise de la Bastille by Jean-Pierre Houël  The storming of the Bastille occurred on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the center of Paris. The prison contained only seven inmates at the time of its storming, but was a symbol of the abuses of the monarchy: its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution. In France, le quatorze juillet (14 July, or Bastille Day) is a public holiday.

Note that during the reign of Louis XVI France faced a major economic crisis, one exacerbated by a regressive system of taxation. but in no small part initiated by the cost of France's having intervened in the American Revolution.

Vive la France.  Mille remerciements au peuple français. 

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW 

Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes.

Hour One

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 1, Block A: Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, & Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re:   Leaked audio features Al Nusrah Front emir discussing creation of an Islamic emirate An alleged audio recording featuring Al Nusrah Front emir Abu Muhammad al Julani was leaked online. Julani discusses the creation of an Islamic emirate, or state, in Syria as a counterweight to the Islamic State and other actors.

Taliban calls for reconciliation in Syria, avoids mentioning Islamic State's caliphate  The Taliban's statement avoids any explicit mention of the Islamic State or its announced caliphate, even though the Islamic State has claimed that all Muslims must pledge allegiance to its leader.

US drone strike kills 6 'militants' in North Waziristan  The strike took place in an area of North Waziristan that has served as a command center for al Qaeda's military.

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 1, Block B: Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, & Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re:

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 1, Block C: Michael Ledeen, FDD, and PajamasMedia, in re: Michael Ledeen, FDD, in re: CP trying to infiltrate the Italian govt.  CIA document from way back then were made unavailable by CIA.  Hunh?  About the founding of the Italian Communist Party in 1921. The secrets are about the USSR intell branch establishing it. First excuse was that one of the sources was still alive, so Michael read he documents after signing a nondisclosure agreement.  After the source died, CIA claimed the documents didn’t exist. Michael has read them. CIA hates to declassify documents showing that they got something wrong. Also, an amazing tale of Vasili Mitrokin's documents, including names of collaborators in Italy, India and the US – but CIA refuses to let the Mitrokin data out.  . . .  The US government is keeping our enemies' secrets unavailable to American citizens. This is unacceptable.  James Jesus Angleton was head of US counterintell in WWII. 

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 1, Block D: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re:  corruption scandal on money-laundering in China. The people behind CCTV (State-run) are attacking the people behind the Bank of China – an enormous internal fight.  US knows that China won’t deviate from predatory mercantilist behavior, but US policymakers are afraid to deal with that; will merely send dozens of representatives to Beijing to beg them to mend their ways.   . . . The Bush Adm misperceived China (as it did Russia: "I've looked in Putin's eyes and see someone I can work with.")  Recall the China Lobby of 1940s and '50s in Washington; today we have the Communist China Lobby.

Hour Two

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 2, Block A: David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Sr Congressional correspondent; John Fund, National Review Online, in re:

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 2, Block B: David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Sr Congressional correspondent; John Fund, National Review Online, in re: Dems are fine with Reid blocking everything so they don’t have to make any tough votes. If the GOP weren;t sad

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 2, Block C:  Sam Tadros, FDD, in re:  Fouad Ajami, a giant who's just left us.

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 2, Block D:  Seb Gorka, Marine Corps University & Breitbart, in re:   Hamas. . . The man trying to establish a theocratic regime in Egypt is the only one who can bring an end to bloodshed . . . Read the Hamas founding charter: It’s part of Muslim Brotherhood, predicated on the destruction of Israel.  . . .  New York Times and WaPo seem to think that Hamas is out of time and money and soon will be out of rockets.  In fact, either Hamas stays true to its principles and fights against the existence of Israel, or it’s crushed by Israel (the Muslim Brother hood will be crushed as an organization) - or  else it distances itself from Qutb – the least likely.

Hour Three

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 3, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: The ground invasion is all folderol; the real action has been in place since Hour One, with Pathfinders and forward observers. The main action was around the tunnels; Israel found a huge one and blew it up.  Hamas fired more than a thousand rockets at Israel, of which Iron Dome intercepted several hundred. Israel sent out 1,500 sorties, targetted as precisely as possible to avoid civilian damage.   

Morsi was closely involved with Hamas; Sisi is not, has closed down many smuggling tunnels. Proposal to have  total ceasefire starting about 9 AM Israel time.  Hamas still has about 9,000 rockets.  Abbas and his Fatah team have married Hamas in a "unity" government; but Fatah has called Hamas's actions war crimes! When you fire from civilian areas and aim indiscriminately at civilian areas, that's a double violation of Geneva.

Gazans see missiles going out and coming in; see Hamas leaders hiding in their own tunnels - and ask, Why am I in danger for my life when we already own this territory?  Hamas in disfavor.  

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 3, Block B: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Iran, supplier of almost all the rockets and almost all the money. This is not stateless terror; the address is in Teheran. The regional hegemon, offset only  by Saudi cash, wants uranium enrichment, heavy water (Arak).  

-  uranium enrichment, wants 200,000 centrifuges. Will not budge.  

- heavy water (Arak) - they refuse to take the bldg down.  When you leave intact the structure and enrichment capacity - 10K is enough for a breakout capacity.

Cf.: weaponization, Fordo, Arak, inspection regimes. Likelihood of an accord by the designated date, 20 July, is low. Maybe an extension.  Many heads of state rallied in favor of Israel against Hamas and blamed Iran. Hezbollah was not activated.

Oversight, military compound inspections, snap inspections:  all Iran wants is more time to get to having the bomb, as North Korea did.  Consider the regional and global terror networks.  An invasive inspections regime is under consideration in Vienna - with so many caveats and so much conditionality  that it's barely meaningful.  US Congress is extremely sceptical about Vienna.  

Sanctions: Only Congress can lift the sanctions regime on Teheran.  Senate has some leverage ow. Not known who'll be in after November.  It's now hours to a ceasefire if Hamas agrees - but Hamas and the gangsters in it, Islamic jihad, are not independent actors. It's Iran. 

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 3, Block C: Charles Blahous via e21, Economic Policies for the 21st Century, Mercatus Center, in re:  A One-Sided White House Report on Medicaid Expansion

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 3, Block D: John Tamny, RealClearPolitcs, in re:  Not sufficiently embarrassed by his laughable assertion a few years ago that a stagnant U.S. economy was the result of a lack of "low hanging fruit," George Mason economist Tyler Cowen has outdone even himself.  Our presently weak economic outlook is in Cowen's eyes a problem of too much global peace.  He's serious. Forbes.  Tyler Cowen Promotes a Scarily Wrong Link Between War and Economic Growth.  "Economics is haunted by more fallacies than is any other study known to Man." - Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson, p. 15

Hour Four

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 4, Block A: Sid Perkins, Science magazine (1 of 2), in re: Ancient bird had wingspan longer than a stretch limousine. Alaskan tracks belong to herd of duck-billed dinosaurs. 500-million-year-old creature was on the way to evolving jaws. Humans Blamed for Loss of Mammoths and Other Giants.

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 4, Block B: Sid Perkins, Science magazine (2 of 2)

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 4, Block C:  Tunku Varadarajan, Hoover, in re: Until Götze’s goal, scored with just over six minutes left on the clock, Argentina had not conceded for 457 minutes of play. That is an astonishing spell of impregnability, one that looked set to last through to a penalty shoot-out tonight. In dramatic narrative, this was the match-up of accomplished opposites: Superb attackers (the Germans), versus consummate counter-attackers (the Argentines); the team with the most goals in the World Cup against the one that had been hardest to score against.  [more]

Monday  14 July  2014  / Hour 4, Block D:  Claudia Rosett, FDD & Forbes, in re: North Korean Ship Tests the Waters Near America's Shores It’s not often that North Korean-flagged freighters turn up near America’s shores, but when they do, they deserve attention. North Korea has a prolific record of arms smuggling, narcotics dealing, counterfeiting, terrorist ties and missile and nuclear proliferation. So, let’s hope U.S. authorities are keeping a close eye on a North Korean cargo ship called the Mu Du Bong, which late last month called at Cuba, then vanished from the commercial shipping grid for more than a week. This past Thursday, July 10, the Mu Du Bong reappeared at Havana, then began steaming north of Cuba, and as of this writing is cruising the Gulf of Mexico, not all that far from the Mexican port of Tampico — or for that matter, the coast of Texas.  [more]