Photo, above:  See Hours Two and Three.  If you've never been to Jerusalem, know that it’s a stunningly beautiful city.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Co-host: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents

Hour One

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 1, Block A: Harry Siegel,New York Daily News, in re: In the past twenty-five years, the New York Police Department has had a lot to be proud of. It pioneered data-driven policing and helped bring the city’s crime rate down to historic lows. Even in poor and deprived areas, such as the area where Garner lived, crime is a lot less common than it used to be. For example, N.Y.P.D. figures show that, in 1990, there were more than sixty-seven hundred serious crimes (murders, rapes, assaults, robberies, burglaries, and grand larcenies) reported in the Hundred and Twentieth Precinct, which includes Tompkinsville. Last year, there were fewer than fourteen hundred such crimes, a decline of about eighty per cent. And, as the crime rate has dropped, the N.Y.P.D., unlike some other police forces, has gone out of its way to recruit minorities: at the rank of police officer, there are now more minority cops than white cops in New York.  [more]

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 1, Block B: James Taranto, WSJ, in re: Mrs Clinton, country & Western music vid: "We're ready for  Hilary,"  where the fellow singing is wearing cowboy boots.  Is everyone else ready for Hillary?  She spoke in a hall at George Washington University yesterday – half the seats were empty.  Milie Cyrus  in Miami.  Ready for Hillary is her superPaC. Lyrics: "Thinking about one great lady, . . . a mother & a daughter, and one loving wife."

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Martin Fackler, NYT, in re: Japanese Unearth Remains, and Their Nation’s Past, on Guadalcanal   Expeditions to the South Pacific island where many thousands died reflect a surge in interest among young Japanese in World War II.  . .. .  There are 7,000 Japanese WWII soldiers whose remains are unfound.  The young Japanese on this trip gathered bone fragments of perhaps 25 sets of remains. Some of the people digging were in tears; many prayed. A Buddhist priest whose family runs a burial temple said, "This is not about nationalism." When he first went to Guadalcanal, he was shocked to find Japanese remains scattered about, so he gathered a group to go and collect remains and pray.   . . . In the Twenty-first Century, the threat is clear from China's current [aggression]; Japan has refused to back down in face of China's unusual claims against disputed islands in the East China Sea.  This is a rare deed, first time since WWII that Japan has had to defend its claimed territory by itself.  Japan hasn’t fired a shot in 70 years, so the nation is obliged to reconsider what it means to defend, or sacrifice yourself for, your country.  Not at all to glorify war.  There are still 1.1 million Japanese missing across the Pacific. 

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 1, Block D:  Lara Brown, George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, in re:   The Clinton Elite.  The Progressives. The Deerhunters (Manchin & Webb). The Majority Minorities.   Electoral College Math Has Always Been Political and Partisan Obama Built a Personality, Not a Democratic Party    Obama, looking to mend fences with Congress, is reaching out. To Democrats.--President Obama and his closest aides have determined that their best chance of success in the next two years will depend on improved relationships on Capitol Hill, but their behind-the-scenes efforts are more focused on Obama’s own party rather than the Republicans who are about to take full charge of Congress in January. Obama’s attention on congressional Democrats, allies whom he once regarded as needing little attention, marks a shift in his view on how to deal with Congress. [more]

Jim Webb says Democratic Party has lost its way. — The former senator and potential presidential candidate Jim Webb told an audience in Richmond on Tuesday that the Democratic Party has lost white working-class voters by becoming “a party of interest groups.” “The Democratic Party has lost the message that made it such a great party for so many years, and that message was: Take care of working people, take care of the people who have no voice in the corridors of power, no matter their race, ethnicity or any other reason,” Webb said. “The Democratic Party has basically turned into a party of interest groups.” [more]

Hour Two

After the fall of Sanaa, Saudi Arabia suspended most of the financial aid it provides Yemen, Reuters reported Dec. 4, citing unnamed Yemeni and Western sources. The suspension is a sign of Saudi Arabia's dissatisfaction with the growing political power of the al-Houthi militant group, which supports Saudi Arabia's rival, Iran. Although a unity government, which included concessions to the al-Houthis, was recently formed in Yemen, al-Houthi fighters have not followed through on their promise to withdraw from the capital city. According to a Western source, Saudi Arabia is still funding some development and infrastructure projects in Yemen, but the West has serious concerns that the cuts could cause more instability in the country.

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 2, Block A: David Schenker, Washington Institute, in re:    Jordan, Abdullah visit, recent travels.  In Amman, capital of Jordan, is at peace but in the crosshairs of ISIS and al Qaeda, as well as the Muslim Brothers: "All of the poisons competing."  The people of Jordan are under a remarkable amount of pressure from al Nusrah; a million Syrian refugees in a population of 6 million, but they’re doing better than you’d imagine. A wonderfully resilient place; just celebrated the 20-year anniversary of their peace treaty with Israel.  Since 1946, Jordan has been a debtor state. Made more difficult by the refugees; have 2500 foreign fighters in Syria, 300 martyrs, mostly for Jabat al Nusrah, but also for Da'ash [Da-ish].  I went three hours to the south, saw pro-ISIS graffiti.   Few Palestinians have demonstrated since the Arab Spring – they haven’t real citizenship but it’s better in Jordan than elsewhere.  King Abdullah in Washington on Friday (tomorrow); got $1 billion from the US lat time, may do better ext ear. Will the US work with Turkey to establish a no-fly-zone in the north? Training of "moderate " Syrian oppo and inserting them back into Syria?  Assad can decide to have an offensive in the south. In Tripoli  one neighborhood has sent many fighters against Assad, next to an Alawite neighborhood – separated by one street and about 2,000 Lebanese army officers who are on duty all the time, have to sleep in the local soccer stadium. Can see ISIS flags, and nearby Alawite flags.

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 2, Block B: Chemi Shalev, Haaretz, in re:  Israeli politics, elections, coalitions; Netanyahu safe in the coming election?  All political analysts can’t  understand why he called an early election.  How Israeli politics work: the Knesset [parliament)] has 120 seats; you vote for a Party; whoever gets a 61-seat a majority goes to the president, who determines who has the best chance of forming a coalition.  Election set for 17 March.  There are many ways in which Netanyahu might windup not as PM. If Tzipi Livni joins Labor, that'd make Labor the largest Party.  http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/1.629673?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.240%2C2.334%2C  http://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Post-poll-60-percent-of-Israelis-dont-want-Netanyahu-anymore-383724

Chemi Shalev is US editor and correspondent for the Haaretz newspaper, in both Hebrew and English. He publishes an English-language blog called "West of Eden" dealing with US-Israeli relations and the American Jewish community. 

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 2, Block C: Irwin Cotler co-chairs Canadian Parliamentarians for Human Rights and Democracy in Iran; in re: Jewish refugees, Nazi dead in Syria. Jonathan Pollard is still in prison for an astounding number of years, more by a noticeable factor than has anyone else for a comparable deed. This is so puzzling that corridors buzz with rumors that someone in the US is being protected. Bizarre.  Meanwhile, 67 years ago, Arabs launched a war of aggression against not only the new Jewish state and against their own Jewish nations – leaving two sets of refugees, Arab and Jewish.  The 850,000 Jews were forced out of their homes across he Arab world -  some of them where Jews had lived for thousands of years -and had $________ confiscated and never recognized.  The UN has refused to recognize this as, of course, have Arab nations.  The time is long past to look at the plight of Jewish refugees. Not one UN agency deals with compensation for Jewish refugees. Note that 2014 was a UN-decreed year-long period of solidarity with Palestinians, yet there's not one day devoted to Jews. Alois Brunner not only was shielded by Syrian govt since 1954, but he collaborated actively with is for decades. This one of the most notorious war criminals Eichmann's right-hand boy, was      . . . . In charge of Drancy deportation camp in 1943; sent 50,000 Jews from Austria, 45K from Greece, 25K from France and __K from ___, to death camps. It’s time to remember the Jewish refugees   http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/world/middleeast/alois-brunner-nazi-syria.html?_r=0

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Eric Trager, Washington Institute, in re: Egypt, Sinai, Gaza buffer zone.  Dropping of charges against Mubarak shows that the complaint was flawed from the get-go.  . . .  Sinai as a rogue state.  Tom Joscelyn says: ISIS in Iraq and Syria is recruiting young men online  to go to Sinai under the flag of ISIS.   "The State of Sinai" under ISIS caliphate.  Has beheaded people in Sinai. radical ideology spreading rapidly.  Attacks in UAE and Saudi.  Sisi courting Russia in arms deal, funded by Gulf states, who are frustrated by the US. Not necessarily a pivot to Moscow . . .   The Egyptian Revolution Isn't Dead Because It Never Happened in the First Place A crucial bloc within Egypt mainly wants stability, rather than the deep institutional reforms that a true revolution would require.·         http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/fridays-islamist-uprising-in-egypt-could-be-bloody

Hour Three

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 3, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: Iran and US coordinating in bombing ISIS.  Sudan; Khartoum is building an army to take over South Sudan.  Yemen is gone: Houthis have taken over and Saudis have given up on funding.  Egypt has  1600 km border with Yeman.  Advanced air defense systems; a full battalion of IRGC in Sudan.  Transported missile launchers using civil aviation planes . . . .  Iran is taking over Sudan as it’s taken Sanaa and Lebanon.  Syrian foreign minister went to Moscow, which reasserted its unwavering support for Assad. Both Moscow and Teheran are defending Damascus; US isn’t attacking – who is?  ISIS just took over the last air force base in ___ province.  Russian Federation deep in Syria,, only  base it has outside of continental Russia.  Riyadh, Cairo talk to Moscow; Jerusalem talks to Cairo . . .    House today voted to enshrine the strategic alliance with Israel as [permanent].

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 3, Block B: Chief Inspector Micky Rosenfeld is the foreign press spokesman for the Israel police; in re: Tension in Jerusalem, Temple Mount, violence.  In fact, the notion of a "third Intifada" is quite far-fetched. We have police patrolling, in many neighborhoods, including Arab ones; most of the kids causing any trouble are on the way to or from school.  Children.  Jerusalem is remarkably safe.  What we’ve dealt with recently is lone wolves, Arab Israelis with blue ID cards to works and move around, occasionally in a terrorist attack in a local supermarket, where a private guard responded swiftly and the attacker was immediately caught.   

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 3, Block C: Jerry Hendrix. Center of New American Policy, in re: http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2014/12/why-does-navy-still-not-have-enough-money-new-submarines/100169/?oref=d-river

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 3, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman. behind the black, in re:  New joint venture to build Ariane 6  Faced with stiff competition from SpaceX, Europe has handed the construction its next generation rocket, Ariane 6, from Arianespace to a joint venture between the European companies Airbus and Safran. The new venture will be dubbed Airbus Safran Launchers, and will take over as Europe’s launch company. I had known that Airbus and Safran had proposed this venture to build Ariane 6, but until I read this press release I hadn’t realized that the agreed-to deal to build Ariane 6 means that Arianespace has essentially been fired by Europe as the company running Europe’s rocket operations. Arianespace, a partnership of the European Space Agency’s many partners, was never able to make a profit, while its Ariane 5 rocket costs a fortune to launch. They have now given the job to two private companies who have promised to rein in the costs. We shall see what happens.

Busy year for Russian Proton rocket?  The heat of competition: Russia hopes to compete 11 Proton launches in 2015.  That sounds nice, but they haven’t yet officially rescheduled the scrubbed November 28 Proton launch of a commercial satellite because of a faulty gyro in the upper stage. Considering the problems they have had with Proton in the past three years it will be a major accomplishment if this schedule gets completed as planned.

Hour Four

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 4, Block A: Operation Shakespeare: The True Story of an Elite International Sting, by John Shiffman (1 of 4)

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 4, Block B: Operation Shakespeare: The True Story of an Elite International Sting, by John Shiffman (2 of 4)

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Operation Shakespeare: The True Story of an Elite International Sting, by John Shiffman (3 of 4)

Thursday  4 December 2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Operation Shakespeare: The True Story of an Elite International Sting, by John Shiffman (4 of 4)

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