The World and Everything in It: October 4, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Ukrainian forces continue to advance on the battlefield, but what will it take actually to defeat Russia?

NICK EICHER, HOST: We’ll put that question to a military expert.

Also today our Classic Book of the Month.

And WORLD Commentator Steve West on why love is a verb.

BROWN: It’s Tuesday October 4th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden Hurricane to PR » President Biden stood in front of shipping containers at the Port of Ponce in Puerto Rico on Monday. Speaking alongside Puerto Rican Governor Pedro Pierluisi Biden promised federal aid after Hurricane Fiona triggered catastrophic floods.

BIDEN: Thank you, governor, for your partnership as we work together to help rebuild Puerto Rico. And I mean, rebuild it all, and rebuild it in a resilient way, so when the storms come again, which they will, they’re not having the damage they’ve caused before.

Biden vowed $60 million in aid through last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law to help Puerto Rico shore up levees, strengthen flood walls and create a new flood warning system.

Fiona struck five years after Hurricane Maria, devastated the island, ripping apart its power grid.

Ian update » Meantime, in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said five days after Hurricane Ian slammed the state, some areas are still dealing with significant inland flooding.

DESANTIS: I mean, I saw homes that had almost up to the rooftops still different buildings, RVs that were almost totally submerged. So this is a big deal.

Power is still out for thousands of Floridians.

The storm is blamed for more than 80 deaths in the state.

Farther north, Hurricane Ian’s remnants are still wreaking havoc. The mid-Atlantic and Northeast coasts saw flooding on Monday from heavy rains.

Ukraine » Ukrainian troops continue to beat back Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Ukraine’s forces continue to advance in the very areas that Russia is trying to annex.

In their latest breakthrough, Ukrainian troops broke through Moscow’s defenses in the strategic southern Kherson region.

They also made gains in the east and other major battlefields.

And the U.S. government just announced it will soon deliver to Ukraine four more of the advanced rocket systems. The HIMARS systems are credited with helping the country’s military gain momentum.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Iran protests »  AUDIO: [Protest]

Protesters gathered outside Tehran’s Sharif university on Monday.

Demonstrations erupted two weeks ago after a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman died in police custody. She was reportedly beaten by Iran’s so-called morality police.

As of last week, 76 people were confirmed to have been killed in clashes with security forces. Hundreds more were arrested.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:

PIERRE: We’re alarmed and appalled by reports of security authorities responding to university students’ peaceful protests with violence and mass arrests.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Monday broke his silence on the protests and accuses the United States and Israel of planning what he called “riots.”

Planned Parenthood mobile abortion clinics  » Planned Parenthood officials on Monday announced plans for a mobile abortion facility to make it easier to have an abortion across state lines. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: A 37-foot RV will stay in Illinois but travel close to the borders of adjoining states that have enacted strong protections for unborn children.

Planned Parenthood says the mobile abortion facility will provide abortifacient drugs up to 11 weeks of gestation by the end of the year. But it plans to start performing surgical abortions in the RV after the first few months.

The National Right to Life Committee called the plans “another grotesque demeaning of human life.”

It added that “Chemical abortions can lead to life-threatening complications.”

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Supreme Court reconvenes » The Supreme Court is back in session.

ROBERTS: We will hear arguments first this morning in case 21454 - Sackett vs EPA.

Chief Justice John Roberts heard there.

There’s a new justice hearing arguments in the new fiscal year. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, wasted no time joining the lively give-and-take.

JACKSON: Are you saying that neighboring wetlands can’t impact the quality of navigable waters?
WITNESS: Justice Jackson, not at all.

That exchange, part of nearly two hours of arguments in the dispute over the Clean Water Act.

And for the first time since the pandemic lockdown in March of 2020, the public is allowed to attend the hearings.

100m songs on Apple Music » SONG: [I believe] What you say to me, I believe …

You Say by Lauren Daigle is one of a hundred-million songs now on Apple Music.

The streaming service just crossed the massive milestone, adding its 100-millionth song. Each day, roughly 20,000 artists release music on the service.

Apple Music now features music in 350 languages. About 40% of its content is in English.

I'm Kent Covington. Straight ahead: advances in the war in Ukraine.

Plus, October’s Classic Book of the Month.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 4th of October, 2022.

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

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. First up: Russians on the run.

Recent advances by Ukrainian forces seem to have turned the tide in the war, forcing many Russian troops to retreat or surrender in eastern Ukraine.

EICHER: In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin put in place a military draft as he tries to add hundreds of thousands of troops to the battlefield. Additionally, he’s trying to annex more parts of Ukraine and threatening nuclear war.

So what will it take for Ukraine to continue beating back Russian forces and ultimately winning the war?

Joining us now is retired US Army Lt. General Thomas Spoehr. He’s an expert on national defense strategy and equipment modernization.

BROWN: General, good morning!

THOMAS SPOEHR, GUEST: Thank you, Myrna. Good morning to you as well.

BROWN: Well, as we mentioned, Ukrainian forces just recaptured the city of Lyman. Why was retaking this particular city strategically important?

SPOEHR: Yeah, thanks. So it’s a major railroad junction and Russians rely a lot on railroads for resupply, you know, that's something that United States forces really don't do. But the Russians have not developed the big truck fleet that the United States has and many other countries have. And so they rely a lot on having railroads right up to the front of the battle. So Lyman is a major railroad junction. It's also symbolic. It's a major city. And so, and the other part of it is, as you mentioned in your introduction, Vladimir Putin just annexed this oblast or this province of Donetsk and this is a major city within it. And so it kind of demonstrates to the world that even though he has illegally annexed this province, he really can't even hold it. So for all those reasons, it's really an important move by the Ukrainians.

BROWN: How has Ukraine made the recent progress it has made, I’m referring to the retaking of cities like Lyman and Izium?

SPOEHR: Oh, part of it is the weapons that the western countries have provided them. They’ve provided them effective support in the form of artillery and rockets and vehicles and munitions. That has helped. Another part of assistance that has helped a lot is Western intelligence. And so the United States and western NATO partners providing Ukraine overhead intelligence and information on where the Russians are strong and where they're weak. And so you obviously don't want to go where the Russians are strong and so you avoid those places. And that has allowed Ukrainians to pierce through the Russian defenses in exactly those places where they are weak. And then, finally, you have to give credit to the Ukrainians. They're motivated, they haven't lost their will to fight. In fact, they seem even more inspired than they did months and weeks ago. And so I think for all those reasons, they have become more, not less, effective in the last few months.

BROWN: Putin is trying to add hundreds of thousands of additional troops to the front lines. That’s a lot of troops.

But we’ve heard stories now of enlistment officers grabbing people off the street, drafting people with zero military training, some in their 60s even! So what impact do you think this military mobilization will have?

SPOEHR: This mobilization is not going to have much impact in the near term. These people that they’re grabbing right now, untrained people on the battlefield really just represent targets and casualties. They do not represent an effective force. Until Russia can get these new mobilized soldiers trained and equipped, they're really just a liability for Russia, and they will not turn into a value-added for months. I think in the short term, this is a problem for Russia because up to this point, Vladimir Putin has avoided mobilizing any part of the armed forces. He did it just with the active forces he has. This has brought this war—and he doesn't call it a war, but it is a war—this has brought this war home to your average Russians and now they are realizing what their president is doing to them. So I think it's difficult to find a positive result from Vladimir Putin declaring this mobilization.

BROWN: General, we’ve been hearing about increased concerns that Putin could get desperate enough to use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. First, What exactly is a tactical nuclear weapon? And what would that look like if he actually decides to use one?

SPOEHR: Yeah, so nuclear weapons are measured in their explosive power using kilotons or megatons. A kiloton is a thousand tons of TNT. By reference, the the bomb that was dropped in World War II in Hiroshima was 10 kilotons. A tactical nuclear weapon typically—and there's no set definition for it—goes up to about 100 kilotons. So still a very powerful weapon and one that this world has never seen used before except for those two times in Japan. I think, we're all speculating now, I don't anticipate that Vladimir Putin, as irrational as he is, would use such a weapon against a NATO or a Western country because that would precipitate immediate, essentially World War III. It's hard to imagine he would use it in a populated area of Ukraine, because that would weigh completely against the message he's trying to send that he's trying to liberate that country. I think the most likely—and I don't even want to call it likely—but the most potential use of a nuclear weapon would be by Vladimir Putin in maybe some relatively unpopulated area or above it in Ukraine or maybe even over the Black Sea. And it would be more of a symbology that, hey, Russia has been pushed back far enough, we aren't going to take this anymore, that type of thing, or we have just crossed a red line, and trying to coerce and blackmail NATO countries to stop their support for Ukraine.

BROWN: So, kind of posturing?

SPOEHR: Yeah, exactly. If you can imagine a nuclear weapon as posturing, because it's a big statement, but yes.

BROWN: The United States and NATO have warned of “catastrophic” consequences if Putin uses a nuclear weapon. What does that mean? What do you think those catastrophic consequences might be?

SPOEHR: Yeah, so you know, context is very important here. Obviously, if that nuclear weapon affected NATO or the United States, that would precipitate a war. But short of that, short of attacking the United States and short of a lot of civilian casualties, I think you could expect the United States to immediately give Ukraine, you know, thus far they've been fairly restrained on the weapons they would give Ukraine. They won't give them long-range missiles, they won't give them fighter aircraft. I think all those types of things are off. It would not surprise me to see the United States intervene in a limited way in Ukraine against Russian forces there, would not cross into Russia, but potentially attack Russian forces that are in Ukraine. And certainly, we would hope that countries such as China and India, who have thus far kind of refrained from condemning Russia, would now condemn Russia and that Russia would become completely isolated from the world stage.

BROWN: The objective of Ukraine and NATO is obviously to win this war, break that down for us please. What does that mean? Does that mean the ouster of Putin? Or just completely beating the Russian military into submission? What would victory look like?

SPOEHR: Yeah, I think for President Zelenskyy, at least, the president of Ukraine, he has said that victory for Ukraine means that there are no Russian forces in Ukraine. So that would obviously mean all the areas, even those that Russia captured in 2014 during their earlier war in the Crimean Peninsula. I think the United States would consider that victory. There's no established need to completely crush Russia or its armed forces. Some of this will be very difficult. For example, getting the Russians out of Crimea, very difficult because of the terrain and the mountains and everything there. So I think there's probably an intermediate objective of at least booting the Russians out of those areas, which they did not control before 2022.

BROWN: Going forward, what does Ukraine really need from us to continue its progress and ultimately win?

SPOEHR: Yeah, most importantly I think for Ukraine is support in terms of military weaponry, munitions, and supplies, those tools of war that the United States and other countries in the West are providing are making the crucial difference. Without those, this war would already be over. Europe is contributing a lot to this fight, as you know. They are harboring over 3 million—maybe the number is bigger than that—Ukrainian refugees. So they're doing a lot there. And then I think Europe is also providing support to keep the government of Ukraine going, because as you can imagine, Ukraine isn't in a position to collect any taxes. They don't really have that many exports. And so their economy is essentially cratered. And so, the European Union and folks like that really need to keep the Ukrainian government going and paying firefighters and police and things like that if they're going to have a chance to survive.

BROWN: We’ve been talking to retired Lt. General Thomas Spoehr. He is the director of the Center for National Defense at the Heritage Foundation. General, thanks so much!

SPOEHR: Thank you.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Someone just bought a real fixer-upper, a lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay. Please note I didn’t say near Chesapeake Bay. I said “in Chesapeake Bay.”

And it’s buyer beware.

Given the location, the only access is by boat, which you’d have to tie to the outer ladder of the lighthouse and then climb up.

And once you get inside, you’ll find there’s no sewer, no electricity, no gas, no water, other than the saltwater you’re surrounded by.

Oh, and did I mention the owner is required to maintain the lighthouse as an active navigational aid to the Coast Guard, so you have to resolve that electricity issue right away.

And finally, you’ll need to keep in contact with the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division because your new property is located within the test range. Meaning it’s in a target-practice area for the Navy.

Now, the upside to owning this lighthouse—there’s got to be one—but I am, shall we say, still in the dark as to what it is.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 4th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: our Classic Book of the Month for October.

Today, a parenting book particularly suited to our crumbling American culture, one where family breakdowns are common.

Of course, those likely to suffer most are babies and children facing trauma, abuse, and abandonment.

Reviewer Emily Whitten says our book today can help Christians step up—and be agents of God’s healing to kids who are hurting.

PURVIS: So, serving hurt children, harmed children, does take great strength to do. When we’re able to take a light into those dark places, it gives us courage to keep going.

EMILY WHITTEN, REVIEWER: That’s Karyn Purvis, a developmental psychologist, speaking in a 2016 interview. She co-founded the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University. And she co-authored our Classic Book of the Month for October, The Connected Child.

First published in 2007, The Connected Child equips parents to minister to children who’ve experienced trauma—especially children in adoptive and foster families. Here’s an audiobook clip of the introduction.

AUDIOBOOK: A two year old is adopted from an orphanage where she was underfed, under-touched, and neglected. From lack of stimulation, her senses have not developed normally. In her new adoptive home, she is bombarded by unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells, taste, and physical sensations. She expresses herself the only way she knows how–through tantrums and aggressiveness.

That’s just one of many case studies Purvis and her co-authors cite. But no matter how children may be hurt, The Connected Child offers hope for healing. With scientific research and clear instructions, the book equips parents to regain authority and build trust.

AUDIOBOOK: Through our own research with families during the past ten years, we know that a multidisciplinary approach can help many youngsters transform into happier, well-adjusted family members. For the best results, you need to: Disarm your child’s fear response. Establish clear and sensitive parental authority.

One Christian family has used the book on their adoptive journey—The Black family from southwest Missouri. They’ve invited others into that journey through their Youtube channel, Zero2Five Family.

CLIP: What’s been your favorite thing so far? Skiing! You like riding the lifts? You do some jumping? You got some air? Yeah! With mom! I was on the lift, and I was like, phoom! I was in the air.

Mom Kristal Black says she and her husband were thrilled to adopt five siblings. But it wasn’t easy, in part because of the kids’ previous trauma.

BLACK: My initial reaction is, that's defiance. And that's bad. And we have to squash it, you know, and so The Connected Child really helped me to change my perspective, see the root cause of some of those behaviors, and then be able to meet them there and help them through it.

One idea that’s worked well—instead of giving her younger kids Time Out as a punishment, she gives them Time In.

BLACK: I would call, you know, one of the kids involved in the conflict, hey, grab a book, come sit with me, you're gonna sit with me until I'm finished doing what I'm doing. My kids were, you know, they spent a lot of isolation time before they came into foster care. So it instead of reinforcing that, when you're bad, you have to be by yourself, you have to isolate it’s, I can watch you and tell you, you know, I know that your behavior is going to change. 

The Connected Child addresses many kinds of trauma—not just those experienced by fostered or adopted children. For instance, many traumas—including illness or abuse—can affect brain development. Black explains how she sees that affect daily life.

BLACK: Their maybe cognitive maturity, emotional age, is very different than their biological age. And so, you know, out in the world, people might see, you know, a 13 year old girl, but then when you see the behavior of maybe more like an eight year old girl, so the connected child really points that out and helps you kind of move to a maybe a state of acceptance.

When parents accept and address a child’s hidden needs, families often see great gains. Here’s another clip from the audiobook.

AUDIOBOOK: Children with the greatest developmental challenges make the most progress in a sensory-rich, nurturing environment. By providing this–along with love, guidance, and acceptance, you can help overcome a legacy of maltreatment and become an effective healer for your own child.

Purvis isn’t explicit about her Christian faith in The Connected Child, and not everyone will want to use all her methods. But Black says she sees Christ in the core message of the book.

BLACK: What she was teaching other people about connecting is definitely I believe how God connects with us, comes down to our level on a physical and emotional and mental, you know, way. He, you know, works with us, sits with us and our messiness. And so I would say, that's definitely a biblical worldview.

With Roe v Wade overturned, Christians should expect to see more unwanted children born in our country. Black says our Classic Book of the Month, The Connected Child, can equip churches to make a difference to these kids.

BLACK: When you have a trauma informed congregation, you can kind of gather around the kid, their caretakers and support them. I think that that's what we're supposed to do. God, you know, says very specifically, our family verse is James 1:27, you know, true religion is caring for orphans and widows and refusing to let the world corrupt us. And then that's our calling.

I’m Emily Whitten.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 4th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Steve West now on how he learned to love others in a more godly way.

STEVE WEST, COMMENTATOR: In 1976, I was sitting in my dormitory room reading a 1971 book by Walter Trobisch titled Love Is a Feeling to Be Learned. My roommate Rick and I lived in an antiquated building, the oldest dormitory on campus. A clanging announced the onset of radiator heat; a Southern Railways train periodically roared noisily through campus a block away, rattling our single window; and noise from the even less studious echoed off the uncarpeted hallways.

But I kept reading. Trobisch’s prose and his candor was riveting.

His point was not novel yet was paradigm-changing for me: Love is not primarily feeling but action, verb and not noun. Trobisch meant that feelings are learned by self-sacrificial action. Scripture gets at it when it observes that God “set His love” on Israel (Deut. 7:7). God sets His love on us. When we set our love on someone, we choose, irrespective of feeling, to commit ourselves to relationship with them, to do the work of love.

But I didn’t know that then. Until then, I thought of love as something you fell into and out of. Trobisch changed that.

That morning Rick was eating cold pizza for a late breakfast, fuel for tackling introductory calculus problems. He teetered back in his chair, sipping hot tea. I didn’t think Rick had a girlfriend or dates, but I didn't ask him.

Reading any book by Trobisch is a warming experience. A pastor and counselor, you feel him across the table, having a conversation with only you. He reaches out of the pages of his book and across the decades - to the perplexed, despondent, and lovelorn.

In the front of the book, Trobisch encourages readers who feel the need to find a counselor to see at regular intervals.” Then there’s this amazing invitation: “However, in case you find no one, you may write to me and I shall try to help you by correspondence.” He signed his name, followed by his personal address. I would write to him if I could, if nothing more than to thank him.

Who today would carry on such correspondence? Who today would make such an unselfish offer? Along with his wife Ingrid, the couple were inundated by thousands of letters once his books were published. They answered each one.

“Happiness is only a part of love - this is what has to be learned,” wrote Trobisch. “Suffering belongs to love also. This is the mystery of love, its beauty and burden.” Reading that, I put the book down on my desk and looked out my dormitory window. In the park across the street, couples sat and talked, leaning in toward one another.

Rick left for the cocoon of his design studio, my questions about love hanging in the air.

I don’t know what happened to Rick. I moved out after that year and lost track of him. I don’t know if he married or remained alone. I don't know what he learned or failed to learn about love in the decades that followed. The next year I met my wife. I set my love on her. And that’s where it remains.

I’m Steve West.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Washington Wednesday and battles over voting laws. And we consider the life and legacy of Brother Andrew.

Plus, worship music that is both contemporary and theologically rich. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

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: You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 ESV)

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.