The John Batchelor Show

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Air Date: 
November 25, 2014

Photo, above: Modern Russia exists as progeny of the ancient Kievan Rus. The history of Russia begins with that of the Eastern Slavs and the Finno-Ugric peoples. The state of Garðaríki ("the realm of towns"), which was centered in Novgorod and included the entire areas inhabited by Ilmen Slavs, Veps, and Votes, was established by the Varangian chieftain Rurik in 862 (the traditional beginning of Russian history). Kievan Rus', the first united East Slavic state, was founded by Rurik's successor Oleg of Novgorod in 882.

The territory of Ukraine has been inhabited for at least 44,000 years. Prehistoric Ukraine as part of the Pontic steppe has been an important factor in Eurasian cultural contact, including the spread of the Chalcolithic, the Bronze Age, Indo-European expansion and the domestication of the horse. Part of Scythia in antiquity and settled by Getae, in the migration period, Ukraine is also the site of early Slavic expansion, and enters history proper with the establishment of the medieval state of Kyivan Rus, which emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages but disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the Fourteenth Century, present Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers: the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. During the Fifteenth Century, these lands came under the rule of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (since 1569), and the Crimean Khanate. After a 1653 rebellion against dominantly Polish Catholic rule, an assembly of the people (rada) agreed to the Treaty of Pereyaslav in January 1654. Soon, the  southeastern portion of the Polish-Lithuanian empire east of the Dnieper River came under Russian rule for centuries. After the Partitions of Poland (1772–1795) and conquest of the Crimean Khanate, Ukraine was divided between the Tsardom of Russia and Habsburg Austria. A chaotic period of warfare ensued after the Russian revolution. The internationally recognized Ukrainian People's Republic emerged from its own civil war. The Ukrainian-Soviet War followed, in which the Red Army established control in late 1919. The conquerors created the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which on 30 December 1922 became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. Initial Soviet policy on Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture made Ukrainian the official language of administration and schools. Policy in the 1930s turned to Russification. In 1932 and 1933, millions of people, mostly peasants, in Ukraine starved to death in a politically induced famine (Holodomor) due to the "liquidation of the Kulak class". It is estimated that 6 to 8 million people died from hunger in the Soviet Union during this period, of whom 4 to 5 million were Ukrainians. Nikita Khrushchev was the head of the Ukrainian Communist Party in 1935. After the 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, . . .  [more]

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Co-host: Larry Kudlow, CNBC senior advisor; & Cumulus Media radio

Hour One

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 1, Block A:  James Pethokoukis, columnist & AEI, in re: AEIdeas Some smart thoughts on housing, jobs, and economic growth | AEIdeas  This is certainly the simplest immigration reform plan out there | AEIdeas  This is the kind of inflation that Republicans should worry about | AEIdeas Where are all the startups? More on America’s economic calcification.  Corporate taxes – 9% is better than 10%; rumor that Jack Lew is secretly conferring with Republicans on reforming the corporate tax but maintaining stiff taxes on every dollar that corporations intended to repatriate. American corporations seem to be doing just about everything with their record $1.53 trillion in cash holdings except using it to invest and hire in the United States, even though the sluggish economy could use the boost.  [more]

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 1, Block B: James Pethokoukis, columnist & AEI, in re: . . .  bring immigrants to the US, let the market figure out what each position is worth.  LK: I think immigration reform if done properly is very pro-growth.  JP: There's a GOP core that wants not one more immigrant, including Indian Ph.D.s  The GOP is split.  It did not deliver a bill, and so left a big opening for the president to run through.  If there's one hting we need more of in this country it’s more entrepreneurs. We need to make it as inviting as possible – and because we have competition in China, India, and elsewhere, we'll have to fight to succeed.

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Tim Kane, Hoover, heads Hoover's immigration reform research.   in re: Tim Kane, who heads up Hoover's immigration reform research; in re:  The nonpartisan panel of experts does not favor executive action. Only 31 percent think such action is necessary because of the congressional gridlock – the president’s justification – while 11 percent think it is an effective way to change policy.  Half the respondents think such action establishes a dangerous precedent. It is worth noting that this same panel of experts largely favors greater levels of immigration to the United States for high-skill and low-skill migrants.  [more]

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 1, Block D: LanHee J Chen, David and Diane Steffy research Fellow at the Hoover Institution; also Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center; in re: Lessons from the 1995 Strategy  Tactics and an agenda for the new Congress.

Hour Two

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 2, Block A:  Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin; in re:

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 2, Block B: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus (2 of 4); in re:  . . . This entire crisis could be solved in moments: If NATO agrees that Ukraine will never be a NATO member (although it could have some of the benefits of that?), and the adoption of a federal constitution.   Michael McFaul told Foreign Affairs that in five years as US ambassador in Moscow, he never heard one Russian complain about NATO.  He must have been to busy tweeting.  Trigger point for armed conflict between NATO and the Russian Federation.

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 2, Block C: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus (3 of 4); in re: Poroshenko said, "Our children with grow up healthy and prosper, but their children will live in basements."  Sounds like a plan to invade Donbas again – and Putin said flat out, "We will not let those children die."  Note that "in Finland worries grow over provocations."  A shameful Washington Post article directly from European Lobbying Network – a pro-NATO crew that have log put our disinformation, partly true and partly false.  A WaPo reporter swallowed this whole, put it on the front page.  Also published in Finland, where some people believed it - a known NATO propaganda group.  Sergei Lavrov: ". . . use of coercive measures, the West is making it clear that wants not to change Russian policy but change the regime."

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus (4 of 4); in re:  Putin as a demon, or as a father; and his obligations to Russia. Putin, who’s intensely private about his personal life, felt obliged to give a long interview on his personal life, thoughts, family.   Russian economy is not in the red [so to speak], but it’s fragile.  He feels that he needs to show he's a leader of and for the people.  This is very popular among Russians. He also said – since Russia is rife with corruption from police in the streets to the very  top; everyone knows it’s stifling the economy and he state.  Is this hot air?  Meaningful?  He's re-presenting himself to the people.  When he [annexed]] Crimes, his popularity shot up; now he's saying I also don't like this corruption and now I'll move to clean it up.   . . .  He's certainly given up on the US for the moment. 

Hour Three

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 3, Block A: Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review & Real Clear Politics; in re:  Reflecting frustration, Webb Eyes Presidency    In late November 2005, the legendary Democrat strategist Steve Jarding sat down with Jim Webb — author, filmmaker, decorated Vietnam veteran and former U.S. Navy secretary — to discuss a possible run for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia against a wildly popular and well-funded incumbent, Republican George Allen. “He wanted to know a percentage of his chances of winning,” Jarding recalled of that awkward moment when Jarding tried in a gingerly fashion to postpone explaining the political reality.

“Damn it, Steve, give me a number,” Webb, frustrated by all the stalling, demanded. Fifteen percent, Jarding reluctantly replied.

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 3, Block B: Francis Rose, Federal News Radio, in re:  http://www.federalnewsradio.com/538/3750086/VA-fires-troubled-Phoenix-hospital-director http://thehill.com/policy/finance/225249-irs-to-award-new-round-of-bonuses

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 3, Block C: Elbridge Colby, NYT, in re: "Why America Musn't Neglect Its Nukes":  recent reports of problems with the U.S. nuclear force should lead us to redouble our support for the nation's nuclear arsenal rather than allow this crucial pillar of our security to atrophy. [more]

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 3, Block D: Abby Haglage, Daily Beast, in re:  Money Promised for Ebola Not Adding Up  Little has been delivered of the millions countries pledged to fight the disease: 7 percent of . . .   [more]

Hour Four

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 4, Block A: Julia Angwin, ProPublica, in re:

This controversial type of tracking can be used by sites to build a dossier about a person's behavior on mobile devices -- including which apps they use, which sites they visit and for how long.

Once the unique identifying number is inserted into a user's phone traffic, it can be used by any website that wants to track a user's behavior on a mobile device where traditional tracking cookies are not as effective.

AT&T says its recent addition of a tracking number to users' web traffic was part of a test, which it has now completed. The company may still launch a program to sell data collected by its tracking number. [more]

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 4, Block B: Michael Ledeen, FDD; in re:  Khamenei Spits in Our Face Again—and We Pay for the Pleasure  He did it again, as we should have expected.  Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei walked us right up to the finish line, spat on us, and walked away. Months and months of secret and public talks, letters, back channels, and gestures produced nothing of the sort the president, assorted foreign ministers, pundits, and politicians had been predicting. Instead we are to keep talking, and keep paying the Islamic Republic for the pleasure and privilege.

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Paul Gregory, Hoover; in re:  Transparency International ranks Russia’s two state-owned energy giants in the middle of the top 124 world companies for “transparency” because both have adopted detailed anti-corruption rules. The rankings do not ask whether these companies actually comply with their rules. Stock market valuations show the nonsensical nature of the Transparency International rankings. Investors are not willing to bet on the Russian energy giants because they are non-transparent on the most important risks, and they operate as instruments of Kremlin domestic and foreign policy.  [more]

Tuesday  25 November  2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Ken Croswell, Science magazine; in re:  The distance to the Pleiades star cluster is surprisingly controversial.  I've saved this one for late fall and winter, when the Pleiades is well placed for observing: [more]   A beautiful picture of the Pleiades appears on pages 50-51 of my book THE LIVES OF STARS.