#John Batchelor Show - 27 February 2011

 
Our part of this starts at 18:00 minutes into the segment.  pl

http://wabcradio.com/FlashPlayer/default.asp?SPID=33447&ID=2121142

Comments

[Jake]

The oil situation here in the States I believe is being overplayed by the speculators. Yes the market is jittery. But the increases in prices at the pumps with a "GLUT" of "pre-revolution" oil on the market and with our reserves full, I cannot believe that greed is not involved and adding to the crisis with oil already refined and in the pipelines...

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7550#more

"For the very short term the governments of Europe have pointed to their stored volumes to explain why they don’t need to worry, and certainly the US has the ability to release some of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve which is currently as full as it has ever been. At what point that might become an issue is yet too early to tell, but with a growing concern that ever rising oil prices might drive the world back into a similar recession to that which followed the last visit to $147 a barrel oil, that option is likely to be increasingly considered."

[William R. Cumming]

WOW! An amazing show. Including the first 18 minutes on Iran. And two major disclosures by Messrs Land and Larson IMO and others. First that Iranian Republican Guard units long deployed in Libya along Chad and Nigerian borders running guns and other things for MQ. Wondering what their military capability might be as to enflanking insurgents in Libya. I did know that MQ was messing around in Sub-Saharan Africa but did not know that Iran was a helpmate.
Second disclosure! The internal discussions in National Security Council over Arabia and Mahgreb developments are focusing on US "Domestic" play. Another shocker if accurate. And if accurate then it is very clear that the National Security apparatus has been turned into an appliance for domestic corporate interests and their boosters. So now it will be interesting to see if the 2012 campaign has any discussion of the failure to really protect the National Security of the US in the last three administrations because of domestic concerns largely focused on re-election not the strength and health of the US and its people nor its effectiveness as an agent for postive change in the world.
I am so sorry that the believers in the glory of the US "second city" with all its diverse populations and past have such little comprehension about the world at large. But ego and hubris, as opposed to competence, spreads tentacles in many places in the US and Chicago apparently did not escape the plague.

Thanks PL for your participation in this worth radio show.

[J]

Colonel,

Here's the link where one can download the podcast. It's 12.6mg in size.

http://podfuse-dl.andomedia.com/800185/podfuse-origin.andomedia.com/citadel_origin/pods/WABC/WABC-Batchelor/jbs_022711a.mp3

[Trent]

Interesting comment from your colleague about the lack of vision in the WH. Is it possible that BO is "sneaky smart" and just pretending to sit on the sidelines? Perhaps he has intel suggesting this will unfold to the benefit of the US without the WH having to do much at all?

[Twit]

Off topic, but of interest to the SST community: Last US veteran of the Great War dies:
http://www.wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=43579

[steve]

William R. Cummings:

"The internal discussions in National Security Council over Arabia and Mahgreb developments are focusing on US "Domestic" play. Another shocker if accurate. And if accurate then it is very clear that the National Security apparatus has been turned into an appliance for domestic corporate interests and their boosters. So now it will be interesting to see if the 2012 campaign has any discussion of the failure to really protect the National Security of the US in the last three administrations because of domestic concerns largely focused on re-election not the strength and health of the US and its people nor its effectiveness as an agent for postive change in the world."

Of course, it's hardly just national security which is infected with a lack of concern about the "strength and health of the US and its people". You could list any of a dozen issues--domestic or foreign--where that "principle" seems to be the operative one.

[steve]

Twit--

As a kid in the 50s, I seem to recall when the last civil war vet died. When my dad was a young man he remembered the civil war vets in their rocking chairs on the porch at the vets home in New Orleans on Bayou St. John.

Now, it's the last WW1 vet. And as a kid, WW1 vets lived all over my neighborhood.

Life marches on. That's a poignant article about the man.

"Every day he asked his daughter, 'What's going on. What are we doing today or next week," said DeJonge. "Always focused on learning and reading. He never had the outlook of, 'Oh, I'm 110 and I'm going to die soon."

I had an uncle who passed away at age 97, a farmer, from Arkansas. The world had changed so much in his lifetime that he would say he wanted to keep living just "to see what happened next".

With good luck, may we all live to that point.

[William R. Cumming]

It is my belief that something like 1000 WWII vets die each day.

The last WWII cohort drafted was men born in 1926 and most did not get into actual combat.