The President's Daily Brief - May 31st, 2022. China Moves Closer to Hawaii. Update on Wheat Shortage.

Episode Date: May 31, 2022

It’s May 31st. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. I’m your host and former CIA Officer Bryan Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. First up, China is very busy in the South Pacific today, turning another island nation effectively into one of its bases. And that means the Communists are one step closer to Hawaii. I’ll update you on the latest. As always, I’m keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put these two on your radar. First, PDB listeners know that the world needs Ukraine’s wheat, wheat that’s being held captive by Russia. I’ve got an update on how Moscow might agree to let some of it through. Second, there’s lots of global debate about renewable energy. I have a surprising twist on the conversation, and it has to do with solar energy and sheep, of all things. We’ll talk about that. All up next on the President’s Daily Brief. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's May 31st. You're listening to the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. The brief you're about to hear is in the same spirit of the actual President's Daily Brief, which is a top secret summary of the most critical events in the past 24 hours, all delivered to the president each day by the nation's spymasters. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I am your spy, and this is your brief. Here's what we're going to be talking about this morning. First up, China is very busy in the South Pacific today, turning another island nation effectively into one of its bases. And that means that the communists are one step closer to Hawaii. I'll update you on the latest. As always, I'm keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put these two on your radar. First, PDB listeners know that the world needs Ukraine's wheat, wheat that's being held captive by Russia. I've got an update on how Moscow might agree to let some of it through.

Second, there's lots of global debate about renewable energy, and I have a surprising twist on that conversation. It has to do with solar energy and sheep, of all things. We'll talk about that. All up next on the President's Daily Brief. First up this morning, China continues to spread its influence over the South Pacific. It just added the island nation of Samoa to a short list of countries who signed security and economic agreements with the communist government. This is a growing concern, and it's one that I briefed you on a few weeks. back regarding another country, the Solomon Islands. So let's recap what we know. There are about

10 island nations that are scattered across the South Pacific. Some countries you probably heard of, if you know your World War II history, countries like Samoa or the Solomon Islands. And then there are probably countries that you have never heard of, like Kiribosh or Vanuatu. Most of all these tiny nations have longstanding ties to the United States, or Australia and New Zealand, and all of those relationships date back to World War II when we fought the Japanese. For decades now, our relationship with those countries has been, well, sort of kind of important. There's been a little bit of trade, some tourism, but truthfully, we hadn't really paid them much attention. In fact, we shut down some of our embassies or we really didn't staff the ones that did remain.

But that's a shame because it's given China an opening to build relationships with these countries, relationships that Beijing wants to use for their military benefit. You see, China doesn't really have what's called a blue water navy. And that just means that they don't have the ships necessary to sail across the oceans and around the world. And that's either because the ships have technical limitations or here's the key. They don't have the ports to dock their ships and refuel or to resupply. But that changes if China can get those little island nations under their thumbs. because if they can, each island chain offers a port for a ship or an air strip for their planes

to land and refuel. And each little island effectively becomes a lily pad of sorts for all that military equipment to leapfrog from one place to the next. And that's a really big deal if China ever ends up in a war with America or Australia or New Zealand. These little islands put all of our nations, Hawaii in particular, within shooting distance. Okay. So that's that. That gets us up to the past few months. This past spring, China signed a deal with the Solomon Islands to help that country basically crush internal descent. You might remember the brief that I gave you on that. China agreed to provide a supplemental police force because there were a bunch of riots.

And then China offered to build a new police training facility too. That deal, by the way, is still largely secret. The details apparently can only be released if China allows it, which in and of itself is very suspicious. Well, the Solomon Islands, they now have a buddy that's also signed on to a deal with China. That is the country of Samoa. They signed a deal called the Common Development Vision. And it is full of stuff that any military or spy service would absolutely love. So there are three key elements that you need to know about.

First, it's regarding law enforcement. China is going to train the Samoan police and connect them to that regional police training center that I just mentioned in the Solomon Islands. Plus, they're going to give Samoa Border Patrol technology, fingerprinting, biometric scans, and then the databases to operate and connect it all. And I can guarantee you that Beijing will recruit some of those cops and Border Patrol agents,

plus vacuum up all that Border Patrol data and send it back to China on a daily basis. All right, the second part of this agreement with Samoa is that Beijing is going to help train their diplomats. Now, exactly what this is going to look at. like is unclear. But again, it gives China face time with Samoan officials, which they will absolutely use to recruit them as spies. I'll promise you that. Finally, the Chinese are setting up something called a Confucius Institute in Samoa. Now, officially, these organizations are designed

to share cultural understanding, to teach the locals how to speak Chinese and such. But what we know is that Chinese intelligence officers use this Confucius Institute as cover to conduct espionage. It gives these intel officers plausible reason to be in, say, one of these tiny little island nations when otherwise they'd stick out like a sore thumb.

These Confucius institutes also spread Chinese propaganda. Basically, what they argue is that China is great and America is bad. That's simply put, their messaging. So to recap, here's what we know. China is working over time. This morning to woo these 10-plus island nations in the South Pacific, all because they want to build

out their infrastructure to support military expansion. They need ports for their ships. They need airports for their planes, all of which they want to then use to leapfrog from one island to the next, all to get closer for the day that they need to attack places like Hawaii in the event of a war. So how do we stop this? Well, I can tell you that Australia and New Zealand are are doing their part. They're sending some diplomats, even a prime minister to the region, trying to shore up support. American diplomats are also going to trying to make the case that getting in bed with China is a bad deal. But will it work? Well, right now it's too early to tell. But I will say that the president of Micronesia, which is one of those island nations,

is trying to warn his fellow islanders that China is absolutely up to no good. So there is a movement afoot, even locally, to wise up. But what you should know, if you were sitting in the White House this morning, is that this effort by the Chinese in the South Pacific is but one of many that they've got underway all around the world. And that includes in our own backyard, with the Chinese communist building relationships in places like Nicaragua and Cuba and Venezuela. They're trying to get these nations to sign up for the same kind of deal being offered to these various island nations in the South Pacific. So that means that we need a global plan for global pushback.

We need our diplomats to press the case abroad. We need our spies to figure out ground truth. And our satellites, well, maybe they can pick up on what our diplomats and spies can't. But the question remains, to be honest with you, about the extent to which Joe Biden and the rest of D.C. are committed to taking on the communists in Beijing. There was a speech last week by the Secretary of State, and he basically acknowledged that China is out. our adversary and our greatest one of that. And that's good.

But talk is cheap. We need action. So this morning, let's see if Joe Biden is the man for the job. Olivia Rodriguez, the unraveled tour across North America with special guests. Get tickets Thursday, May 7th at Olivia Rodrigo.com. Not loving your AT&T or T Mobile Bill? Yeah, we've been hearing that a lot. Good news.

Bring your AT&T or T Mobile Bill to. Verizon and we'll give you a better deal. So get away from that unfortunate phone bill and get to Verizon. Run, ride, canoe. Whatever it takes, we'll be here. Bring your AT&T or T mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal on the best network. A better deal. No surprises. That's Verizon. Best Network based on Route Metrics, Best Overall Mobile Network Performing U.S. Second Half 2025. All rights reserved. It must provide a recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person who gave me the deal. Additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply. As always, I'm watching a few other stories this morning. Put these two on your radar. First, we might have

breakthrough this morning on the wheat that's bottled up in Ukraine, unable to get into market. Now, you're going to recall that I briefed you on this situation about a week ago or so. To recap, the world needs Ukraine's wheat. Nations like Egypt and Lebanon, as you might remember, they import 80% of their wheat to feed their people. And a lot of that comes from Ukraine, or at least it did in the past. But what we know is that Russia has a naval blockade around all those ports that would otherwise be sending the grain to market. And, and And whatever Ukrainian grain was getting out to market, well, most of it was just stolen by the Russians and then shipped to their friends in places like Syria. Well, this morning, there is a sliver of hope.

The country of Turkey, which is led by a man named President Erdogan, well, he's saying that Russia has agreed in principle to let some of that Ukrainian grain pass through the Black Sea on the up-on-up. In other words, not stolen. Now, there are not a lot of details yet, but the Turkish government is saying that, it would help facilitate this trade. Basically, it would serve as an observation post of some kind and facilitate the trade between Russia and its ships and the markets that need the wheat. Again, lots of questions remain on what this deal could look like,

and candidly, I suspect that it's going to fall short of what's actually needed. That's because Turkey is a close friend of Russia. Erdogan and Putin are pretty good buddies. But it's a development worth watching, and I will. Count on updates when I learn more this week. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly

Big Board Buckslot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29th. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win?

Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this performance. motion. 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. Second, there's been a lot of national dialogue about renunciable. renewable energy? You know, is it good? What are the hidden costs? Can it really produce more

cleaner energy than, say, natural gas or nuclear? Well, putting aside those debates for a moment, farmers and ranchers in New Zealand and Australia are running an experiment. Now, normally, solar farms take up a bunch of ground, and they don't leave enough below to pasture the animals. There's not enough sunlight in part, but there are farms down under where they're trying something new. They're raising those solar panels. a little bit higher up in the air to let more sunlight through. The hope was that it would allow more grass to grow and thus more ground to pasture. Now, that experiment started about four years ago, and it was done, honestly, not for

environmental reasons, but because farmers and ranchers wanted to supplement their income by leasing out their ground to solar companies. And you can't blame them for trying. Those of you who are farmers and ranchers, you all know that margins are really tight these days. Prices are sky high for diesel, equipment, seed, well, everything. But what the folks in New Zealand and Australia didn't count on was that when they raised those panels a bit higher in the air, and then they pastured their sheep, it actually resulted in more wool and better quality wool. So here's what happened. The panels, once they were lifted up for a bit more sun, they helped

provide a nice mix of shade and sunlight. And that in turn helped increase the amount of the amount grasses underneath, which of course kept the sheep fatter and healthier for longer. That in turn caused their wool to grow faster. It also kept the ground a little bit wetter for longer. Yes, because of the shade, but really because of the condensation from the solar panels, which would then drip off and onto the grasses below. So even during periods of drought, there were patches of grass that the sheep could keep feeding on. One other bonus, by the way. Normally, solar panel farms have to sterilize the ground underneath the panels or mow to keep the weeds at bay. Well, the sheep take care of that maintenance issue, obviously.

Wool brokers in the area, by the way, are also saying that the quality of wool has increased, too. It appears as though the sheep are rolling around a lot more in grass and less in dirt, and that helps with fewer burrs, for instance, that they have to eventually pull out. Anyway, there are a lot of studies now underway to give a bit more data to what farmers and ranchers are reporting anecdotally about what they're seeing between, the connection of solar panels and sheep. I suppose it makes sense, but now we need the science. It's a really fascinating story here. I'll keep you posted as I learn more. 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, Truth shall make you free. Good day.