The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | May 16th, 2025: China Develops Space-Based 'Kill Web' To Defeat The U.S. & Israel's Secret Talks With Syria's Islamist Regime

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:  First, America’s space chief is sounding the alarm on Russian and Chinese advances in space-based warfare, including Beijing’s “kill web” satellite network, Moscow’s intention to put a nuclear weapon into orbit, and their joint project to build a permanent moon base by mid-2030. We’ll have the details. Later in the show—in a surprising development, we are learning that Israel is engaged in secret talks with the new Islamist regime in Syria. The discussions are reportedly aimed at reducing tensions between the longtime adversaries, and at potentially having Damascus join the Abraham Accords, which would further erode Iran’s strategic interests in the Middle East. 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. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold DeleteMe: Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you text PDB to 64000. Message and data rates apply TriTails Premium Beef: Visit https://TryBeef.com/PDB for 2 free Flat Iron steaks with your first box over $250 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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chief, which honestly might be the coolest job title, has issued a grave warning about Russian and Chinese advances in space-based warfare, including Beijing's Kill Web Satellite Network, Moscow's intention to put a nuclear weapon into orbit and their joint project, between China and Russia, to build a permanent moon base by mid-2030, we'll have the details. Later in the show, in a surprising development, we're learning that Israel is engaged in secret talks with a new Islamist regime in Syria on the possibility of joining the Abraham Accords in a potential bid to further erode Iran's strategic interests in the Middle East. Now, that would be in the top 10 geopolitical developments of 2025.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We'll begin today with a look at the final frontier of warfare as the U.S., Russia, and China, vie for military supremacy in space. America's space chief sounded the alarm on Thursday on the emerging threat posed by Russia and China in the vast beyond, warning that what's referred to as Beijing's satellite killweb poses the biggest risk to U.S. forces. Speaking at Politico's Security Summit on Thursday, General B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said its imperative for America to move swiftly to disrupt the efforts of America's top adversaries

to weaponize space before they gain an edge over U.S. capabilities. China's growing satellite network is of particular concern to Saltman, who said it can precisely target the location of U.S. forces, preemptively giving, of course, the communist regime, valuable intelligence about American troop positions and operations before military objectives can be met. This network reportedly puts forces in the Indo-Pacific region at the greatest risk. Saltzman said, quote, the PRC has developed what we've kind of, you know, tongue-in-cheek, called a killweb.

It doesn't sound tongue-in-cheek. And it's nothing more than a series of hundreds of satellites that are a sensor network that provide real-time updates targeting quality information of our force. He continued, quote, this is a huge problem. That's why we have to build our capabilities to try to disrupt that, so that when we're trying to achieve military objectives, our soldiers, sailors, and airmen are safe and not under this umbrella of a very accurate, very long range set of weapons. But it's not just China. America's space chief warned that Russia is demonstrating similar strength in this arena, pinpointing three major areas of concern in Moscow's space technology development.

First, he points to what he described as their kinetic kill capability. Back in November 2021, Russia used a direct-decent anti-satellite missile to intentionally destroy a defunct Soviet intelligence satellite, creating a massive debris field in low-earth orbit that posed risks to the International Space Station and other satellites. Second, he noted that Russia launched a crippling cyber attack on American commercial satellite internet company Vyasat, just one hour. hour before mounting their invasion of Ukraine, causing outages for several thousand Ukrainian customers and disrupting wind farms and Internet services throughout Central Europe. Finally, and most ominously,

Saltzman warned of the Kremlin's intention to put a nuclear weapon into orbit. As you may recall, reports started circulating back in February of 2024 that the Putin regime was pursuing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon that could shut down everything. from military communications to civilian phone-based services and apps, U.S. intelligence officials said the weapon could trigger an electromagnetic pulse across low-earth orbit that would disable dozens of critical satellites and have a catastrophic effect on any ground-based devices that rely on satellite connectivity. While Moscow, vociferously, they're always visiphorously denying things, aren't they? Denied the reports as a Western fear tactic, intelligence suggests

that the Kremlin is still serious about, putting a nuke in space. Salsman said, quote, the Russians are demonstrating reckless behavior with regards to how they intend to contest the space domain that will have far-reaching impacts beyond any localized military effect. But the threat extends beyond Earth's orbit. Saltzman noted that Russia has partnered with China to launch a joint lunar exploration project called the International Lunar Research Station. China intends to put astronauts on the moon before 2030 and build a joint nuclear power plant on the moon with Russia to support the station. According to Politico, the ambitious project aims to create a permanent moon base by mid-2030

to compete with America's Artemis moon mission. We'd also be remiss if we didn't mention China's breakthrough in advanced energy weapon technology just last November. The South China Morning Post reported that the Chinese Communist Party had developed an advanced energy beam weapon dubbed a real-life death star capable of targeting and disrupting satellite systems. Now, the weapon can reportedly be used to impair communications, navigation, and even missile guidance systems, adding a potent new dimension to China's arsenal and underscoring their strategic emphasis on space-based warfare. Luckily, though, their Death Star can be destroyed by simply firing a proton torpedo

into its unsecured thermal exhaust port. And that is easily the nerdiest thing that I've ever said out loud. With the battle over the final frontier heating up, Saltzman says the U.S. must rapidly work to secure its own strategic foothold in space or risk being overtaken by adversaries. All right. Coming up next, Israel engages in secret talks with the new Islamist regime in Syria. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here.

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special offer. Choice Hotels gets you more of what you value. Comfort in, it's calling your name, save on the stay. Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim. Book direct at storesotails.com. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin, turning our attention to the Middle East, where President Trump's push for regional diplomacy appears to be making an impact. According to sources that spoke exclusively with the Times of Israel, Israeli officials have been holding secret security-related talks with Syria's new Islamist-led government in recent days aimed at reducing tensions between the longtime adversaries and on the possibility also of having Damascus join the Abraham Accords. While these delicate discussions are still in the earliest of stages, such a move could see Syria normalized ties with Israel,

which, of course, would deal a critical blow to Iran's strategic influence in the Middle East. Both Israel and Syria are remaining tight-lipped about the developments, and reports conflict about who is mediating the talks, though sources indicate that both the UAE and Qatar are playing a role. One source said a recent meeting was held in Azerbaijan, attended by the chief of the Israeli military's operations directorate, who spoke with unnamed Syrian government representatives alongside Turkish officials. A diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and Syria would go a long way towards reducing regional tensions, with the Israeli sources saying the government thinks it could also enable a positive shift in ties between Israel and Turkey. As we've been tracking here on the PDB,

since the fall of the Assad regime in December, both Ankara and Jerusalem have moved quickly to try to shape Syria's future. Turkey is fully backing interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Shiraz's Islamist government and hoping to establish permanent military installations inside Syria. Israel, on the other hand, remained skeptical of the new Sunni Islamist government, particularly given Al-Shara's past life as a former al-Qaeda operative. Israel has been conducting air strikes targeting the former Assad regime's military infrastructure and armaments

to prevent them from falling into the hands of extremists. The competing interests have raised diplomatic tensions, of course, between Israel and Turkey, with Israeli leaders viewing Turkey's growing presence in Syria as a threat to their security. Israel has also carved out a demilitarized zone in southern Syria near the Golan Heights to protect their border from extremist groups, and they've repeatedly warned Syria's new government about deploying forces south of Damascus. But the reports of direct talk suggest that the situation could,

could, perhaps, de-escalate. The news comes after President Trump announced a major U.S. policy shift regarding Syria just on Tuesday, saying he plans to remove all sanctions on the war-torn to, quote, give them a chance at greatness in the post-Assad era. On Wednesday, Trump did meet face-to-face with Al-Sharah in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. In exchange for the promised sanctions relief, the president reportedly urged Al-Shera to normalize ties with Israel, expel all foreign and Palestinian terrorists, and help the U.S. prevent the resurgence of ISIS. Trump later told the media, quote, I told Shara, I hope you're going to join the Abraham Accords once you're straightened out.

And he said yes, though Trump did caution that Syria still has, quote, a lot of work to do. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday in the 16th of May. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. Now, Intel sources have advised me that today is Friday, and Fridays, of course, mean new episodes of our extended weekend show, the PDB Situation Report. Our latest show features two always interesting and very insightful guests, George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War, he's just back from Ukraine, and Ali Reza Jafferzadeh from the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

This episode launches this evening at 10 p.m. on the first TV, and of course you can always catch it and past episodes on our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief, as well as all podcast platforms everywhere. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB. situation report. Until then, stay informed, stay safe. Stay cool. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take a little bit of your time to talk about something very important. Talking about eating smart, right? Eating healthy. Now, a big part of that effort, of course, is, well, knowing where your food comes from, right? How it was raised, how it was handled. After all, if you don't take control

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