The John Batchelor Show

Tuesday 22 May 2018

Air Date: 
May 22, 2018

 
Photo:
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council under US Pres Donald Trump.
 
Hour One
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 1, Block A:.  Elizabeth Peek, Fiscal Times and Fox News, in re:  Economy doing well
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 1, Block B:   Elizabeth Peek, Fiscal Times and Fox News, in re:  GOP has gone ahead in the generic poll
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 1, Block C:   Richard Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover; in re:  Hamas
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 1, Block D:   Richard Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover; in re:  Hamas
 
Hour Two
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 2, Block A:  Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; American Committee for East-West Accord; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin;  in re:   . . .  I grew up knowing that all our human rights were being defended and protected by the ACLU, the New York Times, the Washington Post, inter al.   It's shocking to see that these are now [not fulfilling that responsibility but have either gone silent or, in effect, flipped].
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 2, Block B:  Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; American Committee for East-West Accord; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin;  in re:  . . .  When I moved from Kentucky and Indiana to Columbia to [do graduate work], my teacher was John Hazard.  
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 2, Block C:  Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; American Committee for East-West Accord; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin;  in re: 
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 2, Block D:  Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; American Committee for East-West Accord; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin; in re: 
 
Hour Three
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block A:  Mary Kissel, WSJ editorial in London; in re:
Russian cash surfaces and is laundered in London. Murders and attempted murders. The IPO: Linklaters.   Putin, oligarchs.  Parliamentary report: Russians are using Britain to prop up their [heartless] regime.
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block B:  Peter Berkowitz, RealClearPolitics, and Hoover, in re:  Salena Zito, The Great Revolt
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block C:  Chuck Ross, The Daily Caller, in re:  Stefan Halper has been around for a while and is known.  He’s a Republican figure who wears several hats: was a source for CIA and FBI; is a foreign-policy expert, has written books about China. Put in his name for an ambassadorship under Trump, to “an Asian country.”  Been a contractor for DoD Ofc of Net Assessment.  ’Twas under this that he offered $3,000 to Papadopoulos, and also brought in Ms. “Azra Turk.” (?)
Carter Page:  I asked Halper abt his contacts w Papadopoulos; said he knew him.  Meetings between Page and Halper at Halper’s Virginia farm; over 14 months.  Carter Page has started to release some comms he had w Halper . . .  Halper has the earmarks of a good recruiter. Was running an operation.  The Travellers’s Club in London.  Clinton emails: Halper randomly brings them up, Papadopoulos recoils.  Halper frustrated, pressed a bit, then it went away.
Chuck called Halper’s number; man answering sounded very much like Halper but said he wasn’t
and took a message.  Number for Azra Turk, Halper’s assistant, has been disconnected.
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block D: Entifadh Qanbar,  pres, The Future Foundation, in re: Iraq. Muqtada al-Sadr’s coalition won in the just-passed elections.  Mtg w Haider el-Abadi, PM, and w others to stabilize the country.  Mookie will be kingmaker. “No longer a Shi’a pol, but a patriotic Iraqi pol.”  No longer working in the politics of the Shi’a axis but in the Iraqi axis. Allawi would be his best choice.  . . . Kurdistan: played an important role about how the govt will shape.   Mahsoud Barzani leads the Kurds, in the North; intends to be independent of Baghdad.  Bad feelings all around except Allawi, who enjoys good relations with Kurds.   Maliki was PM all during the Obama Adm; neither Sadr nor US will work w him (blame him for the rise of ISIS).Abadi’s weak performance in elections; bodes ill for his pol future, although Sadr could work with him. 
 
Hour Four
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block A:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:  Sheikh Mohammed of UAE is very big on space, wanting to diversify his country’s economy. Put out a notice that pp could apply to become UAE astronauts, got abt a thousand responses.  Cooperative agreement between Russia and UAE; may use UAE astronaut in 2010?India: March launch of comms sat failed. Pulled a sat launch from French Guyana, repaired it, and sent it back.  A good sign:  took an engineer’s approach, not a manager’s!
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block B:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re: 
$40 bil so far, but left paraffin wax in a tube in the core stage and everything ground to a halt. Boondoggle. Outrageous.   . . . Hawai’i : TMT’s fate.  The 30-meter telescope and the giant Magellan telescope: teaming as a joint operation, one in Northern and one is Southern Hemisphere.
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block C:  Stalin's Englishman: Guy Burgess, the Cold War, and the Cambridge Spy Ring, by Andrew Lownie
Tuesday 22 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block D:  Stalin's Englishman: Guy Burgess, the Cold War, and the Cambridge Spy Ring, by Andrew Lownie