The President's Daily Brief - February 15th, 2024: Gaza Ceasefire Remains Elusive, North Korea's Provocations, Ukraine's Naval Victory, & Chinese Flood US Border

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:     Negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continue to drag on as mediators struggle to bridge the divide between the two sides on a number of critical issues. Kim Jong Un is once again engaging in provocations on the Korean peninsula, firing multiple cruise missiles into the sea on Wednesday. The Ukrainian military has scored another major naval victory against Russian forces off the coast of Crimea, sinking a large Russian landing ship on Wednesday in an operation involving naval drones. In our 'Back of the Brief' segment, we’ll discuss rising concerns over illegal border crossings by Chinese nationals, which have increased by a staggering 500 percent in the San Diego sector since last year. 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

This podcast is sponsored by Blackout Coffee. Kickstart your day with a delicious cup of American-made Blackout Coffee, family-owned, premium coffee, fresh-roasted, and shipped out within 48 hours of roasting. Look, I've said this before, I'll say it again. It's like taking the beans right out of the roaster and putting them in your cup. Go to blackout coffee.com, promo code PDB, for 20% off your first purchase. It's Thursday, 15 February. 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 kick things off in the Middle East, where negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continue to drag on as mediators struggle to bridge the divide between the two sides on a number of critical issues. Later, we'll look at Kim Jong-un's latest provocation on the Korean Peninsula.

Seriously, he has got to get out. He has got to get a hobby other than just provoking angst on the Korean Peninsula. We'll also look at Ukraine's most recent naval victory over Russia in the Black Sea. And in today's back of the brief, we'll discuss rising concerns over illegal border crossings by Chinese nationals, which have increased by a staggering 500% in the San Diego sector alone since last year. But first up, the PDB spotlight. We'll begin in the Middle East with the latest regarding the complex ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

CIA director William Burns, who was in Egypt for negotiations on Tuesday, left the region without making any material progress on a ceasefire deal between Israel or Hamas to free the remaining hostages being held in Gaza, and that's according to a Wall Street Journal report. Burns held discussions throughout Tuesday with his counterparts from Israel and Egypt, along with the Prime Minister of Qatar, in an effort to move the needle on the stalled negotiations. While there were no breakthroughs, the discussions will continue for another three days or so between lower-level officials, according to the New York Times. Egyptian and American officials familiar with the discussions called them promising, but said there remains a wide gulf between Israel and Hamas on key issues. The parties remained at odds over the potential duration of a ceasefire,

as well as how many Palestinian prisoners Israel would release in exchange for the remaining hostages. Israeli negotiators have said that Hamas' demands for a deal are wildly unrealistic. Even President Biden has described the Hamas list of demands as, quote, over the top. While the Biden administration and mediators in Egypt and Qatar have sought at least a six-week pause in fighting to facilitate a hostage swap, Hamas is seeking a longer-term ceasefire, potentially lasting more than four months, as well as the withdrawal of Israeli forces from key areas of Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners,

including those serving life sentences. Their original demands had Hamas' insisting that they be responsible for naming at least one-third of the released prisoners. The negotiations come as Israel is preparing for a potential incursion into the city of Rafa in southern Gaza to root out Hamas fighters. It's estimated that roughly 1.2 million Palestinians have taken refuge in the city, and concerns, of course, are mounting over the potential for civilian casualties should Israel move in. For their part, Israel has for proposed an evacuation plan for Rafa that involves building 15 campsites of around 25,000 tents each in the southwestern part of the Gaza Strip. These camps would include field hospitals,

sanitation facilities, and access to water, and the areas would be overseen by Egypt. Officials in the region, however, have not publicly commented on the proposal. Egyptian mediators have reportedly warned Hamas that they likely have less than two weeks to agree to a tentative ceasefire outlined with Israel to avert a military invasion of Rafah. The Israelis consider Rafah the group's last

remaining stronghold. Israeli officials do not appear as hopeful as their U.S. counterparts that a deal with Hamas will materialize. An official with Netanyahu's office said Wednesday that they will not be sending an Israeli delegation back to Cairo for follow-up talks until Hamas shows that they are willing to take the discussions seriously.

The unnamed officials said, quote, Israel did not receive any new proposal in Cairo from Hamas on the release of our hostages and that Israel would not give in to Hamas's delusional demands. The official added that, quote, a change in Hamas' position will allow the negotiations to advance. As the ceasefire talks continue through Friday, without Israel, things are heating up again along Israel's northern border with Lebanon. Israel carried out extensive airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, after a Hezbollah rocket struck a military base near the city of Safed, killing an Israeli soldier and wounding eight others.

The escalation threatens to derail a proposal from France for a truce between Israel and Hezbollah, which seeks to ensure the back and forth that Israel's northern border doesn't be. devolve into a full-blown war. Now, the fundamental problem with the negotiations between Israel and the Iran-backed Hamas is this. Israel has repeatedly stated that their primary objective is ensuring that Hamas no longer has the ability to govern Gaza and to continue its efforts to attack and destroy Israel. Obviously, on the other side of the equation, Hamas has no desire or intention to give up its position of power in Gaza. Bottom line, considering those two diametrically opposed positions, there's no room for compromise. Coming up after the break, we'll discuss the latest provocation

by Kim Jong-un on the Korean Peninsula, as well as the recent blow that Ukraine dealt to Russian's Navy off the coast of Crimea. I'll be right back. Welcome back. Kim Jong-un is once again engaging in provocations on the Korean Peninsula as the regime continues to ratchet up tensions with their neighbors in the South. It's like every day Kim wakes up and chooses confrontation. Officials with the South Korean military said that North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles into the sea on Wednesday, marking their fifth test of these weapons since the New Year began. South Korea's joint chiefs of staff did not elaborate on how many missiles were fired and intelligence officials in South Korea and U.S. said they were still, quote, conducting a detailed

analysis, according to a report by Fox News. It was the sixth missile launch by North Korea this year, which includes their testing of a solid fuel intermediate range missile on January 14th, which was outfitted with a hypersonic warhead. The latest test followed a recent warning by South Korean officials that the Kim regime was preparing to test fire an intercontinental ballistic missile within the month. In a statement Wednesday, South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said, quote, while strengthening surveillance and vigilance, our military is cooperating closely with the United States and closely monitoring additional signs and activities from North Korea, end quote. As we've discussed regularly on the PDB, North Korea has been aggressively escalating tensions

on the Korean Peninsula ever since launching a spy satellite last November. aboard an ICBM. Since then, we've seen the collapse of a 2018 Inter-Korean Pact, renewed military activity along the DMZ, and several provocative ballistic and cruise missile launches by the Kim regime. These provocations also included the testing of a nuclear-capable underwater attack drone in January that could reportedly be used to target naval vessels and U.S. ports in the region. That weapon can allegedly trigger a large radioactive wave through an underwater explosion, I know it sounds very bond-like, although doubts remain about its true capabilities. In January, North Korea effectively cut off diplomatic ties with South Korea and ended their

decades-long commitment to reunification. Kim Jong-un also continues to use aggressive rhetoric, threatening to annihilate South Korea with nuclear weapons, if provoked. Yeah, that's aggressive rhetoric. Amid the ongoing threats, we're also learning that North Korea successfully hacked the personal communications of an aid to the South Korean president, that's according to an exclusive BBC report. The concerning breach and security reportedly occurred last November, though tight-lipped officials didn't reveal what information was accessed.

It marks the first time that North Korea's increasingly sophisticated cyber hacking operations successfully infiltrated the device of a member of the president's staff. Now, it's worth noting that any advancements or improvements in North Korea's cyber shenanigans can be attributed to assistance, training, and support from either China or Russia or both. Shifting gears to the war with Russia, the Ukrainian military has scored another major naval victory against Russian forces off the coast of Crimea. As we've previously discussed, the PDB. Ukraine's efforts against Russia's Navy have been a singular bright spot for leaders in Kiev as they continue to grapple with Moscow's ground forces on the front lines in Ukraine. Officials

with the Ukraine military said Wednesday that they had successfully sank a large Russian landing ship in the Black Sea in an operation involving naval drones. The drones struck the port side of the landing ship known as the Caesar Kunikov, puncturing critical holes in the vessel, according to a report CNN. The operation was reportedly carried out by Ukraine's Group 13, and that's a special forces unit under Keeves' military intelligence agency. Officials told CNN that Ukraine has now, quote, disabled a third of the Russian Black Sea fleet. Since the outbreak of the war, Ukraine has destroyed or disabled 25 of Russia's naval vessels, along with a submarine. These are believed to comprise more than 30 percent of Russia's warships.

The landing ship had reportedly been docked in the area for about 10 days, as Russian forces loaded it with weapons and military equipment. Ukrainian officials said they believe the vessel was fully loaded at the time of the drone strike. NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called the operation a, quote, Great Victory for Ukrainians, and noted that their successes against Russia's Black Sea Fleet have opened up a shipping order in the region, allowing Ukraine to efficiently move their grain exports to the European market. Stoltenberg added, quote, few believe this was possible just a few months ago, but now, actually, the export of grain from Ukraine takes place even without an agreement with Russia, end quote. Ukrainian authorities have said that the grain exports have now returned to pre-war levels.

All right. Coming up in today's back of the brief, we'll discuss rising concerns. over the substantial increase in illegal border crossings into the U.S. by Chinese nationals. I'll be right back. In today's back of the brief, officials are raising concerns over the substantial increase in Chinese migrants crossing through the poorest U.S. southern border. Recently released figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials show illegal crossings by Chinese nationals in the San Diego sector have increased by more. than 500% since this time last year. CBP agents said that since October 1st, the start of the new fiscal year, more than 20,000 Chinese nationals have poured across the border, and that's according

to a report by Fox News. CBP agents say the Chinese are now the fastest growing demographic illegally entering the U.S. In a shocking illustration of this increase, CBP agents said earlier this week, they arrested 269 Chinese migrants in a single day in the San Diego sector. Now, to put that into perspective, for the entire 2021 fiscal year, the CBP only reported 450 encounters with Chinese nationals at the U.S. Board. 450 encounters in the entire fiscal year. And early this week, We had 269 in one day. The rapid influx is raising national security concerns as fears grow that some of these nationals could have ties to China's Communist Party, do you think?

Officials have noted that the majority of Chinese migrants are military age, single males. Now, Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Fox News, quote, that is a very scary prospect. We know that China doesn't like us. Okay, that's not a statement of the obvious. Oh, it is. We know that we are in the crosshairs of China, and they are exporting so many people to our country, and you have to really fear about that, end quote. The concerns echo those recently expressed by a group of former top FBI officials in a letter to Congress. They noted that military-aged men, quote, are landing in waves on our soil by the thousands,

and added that it is, quote, difficult to overstate the danger represented by, by the presence inside our borders of what is comparatively a multi-division army of young single-adult adult males from hostile nations." And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Thursday, 15 February. 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.