The World and Everything in It - October 19, 2021

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

China is sending airplanes into Taiwan’s air space. We’ll talk about what it means and what can be done about it.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also young men aren’t as likely to take the college route anymore. Why not?

Plus The Olasky Interview. Today, reflections on life and death with author John Erickson.

And WORLD commentator Kim Henderson on the danger of political propaganda.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, October 19th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: It’s time for the news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Presidents pay tribute to Colin Powell » Tributes are pouring in for former U.S. general and Secretary of State Colin Powell. He died Monday from COVID-19 complications at the age of 84.

President Biden told reporters …

BIDEN: He rose not only to the highest ranks not only of the military, but also foreign policy and statecraft.

He said Powell “embodied the highest ideals of both warrior and diplomat.”

Former President Barack Obama said “Powell helped a generation of young people set their sights higher.”

And former President George W. Bush said “He was highly respected at home and abroad. And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend.”

It was under President Bush that Powell became the nation’s first black secretary of state. But he drew criticism for his 2003 presentation to the U.N. Security Council in support of the war in Iraq.

POWELL: Every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.

Intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq turned out to be faulty.

Powell was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 but had multiple health conditions that put him at higher risk of severe illness even after vaccination.

Biden admin asks SCOTUS to pause TX heartbeat law » The Biden administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block the pro-life heartbeat law in Texas, while a legal battle plays out in court.

The administration also took the unusual step of telling the justices they could grant the Texas law full review and decide its fate this term.

No court has yet reached a decision on the constitutionality of the law, and the Supreme Court rarely grants such requests.

The law has been in effect since September, aside from a district court-ordered pause that lasted just 48 hours. It bans abortions as soon as a heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks.

The Justice Department asked the high court Monday to lift an order imposed by a federal appeals court that has allowed Texas to continue enforcing the law.

Airstrike hits Tigray capital » Military airstrikes rocked Ethiopia’s war-weary Tigray on Monday. WORLD’s Kritsen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Witnesses said three children died in the first strike just outside the city of Mekelle.

A second strike reportedly wounded seven at a busy market and damaged a nearby hotel. Witnesses there described a chaotic scene as panicked civilians ran from the site of an explosion and black smoke rose from the vicinity of the market.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front accused Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of ordering the attack. If true, the airstrike could mark the return of war to the region after months of peace.

The last military attack on Mekelle happened in June, when 64 civilians died as soldiers prevented medical teams from accessing them.

The Ethiopian government has not addressed the attacks, but it launched a new military offensive against Tigray just days earlier.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Haitians strike in protests following kidnapping of missionaries » The usually chaotic streets of Haiti’s capital were quiet and largely empty Monday as thousands of workers angry about the nation’s lack of security went on strike. Public transportation drivers in Port-au-Prince stayed home, and businesses and schools were closed.

The protest followed news that a violent gang had kidnapped 17 missionaries working with a U.S.-based aid group.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the FBI is working with Hatian authorities to try to secure their release.

PSAKI: The efforts to kidnap people, to seek ransom, are prominent in places like Haiti —not the only place. But they are targeted toward U.S. citizens, people who are presumed to have the funding and ability to pay those ransoms.

The 12 adults and five children abducted are connected with the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries. They disappeared Saturday while on a trip to visit an orphanage. It was the largest reported kidnapping of its kind in recent years.

Haitian police the 400 Mawozo gang is behind the abduction. The gang has a long record of killings, kidnappings and extortion.

Floods, landslides kill at least 28 people in southern India » Flooding and landslides have killed dozens of people in southern India. WORLD’s Leigh Jones has that story.

LEIGH JONES, REPORTER: At least 28 people are dead after ferocious downpours began swelling creeks and rivers last week. The torrents and mudslides have decimated bridges and swept away cars and homes.

And several dams in the southern state of Kerala have neared full capacity.

Officials say more than 9,000 people have taken shelter in over 200 camps across the state.

The country’s disaster response agency and the Indian army have deployed teams in Kerala to help rescue efforts.

The heavy rainfall resulted from a low-pressure area that formed over the southeastern Arabian sea and Kerala. And forecasters warn that a new rain-bearing weather system will blow into the region starting tomorrow.

Heavy rainfall is also expected across several northern and eastern Indian states.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leigh Jones.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: Beijing amps up threats against Taiwan.

Plus, a conversation with children’s book author John Erickson.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 19th day of October, 2021.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

First up: the Chinese threat to Taiwan.

Last year, China removed many rights from Hong Kong. The city had been a territory somewhat independent from the mainland. For example, its judicial system operated separately from that of China’s.

China’s aggressive moves against Hong Kong are not lost on Taiwan. China claims Taiwan is its rightful territory, and China’s been throwing its weight around in Taiwan’s backyard. The Chinese military has been sending more and more war planes into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone.

It’s all an apparent effort to intimidate and send the message that China could seize control of Taiwan if and when it chooses to do so.

REICHARD: But what exactly is Beijing’s motivation in ramping up the intimidation tactics right now? And will China attempt to seize Taiwan anytime soon?

Here to help us answer those questions and others is Dean Cheng. He studies Chinese political and security affairs at The Heritage Foundation. Dean, good morning!

DEAN CHENG, GUEST: Good morning.

REICHARD: Well, as we know, Hong Kong was until recently a semi-independent territory of China. Before that, it was a British colony and was never in any way sovereign.

Now, Taiwan is a little bit different. It has its own military, for example. Could you explain the ownership claims of China and Taiwan, respectively?

CHENG: So, Taiwan physically is about 100 miles off the shores of China. It was taken away from Chinese control after the first Sino-Japanese war in 1895 and became a Japanese colony. At the end of World War II, it reverted back to the control of the Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalists. When the Nationals lost the civil war with the Communists, they fled to Taiwan. So up until, say, the 1990s, they basically thought of themselves—both sides of the strait—thought themselves as one China, the question was just who was in charge. Beginning in the 1990s, however, you started seeing a growing movement on the island, towards independence. The sense was, look, whatever happens on the mainland is the mainland’s business. We want to be our own political entity. And that is basically something that the leadership in Beijing cannot abide by because, to their mind, losing Taiwan to independence would be a sign of their failure, their inability to hold the country together.

REICHARD: And, just very briefly, Dean, what is the U.S. relationship with Taiwan? We sell them arms, but do we consider them to be a sovereign state?

CHENG: Like the Facebook line goes, it's complicated. We do not diplomatically recognize Taiwan. We switched recognitions in 1979, so that we recognize the People's Republic of China with its capital in Beijing, as the government of China. However, we also have the Taiwan Relations Act, a U.S. law—not a treaty—which says that we will provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, and that we want to see a peaceful resolution from the two sides of the Taiwan straits. And that is why there is this big question, what is sometimes termed strategic ambiguity. Would the United States come to the aid of Taiwan if China invaded?

REICHARD: You say that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has many reasons to step up intimidation of Taiwan. Let’s just take them one at a time. The first reason is to send a message to Taiwan. What’s that message?

CHENG: The message to Taiwan is: “Don't even think about declaring independence” and, for that matter, “Come out publicly and say that you will never declare independence.” Now for tying one the Taiwan president. That's a non-starter because her political party, and her electoral success is predicated on the argument that, well, the future isn't quite clear, but the idea of renouncing independence would essentially wipe out her whole reason for political existence.

REICHARD: Okay, you say Xi Jinping has his own very personal reasons for doing this. What are those?

CHENG: Next year, the Chinese Communist Party goes into its 20th party congress. At that time, Xi Jinping needs to get the approval of the Chinese Communist Party's leadership to remain in power. Back in 2017, he got permission in a sense to remain in power and control the Chinese state. But in the PRC, what's much more important is the Chinese Communist Party. If he loses control of Taiwan, if Taiwan is seen as somehow more autonomous under his leadership, that's a non-starter. So he needs to intimidate Taiwan so that he can domestically say to the party leadership, “I am strong, I need to remain in charge and you should support that.”

REICHARD: So ultimately, Dean, is this just saber-rattling, more bark than bite? Or is there a legitimate possibility of China seizing control of Taiwan by force in the near future?

CHENG: The Chinese leadership has always said that it reserves the right to use force in order to bring Taiwan back into the fold. It has passed a variety of laws and made a variety of declarations that basically said that if not enough progress is seen towards reunification, that they will act. So we cannot assume that this is just saber rattling. And between China's recent hypersonic tests, the activities in the South China Sea, the military modernization, the discovery of hundreds of ICBMs in western China, this is a nation whose military is not just modernizing but now actively expanding. And the primary purpose of the PLA—the People's Liberation Army—is to reunify the motherland.

REICHARD: And what is the United States likely to do about all this, if anything?

CHENG: That's a great question. As I said earlier, the whole policy of strategic ambiguity is to leave doubt in Beijing's mind about what might the United States do without guaranteeing a commitment because one of the things that we also are trying to do is to make sure that Taiwan doesn't declare independence. The general U.S. belief is that we probably would intervene. But with cuts in the defense budget coming, with a failure on the part of the Defense Department to prioritize China as its main concern—apparently climate change is much more important to defense secretary Austin than China—it's not clear how well we are going to be able to deter the Chinese.

REICHARD: Dean Cheng with the Heritage Foundation has been our guest. Dean, thanks so much!

CHENG: Thank you for having me.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: going to college.

The numbers of people seeking a secondary degree are in steady decline. And the pandemic only accelerated that trend.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Right. Between spring 2020 and spring 2021, undergraduate enrollment dropped three and a half percent. Nearly nine times more of a drop than the prior year.

REICHARD: The biggest driver of the decline? Young men. They’re opting out of college at much higher rates than women. Why?

WORLD’s Caleb Bailey reports.

CALEB BAILEY, REPORTER: For as long as he could remember, Tony Schnotala had one dream.

SCHNOTALA: From a really young age, I wanted to be a veterinarian. That was the only option, I didn't see myself doing anything else.

During high school, Schnotala took a class called education for employment. It allowed him to shadow a vet, work in the clinic, and attend agricultural conferences. And that’s when he realized he didn’t want to be a vet after all.

So, he took a few other employment-related classes in hopes of finding a new career dream.

SCHNOTALA: But as time went on, and I got closer to like starting college, as the summer went on, and it was like, All right, we're getting ready to start. Then I kind of started leaning away. I was like, man, I think I need a break from school.

When most of his friends headed off to a university that fall, Schnotala stayed home.

SCHNOTALA: I went home fully expecting a like stern talking to extremely disappointed type deal. But it was a it was almost like shrugging it off, like, Okay, you got to you got to find find a job and you got to start paying your way.

So he did. For the last three years, Schnotala has worked at Gold Meadow Farms in Richland, Michigan. When it’s open to the public, he helps manage tractor rides, a zip line, and different mazes. He also helps maintain the grounds.

He started at the farm in high school but didn’t think of it then as anything more than a temporary job. Like many teens, he thought he had to go to college to move on to the next phase of his life.

Michael Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank. He says the U.S. emphasis on higher education has been especially hard on young men.

PETRILLI: We just don't have as many young men graduating with the academic skills that would allow them to succeed in college as we do young women. When you wait until the end of high school or into college, I just think it is too late.

Petrilli says the over-emphasis on getting a college degree means those who could succeed in a trade are left without any direction.

PETRILLI: And, you know, what if instead, we had taken some of those students who, you know, maybe didn't have the strongest academic skills, but had other skills that might be respected in the workplace, you know, and help them certainly starting in high school get access to high quality vocational training, that might be a better route, than this notion that, you know, let's just push everybody into an academic track.

But that’s not easy when federal spending and incentives reinforce that push toward college.

PETRILLI: I mean, it's criminal, how much money we spend on traditional college tracks. And, you know, partly, it's because of the system, we are subsidizing colleges, we are not subsidizing much career tech in the early years.

That means many students who don’t really want to go to college end up there anyway. Andrew Ross moved to Bend, Oregon after high school and enrolled in a local community college. He was studying to become an EMT.

ROSS: I was so unhappy being there. And I eventually, more and more just started losing interest in what I was learning and stopped going to classes and then eventually, you know, decided to cut my losses and not spend any more money and just not do the classes anymore.

Ross experimented with different jobs, including a moving company and car sales before someone offered him a lifeline.

ROSS: I met this guy who was like, you've realized that you don't really want to do the traditional college path, right? So why don't you start learning to trade and then go and open up your own thing. And so right now, I'm in the process of working for my contractor's license.

It’s hard work, and it isn’t glamorous.

ROSS: You know, I'm cut, my hands are covered in cuts. I still have paint on me from last week ago, it doesn't matter how hard I try and scrub it off. And you know, so there's that aspect where people don't want to do that. They don't want to get their hands dirty.

But Ross is confident his hard work will pay off. He sees plenty of room for growth as a general contractor. And he’s not starting his life with a heavy load of debt, like many college graduates do.

ROSS: It's like what everybody does, they go, and they just take out a massive loan, to possibly to go study something that they might not even use, you know.

Some education analysts see the drop in college enrollment as a problem that needs to be fixed. But Michael Petrilli says we’d be better off investing in career training for those who opt out.

PETRILLI: And, and the goal is still the same is to get skills that will allow you to get a decent paying job, right and to grow into your career and put food on the table for your future family. But that path does not have to go through a college campus.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Caleb Bailey.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Some husbands are handymen and some aren’t. But 72-year-old Vojin Kusic of Bosnia is something else entirely.

He built a house for his wife Ljubica and their three children many years ago. They’re now grown and run the family business.

And with that, Kusic said he finally had the time to grant his wife’s wish.

AUDIO: [VOJIN SPEAKING]

You see, Ljubica wanted a change of scenery. Every day, even when looking out the very same window.

So he built her another house. And this one rotates!

Vojin used electric motors and the wheels of an old military transport vehicle to build the base on which the house turns.

He said it was quite a demanding task to move all the electrical installations, but she was pleased.

Vojin added with a wink: “Now, our front door also rotates, so if she spots unwanted guests heading our way, she can spin the house and make them turn away.”

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 19th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: The Olasky Interview. 

Today, a conversation between WORLD editor-in-chief Marvin Olasky and author John Erickson.

EICHER: Erickson is best known for his Hank the Cowdog books—there’s 76 of them—though you may also recognize him from his articles each month in our WORLD Saturday series. A few months ago Olasky dropped by the Erickson ranch “and sat down for a spell.” Here’s a part of their conversation.

MARVIN OLASKY, EDITOR IN CHIEF: What drew you to this particular place?

ERICKSON: It was a deep canyon country, cut by the Canadian River. And very sparsely populated. There’s only one school in Roberts County. And it's about an hour and a half drive from here. So homeschooling was a great option, and she (Kris) loved it on top of that.

OLASKY: And you're pretty well self-sufficient here, it seems in lots of ways. You have your own generator, if the power goes out.

ERICKSON: Yeah, you have to be pretty self-sufficient to live this far out in the country. We don't have even any neighbors that are close by. The nearest neighbor is 7 miles, and next nearest is 12. And the next nearest is 19. And the people in this part of the country are people who enjoy solitude. And I know that if I got in trouble, I could call my neighbors and they would come help me...if they are answering their cell phones that day. If they have a signal that day. But I don't see our neighbors, but maybe once a year.

OLASKY: You have beef from your own cattle?

ERICKSON: Yes.

OLASKY: Stored in freezers.

ERICKSON: Yep.

OLASKY: So in what ways is your self sufficiency limited?

ERICKSON: There's never been a landline phone in this Canadian River Valley. And so when we first bought this place, I used to come down to work and I had no way of contacting Chris, if I'd had a problem. A few years later, we got our first cell phones and the reception is kind of spotty, but we certainly depend on cell phone service now. And on internet service. I do most of my correspondence through emails because it's 40 miles to the nearest mailbox. That makes me rather dependent on electricity.

OLASKY: The nearest doctor is 40 miles away.

ERICKSON: Yes.

OLASKY: You're 78. Now, what do you do in case of a medical emergency?

ERICKSON: I've only had a few of those. And I went to the emergency room. I drove 45-minutes into Perryton and then got stitched up or went to the chiropractor. And, but we have had very few medical emergencies where we're both in good health.

OLASKY: How does your lifestyle affect the way you think about stuff?

ERICKSON: We have our share of things in the form of furniture and clothes, but it's certainly not extravagant. I think where I live and the way I live, might make me more mindful of non-material things than I might be if I lived in a different place in a city.

OLASKY: So you're preserving the environment here. Would you call yourself an environmentalist?

ERICKSON: Ranchers seldom if ever call themselves environmentalist because that it has political overtones, but I'd say that most ranchers are environmentalists—and they were before the term ever came about in the media. It's a philosophy of life that's built into animal husbandry and farming and agriculture. That you have to care for the place where you live. And you have to care for the animals that you're taking care of. And to me, it doesn't make sense for a person to call himself conservative if he doesn't have a strong desire to conserve the earth that we're living on.

OLASKY: So how would you define your own conservatism then?

ERICKSON: Frugal, modest. And I think that those qualities are still present in this part of the country. It's just a way of living. But it also reflects itself in politics.

OLASKY: Okay, let me ask a couple other questions about a trend in human events that you and I—now that we're both old guys—have to be aware of. What do you think about death?

ERICKSON: Well, it's definitely part of the natural process, and it was going on in the Bible, and I see evidence of it in the local newspaper, the Puritan Herald, when I open it up, I read the obituaries. I feel comfortable that this is part of a process that is much greater than just my ego. It's a process that Abraham went through and Moses and all the apostles and there is a lot about death in the Old and New Testament, and a lot of wisdom about how we prepare ourselves for it, and how we should live our lives.

OLASKY: So how do you contemplate at some point, I hope not soon, your own death?

ERICKSON: Well, it's going to happen and I hope that I'll be prepared for that. And I think about it a lot. I read other people writing about it, I read things in the Bible. And I will, I think, have some satisfaction in thinking that I did the best. I did what I could to dignify the memory of my parents, the people in my community, in my church, and didn't shame my wife. And I brought some laughter and smiles to children and families.

I'm gonna do that as long as I can. And so far, I'm going to my office every morning and twice a year, I knock on Hank's door. I've never known from the very beginning if he would answer but he always has.

OLASKY: So it's possible then that after you die, Hank books will go on for several years (CHOKES UP)...

ERICKSON: I see no reason why they wouldn't.

OLASKY: Thank you, John.

EICHER: That’s author John Erickson talking with Marvin Olasky. To read more of their interview, we’ve posted a link in today’s transcript at wng.org/podcasts.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 19th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. You’ve heard that politics is downstream from culture. But sometimes it’s the other way around, and we’d better pay attention to that. Here’s World commentator Kim Henderson.

KIM HENDERSON, COMMENTATOR: In the early 1950s, my dad was an Air Force cook. He downplays his service to his country, but I am quick to tell him that peeling potatoes to fill the pit in a pilot’s stomach was vital work. South Korea is evidence of it.

In a more recent decade my son spent grueling days at Parris Island becoming a Marine. There, he learned about a key battle in his grandfather’s war. The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.

Chosin is quite the war story, with its subzero temperatures and memorable quotes. Marine wannabes at Parris Island memorize a famous line from a commander at Chosin named Chesty Puller. He and other leaders of the UN forces found themselves surprised by a massive contingent of Communist Chinese. On Korean soil.

Chesty is reported to have said: “They’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us … they can’t get away this time.”

The UN forces did suffer tragic losses at Chosin, as did the Chinese, who had an estimated 50,000 casualties. Somehow, though, the 1st Marine Division managed to execute a masterful escape. Chesty went on to become the most decorated Marine in American history.

But that’s American history. Chinese history sees the whole Chosin thing a bit differently. They even call it something different, the Battle at Lake Changjin. They call that war something else, too—the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.

Now, 71 years later—amid renewed tensions with the United States—China is pushing its version of the war in theatres, that the Chinese soldiers were volunteers who stood up to a villainous superpower. That would be America.

The film, called The Battle at Lake Changjin, is a project of the Chinese government. It’s release during the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party’s founding is not a coincidence.

And guess what? The film is set to make its own history—at the box office. Movie goers in the PRC love it, and patriotic sentiment is at a fever pitch.

One outlet reports Chinese residents eating frozen potatoes as a way to identify with soldiers who suffered hunger during the battle. Other sympathizers lay model fighter jets on soldiers’ graves. That’s to show their brave ancestors that China has corrected the mistake of having an inadequate air force, one that couldn’t compete with ours.

Critics panned the film as propaganda. But a Chinese journalist found such questioning has consequences. Authorities detained Luo Changping when he used social media to express his thoughts about China’s involvement in Korea’s war.

Imagine what they do to someone who dares to think deeply about current indiscretions, like routine violations of Taiwan’s airspace.

Even so, America seems almost asleep at the wheel, while China keeps pushing the pedal. Growing stronger. Bolder.

However it’s viewed, the box office smash is a master strategy. The kind that can teach a generation to hate Americans and our system of democracy.

I’m Kim Henderson.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: crisis control. President Biden’s first year in the Oval Office has not gone as well as he might’ve hoped. We’ll talk about the political ramifications of his plummeting popularity.

And, migrating birds. We’ll tell you what motivates our feathered friends this time of year … and it’s not just the weather.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

Go now in grace and peace.

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