The President's Daily Brief - February 1st, 2023. Grand Forks, North Dakota Decides to Cancel Fufeng Mill...

Episode Date: February 1, 2023

It’s February 1st. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ A good day to you, ladies and gentlemen. I’ve got four briefs for you this morning that are shaping America — and the world. First, the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota has decided to cancel that Chinese mill that was going to be built in their city, just 16 miles from a key air force base. I’ll tell you why. Second, an update on attempts to save the Colorado River out west. States who use that water tried to come up with a negotiated deal to share the river’s resources but they failed. I’ll explain what comes next. Third, some bad news for countries looking to build factories to make their own solar panels. China just banned the export of some key equipment. Finally, an update on Cold War II. America got a couple countries to stop selling China some computer chip technology that could be used to advance Beijing’s military ambitions.  Later, we close out the podcast with a listener question about Joe Biden sending in tanks and possibly fighter jets to Ukraine. My response involves some old advice from a guy named Dirty Harry. ----- 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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A good day, ladies and gentlemen, I've got four briefs for you this morning that are shaping America and the world. First, the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota, has decided to cancel that Chinese mill that was going to be built in their city just 16 miles from a key Air Force base. I'll tell you why, and you are not going to believe the reason. Second, an update on attempts to save the Colorado River out west. States who use that water tried to come up with a negotiated deal to share the river's resources, but they failed. We'll explain what comes next. Third, some bad news for countries looking to build factories to make their own solar panels. China just banned the export of some key equipment. Finally, an update on Cold War II.

America got a couple of countries to stop selling China some computer chip technology that could be used to advance Beijing's military ambitions. Later, we close out the podcast with a listener question about Joe Biden sending in tanks and possibly fighter jets to Ukraine. My response involves some old advice from a guy named Dirty Harry. But before we get to that, we got to get started with this. The Chinese government might not be in a good mood this morning, and that's because the city council in Grand Forks, North Dakota,

is now saying that a planned investment in their town by a communist-led company will not happen after all. And that's because the council is now saying that they had no idea that the company called the Fu Fang Group was Chinese. More on that in a second. But first, a quick refresh of our memories on this story. The Hong Kong-based company called the Fu Fang Group, bought 370 acres of land for $2.6 million last year,

claiming that they wanted to build a wet corn mill on that property. Now, the mill was supposed to produce ingredients for animal feed. But even if that was true, the chairman of the Fufang group, a fellow named Li Shuchun, is a member of and has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. That is, according to a group of senators who wrote to the Departments of Defense and Treasury saying that the deal should not be allowed because of counterintelligence concerns. And that's because the mill would be 16, miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base, which houses operations critical to top U.S. intelligence,

surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. In other words, folks, the drones. Well, not surprisingly, the major drone operator at that base, a company called General Atomics, said that it firmly opposed this Chinese mill in Grand Forks, but the city just wouldn't listen. And for the past year, they haven't. The city council said that they wanted this Chinese investment, plus the jobs that would come along with it. Now, also, they said that opposing the mill was kind of xenophobic and racist. Well, we have quite a twist to this story. City officials who had long backed the project are now saying that it must be stopped,

all due to national security concerns. But the question is, why now? Why not over a year ago when this project was first launching and people expressed concerns? Well, listen to this. The city administrator, a fellow named Todd Leland, said that they were unaware that the Fufang group had connections to China. In fact, Mr. Leland said they learned that the project was Chinese-backed, quote, very late in the process, end quote. All right. Meanwhile, the city council president and mayor are now backing off their support for the project, too.

Also in full retreat is the governor of the state. Republican Doug Bergam, he previously backed the Chinese mill, but now says, well, no, thank you. So, folks, this news is late breaking with a flurry of press statements and newspaper articles this morning. So I'll bring you more details as I learned them. But I must say, if I can just offer you my analysis and opinion here, it's a little hard for me to believe that the good folks of North Dakota were suddenly surprised at the Chinese connections of an investor named the Fu Fang Group. With all due respect, why would anyone be surprised that the Fu Feng group might have some foreign and especially Chinese connections? All right, that is why I suspect that there is more to this story of all these politicians and the governor suddenly shocked about the Chinese connection.

And so whatever the actual story is here, I will try to bring it to you with a straight face. Because this is just the goopiest thing that I've ever heard of to be shocked. that the Fu Fang Group might be Chinese. No matter how absurd this gets, and I promise you it will, I will keep you posted. Next up, some important news from out west. The seven states that rely on the Colorado River for water

have failed to come up with a plan to save the dwindling supply of water from that river. And now the federal government, they have to step in. Now, before I get into the details here, let's remind ourselves of why this issue is one that concerns not just folks out west or even in America, but rather all around the world.

And that's because of this. In California alone, they produce over $50 billion worth of agricultural goods each year that in part rely on water from that river. So if those farmers run short of irrigation, your grocery bill will be impacted. And frankly, the grocery bills of other folks all around the world, even if they're not aware. All right, with that, let's get to what we know.

For years now, the 7th. states that rely on the Colorado River for water have been in quite a fight. And that's because there have been years of drought that have less and less water to pull from, to either irrigate crops in states like California, but also to provide drinking water to cities in Arizona and Nevada. Meanwhile, the country of Mexico has a claim on this water, too, as the Colorado eventually empties into the Gulf of California. In other words, there are a lot of straws in the water, taking out allotments each year based on water rights. So the question becomes in an era of drought, who gets what water and who has to sacrifice? Well, six of the seven states involved,

including Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, they all said, look, let's all just sacrifice some. How about that? Well, the farmers in California said, well, maybe. And that's because they have the oldest water rights, generally speaking, so these other states, they said, need to sacrifice more. Now, the California farmers also did say, look, we'll cut back our water allotments, even more than everybody else, but we better get paid pretty handsomely in our small towns, too. And our water rights, well, they still better be respected when the rains eventually returned, and the river and the reservoirs fill back up. Right. So that's been the general argument between these states and the parties for frankly years now. And they had until yesterday to

come up with a solution or otherwise the federal government would step in and make the final decision for everybody. Well, yesterday came and went with no agreement. Instead, there were two competing plans, one by California and the other by, well, all the other states. So what comes next? And who wins this fight? Well, we'll have to wait probably two to three more months, that's when the federal government will likely decide who gets what. And depending on that answer, it could have very clear impacts on your grocery bill if farmers and ranchers can't grow or raise much stuff. And if you live in cities out west, the price and availability of your drinking water

will likely be impacted too. Either way, I will keep you posted on what the federal government decides here. It is a big deal for lots of folks involved. With that, ladies and gentlemen, let's take a quick break. When we come back, I've got two more critical pieces of news for you. So hang tight, and we will be right back. Welcome back to the PDB. I've got two more critical pieces of news for you this morning.

First up, some important developments on the energy front. The oil cartel OPEC Plus is meeting today to discuss production numbers. Well, most folks believe that they will leave things as they are, no increases or decreases in production that could affect oil price. In fact, on Monday, the president of Russia, of course, Vladimir Putin, held a call with Saudi Arabia's leadership on which production path they should take to either increase or decrease production. Now, the Kremlin didn't tip its hat on the conversation, but they confirmed that they

would be a part of the virtual meeting of this OPEC Plus that starts today. Meanwhile, some important energy news out of China, and this one has to do with dirty green energy, specifically whether you'll be able to buy solar panels made from anywhere other than China. And the answer is probably not, not for a few more years anyway. So here's why. According to the Asia Times, the Chinese ministries of commerce and science and technology announced yesterday that they had slapped export controls on the machinery and the technology involved in the making of key solar panel pieces, something called the ingots and the wafers. Now, if you remember the brief on this from December 26th, the analogy that we used was sort of like baking bread.

The loaf was the ingot and the bread slices were the wafers. And when you create those loaves and those slices, you need certain machines and processes. Well, right now, for the most advanced ingots and wafers, China has a 96% control of that global supply, largely because they control the machines and the processes. and that is what they just announced that they will no longer sell to the world. As you can probably guess, the reason that they don't want to sell that stuff is that they're trying to keep as much of that 96% market share as possible. I mean, naturally, they want to control and leverage the dirty green revolution, much in the same way as OPEC plus does with oil.

All right, so how does this impact you? well with these new rules no other country can buy this advanced equipment meaning that no other country can build their own solar panel supply chain not immediately anyway it'll take a couple of years for non-Chinese companies to build these specialized well bread machines in other words to make the ingots and the wafers and that means if you want a good solar panel you're going to have to buy a chinese product at least for a couple more years now i should note that for my fellow americans there is one company that I briefed you on that's trying to manufacture these panels here in the U.S. from soup to nuts. It's called Q-cells, and they're building plants in Dalton and Cartersville, Georgia to do it. But those plants and those machines won't be up and running for another year or two, and that, at least that time estimate, was before yesterday's announcement. So all in all, folks, if I can offer you my analysis and opinion,

this move yesterday by China means that we're likely going to see a slowdown of, of the development of solar farms for probably the next couple of years. And that's especially because China has such a lock on solar panel production, of course, and in America, we can't buy these panels because of a law related to slave labor. You may recall, it's all about the Uyghur people, right? But also, I'll tell you, I think that this just underlines the national security concerns that I've long highlighted around dirty green energy. Right?

China controls it. It's just simple as that. and they know what they've got. I'll keep watching for developments on this one, and if this news out of China impacts the launch of those solar plants in Georgia, I will absolutely let you know. Finally, this morning, an update on Cold War II. That's the series I launched yesterday,

talking about how the world is entering into a new Cold War of sorts, but not between the Soviet Union and America, but rather China and America. Well, this morning, I've got an update on some more allies that we can add to the pro-America side of this global competition. And it has to do with those computer chips that I briefed you about previously, who makes them and who controls them. So over the weekend, the countries of Japan and the Netherlands

quietly agreed with officials in Washington, D.C., that they would start restricting the sale of advanced computer chip equipment to China. And without those advanced machines, Beijing is going to struggle mightily to make sophisticated computer chips necessary. to build better and faster and smarter military weaponry. Now, to get into the details here, the Japanese government agreed to slap export controls on the equipment made by the Japanese company's Nikon and Tokyo Electron.

Now, as of now, neither of those companies can sell a piece of equipment called the immersion lithography. Meanwhile, the Dutch government will bar a company of theirs called ASML Holding from selling a similar type of machinery, although it's a more advanced version called Extreme Ultraviolet or EUVs. So that's a big development, but if I could offer one little bit of analysis and opinion here, I don't think that the good news here is that China won't get these advanced machines. I think at best it'll slow their progress for a time.

And that's because Beijing has shown the world again and again that it will steal, it will hack and it will bribe its way to getting whatever it wants. I would bet you a dollar, or even two, that they will do so again here. So instead, I think that the good news on this brief is that two more countries understand that China is such a serious threat to global peace and prosperity that they are willing to hobble their domestic industries to try to stop them. And that's really the goal of Cold War II, to build alliances around. the world that bit by bit cordoned off the poison that is communist China. And with that, ladies and

gentlemen, we conclude your morning brief. But I've got one more thing before I let you go. We will be right back. Welcome back to the PDB folks. I've got one more thing before I let you go. I got an email from Josh in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who commented on all those tanks that America and Germany are sending to Ukraine. So here was his question and feedback. Hey, Brian, didn't Biden say that sending tanks or planes to Ukraine would result in World War III? Because I think he did. What made him change his mind? All right, Josh, you, sir, are correct.

Great catch. All right. So here's the history of this. So in late February of last year, the country of Poland offered to supply about 30 MiG-29 jets to Ukraine. Now, those were Soviet jets. They first went into service back around early 1980s. Well, Biden at the time turned that offer down. In fact, on March 9th, his spokesman John Kirby said this.

Quote, the intelligence community has assessed that the transfer of Meg 29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in significant Russian reaction. End quote, adding that such a transfer would be, quote, high risk two days later on March 11th. Mr. Biden was speaking with fellow Democrats in Philadelphia when he said, this about the ask, quote, the idea that we're going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks going in with American pilots and crews, just understand that is called World War III, end quote. Now, of course, the proposal by the Polish government wasn't to have American pilots and American crews in those planes. Ukrainian pilots would have flown those migs back to Ukraine, right? They just needed Biden to chop off on the idea, because of

it was so risky, so escalatory. And Biden refused because, again, he and the CIA assess that it could cause World War III. Okay, so Josh, those are the facts. What are we to make of that? Why did Biden change his mind about what could cause World War III? Because I think a reasonable person could listen to what I just said and say, yeah, I think he did more or less change his mind there. Well, let me offer you my analysis and opinion. And let's briefly go through the arc of this war. Right? So last winter at this time, the Pentagon and CIA made the assessment that the Russians were very strong militarily. That's why Biden offered President Zelensky, recall, a ride out of Ukraine. The whole country was going to fall. Also, the Pentagon and the CIA believed that Moscow had profound cyber attack capabilities and maybe, just maybe, they would be willing to use their nuclear weapons, even if just in a show of force.

and so our military and intelligence communities were very alarmed about escalating. So instead of giving advanced equipment, we first sort of dipped our toes into the water last spring with some very modest equipment, you know, the drones and some limited artillery systems. And then we waited for Moscow to respond. But you know what? They didn't. No real cyber attacks or sabotage operations. And so we stuck in a couple more of our toes. and then our whole foot. More weapons, greater range, more lethal aid of all kinds. And still,

no real response from Russia. Well, to the Pentagon and the CIA, that meant that their fears of escalation were probably overblown. Plus, they saw Russia's military out on the battlefield, and they were sort of a shell of what they thought they would be. So now we are going to go just knee deep in this water, right? Just forget the toes. We're giving them 10,000. We're giving them tanks, maybe even jets. And yes, that violates the promise of Joe Biden last spring of World War 3. Because now, to be fair, he's working with a new calculus. So long as there's no Russian reaction, we're going to keep escalating. The problem, though, with this line of thinking is that at some point, there will be a red line where Russia's president of Vladimir Putin or somebody in his

regime will say enough. Right. The question, is, what's that red line? I don't know. And to be honest, the Pentagon and the CIA, they don't know either. Because obviously they got it wrong last winter and spring. They thought that tanks would start World War III.

And so did Biden. Well, now obviously they don't. So again, I ask, what is the red line? Well, I think that the best way to think about this is an old line from Dirty Harry. Do you remember it? Clint Eastwood looks at the punk in front of him and says, quote, you got to ask yourself one question, do I feel lucky?

And that's the moment of history that we are all living in with this war in Ukraine. Do we feel lucky? Because, I mean, to date, we have been. We've escalated in, well, no real response from Moscow. But will that be true in the future? I hope so. I hope that whatever next round of equipment doesn't trip across some sort of red line that nobody's aware of. But that kind of thinking makes me nervous, right?

Luck isn't something that I want to govern the nation on, especially when the punk in front of me has a nuclear button that he can push at any time. I don't want to press my luck on that. I want to sue for peace. And then find a plan to deal with Putin and the Russian. in other ways. And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes your morning brief. As always, we close out the show reminding each other of why we are here, talking about our country and our world. It's the creed of every good spy and every smart American. It's from John, chapter 8, verse 32. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Good day.