Podcasts about uss reagan

Mark Weaver, formerly a Spokesman for the U.S. Dept. of Justice joined Westside Jeff in for Chris Krok. The Pentagon orders USS Reagan to stay in the region because of China. Brittney Griner is sentenced, and Equifax is in hot water. Find out here. Support the show: http://www.wbap.com/chris-krok/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JAMES FANELL, retired Intelligence Officer for the Indo-Pacific, US Navy, former National Security Affairs Fellow, Hoover Institute Reports are emerging showing the full extent of the Peoples' Liberation Army Navy's and Air Force's repeated incursions into Taiwan's air defense identification zone - China can attack Taiwan from all sectors Capt. James Fanell: Using the USS Reagan to cover our withdrawal from Afghanistan is militarily laughable Fanell talks about the “fundamental transformation” of the U.S. armed services JOHN ROSSOMANDO, Senior Analyst, Defense Policy at the Center for Security Policy, former Senior Analyst, Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism, former Senior Managing Editor, The Bulletin, @JohnRossomando John Rossomando talks about how the Biden administration is "countering extremism" within the U.S. military DoD ‘extremism' contractor tied to initiative backed by pro-Antifa German Communists TREVOR LOUDON, Creator/Author, The Enemies Within (Documentary and Book), @TrevorLoudon1 What are the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and Institute? Trevor Loudon talks about Chinese influence operations within the U.S. REP. CHRIS STEWART, UT-02, U.S. House of Representatives, Air Force Veteran, Author, Member, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, @RepChrisStewart Rep. Chris Stewart talks about Chinese penetration of U.S. capital markets Why is Eric Swalwell still on the House Intelligence Committee?

Veteran's day episode part 2 the Jiu-Jiterios crew get together with some cool cats and talk military life. Sean share a story about moving bombs that would blow up a football field with a forklift meanwhile Gabers mans the .50 cal on a fckn BATTLESHIP. Crazy good stories here, happy Veterans day!!!

The Jiu-Jiterios get a chance to sit down and chop it up with some military jiu-jiterios and ask some REAL questions. What's the craziest WTF moment? What branch has the best food? Good times, great jokes, and jiu-jitsu talk.

USS Roland Reagan Returned Underway.

ANDY CROWE ● BILL YATES ● NICK WALKER ● CHUCK CASTO NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every two weeks we get together and discuss what matters to you in the fast-paced and often complicated world of project management.  We hear from those in the field who are doing the stuff of project management, meeting challenges head on, recovering from failures, and enjoying the benefits of success. I'm your host, Nick Walker, and with me are our full-time experts, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  And Andy, once again we have in the studio someone who was involved in what really was an international crisis and a delicate and drawn-out response. ANDY CROWE:  We do, Nick.  And the interesting thing about this, we have a lot of project managers that have worked on high-stakes projects.  This one is literally life and death.  And so it redefines my thoughts about what's mission critical.  So it's going to be a good cast today. NICK WALKER:  Well, let's meet him.  Chuck Casto is the president of the Casto Group, with expertise in nuclear safety and regulatory issues.  His experience includes 38 years with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the commercial nuclear power industry, and the U.S. Air Force.  For 11 months Chuck was the director for site operations in Japan during the Fukushima nuclear plant accident.  He participated in a mission to help reestablish that country's regulatory body after the accident, and helped to establish criteria to restart nuclear plants there that were shut down.  In 2012 he received the Distinguished Executive Award from President Obama.  Dr. Casto, it is a privilege to have you with us here on Manage This. CHUCK CASTO:  Good morning, gentlemen.  I'm happy to be here. NICK WALKER:  Well, obviously there is a lot to talk about.  And we'd like to spend some time talking, not only about the Fukushima accident, the recovery, and the lessons learned, but also about taking the lead in crisis situations overall, and how to best respond to different types of disasters, big and small.  So I guess we should start off – take us back to 2011, to that devastating earthquake, the subsequent tsunami, and the resulting nuclear accident. CHUCK CASTO:  Well, Nick, on Friday, March 11th, late in the afternoon in the Sendai area of the eastern coast of Japan, a 9.0 earthquake occurred.  The earthquake was so strong, it actually moved the earth on its axis and could be felt as far away as Antarctica.  It created three to nine large tsunami waves.  We think of a tsunami wave as a wave like at the beach, and you jump through the wave and come out the other side.  But here we're talking about the ocean actually lifting in a tsunami and then moving towards the shoreline.  And the tsunami swept in the coast.  Between the earthquake and the tsunami, about 16,000, just over 16,000 people were swept away or lost in that initial attack on the coastline.  Small villages and towns up and down the Sendai coast were washed away. Obviously, the U.S. military responded with the USS Reagan and along with the Japanese military and others.  If you think about it, your first responders are lost.  All your fire departments, all your police departments along the coast, they're gone.  They're swept away.  They're lost.  So now you have no first responders.  So when you talk about crisis leadership, we always depend on our first responders.  Very few first responders remaining in this case.  So you have to rely on national governments, obviously, in an episode as big as this. NICK WALKER:  So obviously this was international news.  Everybody got the word about this. CHUCK CASTO:  That's right. NICK WALKER:  But tell us then about what happened, and how you really got involved.  How did this get on your radar? CHUCK CASTO:  Well, there are several nuclear plants along that eastern coast, the Sendai region.  The one that we're all familiar with is Fukushima Da...

Encore Presentation of Nuclear Hotseat #272:EXCLUSIVE! USS Reagan vs. TEPCO HearingAttorneys, Sailors + John Edwards On September 1, 2016, Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy attended the US 9th District Court Hearing on USS Reagan Sailors v. Tokyo Electric Power Company.  The sailors were on an humanitarian aid mission to Japan following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake...

On September 1, 2016, Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy attended the US 9th District Court Hearing on USS Reagan Sailors v. Tokyo Electric Power Company. The sailors were on an humanitarian aid mission to Japan following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which caused the Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdowns. TEPCO never informed the US Navy of the dangerous release of radioactivity from the crippled nuclear reactors and as a result, the sailors were exposed to catastrophic levels of radiation. At stake in this hearing: the right for the already ill sailors to have their case heard in U.S. court, not Japan.* (NOTE: The ruling handed own just this week will allow the case to proceed in the United States court system. This program lets you glimpse what it took to get here.)

On September 1, 2016, Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy attended the US 9th District Court Hearing on USS Reagan Sailors v. Tokyo Electric Power Company. The sailors were on an humanitarian aid mission to Japan following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which caused the Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdowns. TEPCO never informed the US Navy of the dangerous release of radioactivity from the crippled nuclear reactors and as a result, the sailors were exposed to catastrophic levels of radiation. At stake in this hearing: the right for the already ill sailors to have their case heard in U.S. court, not Japan.* (NOTE: The ruling handed own just this week will allow the case to proceed in the United States court system. This program lets you glimpse what it took to get here.)

On September 1, 2016, Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy attended the US 9th District Court Hearing on USS Reagan Sailors v. Tokyo Electric Power Company. The sailors were on an humanitarian aid mission to Japan following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which caused the Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdowns. TEPCO never informed the US Navy of the dangerous release of radioactivity from the crippled nuclear reactors and as a result, the sailors were exposed to catastrophic levels of radiation. At stake in this hearing: the right for the already ill sailors to have their case heard in U.S. court, not Japan.* (NOTE: The ruling handed own just this week will allow the case to proceed in the United States court system. This program lets you glimpse what it took to get here.)

Xander Snyder and Jacob Shapiro get down to specifics in what a potential war would look like, and ask each other why the US always seems to fight its wars in the same place. Sign up for free updates on topics like this! Go here: hubs.ly/H06mXwR0 TRANSCRIPT: Jacob L. Shapiro: Hello everyone, welcome again to another Geopolitical Futures podcast. I'm Jacob Shapiro, I'm the director of analysis. Xander Snyder, one of our analysts, is joining me again today to talk this week. Xander, how's it going? Xander Snyder: It's going well Jacob, how are you? JLS: I'm doing alright. We've been very busy at Geopolitical Futures. There's a lot of stuff going on in the world and the first thing we wanted to do was follow up – George joined us on the podcast last week to talk a little bit about certain indications that we're seeing in terms of a potential U.S. strike on North Korea in the coming weeks. The USS Nimitz, which was in port in Washington state, actually left yesterday and is headed for the Western Pacific. There were some reports that the USS Vincent, which is actually currently off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, might be leaving the area, but as of now it doesn't seem like it has left. The USS Vincent and the USS Reagan actually had some joint drills yesterday where they actually lined up next to each other and were doing things. So tensions still remain pretty high on the Korean Peninsula. So we thought we would talk about a study really that Xander led with us here at Geopolitical Futures which looked at what a potential military conflict looks like between North Korea and the United States. Xander, I know a lot people are thinking about missiles and nuclear weapons, but one of the points that your piece made that I found particularly informative was that there's actually a lot of other variables here that if there is a conflict will become much more important. And I think artillery was one of the ones that you focused on most closely. How about you lay out for listeners here why it's so important to think about artillery when we're talking about a potential military conflict between North Korea and the United States. XS: Sure. Well, like you mentioned, a lot of the headlines in the news really focus on ballistic missile development, nuclear warheads, nuclear tests and missile tests, right? That's what has been going on lately that's been receiving the most attention. However, North Korea has a really conventional military, and a lot of this is rounded out by something like 21,000 artillery guns that it has, a combination of tube shell artillery guns which is generally what you think of when you think of artillery guns like big World War II cannons, you know stuff that's actually firing shell. And then they also have another type of artillery device called multiple rocket launchers or MRLs, which is exactly what it sounds like so instead of firing a shell, it fires rockets of different sorts. And this is important because basically since the end of the Korean War, North Korea has been amassing this conventional arsenal and Seoul, one of South Korea's major cities, sits within range of a lot of these weapons that are stationed on the Demilitarized Zone. So the reason this piece focused not entirely on artillery but largely is because North Korea is able to maintain a fairly substantial threat against a major U.S. ally, against South Korea, using normal weapons, not nuclear weapons, not ballistic missiles. JLS: Yeah it's an important point, and it also dictates what a potential U.S. strike is going to look like against North Korea, right? Because it can't just be that the U.S. is going to go in and pinprick certain nuclear sites with whatever big bombs that it has in its arsenal. One of the points you made is that the U.S. is going to have to also devise a strategy for knocking out a lot of this artillery to try and protect Seoul from the inevitable backlash that would come from the North Koreans. XS: Exactly. In the event of a U.S. strike against North Korea's nuclear facilities, essentially two battles begin. The first is the attempt by the United States to eliminate the North's nuclear capabilities while at the same time minimizing the amount of damage that can be done to Seoul and other populous centers in the north of South Korea, mainly with the North's conventional artillery force. So both of these battles will be waged at the same time. Now the U.S. would engage in a first strike because of the nuclear program, because if North Korea were to develop a ruggedized nuclear warhead that could be affixed to a ballistic missile that would be a threat that would be intolerable because even right now some of the North's ballistic missiles could reach U.S. allies, and in time, the threat is they could develop an intercontinental ballistic missile, an ICBM, that could reach the U.S. So, this would be the reason the U.S. would strike, however at the same time, the U.S. would have to find a way to either on its own or cooperating with South Korea essentially neutralize the threat of that artillery as quickly as possible. And the reason that the piece focused so much on artillery was because the North would not need to launch any sort of major ground infantry invasion at the outset of hostilities in order to pose a major threat. The artillery can actually reach quite a long way as it is. JLS: Yeah and I think this actually brings up one of the things – some listeners who are familiar with war and who study war will be more familiar with this but other listeners who are not – the issue of artillery really brings up one of the most important parts of talking about military activities that is often overlooked, which is simple things like logistics. So you spend a lot of time in the piece discussing not just what kind of artillery they have and what the potential moves of the actors are going to be but also where the stockpiles of ammunition are and what that means about North Korea's ability to communicate across its firing lines and to actually make its attacks effective and to protect itself against the types of strikes that the U.S. is going to use to try and take out those artilleries. So can you talk a little bit about also specifically the issue of ammunition and how some of the resources that you found indicated some of what's going to happen if the strike does indeed happen? XS: In the piece, what we tried to show is one potential way or several considerations that can be made that can constrain the conflict to look or to behave in a certain way if it were to actually break out. But as we mentioned in the piece and as anyone familiar with war knows, once it actually begins its very difficult to actually know what can come up so we do our best to understand the constraints in the situation based on the arsenal that North Korea has available to itself, that North Korea has available to it, while understanding that making an exact prediction of these things is actually very difficult when the violence begins. That said, there are certain things that you can attempt to game out. And one of these is recognition that the other side is aware that you are aware of its own weaknesses, right? So one of the things, I know it's kind of like a lot of back and forth and you know what I know that you know what I know, right? It's one of those things. And one of the things that we looked into was the command structure of the North Korean military. And I came across some papers published by the U.S. Army War College talking about how it is essentially a very centralized, probably understandably so, a very centralized military structure – something that borrowed a lot from Soviet military structures during the Cold War. And one of the ways that the Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un maintains control over the military is with a parallel reporting structure so there are military officers but there are also political officers, and he uses this dual reporting structure to assure that no military officer at any given time can acquire too much power to rebel against him or pose any sort of serious threat. So the conclusion that some of these papers have drawn is that, well because it is such a centralized command and control structure that will actually provide for a lack of flexibility in the event of conflict. If the North Korean military actually has to wage a war, if the supreme leader must direct everything himself, well that's a very inflexible structure. So we recognize that conclusion. But we also try to expand on it a little bit because North Korea, they're not dumb right? And I think this is another narrative that gets tossed around out there, it gets picked up on because it is difficult to rationalize a lot of their moves. But a country that's capable of a nuclear weapon and ballistic missiles, they're not stupid, right? They know that the United States has planned for the outbreak of war, and if they have, we've considered their command and control structure. So they're thinking, “Ok well, the U.S. is going to think that we have a fairly flexible command and control structure, so we need to account for that to a degree because if our communications get cut off and we can't actually direct artillery fire in the outbreak of hostilities, we face a serious problem. We can't control the war, and that will decrease our ability to, you know, actually achieve some sort of strategic objective that we would want in this conflict.” So it makes sense then to think that there's actually some system even if it's not publicly available that would allow for devolution or decentralization of command to a degree that would allow unit-level artillery commanders to continue fighting if they lose communication with the centralized command. So that's one indicator that you can look for to get a sense of whether or not this is true. And it's certainly not slam dunk evidence, it's more like a mosaic you are putting together a lot of different pieces to try to corroborate this idea. So one thing we looked at in the study was the prevalence and location of decentralized ammunition stores. And the reason this matters is because supply and logistics is everything in war. If artillery commanders can get ahold of things to shoot, well a gun is not very effective without a bullet, without a shell right? Now it turns out that for decades the North Koreans have been developing hardened artillery sites or HARTs is the cute acronym for it, H-A-R-T. And these are stationed all along the Demilitarized Zone from coast to coast in North Korea, and it's impossible to know the locations of all of these but some of them have been postulated and we put together sort of a representative of like a best guess that we came across for where some of these HART locations can be. And that's an indication that the North Koreans have prepared for a scenario in which if communications get cut with centralized command, there is no need to depend on like the centralized supply depot, so they can continue to fight, these artillery heads can continue to fire and pose a real threat to Seoul on a localized basis. They will still have access to ammo even if they are kind of shut off and by themselves. JLS: One thing that you said in particular that struck me which is that the media picks up on this narrative that North Korea is stupid or that they're crazy, and I think it's a point to be emphasized because the worst mistake that either side can make in a military conflict is to underestimate one's enemy. I think one of the reasons that the Korean War back in the '50s dragged on as long as it did was because the United States actually miscalculated and underestimated a lot of the factors at the beginning of that war, and it probably prolonged a conflict that didn't have to be as long as it was. I think the other thing to point out, which is the flip side of some of what you are saying, is that North Korea suffered a great deal in the Korean War with the United States in the 1950s, and it is terrified of the United States. There is a very real fear on the part of North Korea about what the United States is capable of and what U.S. unpredictability is. That might be strange to hear for a U.S. audience or for an audience that is more Western-oriented, but I think that's also true, and I think it animates a lot of North Korean's actions. But I want to take a step back for a moment and ask you, so Secretary of Defense Mattis gave his first public interview I guess last Sunday now on Face the Nation on CBS, and he got a question about North Korea, and he said two things about North Korea. He said, number one, that North Korea was already a national security threat to the United States, and the other thing he said and this got picked up quite a bit was that the fighting that would happen in North Korea if there was a military conflict there would probably be the worst that many Americans would have seen in most of their lifetimes. So I wonder if you know having really dived deep into the details and thought about all this, how you rate Mattis' statement? Do you think that this really would be some of the most destructive and catastrophic fighting the United States has done in the last 50, 60, 70 years, or do you think that's a little bit of hyperbole? XS: Yes, I think definitely it would represent a very violent conflict. There would be a lot of destruction, a lot of death, and that is in large part because of the capability of the North Korean military to wreak such damage based on the weapons they currently have. I mean, while it is true that a lot of their conventional weapons are outdated, a lot were acquired from the Soviet Union during the Cold War, some are natively built, and there are a few newer weapons systems that we talk about in the piece that have been developed more recently, but ultimately the vast majority of their guns are relatively old, but old guns still shoot. They might have, you know, a slightly higher rate of failure, but that doesn't mean that they can't do a lot of damage. Now, there are some reports saying if the North Koreans start firing on Seoul, they will completely flatten or level the town. And I read some reports that challenge that to a certain degree, but even some of the more conservative papers that said, “Well, maybe they wouldn't flatten Seoul,” had really very high casualty estimates in the first couple of hours in the outbreak of a conflict. One of the estimates was that if North Korea targeted population centers in Seoul with its artillery instead of, say, other military targets at the outbreak of a conflict, something like 30,000-60,000 people could die in a first three hours of a conflict. So, you know, we're talking really high amounts of casualties. I mean something like 58,000 soldiers died in the entire Vietnam War, so that's very violent. So I think the question you want to ask yourself after hearing those numbers is, well, would North Korea actually use its artillery if it would be wreaking such destruction and the potential for a retaliation that it would cause? And I think that the answer has to do with the credibility of deterrent, right? Everyone talks about nuclear deterrent, and it's an important subject to talk about, but right now North Korea also has a conventional deterrent and has had one before it began developing its ballistic missile technology and nuclear technology, which is its conventional artillery deterrent. Now, if it is struck and does not implement an artillery barrage against the South, then it's effectively saying to the world that this deterrent, this conventional deterrent, this threat is not really there. So I think it's quite likely that if attacked, North Korea would feel compelled to retaliate against the South and that it could be quite destructive. JLS: Yeah your point is well taken though, which is that a deterrent is at its most powerful when it's actually deterring. Once a deterrent has had to be triggered, it automatically takes the power out of the hands of the country or the state entity that is doing the deterring and forces it make an offensive move that it doesn't want to make. The whole point of deterrence is to try and prevent it from making that move. I think another thing maybe to also point out is that some of the stuff that you've pointed out here is one of the reasons that at GPF we really don't pay a lot of attention to the political drama and back and forth about THAAD, which is that U.S. anti-missile system that finally is going to get stationed in South Korea. But there's a lot of domestic opposition to it being stationed in South Korea. China really hates that these U.S. anti-missile systems are going to be in South Korea. But the point is that doesn't actually help the South Koreans solve the problem that arises if there is a significant military conflict because as you say the issue here really is artillery, and if you have 21,000 pieces of artillery or whatever you said it was, the THAAD missile defense system is not going to be able to block those things, right? There's really nothing that South Korea can do if it gets that far. XS: No, I mean at that point all they can really do is hope that the U.S. can – well it would be the U.S. and South Korea. I mean, I don't want to make this sound like the U.S. would be doing all the fighting, right? If the North opens on the South, the south also has artillery pieces and as soon as a large gun fire it exposes its position, right? I mean right now, they're hidden to a certain extent. Some of these HARTs that I talked about are deep underground caves or tunnels, fortified positions where pieces of artillery, sometimes even planes, are hidden to protect against the barrage. But as soon as their position is exposed, the South has artillery too and can respond in kind. But it will take a lot more time to eliminate all of the artillery pieces with a counter barrage than it would with say a strategic bombing campaign. And there, the U.S. would probably be taking charge with a lot of its strategic bombers located at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. JLS: No but that's a good point, and it's good that you brought up Andersen Air Force Base in Guam because I think that this is another part that is not well recognized, because the United States wants its aircraft carriers there because that sort of became a U.S. military doctrine when it comes to fighting war but actually a lot of the heavy lifting that's going to happen on the U.S. side is going to happen out of Guam. That's one of the places that we're watching most closely, right? XS: Yeah absolutely, it would come from either B-52s or B-2s or B-1s, all of which are heavy strategic bombers, one of which is stealth, B-2 is stealth. Some folks believe that the B-2 bomber would be able to take out a lot of these artillery positions while at the same time avoiding North Korea's anti-air defenses. And in theory that's true, it's difficult to really play out again just because war is unpredictable. JLS: Yeah. And just taking a step back for a second from the very tactical perspective that you've offered here about North Korea, it's also very telling to think if we just look at everything that we've actually written this week at GPF and to see how it all fits into a larger picture. Obviously, we had, you know, your deep study of this issue in North Korea. We had one or two other pieces that dealt with North Korea. We had a couple other pieces that dealt with the problem of ISIS. And some of the comments that Secretary Mattis made about how the U.S. is accelerating its strategy against ISIS. Then we also wrote about NATO this week in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump going to Brussels and meeting with NATO leaders. And these are all actually very connected to each other. You know, the major military conflicts that the U.S. seems to be involved in right now are this fight against the Islamic state in Syria and Iraq and dealing with the potential threat of a nuclear North Korea. I don't mean to minimize those conflicts. But they are not sort of on the level of challenging the United States from an existential perspective, right? Like it is a national security interest that North Korea not develop a nuclear weapon, but the future existence of the United States is not in play there. The same is true of ISIS. The United States doesn't want a radical Sunni Arab entity to rise in the Middle East and throw off the balance of power there, but at the same time, what happens in the Middle East or what happens with these horrible terrorist attacks doesn't actually challenge the U.S. from an existential point of view. And then you have the U.S. also going to NATO, and a lot of people have, you know, been talking about Trump's manners at NATO and I don't really feel like getting into that. I'll just point out that Secretary Mattis has been for NATO from the beginning, and Donald Trump picked him as secretary anyway. And Mattis himself has been a NATO officer so you can see the U.S. trying to find the right balance of what conflicts is it going to engage in, what is it not going to engage in, what alliances is it going to use, what alliances is it not going to use. And I think that one of the things that is striking to me in particular about North Korea is that, you know, unlike with ISIS where at least it has built some kind of nominal, even superficial coalition to deal with ISIS, the U.S. really is the one pushing this issue with North Korea and is going to be providing a lot of the impetus for it. They've been pushing China to do something on this issue, but China so far hasn't really been able to get North Korea to calm down and seems to be just repeating itself over and over again. The South Koreans have elected a government that is a little more peace oriented when it comes to North Korea. Obviously, if there is a fight, they are going to have to be involved. And Japan, which we sort of see as really the main player in East Asia, hasn't really had much to say. So in some sense I think from the United States' perspective, it's got to be a little bit…, on the one hand it shows how powerful the U.S. is, but on the other hand it shows how limited that power is because the U.S. can't really depend on anyone when it's dealing with the situation in North Korea. XS: I think you make a great point, and it is challenging when investigating one part of the world or any one aspect of the world to get caught up in the details, which to some degree matter, right? Because details reveal truth about a matter, which are difficult to see from a high level. We talk about geopolitics and ultimately that is events in the world and how they impact one another. It's impossible to look at one part of the world without recognizing how events in other parts of the world are related to it, especially when talking about the United States, which as the sole global superpower right now has interest everywhere. So, therefore, what goes on in one part of the world, in the Middle East, impacts the amount and types of resources that it can devote towards approaching other challenges in other parts of the world. So the amount of military resources that it commits to the Middle East impacts the amount of military resources that it can commit to conflict in the Western Pacific. So, you know, I've had people approach me with everything that's going on now with the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East, and they've said, “So do you still think that the U.S. is going to be the major power in the rest of the century looking at what's going on now?” And the only answer I can really give them is yeah. I mean, the U.S. is immensely powerful economically and militarily, and like you said, none of the challenges that it's facing that we've talked about in this podcast, that we talk about at Geopolitical Futures really threaten it from an existential perspective. I mean, even if you want to imagine this hypothetical scenario where tomorrow North Korea develops the capability to deliver all of its nuclear warheads, which I've heard estimates about 20 – well not nuclear warheads that it can attach to a missile but nuclear devices – if it could tomorrow find a way to deliver all of these somehow to the U.S., that still wouldn't be an existential threat. I mean if they could wipe out portions of 20 different cities, it would be devastating, but the U.S. would still be around and still have the strongest military by far. So there are threats, but it's important to, when digging into the details of the challenges U.S. is attempting to deal with either with economic or military strength, keep them in the context of how much damage they can actually do to the U.S., right? And whether the scale of those challenges really confront – well if they really pose the existential risks in the way that a lot of people often talk about them doing. JLS: Well Xander, I want to ask you one more question before we wrap up, and it's a little bit of a curve ball, and it's something I've been thinking about. And actually I haven't asked you this before, and I haven't actually come to it in my mind so we'll see if it works or it similarly stumps you. There was something that George actually has said to me a couple times since the time that I've known him, and it's – I forget the exact quote, but it's something like the great wars are always fought twice. You know, like World War I, there was a World War II. Like the really important wars in the world are always fought twice. And when we think about the current conflicts that the United States is involved with right now, I mean we're basically on the third iteration of the Iraq War, right? Because we had Desert Storm and then we had the invasion in 2003, and then technically all U.S. troops were out of there under the Obama administration, and then Obama had to recommit them because of what was happening with ISIS and ISIS going into Mosul and dealing with Yazidis and stuff like that. And with Korea, obviously the United States fought the Korean War in the 1950s and that was part of the Cold War. But it has really struck me that when we look at the places that the United States is committing most of its military resources right now, they are old conflicts. They're vestigial conflicts. They were there before and maybe sort of weren't carried out in a way that brought them to some kind of resolution. Maybe they can't be carried out in a certain way that can bring them to some kind of resolution, and these will be constant little conflicts that the United States will have to be going through all the time. I guess I don't necessarily have a question there, but I wonder if there's anything in your analytical toolkit that can help explain why the U.S. seems to go back to fighting not just a lot but in the same places in the world over and over again. XS: It's an interesting question. I think if you look at conflicts isolated as individual events, it's maybe harder to see that connection, but if you try to dig down to understand the causes of those conflicts, sometimes the underlying causes are more difficult to solve, right? What do I mean by that? If you look at World War I and World War II, they were both about the same fundamental issue, which was Germany's role in Europe and that had always been a question. I mean, even the Thirty Years' War to a degree was about German states' role in Europe, and it only really became a pressing issue after the unification of Germany, and that's what lead to the massive scale of these conflicts. So while the circumstances might have changed with Korea – you know, the Cold War is no longer going on, they no longer have support from the Soviet Union – there are some aspects that remained unchanged. And those remain longer-term geopolitical causes, right? So, Korea has always been unified. Almost always throughout its history for thousands of years, and it became divided as a result of the Cold War, and we're now dealing with the underlying causes – the relationship of Korea with itself and that's not something that has changed on some level since the Korean War. So I think there are ways to dig down beneath isolated events and try to see what those causes are. That doesn't mean that major wars will always be fought twice, but I think that sheds some light on why they sometimes are. JLS: Yeah and it just strikes me that one of the ironic things is that, so if we take what you said and play it a step forward, the issue in Korea is that there is a division there that is somewhat unnatural when you think about history and the Korean Peninsula overall. In the Middle East, it's sort of the opposite, right? The unnatural thing is trying to join together states that never actually existed. So on the one hand, in Korea, you have this really arbitrary separation that has now taken root over half a century and creates its own host of dynamics. In the Middle East, because of colonialism, because of the way that the Ottoman Empire fell apart, you had these groups that were smushed together in way that perhaps didn't make geopolitical sense, and now all of that stuff is playing out. So that's just an interesting little aside. But Xander thank you for taking the time to join us on the podcast today. Again, I'm Jacob Shapiro, I'm our director of analysis. If you have any comments, feedback, critiques, we also love topic suggestions, you could actually write to us at comments@geopoliticalfutures.com. And we will see you all out here next week.

Dr. Alex Rosen of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), uses that group’s footnoted, documented, peer-reviewed and fully vetted report to contradict the lies in the United Nations’ UNSCEAR report that seeks to minimize Fukushima radiation dangers. Then epidemiologist Joseph Mangano of Radiation and Public Health Project provides another damning response to the UNSCEAR report on Fukushima and the negative impact it is likely to have on the case of the USS Reagan sailors, who were hit with high levels of radiation while on an humanitarian aid mission to Fukushima immediately after the nuclear disaster began.

Dr. Alex Rosen of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), uses that group’s footnoted, documented, peer-reviewed and fully vetted report to contradict the lies in the United Nations’ UNSCEAR report that seeks to minimize Fukushima radiation dangers. Then epidemiologist Joseph Mangano of Radiation and Public Health Project provides another damning response to the UNSCEAR report on Fukushima and the negative impact it is likely to have on the case of the USS Reagan sailors, who were hit with high levels of radiation while on an humanitarian aid mission to Fukushima immediately after the nuclear disaster began.

Dr. Alex Rosen of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), uses that group's footnoted, documented, peer-reviewed and fully vetted report to contradict the lies in the United Nations' UNSCEAR report that seeks to minimize Fukushima radiation dangers. Then epidemiologist Joseph Mangano of Radiation and Public Health Project provides another damning response to the UNSCEAR report on Fukushima and the negative impact it is likely to have on the case of the USS Reagan sailors, who were hit with high levels of radiation while on an humanitarian aid mission to Fukushima immediately after the nuclear disaster began.

This Week’s EXCLUSIVE Interviews: Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy attended the US 9th District Court Hearing on USS Reagan Sailors v. Tokyo Electric Power Company.  The sailors were on an humanitarian aid mission to Japan following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which caused the Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdowns.  TEPCO never informed the US Navy...

Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy attended the US 9th District Court Hearing on USS Reagan Sailors v. Tokyo Electric Power Company. The sailors were on an humanitarian aid mission to Japan following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which caused the Fukushima Daiichi triple reactor meltdowns. TEPCO never informed the US Navy of the dangerous release of radioactivity from the crippled nuclear reactors. As a result, the sailors were exposed to catastrophic levels of radiation. Seven have died and the rest continue to suffer the consequences to their health and genetic future.

Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy attended the US 9th District Court Hearing on USS Reagan Sailors v. Tokyo Electric Power Company. The sailors were on an humanitarian aid mission to Japan following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which caused the Fukushima Daiichi triple reactor meltdowns. TEPCO never informed the US Navy of the dangerous release of radioactivity from the crippled nuclear reactors. As a result, the sailors were exposed to catastrophic levels of radiation. Seven have died and the rest continue to suffer the consequences to their health and genetic future.

Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy attended the US 9th District Court Hearing on USS Reagan Sailors v. Tokyo Electric Power Company. The sailors were on an humanitarian aid mission to Japan following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which caused the Fukushima Daiichi triple reactor meltdowns. TEPCO never informed the US Navy of the dangerous release of radioactivity from the crippled nuclear reactors. As a result, the sailors were exposed to catastrophic levels of radiation. Seven have died and the rest continue to suffer the consequences to their health and genetic future.

Tracking the source of WA's radiation spikes - Hanford or CGS reactor? Radcast's Mimi German breaks it down. Former Japanese PM Koizumi meets w/USS Reagan irradiated sailors, cries. Obama goes to Hiroshima while TEPCO stops work at Fukushima "out of a sense of caution" for G-7 leaders. No such luck for their own people. http://ow.ly/1XLw300yvpi

Tracking the source of WA's radiation spikes - Hanford or CGS reactor? Radcast's Mimi German breaks it down. Former Japanese PM Koizumi meets w/USS Reagan irradiated sailors, cries. Obama goes to Hiroshima while TEPCO stops work at Fukushima "out of a sense of caution" for G-7 leaders. No such luck for their own people. http://ow.ly/1XLw300yvpi

Tracking the source of WA's radiation spikes - Hanford or CGS reactor? Radcast's Mimi German breaks it down. Former Japanese PM Koizumi meets w/USS Reagan irradiated sailors, cries. Obama goes to Hiroshima while TEPCO stops work at Fukushima "out of a sense of caution" for G-7 leaders. No such luck for their own people. http://ow.ly/1XLw300yvpi

Guest:  Bill Katz, the editor of Urgent Agenda..........we will look at the CNBC GOP debate and the moderators......Russian jets fly very close to the USS Reagan...Russian jets in Syris.......there are reports of US troops moving closer to Syria and Iraq.............US-China tensions continue over the islands..........Iran warships in the Atlantic....Iranian American arrested in Iran..........bad economic news for the 3rd quarter GDP......and other stories.... Click to support some of our friends.... ...CLICK AUDIBLE.COM, YOUR SOURCE FOR AUDIO BOOKS! CHECK OUT MY FRIEND CARLOS GUEDES AND HIS MUSIC........ FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER......

Guest:  Barry Jacobsen, military historian and blogger, joins us for a look at national security this week...........Russian jets get very close to the USS Reagan, a very provocative act to say the least...........there is talk that the US is preparing to send troops back to Iraq.......Russian military action continues in Syria.........Iran sends warships into the Atlantic ocean..........another Iranian-Amerian is arrested in Iran........US-China tensions over the islands in the China Sea............ Click to support some of our friends.... ...CLICK AUDIBLE.COM, YOUR SOURCE FOR AUDIO BOOKS! CHECK OUT MY FRIEND CARLOS GUEDES AND HIS MUSIC........ FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER......

Interviews: Mr. Masahiko Goto, representing the Yokusuka-based anti-nuclear group, Coalition Concerning Homeporting of the Nuclear Powered Carrier Vessel, on activist opposition to the return of the USS Reagan to Japan; Carol Jahnkow, Director Emerita of Peace Resource Center of San Diego, on safety problems she learned about USS Reagan when it was homeported in San...

INTERVIEWS: Mr. Masahiko Goto, representing the Yokusuka-based anti-nuclear group, Coalition Concerning Homeporting of the Nuclear Powered Carrier Vessel, on activist opposition to the return of the USS Reagan to Japan; and Carol Jahnkow., Director Emerita of Peace Resource Center of San Diego, on problems she learned about with the Reagan when it was homeported in San Diego after it returned from Fukushima. FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT: Marcus Schwenzel, director, writer and producer of "Seven Years of Winter," a short dramatic film shot in the exclusion zone at Chernobyl that has just won the Yellow Oscar for Best Film at the Int'l Uranium Film Festival. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Japan's PM Shinzo Abe claims "safety!" on Japan's second restart of a nuclear reactor, in Sendai, when there's an active volcano 31 miles away, the country's in the earthquake-prone Ring of Fire, it's a typhoon zone and a tsunami zone -- but hey, can't go all fascistic and militaristic w/o nukes, ya know? PLUS: Third Fukushima meltdown confirmed; cesium 134 found in water supply in Tokyo and nine other Japanese cities; drums of radwaste "bulged and hissing" at Y-12 in Oak Ridge, TN; and the largest NRC DUCK! and Cover report ever! Mercury sure is retrograde!

INTERVIEWS: Mr. Masahiko Goto, representing the Yokusuka-based anti-nuclear group, Coalition Concerning Homeporting of the Nuclear Powered Carrier Vessel, on activist opposition to the return of the USS Reagan to Japan; and Carol Jahnkow., Director Emerita of Peace Resource Center of San Diego, on problems she learned about with the Reagan when it was homeported in San Diego after it returned from Fukushima. FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT: Marcus Schwenzel, director, writer and producer of "Seven Years of Winter," a short dramatic film shot in the exclusion zone at Chernobyl that has just won the Yellow Oscar for Best Film at the Int'l Uranium Film Festival. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Japan's PM Shinzo Abe claims "safety!" on Japan's second restart of a nuclear reactor, in Sendai, when there's an active volcano 31 miles away, the country's in the earthquake-prone Ring of Fire, it's a typhoon zone and a tsunami zone -- but hey, can't go all fascistic and militaristic w/o nukes, ya know? PLUS: Third Fukushima meltdown confirmed; cesium 134 found in water supply in Tokyo and nine other Japanese cities; drums of radwaste "bulged and hissing" at Y-12 in Oak Ridge, TN; and the largest NRC DUCK! and Cover report ever! Mercury sure is retrograde!

Interviews: Author Kristen Iversen on her book, Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats; and the US government program for compensating atomic industry workers whose health was damaged by their jobs - IMPORTANT PRECEDENT FOR CURRENT CASES AT WIPP, USS REAGAN, HANFORD, MORE! Plus: Tweet the Pope to come out against nukes as part of climate change encyclical and in support of Sister Megan Rice; Two worker deaths in a single day at Fukushima Daiichi; sea animals dying in Tokyo aquarium, Hawaii, Pacific west coast; and if you eat Fukushima rice, YOU are the Numnutz of the Week!

Interviews: Author Kristen Iversen on her book, Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats; and the US government program for compensating atomic industry workers whose health was damaged by their jobs - IMPORTANT PRECEDENT FOR CURRENT CASES AT WIPP, USS REAGAN, HANFORD, MORE! Plus: Tweet the Pope to come out against nukes as part of climate change encyclical and in support of Sister Megan Rice; Two worker deaths in a single day at Fukushima Daiichi; sea animals dying in Tokyo aquarium, Hawaii, Pacific west coast; and if you eat Fukushima rice, YOU are the Numnutz of the Week!

INTERVIEW: Dr. Chris Busby on internal/external radiation doses, similarities between UK nuke veteran cases and USS Reagan lawsuit, strategies and languaging for activists. NUMNUTZ OF TH WEEK: Nuke and Frack dance the Fuel Cycle Tango and show how closely they're aligned. PLUS: Former WHO director blasts United Nations' UNSCEAR report as "unscientific;" Exelon on verge of shutting down three nuke sites in Illinois; Soaring tachyarrhythmia rates (abnormally rapid heartbeat) rates at Sendai hospital in Fukushima Prefecture now highest in Japan.

INTERVIEW: Dr. Chris Busby on internal/external radiation doses, similarities between UK nuke veteran cases and USS Reagan lawsuit, strategies and languaging for activists. NUMNUTZ OF TH WEEK: Nuke and Frack dance the Fuel Cycle Tango and show how closely they're aligned. PLUS: Former WHO director blasts United Nations' UNSCEAR report as "unscientific;" Exelon on verge of shutting down three nuke sites in Illinois; Soaring tachyarrhythmia rates (abnormally rapid heartbeat) rates at Sendai hospital in Fukushima Prefecture now highest in Japan.

BREAKING: Second death in the USS Reagan/Operation Tomadachi case.  Exclusive interview w/Charles Bonner, attorney for the sailors in the $1 Billion lawsuit against TEPCO, General Electric, EBASCO, Toshiba and Hitachi. INTERVIEWS: Don Hancock, Executive Director of Southwest Research and Information Center, again updates us on the most recent radiation release at the Waste Isolation Pilot...

BREAKING: Second death in the USS Reagan/Operation Tomadachi case. Exclusive interview w/Charles Bonner, attorney for the sailors in the $1 Billion lawsuit against TEPCO, General Electric, EBASCO, Toshiba and Hitachi. INTERVIEWS: Don Hancock, Executive Director of Southwest Research and Information Center, again updates us on the most recent radiation release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP site, in Carlsbad, NM. Gail Snyder, Board President of Chicago-based Nuclear Energy Information Service, provides the most recent information and analysis of the uranium hexafluoride leak at Honeywell's Metropolis, IL facility. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: US House of Representatives, by voice vote led by Georgia's Rep. Paul Broun, passes bill to authorize Dept. of Energy (DOE) to do research on "WHETHER" low-dose ionizing radiation poses a risk. How is this even a question?!?!? Even worse, it appears to be a set-up to gut BEIR VII (Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation), the proof of the risk, as creating an "unnecessary economic burdens" that are "detrimental to the health of Americans." Through the looking glass, Alice!

BREAKING: Second death in the USS Reagan/Operation Tomadachi case. Exclusive interview w/Charles Bonner, attorney for the sailors in the $1 Billion lawsuit against TEPCO, General Electric, EBASCO, Toshiba and Hitachi. INTERVIEWS: Don Hancock, Executive Director of Southwest Research and Information Center, again updates us on the most recent radiation release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP site, in Carlsbad, NM. Gail Snyder, Board President of Chicago-based Nuclear Energy Information Service, provides the most recent information and analysis of the uranium hexafluoride leak at Honeywell's Metropolis, IL facility. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: US House of Representatives, by voice vote led by Georgia's Rep. Paul Broun, passes bill to authorize Dept. of Energy (DOE) to do research on "WHETHER" low-dose ionizing radiation poses a risk. How is this even a question?!?!? Even worse, it appears to be a set-up to gut BEIR VII (Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation), the proof of the risk, as creating an "unnecessary economic burdens" that are "detrimental to the health of Americans." Through the looking glass, Alice!

INTERVIEW: Attorneys for the USS Reagan sailors hit by Fukushima radiation won big in court last week: Judge Janis Sammartino ruled that the $1 billion lawsuit against TEPCO for health damages and medical treatment CAN not only move forward, it adds as defendants General Electric, EBASCO, Toshiba and Hitachi – the companies that designed and...

INTERVIEW: Attorneys for the USS Reagan sailors, who are suing TEPCO to create a $1 Billion fund to help cover their medical costs, win big in preliminary hearing as judge decides they can not only proceed against TEPCO, but allows the addition of four corporations that designed and built Fukushima Daiichi. Hear from Charles Bonner and Paul Garner on the background of the case, the series of hearings, how they got the news -- and what this will mean to the sailors.

INTERVIEW: Attorneys for the USS Reagan sailors, who are suing TEPCO to create a $1 Billion fund to help cover their medical costs, win big in preliminary hearing as judge decides they can not only proceed against TEPCO, but allows the addition of four corporations that designed and built Fukushima Daiichi. Hear from Charles Bonner and Paul Garner on the background of the case, the series of hearings, how they got the news -- and what this will mean to the sailors.

INTERVIEWS:  Two views across the Pacific on homeporting issues for the USS Ronald Reagan, which sailed into the worst of the Fukushima Daiichi radiation plume beginning the day after the earthquake and tsunami set off the nuclear disaster.  Is the ship still radioactive?  What happened to the debris from the purported “clean-up?”  And why would...

INTERVIEWS: Two looks across the Pacific at the fate of the USS Ronald Reagan after being hit with the heaviest of Fukushima's radiation: Mr. Masahiko Gotu on legal actions to prevent the US and Japanese government's plans to home port the Reagan in Yokusuka; and southern California veteran activist Carol Jahnkow with the background on the history of nuclear ships in San Diego, where the Reagan is currently docked, and the dangers posed by our atomic fleet. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Did the Japanese government actually think the cities currently storing contaminated waste would be willing to extend their commitment past the originally promised three years??? PLUS: Typhoon Vongfong threatens Fukushima Daiichi with record rain, storm surges and possible tornadoes as last week's Typhoon Phanfone caused radiation surges of up to 10 times previous records; California's "top energy cop" Michael Peevey resigns from Public Utilities Commission... but not before he still gets a chance to swing San Onofre decision in favor of a Southern California Edison bailout; new languaging "spin speak" from the nuke industry outed by Beyond Nuclear; and Ralph Nader taps Michael Mariotte of NIRS for a Lifetime Achievement Award. Mazel tov, Michael!

INTERVIEWS: Two looks across the Pacific at the fate of the USS Ronald Reagan after being hit with the heaviest of Fukushima's radiation: Mr. Masahiko Gotu on legal actions to prevent the US and Japanese government's plans to home port the Reagan in Yokusuka; and southern California veteran activist Carol Jahnkow with the background on the history of nuclear ships in San Diego, where the Reagan is currently docked, and the dangers posed by our atomic fleet. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Did the Japanese government actually think the cities currently storing contaminated waste would be willing to extend their commitment past the originally promised three years??? PLUS: Typhoon Vongfong threatens Fukushima Daiichi with record rain, storm surges and possible tornadoes as last week's Typhoon Phanfone caused radiation surges of up to 10 times previous records; California's "top energy cop" Michael Peevey resigns from Public Utilities Commission... but not before he still gets a chance to swing San Onofre decision in favor of a Southern California Edison bailout; new languaging "spin speak" from the nuke industry outed by Beyond Nuclear; and Ralph Nader taps Michael Mariotte of NIRS for a Lifetime Achievement Award. Mazel tov, Michael!

 JON STEWART TWEET-OF-THE-WEEK: Avoid rice in Singapore, Jon; it’s imported f/Fukushima! Now enriched w/99 Bq cesium per kilogram! #NuclearHotseat #newCNNshows #nonukes — Libbe HaLevy (@NuclearHotseat) August 27, 2014 EPISODE #166 – LISTEN HERE: TO DOWNLOAD, CLICK HERE EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL REPORT:  The USS Reagan v. TEPCO Hearing Nuclear Hotseat’s exclusive coverage of this week’s hearing in...

SPECIAL REPORT: San Diego Federal Court hearing in the $1 billion lawsuit by the sailors of the USS Reagan vs. Tokyo Electric Power Company based on their exposure to lethal levels of radiation following the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Interviews with attorneys Charles Bonner and Paul Garner, USS Reagan sailor Steve Simmons, and his wife, Summer Simmons. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Does the nuclear industry actually pay its trolls to remove Dr. Ian Fairlie's article from academic databases? It seems that it does... PLUS: 6 months after WIPP Valentine's Day accident, EPA, admits to mistakes in air monitoring for radiation; NRC admits hackers succeeded in breaking into security at US nuclear power plants -- twice; Japan admits that multiple fuel cores ejected from Fukushima reactors, releasing inhalable radioactive dust particles; TEPCO official wept in Prime Minister Kan's officen about Fukushima being "beyond our control"... but no one told the US Navy so it could keep USS Reagan sailors safe.

SPECIAL REPORT: San Diego Federal Court hearing in the $1 billion lawsuit by the sailors of the USS Reagan vs. Tokyo Electric Power Company based on their exposure to lethal levels of radiation following the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Interviews with attorneys Charles Bonner and Paul Garner, USS Reagan sailor Steve Simmons, and his wife, Summer Simmons. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Does the nuclear industry actually pay its trolls to remove Dr. Ian Fairlie's article from academic databases? It seems that it does... PLUS: 6 months after WIPP Valentine's Day accident, EPA, admits to mistakes in air monitoring for radiation; NRC admits hackers succeeded in breaking into security at US nuclear power plants -- twice; Japan admits that multiple fuel cores ejected from Fukushima reactors, releasing inhalable radioactive dust particles; TEPCO official wept in Prime Minister Kan's officen about Fukushima being "beyond our control"... but no one told the US Navy so it could keep USS Reagan sailors safe.

INTERVIEWS: Dr. Catherine Thomasson, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility - Hiroshima Day interview on the current state of nuclear weapons and the dangers they still represent; and award-winning journalist Karl Grossman on recent developments in solar space propulsion technology that gives lie to the nuclear industry's claims that only nukes can power inter-planetary exploration. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: C'mon down to Oak Ridge, y'all! PLUS: Government confirms 1,750 USS Reagan sailors to date have unusual health developments; WIPP plant gets new monitors in anticipation of possible additional radiation leaks; too much radiation to comprehend in Japan; and a new report by Joe Mangano and Dr. Janette Sherman confirms that radiation illnesses spiked after Fukushima. We all knew it; they just had to prove it, and they did.

INTERVIEWS: Dr. Catherine Thomasson, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility - Hiroshima Day interview on the current state of nuclear weapons and the dangers they still represent; and award-winning journalist Karl Grossman on recent developments in solar space propulsion technology that gives lie to the nuclear industry's claims that only nukes can power inter-planetary exploration. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: C'mon down to Oak Ridge, y'all! PLUS: Government confirms 1,750 USS Reagan sailors to date have unusual health developments; WIPP plant gets new monitors in anticipation of possible additional radiation leaks; too much radiation to comprehend in Japan; and a new report by Joe Mangano and Dr. Janette Sherman confirms that radiation illnesses spiked after Fukushima. We all knew it; they just had to prove it, and they did.

 Abe Road?   INTERVIEWS: The United States military just issued a Congressionally-mandated report that says, in effect, that Fukushima’s radiation could not possibly be responsible for the catastrophic illnesses being experienced by the sailors from the USS Ronald Reagan, despite all appearances and common sense to the contrary.  So two genuine experts take on that...

USS Reagan sailor Steve Simmons and his wife, Summer INTERVIEW: Steve Simmons, a 17-year Navy veteran who served on the USS Ronald Reagan when it was called to do humanitarian aid work in Japan following the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, which began the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He is one of 112...

INTERVIEW: Laura and Giichi Inoue, who run Komoro Homestay, a safe retreat from radiation for Fukushima mothers and small children. BREAKING: First death recorded from USS Reagan sailors. PLUS: NRC needs to "duck and cover" as Sen. Boxer demands accountability and Sen. Markey blows the lid off NRC reprisals against employees who stand up for safety; Vermont Yankee critics use laugh track on NRC and Entergy spokesmodels; radioactive groundwater spikes under Indian Point NPP; TEPCO admits it hasn't a clue what's happening with the melted core or the water leaks at Fukushima; Japan forgets to report on its hidden stash of 80-bombs-worth of weapons grade plutonium; and Canada has the gall to produce report saying that while the rest of the world's radioactive materials may produce cancer, their s**t don't stink and their radiation won't hurt you... unless... well sometimes... but not often... really (said Pinnochio as his nose grew longer...).

INTERVIEW: Laura and Giichi Inoue, who run Komoro Homestay, a safe retreat from radiation for Fukushima mothers and small children. BREAKING: First death recorded from USS Reagan sailors. PLUS: NRC needs to "duck and cover" as Sen. Boxer demands accountability and Sen. Markey blows the lid off NRC reprisals against employees who stand up for safety; Vermont Yankee critics use laugh track on NRC and Entergy spokesmodels; radioactive groundwater spikes under Indian Point NPP; TEPCO admits it hasn't a clue what's happening with the melted core or the water leaks at Fukushima; Japan forgets to report on its hidden stash of 80-bombs-worth of weapons grade plutonium; and Canada has the gall to produce report saying that while the rest of the world's radioactive materials may produce cancer, their s**t don't stink and their radiation won't hurt you... unless... well sometimes... but not often... really (said Pinnochio as his nose grew longer...).

INTERVIEWS: Don Hancock of Southwest Research and Information Center again gives us the straight facts about the WIPP problems, including his interpretation of why the "Kitty Litter" solution may not be so; Ray Lutz of Citizen's Oversight Project (COP) tears the CPUC's "untouchable!" corporate bailout of SCE over San Onofre to shreds. PLUS: NRC takes its sweet time about setting earthquake hazard analyses in 21 nuke facilities; Fukushima Prefecture goes nuts over Manga comic that tells the truth about nosebleeds, fatigue through its characters; Worker sues TEPCO for radiation exposure, cites USS Reagan sailors; N America's Fukushima fallout exposure estimate at 400 TRILLION Bequerels of Cesium-137; and TEPCO frozen sea wall - NOT!

INTERVIEWS: Don Hancock of Southwest Research and Information Center again gives us the straight facts about the WIPP problems, including his interpretation of why the "Kitty Litter" solution may not be so; Ray Lutz of Citizen's Oversight Project (COP) tears the CPUC's "untouchable!" corporate bailout of SCE over San Onofre to shreds. PLUS: NRC takes its sweet time about setting earthquake hazard analyses in 21 nuke facilities; Fukushima Prefecture goes nuts over Manga comic that tells the truth about nosebleeds, fatigue through its characters; Worker sues TEPCO for radiation exposure, cites USS Reagan sailors; N America's Fukushima fallout exposure estimate at 400 TRILLION Bequerels of Cesium-137; and TEPCO frozen sea wall - NOT!

USS Reagan sailors on deck trying to clean up radiation during Operation Tomadachi, their humanitarian aid mission to Fukushima immediately after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.  (Note the lack of protective gear.) INTERVIEW: Attorney Charles Bonner, representing USS Ronald Reagan sailors harmed by Fukushima radiation, with an update on their lawsuit against TEPCO. ...

INTERVIEW: Charles Bonner, attorney for the USS Ronald Reagan sailors, on their lawsuit against TEPCO for radiation exposure after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. PLUS: Eight more children diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Fukushima; TEPCO admits their radiation data is "wildly wrong" as new sources of radiation leaks keep showing up; Tokyo gets Abe-baby's hand-picked pro-nuke misogynist Masuzoe as anti-nuke vote gets split; Hawaii getting hit with radiation; kayakers reporting Fukushima radiation on their boat bottoms; and the pending influx of radioactive Pacific water from Fukushima will leave radwaste residue on west coast beaches.

INTERVIEW: Charles Bonner, attorney for the USS Ronald Reagan sailors, on their lawsuit against TEPCO for radiation exposure after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. PLUS: Eight more children diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Fukushima; TEPCO admits their radiation data is "wildly wrong" as new sources of radiation leaks keep showing up; Tokyo gets Abe-baby's hand-picked pro-nuke misogynist Masuzoe as anti-nuke vote gets split; Hawaii getting hit with radiation; kayakers reporting Fukushima radiation on their boat bottoms; and the pending influx of radioactive Pacific water from Fukushima will leave radwaste residue on west coast beaches.

INTERVIEW: Charles Bonner, attorney for the USS Ronald Reagan sailors, on their lawsuit against TEPCO for radiation exposure after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. PLUS: Eight more children diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Fukushima; TEPCO admits their radiation data is "wildly wrong" as new sources of radiation leaks keep showing up; Tokyo gets Abe-baby's hand-picked pro-nuke misogynist Masuzoe as anti-nuke vote gets split; Hawaii getting hit with radiation; kayakers reporting Fukushima radiation on their boat bottoms; and the pending influx of radioactive Pacific water from Fukushima will leave radwaste residue on west coast beaches.

Interview w/Susan Corbett, Chair of the National Sierra Club Nuclear Issues Activist Team that watchdogs nuclear issues. Learn what's going on to ensure nuclear-industry-intensive South Carolina does NOT turn into the "nuclear waste paid toilet of the South." PLUS: Sen. Boxer KO's NRC over missing San Onofre documents; Congress calls for investigation into radiation contamination of sailors after Fukushima on USS Reagan; Sen. Sanders tries for repeal of Price-Anderson; NHK forbids its broadcasters from mentioning nuclear issues pre-Tokyo mayoral election; Ukrainian protestors threaten nuclear reactors; Hollywood weighs in on nuclear; and a seminar for Fukushima kids on cancer treatment? It's Numnutz!

Interview w/Susan Corbett, Chair of the National Sierra Club Nuclear Issues Activist Team that watchdogs nuclear issues. Learn what's going on to ensure nuclear-industry-intensive South Carolina does NOT turn into the "nuclear waste paid toilet of the South." PLUS: Sen. Boxer KO's NRC over missing San Onofre documents; Congress calls for investigation into radiation contamination of sailors after Fukushima on USS Reagan; Sen. Sanders tries for repeal of Price-Anderson; NHK forbids its broadcasters from mentioning nuclear issues pre-Tokyo mayoral election; Ukrainian protestors threaten nuclear reactors; Hollywood weighs in on nuclear; and a seminar for Fukushima kids on cancer treatment? It's Numnutz!

INTERVIEW: Attorney Charles Bonner, who is representing USS Ronald Reagan sailors nuked by Fukushima radiation during Operation Tomadachi in their lawsuit against TEPCO. PLUS: RadCast w/Mimi German, Japanese citizens rebelling against state secrets act, how Japan ignored Chernobyl in setting safety standards, explosion and fire in Arkansas nuke facility, more demands for radiation testing for food and the ocean, AARP going after Florida "advance fee" law, and who knew Mexico had a National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards?

INTERVIEW: Attorney Charles Bonner, who is representing USS Ronald Reagan sailors nuked by Fukushima radiation during Operation Tomadachi in their lawsuit against TEPCO. PLUS: RadCast w/Mimi German, Japanese citizens rebelling against state secrets act, how Japan ignored Chernobyl in setting safety standards, explosion and fire in Arkansas nuke facility, more demands for radiation testing for food and the ocean, AARP going after Florida "advance fee" law, and who knew Mexico had a National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards?

Mark Talks with Thom Burke of the USS Reagan. More on Michelle Obama on The View. Bonnie Dumanis on the 2012 Mayors race. Tim Graham on the media's comparison of the first ladies.

Rapper 2 Chains writes a song named 201CRiot201D. The latest news on Mitt Romney news. The USS Reagan back in SD. San Onofre power plant update. North Carolina votes no on gay marriage.

Captain Thom Burke talks to Mark from aboard the USS Reagan. Plus the latest GOP reaction after last nights televised debate. Mark spends time on KUSI TV explaining his own reaction to the debate. And don't miss a preview of Obamas speech tonight. Listen now!

Mark has details about a recent shooting in Lakeside. Plus is Obama already in campaign mode? Mike Reagan talks to Mark about the lefts double standard when it comes to rhetoric. Captain Thom Burke from the USS Reagan also joins. Listen now!

Mark catches up on all of last weeks news including the SDSU Mens Basketball victory, bats that were relocated in Torrey Pines, and Jerry Brown State of the State speech. Cap Thom Burke joins to discuss the USS Reagan. Jon Coupal from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association also joins. Listen now!

Medical Marijuana abounds in SD...hear Marks thoughts on the issue. Plus the USS Reagan prepares to ship out. The House votes to repeal ObamaCare, and Sandy Rios from Culture Campaign join to discuss China. Listen now!

B-Roll of Sailors from VRC-30 loading aircraft with supplies bound for USS Reagan (CVN 76) to be delivered to distressed Carnival cruise ship.

A One - Two punch - Larson finishes his last day in the Middle East aboard the Reagan and replays a few CHOICE BEST OF's, this hour including Michele Malkin and Carol Everett. Jet lagged and all, Mark leaves the U.S.S. Regan with the troops supported and thanked properly! MORE NEXT!

A One - Two punch - Larson finishes his last day in the Middle East aboard the Reagan and replays a few CHOICE BEST OF's, this hour including Dr. Meg Meeker and BLAST-OFFs of a few Navy jets! Jet lagged and all, Mark leaves the U.S.S. Regan with the troops supported and thanked properly! Larson LIVE , LOCAL, and SUPPORTING THE TROOPS!

Larson LIVE from the U.S.S. Reagan for his 4th broadcast. Supporting the military, today he talks to Intel Officer Diana Gugielmo/Intelligence Operations - in the "war room", with Jim Kidrick in the "war room"/upcoming Air and Space Museum events, with the Strike Group Commander, Rear Admiral Scott Hebner! That PLUS a home-front anniversary surprise...THANKS TO THE CREW OF THE REAGAN FOR KEEPING FREEDOM ON THE MARCH!

Larson LIVE from the U.S.S. Reagan for his 4th broadcast. Supporting the military, today he talks to the cougars squadron/Exec. Officer/pilot, ship Executive Officer, Ron Ravelo, sailors in the hanger bay -including a GREAT actor/crewman playing a broken leg! That PLUS "CAG" Commander, Carrier Air-wing, Capt. Tom Lalor will join the show as a way to give back to those who keep us safe! More to come....

Day #3 of Mark Larson broadcasting from the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. The crew of the Reagan, the U.S. Navy, and the rest of the military do so much for COUNTRY - it's time to GIVE BACK and show our SUPPORT! Mark talks Pri-fly/control tower, launching planes into Afghanistan, and lets Jim Kidrick on the bridge, at the helm! Also Larson goes to the Chaplain/library- for spiritual focus, and also talks candidly with the crew!

Day #3 of Mark Larson broadcasting from the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. The crew of the Reagan, the U.S. Navy, and the rest of the military do so much for COUNTRY - it's time to GIVE BACK and show our SUPPORT! Mark talks at night on the flight deck and LSO platform, and sees the replenishing of the ship! And Larson talks more with the crew of the Reagan on KCBQ!

The broadcasts continue from the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. Mark talks news, as well as the importance from the hanger-bay, the routine aboard the Reagan, etc. Mark and Jim even find it hard to leave the kitchen. And the last stop for the day - The ship's barber shop! Supporting the troops, what they do, and their families with the Mark Larson Show! Tomorrow it's to the flight deck on KCBQ...

The broadcasts continue from the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. Mark talks news, as well as the importance from the hanger-bay, the routine aboard the Reagan, etc. Mark and Jim even find it hard to leave the kitchen. And the last stop for the day - The ship's barber shop! Supporting the troops, what they do, and their families with the Mark Larson Show!

The first of 6 broadcasts from the USS Ronald Reagan - to raise awareness, support the troops, and bring the message home! Captain Norton, and crewman give amazing stories on today's MARK LARSON SHOW! More next...

The first of 6 broadcasts from the USS Ronald Reagan - to raise awareness, support the troops, and bring the message home! Captain Norton, and crewman give amazing stories on today's MARK LARSON SHOW!