The President's Daily Brief - September 28th, 2022. Explosions Destroy Major Natural Gas Pipelines from Russia to Europe.

Episode Date: September 28, 2022

It’s September 28th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ We have a case of international mystery and intrigue this morning. Somebody blew up two pipelines / in the Baltic Sea, and it may be connected the War in Ukraine. I’ve got a full readout coming up. As always, I’m keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put these two on your radar. First, Europe is placing a big order for solar panels. Unfortunately, those solar panels are made by slaves in China. Second, Joe Biden is once again blaming gas stations for high gas prices. He is wrong, of course. And I’ll give you the facts to explain why. As always, we’ve got a listener question. Today it’s about the protests in the country of Iran. ------ 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 September 28th. 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. First up, we have a case of international mystery and intrigue this morning. Somebody blew up two pipelines in the Baltic Sea, and it may be connected to the war in Ukraine. I've got a full readout coming up. As always, I'm keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put these two on your radar. First, Europe is placing a big order for some. solar panels. Unfortunately, those panels are actually made by slaves in China. Second, Joe Biden is once again blaming gas stations for high gas prices. He is wrong, of course, and I will give you the facts to explain why. As always, we've got a listener question. Today, it's about the protests in the country of Iran. But first, let's get started with today's main brief. We have got quite the mystery this morning, a case of international intrigue, likely perhaps connected to the war in Ukraine. But to understand this brief,

you might want to first grab a map of Northern Europe, either in your minds or on your computer or phone. And I want you to look for the Baltic Sea. It's the body of water between Poland, Sweden, Russia, and, of course, the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Stradling the Baltic Sea and its neighbor, the North Sea, is the country of Denmark,

and one of its islands called Bornholm, is going to play a very important role in this brief. So here it is. In the past 48 hours, Swedish and Danish seismologist and engineers have confirmed to Reuters' wire service and a whole bunch of other news outlets that there were three explosions deep in the Baltic Sea

near the Danish island of Bornholm. Now, these explosions ripped apart to very important natural gas pipelines, Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2. If those names sound familiar, they should. Nord Stream 1 used to provide most of Europe's natural gas, all from Russia. But over the summer, the Russians started shutting off the spigot for that pipeline, first down to 50% of normal, then 20%, and frankly even before the explosions, it was down to zero.

Meanwhile, Nord Stream 2 was a newer sister pipeline that was supposed to become operational this past winter, but then Russia invaded Ukraine and it never started up. Still, both pipelines did have some natural gas inside of them, in part to keep the pipelines pressurized. And then someone ignited three underwater explosive devices. Those ruptured the pipelines, releasing the natural gas and some methane that remained inside. Well, now that gas is bubbling up to the surface of the Baltic Sea. To be clear, these were explosions that caused this incident.

They were not, say, an anchor from a passage. ship or an underwater landslide from an earthquake, for example. Swedish and Danish seismologists and scientists have confirmed that this morning. Plus, as oil and gas experts are pointing out to Bloomberg News, Wall Street Journal, and the German newspaper Der Spiegel, these pipelines are covered in a very special cement that largely prevents accidents. And so that means that this was an act of sabotage. That's also the message that we are hearing from the U.S. Secretary of State,

the governments of Poland, Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. That's also the word from Russia. The spokesman for the Russian President Vladimir Putin said to Russian press that sabotage could not be ruled out and that the issue would now affect the energy security of the entire continent of Europe. So one final interesting piece of the puzzle here before we move on to analysis and opinion. Next to that same Danish island that I mentioned before, the Bornholm, well, there's a new

pipeline that just opened from Norway to Poland. It's called the Baltic Pipeline. And with that new pipeline coming online, it'll allow European nations to more closely connect their energy supplies and forever avoid Russia. Well, that is until somebody blows up the Baltic Pipeline too, I suppose. So all in all, folks, it's very early in this incident to understand exactly who did this and why. But I'm bringing it to you so soon because I think, that this development is going to grow in importance for two reasons. First, for you and your family. Natural gas prices shot back up yesterday after these explosions, and that likely means even more paying for folks like you here in America, and no small part, because we are exporting record

amounts of our natural gas to Europe, which means less supply here at home. And that helps explain the growing electricity costs for you and your neighbors. Now, the second reason that I'm bringing you this brief so early. If in fact all of these governments are correct, that sabotage is at work, it suggests that we are moving into a much more dangerous phase of this war. So here's why. Up until now, there has been the remote possibility that a diplomatic solution could be found and that Russian natural gas could once again flow into Europe in major volumes all before the winter arrived. But those hopes are now gone. The company that operates the Nord Stream Pipeline said in press interviews yesterday, that it is impossible to gauge how many months

or even years it would take to repair the pipelines. So along with the destruction of the pipelines, so too are destroyed any real motivations for Europe and their governments to look for peace. There's no real economic benefit for them because there's no or very little Russian gas to be had. So there's no forcing function for diplomacy. And perhaps that was the point for who whoever blew up those pipelines. One final note. It's unclear who's responsible for these explosions, of course, but people in the press and social media are highlighting a few potential culprits.

One is Joe Biden and his declaration last February, that he would, quote, bring an end to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, end quote. Senior members of his state department actually said the same thing at the same time. Others, meanwhile, are speculating that some elements, within an Eastern European government might have actually done it. Perhaps a government who feared peace with Russia. And yet still others are saying, well, it's probably Putin, blowing up his own pipeline like an angry child who couldn't use it anymore.

I can't offer you counsel either way on this issue of the culprit. It's far too early to say. But it's very, very odd that these otherwise empty pipelines were blown up at the exact same spot in Denmark at Bornholm Island, right where a new pipeline totally full of gas just became operational. Still, I can tell you this. We are stepping closer to a much greater conflict at the very moment when polls say that you all, the American people, want peace. You all want less involvement. A poll out yesterday from Data for Progress and the Quincy Institute for Responsible statecraft found that 57% of likely voters support the U.S. pursuing diplomatic negotiations

as soon as possible, even if it requires Ukraine to make compromises with Russia. Plus, 58% of Americans also oppose the U.S. providing aid to Ukraine if there are continued to higher gas prices and higher costs of goods for Americans. The bottom line, then, is that you all are growing tired of this war. You are weary of the costs and you want it over. But somebody, somewhere, is blowing up pipelines and making it very clear that this war is not over, not by a long shot. Coming up, ladies and gentlemen, a closer look at what's on my radar. Two quick briefs for you, one on dirty solar panels and the other on Joe Biden's attacks on gas stations. We'll be right back. Own it all. Pay off your home,

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put these two on your radar. First, we're actually going to continue our main brief, just a little bit on the natural gas pipelines exploding and connected to a remarkable story on Europe's addiction to slave-made solar panels. So as news broke about the pipelines exploding in the Baltic Sea, the White House press secretary responded by saying, quote, this just drives home the importance of the efforts

to accelerate true energy independence by moving the world to a clean energy economy. end quote. In other words, we all just need more dirty green energy. Well, this morning we have reporting from Bloomberg News that Europe is trying to do just that by purchasing a record number of solar panels made by Chinese slave labor. Data from January through July of this year show that European nations have purchased a record number of solar panels from Chinese manufacturers, specifically and especially from the Xinjiang province. So to refresh you, our memories, products made in that province, including solar panels and their materials like

polysilicon. They're mostly made by the Uyghur people, an ethnic minority that the communist government in Beijing has locked inside of concentration camps and forces them to work in factories like solar panel factories. And my goodness is Europe snapping up those solar panels. Sales totaled $14.2 billion in just the first six months of this year. Or, to put that a bit differently, 54 gigawatts of total power. And that's actually up from a forecast of 41 gigawatts for the whole year. To just emphasize the point, folks, European governments know exactly what they're buying.

They're actually considering a law to ban the purchase of goods from this region, the Xinjiang area. But it's not on the books yet. So obviously they are buying in bulk now before they have to face restrictions. So as we hear about this clean energy economy stuff, again words used yesterday by the White House, just be reminded that there remains a very ugly, frankly, an even horrific side to their dirty green goals.

And speaking of energy, we've got one final radar brief for the morning. Joe Biden is again attacking gas station owners for high gas prices. On Monday, he was at a White House meeting discussing the American economy. He was not very happy about recent gas price increases. So here is what he said. my message is simple. To the companies running gas stations and setting those prices at the pump,

bring down those prices now. Do it now. For what it's worth, Biden said virtually the exact same thing back in early July. But then as now, he was wildly wrong on the facts. So let's review those once more.

According to the National Association of Convenience Stores, over 60% of gas stations in America are owned by an individual or family that own one single store. Another 30% or so of gas stations are owned by independent chains or grocery stores like Costco. The remaining 5% of America's gas stations are owned by large corporate oil or refining companies. Now, that might surprise some folks because of the number of signs that you see when you fill up for gas. For instance, you'll see a sign that says Chevron or BP or Exxon. but what you might not know is that oftentimes those are franchisees.

So let's just actually put some numbers to this. Exxon's chief executive told Congress recently that it doesn't own or operate a single U.S. gas station. BP said of the 7,500 stations under its brand, it owns only about 10% of those. Finally, Chevron. They operate about 300 stations on the West Coast, but that's of the 8,000 that bear the names Chevron. and Texaco. So bottom line here is that when Joe Biden attacks gas stations, he's actually attacking mostly small business owners. Now one last fact check here. According to that same National Association of Convenience Stores, most of its members do make some money off of gas, but, well,

let me ask you, how much do you think that they make off of a single gallon of gas? What's your, rough guess? Because the answer is one to five cents. per gallon, depending on the gas station. Most profit for owners actually comes from the food and the drinks and the cigarettes that consumers buy when they go inside to pay the bill and such. So there it is, folks. Once again, Joe Biden and anybody else is welcome to attack, frankly, whomever they'd like about rising gas prices. But gas station owners should not be one of them. And with that, one more thing before I let you go. A listener question, as always, 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. A question from Farhad in Los Angeles, California. So here it is. Brian, I'm curious if you're following what's happening in Iran.

What do you make of the protests and what? comes next. Farhad, I really appreciate the question and for folks not following some pretty heartbreaking stuff happening in the country of Iran. In that nation, and in fact, many other countries in the Middle East, women are required to wear certain clothing to include a headscarf or a hijab. There are, well, frankly, religious police that monitor compliance, or sometimes there are random groups of men who will enforce it on their own, sort of vigilante justice. Well, there was a young woman named Ms. Masa Amin. who died on September 16th for allegedly not wearing her hijab.

She died in police custody after almost certainly she was beaten as a form of punishment. Now, since her death, the country has erupted in protest in a surprising number of cities, and it's united not just the young people who started the protest, but it's gained steam amongst even the most average Iranian citizen who's tired of living under the thumb of the regime. So Farhad asked, what comes next? Gosh, I wish I could be more hopeful here, but as some of you probably know, Iran is ruled by a very corrupt but very ruthless group of men who are very powerful.

And that includes a very specific group called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. And I've seen no indications that the IRGC in particular is cracking or splitting from the regime's leader, Ali Khamini. So what usually happens with these kinds of things, the protest, is that the regime allows these folks to, protest for a while, sort of like letting out some steam from a pressure cooker. And then they arrest or kill the protest organizers or very vocal supporters. And in fact, that's sadly what we're seeing now. Over 40 protesters have been killed by the regime. So I wish I were wrong in my assessment of what comes next, and I pray frankly that I am. But for now, these protests will likely suffer the same fate as all those who come before them. Still, I'll keep watching.

watching and I'll keep you posted. In 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.