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The President's Daily Brief
August 11th, 2025: Xi Jinping’s Paranoia Claims Another Victim & Russia’s Nuclear Deal With Pyongyang
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Mike Baker
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Unknown
Foreign.
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Mike Baker
It's Monday the 11th of August. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, Beijing detains one of its top diplomats, a man seen as a future foreign minister. Now, is this just another so called anti corruption campaign or a sign of growing paranoia from Xi Jinping? Later in the show, Lebanon signs on to a US Backed plan to disarm Hezbollah. But just days later, six Lebanese soldiers are killed in a blast while seizing a stockpile of the group's weapons. Plus, Ukraine says Russia is helping North Korea upgrade its nuclear weapons delivery systems. Now, is Moscow trading technology for troops in its war against Ukraine? Or you could ask, does a bear crap in the woods? We'll discuss the obvious. And in today's Back of the Brief, an update from Haiti where the government has declared a three month state of emergency in the central region as gangs tighten their grip and violence surges. Now, if you look up tragic hot mess in the dictionary, you'll find, unfortunately, a picture of Haiti. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. We'll start things off with a mystery in Beijing, one that could hint at cracks in the top ranks of the Chinese Communist Party, the ccp. And as Xi Jinping, who seemed seems to be growing ever more paranoid about those around him, the mystery revolves around veteran Chinese diplomat Liu Chian Chao. Liu Qianchao, remember that name? Widely seen as a contender previously to become China's next foreign minister. And he is a close confidant or was apparently to Xi Jinping. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Liu was taken away for questioning by Chinese officials after a high profile trip to the U.S. hmm, that doesn't bode well. And not just any trip. It was a tour through Washington and New York where Liu met with White House officials, Wall street executives and American think tanks. His message on that trip was that China wants stable, steady relations with the US Now, Leo reportedly received a warm reception in the States and frankly, that may not have done him any good. Back in Beijing, upon his Return? Well, the optics of the trip were all wrong. In Xi Jinping's China, a senior party official who looks a little too comfortable in front of an American audience, well, they're treading on dangerous ground. According to people familiar with the matter, Liu was quietly taken away by police soon after his return. Now, when I say taken in for questioning, I don't mean that he was politely asked to answer a few questions. That's not really how it works in the Chinese political system of Xi Jinping. For senior officials, it usually means being placed under the Communist Party's secretive disciplinary detention. Now, that can mean being whisked away to an undisclosed location, cut off from family lawyers and the outside world, and held for weeks or even months while party investigators work to extract confessions or implicate others or just make stuff up. It's not a prelude to a quick return to the office. Most who enter this type of detention, well, it's their first step toward political ruin and in some cases, just outright disappearance. The reason for Liu's detention hasn't been disclosed, but it's not an isolated incident. Since taking power in 2012, Xi has launched sweeping purges under the banner of fighting corruption and protecting national security. More than 6 million people have been disciplined or removed from office. That's 6 million, making it one of the largest political crackdowns in China, well, since the Mao era. And while some were genuinely corrupt, that's true. Others were simply seen as too independent, too. Too popular or too willing to deviate from the approved political script. But what makes this case stand out is just how high profile Liu was. Not a provincial official or a mid level bureaucrat, but one of China's most prominent diplomats. Now regularly dealing with world leaders and representing Beijing on the world stage. His resume reads like a model of Chinese diplomatic success. Oxford educated, fluent in English, and experience as an ambassador to the Philippines and also to Indonesia. He was once a spokesperson for the Foreign ministry during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. That's about as public facing as you can get in China. In recent years, as head of the Communist Party's International Department, he became one of the few Chinese officials who traveled frequently to Western democracies, building relationships at a time when Beijing's foreign policy has been increasingly confrontational. But that very skill set, the ability to connect with foreign audiences, is now a liability in a system where political loyalty outweighs competence. This is the second time in just two years that a senior Chinese diplomat has suddenly vanished from public view. Back in 2023, Qin Gong was removed as foreign minister after just seven months on the job. Party investigators accused him of having an extramarital affair while serving as ambassador to Washington. But the deeper story, according to analysts, was that Chin had fallen out of favor with Xi. Now it's Liu's turn. And while the official line will be that this is about discipline and accountability, the real message is in Xi's China, no one is untouchable. But here's the catch 22. Each time Xi removes an effective, well connected diplomat, he weakens his own foreign policy bench. That forces him to rely more on loyalists and less on professionals. And in the long run, that's the kind of decision that a leader makes when he's more concerned about internal rivals than external threats. Which raises the question, is this the behavior of a confident ruler or one who's starting to look over his shoulder? Alright, coming up after the break, Lebanon backs a US Plan to disarm Hezbollah, then loses six soldiers trying to capture a Hezbollah weapons cache. And Ukraine accuses Russia of trading nuclear technology to North Korea in exchange for troops. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take just a moment of your time to talk about protecting your hard earned assets. Now, I'm guessing you probably noticed that there's a little turmoil out there in the economy, right? Trade wars, tariffs, back and forth, A US Federal Reserve that seems a bit at odds with the White House. Uncertainty, overemployment numbers, a volatile stock market. Well, you get the picture. It's at times like these that it's important to think about your assets and how to protect them. And one way to do that is through diversification. And I'm here to suggest that you consider diversifying with gold from the Birch Gold Group. They're the precious metals specialists. Look. For decades, gold has been viewed as a safe haven in times of economic stagnation and global uncertainty. And Birch Gold makes it incredibly easy for you to diversify some of your savings into gold. If you have an IRA or maybe an old 401k, you can convert that into a tax sheltered IRA in physical gold. Or like a lot of folks, just buy gold to store safely at home. First, you want to get yourself educated. Birch Gold can send you a free information kit on gold. Just text PDB to the number 989898. Again, text PDB to 989898. Consider diversifying a portion of your savings into Gold. Text PDB to 989-898.
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Unknown
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Mike Baker
Welcome back to the PDB Lebanon's Cabinet has backed a U S drafted plan to dismantle Hezbollah's military capabilities by year's end, hoping to preserve and extend the fragile ceasefire with Israel. Washington wasted no time in welcoming the decision, with a U.S. state Department spokesperson praising Lebanon's choice to task the Lebanese Armed Forces, also known as the LAF because even they've got an acronym with bringing every Hezbollah weapon under state control now. The proposal itself comes from President Trump's ambassador to Turkey and Special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, and lays out the most detailed disarmament roadmap yet for neutralizing the Iran backed terror group, according to a Lebanese Cabinet agenda reviewed by Reuters. The plan unfolds in four tightly scripted phases. Phase one requires the government to issue a decree within 15 days committing to Hezbollah's complete disarmament by 31 December in exchange for Israel halting all military operations against Hezbollah. Phase two, starting within 60 days, calls for Cabinet approval of a detailed LAF deployment plan with specific disarmament targets. Israel, for its part, would begin withdrawing from southern positions in the country and release Lebanese prisoners in coordination with the International Committee of the red cross within 90 days. Phase three would see Israel vacate its two of five positions near the shared border while international donors secure funding for rubble removal and infrastructure rebuilding. And finally, phase four, which is set for completion within 120 days, would dismantle Hezbollah's remaining heavy arsenal, including missiles and drones, coinciding with an economic conference hosted by the us, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to implement President Trump's vision for the return of Lebanon as a prosperous country. As for a response from Hezbollah, the terror group made no immediate comment, but three sources familiar with the Cabinet negotia told Reuters that ministers from the Iran backed terror group and its Shiite allies walked out of last week's meeting in protest. Soon after, Hezbollah vowed to ignore Lebanon's Cabinet decision, accusing the government of bowing to US Pressure. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Arachi told State TV the final call to accept the terms belong to Hezbollah, saying, quote, we act as a supporter, but we do not interfere with their decision making, end quote. Yet a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was more direct, saying tehran is certainly opposed to the disarmament of Hezbollah. For Washington, the blueprint is about preserving the November ceasefire between Israel and the group. American officials warn that a recent uptick in Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah positions could collapse the truce, which followed a bruising conflict last year. As PDB listeners will recall, the fighting began in October of 2023 when Hezbollah struck Israeli border positions in solidarity with Hamas at the outset of the Gaza conflict, prompting Jerusalem to unleash some of its most punishing blows against the terror group in decades. But as a reminder of just how difficult it could be to disarm Hezbollah, this past week, a blasted weapons depot near the Israeli border killed six Lebanese soldiers. An LAF source told AFP that troops have been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure under that November truce when munitions and unexploded ordnance somehow detonated. And just days earlier, French troops with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon working alongside the LAF uncovered a network of tunnels and a quote, significant arsenal near the Blue Line. That's the UN demarcated border between Lebanon and Israel. According to the French military, the cache included artillery, rocket launchers, hundreds of explosive shells, and roughly 250 ready to use improvised explosive devices. Okay, turning now to the Korean peninsula, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia is actively aiding North Korea and modernizing its nuclear weapons delivery systems, confirming long standing suspicions that Pyongyang is trading military aid for Kremlin technical expertise. As an aside, let's not forget that Russia, despite its invasion of an independent nation and its open secret of providing advanced weapons technology to the despot Kim Jong Un, well, Russia remains a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Now if you needed a clearer example of why the UN is essentially a feckless organization, I can't think of one. Anyway, the revelation comes from Ukraine's top military intelligence official who told local media over the weekend, quote, first of all, North Korea already has nuclear weapons, but the Russian Federation is helping it modernize its nuclear weapons strike platforms. This is really happening, end quote. He added that while Moscow is unlikely to assist Iran in developing a nuclear arsenal, its technical support to North Korea is already a reality. As we've discussed here on the pdb, the Putin Kim alliance deepened last year with a defense pact that frankly rattled Western capitals and has since expanded well beyond arms shipments. In one of the more striking developments, of course, an estimated 11,000 North Korean troops joined Russian forces late last year to fight a Ukrainian insurgency in the Kursk region. Kim, undeterred by sweeping UN sanctions against his regime. I don't think he's ever been deterred by UN sanctions, has continued testing advanced ballistic missiles and expanding his nuclear arsenal, framing it all as a response to so called provocations from the US and its allies. Ukrainian intelligence now says Pyongyang has acquired Russia's Pantsir S1 self propelled anti aircraft system, deploying it to shield the capital. The move is designed to harden North Korea's defenses against any potential strike aimed at crippling its nuclear missile infrastructure. North Korean state messaging has been fairly blunt. Just last month, Kim Yo Jong, Kim's powerful sister and vice chair of the ruling Workers Party, warned, quote, any attempt to deny our country's status as a nuclear power will be thoroughly rejected, end quote. Analysts are equally blunt. One associate fellow at the think tank center for Security Strategy and Technology in New Delhi wrote that, quote, the proliferation of nuclear technology, particularly with implicit backing from a global power, meaning of course, Russia threatens to destabilize regions far beyond the Koreas. The fellow added that such backing turns international treaties into hollow documents with no enforcement teeth. As for de escalation, well, the Kim regime has brushed off attempts by the Trump administration to arrange a new in person summit, despite the president meeting Kim three times during his first term in an ultimately unsuccessful push to roll back the regime's nuclear program. Experts now warn that any future talks will likely be narrow in scope and almost certainly won't end in full denuclearization. Pyongyang has baked its nuclear status into its constitution and repeatedly declared the program to be non negotiable. Okay, coming up next in the back of the brief, the latest on the crisis in Haiti where the government has declared a three month state of emergency in response to growing gang violence. Stay with us. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, you've likely heard me talk about Jacked Up Fitness and their amazing all in one home gym. It's a complete game changer when it comes to home fitness. And now I've got some more exciting news from Don and his excellent team at Jacked Up Fitness. Look, here's the deal. They know that many people are short on time and money but still want to get fit. So now you can start your fitness journey for under $60 and in just six minutes each day. 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C
I'm Piers Morgan, the host of the Piers Morgan Uncensored podcast. We do big interviews and we do big debates about whatever's getting people talking. We make news, we make noise, and we make a little bit of trouble too. Come and see what all the fuss is about. You can listen to Piers Morgan Uncensored on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcast cuts.
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D
Corporate megastores are spending millions lobbying D.C. politicians on one sided policies that send small businesses tumbling. They want to enact harmful credit card mandates that take resources away from your local credit union and community bank, leaving Main street businesses with less access to credit, making it harder for your family to pay for everyday goods like gas and groceries. Groceries Tell Congress to guard your card and oppose the Durban Marshall credit card.
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Unknown
Mandates paid for by Electronic Payments Coalition.
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Mike Baker
In today's Back of the Brief, Haiti continues its descent into complete chaos with what's left of the fractured government declaring a three month state of emergency across the country's central region as gang violence batters the agricultural heartland. The order, announced Saturday, covers the west or the Arty, bonit and center departments collectively known as Hades Rice Basket and is aimed at stemming the chaos while addressing a deepening food and agricultural emergency. In recent years, armed gangs have terrorized farmers, killing them or forcing them from their fields while raising nearby communities. The scale of the carnage is frankly staggering. A UN human rights report released last week tallied 1520 killed, over 600 injured and 620 kidnapped between April and June, numbers nearly identical to the blood soaked first quarter of 2025. More than 240,000 people have been driven from the central region alone, with some wading across Haiti's largest river in desperate attempts to flee gang violence. On Friday, Port Au Prince shook up its leadership in an attempt to restore order. Andre Parazon was tapped as interim head of the Haitian National Police, replacing Normil Ramon, whose inability to contain gangs controlling up to 90% of the capital drew relentless criticism. Rameau, for his part, pointed to chronic underfunding. Parazon, once chief of security at the national palace, which is the residence of the Haitian president, now inherits the unenviable task of working alongside Kenyan police in what so far has been a failed UN mission to cease the violence. And at the political helm, businessman Laurent St. Cyr has taken over the Transitional Presidential Council tasked with holding national elections by February 2026. Now the problem there while Haiti's gangs aren't just multiplying, they're metastasizing beyond the capitol. They're carrying out extrajudicial killings, they're trafficking children, running guns and using sexual violence as a weapon. And the UN warns that government forces and even local self defense militias are committing abuses of their own issues far beyond what a political shakeup can resolve. As the violence intensifies, so does the humanitarian toll. As of now, more than 1.3 million people are displaced and half the population faces food insecurity. Those are conditions that the government hopes its emergency order can begin to reverse. Whether the decree succeeds depends on if the country's fractured leadership and weak security forces can regain enough ground to push back the gangs that are now entrenched on nearly every street corner and farm field of Haiti. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily brief for Monday 11th August. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb@the firsttv.com and I hope that you had the chance to catch our latest episode of the PDB Situation Report this weekend. If not, you can find it and past episodes on our insanely popular YouTube channel. You can find that, of course, on YouTube, at President's Daily Brief and on podcast platforms everywhere. I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.