80: Rare Earths, Global Conflicts, and Reimagining Democracy. Gregory Copley analyzes China's rare earth monopoly, noting it was achieved through low pricing and unsafe practices but is now eroding as global suppliers ramp up production. He reviews current gl

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

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4.5 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

Rare Earths, Global Conflicts, and Reimagining Democracy. Gregory Copley analyzes China's rare earth monopoly, noting it was achieved through low pricing and unsafe practices but is now eroding as global suppliers ramp up production. He reviews current global conflicts, viewing the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford battle group near Venezuela as a test of brinkmanship, and citing Kyiv's admission of losses in Ukraine. Copley also argues that democracy is "dead," advocating for a return to defining the spirit of a social contract rather than relying on mutable laws.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is CBS. I in the world. I'm John Batchel. Democracy in the 21st century. The word is used as a signature of virtue. But what is democracy in the 21st century? We can say what it is not. It is not kleptocracy. It is not a dictatorship. And then again, it is used by
0:23.4	same to give the virtue signal to those who would align with same dictatorships or
0:31.0	oligarchies or autocracies or kleptocracies. So is it important to define democracy or, as Gregory teaches me, must we
0:41.8	reimagine democracy? Gregory, democracy is such a big word. It's amorphous. What does it mean? Is it one of
0:48.7	those words that means different things depending on where you are in the world? Good evening to you.
0:53.6	Well, it's like all words,
0:55.1	as we've seen, particularly over the past 25 or so years or more, or the last century, particularly.
1:01.4	Words can be co-opted and given, if you like, reverse meanings to their original intent. So we've
1:09.1	seen that with literally everything from words we use every day. But democracy
1:15.3	is critical because democracy has always emerged in waves. This time, well, in the 20th century,
1:26.0	however, it became used universally, as you say, as a virtue
1:31.4	signalling, and it meant all kinds of things.
1:34.5	The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, DPRK, is what has democracy to do with that?
1:44.0	What is democracy to do with any of these Democratic Republic of Congo and the like?
1:49.8	And how do you define democracy?
1:52.0	Now, if you ask any Western or particularly any American, they'll say it's the ability
1:56.8	to vote in your leaders every two years, three years, four years, five years, whatever.
2:04.2	And the reality is we've seen that that whole system can be manipulated as well.
2:10.4	You could argue that you have to get back to defining the spirit of democracy, which, as the Greek name for it, implies, is about the demos,
2:21.8	the polity of the society making decisions. Now, does that mean that the people at the grassroots
2:31.7	make the decisions and then dictate to the aristocracy or the
2:38.2	leadership, what's going on? Or does it mean, as we started to see in the period of the
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