The President's Daily Brief - May 9th, 2024: Russia’s Euro-Rampage, EU Violence, & Arresting Netanyahu

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: We begin in Europe, where several nations are confronting Russia diplomatically, summoning its ambassadors in response to allegations of cyber-attacks and GPS jamming targeting commercial flights. Later, we shift to war-torn Ukraine to discuss Russia's severe drone and missile attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure. We also explore the alarming increase in political violence throughout Europe as the region approaches critical EU elections in June. In today’s Back of the Brief, at least one U.S. congress member is now demanding the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking officials, alleging violations of the Genocide Convention under international law.   To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. 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

Ryan Reynolds here for MintMobil with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird.

Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com.

Today's episode is brought to you by Beam. Transform your sleep with Beam's dream. It's the secret behind 15 million nights of improved sleep. Imagine how many nights that is. Well, it's 15 million, isn't it? Fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. Get up to 40% off at shopbeam.com slash PDB and use the code PDB. It's Thursday, 9 May.

Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. Today, we start in Europe where several countries are fighting back against Russia's shadow war, taking measures to shore up security following accusations of Russian spying, cyber attacks, and GPS jamming. I just can't imagine that the Russian service would get up to those sort of shenanigans,

but there you go. Later in the show, we turned to Ukraine as Russia has launched one of its most devastating drone and missile attacks to date. targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Plus, we'll take a look at the surprising rise in political violence across Europe in the lead-up to critical EU elections in June. Finally, in today's back of the brief, with the IDF continuing its limited operations in Rafa, at least one member of Congress is now calling for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other high-ranking Israeli officials, accusing them of violating the Genocide Convention under international law.

But first, today's PDB spotlight. Here on the PDB, we've been tracking Russia's Shadow War, which targets not only Ukraine, but also those countries supporting Ukraine's fight against Putin. This covert conflict involves cyber attacks, targeted assassinations, and political strong-arming. Today's reports from across Europe detail three separate incidents, revealing the extensive reach of Russia's operations against its perceived adversaries. We'll start in the UK, where Britain has revealed a number of measures to curb spying activities among Russia's diplomatic delegation. Most notably, they announced that they'll be expelling

Russia's defense attach who they've accused of being an undeclared military intelligence officer. In addition, the UK removed diplomatic status from some Moscow-owned properties, that the British government believed to have been used for intelligence purposes. In an address to Parliament, Britain's Interior Minister, James Cleverley, said Britain was already an extremely challenging operating environment for Russian intelligence services, but the measures would, quote, only serve to strengthen our resilience to the Russian threat. The UK has also summoned Russia's ambassador to give him a bit of the what-for and to inform him of the measures. Moving now to Warsaw, where Polish officials are accusing

Russia of engaging in a campaign of cyber espionage. Specifically, a hacking group known as APT-28, or you might have heard them called Fancy Bear, isn't that a clever name, which is connected to Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, has allegedly used malware to infiltrate computer networks of Polish government institutions. Additionally, this group is accused of conducting a broad cyber espionage campaign against German defense and aerospace firms and a major political party. The attacks on Poland are reported to have extended to critical infrastructure, including the water supply and health service. The accusations suggest that Russia is engaging in these activities

to gather sensitive information and potentially disrupt governmental and critical operations in these countries. That's exactly what they're trying to do. Finally, we'll move to Estonia, where the country's foreign ministry has summoned the head of the Russian embassy to protest the jamming of GPS signals. Estonia has accused Russia of jamming the signals over the airspace of the Baltic states, which is considered, of course, a violation of international regulations. The jamming disrupts the GPS navigation systems used by aircraft and other vehicles,

which rely on this technology for accurate positioning and timing. What Russia is doing is particularly dangerous because it affects the safety of commercial. commercial flights by interfering with their navigation capabilities. This kind of disruption is part of what the Estonian government has referred to as, quote, hybrid activities by Russia, which basically involve covert and overt actions designed to destabilize and undermine countries without engaging in open warfare. All right, coming up next, we head to war-torn Ukraine, where Russia's latest drone and missile strikes target the nation's energy infrastructure. Plus, we explore the surge in political violence

across Europe ahead of crucial EU elections in June. I'll be right back. It's only getting every customer's order right. It's only a point of sale system connected by spectrum fiber-powered business internet helping you track hundreds of secure transactions. And it's all backed by 24-7 U.S.-based customer support and local technicians. It's only everything. Get business internet advantage free. forever when you get four mobile lines from Spectrum. Visit Spectrum.com slash free for life to find out how. Restrictions apply. Service is not available in all areas. Welcome back.

Sticking with our coverage of Russia, the Putin regime unleashed a barrage of missiles at Ukraine on Tuesday evening in the largest attack by Russian forces in weeks. The massive bombardment lasted more than three hours and was again aimed at Russia's favorite target, and that of course would be Ukraine's energy and, infrastructure. Russian forces used a total of 76 weapons during the operation, including 55 missiles and 21 Iranian-made Shihad drones, according to a report by CNN. Reports indicate that 39 of the missiles

and 20 of the drones were intercepted by Ukraine's air defenses. However, 16 missiles and at least one drone managed to make it through, including two ballistic missiles. Moscow targeted facilities in Kiev and six other cities during the attack, hitting at least three thermal power plants run by Ukraine's largest power company, DETEC. They also struck two critical energy infrastructure facilities in the Leviv region, and Ukraine's state-owned grid operator said there was damage to generation facilities in several areas. Officials for DETAC, which accounts for roughly 20% of Ukrainian electricity, said 80% of their generating capacity has now been destroyed or significantly damaged. By Wednesday morning, Ukrainian officials were warning citizens to prepare for

countrywide electricity rationing measures. At least nine Ukrainian regions experienced powerouts on Wednesday, and officials said more are expected. Three people were reportedly injured by the strikes, including an eight-year-old girl and a man who suffered severe shrapnel wounds. It's worth noting that the large-scale missile and drone attack took place on Europe's remembrance and victory over Nazism in World War II Day, which commemorates the surrender of the Nazis in 1945. Ukrainian President Zelensky

called it another example of, quote, Russian terror and said, quote, the entire world must understand who is who. The world must not give a chance to new Nazism, end quote. Russia has long targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure in an attempt to

devastate public morale for the war and disrupt Ukraine's domestic production of weapons. The attacks have intensified over the past few months, crippling an already devastated energy grid. As we've previously discussed, Ukraine has been repeatedly asking for the delivery of more air defense systems as their resources run dry. A Russian missile attack in April destroyed the largest coal-powered thermal plant near Kiev because they ran out of missiles for their air defense systems. While the U.S. and Europe have both recently approved comprehensive aid packages for Ukraine,

which will include new Patriot Air Defense systems, delivery, of course, doesn't happen overnight. With that in mind, it appears Russia is kicking their operations into high gear before Keev can restock their defenses. And here's an interesting side note. While Russia is busy attacking and degrading Ukraine's energy infrastructure, the Biden White House has been pressuring Ukraine to not target Russian energy infrastructure that's within striking range of their available missile systems. The White House is reportedly concerned that attacking Russian refineries and other structures inside Russia could escalate the conflict.

Now, it's a debatable strategy, given that Russia's primary source of revenue, their primary means of paying for their invasion of Ukraine, is oil and gas revenues. Minimizing those revenues, either through actual aggressive sanctions on Russian oil sales or targeting of their infrastructure, could, one might argue, be the most efficient way to deprive Putin of resources that he needs to continue his war. All right, I want to turn now to the mounting political violence gripping Europe ahead of EU and local elections later this year, as another prominent German politician was hospitalized after a vicious assault on Tuesday. For some context, political violence has been intensifying across Europe as various election races

heat up, with attacks seen on politicians in Germany, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, and Ireland by far-right agitators. Germany, however, has seen a particularly unprecedented uptick in violence, with attacks on sitting politicians more than doubling since 2019, that's according to a report from the Associated Press. The latest attack came on Tuesday when Berlin's top economic official, an ex-federal minister who previously served as mayor, was assaulted at the Berlin Library by a man who beat her in the head with a bag containing a hard device. She was subsequently taken to the hospital to be treated for head and neck injuries. The violent outburst came less than a week after Matthiasak, a German member of the European

Parliament, was severely beaten by a group of four people while putting up campaign posters in Dresden. He was hospitalized on Friday after being repeatedly punched and kicked, and he required surgery to address his injuries. German Chancellor Olaf Schultz and leaders at the EU have condemned the spiraling violence in Germany, while others said it was reminiscent of the political violence seen in the early days of Nazi Germany. Michael Kretschmer, the state premier of Germany-Saxony region, said, quote, this reminds me of one of the truly darkest times in German history, when people who are active in politics, who are dealing with political issues, are threatened by others, end quote. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European

Commission, was similarly fiery in her condemnation of the political violence. Now, she ran into a bit of controversy on Wednesday, however, after her center-right European People's Party, and that's the largest group representing conservative interests in the EU, refused to sign an open letter, drafted by Europe's left-leaning parties condemning Europe's far-right, according to a report from the Guardian. The letter specifically calls on Vondolayan to, quote, reject any normalization, cooperation, or alliance with the far-right and radical parties, end quote. aside from the European People's Party, all the main political parties in the European Parliament have signed on to the letter. They've been working since April to Force von der Leyen, who is seeking a second

term as president of the European Commission, to commit to not align with right-wing groups ahead of EU elections in June. Officials with the European People's Party, also referred to as simply the EPP, have countered that the language of the letter was one-sided and had requested denunciations of violence from far-left groups as well. A spokesman for the party told Euro News, quote, the EPP group is not signing a statement which only aims to support the political campaign of one particular group. We've proposed concrete and reasonable changes to achieve a text supported by all democratic forces, end quote. All right, coming up in the back of the brief. As the IDF continues operations in Rafa, a U.S. representative in Congress demands the arrest.

of Prime Minister Netanyahu and top Israeli officials accusing them of preaching the genocide convention. I'll be right back. Exema is unpredictable, but you can flare less with ebbglis. A once-monthly treatment for moderate-tiss disappear, eczema. After an initial four-month-month-longer dosing phase, about four and ten people taking ebbglis achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks, and most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing.

Ebglis, Lbrichizumab LBKZ, a 250 milligram per 2 milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults in children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema. Also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Ebglis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to ebbglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebbglis.

Before starting Epgless, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about ebbglis. And visit ebglis.lis.com or call 1-800 LilyRX or 1-800-545-9-9-9-545-4-5-4-5-9-5-5-5-4-5-5-1-1-5-1-1-5-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1. Kitchen. Compared to ordinary eggs, Egglands Best Eggs contain six times more vitamin D, 25% less saturated fat, more than double the omega-3s, 10 times more vitamin E, and more than double the vitamin B-12. So why give your family less when they can have the best? Add Egglands Best Superior Nutrition to your next grocery list. Better taste, better nutrition, better eggs. In today's back of the brief, Michigan Representative Rashida Tlebe, a member of the far-left

squad has become the first member of Congress to call for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other high-ranking officials in the Israeli government. In a statement, the representative demanded that the International Criminal Court, or the ICC, issue an arrest warrant for the officials, accusing the leaders of violations of the Genocide Convention under international law. Never mind that the term genocide essentially refers to one group's intent to remove or erase an entire group, which would seem to apply more to Iran and Hamas in their desire to erase Israel than Israel in its desire to destroy a terrorist organization. Look, in wartime and conflict, intent matters, and words matter, of course.

War crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, they all refer to different actions and importantly intent. It does appear that folks like Representative Talib and some of her squad mates, not to mention the outside activists and students involved in campus protests across the country have normalized throwing around the term genocide. I get it. It's far more dramatic than stating that you believe, as an example, that the IDF has been involved in committing war crimes while trying to destroy Hamas's ability to pose an ongoing threat. In her statement, Taleb criticizes the U.S. government for providing financial aid to Israel, which she claims is used to support military actions in Rafah against Palestinians. Taleb argues that U.S. lawmakers who supported the

funding are complicit in these actions and calls for an end to U.S. military support to Israel. Taleb writes, quote, it is now more apparent than ever that we must end all U.S. military funding for the Israeli apartheid regime and demand that President Biden facilitate an immediate permanent ceasefire that includes a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians, end quote. Taleb's statement comes as rumors had begun to circulate this week that the ICC is considering arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials, including the prime minister. On the other side of this, a group of Republican lawmakers have drafted a letter threatening

the ICC with sanctions if they go ahead with serving any warrants to Israeli leaders. The letter signed by 12 Republican senators, including Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Florida's Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz of Texas, says that any attempt by the ICC to indict Israeli leaders will be interpreted as, quote, not only a threat to Israel's sovereignty, but to the sovereignty of the United States. The letter ends rather oddly, target Israel and we will target you. You have been warned, end quote. Now, it's worth noting that neither the U.S. nor Israel are members of the ICC, and that's primarily due to the implications for national sovereignty and the potential for politically motivated prosecutions. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Thursday, 9 May.

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. 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.