The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 6th, 2023: Zelensky Ducks Congress & Maduro Moves on Guyana

Episode Date: December 6, 2023

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky canceled a planned briefing with U.S. senators on Tuesday, where he was expected to make one last appeal for emergency military aid. We’ll discuss the ongoing fight in Congress over Ukraine funding, and Zelensky’s increasingly precarious position within his own borders. In the wake of a referendum claiming much of Guyana as Venezuelan territory, President Nicolas Maduro has told the country’s state-owned companies to immediately start exploiting Guyana’s rich deposits of oil and minerals. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.     Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a Bose moment. You've been there. Small talks going nowhere, but then the Bose speaker kicks in. Music you can feel fills the room, and no more chat with Danny from accounts. Your life deserves music. Your music deserves Bose. Find your perfect product at Bose.com. It's Wednesday, December 6th. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. Ukrainian President Zelensky canceled a planned briefing with U.S. senators on Tuesday, where he was expected to make one last appeal for emergency military aid. We'll discuss the ongoing fight in Congress over Ukraine funding, and Zelensky's increasingly precarious position within his own borders.

Also, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro is moving full steam ahead after his country approved a referendum, claiming much of neighboring Guyana for their own. Maduro has now told the country's state-owned companies to immediately start exploiting Guiana's rich deposits of oil and minerals. But first, our afternoon spotlight. President Zelensky abruptly canceled a planned video conference with U.S. senators on Tuesday, as fresh funding for Ukraine hangs in the balance. He was set to speak in a class briefing that was to be a cornerstone of his strategy to sway U.S. leaders to extend funding for the war effort. Now, as we discussed Tuesday on the PDB, the current U.S. aid package is dwindling

amid Ukraine's stalled counteroffensive, raising fears that, without fresh funding, Ukraine's efforts to stop Putin's invasion may crumble. Senator Chuck Schumer, who has championed the Ukrainian cause appeared surprised by the last-minute cancellation. He told reporters that something had happened at the last minute, but he did not elaborate on why the plans changed. The closed-door meeting was to proceed a critical vote on Wednesday regarding a nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region, with roughly $61 billion flagged for Ukraine. Now, Republicans in the Senate? Well, they've signaled their attention to block the package, standing with their colleagues in the House who have demanded that any additional emergency funds for Ukraine be tied to significant

reforms of U.S. border policy. Amid this uncertainty, Senator Schumer appeared to be counting on Zelensky's address to help send a clear message to his counterparts in the GOP about the consequences of letting aid to Ukraine dry up. He urged his colleagues to pass the aid package, claiming that those who think Putin will stop his expansion in Ukraine are not heeding the lessons of history. Despite dire warnings from Congress, as well as the Biden administration, regarding the catastrophic consequences of not approving more aid, a quick resolution of the matter doesn't appear to be in the cards. Meanwhile, Zelensky's problems on the home front continue to mount. A longstanding dispute between Zelensky and General Valerie Zilluzini, the

commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces is spilling into public view. Zelluzni, who drew Zelensky's ire in early November when he said the war had reached a stalemate, is a widely respected figure in Ukraine. Now, some polls even put his popularity with Ukrainian citizens at the same level as Zelensky. More and more, Zelensky is reportedly seeing Zalusini as a potential political rival. As we recently discussed on the BDB, Zelenskyy has faced escalated, criticism for his alleged targeting of political rivals and decision to postpone next year's presidential election. Observers, say Zelensky and his right-hand man, Andre Yermak, who heads the presidential office, are eager to remove anyone from their path that may have enough

political clout to challenge Zelensky's leadership in the future. An anonymous source with ties to the Ukrainian president's office told Newsweek on Tuesday that Zelensky has been targeting, quote, every possible future competitor in the elections, adding that his behavior is going to drag our country down. While Ukraine's defense minister denied any rift between the two this week, Ivan Stubach, an advisor to the Ukrainian parliament on national security, told Newsweek that Zelensky is, quote, two steps away from dismissing Zeluzni. He said Zelensky actively avoid speaking with the general due to what he called jealousy, adding that, quote, it's not a good situation. While success in the early war response reportedly kept this feud contained, it does appear that the failure of Ukraine's counteroffensive over the summer and shrinking international support for the war effort have caused these long simmering tensions to boil over.

All right, coming up after the break, in the wake of a referendum claiming much of neighboring country Guyana as Venezuelan territory, President Nicholas Maduro is making moves to enforce the vote. putting the entire region on edge. I'll be right back. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th,

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I wanted to give you an update on a situation that we're monitoring closely here on the PDB. Venezuela's recent vote to annex a large portion of neighboring Guyana, and by large portion, I mean about two-thirds of that country's territory. The Venezuelan government, led by President Nicholas Maduro, is now taking definitive steps to enforce this referendum result. In a television appearance on Tuesday, President Maduro revealed a new official map of Venezuela. Look at that. I've just redrawn the map of my own country. now including Eskibo, a region previously recognized as part of Guiana. This dramatic move was further amplified by Maduro's announcement of a law,

establishing a new province or state within this territory. To govern this area, Maduro announced that Major General Alexis Rodriguez-Cabello, a deputy of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, has been appointed as a provisional authority. Adding to the tension, Maduro has deployed a military contingent to point to Burima, a small coastal town on the Venezueling Atlantic border, which lies just about 30 miles from the contested area. Now, as we've been noting, the region in question is rich in resources,

gold, diamonds, aluminum, and a recent oil find, which is part of the reason, you would imagine, that Venezuela is so keen on annexing it. Maduro has ordered state-owned companies to begin exploration and exploitation of oil, gas, and mines in the region, declaring that he'll immediately proceed to grant operating licenses to do so. Isn't that generous of him? That raises a major question. What about the companies that are already there, most notably the U.S.-based Exxon Mobile, which has a platform in the disputed region? While they've been given an ultimatum, Maduro explicitly warned, quote, we are giving three months to the companies that have exploiting resources there without Venezuelan permission to comply with the law."

The escalating situation has prompted neighboring Brazil to take action. With its borders touching both Venezuela and Guiana, Brazil is taking measures to prevent any spillover of violence that could potentially happen in the coming days. The Brazilian military is reinforcing its northern border, deploying armored vehicles and hundreds of troops to Boa Vista, the capital of the Brazilian state adjacent to Venezuela and Guiana. A military source informed Reuters that this move is focused on enhancing border security and intensifying surveillance, aiming to avoid any unexpected developments in this increasingly volatile region. Now, apparently, the somewhat unhinged Maduro has taken a page out of the Vladimir Putin playbook on how to make a land grab. The question is,

At what point does the UN, regional South American leaders, or the U.S. administration, point out that Maduro can't act out his territorial expansion fantasies. The leftist Putin-wana be holds a questionable referendum and announces unilaterally that he's now going to lay claim to two-thirds of a neighboring country because he covets Guyana's natural resources and the newly discovered oil find. Well, this would seem, you would think, to be a clear-cut man. moment tailor-made for the United Nations to stand up for Guyana's rights as a sovereign nation. And for South American neighbors, at least those not run by hard left or autocratic leaders,

to tell Maduro to put a Stalin costume back in the closet and sit down. And the Biden administration, assuming that they can take time out from trying not to upset the Iranian regime, should step in and declare loudly that Maduro needs to stay on his side of the border. Look, this is not rocket science. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 6 December. If you have any questions or comments, reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker, and then I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.

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