The President's Daily Brief - August 19th, 2024: Russians FUME at Putin, Hezbollah Escalation, & Hamas’s New Hostages

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:     The latest out of Russia, where Ukraine continues to gain ground as they knock out critical infrastructure inside the Kursk region, and fury among the population mounts against President Vladimir Putin. Israel has taken out another top commander for Hezbollah in a weekend drone strike as tensions continue to simmer ahead of the terror group’s expected retaliation. A shocking report has revealed a grisly plot by Hamas terrorists to exhume the remains of British veterans of World War I and II buried in the Gaza Strip to use as a bargaining chips with the west. In our 'Back of the Brief' segment, Chechnya’s warlord president has invited Elon Musk to Russia in a wild video that shows the self-styled strongman behind the wheel of a stainless steel-clad Cybertruck outfitted with a mounted machine gun that he claims was sent by the billionaire. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief.     Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It's Monday, 19 August. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. We'll start today's show with the latest out of Russia, where Ukraine continues to gain ground as they knock out critical infrastructure inside the Kursk region, and anger and frustration grows within the Russian population against President Putin. Later, Israel has terminated another top commander for Hezbollah in a weekend drone strike, as tension continues to build

ahead of the terror group's expected retaliation. Plus, a rather shocking report has revealed a grisly plot by Hamas terrorists to exhume the remains of British veterans of World War I and two that are buried in the Gaza Strip to use as bargaining chips against the West. And in today's back of the brief,

Chechnya's warlord president has invited Elon Musk to Russia in a video that shows the self-styled strongman behind the wheel of a cyber truck. That's a Tesla vehicle, obviously, outfitted, though, with a mounted machine gun that he claims was sent by the billionaire. I had no idea, frankly, that the luxury package for the Tesla truck included a mounted machine gun. Normally, well, normally it's just nicer floor mats and an upgraded stereo. But first, today's PDB spotlight. We'll begin in Eastern Europe.

with an update regarding Ukraine's incursion into Russia, which continues to find success as Keeves' forces consolidate their territorial gains while successfully targeting critical Russian infrastructure. As the fighting inside Russian territory approaches its third week, Russia's response remains somewhat chaotic. Ukrainian military leaders have said their forces are advancing up to two miles a day inside the Kursk region, as they press the offensive and work to sever critical Russian supply lines, and that's according to a report from the New York Times. On Friday, Ukrainian forces managed to destroy the Glushkovo Bridge in a precision strike that split the bridge in two.

The bridge serves as a crossing for the same river, roughly 10 miles northwest of the current front lines in Kursk, and its destruction threatens to significantly hamper Russia's ability to resupply and reinforce the region. They followed that success with a strike on a second major bridge on the Sam River on Saturday night, leaving Moscow with just one remaining bridge into the besieged region. Russia's foreign ministry acknowledged the destruction of the Gloucvo Bridge on Friday, claiming, without evidence, that it was carried out using American-made Haimars rockets.

Russian military bloggers said the strikes will disrupt Moscow's logistical lines, greatly impeding deliveries of supplies to Russian forces. analysts also said the strikes suggest Ukraine is digging in its position in preparation for a prolonged campaign inside Russia. So far, the Kremlin has mainly sent in reinforcements from within Russia in an effort to sustain its ongoing offensive in southeastern Ukraine, where Moscow has gained roughly three miles of territory since August began. In the Kersk region, however, this has caused a slow and highly disorganized response that's allowed Kiv to continue. continue pressing their advantage. As of Friday, senior NATO commander General Christopher Kovoli said Russia was still scrambling to organize an effective response. This delay apparently

prompted Keev to expand their offensive after their initial incursion on August 6th, which started as a raid involving roughly 1,000 troops. As success mounts, Keev has now committed some 6,000 troops to the operation, along with 4,000 additional personnel in support roles. While Keeves' progress, as slowed in recent days, Ukraine has advanced nearly 20 miles into the Kursk region, seizing some 80 settlements, including ones with critical energy infrastructure, and capturing an estimated 390 square miles of Russian territory. Now, that's more territory than Russia managed to seize in Ukraine over the past year of fighting. As the Kremlin flails, let's use that word, flails, it doesn't get used often enough.

Belarusian president and key Putin ally, Alexander Lukashenko, said Sunday that he's deployed a third of their armed forces along their border with Ukraine, claiming that Kiev has amassed some 120,000 troops on that border. Ukrainian officials dismissed his claims, however, saying the situation on the Belarusian border remains unchanged. On the Russian home front, Ukraine's surprise invasion and the Putin regime's slow and disjointed response has caused anger and frustration among the population, and they've not seen an invading force enter their territory since the end of the Second World War.

One local villager told the guardian, quote, we were sure the Russian army would protect us, end quote. Russian state media reportedly dismissed the initial invasion as a one-off attempt at infiltration, causing many residents to simply stay in their homes, only now to find themselves in the center of the fighting. Many locals are placing blame squarely on the Putin regime. In a social media post that captured the sentiments of many Russian citizens on the ground, one user said, quote,

I don't even know who I hate more now, the Ukrainian army that captured our land, or our government that allowed that to happen, end quote. As recently as last Tuesday, Russian state media claimed that the Russian army had repelled the incursion, just as Ukrainian troops were entering the town of Sudza. Local communities have now reportedly been flooded with people fleeing the conflict zones inside the Kursk region, and they say the Putin regime has so far done little to help. A Russian villager told the Guardian, quote, it's scary when you see you're on your own and you have no one to turn to.

Volunteers are doing the work. Local authorities are nowhere to be seen, end quote. All right. Coming up after the break, Israel has taken out another top commander for Hasbalah in a weekend drone strike as tension along Israel's northern border builds. Plus, a report has revealed a grisly plot by Hamas terrorists to exhumed the remains of British veterans of World War I and two buried in the Gaza Strip to use as bargaining chips against the West. We'll have those stories when we come back. This is Euphoria Calvin Klein, the new elixir collection featuring three perfume intense scents, inspired by a unique orchid accord paired with vanilla, each with its own distinct attitude, each with its own universe,

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And free waffles are yours to claim. Book direct. at storesville tales.com. Welcome back to the PDB. I want to turn your attention now to Lebanon, where a precision Israeli drone strike on Saturday killed Hussein Ibrahim Qasab, a top commander in Hezbollah's al-Haj Radwan force.

The Israeli defense forces, the IDF, confirmed the operation through released aerial footage, triggering a fierce response from the terror group. Kassab was killed while riding a motorcycle in tire in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah confirmed his debt but did not disclose a specific role or rank within the organization. The IDF stated that Qasab's death is part of their ongoing intensified operations against Hezbollah, marking the 412 operative killed since Hamas's terror attack on Israel on 7 October.

Now, in retaliation for Qasab's debt and a recent Israeli air strike that targeted a weapons depot and other facilities used by the terror group in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah launched 55 rockets at northern Israel on Saturday. The rockets were aimed at various locations, and while some fell in open areas, others caused fires and no injuries were reported as a result of the rocket barrage. The Israeli strike on the weapons depot, which is considered one of the deadliest against Hezbollah

since the start of the conflict, resulted in the deaths of 10 Syrian nationals and injured five others. This latest exchange of fire underscores the escalating tensions in the region, coming in the wake of an airstrike on July 30th that killed Hezbollah deputy leader Fouad Shooker in Beirut, which Hezbollah continues to promise retaliation over. Regarding Shuker's death, we've learned from a U.S. report, citing a Hezbollah official, that the airstrike that took him out was meticulously planned. The strike occurred moments after a phone call lured the elusive terror chief from his second-floor

to a seventh-floor residence, making Shukur a more vulnerable target. Hezbollah, in collaboration with Iran, is now probing this security breach, suspecting Israel's advanced technology outmaneuvered their counter-surveillance measures. The technically coordinated strike of Shukh, preceded the death of Hamas chief Ishmael Hanyi, who, just hours later, was killed in a suspected Mossad bombing in Tehran, an act for which Israel has not confirmed responsibility. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts continue, as mediators work to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. As we've previously discussed,

Hezbollah has said they would stop their rocket attacks on Israel if a truce is reached with Hamas. A Biden administration official stated that Friday's negotiations were the most constructive in recent months, despite the absence of Hamas. Now, I would suggest taking that with a grain of salt, the Biden administration has had a habit of issuing optimistic statements during successive rounds of ceasefire negotiations. And, true to form, President Biden emphasized the significance of the current proposal on Friday, saying he was optimistic and that it, quote, offers the basis for coming to a final agreement. Despite this, Hamas officials downplayed the progress on Saturday,

stating that no significant advances have been made in negotiations, which are set to resume this week. Okay, staying in the region. Israeli soldiers inspecting an underground Hamas compound earlier this year made a disturbing discovery. Evidence of a plot to exhume the remains of British World War I and two soldiers buried in the Gaza Strip. Hamas allegedly planned to use the remains as a leverage to prevent the UK from moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The plot allegedly conceived in 2022 by Hamas leader Yaya Sinwar and the slain military military, military commander Mohamed Dief sought to exploit the remains of over 3,000 British soldiers,

many Christian and Jewish, who fell fighting the Ottomans in 1917 in World War I. The soldiers remains, along with those of World War II soldiers, lie in turn in a cemetery in central Gaza. According to the telegraph, the plot was detailed in a seven-page document discovered by the IDF. It outlined Hamas's plan to exhum the soldier's remains and use them as a bargaining tool to pressure the UK to either keep its embassy in Tel Aviv or face demands to evacuate the remains or pay, quote, lease fees retroactive to 1917. Now the threat was clear. If the British government did not meet these demands, Hamas would seek a judicial order to remove all the remains from their graves, collect them in a, quote, special location, and declare them captives. The IDF believes this was a calculated move to trigger a diplomatic crisis and, of course, also to severely embarrass the UK on both the international and domestic stage, particularly in the eyes of its public, political leaders and military. While the then-U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss ultimately

opted against relocating the embassy in late 2022. This plot underscores the extreme measures that Hamas is prepared to take to further its political goals. An unnamed Israeli official pointed out that Even though this plan was conceived a year before Hamas's 7 October terror attacks on Israel, there's no guarantee that they won't revive this strategy in the future to achieve their objectives. All right, coming up in the back of the brief, Chechnya's warlord president has invited Elon Musk to Russia in a bizarre video that shows the self-styled strongman behind the wheel of a cyber truck outfitted with a mounted machine gun that he claims was sent by the billionaire.

We assume that he means the truck, not the machine gun, was sent by the billionaire. Just when it seemed things couldn't get stranger. Yeah. I'll be right back. Exema is unpredictable. But you can flare less with ebbglis. A once-monthly treatment for moderate-tissaphyr. After an initial four-month-longer dosing phase, about four and seven people taking ebbglis achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks.

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Before starting Ebbglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about Ebbglis.com or call 1-800-LillyRX or 1-800-545-979. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion-dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. Today's back of the brief, Romsen Kajorov, the head of Russia's Chechnya region, has made headlines

again by posting a video of himself driving a Tesla cyber truck mounted with a machine gun. Yeah. The video, shared on his telegram account, has raised eyebrows, particularly given Kadyrov's comments about the vehicle's origins and plans to use it in the Ukraine war. Now, Kajorov, a Kremlin-appointed leader known for his close ties to Russian President Putin, and also, frankly, known for corruption involving he and his family, has a history of using social media for publicity stunts, such as the time he played soccer with the late Diego Maradona.

As Putin's lapdog in Chechnya, the warlord is a staunch supporter of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, asserting in May that some 43,500 Chechens had served in the conflict. In his telegram post, Kedurov has seen fangirling over Tesla CEO Elon Musk and referring to the truck as a, quote, cyber beast. In the video, Kadyrov is seen driving the cyber truck while drift in ammunition belts, which is always a good look admittedly, while announcing his intention to donate it to Russian forces for deployment in the SVO zone, and that's a term used by Russians to describe the special military

operation, as they call it, in Ukraine. Additionally, Kadurov invited Musk to visit Chechnya. Well, that's an invitation, saying he didn't think. think the Russian foreign ministry would mind. So now, how did Kajarov obtain the cyber truck? While he claimed, without evidence, to receive the truck directly from Musk, it was most likely acquired through illicit means, and by most likely, I mean, it was definitely obtained through illicit means. Kajrov has been under U.S. sanctions since 2017 for severe human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and torture. These sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury's office

of foreign assets control or OFAC under the Magnitsky Act, prohibit U.S. citizens from providing any goods, services, or funds to Kajorov. Violations of these sanctions can result, of course, in severe civil and criminal penalties. Tesla has not yet provided comment on the situation, or if they intend to make a mounted machine gun a regular extra for the cyber truck. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief from Monday, 19 August. If you have any questions or comments, please. Reach out to me at PDB at thefirstTV.com.

And a friendly reminder, to listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB Premium.com. It's very simple. And hopefully, you also had a chance to check out this past weekend's episode of the PDB's Situation Report. We had great guests and great insight. New episodes, of course, air every Friday

on the First TV at 10 p.m. And you can catch the show on our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief, as well as all podcast platforms. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. I sold my car in Carvana last night. Well, that's cool. No, you don't understand. It went perfectly. Real offer, down to the penny.

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