The President's Daily Brief - January 25th, 2024: Red Sea & Red China, POW Tragedy, & Canada’s Constitutional Crisis

Episode Date: January 25, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: The United States seeks assistance from China in addressing the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Russia alleges Ukraine shot down a military plane carrying Russian POWs. Slovakia shows signs of shifting its position on the Ukraine conflict. Hungary's Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, indicates a potential end to his block on Sweden's NATO bid. A Canadian federal court finds Justin Trudeau's emergency powers during a 2022 protest unconstitutional. 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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This podcast is sponsored by Blackout Coffee. Get your morning started off right with a great cup of American-made Blackout Coffee, family-owned, premium coffee, fresh-roasted, and shipped out within 48 hours of roasting. Go to blackout coffee.com, promo code PDB, for 20% off your first purchase. It's Thursday, 25 January. 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, we'll return to the Red Sea, where the United States is asking for assistance in dealing with the ongoing Iranian-backed Houthi militant attacks from an unlikely source, and that would be China. Later on in the program, Russia accuses Ukraine

of shooting down a military plane carrying dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Plus, a pair of updates out of Europe, as the nation of Slovakia softens its stance on the Ukraine war, and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban appears ready to lift a opposition to Sweden joining NATO. Finally, in today's back of the brief, a federal court in Canada deals a major blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, declaring his 2022 use of emergency powers to break up a pandemic protest unconstitutional. But first up, the PDB spotlight. On Wednesday, Yemen's Houthi militants launched their latest ballistic missile attacks on a pair of American-flagged ships, These vessels, the Marisk Detroit and the Mariskschesapeake, were reportedly ferrying cargo for the U.S.

Defense and State Departments. Both ships emerged from the attack unscathed, and the crews were unharmed. Reports indicate that the U.S. Navy was providing the ships an escort at the time and successfully intercepted the incoming fire. Now, while the Houthis continue their attacks on maritime shipping, there have been several countries that have thus far gotten a free pass, most notably China. For them, things are business as usual, and in fact, the proportion of Chinese shipping and Red Sea container traffic has begun to rise dramatically. As a matter of fact, many China-linked ships have been broadcasting

all Chinese or Chinese ship as they transit through the Red Sea to avoid coming under attack. Now, part of the deference being shown to China by the Iran-backed Houthis comes from the fact that the Chinese Communist Party has been calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, aligning with the alleged motives of the Houthis. However, the more important reason is China's economic relationship with the Houthis sponsors, and of course, that would be Iran. China is by far Iran's most important trading partner. So it's the opposite of surprising that Iran has instructed the Houthis not to disrupt or fire on Chinese flagged vessels. As of 2021, the most recent year on which we could find data, a full 37% of Iran's exports make their way to China, compared to its second biggest partner, Iraq,

which takes in about 17% of Iran's exports. China also represents around a quarter of Iran's imports. So needless to say, China has quite a bit of leverage over Iran, and for that reason, the United States has turned to China for assistance or to attempt to assist in managing the Houthi crisis. A new Financial Times report reveals that U.S. officials have employed China to persuade Tehran to control the Houthi militants responsible for the maritime attacks. Now, despite these discussions over the past three months, U.S. efforts seem to have yielded a little more than tepid statements. from Beijing, and I, for one, am shocked that the Chinese regime hasn't rushed to the defense of the U.S. and Western allies being impacted by the Houthi missile extravaganza. Now, Chinese diplomats have indeed made some calls for peace, but have stopped short of denouncing the Houthis or actively participating in any peacekeeping efforts. Foreign ministry

spokesperson Mao Neng acknowledged China's, quote, deep concern over the Red Sea's escalating tensions, but remained elusive regarding concrete actions. For its part, China says it has been in close communication with all parties involved, and they claim they're making efforts to de-escalate, but they clearly have little to show for it at this point, and given the fact that the Chinese shipping industry is currently benefiting greatly from the chaos, the U.S. requests may yield little to nothing in meaningful action from Xi Jinping's regime. All right, after the break.

Russia accuses Ukraine. of shooting down a military plane, carrying dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and a pair of U-turns from hard-line leaders in Eastern Europe on the war in Ukraine and NATO expansion. 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.

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I want to turn our attention to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict. Officials in Moscow accused Ukraine on Wednesday of shooting down a Russian military transport plane that they claim was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war to a prisoner exchange, close to the Russian city of Belgarod, near the Ukrainian border. Russian officials called it a barbaric act of terrorism and said all 74 people aboard the plane, including the 65 Ukrainian prisoners, were killed in the strike. Officials had said that a prisoner exchange was set for Wednesday afternoon at a border checkpoint near Belgarod, according to Reuters. A statement from Ukraine's military intelligence appeared to tacitly acknowledge that they had indeed shot down the Ilyushan-76 military transport plane,

though they did not directly admit to the action or comment on the alleged presence of Ukrainian POWs. These officials said they were not informed by their Russian counterparts to ensure safe airspace around Belgarod as they had done during previous prisoner swaps and suggested that Russia had orchestrated a deliberately dangerous situation. The statement did appear to acknowledge that a prisoner swap was scheduled between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine's military intelligence, said in the statement on Wednesday, quote, We may be talking about planned and deliberate actions of the Russian Federation with the aim of destabilizing the situation in Ukraine

and weakening international support for our state, end quote. Officials with the Ukrainian military added that they had observed an increase in Russian military transport activity in Belgarod, which they suggested was linked to recent Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities that have killed and injured a large number of civilians. In a post on telegram, Ukrainian officials said, quote, With this in mind, the armed forces of Ukraine will continue to take measures to destroy means of delivery and exercise airspace control to eliminate the terrorist threat,

including in the Belgarod-Karkev direction, end quote. Ukraine's general staff had initially suggested that the plane was transporting missiles for Russia's S-300 air defense systems, but has not offered further clarity. At this time, none of the details of the reported crash can be independently verified. Meanwhile, Russian officials have called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to address the incident. The Russian Defense Ministry said in the statement Wednesday, quote, by committing this terrorist act, the Ukrainian leadership has showed its true face.

It disregarded the lives of its own citizens, end quote. Now, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday that they had no additional insights into the incident, but are, quote, obviously doing the best we can to try to get more clarity and more information on it, end quote. The PDB team will also work to get additional insight over the next day or two, and we'll report further. Okay, I want to return to two stories we recently covered here on the PDB regarding discord within the ranks of NATO. First, Russian-friendly leaders of Slovakia have done a complete 180 regarding their stance on Ukraine. just days after claiming Ukraine was not an independent and sovereign country,

but rather a U.S. puppet state and telling Kiev to cave to Russian territorial demands in order to end the war. However, during a visit to the city of Uzzarod on Wednesday, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico pledged his support to Ukraine's war efforts against Russia. Fico, who won his election in October on promises to sever his nation's military aid to Kiev, told the Ukrainian Prime Minister that he would not stop Slovak companies from providing Ukraine with weapons, according to a report by the Financial Times. Fico reportedly told his Ukrainian counterpart that he viewed their political differences as, quote, minor and a reality of political life. Fico added, we really want to assist you, we really want to help you. Fico's complete reversal

on the issue of Ukraine came just a day after he questioned whether there was even a war going on in the country. After a reporter asked him if the dangers of the war were behind him, traveling to Uzzarald rather than the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, Fico said, quote, do you really believe there's a war in Kiev? I hope you're not being serious. Life is perfectly normal there, end quote. Hmm. His bizarre statement came as a Russian missile attack on Kiev and other Ukrainian cities on Tuesday morning, left 18 civilians dead and more than 130 injured. Fico, who opposes Ukrainian membership in NATO had also recently claimed Ukraine was, quote, under the total influence and control of the United States, echoing a popular Russian talking point. It's unclear at this time

what prompted Fico's shift in rhetoric on Wednesday. Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told NATO Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg on Wednesday that Hungary will support Sweden's ascension into the NATO alliance, clearing the last hurdle facing leaders in Stockholm. Sweden and Finland ditched their decades-long position of neutrality and applied to join NATO in May of 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now, while Finland was formally accepted into NATO in April of 2023, Sweden faced significant opposition from Turkey and Hungary.

As we discussed yesterday on the BDB, the Turkish parliament voted Tuesday to approve Sweden's bid to join NATO following nearly two years of opposition, leaving Hungary as a last holdout. Now, with Orban on board, it appears that Sweden has a clear path ahead and will soon officially become the 32nd member of the NATO alliance. It's worth mentioning that NATO's growth is a direct result, of course, of Putin's invasion of Ukraine and is the exact opposite of what Putin was hoping to achieve. Prior to the invasion, Putin's calculation was that NATO would not only be weak in its resolve and support of Ukraine, but would likely splinter, weakening NATO.

was and has been a geopolitical goal of Putin's for decades. As it turns out, this was just one of numerous miscalculations on the part of Putin and his senior leadership when it comes to the invasion of Ukraine. All right, coming up on the back of the brief, a Canadian court decision calls Prime Minister Trudeau's use of emergency powers during the pandemic unconstitutional. I'll be right back. In today's back of the brief, we examine a significant legal challenge. to the Canadian government's authority. A Canadian court recently ruled against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's administration, declaring its use of emergency powers during a trucker protest over COVID-19 vaccine mandates unconstitutional. Let's rewind just a little bit here. Back in 2022,

the streets of downtown Ottawa and several U.S.-Canada border crossings were swarmed by hundreds of trucks and other vehicles. Operators expressing their frustration with vaccination. vaccine mandates and pandemic-related restrictions formed what was known as the Freedom Convoy. For 23 days, they brought traffic to a standstill paralyzing downtown Ottawa. In response, Prime Minister Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time. This act granted the federal government temporary powers to quell the protests, including banning public assembly, restricting travel, and imposing financial sanctions on the protesters. These measures quickly led to the protests being broken up. Now, according to the text of the Act, a public order

emergency can be declared only in response to, quote, an emergency that arises from threats to the security of Canada that are so serious as to be a national emergency, end quote. Well, that makes sense. Fast forward to this week, federal court judge Richard Mosley ruled that Trudeau's use of the act failed to meet this legal threshold. In his ruling, Mosley said the Trudeau's government use of the Emergencies Act, quote, does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness, justification, transparency, and intelligibility,

and was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration, end quote. He said the use of emergency powers infringed on provisions in the Constitution. Following this decision, Deputy Prime Minister Christia Freeland announced the government's intention to appeal the ruling, of course, adding the government stands by its decision to invoke the act. The final outcome of this case is likely to be a landmark decision for Canada. It will set a precedent for future use of emergency powers and marking a critical moment in the balance between government authority and constitutional safeguards.

And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief. for Thursday, 25 January. 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,

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