103: Judy Dempsey Judy Dempsey addresses the rising costs and future decline of the global cocoa crop, linking it to transcontinental climate change caused by Amazon deforestation, criticizes the EU and NATO for reacting too slowly and lacking strategic vision
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 19 November 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Summary
Judy Dempsey addresses the rising costs and future decline of the global cocoa crop, linking it to transcontinental climate change caused by Amazon deforestation, criticizes the EU and NATO for reacting too slowly and lacking strategic vision concerning the Ukraine war and defense, notes European military infrastructure is inadequate for rapid deployment forcing reliance on ships instead of trains, and observes that while the Russian threat is understood by most member states, political fumbling in Germany is allowing the anti-NATO, pro-Russia AfD party to gain significant ground.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBS, I on the World. I'm John Batchel. |
| 0:09.0 | Judy Dempsey, the senior scholar in Berlin, I depend upon of the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace, to observe Europe from the point of view of the future, and to observe America from the point of view of Europe. |
| 0:22.9 | I begin with a story that is fresh to me, but for some time I've puzzled about cocoa prices, |
| 0:29.8 | especially because they spiked and then they retreated somewhat worldwide. |
| 0:35.3 | I read now in the Financial Times, the pink paper out of London that I depend |
| 0:39.8 | upon for European affairs, that there is grave doubt, in fact, fixed doubt that the cocoa crop |
| 0:46.6 | over the next decades will decline and the price will climb. Why? The identification is climate. |
| 0:57.5 | The recent COP 30 meeting in northern Amazon, |
| 1:05.1 | Belem, I believe, did produce a lot of statistics. And one of them is the dependence of the cocoa crop on the rainforest of Africa and its dependence on the rainforest of South America. In other words, |
| 1:12.1 | we're considering here not transnational climate affecting prices, but transcontinental. As the trees |
| 1:21.7 | are cut down and the forest reduced in the Amazon basin, that affects all weather flowing into the Congo River basin. |
| 1:31.8 | And that leads to a decline in the trees, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, |
| 1:36.6 | which is a nightmare of governance, but it has half the trees that we depend upon to bring in a |
| 1:42.3 | cocoa crop. Judy, I come to you because it's at once lighthearted |
| 1:47.5 | and also revelatory that the chocolate crop is guaranteed to be reduced unless and until the |
| 1:55.0 | Amazon destruction is reversed. Good day to you, Judy. Good day, John, and thank you very much for having me on your show, as always. |
| 2:02.7 | You certainly do open up a sweetener this time round. |
| 2:05.8 | Yes, I meant to because chocolate here in the United States and in the Americas |
| 2:10.7 | is considered, oh, for Halloween, for children, and for people who are needful of a boost of energy in the middle |
| 2:21.6 | of the day or a little chubby. All right. But in Europe, it's part of your daily conduct. It's |
| 2:27.2 | a polite society. Having a chocolate with coffee is part of either morning exercise, afternoon |
| 2:33.6 | exercise, or delight. It's not anything |
... |
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