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The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep251: Guests: Captain James Fanell (USN Ret.) and Bradley Thayer. Fanell and Thayer discuss the PLA's "Joint Sword 2024 Alpha" exercises, describing them as an "Anaconda strategy" designed to suffocate Taiwan following President Lai's inauguration. They argue t

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Society & Culture, Arts, News, Books

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Guests: Captain James Fanell (USN Ret.) and Bradley Thayer. Fanell and Thayer discuss the PLA's "Joint Sword 2024 Alpha" exercises, describing them as an "Anaconda strategy" designed to suffocate Taiwan following President Lai's inauguration. They argue that despite these overt threats, Washington remains trapped in a failed "engagement school" mindset, believing the PRC could be democratized through trade. Instead, they assert China has transformed U.S. institutions through elite capture, necessitating a shift to a confrontational strategy.

1939 REUBEN JAMES

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:15.0

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0:24.9

The home of your kind of cozy, Denelm.

0:27.8

The Home of Homes.

0:35.3

This is CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor.

0:40.1

Here's John Batchelor.

0:42.4

Taiwan, threatened by the People's Republic of China, in specific the People's Liberation Army Navy.

0:49.5

The threats are real, and yet there are exercises for the PLA Navy to demonstrate its power.

0:57.2

This is a stark illustration of a new book,

1:02.4

Embracing Communist China, America's Greatest Strategic Failure.

1:06.5

I welcome Captain James Finnell, United States Navy retired,

1:10.4

and his colleague Bradley Thayer,

1:13.0

who published this book, in time for us to reverse our errors, but not much time.

1:18.5

Gentlemen, good evening to you.

1:19.7

Thank you very much.

1:21.2

Jim, I begin with you because these last weeks, there's been expectation that China will demonstrate once again its aggression by, in some fashion,

1:32.8

buzzing or sailing by or dominating Taiwan waters between the mainland and Taiwan or east of Taiwan.

1:42.3

And we're watching that as we speak.

1:45.9

Is this expected these days, and is the expectation teaching us anything?

1:51.5

Good evening to you, Jim.

1:53.3

Good evening, John and Brad.

...

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