The President's Daily Brief - February 22nd, 2024: Farmers Rebel Across Europe, Iran Restocks Russia's Dwindling Missiles, & Israel Unifies Against A Palestinian State

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:     Farmer protests continue to sweep across Europe as the sector rebels against cheap Ukrainian agricultural imports and extreme environmental policies from the EU. Iran has reportedly sent more than 400 ballistic missiles to restock Russia's dwindling supplies for their war in Ukraine. Israel’s parliament roundly rejected international calls, including from the U.S., to establish a Palestinian state in the region during a recent session. In our 'Back of the Brief' segment, a dual Russian-American citizen has reportedly been arrested in Russia on charges of treason for allegedly donating just $51 to Ukraine. 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

Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Because behind every headline is a bottom line. Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings, there's a money side to every story. And when you see the money side, you understand what others miss. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. It's Thursday, 22 February. Welcome to the president's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Bay. Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. We'll kick things off in Europe, where farmer protests continue to sweep across the continent as the sector rebels against cheap Ukrainian agricultural imports, as well as extreme environmental policies being dictated from the EU. Later, we'll look at reports that Iran has sent more than 400 ballistic missiles to Russia for their war in Ukraine. As well as the Israeli party, Parliament's unified rejection of recent calls to create a Palestinian state.

And finally, in today's back of the brief, a dual Russian-American citizen has reportedly been arrested in Russia on charges of treason for allegedly donating $51, that's $5.151 to Ukraine. But first up, the PDB spotlight. Let's begin in Europe with our ongoing coverage of the farmer protests, which continue to rage as frustrations mount over a range of issues, including cheap agricultural imports from a war-torn Ukraine. Now, the issue of cheap Ukrainian imports is at the top of the list of grievances for farmers in Poland. They sparked widespread anger within Ukraine on Tuesday when they formed a near total blockade of all Ukrainian border crossings, according to a report from the New York Times.

An estimated 3,000 Ukrainian trucks were blocked at the border with some farmers going so far, as to open train cars containing Ukrainian grain and letting it all spill out onto the railways. One Polish farmer was quoted as shouting, It's either us or them. As we've covered before on the PDB, Polish farmers and truckers began conducting intermittent blockades of their border with Ukraine in November of last year, as economic frustrations began to bubble over.

Tuesday's demonstration marked an escalation, however, prompting counter-protests in Ukraine and condemnation. from leaders in Kiev. Ole Nikolenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, said the protests, quote, undermine Ukraine's economy and its resilience to repel Russian aggression, end quote. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy called on Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and other ministers to meet with Ukrainian officials at the border to try to diffuse tensions. Ukrainian officials alerted the European Commission to the spilling of their grain

and said they expected the body to take comprehensive action. The Polish president addressed the situation Tuesday, saying his government is negotiating with the farmers and trade unions, and that he hopes to reach a resolution soon. Officials in Warsaw and much of the Polish population have been staunch supporters of the Ukrainian cause, particularly given their own proximity to Russia. The economic strains caused by the EU's prioritization of Ukrainian exports, however, is becoming a key issue for much of the country's domestic industry and is highlighting the simmering economic tensions that Putin's war in Ukraine have caused to reverberate across

the European continent. Now, it's worth briefly revisiting how we arrived at this point. At the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the European Union suspended a system that had required all trucks crossing the border to have a permit, along with tariffs and quotas on their goods entering Europe. The EU's intention was to ensure that the Ukrainian economy could still compete while under a assault by the Russian military. Polish truckers, however, say the effects of this free flow of goods have greatly damaged their own ability to compete. Elsewhere in Europe, farmer protests also continued this week, with massive demonstrations hitting Spain and Greece. In Spain, hundreds of farmers traveled with their tractors to Central Madrid on Wednesday as part of their biggest protest yet

in the country, with many carrying signs that read, quote, there is no life without farming, and also farmers in extinction. In Greece, an estimated 8,000 farmers with more than 130 tractors descended on Athens on Tuesday in the biggest agricultural protest to hit the country so far. And trust me, the traffic in Athens does not need any more disturbances. They organized outside the Parliament building, demanding the government address high energy prices and production costs. The protests are a continuation of what we've seen from farmers throughout Europe,

over the past few weeks. While anger differs from country to country over specific domestic issues, the farmers are widely united in opposition to environmental proposals from EU bureaucrats in Brussels that threaten to devastate Europe's agricultural sector in the name of climate change, or global warming, or climate justice, or whatever the term is that we're using now. As the EU seeks to become carbon neutral by 2050, there is mounting resentment from a variety of of industries over the policies being proposed to achieve this result. While the EU has recently made some concessions, farmers say they don't go far enough to address their concerns. Agricultural experts in Europe say they expect these social and economic unrest currently plaguing the continent

to continue ahead of EU parliamentary elections in June. As we discussed last week on the PDB, these elections will likely determine the future of the EU's environmental agenda. All right, Coming up after the break, Iran has reportedly sent more than 400 ballistic missiles to Russia for their war in Ukraine. Plus, Israel's parliament rejected international calls, including from the U.S., to establish a Palestinian state in the region during a recent session. I'll be right back. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon.

Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Kayak, got that right. Welcome back. As we've been reporting here on the PDB, Iran has been critical to Russia's ability to sustain its war efforts in Ukraine.

Since the conflict's earliest days, Iran has been supplying the Russian armed forces with much-needed munitions, including one-way drones and artillery shells. Well, it looks like Moscow is, once again, turning to its friends in Tehran to fill a critical gap in its arsenal. According to our report from Reuters, Iran is now arming Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles. Now, for those of you who are not rocket scientists, surface-to-surface missiles, of course, are launched from ground-based platforms to strike at land-based targets. The report claims that Iran is providing around 400 missiles, capable of striking targets at between 186 and 435 miles.

The shipment of missiles began in early January and was part of a deal that was inked between the two nations late last year. As of right now, there have been four shipments of the weapons with more expected in the coming weeks. One Iranian official told Reuters, quote, There is no reason to hide it. We are allowed to export weapons to any country that we wish to. Hmm, so there, take that. Russia has a huge appetite for these ballistic missiles because they've been central to their efforts to sap Ukraine's will to fight. This particular type of close-range missile

is used to target Ukraine's civilian and critical infrastructure. According to estimates, Russia has launched over 10,000 missiles and drones at various targets around Ukraine. Now, as we've been reporting, Russia has also been acquiring ballistic missiles from North Korea, but apparently that hasn't been working out as well. According to reports from Ukrainian officials, the missiles Moscow sourced from Pyongyang are not as reliable as Russia had likely hoped. Yeah, you hope that the missiles you buy are going to be accurate. In recent weeks, Russia was only able to hit two targets, two targets after firing 24 North Korean missiles. Now, my math may be a little bit rusty, but I believe that that is a success rate. rate of only around 8%.

Although, as they say in North Korean missile advertisements, 8% of the time, they're successful 100% of the time. It's a good marketing pitch. The Russian resupply comes at a precarious time for Ukraine, which is running low on air defense interceptors to defend its cities against missile attacks. Without more resources from Western nations, including, of course, the U.S., that shortfall in missile defense capabilities

is likely to have an increasingly negative impact on Ukraine's ability to defend its civilian population and critical infrastructure. All right, turning now to the Middle East. Despite numerous divisions that have surfaced within the Israeli government over the past four months, there is consensus on a critical issue, the potential establishment of a Palestinian state. On Wednesday, the Knesset, Israel's parliament, voted 99 to 120 to formally reject the unilateral creation of a Palestinian state declaring, Quote, such recognition in the wake of the October 7th massacre

would be a massive and unprecedented reward to terrorism and would prevent any future peace settlement, end quote. Now, this vote is largely symbolic, but the overwhelming support, even among Israel's opposition parties, sends a big message to the international community. That includes some folks in the White House who see the establishment of a Palestinian state as the solution to many of the region's current problems.

Needless to say, it's a major victory for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, for whom a Palestinian state, at least at this point in time, remains a non-starter. Reacting to the vote, Netanyahu said, quote, the Knesset came together in an overwhelming majority against the attempt to impose on us the establishment of a Palestinian state, which would not only fail to bring peace, but would endanger the state of Israel, end quote. While the vote is a rebuke of the international pressure campaign for the two-state solution, it's worth noting, that the resolution passed by the Knesset doesn't explicitly rule out the possibility of a Palestinian state at some point in the future. The resolution reads, quote, Israel utterly rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. A settlement, if it is to be reached, and that's the important part there, will come about solely through direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions, end quote. In short,

they're saying Israel will not allow a Palestinian state to be imposed. by outside forces, any future state would have to be negotiated by Israel and the Palestinians directly. This is a nod to Israel's longstanding insistence on their absolute right to self-determination. Coming up in today's back of the brief, we'll discuss the case of a dual Russian-American citizen who has reportedly been arrested in Russia on charges of treason for allegedly donating $51 to Ukraine. I'll be right 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 usa.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply. In today's back of the brief, the Putin regime has again sparked international outrage. I mean, after all, it's kind of their signature move. As reports emerged that a dual Russian-American citizen has been arrested in Russia on charge of. of treason for allegedly donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity. Russia's FSB claimed a woman in 33-year-old Xenia Carolina was, quote, providing financial assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against Russian security. Yes, she donated 51 bucks. That's going to bring down Russian security. They also accused her of engaging in, quote,

public actions to support the Kiev regime and said their investigation is ongoing. That's according to a CNN report. Carolina, a former ballerina who resides in Los Angeles, reportedly traveled to Russia to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, parents, and younger sister on January 2nd. U.S. officials say they subsequently learned about her arrest on February 8th. So what was her purported crime? Well, her U.S. employer, a spa in Beverly Hills, California, said in a statement

that her arrest was triggered by a $51.80. Oh, it's probably the 80 cents that really got the Russians. $51.80 donation to a U.S.-based Ukrainian charity. Officials for the U.S. State Department said that while they are aware of the situation, Russia has not granted them any access to Carolina. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, quote, Russia does not recognize dual citizenship, considers them to be Russian citizens first and foremost, and so oftentimes we have a very difficult time getting consular assistance, but we will pursue it in all matters where a U.S. citizen is detained.

end quote. Her hearing in Russia has reportedly been postponed until February 29th. Now, Razum for Ukraine, the group that she donated to, said that they were, quote, appalled by her arrest and slammed the Putin regime for their repressive tactics. They urged the U.S. government to do everything in their power to see her released. And here, I'd be remiss. If I didn't also mention the ongoing detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gerskovich and also Paul Weillan, Wieland, a corporate security executive. that's been held since 2018, and it's currently dealing with a 16-year sentence for espionage, the same charge that was leveled by the Russians against Kerskiewicz, who was detained back in March

of 2023. Now, both are being held without any evidence being presented, which is basically standard practice for Putin's government and court system, if you can call it a court system. Both are being held on trumped-up charges, and likely they're being viewed by the Putin regime as leverage or trade bait. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Thursday, 22 February. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.

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