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The President's Daily Brief
December 20th, 2024: Putin Talks Deal With Trump To End Ukraine War & China Under Scrutiny Over Mystery Drone Phenomena
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Mike Baker
This episode is brought to you by Patriot Gold Group. Protect your retirement assets and safeguard your future. Speak with the experts today over at Patriot Gold. Now, you've probably heard me say this before, but the Patriot Gold Group has been the top rated gold IRA dealer for seven years in a row. That is quite a few years in a row. Go to patriotgoldgroup.com or call 1-888-621-3856 for a free investor forever. It's Friday the 20th of December. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And yes, it does look like I'm dressed to do a couple of shows at the Copacabana. It's the festive holiday season. All right, let's get briefed and we'll start the show with an update on the war in Ukraine as Russian President Putin claims he's ready to strike a compromise with Donald Trump to end the conflict. Later in the show, Israel is setting their sights on Iran's last remaining proxy group of note in the Middle east, warning Yemen's Houthi rebels that the long arm of Israeli justice will soon come for them. Plus, military bases near Chinese owned farmland have been caught up in the mystery drone phenomena of haunting US Skies, leading some to believe that the activity is related to espionage efforts by the Chinese Communist Party. And in today's back of the brief, officials in Kyiv say they've disrupted a massive Russian spy ring operating within Ukraine that sought to collect sensitive intelligence related to F16 fighter jets donated by Kyiv's Western allies. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. Russian strongman Vladimir Putin just gave a marathon end of year press briefing in Moscow where he claimed he's ready to strike a bargain to end his nearly three year old war on Ukraine during the four and a half hour long question and answer session. Can you imagine if you were in the press and you had to sit through that? Anyway, during that four and a half long hour long question and answer session on Thursday, which was of course carefully choreographed by the Kremlin, Putin said his forces are winning the war, but would gladly participate in possible peace talks with US President Elect Trump once he returns to office in order to find a compromise with Ukraine. He also claimed that Russia had no preconditions to start talks with Ukrainian authorities, and that's according to a report from Reuters. But as always with Putin, well, there's a significant catch. The dictator said Russia has been ready to negotiate for some time and placed the blame on leaders in Kyiv for resisting efforts to start a discussion. He also said that while he's willing to negotiate with anyone, including Ukrainian President Zelensky, the Kremlin would only accept a deal that is approved by the Ukrainian parliament, which he called Ukraine's only legitimate authority. Putin said Zelensky, whose term technically expired in the spring of this year, would need to stand for re election for Moscow to consider him a legitimate signatory to any future agreement. Oh, because of course nobody loves protocol and pomp and circumstance and sticking to the rules like Putin does. As a reminder, Ukrainian elections were scrapped due to the war and Zelenskyy has been leading under an extended period of martial law now. Furthermore, despite his declaration that Russia has no conditions for starting negotiations, Putin later said that any diplomatic discussions should be based on the failed istanbul talks from 2022. So I guess Putin does have conditions for some background. The Istanbul negotiations occurred shortly after Moscow's full scale invasion. The draft treaty allowed Ukraine to pursue EU membership but prohibited it from joining NATO. The treaty also imposed stringent conditions forbidding Ukraine from hosting foreign weapons, requiring reductions in its military forces and demanding Kyiv officially cede Crimea and parts of the Donbas region to Russia. Kyiv rejected these terms, of course, as unacceptable and akin to a capitulation leading to the collapse of the talks. Putin also poured cold water on the possibility of a more limited ceasefire, saying any deal between Russia and Ukraine must be long standing. Putin's aversion to a more limited truce could throw a wrench into the plans of President Elect Trump, who has regularly claimed that he can bring a swift end to the conflict once he returns to office. One plan that Trump has reportedly floated to European leaders would involve a ceasefire and the deployment of a European led peacekeeping coalition of ground troops in Ukraine, though it sounds like that will be a non starter with Putin. While there are apparently multiple plans being floated by Trump's advisers at this time, he has proposed ceding large parts of Ukraine's eastern territories to Russia, areas that Moscow's forces currently occupy, as well as blocking Ukraine from joining the NATO alliance. Zelenskyy, for his part, has shown an openness to aspects of Trump's proposals. On Thursday, Zelenskyy said he had discussed the idea of a peacekeeping force with European leaders as a potential path forward. He also recently said he'd be willing to consider temporarily ceding Russian occupied territories to Moscow, but only if Ukraine is offered NATO membership. Once Ukraine is under the NATO umbrella, Zelenskyy has advocated using diplomatic means to restore their lost territory. But Putin has regularly stated his intent to keep the roughly 18% of Ukrainian territory that his military has seized. And during his press conference on Thursday, he said Russia's bloody but sustained gains on the front lines in eastern Ukraine have put Moscow in a strong negotiating position. Putin clearly thinks he's winning the war despite heavy losses, leaving many to question whether his claimed interest in a peace deal is genuine. In a rare admission, however, Putin did acknowledge that his military made missteps in the early days of the war and that they should have been better prepared prior to invading in February 2022. Or how about this, they could have just chosen not to invade at all. Asked if he would do anything different, Putin said he regretted not sending troops into Ukraine sooner. Oh, all right. Coming up next, Israel sets their sights on Yemen's Houthi rebels and China comes under scrutiny over the mysterious drone phenomena haunting US Skies. I'll have those stories when we come back. Welcome back to the pdb. Alright, three down, one to go. That's the message Israeli leaders just sent to Yemen's Houthi militants, Iran's last remaining proxy group of any real capability in the Middle East. With Hamas and Hezbollah crippled and the Iranian allied Assad regime toppled in Syria, Israel now appears ready to remove the Houthi rebels from the chessboard, particularly after the group launched another missile attack on Israel early Thursday morning that damaged a school in Tel Aviv. Leaders in Jerusalem quickly responded, greenlighting a series of deadly strikes on Houthi strongholds in Yemen that killed nine. According to a report from CNN, the operation involved 14 Israeli fighter jets that dropped more than 60 munitions on Houthi military targets with the aim of paralyzing all of the ports in Yemen used by the Iranian backed group. Sources subsequently told the Times of Israel that the mission had been successful and that all militant operations at Houthi controlled ports had come to a halt after the strikes. For the first time, Israel also struck the Houthi held capital of Sana'a. Israeli leaders said they wanted to make it clear to the Houthis that their belligerence will not go unanswered and if they continue, they can expect to suffer a fate similar to their militant allies in Lebanon and Gaza. Following Thursday's operations, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel's strikes on the Houthis were on behalf of the entire world, given the group's sustained drone and missile attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea for more than a year. The Houthis are now standing alone, according to Netanyahu, who said after Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are nearly the last remaining arm of Iran's axis of evil. He added, quote, they will learn the hard way that anyone who attacks Israel pays a very heavy price. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz went even further in his public statement following the strikes, saying he was, quote, warning the heads of the Houthi terror group, the long arm of Israel will reach you. Whoever lifts a hand against the state of Israel will have it severed. Whoever harms us will be harmed many times over, end quote. As I'm sure our listeners are aware, the Houthis began attacking Israel in the wake of last year's 7 October attacks by Hamas. In addition to their relentless assaults on the Jewish state, they have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with hundreds of missile attacks in the Red Sea, significantly disrupting international trade alongside Israel. The US has also ratcheted up strikes on the Houthis over the past two months, including an operation in October that saw the US unleash B2 stealth bombers against the militant group, destroying five underground bunkers used by the Houthis to store weapons. But the Houthis still appear to be well undeterred following Israel's operations. On Thursday, a spokesman for the group filed revenge over what he called Jerusalem's heinous aggression, adding that the Houthis would continue to launch attacks in solidarity with Gaza. All right, shifting to the US we return to our coverage of unexplained drone activity, as reports of sightings at military bases across the US Particularly near Chinese owned farmland, has raised national security concerns of potential espionage. According to the New York post, at least 17 military bases in states including Hawaii, Utah, California and Florida experienced drones buzzing the skies in recent weeks. This development follows early reports from the post identifying 19 military bases in proximity to farmland purchased by Chinese owned companies which are linked or working on behalf of the Communist government, sparking fears that these land acquisitions could be leveraged for intelligence gathering. House Foreign affairs committee chairman Michael McCall voiced alarm on Tuesday, alleging some of these drones could be, quote, spy drones deployed by China. McCall has called for an immediate probe into their origins, reflecting broader anxieties about the strategic placement of of Chinese owned properties near military sites. Yeah, that's something they could be concerned about. Recently, specific incidents have underscored this mounting concern. Between 9 and 15 December, six drone intrusions were logged at Marine Corps Base Pendleton in California, according to a base spokesman. Meanwhile, Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio temporarily shut down airspace last week due to what officials described as, quote, small unmanned aerial systems, end quote. Similar sightings occurred earlier this week near Fort Lewis, the Army base in Washington State. As we've been tracking on the pdb, mysterious drone activity has been reported over sensitive skies like Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey this month, with one incident leading to the closure of Stuart International Airport in New York. It's worth noting that fears of Chinese espionage are hardly new. A Wall Street Journal investigation in 2023 detailed over 100 attempts by Chinese operatives to infiltrate military facilities from missile ranges in New Mexico to rocket launch sites in Florida. However, critics caution that Chinese owned farmland near bases could offer a low profile yet effective means for surveillance. A former Blackwater contractor suggested in June to the Post that such properties could be used to monitor military operations, potentially aiding the Communist country's ambition to develop a more expeditionary military force. While Chinese investors held less than 1% of foreign owned U.S. farmland, proximity matters. According to the USDA's Farm Service Agency, as of late 2022 Chinese entities owned roughly 550 square miles of of American farmland, small in scale but strategically significant near critical sites. Adding to the mystery in the sky, the FAA on Thursday implemented a temporary no fly zone over parts of New Jersey, citing national security concerns. The restrictions are set to last until 17 January, which aims to curb unauthorized drone flights over key infrastructure. Despite these measures, the White House ironically maintains that these unidentified drones pose no immediate national security threat. Their lack of transparency is shocking. However, federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security continue to investigate. Well, that's good. Leaving key questions unanswered and fueling nationwide speculation of potential foreign adversary involvement. All right, coming up in the back of the brief, officials in Kyiv say they've disrupted a massive Russian spy ring operating within Ukraine that sought to collect sensitive intelligence related to F16 fighter jets donated by Kyiv's Western allies. We'll have more when we return. In today's back of the brief, the Security Service of Ukraine, or the sbu, announced the takedown of what it calls the biggest network of Russian spies operating within the country, within Ukraine, alleging the group sought to obtain sensitive intelligence about kyiv's newly acquired F16 jets. The SBU's military counterintelligence unit on Tuesday claimed it dismantled a 12 member spy ring of Russian agents and their informants. Notably, some of the members were former Ukrainian soldiers recruited by Russia's main intelligence directorate, the gru, while they hid from punishment after deserting posts. In a statement, Ukraine's prosecutor office revealed that a member of the network also deceived three Ukrainian soldiers into sharing sensitive details by pretending to work for domestic intelligence. Operating across five regions, the spy ring allegedly leveraged frontline Ukrainian contacts to pinpoint key military targets. The spy ring's primary focus, according to the SBU, was identifying airfields housing F16 jets, locations of air defense systems and facilities manufacturing electronic warfare technology. As we reported on the PDB, Ukraine began receiving F16s this summer after extensive negotiations with Western allies. Now, despite being decades old, the jets were heralded as a potential game changer for Kyiv, enhancing its ability to intercept Russian drone and missile attacks. These capabilities make the aircraft not only a strategic military tool, but also a symbolic target for Moscow. Business Insider reports that it remains uncertain how much actionable intelligence the spy network managed to deliver before its dismantlement. According to Radio Free Europe, the alleged ringleader was detained and prominent members of the spy ring face charges of state treason and unauthorized disclosure of military information. Convictions could result in sentences ranging from eight years to life imprisonment alongside the confiscation of property. Additional arrests are expected as the investigation deepens. The dismantling of the spy ring marks a significant victory for Ukraine's counterintelligence efforts with the broader challenge, of course, of neutralizing Russian espionage operations. Well, that looms large as the conflict nears the three year mark. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily brief for Friday 20th December. If you have any questions for me, or if you'd like to make a comment, well please do, just reach out to me at pdb@the firsttv.com it's very simple to listen to the show ad free. Well, that's also simple. Become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting PDB Premium. And if it's Friday and I have it on good authority that it is, well that means that the PDB production team is busy putting together a brand new episode for this weekend of our PDB Situation Report. As always, great guests, solid insight news you can use. Tune in, you can find that of course, on the first TV every Friday evening. New episodes launch at 10pm and our YouTube channel that's a juggernaut at President's Daily Brief and of course, all podcast platforms. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.
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