The John Batchelor Show

Wednesday 20 November 2019

Air Date: 
November 20, 2019

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast, and David Livingston, The Space Show
 
Hour One
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 1, Block A: Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania, in re: the apparent loss of Xi Jinping's influence, something especially evident from the release of the Xinjiang-East Turkistan documents by the New York Times on Saturday.  complete govt incompetence in HK. Xi has abrogated the Basic Law agreement.   Irrevocable change in Hong Kong people. Willy Lam, in Canada:  After these searing weeks, incl police firing live ammunition and criminals beating up citizens, they've been deeply politicized. They deeply hate the Chinese Communist Marty. “This us what communism produces – destruction.”    If you stand next to two people, both of whom are shot in the forehead, you never forget it. 
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 1, Block B: Charles Burton, senior Fellow at the Centre for Advancing Canada's Interests Abroad at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, in re: Huawei 5G —to be allowed into the Canadian network? If yes, might be expelled from the Five Eyes intell group because it won't be secure - which would make Chiba very happy.    The Canadian public is extremely sceptical of an enhanced relation with China.  Canadians have been polled about Meng extradition: they hold that Canada needs to abide by extradition treaty with the US.  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-new-governments-firs...
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/meng-wanzhou-extradition-attempt-fails-to-meet-canadian-requirement-lawyer-1.4694066
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 1, Block C: Gordon Chang, in re: The  CCP is not ready to be a mature power. Xi is poorly educated. The touted trade agreement: up and down. Something is going on in Beijing; are they waiting for a new US president?
With the trade agreement “almost there,” the Chinese upped their demands in two major matters; plus new problems in Beijing - esp concerning the oppression of Uyghurs and Kazakhs, documents on which were released.  Beijing is enraged;  400-plus pages incriminate Xi.  Severe turmoil at the top of the Party. 
Relevant tale: Churchill arrived in Moscow to confer with Stalin. “What happened to the Kulaks?”  “They went away.” 
The CCP America desk has failed, as has the China desk in the US. Democracies respond slowly; we’re reaching s tipping point. 
“Appeasement,”  Cybersecurity Law of 2026:  all communications and foreign data stored in China will be available to Beijing - every single datum     Encryption illegal as of 1 Jan 2019. Josh Holly, R-Missouri:  bill to prohibit any US  companies from storing data in China.   Caterpillar? Marriott?
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 1, Block D: Michael Yon, in re: Pitched battle in Hong Kong; 1500 tear gas rounds, rubber bullets
Woman with a compound fracture was prevented medical attention for four hours. Many of the patriots were willing to make a last stand - and police willing to oblige
At HK Polytechnic, many students were arrested.  Disheartened?  I strongly believe it’s not over.   SEE VID   Monday night, there was a sea of fire with Molotov cocktails, police back and forth in waves; police drove vans at high speed into the crowd. This could last for years.    Every abuse that occurs makes people even angrier.  Under police, people going missing. I tried to get arrestees’s names as they were being led away.
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 2, Block A:  Andrew Collier, managing director of Orient Capital Research in Hong Kong and author of Shadow Banking and the Rise of Capitalism in China, in re: Siege of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Police have taken 1100 people into custody.  The impending Congressional Act would signal the end of Hong Kong commerce.* 
Eighty per cent of people blame the HK govt; 40% blame black-clad students.  At Polytechnic, one 12-yr-old was taken/incarcerated(?). 
HK high court overturned Carrie Lam’s interdiction on wearing face coverings.  Beijing said it had no right to interpret the law. Five instances where Beijing has countermanded decisions; people shocked because the HK court does, in fact, have that right. 
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3038516/china-will-ret... will also discuss the general reaction to the siege of Polytechnic.
*https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-passes-bill-supporting-hong-kong-prot...
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 2, Block B:  Tara O of the East Asia Reasearch Center (https://eastasiaresearch.org/) and fellow at the Institute for Corean-American Studies in re: her recent research trip to Seoul and the recent event where two very young, malnourished fishermen fled to South Korea , applied for asylum, and were sent back to North Korea, where they no doubt already have been tortured and killed. The presidential office Moon Jae-in tried to maintain it as a secret as the return expressly violated the South Korean Constitution.  This was all discovered by accident by a reporter.  Ghastly.
https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/deportation-north-koreans-suspected-16-deaths-raises-questions-south
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 2, Block C:  Lawson Bader, president, Donors Trust, in re:  Donors Trust is an American non-profit donor-advised fund. It was founded in 1999 with the goal of "safeguarding the intent of libertarian and conservative donors.”  As a donor-advised fund, Donors Trust is not legally required to disclose its donors, and most of its donors remain anonymous. It distributes funds to various conservative and libertarian organizations. It is affiliated with Donors CapitalFund, another donor-advised fund.  As a public charity and a donor-advised fund, Donors Trust offers clients a variety of tax advantages compared to a private foundation. As a donor-advised fund and public charity, Donors Trust accepts cash or assets from donors, and in turn creates a separate account for the donor, who may recommend disbursements from the fund to other public charities. Donors Trust requires an initial deposit of $10,000 or more. In September 2015, Lawson Bader was announced as the new president of both Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund. Bader was formerly president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Vice President at the Mercatus Center.
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 2, Block D:  Dr Sam Christian, US Army (ret); in re: Circumstances in Dominica [pronounced doh-mee-NEE-ka] and the upcoming 6 December election (already compromised).  Dominica’s total population is 72,000Foes of North American democracies are taking advantage of the poor governance by Roosevelt Skerritt, who’s registered more than 72,000 voters.
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 3, Block A: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re: SpaceX Starship test; hope to have flights in 2020. Today, during engineering tests, a tank exploded – went 500 feet into the air. No other information. Boeing blasted NASA for how it negotiates its contact. Looks as though NASA needed addtl flights because of its own delays, so it contracted Boing, gave it almost $300 mil extra dollars without ever speaking with Space X for a moment, even though SpaceX has shorter production lead times, and it charges about half of what Boeing charges. NASA is “not transparent” – is that legal?  China.  Indonesia: has lept into the Twenty-first Century, has its own space agency and space port; has picked a location for a new, larger space port from which to launch their own home-grown rockets.  Similar to UAE, Japan, and other, smaller nations.  Apollo 12 was the second on the Moon; demonstrated that the Apollo system really works.
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 3, Block B:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:  Oxygen in Gale Crater fluctuates seasonally; Curiosity found it.  First geological map of Saturn’s moon. Two of Neptune’s small moons are so close they literally dance with each other and never collide; one named Ginger Rogers and the other, Fred Astaire.
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 3, Block C:  Fred Starr, founding chairman of the Central Asia -Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, in re:  Dec 22 Uzbek election: new president wants to bring in the public as voters, and control out-of-control local bureaucrats, meaning they have to modernize the process. Are behind the eight ball; rushing. More urgently, the arties, which have quite different characters, will for the first time frontally compete.  The challenge to the whole country is to move toward democracy, which is messy.
This election is being closely watched by neighboring countries, including Afghanistan.
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 3, Block D:  Hotel Mars, episode n.  Michael Wall, of Space.com, and David Livingston, The Space Show, in re: The Martian probe.  Mild Martian earthquakes.
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 4, Block A: When I Left Home: My Story, by Buddy Guy and David Ritz.  True Vine Baptist Church and school, near Baton Rouge. [John 15:1]
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 4, Block B: When I Left Home: My Story, by Buddy Guy and David Ritz.
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 4, Block C: When I Left Home: My Story, by Buddy Guy and David Ritz.
Wednesday 20 November 2019 / Hour 4, Block D: When I Left Home: My Story, by Buddy Guy and David Ritz.
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