Monday 28 April 2014
Photo, above: A monument of defensive architecture of Kievan Rus, the progenitor of Russia. The Golden Gate.
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR. Francis Rose, Federal News Radio.
Hour One
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 1, Block A: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR. Francis Rose, Federal News Radio, in re: Secy John Kerry's unforced error; Ted Cruz already calling for his resignation. Rubio: "These remarks are incendiary and unacceptable."
State Department Explains John Kerry’s ‘Apartheid’ Comment Amid Backlash Speaking to a private audience about the Middle East peace process, Secretary of State John Kerry did what for many Israel supporters is the unthinkable and used the A-word: apartheid. “A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens — or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state,” Kerry said Friday in remarks originally reported by the Daily Beast.
For many Jewish groups, the suggestion that Israel is, or even could be, carrying out the systematic oppression and discrimination of Palestinians living within its borders is anathema — despite the fact that major Israeli officials, including Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, have acknowledged the risk that it could become an apartheid state.
Kerry’s comments also come at a particularly sensitive time in the Middle East, as the deadline for the current round of nine-month peace talks is Tuesday, with no sign that negotiations will be extended.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki sought to put Kerry’s comments in context Monday, noting that he remains committed to a two-state solution and was not accusing Israel of having a current policy of apartheid. “The secretary does not believe and did not state publicly or privately that Israel is an apartheid state, and there’s an important difference there. Israel is obviously a vibrant democracy with equal rights for all of its citizens,” she said. “He certainly didn’t say ‘is,’” she added later.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, countered that it is never acceptable to link Israel with the practice of apartheid. “Any suggestion that Israel is, or is at risk of becoming, an apartheid state is offensive and inappropriate,” AIPAC’s statement read in part. “Israel is the lone stable democracy in the Middle East, and protects the rights of minorities regardless of ethnicity or religion.” And it didn’t take long for members of Congress to weigh in, with . . . [more]
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 1, Block B: Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, in re: Zawahiri's attempt to mediate the jihadist dispute in Syria - Zawahiri has been on air to smooth over the problems in al Nusrah Front - between the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's affiliate, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham. Jihadist groups from far outside Syria are fighting alongside al Qaeda, and an Uzbek commander affiliates with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who's under the umbrella of the Al Nusrah Front.
Uzbek commands group within the Al Nusrah Front Abu Hussein, the emir of the Seyfuddin Uzbek Jamaat, is thought to have "scores of fighters from Uzbekistan and neighboring countries in Central Asia," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal. [more] ISIS "want to be the big dog"; is not as strong as its propagandists claim.
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor; Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re: The US's failed detention policy and the release of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, to include Mullah Zakir.
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 1, Block D: Robert Maranto, University of Arkansas, in re: . . . Finally, there is no quick fix. Welfare reform beginning in the mid-1990s offered only modest marriage incentives and has been insufficient to change entrenched cultural practices. The change must come from long-term societal transformation on this subject, led by political, educational and entertainment elites, similar to the decades-long movements against racism, sexism—and smoking. But the first step is to acknowledge the problem.
Hour Two
Below, left: Administrative divisions of Kievan Rus in 12 century. Административно-территориальное деление Киевской Руси в 12 веке. Administrju delenie Kievju Rusj vo 12 storocxie.
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 2, Block A: John Fund, National Review Online, & David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent, in re: He who first mentions Hitler, or Ad, in a discussion automatically loses because he imagery overwhelms the words. Kerry confirm the fears of many Jewish Americans what the Obama Administration is no friend of Israel. Mayor of Khariv is Jewish; masked gunmen tried to kill him. Remarkable that the Kiyev govt has avoided reacting to Putin's taunts, which he throw out as provocations in order to have an excuse for war. Here in town, no obvious preparations for war in a bustling city of 2 million people; but at the end of the day, conversations reverts to the troubles and the concern that the West "will abandon us again." Pres Obama's sanctions regime: in danger of being a joke, as the targets aren't close to Putin and don’t care about visiting the US.
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 2, Block B: John Fund, National Review Online, & David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent, in re: US election year: the Senate is vulnerable to every manoeuver right now Michigan – Terry Lynn Land running in GOP; having to counter the "war on women." gender gap really big with women, who favor Dems. Elected Republicans is that they refuse to get involved in identity politics edge issues; but new is: Make it clear to women that they care; policies are for everyone's benefit but also specifically for women. "How can a male Dem know more what’s good for women than I do and I am a woman?" Does the RNC understand that it’s made a mistake for years and needs to rectify it? GOP strategists can understand, but elected Republicans have a really heard time grasping this. You can’t play baseball and hit only at certain kinds of Sen Shaheen. Jewish Americans have an enormous amount of clout because they give substantial political donations – informed source says 40%. Sec Kerry will probably have to eat crow.
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 2, Block C: Anatoly Zak, Russian Spaceweb.com, in re; Roscosmos and ESA (European Space Agy). Proton M & double sat launch: workhorse of the Russian space program, as it launches all commercial satellites and mil sats using Proton M. Did so again last night: comms sat for use by other satellites to transmit data to Mission Control. US has a similar system. Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan); French Guiana. ExoMars rover looks for life, present or ancient, on surface or up to two meters deep. . . . Four potential sites for ExoMars eyed
Upgraded Proton-M launches with two satellites Russia conducted the debut launch of the upgraded Proton-M launch vehicle early on Monday, tasked with lofting the KazSat-3 ... Russia to complete its space relay network, deliver Kazakh comsat Russia conducted another launch of the Proton-M launch vehicle early on Monday, tasked with lofting the KazSat-3 telecommunications satellite and the Luch-5V relay satellite. Launch of the Proton-M rocket took place from Launch Pad 81 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 04:25 GMT. Spacecraft separation for both satellites was confirmed
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: An upstart Chinese company looks as though it has a winning strategy to take on Apple. Competitor to iPhone C ("Apple's dumbed-down phone") and Samsung; sells for less than half of the Apple C, and has a better screen and better technology. Plan to sell 100 million in 2015. Hugo Barra, Google genius, left to take Xiaomi global. The biz equivalent of Mao's "capturing the cities by taking the countryside." China took Scarborough Shoal from Philippines, now trying to steal more. What does Manila get from this? Philippines air force has not one jet fighter, and a tiny navy, Only way to be secure from China is to have the US on its side. Tokyo, Seoul, Manila. Malaysia is also nervous; all try not to pick a fight with China, but China aggresses. Japanese said they got 100% of what they wanted – yes, Article 5 of the mutual defense treaty means that he Senkakus are also part of what we pledge to protect. In light of China's conduct, both State and Pentagon are now issuing statements not imaginable a year ago. North Korea's fourth nuclear test coming up.
Apple, Be Afraid: China's Xiaomi Going Global Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker, announced on Wednesday that it is planning to enter ten countries this year. By New Year’s Eve, you should be able to buy the Mi3 in India, Brazil, and Russia as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. Xiaomi is already . . .
U.S. Beefs Up Military Options for China The U.S. military has prepared options for a muscular response to any future Chinese provocations, reflecting concerns that allies in Asia have questions about the Obama administration's security commitments, according to U.S. officials.
Hour Three
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 3, Block A: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: The word "Apartheid" is provocative, not a term of art. "Offensive, not appropriate." "Members of the Knesset say: Unacceptable." JPost: Mr Kerry "slams critics" – I never said Israel is and Apartheid state. In the fourth graf, "At no point does Mr Kerry deny having used the word Apartheid in a private address to the Trilateral Commission (off the record). On Holocaust Memorial Day, is it a blood libel? Not exactly. "Tomorrow, the nine-month period ends" for peace; Kerry used Apartheid again. BDS = boycott, divest and sanctions, a global movement to isolate, intimidate, delegitimize Israel, challenging the state's right to exist, 1947 issues. Vociferous and vicious, quickly morphs into anti-Jewishness. In broadcasting, you make one mistake like this, you can’t come back. The way to avoid that is to say only what you know is true Secy Kerry knows that "Apartheid" is not true – one can only speculate what causes Mr Kerry to use a [totally dishonest word like this]. This kind of comment at a time of heightened sensitivity . . . This statement is being translated into every language on Earth by countries wanting to destroy Israel. Kerry began to try to backtrack late tonight; he needs to focus on his own words and say that he clearly did not mean this [vicious] word.
GOP slams John Kerry apartheid line Top Republicans slammed Secretary of State John Kerry for his reported comments that Israel could soon become an apartheid state. John Kerry Criticized For Israel 'Apartheid' Comment State Department Explains John Kerry's 'Apartheid ...
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 3, Block B: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Russia & Iran: energy talks. US sanctions on Iran bypass banks, so lots of Iranian trade is easy enough. Russians signal that they’re serious about making a huge energy deal with Iran. Lebanon. The Nimitz: Iran has built a replica of the USS Nimitz, a two-thirds(?) scale; Iran is now doing target practice on the model. Sends a message to our Gulf allies. We’re three months from the July deadline, where the talks are supposed to come to some kind of conclusion. Secy Kerry will not focus extensively on his unfortunate word choice – he's got his hands full with half a dozen other issues.
Russia and Iran Reported in Talks on Energy Deal Worth ... The deal, reportedly worth $8 billion to $10 billion, could undercut the efficacy of American-led sanctions against Iran.
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesperson
For Immediate Release April 28, 2014
STATEMENT BY SECRETARY KERRY
On Support for Israel
For more than thirty years in the United States Senate, I didn’t just speak words in support of Israel, I walked the walk when it came time to vote and when it came time to fight. As Secretary of State, I have spent countless hours working with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Justice Minister Livni because I believe in the kind of future that Israel not only wants, but Israel deserves. I want to see a two state solution that results in a secure Jewish state and a prosperous Palestinian state, and I’ve actually worked for it. I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes, so I want to be crystal clear about what I believe and what I don’t believe. First, Israel is a vibrant democracy and I do not believe, nor have I ever stated, publicly or privately, that Israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one. Anyone who knows anything about me knows that without a shred of doubt. Second, I have been around long enough to also know the power of words to create a misimpression, even when unintentional, and if I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word to describe my firm belief that the only way in the long term to have a Jewish state and two nations and two peoples living side by side in peace and security is through a two state solution. In the long term, a unitary, binational state cannot be the democratic Jewish state that Israel deserves or the prosperous state with full rights that the Palestinian people deserve. That’s what I said, and it’s also what Prime Minister Netanyahu has said. While Justice Minister Livni, former Prime Ministers Barak and Ohlmert have all invoked the specter of apartheid to underscore the dangers of a unitary state for the future, it is a word best left out of the debate here at home . . .
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Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 3, Block C: Michael Auslin, AEI, in re: Did Obama Just Draw Another Red Line in the East China Sea? The president promised Tokyo that the U.S. would protect Japan’s sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands—but after Syria and Crimea, Obama’s tough talk may fail to impress Beijing. Based on prior performance, President Obama might be wary of drawing any more red lines around the world. His warning to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and subsequent about-face is still considered a low point of his presidency. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has steadily ignored all American demands that he cease his aggression against Ukraine. Yesterday in Tokyo, the president made another powerful promise, assuring Japan that the disputed Senkaku Islands come under Article Five of the U.S.-Japan security treaty, and thus would be protected by American forces in the case of a Sino-Japanese conflict over them. In response, the Chinese accused Washington of trying to “cage” China. Normally, a president’s promise would be greeted with warm appreciation in Tokyo, which has administered the Senkakus since the reversion of Okinawa back to Japan in 1972. The Japanese government has been . . .[more]
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 3, Block D: John R. Bolton, AEI and The Weekly Standard, in re: NATO Is Still the Answer - Obama’s floundering Ukraine policy continues. Ukraine crisis raises both a critical “what if?” question and a pressing policy issue. What if, in April 2008, the Europeans had not rejected President Bush’s proposal to bring Ukraine and Georgia onto a clearly defined path to joining NATO? And today, urgently, should we try again for NATO membership? When the alliance’s 2008 Bucharest Summit rejected the U.S. plan for Ukraine and Georgia, the defeat was widely attributed to Bush’s unpopularity, stemming from the Iraq war, a convenient excuse for both Europeans and America’s media. The real reason, however, was Europe’s growing reliance on Russian oil and gas, and its barely concealed fear of Moscow’s response to NATO admitting two critical constituent parts of the former USSR. Moscow has long understood Western cowardice. Just four months after Bucharest, in a laboratory-like causal connection rare in global politics, Russia dramatically escalated its simmering conflict with Georgia, bombing its tiny neighbor and surging troops to within 30 miles of the capital, Tbilisi. Faced with a U.S. response that looks robust compared with our reaction today in Ukraine, Russia withdrew to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two provinces it most wanted to hive off, and hunkered down into the stalemate that Georgia still endures. Then-candidate Barack Obama initially called for both Russia and Georgia to exercise restraint, a form of blindness and moral equivalence the Kremlin noted. (After intense criticism, Obama tried to walk back his first reaction.) With its term waning, and facing a daunting economic crisis, the Bush administration did little more for Georgia or Ukraine. Obama, by contrast, entered office in 2009 on a wave of domestic and international popularity, shortly thereafter winning the Nobel Peace Prize for no apparent reason. He might well have contemplated the long-term significance of Georgia and Ukraine, but he did not. Instead, intent on blaming Bush for problems in the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship, Obama unveiled the “reset” button, exemplifying his new policy direction. Out went the national missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, and in came the lamentable New START arms control treaty (precisely the kind of Cold War thinking Obama would later deride). Other errors followed, including relying on Russian diplomacy to help oust Syria’s Assad regime and eliminate Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, neither of which Moscow had any intention of doing. After Obama induced Russia to support a Security Council resolution that led to the overthrow of Libya’s Qaddafi, Moscow concluded it would do Obama no more favors despite all his prior concessions. Obama left Ukraine and Georgia to fend for themselves, ignoring the . . . [read this article online]
Hour Four
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 4, Block A: Ben Jacobs, The Daily Beast, in re: Tea Party’s Mississippi Mudslide Two former co-workers are raising questions about the ethics and character of the Tea Party’s most promising Senate primary challenger.
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 4, Block B: Brad Wieners, Bloomberg Businessweek, in re: PATAGONIA DREAMING At the bottom of the world, in the arrowhead tip of South America composed of Chile and Argentina that’s known as Patagonia, Kris McDivitt Tompkins, the former CEO of Patagonia, the high-end apparel company, and her husband, Doug Tompkins, the retired co-founder of The North Face and CEO of ESPRIT, have become the world’s first couple of conservation. For two years they've been creating and expanding national parks in the face of suspicion, resistance, and even death threats. Later this year the two plan to open the 200,000 acre Patagonia National Park in Chile, the crown jewel of their park-making efforts. While Kris is optimistic that after ten years and $55 million it’ll be ready for a formal grand opening this December, just two weeks ago it looked as though the park headquarters might burn to the ground in a wildfire.
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution Defining Ideas, & Chicago Law, in re: Obamacare: Debate Over? An old saying in the garment business goes like this: ³You can¹t make up in volume what you lose in money on each piece.² We could say the same thing about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. President Obama thinks people means the repeal debate is and should be over. I don't think so. [more] (1 of 2)
Monday 28 April 2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution Defining Ideas, & Chicago Law, in re: Obamacare: Debate Over? An old saying in the garment business goes like this: ³You can¹t make up in volume what you lose in money on each piece.² We could say the same thing about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. President Obama thinks people means the repeal debate is and should be over. I don't think so. [more] (2 of 2)
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