The President's Daily Brief - PDB Evening Bulletin | February 27th, 2024: Houthis Underwater Sabotage & Michigan Tests Biden’s Arab Support

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Evening Bulletin:  Unconfirmed reports are emerging that the Houthis have successfully targeted underwater internet communications cables linking Europe to Asia in a serious escalation by the Iranian-backed militants.   Frustrated Arab-American voters in Michigan are looking to send a clear message to Biden over his administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB.  Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Tuesday, 27 February. Welcome to the PDB afternoon, or I suppose today because of travel delays, it's the evening bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, reports are emerging that the Yemen-based Houthis have successfully targeted underwater communications cables linking Europe to Asia in what would be a serious escalation by the Iranian-backed militants. Also, President Biden is expected to easily win today's Michigan primary, but there is more at stake than the state's delegates. Frustrated Arab-American voters are looking to send a clear message to Biden over his administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war. But first, our afternoon spotlight. It appears Yemen's Houthi militants have made good on their threat to target the world's critical communications infrastructure in a considerable escalation of their attention.

attacks in the region. Israeli news site Globes exclusively reported on Monday that four submarine communications cables linking Europe and Asia have suffered serious damage in the Red Sea between Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Djibouti in East Africa. The cables, which belong to AAE1, CCCOM, Europe India Gateway, and TGN systems are believed to have been taken out of commission in recent months. While the companies involved have not confirmed how the damage occurred, most observers are pointing the finger at the Iranian-backed Houthi militant group. In recent weeks, the group has made implied threats that they would target the underwater cables that ultimately provide internet connectivity for every corner of the world. Earlier this month, the Houthis posted a map of

these cables to their telegram channel, yes, the Houthis have a telegram channel, observing that, Yemen is in a strategic location as internet lines that connect entire continents, not only countries pass near it, end quote. While most analysts had concluded the Houthis did not have the technological capabilities to disrupt cables on the sea floor, which sit at depths of up to 100 meters in some places, it appears that the group found a way to overcome the obstacles. Hmm, would it be churlish of me to suggest that perhaps Iran and the IRGC had, something to do with it. In addition to the report from Israel's Globe, the founder of Flag Telecom, entrepreneur Sunil Tagari, claimed on social media that he had received confirmation that the

cables were cut by the Houthis, according to the company Data Center Dynamics. While it's unclear where this confirmation came from, he added that, given the current climate in the Red Sea, cable ship providers are unwilling to make repairs in the area and that insurance companies have threatened to cancel policies for any ships that do attempt to operate in Yemeni waters. To that point, while representatives at CCOM said they were unable to confirm the cause of the disruption, they said making any repairs will prove difficult due to the region's, quote, geopolitical sensitivity and ongoing tensions. The damage is reportedly causing major internet disruptions between Europe and Asia, with the worst impacts being felt in the Gulf states and India.

Since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out, the Iranian-funded and armed Houthis have carried out relentless missile and drone assaults on merchant vessels in the Red Sea. Their attacks have wrecked havoc on trade in a channel that accounts for nearly 15% of global maritime traffic. The U.S. and U.K. have since launched a number of counterstrikes against Houthi facilities in Yemen, but so far, clearly, they've done little to nothing to deter Houthi aggression. If the reports regarding Hootie attacks on underwater communication channels prove accurate, it marks a disturbing leap in the group's capabilities, and it does beg the question of exactly how the West plans to engage in actual deterrence against the Houthis and more to the point, against their IRGC puppet masters. Coming up after the break, Arab American activists in Michigan are looking to send a clear message

to President Biden in today's Democratic primary over his administration's policy. toward Israel and Gaza. I'll have more on that story when I come back. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin, or on this one occasion what we're referring to as the evening bulletin. Voters in Michigan headed to the polls today to vote in the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries. Barring a miracle or some bizarre, unforeseen circumstance, both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are expected to cruise to easy victories. While the ultimate result in Michigan was never really in doubt, the results of today's vote are going to be interesting for what it says about the relationship between President Biden and Michigan's increasingly irritated and disillusioned Arab American community. Now, Michigan has the second largest Arab-speaking population in the U.S., with California being the largest.

According to the latest census, the state has an Arab American population of more than 277,000 people. In a swing state that may be decided by a razor-thin margin come November, this demographic group plays a significant role. Now, Arab Americans have reliably voted for Democrats for decades, but the Biden administration's policy toward Israel and Gaza has put that normally rock-solid support in apparent jeopardy. According to a recent poll from the Arab American Institute, there's been a sharp decline in support for President Biden among Arab Americans. The poll finds that Biden's support plummeted to just 17%.

Now, that's a 42% decrease from 2020. That drop in support is driven almost entirely by the Israel-Hamas conflict, with the full two-thirds of Arab Americans having a negative view of President Biden's response. Back in January, Biden's reelection campaign manager was even forced to cancel a meeting with Arab Americans in Dearborn, Michigan, because of backlash over the administration's handling of the war. or rather what was seen as their strong support for Israel. In response to Biden's policies, activists launched the so-called Listen to Michigan campaign, an effort to convince Arab American Democrats to vote uncommitted in today's primary.

Organizers of the effort say they hope at least 10,000 people will vote uncommitted in the Democratic primary. That's just shy of the vote margin that delivered the state to Donald Trump in 2016. And that, they think, would be a clear message to Biden. Drop your support of Israel or will hand the state over to your opponent. The effort, as of course gained support from Congresswoman Rashida Thelib, not a surprise, since a family member is one of the key organizers of the movement. During a rally on Sunday, Thalib declared that while she doesn't want Trump to win, Arab American voters must, quote, put fear into the hearts of Democrats.

Now, while it's an interesting symbolic effort to force, President Biden that puts some distance between the White House and the Israeli government, the reality is, where exactly would all these dissatisfied Democrat Arab American voters go? It's one thing to say, listen to us, or we won't vote for you in November, if you've got a reasonable alternative candidate. But they've really only got three choices. Vote for Biden, don't vote, or vote for Trump. It seems unlikely that the traditionally Democrat Arab American community will do anything they could benefit Trump, no matter how upset they are with Israel's response to Hamas's 7 October slaughter that kicked off this conflict. And that, my friends,

is the PDB evening bulletin for Tuesday, 27th February. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.