The President's Daily Brief - November 7th, 2022. North Korea Launches ICBM as South Korea and the US Engage in War Exercises Nearby

Episode Date: November 7, 2022

It’s November 7th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ Welcome to a Big Five Update this morning. Five critical updates on stories we’ve covered previously that are shaping America — and the world. First, North Korea is launching missiles and, apparently, sending weaponry to Moscow.  Second, an update on the War in Ukraine. You might be hearing more talk of peace, but don’t believe it. I’ll explain why. Third, countries around the world are angry at the White House this morning because these foreign governments want some of Joe Biden’s Dirty Green Energy Cash. And he’s not sharing. Fourth, speaking of Mr. Biden, he kicked up quite a storm on Friday over coal plants. Shut them all down, he said. I’ll explain. Finally, some good news to start the week. A potential breakthrough for the 40M people in the world living with HIV. Plus, to end the podcast later this morning, a personal message on America’s election tomorrow. Some advice from history. ------ 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 November 7th. 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. Welcome to a big five update this morning, ladies and gentlemen, five critical updates on stories that we have covered previously that are shaping America and the world. First, North Korea is launching missiles, lots of them, and apparently sending weaponry to Moscow. Second, an update on the war in Ukraine. You might be hearing. more talk of peace, but don't believe it. I'll explain why. Third, countries from around the world are angry at the White House this morning because these foreign governments want some of Joe Biden's dirty green energy cash, and he's not sharing. Fourth, speaking of Mr. Biden, he kicked up quite a storm on Friday over coal plants. Shut them all down, he said. I'll explain. Finally, some good news to start the week, a potential breakthrough for the 40 million people in the world. living with HIV. Plus, to end the podcast later this morning, I've got a personal message on America's election tomorrow. Some advice from history. But first, let's get to our big five

update. And we start things off this morning in North Korea. So to refresh our memories on this very strange place, it's a country in Asia squeezed between China and Japan that we don't talk a lot about on the PDB, and when we do, it's usually because of one of three reasons. First, they hate us, like a lot. We are their number one enemy. Second, America has about 25,000 troops stationed in neighboring South Korea. And finally, North Korea has nuclear bombs and missiles to deliver them. And it's that last part about missiles that kicks off things for us this morning. Over the past five days, North Korea has fired over a dozen missiles towards South Korea and Japan to include one late last week that's called an intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM. Now, these missiles are long-range

missiles that in many cases can fly from there to here hitting the entire American homeland. So why are the North Koreans firing off these record number of missiles? Well, the United States and South Korea have been conducting military exercises over the past week. This one is called Vigilant Storm by our Department of Defense. And these joint exercises always make North Korea and its dictator Kim Jong-un are pretty cranky. But it also gives the North Koreans a chance to test out its missile technology and learn from their mistakes.

In other words, they want to make their missiles better, stronger, fly farther, and they've got to test them to do that. Well, that's what happened last week, in fact, with the ICBM. It actually failed about halfway through the flight. Now, some people that I saw in the media, they were laughing at this, but I will tell you that the North Koreans are very smart, and they will take this failure right back to the lab, and they will learn and they will improve.

So all in all, I'll keep you posted on this very strange country as both the United States and our adversaries in this strange place rattle their sabers. But actually, we're not done with the North Koreans, not just yet. because there's another update involving this country and Ukraine. So on Friday, a train left North Korea and headed towards Russia. Now, that's somewhat unusual because that rail link had been cut off for several years because of the COVID pandemic.

So what exactly was on that train? Well, the Russians said last week that North Korea was actually sending them horses. That's according to their agricultural ministry. But interestingly enough, the rail cars were flat cars with containers, not exactly good conditions to ship horses, at least ones that show up alive. Instead, observers suspect that North Korea is sending artillery shells to Russia for its war in Ukraine. Last week, the United States said that it had high confidence intelligence confirming that North Korea was sending a significant number of artillery shells to Russia, all to help Moscow, replenish its stocks, which are growing lean after about nine months of war in Ukraine. So North Korea denies those charges, Russia too, as one would expect.

But interestingly, the previous shipment of these artillery shells were going via cargo ships to countries in the Middle East first and then onward to Ukraine. So perhaps this new mode of shipment, one that is perhaps less susceptible to U.S. operations, well, maybe they're looking for trains, not boats. Regardless, I will keep you posted on how these weapons shipments proceed. And speaking of, let's now pivot to our second update this morning, our War of Attrition in Ukraine, of course, between Russia and the West. First, if you hear Ukraine or its president Volodymyr Zelensky

talking about peace in the coming weeks or days, well, you should know that probably those words don't mean a whole lot. That's because, according to Reuters, news service, the Biden administration has told Zelensky privately to start talking more about peace, but not because they actually mean it. Rather, it's a way to show nations around the world that, hey, Ukraine does want peace, not just war. It's a message designed for countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, all of whom either have strong relationships with Moscow or are being negatively affected by the war. It's not clear that they're not clear that they're

this new messaging will be taken seriously, though. In the past couple of months, Zelensky has made very clear that he will only engage in peace talks if Russia's president Vladimir Putin either steps down or is removed from power. The switch in language then will be pretty jarring for most of us. So we'll see if anyone takes this latest messaging from Kiev or Kiev seriously, but let's be fair, Russia's not all that interested or serious about peace either. They're buying North Korea's artillery shells for Pete's sake and Iran's drones. And speaking of, and to refresh our memories on this one, the country of Iran has been selling Russia some of its Shahid drones for Moscow's war in Ukraine. Now previously, Iran has denied doing this, but actually on Saturday,

Iran's foreign ministry said, to paraphrase, you know, maybe we have sold a couple of those drones to Moscow, but it was before the war, nothing since, we promise. So the foreign ministry went on to say that, quote, if proved to us that Russia has used the Iranian drones in the war against Ukraine, well, we will not be indifferent to that usage, end quote. You'll have to forgive my skepticism on that one, because Russia and Iran are quite close allies. And the bottom line here is that Iran is for sure providing Russia drones and they are playing an important role in Ukraine. Specifically, they are helping to blow up Ukraine's infrastructure, especially power plants and the electricity grid. And on that note, one final piece of pretty sobering news, authorities in Kiev or Kiev are saying that the drone

and missile strikes by the Russians using this Iranian technology, well, it's destroyed about 40 to 50% of the country's ability to generate power. And that's forcing Kiev, to draw plans to evacuate the 3 million citizens who live in the capital city if electricity is lost in the coming days and weeks. All right, my friends, one more update this morning before we take our first break. The world, it seems, is growing very cranky with America this morning, or should I say, the Biden administration, all because of dirty green energy. So here's that story with a quick recap to refresh our memories. Back in August, Joe Biden signed something called the Inflation Reduction Act that wasn't about inflation, actually, but rather renewable energy. About $380 billion worth of subsidies and

programs to help push America away from fossil fuels and instead towards solar panels and wind turbines and batteries, preferably made in America or mostly in America. So those were the rules. Make it in America or mostly here and you get some of America's cash, or at least the government's cash. And that is what's making so many countries around the world mad at America this morning. They want some of Joe Biden's dirty green money, but they're going to be boxed out

because they don't make their stuff in America. The governments of France, Germany, the EU, Japan, and South Korea have all lodged protests in the last couple of weeks with the Biden administration saying that the subsidies and rules well, they're unfair trade, really. And that's because their companies of these foreign governments don't have operations in America or their products aren't made here, so they're not going to be able to profit. According to Reuters and AP News Services, all of those governments have requested that the

White House give them exemptions to let their companies and their, say, electric vehicles, for instance, be eligible for tax incentives even if those vehicles weren't made in America. which sort of defeats the whole purpose of the Inflation Reduction Act, which in part is to eventually maybe become energy independent with dirty green energy. Again, maybe. But regardless, the argument is getting so heated between Washington, D.C. and these other countries, like France and Germany, for instance, that leaders of those two countries in particular are threatening retaliation,

a trade war if Joe Biden doesn't relent and give those foreign companies. an exemption. That's according to the media outlet Politico. By the way, it's not clear what products would be in Europe's trade war with us, but regardless, I find it pretty ironic that as you and I as taxpayers take on billions of dollars in debt to fight a war in their backyard in Ukraine, that this is how they're expressing their gratitude, the trade war, because they want more of our money. All right, folks, that takes us to our first quick break. When we come back, the White House and Joel Biden are under even more fire about dirty green energy. Plus, I've got some good medical news. We'll be right back. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari.

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which is about 22% of us here in America, well, you're going to want to listen to this. Mr. Biden was at a rally on Friday when he was addressing the importance of dirty green energy and moving America away from the fossil fuel industry. He was specifically talking about coal fire power plants and their future. So he said, quote, we're going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar instead. So to be clear, that's not the first time that he's promoted this idea of shutting down the fossil fuel industry, if coal or otherwise. So if we recall, during the 2020 debates, he said that under his administration, the oil industry would be, quote, banned from drilling on federal ground, including offshore, end quote. He also said that when asked if there was a future

for the fossil fuel industry in America to include coal, he said, quote, No, we will work to make sure it's eliminated. We will work it out, end quote. To be candid with you, I've got probably a page and a half of quotes of Mr. Biden, making it very clear where he stands on this issue of fossil fuels. But the point is, he kicked up quite an outrage in lots of states who don't take kindly to his position. And one senator in particular took exception to his statements. A fellow Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, which of course is a coal state.

So here's what Mr. Manchin had to say directly to Mr. Biden. Quote, his comments are not only outrageous and divorced from reality. They ignore the severe economic pain that the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs. Comments like these are the reason that the American people are losing trust in Joe Biden. And he does not understand the need to have an all-in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure. end quote. So Senator Manchin went on to attack what is a fellow Democrat Joe Biden in some pretty remarkable language saying, for instance, that it was just days before the midterm elections,

and Mr. Biden's comments were politically stupid. A day later, the White House tried to, frankly, clean up Mr. Biden's statements. They said that his remarks were twisted and regrets if anyone took offense. Well, I will let you decide if that's true, or not, given his pretty clear record on the matter. And more importantly, I'll let you decide if his statements should influence your vote tomorrow as you weigh lots of issues and which ones are most important. But most especially as you pay those very high electricity and fuel bills this fall and winter. And that takes us to our last update on this big five Monday morning.

There is so much more that I want to cover, especially on what's happening in the mid-week. West, related to the Mississippi River. Drought conditions are leaving that critical waterway so very low, it's jeopardizing the transit of corn and wheat and soybeans to market. For example, since just October 11th, there have been 25 closures on the Mississippi at 12 different locations. That's pretty unheard of. But while I definitely want to talk more about that crisis and what it means, especially

for my farmers and ranchers, I'd like to end on some very good. good news. So let's talk about some good news. And it's about some very hopeful medical research for folks all around the world living with HIV, of course the virus that causes AIDS. Researchers at the University of Oxford have put to trial a new therapeutic vaccine that allowed 40% of patients to get off their medications. And that's really important for lots of folks, especially throughout Africa and Asia who have inconsistent or unreliable access to HIV medications, which have made that disease very manageable. It's no longer a death sentence. So the other great piece of news on this, the underlying science behind how this vaccine works could pave a path towards a real

sterilizing vaccine like the ones for measles, mumps and rubella, and even a cure. So all in all, for the 40 million people around the world living with this virus, to include kids born to moms with this disease, which, by the way, these are families that I got to know when I served in Africa. Well, this news and this day is a very hopeful one for all of them. And that's very good news for all of us. And that, ladies and gentlemen, ends this Monday edition of the president's daily brief. Ah, but wait, there's more. I've got a personal message on the big day tomorrow, America's Election Day.

I've got some words of wisdom from two presidents from a very long time ago. We'll be right back. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at USAA.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply. Welcome back to the PDB, ladies and gentlemen. One more thing before I let you go.

Tomorrow, of course, is a big day in America, election day. So what issues do you care about most and who you're going to vote for? So when people ask me these questions, I always think first, none of your business or second, I think about the wisdom of two former presidents. So let me tell you about the first. Back on September 19th of 1796, then President George Washington released his farewell speech to the nation. And with his final words, he decided to warn his fellow country. men. That's because he knew what was coming. People even back then were breaking into factions,

specifically political parties. And he felt that that would be the ruin of the nation. So with his closing words to his fellow countrymen, he made the case that when Americans vote according to party loyalty rather than the common interest of the nation, it would foster a spirit of revenge, he said, and it would enable the rise of, quote, cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men. who would usurp for themselves the reins of government. In other words, he told us that a country governed by party wouldn't be governed for long. 160 years later, there was another man on his way to the White House, John F. Kennedy. It was 1958 and he was giving a speech where he talked about solutions to problems,

how to make America better, a more perfect union. So this is what he said. quote, let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democrat answer, but the right answer. And I think that those men gave us some pretty powerful marching orders with those two statements, delivered 160 years apart. We ought to focus, they would say, on problems or on reasonable solutions and pick our politicians accordingly, not because of their party, but because of their principles and how they would fix problems. Now, maybe tomorrow you'll be voting for both parties or just one, and either way,

that's fine. My challenge to you to all of us is to make sure that whatever we do tomorrow, that our choices are driven by principle and by solutions. And then no matter who we vote for, we have to hold these politicians accountable for the promises that they make. And that means that we'll have to keep them honest. And our founding father, They knew that. Benjamin Franklin actually was leaving Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1787. The founders were working inside that building on a new constitution. Well, a crowd had gathered around the building wondering what kind of government they had formed.

One person from the crowd shouted at Benjamin Franklin asking, hey, are we getting a monarchy or a republic? And Benjamin Franklin responded very famously with a republic, if you can keep it. So no matter which way you vote tomorrow, we've still got our work cut out for us, don't we? We've got a republic to keep. And that means we've got to work to keep it.

So I'll keep doing my part on this podcast, bringing you all the facts and the data as best I know them. And so long as you humor me, I'll give you a dose of my analysis and counsel. And maybe one show at a time, we'll get closer to that more perfect union that we all deserve. 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. And the truth shall make you free. Good day. Thank you.