The President's Daily Brief - November 27th, 2023: China’s Mystery Illness, Hostages Head Home, & Dublin Disorder

Episode Date: November 27, 2023

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:   A mysterious new respiratory illness is sweeping parts of China, local healthcare facilities are inundated, and the international community is on alert.   The fragile ceasefire persists in Israel as Hamas releases dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.   Ukraine launches a significant drone offensive targeting Moscow in response to a similar Russian attack.   Civil unrest in Dublin: Anti-immigrant sentiments boil over into riots following a knife attack that injured five, including three children.   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

It's Monday, November 27th. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. In today's BDB, a mysterious new respiratory illness is sweeping parts of China, overwhelming local health care facilities, and, obviously, raising global concerns. And yes, it was just about four years ago this month that the world started hearing about an unusual health situation. in China and possible quarantining of some urban areas. Later, I'll update you on the tenuous ceasefire and the ongoing release of hostages in Israel, as well as a massive drone attack directed at Moscow in the surrounding region. Finally, in the back of the brief, we'll cover the anti-immigrant riots that erupted in Dublin following a knife attack that left five people wounded, including three children.

But first up, the PDB spotlight. In China, health officials are grappling with an unsettling wave of respiratory illness, marked by children falling ill with what's being referred to as an undiagnosed pneumonia. Now, while we don't want to hit the panic button just yet, it's an unsettling reminder of the recent past, as both SARS and COVID-19 were first reported as clusters of unusual types of pneumonia. Here's what we know about this respiratory illness so far. Unlike COVID-19, this one is primarily hitting young children.

Primary symptom is a fever, and there's no coughing, as one might expect, from respiratory illness. Instead, many are developing pulmonary nodules, small abnormals in the lungs. According to local reports, some hospitals in major cities like Beijing and Launing are being overwhelmed by patients. The overflow is reportedly so extensive that families are enduring lengthy day-long waits for medical attention. Now, the official story, according to the Chinese Health Ministry, is that the surge in respiratory illnesses is being caused by a combination of known pathogens, including the flu virus, rhinoviruses, RSV, and a bacterial infection caused by mycoplasma, stating at this stage that it is not a novel virus. They do suggest, though, that this is sort of a perfect storm of overlapping affections. In addition, according to the Chinese government, it's all being made worse by the fact that this is the first full cold season in China following the easing of stringent COVID restrictions.

As a result, the populace may be facing these illnesses with diminished immune systems. Now, while the government is saying this is not a novel virus, we're always, already seeing echoes of the COVID-19 era policies. The ministry is urging the public to mask up again and is calling on authorities to intensify efforts to prevent the spread of infections in densely populated areas like schools and nursing homes. Masks are becoming a common sight again on the subways of Beijing, and educators are pleading with parents to keep symptomatic children at home. Now, it shouldn't surprise anyone that these clusters of mystery pneumonia are causing some alarm from the international community about a potential new pandemic.

It's so concerning that it sparked a rare official request from the World Health Organization, the WHO, seeking more information from China. Yeah, yeah, good luck with that. However, as of right now, the WHO is saying that there's no evidence that the surge in illnesses is being caused by a novel virus. Now, this might be, as China claims, just an unfortunate confluence of common illnesses. It may have nothing to do with a new virus. However, given their track record concerning COVID-19,

and by that I mean, the Chinese regime has done little to nothing to cooperate with the scientific community to fully resolve and understand the origins of the pandemic, it is unlikely that will get much in the way of detailed insight into this current health concern. As we've discussed here previously on the PDB, The Xi regime in China essentially got a free pass from the global community, despite being the point of origin for a pandemic that killed millions.

The reluctance or inability of a feckless United Nations, the apparent obfuscation by the WHO, and the unwillingness of the U.S. and allies to demand rather than ask for answers from Xi, have left us, frankly, more susceptible to whatever the next pandemic may be. China's failure to work transparently with the scientific community during and after the pandemic could have grave consequences down the road. When we return, an update on the ongoing hostage deal in Israel, and Ukraine carries out a massive drone attack in Russia. I'll be right back. Welcome back.

Let's turn our attention to southern Israel now, where Israeli hostages are being exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in the midst of a fragile ceasefire that, for now, seems to be holding. The latest exchange took place yesterday and included four-year-old American Abigail Moore-Idan. Now, her story is particularly heartbreaking. She was kidnapped at the Kfarazza Kabuts on 7 October after her parents were both shot and killed by Hamas terrorists, her father, reportedly, while she was still in his arms. Now, thankfully, both of her siblings managed to survive the attack. but only after they hid for 14 hours in a closet with their mother's body.

Abigail's freedom came alongside that of 12 other Israelis, three Thai nationals, and a dual Israeli-Russian citizen, while Israel released 39 Palestinians in the same exchange. Prior to this, in two separate exchanges, Hamas had released a total of 26 Israelis and 14 Thai laborers, along with one Filipino. Israel, in return, has freed 78 Palestinian prisoners, focusing on women and minors, and another exchange is slated for today.

There's scant information about the treatment of the hostages while in captivity. However, reports from family members paint a grim picture of their conditions, with many hostages facing days without sufficient food leading to considerable weight loss. It's worth mentioning that while the ceasefire is holding, it has come close to falling apart. On Saturday, an exchange nearly broke down amid accusations by Hamas of Israeli violations of the truce terms, charges which Israel has categorically denied. Alongside the prisoner exchanges, humanitarian efforts are also a significant part of the ongoing deal.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that aid has reached Palestinian civilians with 100 trucks delivering food, water, emergency medical supplies, and medications, providing much-needed relief to those in the area. Assuming the deal holds to get, the fourth and final release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners under the initial agreement is in the works today. There is the potential for the pause in fighting to continue on a day-to-day basis in the event that Hamas continues to release at least 10 hostages per additional day. Now, both Israel and Hamas have signaled interest in extending the agreement in the Israeli War Cabinet when they held meetings yesterday to discuss the possibility.

The question, though, looming over this current cessation in fighting, is what next? The UN and other international entities are calling for a full ceasefire, while Hamas, guided by their overlord Iran, continues the social media campaign and pressure on Israel. Hamas's useful idiots in cities and college campuses around the globe continue to protest and denounce Israel, there is immense pressure on Israel to give in to the international community's call for an end to the conflict, and that pressure will grow considerably if Israel restarts its military operations against Hamas in the coming days. However, the Israeli government and the IDF stated objective does not appear to have changed,

and that objective degrade and destroy Hamas to ensure they cannot govern Gaza or commit any further atrocities against Israel. Now, from an operational perspective, it doesn't appear that the IDF has yet met that objective. So it's unlikely that they will bend to pressure from the UN, the Biden administration, or protesters, given that ending military operations now could simply mean a return to the status quo, with Hamas still a viable terrorist organization capable of doing Iran's bidding. All right, let's move on to Russia. Where the nation's defense Ministry is reporting that it's thwarted one of the largest Ukrainian drone and missile attacks on its territory since the onset of the war.

The attack involved a massive aerial assault with at least 24 drones and two missiles aimed at key locations, including Moscow and the surrounding region. Despite the scale of the attack, Russian forces claim its air defenses managed to successfully neutralize the threat. Andrei Vorobiev, the governor of the Moscow region, confirmed on telegram that drone strikes resulted in damage to three buildings within his jurisdiction. However, he reported that there were no casualties. Meanwhile, in Tula, which lies to the south of Moscow, an intercepted drone caused injury to one individual after striking an apartment building.

Now, the aerial threats prompted a temporary shutdown of Moscow's airports, disrupting flights, and services have since resumed normal operations. Amidst the chaos, there is one interesting piece of speculation that's circulating on Russian telegram channels, and that is that Ukrainian forces might have utilized a new type of drone, potentially a domestically produced variant of the Iranian-made Shahid drones, which Russia has used in its own assaults on Ukraine. Speaking of Russian assaults on Ukraine, this incident comes a day after Russia launched its own attack, which is being described as the most intense since the escalation to a full-scale invasion in 2022.

According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Russia deployed 75 Shahed drones, which were almost entirely countered by Ukraine's air defenses with 74 drones being destroyed. Like Ukraine's attack on Russia, there appear to have been relatively few casualties. Now, local reports from Ukraine indicate that at least five civilians sustained injuries and several structures were damaged by debris from the downed drones, and this marking another chapter in this lengthy and ongoing conflict. Now, with winter closing in, and that makes troop movements and resupply increasingly difficult,

it is likely that armed drones, long-range missiles, and other standoff weaponry will play a larger role in the coming months. All right, coming up in the back of the brief, anti-immigrant riots erupt in Dublin, following a knife attack that left five people wounded, including three children. I'll be right back. In today's back of the brief, violent protests rocked the city of Dublin late last week after five people, including three children, were injured Thursday in a knife attack

outside of primary school in Dublin. Now, the riot started after it was reported that the suspect in the knife attack was an Algerian migrant. According to the Irish Times, the suspect is believed to be a natural, Irish citizen from Algeria, although it's worth noting that there's some dispute about details of the suspect's biography. Now, amidst the injured is a five-year-old girl who is currently in critical condition. Another six-year-old girl continues to receive care for less severe injuries, while a five-year-old boy was able to leave the hospital soon after the attack. The incident also left two adults hospitalized, with a woman in her 30s and a man in his 50s seriously injured and still

under medical care. As a result of the violent protests in Dublin City Center, police said that they can confirm seven vehicles were torched, including three buses, three police cars, and a tram. Now, the police response to the rioting saw the most riot police in Irish history deployed to deal with the situation. Irish police arrested 34 people on Thursday night after the rioters stormed across Dublin, setting fire to cars and vehicles. According to Ireland's National Police service. Thirty-two of the 34 people arrested were charged for participating in rioting and destruction. Police blamed far-right agitators for the violence following the stabbing attack. Finally, several members of the police force were also injured in the fighting, with one member

in critical condition receiving treatment in the hospital. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Monday, 27 November. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out. 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.