The President's Daily Brief - December 28th, 2023: Peace Proposal, Russia’s Power Play, & Border Dialogue

Episode Date: December 28, 2023

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:   We explore a proposal by Egyptian officials to halt the Israel-Hamas conflict and examine the detailed steps outlined in this potential path to peace.   The power grid in Ukraine faces a critical hit from Russian drones and artillery, just as Ukraine sinks a Russian warship.   Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Chief Alejandro Mayorkas engage with Mexican President Obrador on the escalating crisis at the U.S. southern border.   In the 'Back of the Brief' segment, we take a look at a startling poll: a significant minority of young Americans express a positive view of Osama Bin Laden.   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

It's Thursday, December 28th. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First up, Egyptian officials reveal a proposal to bring an end to the Israel-Hamas war. We'll examine the specifics of that plan. Later in the program, Russian drones and artillery strikes knock out power in parts of Ukraine just a day after Ukraine destroys a Russian warship. Thus, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Homeland Security Chief Alejandro Mayorkas meet with Mexican President Obrador to discuss the crisis at America's southern border. Finally, in today's back of the brief, a shocking new poll shows that one in five young

Americans has a positive view of Osama bin Laden. Apparently, the same new poll shows that the same one in five young Americans are hopelessly ignorant. But first up, the PDB spotlight. I want to kick off the show by taking a look at what appears to be the first serious proposed plan to bring the Israel-Hamas conflict to an end. The plan was developed by Egypt in collaboration with Qatar, both of which have served as mediators throughout the conflict. At this point, the proposal has been presented to Israel, Hamas, the United States and European

governments. So let's take a look at what this proposal entail. First, the Egyptians proposed a three-phase ceasefire. The first phase would be similar to the temporary ceasefire we saw back in November. Over the course of approximately two weeks, Hamas would release all remaining women, children, and elderly men who were taken hostage during the Seven October attacks on Israel. In return, Israel would free a mutually agreed upon number of Palestinian detainees, halt combat operations, reposition tanks away from civilian areas, and facilitate medical supplies

and food assistance for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. In the second phase of the ceasefire, Hamas would release all Israeli female service members. In return, Israel would release additional Palestinian inmates, and both sides would exchange the remains of individuals held since the hostilities began. The final segment of this first phase of the plan, potentially extending over a month, involves intricate negotiations, leading to the release of all captives under Hamas' control against a prearranged number of Palestinian prisoners. After these releases, Israel would pull its military presence from the Gaza Strip, and both sides would cease all forms of aggression. Now, the second part of the proposal has to do with

the post-war governance of Gaza. Egypt is proposing that Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two groups responsible for the October 7th attacks, relinquish power in Gaza. Egypt would then spearhead the mediation efforts to bring the Palestinian factions together, enabling Hamas and the Palestinian authority to collectively establish some form of interim technocratic government in anticipation of future democratic elections. Both Israel and Hamas have given a cool public reception to the Egyptian proposal, but have stopped short of rejecting the plan altogether, meaning that it could be used as a framework perhaps for a future ceasefire. Now, while the entire process is incredibly complex and difficult to negotiate, the heaviest lifting is in the post-governance conflict portion of the

planning. Any inference or attempt to leave Hamas in any form as a part of the future governance of Gaza will be considered a non-starter by Israel, and likewise, frankly, should be considered a non-starter by the U.S. and the West. Meanwhile, a very strange public argument has broken out between Iran and Hamas over what inspired the brutal October 7th attacks. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, has now claimed that Hamas' attack on Israel was a retaliatory act for the killing of their Quds Force commander, Qasem Soleimani. That, of course, is an admission by the Iranian regime of the obvious that Iran is ultimately responsible for Hamas' actions, and thus responsible for the 7 October slaughter. Now, to provide some context, Soleimani was

eliminated near the Baghdad International Airport by a U.S. drone strike in January 2020. Considered the IRGC's second-in-command and the architect of its overseas operations, he was known for orchestrating a variety of terror attacks. Adding to the narrative, IRGC spokesman of Ramadan-Shalif attributed Hamas's October offensive as, quote, one of the revenges for Soleimani's death. However, this assertion was promptly dismissed by Hamas. The group issued a stark rebuttal, distancing themselves from any ties to Soleimani or Iran in regard to the attacks. Hamas's statement was emphatic, quote, Hamas denies the validity of the remarks given by the spokesperson of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Ramadan Shre, regarding the

operation of the flood of Aaksa and its motives. They continued, we have repeatedly confirmed the motives and reasons for the operation of the flood of Al-Axa and foremost are the dangers that threaten Al-Aqsa Mosque, end quote. Now clearly, despite being the spawn of the Iranian regime and doing their bidding, Hamas is sensitive about being acknowledged as toadies for the IRGC and prefer acting as if they actually wear the pants in the terrorist family. All right, when we come back, The latest from Ukraine, where Russian drone and artillery strikes have resulted in widespread power outages following Ukraine's strategic targeting and destruction of a Russian naval vessel. Plus, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Homeland Security Chief Alejandro Mayorkas

sit down with Mexican President Obrador to talk border crisis, despite the current White House preferring not to refer to it as a border crisis. I'll be right back. Hey, honey, it's mom. Did you know if we switched to Verizon we can get four phones for $0 plus four lines for $25 a line? Call me back. Me again. That's just $100 a month for four lines on unlimited welcome. Plus four phones, no trade in needed.

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See Verizon.com for details. Welcome back. We turn our attention to the war in Ukraine, where fighting between Russia and Ukraine is intensifying amid harsh winter conditions. Following Ukraine's strike on a Russian warship on Tuesday, Russia launched a retaliatory attack in Ukraine using drones and artillery to target a train station and residential areas in Kersan and Odessa, according to a report by CBS News. Russia launched nearly 50 Shahid drones and the bombardment. which killed at least five Ukrainian civilians who had gathered among a crowd of roughly 140 people to board a train to Kiev. The attack also hit a local power grid station, knocking out electricity

for roughly 70% of households in Kurson and leaving residents to contend with brutal winter temperatures. The regional governor there said it was not possible to estimate how long residents would be without power in the city. And in the city of Odessa, the drone attack reportedly killed two people and left three injured, including a 17-year-old. Ukraine's Air Force said it was able to shoot down 32 of the 46 attack drones launched in the assault by Russia. Now, Russia's targeting of Ukrainian energy infrastructure follows the same tactics that they used last winter

when they directed missiles at power stations and energy plants. This caused rolling blackouts throughout the country, leading to civilian deaths and forcing the Ukrainian government to set up heating points to keep. their population from freezing. The aerial bombardment came in the wake of a cruise missile attack by Ukraine on Tuesday in the city of Fyodosia that struck the Nova Cherkosk, a landing ship in Russia's Black Sea fleet. We should note that the toll from that strike appears to be much worse than the Kremlin is letting on. Reports initially suggested Ukraine's missile strike killed at least one Russian

sailor and left the ship with significant damage. Reports coming out of the region have, however, now suggest that the ship completely burned and sank and that dozens of sailors were killed, injured, or are missing, according to a report from the Daily Beast. The ship's commander initially tried to claim that nobody's injured, everything's great. Video footage has since found its way online showing a massive explosion. The missile strike reportedly sparked munitions on board. Independent outlet Ostra says at least 23 people on board were injured and said another 33 were missing. A retired captain from the Russian Navy speaking anonymously to local media outlets said he suspects that, quote, everyone who was on board at the time of the blast most likely died, end quote.

All right. I want to shift our focus to the situation on America's southern border, where a record surge of migrant crossings are stretching U.S. Border Patrol resources to the brink, as well as creating significant difficulties for several U.S. cities which are struggling to find sufficient resources to handle the influx of migrants now arriving on their doorsteps. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, traveled to Mexico on Wednesday for a meeting with Mexico's president to address the border crisis. The trip comes as pressure mounts on the Biden administration to take more aggressive policy steps to stem the tide of migrant crossings amid a stalemate on the issue in Congress.

Ahead of the meeting in Mexico, officials with the Department of Homeland Security outlined several proposals they intended to bring up with Mexican officials, including relocating migrants further south, cracking down on migrants smuggling along railways, and providing migrants with incentives such as visas to keep them from illegally crossing. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador referred to as Amlo, speaking ahead of the meeting, criticized the U.S. approach to the border, that'll be helpful for the meeting, saying Congress should, quote, authorize resources for cooperation and support for the Port Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, instead of putting up barriers, barbed wire fences

on the river, or thinking about building walls, end quote. Amlo apparently forgot to mention that Mexico also maintains border security and physical barriers. President Biden has struggled during his term to adequately address. address the border crisis and has faced pushback from his own party regarding any compromise with Republicans. Now, Biden attempted to win over Republican support for an emergency aid package for Ukraine in early December by offering some concessions on border reforms that would have brought back many Trump-era policies, but that plan lacked the backing of congressional Democrats. Under the Trump administration's remain in Mexico policy, the Mexican government has,

had agreed to hold migrants in border towns for months at a time as they awaited court hearings in the U.S. Later under Title 42, Mexico also agreed to take in migrants from other countries expelled by U.S. border agents. In the absence of any meaningful action from Washington, the crisis has continued to spiral out of control. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Friday that they apprehended more than 190,000 migrants between ports of entry in November alone. They said CPB agents across the U.S. border are now reporting anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000 migrant arrests a day. All told, some 2.4 million migrant apprehensions occurred along the U.S. border during the 2023 fiscal year. That's an all-time high. Now, keep in mind, when considering the scope of the border problem,

that 2.4 million number, well, those are just the known encounters, and only a small percentage were processed for removal, with the vast majority being released into the country. The number of unknowns or known gotaways, meaning illegals who entered without being apprehended, well, that number, as the term implies, is unknown, but estimates place that number during President Biden's three years in office at somewhere between 1.7 and 2 million. And with, Within those numbers, it's anyone's guess as to how many individuals on the government's terror watch list might be included. It would appear that the White House is finally sufficiently concerned about the border

to send Blinken and Majorcas to Mexico to ask for assistance from AMLO. Now, not to sound cynical, but, well, I'm about to. It's likely that the only reason the White House is now sufficiently concerned is because they're worried about the 2024 election and voter concerns about the border and the impact of large numbers of migrants on Democrat-run cities like Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Coming up in the back of the brief, a new poll shows that a shocking number of young people actually have a positive view of 9-11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. I'll be right back.

In today's back of the brief, a recent Daily Mail poll reveals a startling perspective among young Americans about Osama bin Laden. approximately 20% of those aged between 18 and 29, that's referred to as Generation Z or Gen Z. Well, they hold bin Laden, the architect of the most lethal terrorist attack on American soil, in a positive light. The survey further indicates that nearly a third of these young individuals believe the principles guiding bin Laden were, quote, a force for good, end quote. Digging deeper into the numbers,

8% of the young adults polled possess a, quote, completely positive outlook on bin Laden, with an additional 12% admitting to a somewhat positive perception of the arch terrorist. Of the respondents who viewed him favorably, 8% approve of both his ideology and his methods. Only 41% of Gen Z, has a completely negative view of bin Laden.

Let me repeat that. Only 41% of Gen Ziers surveyed, those between 18 to 29 years old, have a completely negative view of bin Laden. Now, in stark contrast to these figures, a significant majority of the total population, 81% express a negative opinion of bin Laden overall. All right?

This poll comes on the heels of a surge in TikTok content where young Americans engage with bin Laden's letter to America, showing empathy towards the al-Qaeda leader. This letter, which rationalizes the heinous acts of 9-11, seems to have influenced the perceptions of a segment of the younger generation. Now, this is admittedly one survey, okay, but it's a survey nonetheless. I mean, where to even start with these numbers? 8% of respondents have a completely positive view of bin Laden. Only 41% have a completely negative view of him. Now, I'm not a rocket scientist,

but that leaves 51% who apparently have mixed views on the Dr. Evil of our time. How does that happen? Only 22 years on from 9-11. I mean, what are you thinking? Well, dude, I mean, all the death and destruction was kind of crazy, but I liked his look. How are you conflicted in your views on bin Laden?

Look, if they conducted the survey during one of the recent anti-Semitic pro-Hamas from the river to the sea protests, well, then the numbers, I suppose, makes sense. But you would assume this was a random sample. So, you also have to assume that we have a serious breakdown in education, not to mention an inability to teach right from wrong, or to raise kids who know the difference between being a murderous, psychotic terrorist, and living a good, productive, considerate life. Look, one thing I do know.

I don't have enough gin in my bar at home to make me forget these survey results, but I'm going to give it a go. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Thursday, 28 December. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB

at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.