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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.
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he Caudine Forks and the Dangers of Half-Measures — Gaius & Germanicus — Germanicus and Gaius center their discussion on the instructive Roman historical lesson of the Caudine Forks: a victor must either completely annihilate the enemy or embrace them as genuine allies; choosing the treacherous middle path of ritual humiliation and subordination ensures future vengeance and perpetual instability. Germanicus applies this ancient strategic principle to contemporary geopolitics, arguing that the United States consistently fails this historical test by demanding submission—symbolized by forcing nations beneath the ritualistic "yoke"—without achieving total conquest that transforms hostile nations into obedient subordinate "bricks" within a durable imperial structure. Gaius and Germanicus cite the Treaty of Versailles and the post-Cold War treatment of Russia as prime historical examples where deliberate humiliation without comprehensive conquest bred lasting resentment rather than durable peace, establishing the foundation for subsequent conflicts and nationalist backlash. Germanicus characterizes this approach as reflecting American "narcissism," the desire for dominance without willingness to wage total war, thereby explaining systemic American failures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and contemporary tensions with Iran. Germanicus and Gaius warn against applying this "halfway yoke" framework to emerging challenges with Venezuela or Russia, instead counseling that it is strategically safer to permit regimes to decay internally through entropy rather than provoke nationalist backlash through external military or political pressure. Gaius concludes by characterizing current European leaders as "aggressive dependents" psychologically clinging to the Ukraine conflict to artificially preserve their own fragile domestic political authority and suppress internal dissent regarding failing governance.
The Three Archetypes of American Global Strategy — Gaius & Germanicus — Gaius and Germanicus analyze the prospective American National Security Strategy for 2025–2026, framing it as a deliberate return to the "Trump corollary" of the Monroe Doctrine emphasizing hemispheric supremacy and regional sphere-of-influence arrangements. Germanicus categorizes American foreign policy history into three religious-like ideological visions: Washington'sisolationist "beacon on the hill," the Monroe-Adams "realm of liberty" (defensive empire protecting American interests), and the Jacksonian "Prometheus unbound" (universalist ideological expansion spreading democratic values). Germanicus argues the incoming administration systematically rejects the "Wilson to Biden" lineage of global interventionism and messianic crusading in favor of Theodore Roosevelt-style "flexible realism" emphasizing power, national interest, and transactional diplomacy. Gaius details this shifted strategy as consolidating American dominance in the Western Hemisphere and Pacific region while according Russia respect and a recognized sphere of influence in Eurasia, explicitly rejecting Cold War confrontationalism. Gaius documents that Kremlin leadership has explicitly welcomed this "flexible realism," viewing it as a geopolitical departure from perpetual adversarial Cold War mindset. Germanicus contrasts this transactional approach with the "Manichaean" moral crusades characterizing recent American foreign policy, suggesting the American public now explicitly favors strategy avoiding military entanglement while prioritizing domestic prosperity and economic reconstruction, mirroring isolationist sentiments following World War I.
1911 USS MAINE IN HAVANA HARBOR
The Courtiers' Pivot and the Failing Imperial Narrative — Gaius & Germanicus — Gaius and Germanicus, in their metaphorical 91 AD Londinium dialogue, critique the Western foreign policy establishment, dismissively labeled "courtiers," regarding their systematic narrative repositioning on the Ukraine war as military circumstances deteriorate catastrophically. Germanicus argues that these elite advisors prioritize preservation of institutional status and access to executive power over accountability and honest assessment; as the military situation turns decisively against Ukraine, these courtiers seamlessly pivot from predicting Ukrainian victory to blaming European allies for failing to "step up" with additional military commitment. Germanicus draws historical parallels to the fall of the Soviet Union, noting that elites systematically rewrite their past positions retrospectively to claim they foresaw inevitable geopolitical collapses, a psychological mechanism enabling survival without disgrace or professional consequences. Gaius and Germanicuscontrast successful empires possessing unified narratives aligned with coherent strategy against the current Americanapproach, characterized as "predatory opportunism" driven by electoral manipulation requirements. Germanicuscontends that strategic failures in Ukraine—where population and material resources mathematically determine victory—expose the U.S. as a "weak and venal empire" relying upon a "pastiche" of propagandistic lies rather than the solid convergence of vision that characterized American dominance during World War II.
1918 UKRAINE
None So Blind: The Legacy of the Amateur Spies: Colleague Charles Spicer discusses None So Blind, a rare book compiled by Christie and Conwell-Evans documenting their ignored warnings to the British government, tracing the later lives of the protagonists: Tennant died in 1962 leaving a memoir, Conwell-Evans lived modestly while advising prime ministers, and the heroic Graham Christie committed suicide at age 91; the Travelers Club remains a physical legacy of their efforts, and Spicer concludes that while their mission failed, these courageous figures' story was largely lost until historian Martin Gilbert and Spicer himself recovered the records.
1945 berlin
Judgment at Nuremberg and Post-War Denial: Colleague Charles Spicer recounts that at the Nuremberg trials, a broken Ribbentrop attempted to call Conwell-Evans and Tennant as witnesses to prove his pre-war peace efforts, while Göring remained defiant and Hess exhibited erratic behavior; discussing the "Ministries Trial" and the post-war tendency of British officials including Vansittart to deny their connections to the amateur spies, this denial stemmed from embarrassment over their chaotic engagement with the Nazis and the uncomfortable realization that the war might have been preventable.
1938
1940: The Fall of France and the Rise of Churchill: Colleague Charles Spicer recounts that as the British Expeditionary Force retreated from Dunkirk in May 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister and actively utilized intelligence from Christie and Vansittart; critiquing the 1940 book Guilty Men as a simplistic polemic that established the popular narrative blaming appeasers for the war, the narrative highlights Lord Lothian's success in Washington persuading Roosevelt to support Britain, and connects Rudolf Hess's flight to Scotland to the Fellowship, explaining that Hess sought out the Duke of Hamilton in a delusional attempt to broker peace.
1938
The Phony War: Assassination Plots and Missed Chances: Colleague Charles Spicer details efforts to remove Hitler during the "Phony War," including a plan by diplomat Eric Kordt to assassinate Hitler that was inadvertently thwarted by Georg Elser's independent bombing of the Bürgerbräukeller; Graham Christie continued meeting with Hermann Göring, revealed as an opportunist playing both sides rather than a sincere alternative to Hitler, while Tennant was exposed on a mission in Norway and forced to flee, with British leadership remaining slow to comprehend the existential threat facing the Expeditionary Force in France despite accurate intelligence.
1938
The Tennant Mission and the Failure of Alliances: Colleague Charles Spicer recounts that in the summer of 1939, Ernest Tennant undertook a final secret mission to Ribbentrop's Austrian castle, confirming that Hitler intended to attack Poland and wage a long war; while London believed this intelligence and pursued a pact with Poland, Chamberlain's deep antipathy toward the Soviets delayed an alliance with Stalin, and Soviet spies leaked these diplomatic moves to Germany, accelerating the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, emphasizing that despite accurate intelligence from the amateur spies, British leadership failed to exploit opportunities.
1938
1939: Diplomatic Disasters and Soviet Infiltration: Colleague Charles Spicer explains that by early 1939, relations deteriorated as Ribbentrop, now Foreign Minister, turned violently anti-British following his social failures in London, characterizing British Ambassador Neville Henderson as a disastrous "arch-appeaser" who refused to upset the Nazi regime; meanwhile, Conwell-Evans continued to gather intelligence while enduring threatening luncheons with Ribbentrop, and the Soviets infiltrated the narrative through the book Tory MP, which attacked the Fellowship and was written by authors recruited by Soviet intelligence.
1938
The Oster Conspiracy and the Resilience of the Fellowship: Colleague Charles Spicer discusses the 1938 crisis, focusing on the "Oster Conspiracy," a credible German plot to arrest Hitler that was undermined by Prime Minister Chamberlain's appeasement visits; despite the shock of Kristallnacht, the Anglo-German Fellowship remained a crucial channel for intelligence, with reports from Conwell-Evans regarding Ribbentrop discussed in the British Cabinet, proving that high-quality intelligence was reaching decision-makers, though the British government prioritized diplomatic engagement over supporting internal regime change, missing a significant opportunity to stop the dictator.
1938
1938: Accurate Warnings and the May Crisis: Colleague Charles Spicer explains that in early 1938, as Vansittart was sidelined, Christie continued to extract "spookily accurate" war plans from Göring, providing London with a clear map of Hitler's intentions; introducing the Kordt brothers, diplomats in the German embassy who served as vital conduits for resistance intelligence, the segment concludes with the "May Crisis," where intelligence provided by the protagonists regarding a potential attack on Czechoslovakia may have forced Hitler to temporarily back down, demonstrating the effectiveness of the amateur spies' network.
1933
Halifax at the Berghof and Soviet Paranoia: Colleague Charles Spicer explains that by late 1937, the Anglo-German Fellowship was infiltrated by spies including Soviet mole Kim Philby, fueling Stalin's fear of an Anglo-German alliance; the narrative focuses on Lord Halifax's visit to the Berghof, where he famously mistook Hitler for a footman, and despite witnessing Hitler's brutal rants about India, Halifax returned to London believing Hitler did not desire war, a misjudgment Spicer attributes to Hitler's ability to fool the "religious" Halifax, underscoring the dangerous disconnect between British diplomatic expectations and Hitler's aggressive reality.
1933
The Coronation Party and Intelligence Channels: Colleague Charles Spicer recounts how during the coronation of King George VI in May 1937, the Ribbentrops hosted a disastrously overcrowded embassy party that alienated the British elite; distinguishing between genuine Nazi sympathizers in the Fellowship and those like Lord Lothian who began to harbor doubts about Hitler, this period sees Vansittart formally utilizing Christie and Conwell-Evans as his primary intelligence sources, recognizing the failure of official channels and illustrating the growing divide between the social veneer of diplomacy and the darkening reality of the Nazi threat.
1933
Ribbentrop in London: Gaffes and Alienation: Colleague Charles Spicer describes Ribbentrop's arrival in London as Ambassador with a cynical mandate from Hitler to neutralize Britain diplomatically, characterizing his tenure as a social disaster marked by gaffes such as giving the Nazi salute to the King; his wife Anneliese is depicted as thin-skinned and unable to handle the British press's mockery, while Sir Neville Henderson, the British Ambassador to Berlin, whose desire to accommodate Hitler was exacerbated by his secret battle with terminal cancer, influenced disastrous appeasement policies.
1933
Coffee with Hitler: Lloyd George at the Berghof: Colleague Charles Spicer recounts the pivotal September 1936 meeting between David Lloyd George and Hitler at the Berghof, facilitated by Conwell-Evans, where Hitler was delighted to meet the "man who won the war"; Spicer argues that Lloyd George was not merely naive but attempting a strategic play to reopen the Locarno Treaty negotiations, and though the meeting was outwardly successful with Hitler behaving unpretentiously, he reacted with visceral hatred at the mention of Russia, leaving Lloyd George's subsequent praise of Hitler in the British press as a controversial legacy.
1933
The Rhineland Crisis and the Olympic Charm Offensive: Colleague Charles Spicer details the 1936 Rhineland crisis, where Graham Christie provided London with accurate advance warning of Hitler's move, only to have the intelligence ignored due to public pacifism; the narrative shifts to the 1936 Olympics, a high point of Nazi deception where even the skeptical Vansittart was charmed, while Conwell-Evans devised a plan to bypass Prime Minister Baldwin and send David Lloyd George to meet Hitler, intending to use Lloyd George's immense political stature to "civilize" the dictator and secure peace.
1933
Graham Christie and the Specter of Militarism: Colleague Charles Spicer profiles Graham Christie, a decorated WWI aviator and engineer whose background allowed him to befriend Hermann Göring, operating as an agent for Robert Vansittart, the anti-appeasement head of the Foreign Office, forming a "private detective agency" to gather intelligence; while the British protagonists continued to engage with the Nazis after the 1935 Nuremberg Rally and the shock of the Nuremberg Laws, they were privately appalled by the regime's antisemitism yet felt compelled to maintain contact to monitor German rearmament.
1933
Commercial Interests and the Anglo-German Fellowship: Colleague Charles Spicer explores the founding of the Anglo-German Fellowship in 1935, headquartered at the Metropole Hotel, explaining that it attracted major financial and media interests such as Unilever, which sought to protect vast assets in Germany and avoid war; while the Fellowship is often viewed retrospectively as pro-Nazi, it included industrialists like Robert Bosch who despised the regime but joined to maintain influence, highlighting how business leaders utilized the Fellowship to navigate the complexities of the rising Third Reich.
1933
Founding the Fellowship: Amateur Spies and the Quest for Peace: Colleague Charles Spicer introduces Ernest Tennant, a British WWI veteran deeply traumatized by the loss of his peers, who established a connection with Joachim von Ribbentrop, then an Anglophile, to bridge the gap between London and Berlin, leading to the creation of the Anglo-German Fellowship; key figures include the scholar Philip Conwell-Evans and Lord Lothian, with the Travelers Club in London serving as the operational hub where these "amateur spies" sought to civilize the Nazis through diplomacy.
1933
Establishing the Capital and the Rise of Political Division — Nathaniel Philbrick — Washington selected the Potomac River as the location for the new national capital, believing it would economically connect Western and Eastern commercial interests, despite claims of obvious self-interest regarding Mount Vernon's proximity. As Washington worked deliberately to unite the fractured nation through personal tours and diplomatic engagement, political divisions paradoxically hardened and crystallized; Thomas Jefferson and James Madison organized systematic opposition during a "northern tour," strategically recruiting Philip Freneau to attack the Washingtonadministration. Philbrick notes the historical irony that James Monroe, formerly a critic of Washington, later adopted Washington's touring methodology to heal national divisions during his own presidency. Philbrickconcludes that despite Washington's profound contradictions as a slaveholder and politician, his aspirational effort to create a functioning American Union remains his enduring historical legacy.
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The antisemitic police commercial is a huge insult to commonsense. Enforcing the law drops crime. It worked during the 90's. Why not now.
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The John Batchelor Show offers insightful analysis on global events and history. Highly recommended for anyone interested in in-depth news coverage! Check it out: スプランキー https://play-sprunki.org
The title has nothing to do with the actual podcast. This is sadly an annoying habit that has somehow been taken up. This happens quite often.
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has nothing g to do with Ukraine. this is a retelling of the Cuban missle crisis.
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The subject matter dosen't match the title. This seems to happen with many episodes.
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Thecepisodevhad nothing to do with WW2 but Italy's covid response from 2022. Someone is not checking.
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john you keep pushing the war . Nazy state of Ukraine you're in the wrong side of history.