Photo, left:  China from the Eyes of the Flying Tigers, 1944-1945
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Co-hosts: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com & Daily Beast. Dr. David M. Livingston, The Space Show.
 
Hour One
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: James Holmes, professor of strategy at the Naval War College and a former surface warfare officer; article in The National Interest; in re: The age of strategic triage: with finite resources, can attend to a limited number of matters; pick the essential ones, or the ones that are most likely to succeed. Cut loose, for example, Afghanistan or Iraq?  Concentrate on nations that really can hurt the US and the international system? This is called “the realist way of looking at it”: focus on China, Russia , maybe Iran in future.  If you focus on Afgh: commitment is 15 years old now, we've hitched ourselves to the regime, which is not making it; need to turn to South Asia, et al.  Russia is a fascinating case, China is a rising power – ec, mil, dipl.  Russia looks to be on the decline but still wants to revise the world order to suit its interest, Under Putin is lashing out. China lashing out: plane comes down, sea attacks; same time, in Crimea an attack.  Do we focus on China or Russia?  If you have to pick, ignore Crimea because Russia already controls it.   http://nationalinterest.org/feature/welcome-the-age-strategic-triage-17450
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block B:  Rick Fisher, senior Fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, in re:  by the middle or end of the decade, China might launch enough hardware and eqpt to the Moon to bld a large radar statin, Need to bld laser-based data relay satellites: go from gigabites to terabites transmitted over long distances; Can be an unmanned base.  China’s ambition is to control the Earth-Moon system;  LaGrangian points of gravitational pull – can control travel to Mars and out.  Controlling access to Mars is important; Chinese are thinking long-term and for complete dominance.  Pres Obama cancelled our Moon shots.  China intends to control travel from Earth to Mars.  Putting radar on Moon that can intimately monitor the Earth s the payoff.   This is a provocation. Russian firm Lobatchkin (?), specializing in unmanned Moon probes. Eager to sell to China. Laser data relay system would make it possible to tend to eqpt on Moon without humans.   
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2006611/chinese-scientists-study-viability-manned-radar-station
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Cleo Paskal, Visiting Trudeau Fellow, University of Montreal and Associate Fellow, Chatham House, in re:  Baloch genome: human right situations there (Balochistan is about 40% of Pakistan’s landmass; has strategic port; Baloch people are an old, proud and independent people). Modi; If you want to talk about Kashmir, fine; let’s also speak of Balochistan. Kashmir now is at 65 days of unrest in Kashmir. Modi is taking the game to Pakistan – actually, 60 years of Balochistan problems.   But there are actual Chinese troops there protecting Pak I interests.  The basic question is: What will China do about India?  India is the only nation that can open up a second front on China.  Two Balochi in jail in the US forever: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramsey Yusef – these fell more into the Punjabi army paradigm then the moderate, nationalist Baloch mentality.  Baloch independentistas want a prosperous, stable, moderate society.   China wants this as a strategic corridor and a source of natural resources; No Indian leader till Modi has come out to support Baloch. This is a major game-change.  Baloch are also troublesome to Iranians; a separate story.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/08/16/by-simply-mentioning-a-pakistani-province-modi-fuels-theories-about-indias-role-in-rebellion-there/
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block D:  Henry Sokolski, executive director of The Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, in re: Anti-nuclear protest in China: reprocessing take spent uranium out and use it elsewise, but the neighbors in Jiangsu think that’s bogus.   Proposed site for a French-blt reprocessing plant – neighbors said, “Don’t even think of building that thing here!”
“Open used fuel rods, take out highly radioactive material, plutonium, and dunk it in water – a major challenge. The plants don’t even have concrete containment bldgs!  After 9/11. French put air defense surveillance over their own reprocessing plants.  Extraction of Pn as a surrogate for U is a very expensive substitute – normally makes no economic sense.  However, there is a concern – which China has fretted about for Japan – that the Pn could be used to make bombs.  China intends to make a lot of nuclear plants -generation 3 plants -  can maintain cooling for 72 hours, but recall Fukushima, where 72 hours was as naught,  Also, Chinese constriction: egad.  Neighbors feel in their bones that this will not go well. One of their leading physicists said they're moving too fast; this is a new game and no one is much practiced in building these plants.  Main point is, whatever they’re bldg, it doesn't justify a large Pn reprocessing plant for a fast reactor.  Someone needs to say, “We don’t reprocess and China doesn't need to”; the world needs to put this aside for the moment; wd take pressure of China, Japan, and even the South Koreans (who’ll move to outflank the Japanese).   http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-nuclearpower-idUSKCN10L0CX
 
Hour Two
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  Paul Giarra, president of Global Strategies & Transformation, in re:  . . . there are no experts in this. We're at terra obliqua:  like the 1950s when Herman Kahn had to [figure out from scratch].  China will ignore international norms; how many divisions does The Hague have? If anyone demands to bring of the Hague court decision, China may just shut the meeting down. Russia as a co-conspirator? Hope that relations are similar to those within the Axis in WWII . . . China ha taken the measure of the US and ses that it won’t stand up to China or Russia.  Till we get organized and speak of his publically we won’t have the sustainabili ty to keep this alive. No deterrent in place, despite what ____ said.  http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/08/21/chinese-ships-planes-conduct-war-games-in-sea-japan.html
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block B:  Bruce Klingner, senior research Fellow, Northeast Asia, at The Heritage Foundation, in re: Submarine-launched ballistic missile buy North Korea. Missile or sub new?  Been in dvpt for a while, but this was the first test launch – went 300 mi. in an unusually high trajectory to shorten the range; at a normal trajectory could have gone maybe 2000 km. May be able to use this effectively within a year, Fast-forward.  South Korea doesn’t have defense vs SLBMs.  Can defend against only anti-ship missiles, so currently is in consultation with Washington to buy better defensive eqpt.  It's a one-of-a-kind sub, reconfigured to launch this SLBM.  Some dismiss DPRK subs – “noisy, and we can track them” – dunna be casual about this.  In fact, we’ve found that US and South Korean officials cannot track them –sank a very modern South Korean ship in 2010.  Nodong is ground-launched.  The US doesn’t have enough ASW, either.   Success of the predator rogue state to fire a ballistic missile from a submerged submarine, while developing a miniaturized nuclear warhead – and have two launchers that can hit the Lower 48.  And a sub that can park itself off San Diego.  http://www.voanews.com/a/recent-north-korean-defections-is-the-end-is-ne/3477548.html
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/world/north-korea-missile-launch/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/22/politics/north-korea-south-korea-us-military-exercise/
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block C:  Ken Croswell, author, The Alchemy of the Heavens, in re: Proxima Centauri, close to us, but invisible till 1915.  Faint and feeble – least luminous star known till then; a red dwarf. There are 100 billion red stars. 
http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature19106 (goes live at 1 pm today)
Distance from Star:  0.05 AU = 4.6 million miles  (Mercury's distance from Sun is 36 million miles; Earth's is 93 million)
Orbital period:  11.2 days (Mercury's is 88 days)
Minimum mass:  1.3 Earth masses
http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature19106 (goes live at 1 pm today)
Proxima Centauri is 4.24 light-years from Earth, slightly closer to us than are Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B.  It probably revolves around them every million years or so.
Alpha Centauri A:  yellow star; spectral type G
Alpha Centauri B:  orange star; spectral type K
Proxima Centauri:  red star; spectral type M
Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, as are 75% of all stars in the Milky Way.  All such stars are fainter, cooler, and smaller than our Sun.  So, contrary to popular belief, the Sun is not an average star!   (1 of 2)
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:  Ken Croswell, author, The Alchemy of the Heavens; (2 of 2)
 
Hour Three
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:  Monica Crowley, Fox, & Washington Times Online opinion editor; in re:   1.  Trump in the battlegrounds: Trump campaign manager: Polls overlooking large number of "hidden" Trump voters hill.cm/MpITWmW pic.twitter.com/dg4hu8Fg3X  ;  Trump apparently is pushing ahead with his plan to win NY, including hiring Brendan Quinn for "nuts and bolts" nypost.com/2016/08/22/tru…
2.  Trump and the split-ticketing:  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/senate-election-forecast.html  (1 of 2)
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block B:  Monica Crowley, Fox, & Washington Times Online opinion editor.  (2 of 2)  
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block C:  Monica Crowley, Fox, & Washington Times Online opinion editor; in re:     Watchdog: Clinton finance director was 'middle' man between foundation, State Hillary Clinton's national finance director has emerged in newly released emails as what ...
Foundation becomes campaign issue ; Experts: New Clinton State Dept. emails show donor 'access,' not 'favors' ; Emails reveal how foundation donors got access to Clinton and her ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../emails...foundation...clinton.../...  A sports executive who was a major donor to the Clinton Foundation and whose firm paid Bill Clinton millions of dollars in consulting fees ... ; Foundation becomes campaign issue - CNNPolitics.com - CNN.com
www.cnn.com/2016/08/22/.../donald-trump-clinton-foundation-shut-down/  (3 of 4)
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block D:  Monica Crowley, Fox, & Washington Times Online opinion editor (4 of 4)  
 
Hour Four
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:  When Tigers Ruled the Sky: The Flying Tigers: American Outlaw Pilots over China in World War II, by Bill Yenne (1 of 4)
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  When Tigers Ruled the Sky: The Flying Tigers: American Outlaw Pilots over China in World War II, by Bill Yenne (2 of 4)
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block C: When Tigers Ruled the Sky: The Flying Tigers: American Outlaw Pilots over China in World War II, by Bill Yenne (3 of 4)
Wednesday   24 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:  When Tigers Ruled the Sky: The Flying Tigers: American Outlaw Pilots over China in World War II, by Bill Yenne (4 of 4)