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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | May 6th, 2025: Ex-CIA Chief: Biden Armed Ukraine to Bleed—Not to Win & Israel Takes The Gloves Off Against Yemen's Houthis
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My name is Mike Slater. I have a podcast called Politics by Faith. I was just talking to a friend of mine who said he hasn't been able to follow the news lately. It's been too much, it's too crazy. It's driving him crazy and he's just checked out. If you feel that way sometimes too, I think you'll really like our podcast Politics by Faith. We take the main story of the day and we run it through the Bible. What does the Bible say about this? It's amazing, but it's all there. And then God tells us what to do. We don't even have to figure it out. The answers are right there. He gives us the answers. Politics by Faith. Please join us over there. You can listen to it wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. Politics by faith.
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It's Tuesday the 6th of May. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, a veteran CIA station chief just offered up some harsh criticism for the former Biden administration regarding the war in Ukraine, saying that the former president badly miscalculated the situation, giving Kiev enough weapons to, quote, bleed, but not to win. The result, he says, was condemning Ukraine to fighting a drawn out meat grinder war with no end in sight. Later in the show, Israel unleashed a second wave of airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Tuesday, including a strike on the country's main airport. The latest actions are a direct retaliation for Sunday's missile strike by the Houthis on Tel Aviv's international airport which injured several people. In a late breaking development, President Trump has now said that the US Will stop its two month old bombing campaign against the Houthis, claiming that the rebel group is, quote, capitulated and will stop targeting shipping in the Red Sea. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. A decorated six time former CIA station chief is airing his unvarnished thoughts on America's foreign policy failures regarding the war in Ukraine. And his assessment paints a rather damning portrait of the former Biden administration's strategy towards Vladimir Putin. In a recent interview with Britain's the Times, Ralph Gough, a veteran intelligence officer who spent more than 30 years in CIA operations, said the US gravely misjudged Putin's military threats towards the west in the early days of the war, essentially letting the Russian leader dictate the terms of the conflict. He said President Biden and his allies were guided by a misplaced fear of nuclear escalation. Which prevented them from giving Ukraine the advanced weaponry and equipment they needed to defeat Putin's forces when the war first broke out. Essentially, Golf argues that the Biden administration felt that if Putin thought he was losing the war, he would, quote, go nuclear, a risk that he said was severely overblown. This led to a deliberate strategy of giving Ukraine just enough weapons to fight, but not enough to turn the tables on Moscow. In truth, Golf said Putin was simply engaging in empty saber rattling with his nuclear threats, gambling that Western leaders would be too intimidated to push back. And, well, frankly, it appears that Putin was right. Golf said, quote, they allowed themselves to be bamboozled by Vladimir Putin and his nuclear saber rattling. So they gave the Ukrainians this weaponry, but they never gave them enough to win. They only gave them enough to bleed, end quote. And, yes, bamboozled is a technical CIA term, according to the Times report. It's a frustration shared by many in the Western intelligence community and even at the heart of the US and UK governments, but not one that officials dare to voice publicly. But for Golf, this frustration goes back much further, back to the winter of 2014, when Russian forces first captured Crimea. At the time, Gough was based in Langley, serving as the CIA's chief of operations for Europe and Eurasia. He says that he attempted to warn his superiors and decision makers in Washington that Putin's capture of Crimea signaled the beginning of something much worse. But he said he was largely ignored. Gough told the Times, quote, I was trying to ring the alarm bell that the seeds of World War III are being sown in the Donbass right now and we need to do something about it. But there were other priorities, end quote. Goff says that Western leaders severely underestimated the growing threat from Russian expansionism, emboldening Putin, who read the lack of strong response from the US and their European allies as weakness. Ultimately, he argues that the West's soft approach to Putin led directly to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. Still, he said, the U.S. and Europe could have dealt Putin a decisive blow if they'd been willing to throw their full military support behind Kiev instead of just offering empty platitudes about defending democracy. Goff told the Times, quote, had we equipped the Ukrainians at the time with proper weaponry, they might have been able to drive the Russians all the way out of the country. It didn't happen. It set the stage for this long, protracted, drawn out meat grinder war that we're witnessing today, end quote. As our longtime listeners here at the BDB are Well aware Putin and other Kremlin officials have made repeated nuclear threats since the invasion. Particularly anytime the Biden administration and NATO leaders were discussing giving Kyiv more advanced weaponry and loosening the restrictions on using them inside Russian territory, the threats always appeared to work, prompting the Biden White House to back down and revert to mere rhetorical support for Kyiv. It wasn't until November of 2024 that then President Biden relented and approved the use of advanced U. S made long range missiles for strikes inside Russia. But by then, Golf said it was too little, too late. Regarding the Trump administration, Goff sees more reason for cautious optimism. He says Putin as a former intelligence officer thinks he can manipulate Trump, but he predicts he'll end up, quote, sorely mistaken. Golf said, quote, putin will eventually overplay his hand with the administration and show them where the problem lies. And the problem is in Moscow, not Kiev. Goff retired from the CIA in October of 2023. In this since spent a considerable amount of time in Ukraine advising government and intelligence officials. He's also attempting to persuade American companies to invest in Ukraine's long term future. He told the Times, I think one of the reasons why I go to Ukraine now is perhaps I feel some guilt over not having been able to get the message to my leadership to avert this, end quote. Well, frankly, Golf is correct in his assessment of how the US and the EU have engaged in this conflict. They never approached this as an effort to defeat Russia. That in their minds, of course, was a bridge too far. The mindset from the beginning was we'll support Ukraine in the invaded country's effort to defend itself, but we're not engaged in action against Russia. Coming up next, Israel unleashes a second wave of airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Tuesday. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. I want to take just a few seconds of your time to talk about fitness. Right. That's important. 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The Israeli military unleashed a second wave of airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Tuesday, hitting sites in and around the capital Sanaa, including the airport, in direct retaliation for Sunday's missile strike on Tel Aviv's international airport that injured several people, according to the Israeli Defense Forces. The idf. The latest strikes targeted key infrastructure used in Houthi tunnel construction and weapons smuggling, including Sana'a International Airport, multiple power stations and the Al Imran Cement Factory, a Houthi affiliated News outlet reported additional strikes on the Attan neighborhood to the southwest, the highs central power station in Sahan to the southeast, and the ASR electricity facility in the main district west of the capital. For the first time since Israel began striking Houthi targets, the IDF issued an evacuation warning to civilians at the airport before hitting it. The military later declared the Yemeni airport, quote, completely disabled. Israeli officials described the warning as a calculated decision, saying the nature of the target and international airport necessitated a higher threshold for civilian protection. Previous strikes on ports and industrial zones came without such notice. Tuesday's campaign marks the seventh Israeli operation against Houthi infrastructure since July of 2024 and the second in just 24 hours. As we reported on today's PDB, Israeli fighter jets on Monday carried out a long range assault involving at least 20 aircraft and 50 munitions targeting the Hodeida port and a concrete factory near the city of Bajo. The port, according to Israeli intelligence, has been used as a conduit for Iranian weapons shipments. At the same time, the factory was flagged as a logistical hub for Houthi terrorist infrastructure. The Iranian backed terror group claims the Monday strikes killed at least one person and wounded more than 30 others, describing the campaign as a, quote, joint U.S. israeli aggression. Washington has denied direct involvement in the strikes, but offered intelligence to Jerusalem, though American forces reportedly conducted their own strikes near Sana'a that same evening. In a statement Tuesday, the IDF accused the Houthis of operating under Iranian direction and funding with the goal of destabilizing the region, threatening Israel and disrupting maritime traffic through the Red Sea. The Iranian regime denied playing a role in Sunday's missile strike on Israel, insisting the Houthis acted independently. Until now, Israeli officials had relied largely on the Trump administration's robust ongoing aerial campaign, which has included over a thousand strikes on Houthi targets since March as a deterrent. But Sunday's missile attack, which punched through Israeli air defenses and detonated inside Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport's perimeter, well, that prompted a reassessment. It was the first time that a Houthi fired missile made it through to Israeli territory unimpeded, forcing Israel to recalibrate its posture and take direct aim at the source. And at a late breaking development earlier today, President Trump indicated that the US Will cease, at least for now, its two month old bombing campaign against the Houthis. According to Trump, the Houthis have, quote, capitulated and agreed to stop their targeting of all shipping in the Red Sea. We're following up on this latest development and we'll provide more detail in tomorrow morning's pdb. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Tuesday 6th May. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb@the firsttv.com and as you probably heard during today's White House press conference, to listen to the show ad free, just become a premium member of the President's Daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com All right, fine. That was not mentioned during the press conference. I guess they just didn't have time to bring it up. I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Hey, Mike Baker here. Well, you know all about the tariffs by now, right? The trade wars, and you know that all of that has thrown the global economy into some chaos. Potential widespread inflation tied to massive supply chain disruptions. Look, it's, it's weighing heavily on all of us. But I am here to tell you that there's a silver lining and actually a gold lining as well that I think a lot of people may have missed. And by that I mean that President Trump specifically exempted gold and silver bullion from the sweeping tariffs. Now, while the new policies are triggering some financial chaos, for sure the administration preserved your ability to diversify into precious metals. So if you're concerned about your savings, I encourage you to have a free consultation with a Birch Gold precious metals specialist. The first step is very simple. 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