Wednesday 18 June 2014
Photo, above: RIMPAC 2014, see 1o Hour, Block A.
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Hour One
Wednesday / Hour 1, Block A: Gordon Chang, Harry Kazianis, managing editor of the National Interest and a non-resident senior fellow at the China Policy Institute, on these: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-17/iraq-crisis-could-threaten-chinese-oil-investments
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2014/06/15/if-anyone-bombs-iraq-shouldnt-it-be-china/
Wednesday / Hour 1, Block B: Gordon Chang, Kelley Currie, senior fellow with the Project 2049 Institute, on this
http://online.wsj.com/articles/backsliding-in-burma-1402938504
Wednesday / Hour 1, Block C: David Livingston, Space Show; George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic
CNN piece that came out last week, primarily about Virgin Galactic
Wednesday / Hour 1, Block D: Gordon Chang, Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania, on these
http://news.usni.org/2014/06/17/greenert-dont-unnecessarily-antagonize-china
Relatives Shed Assets as China's Leader Fights Graft
Hour Two
Wednesday / Hour 2, Block A: Gordon Chang, Rick Fisher, senior fellow on Asian Military Affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, on this: http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/a-historic-moment-chinas-ships-head-to-rimpac-2014/
US does duality too, engaging with China while PACOM analyst gingerly says China is a monster:
http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/china-and-the-u-s-alliance-system/
And engagement is no guarantee of nice behavior when China has a much bigger navy; here China stokes the Falklands flames (may sell nasty weapons too)
Wednesday / Hour 2, Block B: Gordon Chang, Mike Davis, professor at Hong Kong University Law School, on this: http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/gordon-g-chang/beijing-redefines-hong-kongs-autonomy And his op-ed pasted here:
Wednesday / Hour 2, Block D: Gordon Chang, Michael Auslin Resident Scholar in Foreign and Defense Policy Studies American Enterprise Institute 1150 17th Street NW Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 862-5848 michael.auslin@aei.org http://www.aei.org/auslin Japan Steps Up as Regional Counterweight Michael Auslin | The Wall Street Journal | June 5, 2014 Japan has long struggled to define its position in the world. Its two decade-long economic slump destroyed pretensions of becoming Asia's dominant power, while the rise of China dethroned Japan as the world's second-largest economy and raised the specter of a non-liberal hegemon of Asia. Now Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has embraced the role of regional counterweight to Beijing. If he succeeds, Asia may resemble a more normal region of sovereign actors. If he fails, he may exacerbate tensions and even help precipitate armed conflict. It is a risky yet potentially transformative gamble. Mr. Abe laid out his vision at last weekend's Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, promising Japan's "utmost support" for Southeast Asian nations facing [Chinese] coercion by unnamed powers over disputed maritime territory. He said that Japan "intends to play an even greater and more proactive role" to maintain peace and stability in Asia. A primary plank of his policy is to rekindle Japanese relations with India. Mr. Abe was the main official guest at India's Republic Day in January. Tokyo and New Delhi agreed at that time to conduct bilateral naval exercises, and India has invited Japan to participate in the Malabar maritime exercises alongside the U.S. and Australia. This revitalized cooperation has been embraced by new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who seeks to build the countries' growing economic ties. Yet the true impetus is strategic, providing both Japan and India with a powerful partner on China's flank. Each has an interest in freedom of navigation and worries about Chinese designs on parts of its territory. A second prong is to support Southeast Asian nations embroiled in disputes with China. Tokyo has given 10 patrol vessels to the Philippines to help prevent further Chinese seizure of Philippine territory or interference with administrative control over disputed shoals, and Vietnam will also receive Japanese-made ships as soon as they are built. Mr. Abe visited all 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last year and is pushing greater cooperation among Australia, the U.S. and Japan. The Japanese leader is also redefining his country's broader security policies. He has unveiled plans to end the longstanding ban on "collective self-defense" so that Japanese military forces can aid friends under attack-and, most importantly, work more closely with the United States. Mr. Abe has stated that the alliance with Washington can be effective only if Japan is able to help defend U.S. ships and military personnel from attack by states like North Korea. Public opposition to expanded military activities abroad may be Mr. Abe's greatest obstacle to making Japan a "normal nation," meaning one that removes onerous restrictions on using its military, even for peacekeeping purposes. Yet he is betting that domestic opinion will come around given understanding of the immediate threat from North Korea and China's less immediate but far more serious challenge to Japanese interests. Mr. Abe has adopted the rhetorical tack of claiming that everything Japan does is to support international law. The implication, of course, is that China is undermining international law and norms of behavior-in contrast, for example, to Indonesia and the Philippines peacefully resolving their maritime border dispute, as Mr. Abe noted at the Shangri-La Dialogue. This variant on "naming and shaming" is designed to start isolating China throughout the region. Beijing often helps Mr. Abe make his case, as when Chinese fighter jets flew dangerously close to Japanese surveillance planes over the Senkaku Islands last week. The Abe gambit to reshape Asia is just beginning, and much will depend on how successful his domestic economic plans pan out. A Japan that remains economically stagnant won't have the resources to expand its military or to serve as a credible political alternative to China in the region. But if Japan's economy can grow with its geopolitical ambitions, Asia may have an alternative to Chinese hegemony-provided also that the U.S. stays engaged in the region to prevent Beijing from filling in any vacuum in great-power influence. The risks of antagonizing China are becoming more readily apparent, but Japan's most dynamic leader in a decade has decided that his country will no longer be a bystander to history.
Wednesday / Hour 2, Block B: Gordon Chang, Joe Sternberg, WSJ.
Hour Three
Wednesday / Hour 3, Block A: Monica Crowley, Washington Times
RAF fighters intercept Russian bombers
Cameron: Isis plans to attack Britain
Saddam's men return to pick up arms in city once held by US
Iraq crisis: Isis cracks a savvy social media advance
Kenya al-Shabaab attack 'led by a white man speaking fluent British English'
Wednesday / Hour 3, Block B: Tunku Varadarajan, Hoover
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/18/chile-ends-spain-s-world-cup-reign.html.
Wednesday / Hour 3, Block C: Mona Charen, NRO
Identity Politics, Not Substance
Hillary has nothing to offer but her sex.
Wednesday / Hour 3, Block D: Peter Berkowitz, Hoover
A Practical Plan for Recalibrating Conservatism by Peter Berkowitz Real Clear Politics
Hour Four
Wednesday / Hour 4, Block A: Christopher Ruddy, NewsMax TV
Newsmax network debuts Monday on Dish, DirecTV
Stevenspointjournal-Jun 14, 2014
The contracts with the satellite-TV providers represent Newsmax's foray ... by journalist Christopher Ruddy, is hardly new to video production.
Wednesday / Hour 4, Block B: Harry Siegel, New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/humanity-good-run-article-1.1823072
Wednesday / Hour 4, Block C: Paul Gregory, Hoover
Putin does not want peace. He is quite happy with the status quo. Only a military solution is possible and Ukraine needs military assistance for that to happen. Yet he West keeps pushing Ukraine towards an impossible solution. Poroshenko is smart enough to avoid the trap.
Wednesday / Hour 4, Block D: Charles Pellegrino, author.
Godzilla Earth Found — and You Don't Want to Live There
TIME-Jun 3, 2014
More recently, astronomers have been finding “mini-Neptunes” — planets not much bigger than Earth, with
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