CBS Eye On The World With John Batchelor podcast

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It is approximately the year 1200 AD. A man is in a tavern having a very good time, drinking heavily, and suddenly he gets a message written in runes on a piece of wood. The message is very clear: “Gyda says that you should go home.” How he responds to this is unknown, but he does write a message in return that, I'm told by the author Eleanor Barraclough, doesn't make any sense. However, we forgive him for being inebriated, and thus we're into the world that Eleanor takes on in her new book, Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age . I felt when Eleanor wrote about Gyda and her beloved, she was having an especially good time. What is it he was reading, these rune carved things? And how does she interpret them? Watch the full conversation above, or listen to an audio version below: LINKS : Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age Eleanor Barraclough on Amazon Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. The opinions expressed on this website and on The John Batchelor Show are those of John Batchelor and guests, and not those of CBS News .…

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The Imperial Project

7 days ago

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LONDINIUM, 91 AD : Gaius (John Batchelor) and Germanicus (Michael Vlahos) observe our contemporary politics from the 1st century. They discuss the ousting of leadership at the DoD, Trump’s approach to Russia and Ukraine, and the possibility of an awakening in Europe. It is not clear to Germanicus and myself that our audience in the 21st century is familiar with the Imperial Project and why we believe it works, why we have about 1500 years of history to demonstrate that it works. For instance, it puzzles a modern America when they learn that American males think about Rome every day. Why is that? Is it built into the DNA, or is it something to do with the institutions that America lives with? Britain inherited the institutions we inherited; the Americans inherited them from Britain. They are the emperor (sometimes called the king), the apparatus around the emperor (the military or the national security), and then the people (the Senate and the people of Rome are part of the Imperial Project). I begin with evidence of the Imperial Project underway in modern America. Within these last hours, the news has come that the new emperor (the president, Mr. Trump) has approved the switching of chairman of the Joint Chiefs, head of the legions, one F-16 pilot replaced by another F-16 pilot. The first F-16 pilot was chosen by Mr. Biden, Charles Q. Brown. This F-16 pilot, Dan “Razin” Caine, is chosen by the new emperor, Mr. Trump. This F-16 pilot is attached to a very famous story. On 9/11, there were two F-16s over the Potomac. They were the defense of the capital for the likelihood of another aircraft crashing into one of the institutions. It's never clear, but it's said that United Flight 93, the one that crashed in Pennsylvania, was headed to the White House. I don't see anywhere it being proved, but that is the assertion. So the story is that Caine was one of the pilots. The other pilot was a young woman named Penny. They were given the order to shoot down 93. They did not, according to the story, and United 93 crashed, thanks to the heroism and sacrifice of its passenger list. In any event, that is the new nominated chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All the other senior positions are also now open because the Emperor (the Imperial project) is turning over the legions and reordering them. How does that help the Emperor? How is that an important part of the Imperial Project moving from the Republic to the Empire? Watch the full conversation above, or listen to an audio version below: LINKS : The John Batchelor Show on Apple Podcasts: The opinions expressed on this website and on The John Batchelor Show are those of John Batchelor and guests, and not those of CBS News . Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.…

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The Birth of Impressionism with Sebastian Smee

12 days ago

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It is the spring of 1874 in Paris—April 15th. On Boulevard des Capucines, a studio associated with Nadar, a man named Nadar, is opening an exhibit of paintings by men who don't have an organizing principle yet. They call themselves Société anonyme . They are Degas, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisily, Cezanne—and especially Manet. They gather to show off their paintings quite outside the accepted way to do this at an enterprise called the Salon. I stop there and turn to the man who introduced me to all of these intricacies, Sebastian Smee. His new book is Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism . These are parallel universes. The politics of France in the middle of the 19th century, as America is recovering from the civil war, are as violent and unending as anything that can be seen in all of Europe and in America. At the same time, these painters, who are now all extremely world famous, are living their lives under the guns all the time. But this meeting in 1874 is their way of moving towards the future. To the men who gathered there, and one woman in particular, Berthe Morisot—what was their ambition? Why did they set up their own show, knowing that they were outside the accepted way of making money or being successful? Watch the full interview above, or listen to an audio version below: All images are Public Domain and sourced from The Metropolitan Museum of Art collection unless otherwise noted. LINKS : Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionis m by Sebastian Smee on Amazon Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. The opinions expressed on this website and on The John Batchelor Show are those of John Batchelor and guests, and not those of CBS News .…

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The End of Atlanticism

14 days ago

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LONDINIUM CHRONICLES, 91 AD: Germanicus and Gaius discuss the reception of J.D. Vance in Europe; Trump’s upcoming negotiations with Vladimir Putin; Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency; and a lesson from 5th century Rome that could find application in the 21st century. Germanicus and I have a great deal to discuss. Because of the events of these last days, we now have a little clarity about the 21st century. As I understand it right now, the European leadership—and that would begin with Mr. Macron and include Schultz of Germany, certainly Starmer will be there from Britain—well, let's just say the European leadership will meet in Paris in what they call “an emergency meeting.” And the topic is the presentation by the vice president, Mr. Vance, at the Munich Security Conference that took the last three days. And the speech by Mr. Vance, which I recommend to everyone, identified Germany and Britain in particular, and Scotland, too, as suppressing free speech, as being unacceptable to Americans. The response from the audience was that Mr. Vance is unacceptable, and the Trump administration is unacceptable—“we came here to hear your plan about getting us out of trouble in Ukraine, and instead you're interfering in our election!” The German election is in one week on the 23rd. And the party that Mr. Vance named in particular was AfD (Alternative for Deutschland), led by Alice Weidel, a 46-year-old former banker. She worked for Goldman Sachs. She lives in Switzerland (openly with a wife from Sri Lanka), and she very carefully speaks every night about what she intends to do when she's chancellor, which is to deport the people who came to Germany between 2015 and 2020. And she's going to do that because she says Germany is not safe and they've lost control of our streets. There was an incident in Munich last week that illustrates perfectly what she's talking about. An Afghan refugee who had applied for asylum and was rejected, deliberately drove a vehicle into the back of a large crowd. Right now there are two dead out of the crowd, many injured. One of them is a two-year-old female, and Germany is enraged. At the same time, the leadership in Germany is enraged by Mr. Vance's remarks. The German defense minister, Pistorius, has condemned the vice president of the United States. The ironies here are so thick. In the meantime, we're told that immediately Mr. Trump will travel to Riyadh to meet with Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the Ukraine conflict and other matters having to do with what Mr. Trump calls “de-nuking.” There's also the matter of trade and sanctions. Secretary of State Rubio and others of the Trump administration are already meeting with, or have already met with, Lavrov and a team from Moscow. So this will be a bilateral confrontation between the two cold warriors of the 20th century, looking to “de-nuke” in the 21st century. Of note, and I'll end here, Mr. Zelensky is not invited to the Riyadh meeting. To my knowledge, none of the European leaders are invited to the Riyadh meeting. This is Alexander meeting with Napoleon in the middle of a river on a raft to decide the fate of Europe. LINKS : The John Batchelor Show on Apple Podcasts: The opinions expressed on this website and on The John Batchelor Show are those of John Batchelor and guests, and not those of CBS News . Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.…

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Confucius and the Rectification of Names with Lance Gatling

18 days ago

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From the Analects attributed to Confucius, Chapter 13, 551-479 BCE: If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success. I welcome of Nexial Research, Tokyo. The Substack page for Lance's observations of Confucius is Kanō Chronicles . Lance has helped me understand what we've been living through (since the pandemic at least), which is that names were inarticulate, out of place, false. What is necessary is to rectify names. Please understand that we need you to follow Confucius very carefully—this is a man who is wise and useful two-thousand years later. What does it mean, “what is necessary is to rectify our names”? And how does it apply immediately to Donald Trump, to the executive orders, and especially the executive order “there are two sexes, male and female”? Watch the full conversation above, or listen to an audio version below: LINKS : Intent to Destroy by Eugene Finkel on Amazon The opinions expressed on this website and on The John Batchelor Show are those of John Batchelor and guests, and not those of CBS News . Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.…

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The Roots of the Russo-Ukrainian War with Eugene Finkel

19 days ago

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It is 1888, Kiev. A new statue is raised. The statue is to a man named Khmelnytsky, a hero to the Ukrainians, to the Crimea and Cossacks, to the Russians—even to the Soviets in the future. Who is he? A 17th century man. And on the statue's plinth originally—because it was a product of Russian nationalists in Kiev—they wanted to write, “Oh, it will be better, oh, it will be more beautiful when in our Ukraine there are no Jews, no Poles, no Christians from the West.” It goes on to say, “A united, indivisible Russia to Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky.” Professor Eugene Finkel is here. His new book is Intent to Destroy: Russia's Two-Hundred Year Quest to Dominate Ukraine . That statue is a big clue as to what was happening in the 17th century. What is happening in the 21st century? Eugene Finkel is the Kenneth Keller Professor of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University of Advanced International Studies. He joins us from Europe to comment on Khmelnytsky’s statue. The phrases that they did not write, although they were approved by the czar, I believe, they tell a story of woe. Who was he? Why was he important to everyone that they raised a statue to him? Watch the full conversation above, or listen to an audio version below: LINKS : Intent to Destroy by Eugene Finkel on Amazon The opinions expressed on this website and on The John Batchelor Show are those of John Batchelor and guests, and not those of CBS News . Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.…

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What Does Russia Want?

21 days ago