S8 Ep518: SHOW SCHEDULE 2-25-2026
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2026
⏱️ 6 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
1900 BAKU
Gordon Chang and Steve Yates discuss Japan deploying missiles near Taiwan and concerns regarding a potential Chinese biological weapons facility discovered in Las Vegas. 1.
Rebecca Grant and Gordon Chang detail the US Navy's massive deployment around Iran to counter Chinese-supported missile threats and prepare for possible sustained offensive strike options. 2.
Charles Burton and Gordon Chang analyze Mark Carney's shift toward Beijing, seeking trade concessions like visa-free access while Canadians harbor resentment over Trump's proposed tariffs and economic policies. 3.
Charles Burton and Gordon Chang debate the dangers of Canada's "strategic partnership" with China, focusing on espionage operations, the potential expulsion from Five Eyes, and theft of aerospace technology. 4.
Simon Constable reports on skyrocketing copper and silver prices alongside the arrest of Lord Mandelson for allegedly passing privileged state information to Jeffrey Epstein. 5.
Simon Constable reports that the UK government faces investigations for allegedly threatening media personalities and smearing critics as pro-Russian, while struggling with housing shortages and high taxes. 6.
Jonathan Adler explains the Supreme Court ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not grant the president unilateral power to impose taxes or tariffs. 7.
Jonathan Adler reports that following the tariff decision, the administration must now use specific statutes with procedural strings, limiting the president's ability to adjust trade penalties on a whim. 8.
Andrea Stricker discusses reports that the Iranian regime used illicit chemicals and pharmaceutical-based agents to debilitate protesters during recent, highly lethal national unrest. 9.
Michael Bernstam describes Europe's liberation from Russian energy, replaced by cheap American and Qatari LNG, leaving Russia with abandoned gas fields and flaring wells. 10.
Bob Zimmerman details a helium flow problem that cancelled the Artemis March launch, while SpaceX continues breaking records for booster reuse and commercial efficiency. 11.
Bob Zimmerman reports that astronomers are using infrared capabilities to identify a supernova's origin and detect the first heliosphere around a distant star, advancing our understanding of stellar deaths. 12.
Craig Unger explores how Trump's licensing model in Panama and elsewhere allowed the Russian mob to wash hundreds of millions through luxury real estate. 13.
Craig Unger reports that the Trump brand served as a status symbol for Russian oligarchs, facilitating money laundering in failed developments while FBI counterintelligence efforts reportedly failed to intervene. 14.
Craig Unger reports that the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow served as a platform for Trump to court Putin and oligarchs, marking a turning point as Russia transitioned into a mafia state. 15.
Craig Unger traces Trump's political ascent back to his 1987 Moscow trip, suggesting Russian connections and talking points have influenced his foreign policy for forty years. 16.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good evening. |
| 0:02.9 | Bob Zimmerman is here to comment on the disappointment at NASA. |
| 0:08.5 | The SLS delayed again, this time not for the hydrogen loading problem. |
| 0:15.2 | It spoiled the last two wet dress rehearsals. |
| 0:19.5 | And something about helium in an upper stage that Bob says is not minor, rolling back the |
| 0:25.4 | stack to the warehouse, the barn, the factory, the manufacturing, the VI, vertical |
| 0:32.8 | VI, I believe. |
| 0:35.8 | But in any event, we're looking at a delay till April, at least. |
| 0:41.3 | This is an ungainly and unsuccessful rocket. Bob tells me it was built by committee of the U.S. |
| 0:50.2 | Congress. In development, two decades. |
| 0:56.1 | There are alternatives |
| 0:58.3 | aplenty, like Falcon Heavy, |
| 1:02.3 | that's starship. |
| 1:04.0 | Others will be coming online. |
| 1:06.5 | Also, this is not a retrievable booster. |
| 1:09.0 | It's a throwaway. |
| 1:09.9 | A billion dollars gone. |
| 1:12.3 | The mission to fly around the moon is a demonstration, not a goal. |
| 1:18.3 | The goal, according to the Trump administration, is to return to the moon by the end of the Trump administration's presidency. |
| 1:28.3 | Unlikely at best, given the delays, |
| 1:33.6 | Jared Isaac, the administrator, the new administrator of NASA, |
| 1:38.1 | in explaining the delay, |
... |
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