The President's Daily Brief - December 20th, 2024: Putin Talks Deal With Trump To End Ukraine War & China Under Scrutiny Over Mystery Drone Phenomena

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:     We'll begin with an update on the war in Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin claims he is ready to strike a compromise with Donald Trump to end the conflict. Later in the show, Israel is setting their sights on Iran’s last remaining proxy group of note in the Middle East, warning Yemen’s Houthi rebels that the long arm of Israel will soon come for them. Plus, military bases near Chinese-owned farmland have been caught up in the mystery drone phenomena haunting U.S. skies, leading some to believe that the activity is related to espionage efforts by China’s CCP. In our 'Back of the Brief' segment, officials in Kyiv say they have disrupted a massive Russian spy ring operating within Ukraine that sought to collect sensitive intelligence related to F-16 fighter jets donated by Kyiv’s Western allies. 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.     YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Patriot Gold: Call 1-888-870-5457 for a free investor guide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. This episode is brought to you by Patriot Gold Group. Protect your retirement assets and safeguard your future. Speak with the experts today over at Patriot Gold. Now, you've probably heard me say this before, but the Patriot Gold Group has been the top-rated

Gold IRA dealer for seven years in a row, and that is quite a few years in a row. Go to Patriotgoldgroup.com or call 1-88-621-3856 for a free investor guide. It's Friday, 20 December. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And yes, it does look like I'm dressed to do a couple of shows at the Copacabana. It's the festive holiday season. All right, let's get briefed.

We'll start the show with an update on the war in Ukraine as Russian President Putin claims he's ready to strike a compromise with Donald Trump to end the conflict. Later in the show, Israel is setting their sights on Iran's last remaining proxy group of note in the Middle East, warning Yemen's Houthi rebels that the long arm of Israeli justice will soon come for them. Plus, military bases near Chinese-owned farmland have been caught up in the mystery drone phenomena haunting U.S. skies, leading some to believe that the activity is related to espionage efforts by the Chinese Communist Party. And in today's back of the brief, officials in Kiev say they've disrupted a massive Russian spy ring operating within Ukraine that sought to collect sensitive intelligence related to F-16 fighter jets donated by Keeves' well. Western allies. But first, today's PDB spotlight. Russian strongman, Vladimir Putin, just gave a marathon end-of-year press briefing in Moscow, where he claimed he's ready to strike a

bargain to end his nearly three-year-old war on Ukraine. During the four-and-a-half-hour-long question and answer session, can you imagine if you were in the press and you had to sit through that? Anyway, during that four-and-a-half-long, hour-long question and answer session on Thursday, which was, of course, carefully choreographed by the Kremlin, Putin said his forces are winning the war, but would gladly participate in possible peace talks with U.S. President-elect Trump once he returns to office in order to find a compromise with Ukraine. He also claimed that Russia had no preconditions to start talks with Ukrainian authorities, and that's according to our report from Reuters.

But, as always with Putin, well, there's a significant catch. The dictator said Russia has been ready to negotiate for some time and place the blame on leaders in Kiev for resisting efforts to start a discussion. He also said that while he's willing to negotiate with anyone, including Ukrainian President Zelensky, the Kremlin would only accept a deal that is approved by the Ukrainian parliament, which he called Ukraine's only legitimate authority. Putin said Zelensky, whose term technically expired in the spring of this year, would need to stand for re-election for Moscow to consider him a legitimate signatory to any future agreement. Oh, because, of course, nobody loves protocol and pomp and circumstance and sticking to the rules like Putin does.

As a reminder, Ukrainian elections were scrapped due to the war, and Zelensky has been leading under an extended period of martial law. Now, furthermore, despite his declaration that Russia has no conditions for starting negotiations, Putin later said that any diplomatic discussions should be based on the failed Istanbul talks from 2022. So, I guess Putin does have conditions. For some background, the Istanbul negotiations occurred shortly after Moscow's full-scale invasion. The draft treaty allowed Ukraine to pursue EU membership, but prohibited it from joining NATO. The treaty also imposed stringing conditions, forbidding Ukraine from hosting foreign weapons, requiring reductions in its military forces, and demanding Kiev officially cede Crimea and parts of the Donbass region to Russia.

Kiev rejected these terms, of course, as unacceptable and akin to a capitulation, leading to the collapse of the talks. Putin also poured cold water on the possibility of a more limited ceasefire, saying any deal between Russia and Ukraine must be. be long-standing. Putin's aversion to a more limited truce could throw a wrench into the plans of President-elect Trump, who has regularly claimed that he can bring a swift end of the conflict once he returns to office. One plan that Trump has reportedly floated to European leaders would involve a ceasefire and the deployment of a European-led peacekeeping coalition of ground troops in Ukraine, though it sounds like that will be a non-starter with Putin. While there are apparently multiple plans being floated by Trump's advisors at this time,

he has proposed seating large parts of Ukraine's eastern territories to Russia, areas that Moscow's forces currently occupy, as well as blocking Ukraine from joining the NATO alliance. Zelensky, for his part, has shown an openness to aspects of Trump's proposals. On Thursday, Zelensky said he had discussed the idea of a peacekeeping force with European leaders as a potential path forward. He also recently said he'd be willing to consider temporarily seating Russian occupied territories to Moscow, but only if Ukraine is offered NATO membership.

Once Ukraine is under the NATO umbrella, Zelensky has advocated using diplomatic means to restore their lost territory. But Putin has regularly stated his intent to keep the roughly 18% of Ukrainian territory that his military has seized. And during his press conference on Thursday, he said Russia's bloody but sustained gains on the front lines in eastern Ukraine have put Moscow in a strong negotiating position. Putin clearly thinks he's winning the war, despite heavy losses, leaving many to question whether his claim to interest in a peace deal is genuine. In a rare admission, however, Putin did acknowledge that his military made missteps in the early days of the war, and that they should have been better prepared prior to invading in February

2022, or how about this, they could have just chosen not to invade at all. Asked if he would do anything different, Putin said he regretted not sending troops into Ukraine sooner. Oh, all right. Coming up next, Israel sets their sights on Yemen's Khuti rebels and China comes under scrutiny over the mysterious drone phenomena haunting U.S. skies. I'll have those stories when we come back. How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount, safe driver discount, new vehicle discount, storage discount, legacy. How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usaa.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply.

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Welcome back to the PDB. All right, three down, one to go. That's the message Israeli leaders just sent to Yemen's Khutti militants, Iran's last remaining proxy group of any real capability in the Middle East. With Hamas and Hezbollah crippled, and the Iranian allied Assad regime toppled in Syria, Israel now appears ready to remove the Khutti rebels from the chess board, particularly after the group launched another missile attack on Israel early Thursday morning that damaged a school in Tel Aviv. Leaders in Jerusalem quickly responded, greenlighting a series of deadly strikes on Khutti strongholds in Yemen that killed nine,

according to a report from CNN. The operation involved 14 Israeli fighter jets that dropped more than 60 munitions. missions on Houthi military targets with the aim of paralyzing all of the ports in Yemen used by the Iranian-backed group. Sources subsequently told the Times of Israel that the mission had been successful and that all militant operations at Houthi-controlled ports had come to a halt after the strikes. For the first time, Israel also struck the Houthi-held capital of Sana'a. Israeli leaders said they wanted to make a clear to the Houthis that their belligerents will not go unanswered. And if they continue, they can expect to suffer a fate similar to their militant allies in Lebanon and Gaza.

Following Thursday's operations, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel's strikes on the Houthis were on behalf of the entire world, given the group's sustained drone and missile attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea for more than a year. The Houthis are now standing alone, according to Netanyahu, who said, quote, after Hamas, Hasbullah, and the Assad regime in Syria, The Houthis are nearly the last remaining arm of Iran's axis of evil. He added, quote, They will learn the hard way that anyone who attacks Israel pays a very heavy price, end quote. Israeli defense minister Israel cats went even further in his public statement following the strikes,

saying he was, quote, warning the heads of the Houthi terror group, the long arm of Israel will reach you. Whoever lifts a hand against the state of Israel will have it severed. whoever harms us will be harmed many times over, end quote. As I'm sure our listeners are aware, the Houthis began attacking Israel in the wake of last year's 7 October attacks by Hamas. In addition to their relentless assaults on the Jewish state, they have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with hundreds of missile attacks in the Red Sea, significantly disrupting international trade. Alongside Israel, the U.S. has also ratcheted up strikes

on the Houthis over the past two months, including an operation in October that saw the U.S. unleash B-2 stealth bombers against the militant group, destroying five underground bunkers used by the Houthis to store weapons. But the Houthis still appear to be, well, undeterred. Following Israel's operations on Thursday, a spokesman for the group filed revenge of what he called Jerusalem's heinous aggression, adding that the Houthis would continue to launch attacks in solidarity with Gaza. All right. Shifting to the U.S. We return to our coverage of unexploned drone activity

as reports of sightings at military bases across the U.S., particularly near Chinese-owned farmland, has raised national security concerns of potential espionage. According to the New York Post, at least 17 military bases, in states including Hawaii, Utah, California, and Florida experienced drones buzzing the skies in recent weeks. This development follows earlier reports from the Post, identifying 19 military bases in proximity to farmland purchased by Chinese-owned companies, which are linked or working on behalf of the communist government, sparking fears that these land acquisitions could be leveraged for intelligence gathering. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCall voiced alarm on Tuesday,

alleging some of these drones could be, quote, spy drones deployed by Chinese. China. McCall has called for an immediate probe into their origins, reflecting broader anxieties about the strategic placement of Chinese-owned properties near military sites. Yeah, that's something they could be concerned about. Recently, specific incidents have underscored this mounting concern. Between 9 and 15 December, six drone intrusions were logged at Marine Corps Base Pendleton in California, according to a base spokesman. Meanwhile, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio temporarily shut down airspace last week due to what officials described as, quote, small unmanned aerial systems, end quote. Similar sightings occurred earlier this week near Fort Lewis, the Army Base in Washington State.

As we've been tracking on the PDB, mysterious drone activity has been reported over sensitive skies like Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earl in New Jersey this month. with one incident leading to the closure of Stewart International Airport in New York. It's worth noting that fears of Chinese espionage are hardly new. A Wall Street Journal investigation in 2023 detailed over 100 attempts by Chinese operatives to infiltrate military facilities from missile ranges in New Mexico to rocket launch sites in Florida.

However, critics cautioned that Chinese-owned farmland near bases could offer a low-profile, yet effective means for surveillance. A former Blackwater contractor suggested in June to the Post that such properties could be used to monitor military operations, potentially aiding the communist country's ambition to develop a more expeditionary military force. While Chinese investors held less than 1% of foreign-owned U.S. farmland, proximity matters.

According to the USDA's Farm Service Agency, As of late 2022, Chinese entities owned roughly 550 square miles of American farmland, small and scale, but strategically significant near critical sites. Adding to the mystery in the sky, the FAA on Thursday implemented a temporary no-fly zone over parts of New Jersey, citing national security concerns. The restrictions are set to last until 17 January, which aims to curb unauthorized drone flight, over key infrastructure. Despite these measures, the White House ironically maintains that these unidentified drones pose no immediate national security threat. Their lack of transparency is shocking.

However, federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, continue to investigate, well, that's good, leaving key questions unanswered and fueling nationwide speculation of potential foreign adversary involvement. All right. Coming up in the back of the brief, Officials in Kiev say they've disrupted a massive Russian spy ring operating within Ukraine that sought to collect sensitive intelligence related to F-16 fighter jets donated by Kiev's Western allies. We'll have more when we return. Looking to see what's happening around your home? Rings battery doorbell helps you track packages and see who's at your door in real time.

The outdoor cam plus protects your yard at night with a wide field of view and clear a retinal 2K video. or upgrade to 4K cameras and doorbells with retinal vision for ultra-clear zoom in detail. Your door, your yard, your home. With Ring, it's protected. Shop cameras, doorbells, and more at ring.com now. In today's back of the brief, the security service of Ukraine or the SBAU, announced the takedown of what it calls the biggest network of Russian spies operating within the country within Ukraine,

alleging the group sought to obtain sensitive intelligence about Keeves' newly acquired F-16. jets. The SBU's military counterintelligence unit on Tuesday claimed it dismantled a 12-member spying of Russian agents and their informants. Notably, some of the members were former Ukrainian soldiers recruited by Russia's main intelligence director at the GRU while they hid from punishment after deserting posts. In a statement, Ukraine's prosecutor office revealed that a member of the network also deceived three Ukrainian soldiers into sharing sensitive details. by pretending to work for domestic intelligence.

Operating across five regions, the Spyring allegedly leveraged frontline Ukrainian contacts to pinpoint key military targets. The Spiring's primary focus, according to the SBU, was identifying airfields, housing F-16 jets, locations of air defense systems, and facilities manufacturing electronic warfare technology. As we reported on the PDB, Ukraine began receiving F-16s, this summer after extensive negotiations with Western allies. Now, despite being decades old, the jets were heralded as a potential game changer for Kiev, enhancing its ability to intercept Russian drone and missile attacks. These capabilities make the aircraft not only a strategic military tool, but also a symbolic target for Moscow. Business Insider reports that it remains

uncertain how much actionable intelligence the spy network managed to deliver before its dismantlement. According to Radio Free Europe, the alleged ringleader was detained, and prominent members of the spy ring faced charges of state treason and unauthorized disclosure of military information. Convictions could result in sentences ranging from eight years to life imprisonment, alongside the confiscation of property. Additional arrests are expected as the investigation deepens. The dismantling of the spiring marks a significant victory for Ukraine's counterintelligence efforts, but the broader challenge, of course, of neutralizing Russian espionage operations, well, that looms large as the conflict nears the three-year mark. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief

for Friday, 20 December. If you have any questions for me, or if you'd like to make a comment, well, please do. Just reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. It's very simple. To listen to the show ad-free, well, that's also simple. Become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting PDB Premium.com. And if it's Friday, and I have it on good authority that it is, well, that means that the PDB production team is busy putting together a brand new episode for this weekend of our PDB situation report. As always, great guests, solid insight, news you can use, tune in, you can find that, of course, on the first TV, every Friday evening, new episodes launch at 10 p.m. And our YouTube channel, that's a juggernaut, at President's Daily Brief, and of course,

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. Ryan Reynolds here from MintMobil, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird. Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

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