Episode Details

First half hour: Prof. Anthony Hall has a new Substack “Looking Out at the World from Canada.” We discuss his recent pieces on the permanent emergency, his sojourn through the world of advertising, and the war on terror as a war on humanity.

Second half hour: Retired Washington, DC TV host Ken Meyercord points out that “no American carrier has entered the Persian Gulf since 2020. Do we fear Iran’s enhanced military capabilities make any carrier stuck in the confined space of the Gulf a sitting duck?” He also observes that China holds all the cards on the Taiwan issue, and that DC bureaucrats are getting used to the concept of a multipolar world. (Below is Ken’s mini-essay.)

Multipolar World’s Inexorable Arrival?

By Ken Meyercord

It’s customary for the United States to have two of its 11 aircraft carriers “in theater” at any one time, usually one in the western Pacific (the Seventh Fleet), the other in the Mediterranean/Middle East region (the Fifth Fleet). For long, one of our “Carrier Strike Groups” would sail into the Persian Gulf every year (sometimes two in one year) to remind those watching from the shoreline who ruled the waves in that part of the world, but no American carrier has entered the Gulf since 2020. Do we fear Iran’s enhanced military capabilities make any carrier stuck in the confined space of the Gulf a sitting duck? If so, is that a sign America’s role as arbiter of affairs in that part of the world is showing its age (as did the recent resumption of diplomatic relations between our usually obedient lapdog, Saudi Arabia, and our long-hated bete noire, Iran, brokered by—of all people—the country we consider the Number One threat to our national security: China!)

Switching to that part of the globe prowled by the Seventh Fleet, the political party of the current president of Taiwan, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) , suffered its biggest defeat in 36 years in Taiwan’s regional elections last November, winning only 5 of 22 mayoral races and  277 local council elections versus the rival Kuomintang (KMT) party’s 367 (a setback not mentioned by The Washington Post’s shrillest resident China-basher, Josh Rogin, in a screed on the visit by Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, to this country—nor did he mention that Ms. Tsai was forced to resign as head of the DPP because of the humiliating defeat). In juxtaposition with President Tsai’s visit to the USA, the previous Taiwanese president, the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou, toured mainland China where, while not coming out formally for reunification, stressed that the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese. (surprisingly, considering the Koumintang are on Taiwan because of being exiled there by the Communists in 1949, the KMT is the Taiwanese party most open to reunification with the motherland). What if Ma is reelected president next January and he actively seeks reunifi