The John Batchelor Show
The John Batchelor Show is a hard news-analysis radio program on current events, world history, global politics and natural sciences. Based in New York City for two decades, the show has travelled widely to report, from the Middle East to the South Caucasus to the Arabian Peninsula and East Asia.
Episodes
Dallas, Magpies, and Cockatoo Villains
Jeremy Zakis
Jeremy Zakis reports that his 11-year-old spoodle, Dallas, continues to be a friend to magpies and other birds, whose non-threatening demeanor makes them comfortable. Meanwhile, the "villain" cockatoos remain nearby, having recently ripped nails out of a neighbor's roof. The neighbor repaired and reinforced the roof, but the cockatoos watched, seemingly siz...
Jeremy Zakis
Jeremy Zakis reports that his 11-year-old spoodle, Dallas, continues to be a friend to magpies and other birds, whose non-threatening demeanor makes them comfortable. Meanwhile, the "villain" cockatoos remain nearby, having recently ripped nails out of a neighbor's roof. The neighbor repaired and reinforced the roof, but the cockatoos watched, seemingly siz...
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The Ashes Cricket Debate
Jeremy Zakis
Australia decisively won the first Ashes test by eight wickets against England in Perth. England's aggressive "Baz" batting strategy, aimed at hitting long balls, spectacularly backfired on the quick, hot pitch, resulting in the quickest English team exit in Ashes history. Australia secured the win by shifting to a conservative, defensive style of play.
1928
Jeremy Zakis
Australia decisively won the first Ashes test by eight wickets against England in Perth. England's aggressive "Baz" batting strategy, aimed at hitting long balls, spectacularly backfired on the quick, hot pitch, resulting in the quickest English team exit in Ashes history. Australia secured the win by shifting to a conservative, defensive style of play.
1928
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DIY Snake Catching Classes Emerge
Jeremy Zakis
Due to a massive snake population boom and a forthcoming shortage of retiring professionals, a new industry offering DIY snake wrangling training has emerged in Australia. Courses, like one run by Dr. Christina Zenck in Queensland, teach people to safely handle dangerous species, such as brown snakes, using specialized snare poles. This training is crucial becau...
Jeremy Zakis
Due to a massive snake population boom and a forthcoming shortage of retiring professionals, a new industry offering DIY snake wrangling training has emerged in Australia. Courses, like one run by Dr. Christina Zenck in Queensland, teach people to safely handle dangerous species, such as brown snakes, using specialized snare poles. This training is crucial becau...
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Cyclone Fenina Headed for Darwin
Jeremy Zakis
Cyclone Fenina, described as a one-in-twenty-year monster with 160 mph winds and a 200-mile width, is tracking toward Darwin, Northern Territory. Evacuation advice has been issued but not a mandatory order. After hitting the coast, it is expected to dissipate rapidly over the sparse interior. This weather system is pushing hot, humid, stormy air down Australia's ...
Jeremy Zakis
Cyclone Fenina, described as a one-in-twenty-year monster with 160 mph winds and a 200-mile width, is tracking toward Darwin, Northern Territory. Evacuation advice has been issued but not a mandatory order. After hitting the coast, it is expected to dissipate rapidly over the sparse interior. This weather system is pushing hot, humid, stormy air down Australia's ...
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- The Fall of Communism: Top-Down Collapse and the Legacy of Violence in Modern Russia
Professor Sean McMeekin
The final segment discusses the collapse of communist regimes in 1989, contending that these regimes generally did not fall because of a rising from the bottom. Instead, the collapse was largely top-down, driven by the disappearance of Soviet coercion or inside palace coups, such as the one that ...
The final segment discusses the collapse of communist regimes in 1989, contending that these regimes generally did not fall because of a rising from the bottom. Instead, the collapse was largely top-down, driven by the disappearance of Soviet coercion or inside palace coups, such as the one that ...
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The conversation moves back to the USSR with Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 Secret Speech, which led to disruption in Eastern Europe. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) is analyzed as an act of traditional great power politics driven by the desire to prove Soviet superiority and overturn the strategic balance in intercontinental ballistic missiles. The 1979 invasion of Afghanistan is highlighted as a remarkable mistake that undermined ...
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November 22, 2025 • 6 mins
- The Nihilism of the Red Guards and Mao's International Maneuvers
Professor Sean McMeekin
This segment explores the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966) and the Red Guards, characterized by a "radical cult of youth" and a nihilistic side of communism involving the destruction of urbane, literate civilization and turning against education, books, professors, the elderly, and foreigners. During this time, th...
This segment explores the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966) and the Red Guards, characterized by a "radical cult of youth" and a nihilistic side of communism involving the destruction of urbane, literate civilization and turning against education, books, professors, the elderly, and foreigners. During this time, th...
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The focus shifts to Mao Zedong and Chinese communism, which was highly influenced by sharp anti-imperialism and xenophobia, blending the Marxist binary struggle with resentment of foreign exploitation. After Stalin's death, Mao began to "experiment," resulting in the Great Leap Forward, which aimed to rapidly "catch up and surpass the West" by radically overturning agriculture and simultaneously industrializing. This chaotic e...
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The discussion turns to Joseph Stalin and his relationship with the legacy of Leninism. Stalin was a more "ideologically flexible" and savvy political operator than Trotsky, who was relentlessly focused on immediate and continuous revolution. While both Lenin and Trotsky employed political violence, the terror under Stalin was a different phenomenon because much of it was directed at high-ranking members of the Communist Party...
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This segment addresses Vladimir Lenin's adoption of Marx's ideas, particularly the aspect of Marxism requiring political violence. Lenin's major innovation, often called "vanguardism," involved a top-down party of professional revolutionaries leading the workers. Inspired by Marx's reaction to the Franco-Prussian War, Lenin developed "revolutionary defeatism," which held that imperial wars between capitalist powers would creat...
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Professor McMeekin states clearly that communism, specifically Marxist-Leninism, prospers only in conjunction with extreme violence and the disintegration of governance norms. The discussion covers the French revolutionary Babeuf, who advocated for the overturning of private property, centralized rationing, and "cleansing political violence" against "class enemies." Babeuf set a precedent for the centrality of political violen...
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- Tiananmen Square, the Unmasking of Communism, and Karl Marx's Hegelian Roots
Professor Sean McMeekin
Professor Sean McMeekin's book, To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism, begins with the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 as the "tearing off of the mask" of communism, revealing raw force and brutality. The discussion traces communism back to Karl Marx, noting that he was a Hegelian ...
Professor Sean McMeekin's book, To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism, begins with the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 as the "tearing off of the mask" of communism, revealing raw force and brutality. The discussion traces communism back to Karl Marx, noting that he was a Hegelian ...
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Legacies in Modern Asia: China's Judge and Japan's Shrine Controversy
Professor Gary Bass
Chinese Judge May Ruo centered the suffering of Asian peoples but chose to return to Mainland China, making him vulnerable as a "bourgeois" intellectual. Modern tensions persist regarding the Yasukuni Shrine, which has enshrined 14 Class A war criminals. Former PM Shinzo Abe's visits were fueled by resentment inherited from ...
Professor Gary Bass
Chinese Judge May Ruo centered the suffering of Asian peoples but chose to return to Mainland China, making him vulnerable as a "bourgeois" intellectual. Modern tensions persist regarding the Yasukuni Shrine, which has enshrined 14 Class A war criminals. Former PM Shinzo Abe's visits were fueled by resentment inherited from ...
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Indian Judge Rabhabinod Pal wrote a massive dissent, arguing the court lacked legitimacy due to the dominance of imperial powers. Pal, who focused heavily on racism and colonialism, questioned the evidence of Japanese atrocities at Nanjing. During the 1948 executions, army defendants chanted "Banzai" (Long live the Emperor). The US Supreme Court upheld the military commissions by narrowly refusing jurisdiction.
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The conspiracy charge, borrowed from Nuremberg, was awkward given the rivalries within the splintered Japanese government. The legal foundation for Class A (aggressive war) relied on treaties like the Kellogg-Briand Pact. This 1928 pact made aggressive war illegal but failed to establish individual criminal responsibility or penalties. All surviving defendants were convicted of at least one charge, receiving mixed verdicts.
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As the Cold War set in (1948), George Kennan urged MacArthur to halt progressive liberalization policies. Kennan argued that extensive democratization risked communist subversion, emphasizing the need for a strong, stable, anti-communist Japan. This marked a major shift, recognizing Japan, rather than China, as the crucial strategic anchor for American foreign policy in Asia.
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Truman's "crony-like" approach led to the appointment of Chief Prosecutor Joseph Keenan, who was incompetent and struggled with alcoholism. Keenan was far inferior to Nuremberg's Robert Jackson. The trial transcript reached 50,000 pages over two and a half years. Chief Judge Sir William Webb was overly cranky and seemed to favor the prosecution, alienating the defense and other judges.
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The American occupation began amidst vast ruins; Japanese officials burned evidence regarding atrocities like Nanjing. Class A crimes focused on aggressive war, targeting senior leaders like Tojo Hideki. Crucial prosecution evidence was found in the detailed diary of the emperor's advisor, Kido Koichi. The US Supreme Court ruled against jurisdiction over earlier military commissions. The International Military Tribunal for the...
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Japan's nominal unconditional surrender was conditional on retaining Emperor Hirohito, who was deemed helpful for managing troops and legitimizing the US occupation. General MacArthur, haunted by the Bataan Death March, conducted immediate, swift trials via military commissions against two former enemies. MacArthur initially planned a short, six-month trial focused only on aggression at Pearl Harbor.
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- Truman Takes Command: Unconditional Surrender and the Brutality of Final Battles
Professor Gary Bass
Harry Truman assumed the presidency unprepared for the war in Asia or foreign policy. He inherited the demand for unconditional surrender. The immense casualties at Okinawa terrified him about a ground invasion. Before the atomic bombs, US firebombing killed 210,000 Japanese, leading to warnings to Truman abo...
Harry Truman assumed the presidency unprepared for the war in Asia or foreign policy. He inherited the demand for unconditional surrender. The immense casualties at Okinawa terrified him about a ground invasion. Before the atomic bombs, US firebombing killed 210,000 Japanese, leading to warnings to Truman abo...
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