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JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes
 
Hour One
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor & FDD,  and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal senior editor  & FDD, in re:
Gilani told Baghdadi, “I told you so.”  ;  In the New Yorker, Robin Wright weighs in:
rubbishubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish rubbishubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish
On November 18th, which happened to be the day that the Trump transition team arrived at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter reflected on the world that President-elect Trump will inherit. A large chunk of Indiana limestone, found in the rubble of the Pentagon after the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks, was on his desk—handed down to every Secretary of Defense since 2001. The top priority, Carter said, will be finishing off the Islamic State. (The next four: containing Iranian influence, deterring North Korea, preventing Russian aggression in Europe, and encouraging stability in the Asian Pacific, in that order.)
U.S. policy is basically to eliminate all jihadis. “We will kill as many isil as we can in the Mosul and Raqqa battles,” Carter told me, using another term for the Islamic State. “If they try to get out of town, we’ll try to kill them. If they go somewhere else, then we’ll continue to destroy them. So they may fight to the death, and they may try to survive, but we’ll be after them in either case.”
The initial purpose of the American reëngagement in Iraq was to avert genocide of the Yazidis, an ethno-religious minority trapped on barren Mt. Sinjar. “As Commander-in-Chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into another war in Iraq,” President Obama vowed in 2014. But the mission quickly expanded across Iraq and, within a month, to Syria. The United States now has five thousand troops in Iraq and several hundred Special Operations Forces in Syria. The first American death in Syria occurred last month. U.S. warplanes have carried out more than twelve thousand air strikes—seven thousand in Iraq and more than five thousand in Syria. The cost averages $12.6 million a day.
The air strikes have eliminated some hundred and twenty leaders of the Islamic State, but U.S. intelligence estimates that there are still at least eighteen thousand fighters in Iraq and Syria. The number of new foreign fighters arriving has sharply diminished, partly because of the difficulties in getting there, but some are still showing up.
“We’re going to destroy the idea that there is an Islamic State,” Carter said. “They’ll see that, before their eyes, it’s not a place for foreign fighters, because there’s no place to go. There’ll be no training there. There’ll be no welcome there. And that magnetism that two years ago brought many foreign fighters—there’ll be no magnet left.”
He acknowledged a major catch: “My principal concern at this stage of the campaign is that the stability, reconstruction, and political rehabilitation will lag behind the military campaign.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/12/after-the-islamic-state?mbi...
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 1, Block B: Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor & FDD,  and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal senior editor  & FDD, in re: 
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 1, Block C:  Gordon G. Chang, Daily Beast & Forbes.com, in re:
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/308704-trump-slams-china-on-twitter
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 1, Block D:  Gordon G. Chang, Daily Beast & Forbes.com, in re:   President-elect Donald Trump slammed China on Sunday, criticizing the country on Twitter for taxing U.S. products and for its aggression in the South China Sea. “Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into…their country (the U.S. doesn't tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don't think so!” Trump wrote in two separate tweets on Sunday evening.   http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/308704-trump-slams-china-on-twitter
 
Hour Two
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:   David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent; John Fund, NRO, in re:  Democratic Party needs a leader. Joe Biden said, “I’ll run in 2020; what the heck!”
Trump Cabinet: some surprising choices but nothing outside of Republican imagining.  . . .  “Not everyone will get a tax cut; not the uppermost income.”   Because Trump campaigned as a quasi-isolationist, everybody is focussed on his choice for State.  First clue: Reince Priebus was assigned chief of staff – Priebus is connected to every human in Washington. Mostly conservative and canny nominations.   Two Dems: Ross (Commerce) and Mnuchin (Treasury).   . . . Dems are so angry they’ll delay confirmations as long as they can because their donors demand it.   [Imagine if both Mnuchin {Treasury} and Manchin  {State} were appointed.]
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 2, Block B: David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent; John Fund, NRO, in re:  Barack Obama is a historic figure, beloved of may people in the party; young and vigorous; will have a lot to say whom on put forth in 202 – and have his secret sauce to rub off on them. He’ll see that the party’s move too leftward won’t work; will promote candidates he think can win yet still be in his mould.  One of the ironies of the Obama presidency is: to govern, he had to surround himself with older Dems, so he couldn't bld a farm team of his own ilk. 
If Keith Elliston becomes chairman of DNC, a bad sign: party will go leftward on foreign policy, esp Middle East; and toward Sanders for freebies; and compete with Trump on who’ll have the most interventionist industrial policy. Make Eugene V Debs blush!  Need a new Bill Clinton to take the party toward the center.
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 2, Block C: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:  What’s in the Iran Deal documents?  Three hidden groups of secret concessions: (“If the American people knew what was in these docs here’d be a revolt in the streets”). . . One group is 17 unclassified documents related to the Iran nuclear agreement, including a projection of how Iran’s nuclear research and development could progress over time, and letters between various foreign ministers and Secretary of State John Kerry.
The second group includes documents signed by senior State Department official Brett McGurk [and Iranian spy operatives], outlining the terms of a much-criticized prisoner swap in which four Americans were released in prison in exchange for the transfer of $1.7 billion in cash to Iran—a deal that Trump himself lambasted frequently during the presidential campaign. [Implications to global financial system.]
And the third group includes documents outlining the “secret” exemptions to the nuclear deal that Iran was allowed.  – [allowing Iran to keep even more uranium, more centrifuges, all secretly] These exemptions were approved by a joint commission created by the deal to oversee its implementation.
All three sets of documents are unclassified, a senior Republican Senate aide said. Emails reviewed by The Daily Beast showed that despite this fact, a confidential clearance was required to see the McGurk documents and a secret classification was required to view the joint commission documents in the Congressional SCIFs. [Is this legal??]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/05/trump-team-wants-you-to...
Iran issues threatening statements against sanctions almost universally approved by Congress; Iran is backed up by China in this.  There are many more documents that are unavailable because they are, in fact, formally classified.
Does Valerie Jarrett’s name appear? So far no; her name would be in the earlier negotiations.  And Pres Obama’s letters to the Supreme Leader? Not yet available . . . Iran today threatened (Energy) Secy Muniz.   Mullahs are now sentencing young people, including those well covered, to six years for prostitution.  “Human rights” in Iran are grinding down toward nothing.  Ever more aggressive; today two Iranians detained filming the Israeli embassy in Kenya, now charged with intending a terrorist act.  Iran aimed cannon at a US helo this week.  No reaction from Obama, as usual.  . . . Russia filling the void in Syria.  Egypt and UAE have banned the Muslim Brotherhood, ask Britain to do so, also.  Middle East considers that the Western world is doing nothing and is out of its mind.
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 2, Block D: Indiana Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:  The Bar-Kokhba Revolt* (132-135 CE).  Discovery of a 1900-year-old Roman column found underwater: carving includes on base the name of the previously-unknown governor; a rock 70 x 65 cm, weighed 1300 lbs. Inscription on Gargillius Anticus? (leader of mil units); the second known use of the word “Judea” from this period.
UN proposes  (103 to 50?) to transfer control of the Golan Heights back to Syria. What??  Has anyone ever been there?  Further, they use only the Arabic names for all parts; an annual ritual. This should be so offensive even to them. Beyond credible.   The notion of forcing the Druse back under Assad is horrifying.
France: Hollande steps aside.  PM Valls (Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti) steps down today to run as a Socialist. He’s a good friend of the US, outspoken against racism.  With Hollande and Juppé gone, Fillon is competing with LePen.
* wikipedia: The revolt erupted as a result of ongoing religious and political tensions in Judea following on the failure of the First Revolt in 66−70 CE. These tensions were related to the establishment of a large Roman presence in Judea, changes in administrative life and the economy, together with the outbreak and suppression of Jewish revolts from Mesopotamia to Libya and Cyrenaica. The proximate reasons seem to centre around the proscription of circumcision, the construction of a new city, Aelia Capitolina, over the ruins of Jerusalem, and the erection of a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount. The Church Fathers and rabbinic literature emphasize governor of Judaea Rufus' role in provoking the revolt. . . .  In 132, a revolt led by Bar Kokhba quickly spread from Modi'inacross the country, cutting off the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. Roman Governor Rufus then unsuccessfully engaged the early phase of the uprising. Rufus is last recorded in 132, the first year of the rebellion; whether he died or was replaced is uncertain. Initial rebel victories over the Romans established an independent state of Israel over parts of Judea for over two years, as Bar Kokhba took the title of Nasi ("prince"). Simon bar Kokhba, the commander of the revolt, was regarded by many Jews as the Messiah, who would restore their national independence. This setback, however, caused Roman Emperor Hadrian to assemble a large scale Roman force from across the Empire, which invaded Judea in 134 under the command of Roman General Sextus Julius Severus. The Roman army was made of six full legions with auxiliaries and elements from up to six additional legions, which finally managed to crush the revolt.
The Bar Kokhba revolt resulted in the extensive depopulation of Judean communities, more so than the First Jewish–Roman War of 70 CE. According to Cassius Dio, 580,000 Jews perished in the war and many more died of hunger and disease. In addition, many Judean war captives were sold into slavery. The Jewish communities of Judea were devastated to an extent, which some scholars describe as a genocide. Roman casualties were also considered heavy - XXII Deiotariana was disbanded after serious losses. In addition, some historians argue that Legio IX Hispana's disbandment in the mid-2nd century could also have been a result of this war. In an attempt to erase any memory of Judea or Ancient Israel, Emperor Hadrian wiped the name off the map and replaced it with Syria Palaestina.
 
Hour Three
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:   JoshRogin, Washington Post; in re: Trump Seeks Homeland Secretary for the Border and for Extreme Vetting. @JoshRogin, Washington Post.  Donald Trump’s most polarizing promises on the campaign trail concerned how he would protect the homeland and treat Muslims inside the United States and abroad. Whether and how those boasts become national policy depends heavily on his choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security. So it’s interesting that one leading candidate is going public with detailed — and relatively workable — plans to turn Trump’s ideas into reality.
The leading contenders for homeland security secretary are House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), retired Marine Gen. John Kelly and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kelly would give Trump a military leader who could run the southern border with efficiency. Kobach, who accidentally revealed some of his ideas during a recent visit to Trump Tower, is reliably conservative but has limited experience.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/a-workable-homeland-security-plan-for-trump/2016/12/04/aa4fcdea-b8ca-11e6-b994-f45a208f7a73_story.html?utm_term=.6f142da9f33e
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 3, Block B:   HarrySiegel, NYDailyNews. TheDailyBeast; in re:  Fake News Is the New New Thing & What is to be done? @HarrySiegel, @NYDailyNews. @TheDailyBeast.    “…But Trump didn’t invent racism, hate or propaganda. Tying him to every nasty thing that happens now, like This Week in Hate is doing, is its own sort of false news that gives cover to truly nasty people. As the headline to the Times’ smartest piece on the topic put it: “Fixation on Fake News Overshadows Waning Trust in Real Reporting.” 
Speaking of waning trust, Mayor de Blasio is pretending that he’ll be running against Trump next year. Which makes sense, given how unpopular Trump is in his hometown, and how much easier and cheaper talking about the Donald is than finding shelter for a record homeless population or bringing down out-of-control housing costs….”  http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/fake-news-real-fear-cynical-pols-arti...
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 3, Block C:   Eli Lake, BloombergView; in re:  The Veteran John Bolton for Trump’s State. @EliLake, @BloombergView.  “…All of that said, there are strong reasons why Bolton would be a good fit for a Trump administration. To start, unlike the other candidates for the job, he has significant experience navigating the State Department. Trump should expect resistance from the foreign-service and diplomatic bureaucracy to his foreign policy. Bolton is someone who knows where the bodies are buried at Foggy Bottom.
Bolton, despite his undiplomatic reputation, has also been a successful diplomat. In 1991, when he was assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, he led the fight at the U.N. to repeal resolution 3379, which said Zionism was racism. That resolution had passed 72 to 35 in 1975. In 1991 the General Assembly revoked it with a vote of 86 to 46.
In George W. Bush's first term, when Bolton served as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, he had three important accomplishments. To start, Bolton negotiated the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which placed limitations on U.S. development of missile defense systems. He managed to pull off this feat without any immediate consequences for the U.S.-Russian relationship, which didn't begin to sour until Bush's second term.
Bolton was also instrumental in conducting the first round of diplomacy to exempt U.S. soldiers from prosecution of the International Criminal Court. Bolton did some arm-twisting to get these bilateral immunity agreements. He cajoled and harangued ambassadors, threatening to cut off U.S. assistance. In the end, it worked. More than 100 countries had agreed to exempt U.S. forces from prosecution to the court by the end of the Bush administration.
Finally, Bolton is the architect of an arrangement between U.S. allies to interdict ships suspected of transporting weapons of mass destruction. This arrangement, known as the Proliferation Security Initiative, survives to this day. A testament to this is that President Barack Obama in his landmark 2009 arms control speech in Prague praised Bolton's brain-child as “an important tool in our efforts to break up black markets, detect and intercept WMD materials in transit, and use financial tools to disrupt this dangerous trade."…”  https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-12-05/secretary-of-state-jo...
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 3, Block D:  Valerie Volcovici, Reuters, in re:  Trump Points to Developing $1.5 Trillion of Energy Owned by Native Americans. The tribes have rights to use the land, but they do not own it. They can drill it and reap the profits, but only under regulations that are far more burdensome than those applied to private property.
"We should take tribal land away from public treatment," said Markwayne Mullin, a Republican U.S. Representative from Oklahoma and a Cherokee tribe member who is co-chairing Trump’s Native American Affairs Coalition. "As long as we can do it without unintended consequences, I think we will have broad support around Indian country."
Trump’s transition team did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The plan dovetails with Trump’s larger aim of slashing regulation to boost energy production. It could deeply divide Native American leaders, who hold a range of opinions on the proper balance between development and conservation.
The proposed path to deregulated drilling - privatizing reservations - could prove even more divisive. Many Native Americans view such efforts as a violation of tribal self-determination and culture. "Our spiritual leaders are opposed to the privatization of our lands, which means the commoditization of the nature, water, air we hold sacred," said Tom Goldtooth, a member of both the Navajo and the Dakota tribes who runs the Indigenous Environmental Network. "Privatization has been the goal since colonization – to strip Native Nations of their sovereignty."
Reservations governed by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs are intended in part to keep Native American lands off the private real estate market, preventing sales to non-Indians. An official at the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not respond to a request for comment….”  http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-tribes-insight-idUSKBN13U1B1
 
Hour Four
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:  The Tunnels: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill, by Greg Mitchell (1 of 4)
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  The Tunnels: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill, by Greg Mitchell (2 of 4)
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 4, Block C: The Tunnels: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill, by Greg Mitchell (3 of 4)
Monday 5 December 2016 / Hour 4, Block D: The Tunnels: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill, by Greg Mitchell (4 of 4)
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