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Looking to diversify and protect your hard earned assets. Well, schedule a free consultation with the Birch Gold Group. They're the precious metals specialists. Just text PDB to the number 989898 and you'll receive a free no obligation information kit. And you'll learn how to convert an existing IRA or a 401k into a gold IRA. Again, text PDB to 989898. Foreign It's Thursday 2nd October. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And yes, look at that, I'm still on the road. All right, let's get briefed. First up, Europe is scrambling to secure its skies after repeated Russian drone incursions. The EU is rolling out plans for what they're calling a drone wall along its eastern border. I just hope it works better than the old Maginot line. We'll have the details later in the show. German authorities foil a suspected Hamas plot. Three men are under arrest accused of stockpiling weapons to target Jewish institutions. Really? Hamas targeting Jews? I didn't see that coming. Plus, a potential nuclear emergency in Ukraine. The Zaporizhzhia facility is relying on emergency diesel generators after power lines were reportedly cut in the fighting. And in today's back of the brief, Trump extends America's defense shield to Qatar, granting the Gulf state protections once reserved for treaty allies. But first, today's PDB spotlight. Yesterday in Copenhagen, EU defense ministers gathered for what they called the Eastern Flank Watch project. Now, the goal is to reinforce Europe's Eastern defenses. And topping the agenda, well, that would be Russia's recent drone incursions into the skies of Poland, Romania and Estonia. Incursions that European officials see as part of a wider campaign of hybrid warfare. Now, if you've been listening to the pdb, and I certainly hope you have this news won't surprise you. Russia has been leaning hard on drones across the continent, using them not just in Ukraine, but also to test and harass Europe's defenses. The results have been chaotic. Airports grounded, military bases on alert, energy infrastructure threatened. These incidents are disruptive on their own. But the bigger concern is what they expose serious gaps in Europe's security architecture. For decades, Europe poured billions into missile defense during the Cold War. The overriding fear, of course, was Soviet nuclear missiles streaking toward European cities. Out of that fear came formidable air defense systems designed to intercept ballistic missiles moving thousands of miles per hour. Those systems are still in place today and they remain very capable against high end threats. But against cheap, low flying drones, the kind that can be bought off the shelf, modified and sent over a military base. Those same systems offer almost no protection. Now think about that for a moment. Europe can shoot down a nuclear tipped warhead, but it's almost defenseless against a $20 quadcopter with a grenade strapped to it. That mismatch has European leaders scrambling. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte didn't mince words this week. He said, in the end, we cannot spend millions of euros or dollars on miss to take out drones that only cost a couple thousand. That simple math underscores the problem. Europe can't rely on expensive high tech interceptors to knock down cheap disposable drones. Which brings us to a phrase you're about to hear a lot more of. And that would be dronewall. Now, obviously it's not an actual wall. As cool as it sounds, no one's building a giant barrier in the sky. The concept is about creating a joint European shield against drones. Right now, many EU nations are working on their own. Anti drone technologies, radar jammers, even interceptor drones. But what leaders are calling for is a unified continent wide system that would knit all those various efforts together. Right now, detection is the priority. That means adapting radar systems to track small, low flying objects that could slip through. It also means layering in new technologies AI driven acoustic sensors that can pick out the buzzing sound of drones. Or thermal systems that can identify swar against the clutter of a crowded sky. The next step, of course, is intervention. That includes electronic warfare, jamming and spoofing the signals that drones use to navigate. It also includes directed energy weapons like lasers and microwaves, which are still in development but are showing promise. And then there are interceptor drones, fast agile UAVs designed to knock hostile drones out of the sky before they can reach a target. In other words, Europe isn't envisioning one massive shield. They're talking about a mesh of interconnected national systems stitched together. So a drone spotted over Estonia could immediately be flagged to air defenses in Poland or Germany. It's a networked approach, something NATO has already experimented with in missile defense, but tailored here for the low cost drone threat. Now there's another key element in Europe's favor. And that would be Ukraine. After nearly three years of relentless Russian drone attacks, Ukraine has become an expert in defending against them. From detection to jamming to rapid response, Ukrainian forces have developed tactics that no Western military had before the war began. And now that hard earned knowledge is being fed directly into Europe's planning. In Fact, some EU defense officials say Ukraine's input is the secret weapon that could make the drone wall more effective and much faster than if Europe tried to design it. All from Scrat, of course. Needless to say, there are big challenges. The price tag is steep, likely billions of dollars to roll out a continent wide solution. And then there's the bureaucracy. There is that. Germany's defense minister has already warned it could take three to four years before the drone wall is operational. Well, maybe remove some of the regulatory concerns and they might speed things up. That's not just because the technology isn't ready. It's because of the slow grind of EU politics and procurement. Every country wants a say, every contractor wants a peace, and every parliament has to approve. Meanwhile, the threat isn't slowing down. Russia's use of drones has been steadily expanding, not just in Ukraine, but as we've talked about across Europe's skies. These hybrid warfare tactics are designed to keep Europe off balance, to tie up resources, rattle civilians and probe for weaknesses. So you ask, where does this leave Europe today? In a word, vulnerable. Defense ministers admit that for at least the next several years, there's no unified system to stop drone incursions across the eu. Individual countries will keep experimenting with their own solutions. But until the drone wall is up and running, Russia will likely continue to test EU defenses, capabilities and patience. Alright, coming up next, German authorities say they foiled a Hamas plot targeting Jewish institutions and a potential nuclear crisis in Ukraine, as the country's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is running on emergency generators after losing external power. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, you know those nights when you just don't sleep well, you know what I'm talking about. You're tossing, you're turning, your mind's racing, sleep just won't come. And frankly, the next day you're dragging, you're exhausted, and everything just feels harder. Well, that's where CBD from CB Distillery can make a real difference. But it's not just sleep products with CB Distill. They have solutions that work with your body to help with stress, pain after exercise, even mood and focus. 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