The President's Daily Brief - January 4th, 2024: Houthi Havoc, Hamas’ Hospital Headquarters, & High-End Honeypots

Episode Date: January 4, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:   We dive into the latest assault by Houthi rebels on a commercial ship in the Red Sea and break down how this could hit closer to home than you think. US intelligence sheds light on the dual-purpose use of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, confirming its role as a Hamas command center. We analyze the implications of BRICS expanding its influence by welcoming Iran and Saudi Arabia into its fold. In our Back of the Brief segment, we uncover the scandal shaking the nation's capital: a high-end sex ring that may have been a 'Honeypot' operation by foreign adversaries. 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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It's Thursday, January 4th, 2024. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. The Iran-backed Houthi militants have claimed another attack against a commercial shipping vessel in the Red Sea. I'm going to explain how the ongoing chaos in the waters around Yemen are likely to affect you directly.

Later in the show, U.S. intelligence confirms what many suspected that the Al-Shefa Hospital in Gaza was being used as a Amos command center. Plus, the powerful Bricks Economic Group bulks up as it adds Iran and Saudi Arabia, amongst others, to its ranks. And finally, in today's back of the brief, sex and scandal in our nation's capital, well, there's a phrase no one's ever typed before, as intelligence experts suggest a high-end sex ring in the Boston and D.C. areas may have been a honey-end sex ring. PUT scheme by foreign powers. But first up, the PDB spotlight. So, 2024 is looking a lot like

2023 when it comes to the Red Sea. The New Year is giving no respite in the chaos in the Red Sea and the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the region. On Wednesday, a fresh strike was claimed by Iranian-backed Houthi militants against another merchant vessel navigating the troubled waters. This time, it was a Maltaflare. freighter that became the latest target, with the drone and missile-happy Houthis, alleging that the ship's course was set for Israel. The owners of the vessel, French shipping powerhouse CMA-CGM, announced that the ship and its crew were unharmed in the attack. As listeners to the PDB know, this assault is part of a series of attacks that have now been

going on for months, including a weekend offensive that resulted in the sinking of three Houthi vessels by U.S. helicopters. These incidents show that Operation Prosperity Guardian, the multinational coalition formed in December to respond to Houthi-led attacks, is, frankly, falling short of its goal to secure this vital shipping corridor. Now, you might be wondering, Mike, you keep talking about these Red Sea attacks, but how does this affect me? It's all the way over there, and I'm all the way over here, wherever here may be for you. The reality is that the ripple effects are already hitting the global shipping industry hard. Many shipping companies are suspending their operations in the region due to the heightened risks.

Denmark's maritime titan Merck is among them, announcing just this Tuesday that it's going to continue to avoid the Red Sea route. That's a decision reversing their previous announcement to resume travel after the start of Operation Prosperity Guardian. As a result, these container ships are being forced to divert from their usual Red Sea and Suez Canal paths, opting instead for the lengthy detour around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa's southernmost point and then northward along the continent's western coast. This diversion tax on an extra 3,000 nautical miles to voyages. Now, for those of you who aren't merchant marines or sailors or even pirates, that's over 3,400 miles.

To put this into perspective, consider a large container ship's journey from Taiwan to the Netherlands, typically a 25-day sail via the Red Sea route. Circumavating the Cape of Good Hope adds a substantial nine days to the trip. That's nine additional days of fuel consumption, crew wages, insurance costs, and other expenses, all of which will inevitably trickle down to the consumer, and that's where you come in. Those additional costs will eventually be reflected in the prices that you pay for a wide variety of goods. The implications for global commerce are stark. The American Journal of Transportation reports that these detours impact 17% of the world's shipping traffic.

The added strain is projected to inflate cargo costs for carriers by 15 to 20%. The trade affected by the instability in the Red Sea has already reached $225 billion. The security of these waters, it's not just about regional politics, it's about the pocketbooks of consumers worldwide. Now, so far, the limited counterstrikes taken by the U.S. administration, have failed to deter the Houthi militants and their Iranian backers from continuing to destabilize the global trade route and economy. There's no doubt. The, The Pentagon has drawn up numerous scenarios and robust target packages as deterrence options. At some point, the White House is going to need to choose a response that packs more punch.

They're obviously focused on the desire not to escalate a conflict, but the reality is that Iran has already escalated the conflict through their proxies. They need to be convinced through deterrence that continuing down this path is not advantageous to the stability of their regime. When we come back, we've got the scoop on U.S. intelligence, confirming what many already suspected. Al-S. Hospital in Gaza doubled as a Hamas headquarters. Plus, we'll discuss the expansion of the Brick's Economic Alliance, with the inclusion of Iran and Saudi Arabia, among other new members.

I'll be right back. Welcome back. We're beginning to learn more regarding Hamas' use of the Al-Sheifa Hospital in Gaza and the intelligence that led to Israel's controversial operation at the sprawling medical complex. Declassified U.S. intelligence, reviewed by the New York Times, confirms that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad used the hospital, along with a tunnel network underneath, to command their regional forces and also to hold hostages taken during those brutal 7 October attacks. The intelligence indicates that Hamas militants evacuated Al-Shefa Hospital in the days

leading up to Israel's operation to take control of the facility on November 15th, burning documents, destroying electronics, and moving hostages out of the area. In the wake of Israel's operation, there have been doubts cast on Hamas' use of the Al-Sheva hospital within the international community and by humanitarian organizations and, of course, by Hamas apologists. Many continue to claim that there is little evidence that Hamas used al-Sheifa as a significant command center and say Israel's operation has worsened the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Officials with the World Health Organization had previously described the situation inside al-Sheva's emergency department following the Israeli operation as a, quote, bloodbath.

Now, Israel argued that the hospital was a legitimate military target, given that their intelligence indicated hostages were being held at al-Shefa and that Hamas was operating out of a tunnel network underneath the hospital. Following their raid of the facility, they discovered a shaft leading to a tunnel network, which they showed to members of the international press. They also discovered stores of weapons and ammunition at the hospital and electronic equipment used to coordinate Hamas' operations. While no hostages were rescued during that IDF raid, they did find the bodies of two hostages near the hospital premises. Despite these findings, critics have remained skeptical of how significant a role the hospital played in Hamas's activities. Now note that at first,

critics use the Hamas narrative that the hospital had nothing to do with Hamas. Now their changed line is, well, their use of the hospital wasn't that significant. A senior U.S. intelligence official told the New York Times on Tuesday, however, that their intelligence strongly indicated that at least a few hostages were being held at al-Sheifa prior to the November raid, confirming Israeli claims, and also that it was indeed serving as a key command and control center for Hamas. The official also said that their intelligence confirms the terrorist group was using the tunnels at the medical complex to store large quantities of weapons. We should note that while the U.S. has not publicly disclosed evidence regarding their intelligence assessment, a classified version of the documents reviewed by the New York Times was also sent to members of Congress on Tuesday. U.S. officials told the New York Times they were confident in their assessment, noting that their evidence matches Israeli intelligence despite being collected independently. That's what's called in intel circles independent corroboration.

All right, I want to shift our focus to the global economy as Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt, all officially joined the BRICS block of nations this week, doubling the organization's size. Bricks, which stands for the founding members, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, cleverly combined into the acronym BRICS, had invited six other nations to join their economic bloc in August, including some of the world's largest energy producers. Now, the only outlier was Argentina, whose recently elected leader, Javier Melaire reversed his predecessor's decision and pulled out of the BRICS coalition just last Friday. While it's unclear with the long-term ramifications of this new economic alliance will be,

many observers in the West are concerned about closer ties between major global oil producers like Saudi Arabia and belligerent foreign actors like Russia and Iran. Despite the Saudi's relationship with the U.S., concern over Washington's long-term commitment to security in the Gulf has led the oil titan to seek out new forms of economic and diplomatic cooperation with world powers, according to a report by Reuters. China serves as Saudi Arabia's largest oil customer, and as we've discussed here on the PDB, China is eager to challenge Western economic dominance, working through bricks and the informal global South alliance of nations, China is working aggressively to create a new world order

in which they sit atop a power structure with the U.S. being knocked down a few rums on the ladder of geopolitical influence. When it comes to Iran, there's concern that part of their motivation for joining the Bricks block is to make it easier to bypass Western sanctions that have hampered the regime's domestic economy. Madi Safari, Iran's deputy foreign minister, and Mr. He said Iran's entry into the Bricks family on Wednesday, saying Iran hopes to serve as a banking center for member nations. He added that the broader coalition offers a way to challenge the hegemony of the U.S.

dollar overseas. In an interview with the Russian outlet Sputnik, Safare said, we are interested in creating a unified currency in the BRICS group, and this could be very effective by using national currencies, The process of eliminating the use of the dollar in commercial exchanges begins, and we are interested in continuing this process, end quote. Now, both Iran and Russia are very keen to encourage trade and local currencies as a means of beating sanctions imposed by the West on them for their various belligerent actions, support of terrorism, and warmongering. President Vladimir Putin suggested Monday that this week's expansion of bricks is only the beginning. He called the

entry of Iran, the Saudis, the UAE, and Egypt, a strong indication of the growing authority of the association and its role in international affairs. Putin indicated that more countries will be welcomed into the bloc in 2024, saying, quote, of course, we will consider the degree to which many other countries, about 30 of them, are prepared to join the BRIC's multi-dimensional agenda in one form or another. He continued, to this end, we will start work. on the modalities of a new category of Brick's partner country, end quote. Well, it's just good to see Putin expanding his vocabulary with big words like modalities and multidimensional. He's not just a tough despot sitting shirtless on a tiger. The next annual Bricks summit, the 16th since the organization

started, is expected to be held later this year in Russia's Kazan City. All right, coming up in the back of the brief. We return to the story of a network of brothels in our nation's capital, as intelligence experts suspect the high-end Bordello network may have included honey-bought operations used by foreign agents to ensnare or compromise American targets of interest. I'll be right back. Olivia Rodriguez The Unravel Tour Across North America with special guests

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That's just $100 a month For four lines on Unlimited Welcome Plus four phones, no trade-in needed. Call me. It's mom. America's Best Network, Verizon. That's the one we're talking about. I'll send you text. America's best network based on Root Metrics, best overall mobile network performance, U.S. second half, 2025, four new lines and a limit and welcome and auto pay. See Verizon.com for details. I wanted to return to a story where you brought you a few months ago about a high-end brothel network

that was taken down in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and Boston. According to a report in the Daily Mail, some in the intelligence community are now beginning to suspect that the network might have been a honeypot trap set for America's most powerful men, or at least men who view themselves as most powerful. Now, if you're not familiar with the term, a honeypot trap is a tactic where a person, often an attractive woman, is used as bait to compromise a target. the target might be lured into a situation that could lead to blackmail. And by situation, I mean, there could be some sexual shenanigans involved. Back in November, the Justice Department charged three Korean-born U.S. nationals suspected of operating a high-end brothel network in the suburbs of Washington and Boston. The investigation targeted potentially hundreds of big-name clients who allegedly indulged in paid sexual services. The acting U.S. attorney,

in Boston said at the time, the client list included people in positions of power, including military officers, government contractors, and politicians. Now, this network advertised through two websites, promising encounters with bikini-clad models, ah, models, with names like sexy shoe, Venus, Tina, the descriptive Yoko Triple D, and the almost never heard of name in the sexual services world, Tiffany. These illicit encounters were hosted in high-end apartments, scattered across Ritzie neighborhoods like Fairfax and Tyson's Corner in Virginia, as well as Cambridge and Watertown in Massachusetts. None of the alleged customers, or clientele, depending on how fancy you want to be, have been identified, at least yet, but we'll keep you posted if they're eventually unmasked.

Given that those targeted were military, military and government contractors and politicians, it would be remarkable if there wasn't a counterintelligence angle to this story. Intel services around the world have used similar approaches, meaning honeypot operations, for generations to compromise targets of interest, and to attempt to leverage that compromise to recruit and task the targets for Intel gathering. And that, my friends, is the purpose. President's Daily Brief for Thursday for January. 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.