Photo, above:  Jews in the heart of China; Beginning in 960 CE, an unexpected Jewish tradition once flourished in Kaifeng  China is the last place one could imagine a Jewish community, yet once again the Jewish people seem to find themselves deeply immersed in the culture and history of a foreign nation.  It is commonly agreed by academics that there has been a Jewish presence in Kaifeng since the Northern Song Dynasty of 960 to 1127, though some date the first arrival as slightly earlier. Kaifeng at this time was a busy city off of a main trade route and it is generally believed that the Jews arrived from Persia or India by sea.

Jews clearly chose to settle in Kaifeng specifically to take advantage of its strong trading position and business potential. The Jews in Kaifeng are said to have built the first synagogue as early as 1163 along with a mikve and sukkah.  One of the emperors from the Ming Dynasty of 1368-1644 gave the Jews of China seven surnames which they are still identified by today: Ai, Shi, Gao, Jin, Li, Zhang and Zhao. Interestingly, the Jin and Shi surnames are the equivalent of the common Western Jewish names: Gold and Stone.

Europeans knew nothing of the existence of the Chinese Jews until 1605 when Matteo Ricci, an Italian Priest, came across a Jew from Kaifeng in Beijing. This Kaifeng Jew told him of the large number of Jews in Kaifeng and of their “splendid synagogue” and the many books and written materials that the Kaifeng Jews possessed.

These Jews managed to preserve their faith despite their isolation from the rest of the Diaspora. This strong faith that was maintained despite the odds for centuries began to erode in the seventeenth century due to widespread assimilation. When the synagogue was destroyed in the 1860s  . . . 

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 1, Block A: Gregory Copley, Defense and Foreign Affairs, in re: Michelle Obama ‘outraged and heartbroken’ over kidnapping of Nigerian school girls  .The First Lady, who took over the President’s weekly address on Saturday, called the mass abduction of Nigerian school girls an ‘unconscionable act’ of terror. ‘In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters,’ she said.  . . .   U.S. officials frustrated by Nigeria's response to girls' kidnapping

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 1, Block B: Gregory Copley, Defense and Foreign Affairs, in re:  Nigerian villagers fight off attacks by Boko Haram  Residents of three villages in northeastern Nigeria took security into their own hands this week, repelling attacks by Boko Haram insurgents and killing more than 200 of them, residents and officials said.

Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters stormed the villages of Menari, Tsangayari and Garawa in the ethnic Shuwa-dominated Kalabalge District on Tuesday. Boko Haram -- the group responsible for the kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls from the same region -- was met with stiff resistance as locals put up a fierce fight, witnesses said. A month has passed since the girls were kidnapped, and the Nigerian government has been accused of not acting swiftly or efficiently enough to protect villages in the region threatened by Boko Haram.

In the three villages attacked Tuesday, gunmen arrived in dozens of all-terrain vans, armored tanks and motorcycles, but villagers quickly mobilized and engaged the attackers in a prolonged battle. "They attacked Menari and killed around 60 people and burned some homes before proceeding to Tsangayari and Garawa villages," resident Algoni Ahunna said. When news of the attack filtered out, people trooped out from nearby villages carrying arms.

Locals seized an armored tank, three all-terrain vans and 90 motorcycles from the attackers, residents said. "At Tsangayari and Garawa, they met a big surprise as residents engaged them in a fierce battle in which over 200 of the Boko Haram fighters were killed. More than 150 were killed in Tsangayari," Ahunna said. A lawmaker in Borno state's Parliament confirmed the incident. "I received information on the gallant action taken by the people in Kalabalge District in which at least 200 Boko Haram gunmen were killed," said the lawmaker, who asked not to be named for security reasons. A relief worker in the area said he counted more than 100 bodies in Tsangayari alone.

"I believe the number of the gunmen killed is up to 250," said the worker, who also asked not to be named for fear of reprisals from Boko Haram. It was the second defeat Boko Haram has suffered from locals in the area in over a month. Scores of Boko Haram gunmen were killed by villagers in early April in a foiled raid, residents said.

20 soldiers killed in ambushes  The director general of the National Orientation Agency, which acts as a communications arm of the government, commended the villagers' actions, but defended the military.  "The vigilante is a common phenomenon in Nigeria -- it is not a new development," Mike Omeri said. "They were able to do what they did because they had prior information that these people were coming to attack them at a particular time in the night and particular time of the day."  Omeri said he did not know how the villagers would have received that key information.  "The military cannot be in every village at the same time – [more]

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 1, Block C:   John Tamny, Forbes.com, in re: Flip-flopping incorrectly brings bad connotations.  People should be constantly changing their views based on observable realities.  In Mitt Romney's case, he obviously knows the minimum wage hurts a small, impoverished sliver of the population most in need of help but, eager to gain favor with his detractors, he's flip-flopped in favor of increasing it.  Romney's views always change for the wrong reasons, because his flip-flops are so political.  The GOP dodged a bullet with him.

Mitt Romney, the 'Say Anything' Pol of the GOP  In the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election, Republican candidate Mitt Romney was the recipient of a lot of media and political heat for having flip-flopped on various policy issues. On its face, the criticism was overdone.

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 1, Block D: Jeanna Smialek, Bloomberg, in re: YOUNG STAY AWAY FROM STOCKS:     Recession-Baby Millennials Scarred by U.S. Downturn –  The aversion means the group is missing out as major indexes reach records, potentially imperiling their future financial security, especially at a time when these Americans are also shunning investments such as real estate. Instead of plunging into stocks, which can provide better returns over the long run, young people are stashing savings in bank accounts and securities that pay near-zero interest.

Hour Two

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 2, Block A:  Jim McTague, Barron's Washington, in re:  Jobless claims hit seven-year low, inflation ticks up.  The combination of a strengthening jobs market and an uptick in inflation pressures should comfort the Federal Reserve as it scales back its . . . /  Rising food prices boost wholesale inflation  /  Q&A: Is price inflation hiding behind shrinking packaging?  Opinion - Fox Business

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 2, Block B:  Seb Gorka, FDD, Natl Defense University, in re: Whitewashing Boko Haram      EXECUTION COULD COME THURSDAY FOR YOUNG PREGNANT MOTHER IN SUDAN UNLESS SHE 'REVERTS' TO ISLAM  

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 2, Block C:  Coral Davenport, NYT, in re: Robert Nordhaus, an energy lawyer, and William Nordhaus, a Yale economist, are profoundly shaping how the U.S. and other nations take on global warming. Brothers Battle Climate Change on Two Fronts

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Dan Kildee (MI-5), in re: After Secret Conviction, Marine Vet Sends Letter from Iranian Prison Arizona-born Amir Mirazai Hekmati, an American citizen of Iranian background who is in prison in Iran accused of spying, has written to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to insist that he is innocent and to urge the minister to save his case from falling prey to the historic diplomatic differences between Iran and the U.S.    American prisoner in Iran writes to Iranian Foreign Minister (International-Payvand-Apr 21, 2014)

Hour Three

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 3, Block A:   Michael Daly, DailyBeast, in re: U.S. NEWS  Killed by Sterling’s Racism
 Instead of fixing his blind, partially paralyzed tenant’s apartment, the Clippers owner asked, ‘Is she one of those black people that stink?' Then she died when he tried to evict her.

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 3, Block B: Michael Ledeen, FDD, in re: Over the past couple of decades the Chinese have become more interested in the Jews.  Of late the Chinese regime has been bringing Jewish scholars and theologians to the People’s Republic to discuss Torah, Talmud, Mishnah and even some of the more mystical tracts.

Why?

It’s no surprise that China-Israel trade is increasing, nor that the China-Israel relationship has grown and deepened.  Israel may well be the most dynamic country in the world, bursting at the seams with high-tech startups, dazzling inventions–especially in military and medical technologies–and highly educated and talented people. But I’m not talking about Israel here.  This is about the Chinese fascination with the Jews and Judaism, the religion and the People of the Book.

I’ve got a theory.  It’s based on some real history, some anecdotes from participants in those ongoing conversations, and my own views of how the Chinese think about the world.  Some of it will likely turn out to be fanciful, but it’s an important subject and it behooves us to ponder it.  David Goldman has done some first-class pondering already, as is his wont, and I’m hoping to add some context.

Back when the country’s greatest modern man, Deng Xiaoping, converted the PRC economy to capitalism, Chinese “social scientists” went to work trying to figure out what makes capitalists tick.  They were quickly baffled.  They kept running into problems; that “knack” we’ve got somehow eluded their new system.  After a while, they figured out that the capitalists’ success couldn’t be entirely explained by the nuts and bolts of the marketplace, or by institutions like private property, important though they were.  Yes, it would have been easier just to read Michael Novak’s magnum opus, but they got to his end place:  religion is an essential part of successful capitalism.

In their amazing way of organizing most anything, the Chinese launched churches, and of course millions upon millions of them attended Christian (mostly Catholic) services.  To be sure, the Party kept a suspicious eye wide open, and some of the churches were deemed too dangerous, even in the cause of Communism.  But on they went, convinced they were on the right path.  If anyone doubted it, they had mountains of research and even Tocqueville to justify the turn to religion.

After a couple of decades of this, there were still problems, and their social scientists took another look.  This time around, they found–surprise!–lots of Jews involved in capitalist enterprises, from banks to stock exchanges to corporations.  Indeed, the Jews had a history of doing it.  Maybe the Jews knew something the others didn’t?  Well, look at Israel…or New York…

And so they’re talking to Jews, not about capitalism but about Judaism.  State radio now broadcasts in Hebrew.  The Jewish experts who are brought to China find themselves speaking Hebrew with their Chinese interlocutors.  Chinese students can now learn Hebrew, and immerse themselves in Jewish studies (maybe they’ll give Ayaan Hirsi Ali an honorary degree sometime soon?).

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 3, Block C: Larry Diamond, Hoover, in re: Democracy's Deepening Recession  Around the world, the advance of freedom hinges on "swing states." And they're swinging in the wrong direction.

While the world’s attention has been riveted on Ukraine and what move an emboldened Vladimir Putin will make next, diverse threats to democracy have intensified on other fronts as well. The story is not new. According to Freedom House, 2013 was the eighth consecutive year in which more countries experienced declines in political rights or civil liberties than improvements. Since 2005, democracy has ceased its decades-long expansion, leveling off at about 60 percent of all independent states. And since the military coup in Pakistan in 1999, the rate of democratic breakdowns has accelerated, with about one in every five democracies failing.

The downfall of several Arab autocracies in 2011 seemed to augur a new burst of democratic progress, but that progress has not materialized. While Tunisia has emerged as the first Arab democracy in 40 years, Egypt is more repressive now than at any time in the last decade of Hosni Mubarak’s rule. Since the end of 2010, more Arab countries have regressed in freedom and political pluralism than have advanced. The democratic recession we’re witnessing has . . .  [more]

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 3, Block D: Harry Siegel, New York Daily News, in re:  Mayor de Blasio hasn’t lacked for ambition.  When editorial boards, including this one, repeatedly urged the new mayor to tack to the center, he held his ground. On pre-K, for instance, de Blasio faced off with Gov. Cuomo and won more state funding than almost anyone else thought possible.  As de Blasio is fond of saying, he won’t bargain against himself. He also aims to present a sort of moral leadership, laying out priorities and ambitious benchmarks for achieving them, and then leaving it to his staff to work out how.

But on execution, and clearing the high bar he’s setting, de Blasio’s soaring ambitions have hit a wall with remarkable consistency. The transition from the mostly symbolic office of public advocate to the vast executive powers of the mayor has been undermined by pesky structural frustrations that he seems to wish would just go away.  Leaving aside more symbolic missteps like his refusal to come clean about a late-night call he placed on behalf of a politically wired Brooklyn pastor, there was the Brooklyn hospital deal, worked out behind the scenes, that collapsed moments after de Blasio declared it historic.  [more]

Hour Four

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 4, Block A: Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy by Eri Hotta, Part 2 (1 of 4)

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 4, Block B: Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy by Eri Hotta, Part 2 (2 of 4)

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy by Eri Hotta, Part 2 (3 of 4)

Friday  16  May  2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy by Eri Hotta Part 2 (4 of 4)