The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | January 10th, 2024: West Condemns Moscow's North Korean Ties & Iraqi PM to US Troops: Scram

Episode Date: January 10, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     The U.S. and her allies are condemning Russia’s increasingly cozy military relationship with the North Korean regime, as Putin continues to reign ballistic missiles down on the people of Ukraine. Iraq is requesting a negotiated exit of U.S-led military force from the country, describing their presence as destabilizing amid regional spillover from the Gaza war. 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

It's Wednesday, January 10th. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First up, the U.S. and allies are condemning Russia's increasingly interdependent military relationship with the North Korean regime, as Putin continues to rain ballistic missiles down on Ukraine. Also, Iraq is requesting a negotiated exit of U.S.-led military forces from their country, describing their presence as destabilizing amid regional instability and turmoil from the Gaza War. But first, our afternoon spotlight. We begin today with the troubling ties between Russia and North Korea and the Putin regime's recent use of North Korean-made ballistic missiles in their ongoing aerial bombardment of Ukraine.

The United States and its international partners issued a joint statement on Tuesday, condemning the weapons transfer between the two regimes. That was ahead of a UN Security Council meeting regarding the ongoing military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang held on Wednesday. As a reminder, during Russia's deadly bombardment of Ukrainian cities on January 2nd, the Putin regime reportedly used North Korean ballistic missiles. Russian missile strikes on Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, cities have killed more than 90 civilians since December 29th and left more than 400 injured.

The joint statement, which was signed by the U.S. and nearly 40 partner nations, said, quote, we are deeply concerned about the security implications that this cooperation has in Europe on the Korean Peninsula, across the Indo-Pacific region, and around the world. We condemn in the strongest possible terms North Korea's export and Russia's procurement of North Korea's ballistic missiles, as well as Russia's use of these missiles against Ukraine, end quote. As we covered last week on the PDB, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been supplying Russia with shipments of ballistic missiles and significant amounts of munitions in exchange for technical assistance for their own ballistic missile and spy satellite programs.

Now, this basically amounts to a slap on the wrist with a rolled-up harshly worded memo. the reality is that the joint statement carries little weight and is highly unlikely to dissuade Putin from shopping at Big Kim's ballistic missile and munitions warehouse. Russia and North Korea continue to deny making any arms deals since the war in Ukraine began, despite their renewed diplomatic ties and evidence to the contrary. White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said that the U.S. will demand that Russia be held accountable at the Security Council. Well, that should do it.

Not that it matters, but exchanging weapons or military equipment with North Korea is banned under UN Security Council resolutions, including ones endorsed by Russia. As we've frequently discussed here on the PDB, Kim Jong-un has turned ignoring UN Security Council resolutions into something of a sport, whether it's through weapons trades or ICBM launches. Meanwhile, Putin continues his aerial blitz on Ukrainian Sea. cities. On Monday, Russia launched a barrage of hypersonic and cruise missiles, striking a wide range of targets from the front lines in the east to areas of central and even western Ukraine. Officials reported four civilian deaths and roughly 30 injuries. Ukrainian commander-in-chief

Valerie Zilluzni said Russia fired a total of 51 missiles of various types during that latest assault, as well as eight Shihed drones. Zaluzni said the Ukrainian Air Force, managed to shoot down all of the enemy drones and intercept 18 of the missiles. All right. Coming up after the break, we'll discuss the latest news out of Iraq, where officials have requested a negotiated exit of U.S.-led military forces due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza. I'll be right back. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin.

American troops have been in Iraq for going on 21 years now, beginning with the Iraq invasion in March of 2003. Currently, only a small contingent remains, around 2,500 personnel stationed primarily in bases in and around Baghdad. It's a modest presence, but it's been pivotal in curbing Iranian influence and thwarting a resurgence of ISIS in the nation. However, amidst the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Iraq's government appears to be reassessing the need or the political desirability for America's military presence, at least publicly.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani recently stated that his nation wants a quick and orderly negotiated exit of U.S.-led military forces, describing their presence as destabilizing amid regional turmoil from the Gaza war. In an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, Sudani stated, quote, There is a need to reorganize this relationship so that it is, is not a target or justification for any party, internal or foreign, to tamper with stability in Iraq and the regent." Now, he refrained from providing a withdrawal timeline, instead emphasizing the urgency of the matter.

He said, quote, let's agree on a time frame that is honestly quick so that they don't remain long and the attacks keep happening, end quote. Obviously, the backdrop of these statements is important, and that would be the ongoing attacks against U.S. troops by Iranian-backed proxies, which are loosely integrated into Iraq's security apparatus, as well as then the subsequent U.S. counterstrikes. Iraq's Shiite community has long called for an exit of U.S. and coalition troops, seeing them as a barrier to greater cooperation with Iran. Those calls have only grown louder in recent days following an American drone strike last week that killed the militant known as Abu Takwa,

the commander of an Iran-supported militia. Again, it is a very complex internal political landscape within Iraq. There are several Iran-sponsored militias operating in Iraq that are recognized as part of the country's security framework. The current Iraqi government needed these militias on side in order to win power. They now, constitute a relatively powerful block within Prime Minister Sudanis government, and he needs to placate their interests, which essentially means Iran's interests. As Run DMC says, it's tricky. Now, despite Prime Minister Sudanese public statements, some reports, including from Politico, suggest a discrepancy between his public and his private position. Senior advisors to Sudani have

reportedly assured U.S. officials that his public declarations, were aimed at placating domestic political pressures, while privately, Sudani remains, quote, committed to negotiating the terms of the coalition's continued presence in Iraq. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 10 January. 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 tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Thank you.