The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | November 23rd, 2024: Ukraine’s Deadly Weapons Race & the Mass Deportation Debate
Sat, 23 Nov 2024
In this episode of The PDB Situation Report: The latest developments in Ukraine, where advanced weapons are intensifying the conflict and raising fears of escalation. Bill Roggio from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies joins us to break it down. Sanctuary cities push back against the Trump administration's immigration policies, with hardliners like incoming border czar Tom Homan leading the charge. Jessica Vaughan from the Center for Immigration Studies offers her insight. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Patriot Gold: Call 1-888-870-5457 for a free investor guide. Blackout Coffee: https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/PDB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the latest developments in Ukraine's weapons race?
Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll begin today with the latest developments out of Ukraine, where new weapons on both sides are fueling the conflict as if it needed more fuel and prompting concerns about a wider war.
Bill Rogio from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies will join us to give us the skinny or the 411, as the kids say. I'm sure they still say that. Later, with the Trump administration adding immigration hardliners like incoming border czar Tom Holman, sanctuary cities are pushing back against mass deportation efforts. So what's the path forward in solving the crisis?
Well, I'm glad you asked that question. We've got Jessica Vaught from the Center for Immigration Studies to weigh in. But first, our Situation Report Spotlight. Now, earlier this week, the Biden administration announced a major reversal in its longstanding policy limiting the use of U.S.-made long-range ballistic missiles known as ATACOMs.
The decision resulted in strikes from Ukrainian forces deep into Russian territory, hitting targets once deemed off-limits by the Biden administration. As expected, the White House's reversal and the subsequent strikes evoked a strong response from the Kremlin, which warned that the use of the weapons marked a new phase in the war. Oh, well, that would be the war that Putin started.
Chapter 2: How is the Biden administration changing its military policy?
But Russia went beyond rhetoric, unleashing a new weapon of its own. On Thursday, Kiev reported that the city of Dnipro had been struck by what it initially believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, or an ICBM. Ultimately, it was revealed that Russia had used an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile known as Orshnik. Well, that just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
In an address to the Russian people following the attack, President Putin warned, quote, we believe that we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities, end quote.
For more on this, let me bring in senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and editor of FDD's Long War Journal, Bill Roggio. Bill, great to see you again, and thanks very much for taking the time with us. Pleasure. Thanks for having me back on. Oh, absolutely. Look, you were a crowd favorite, right?
We've been getting emails and texts and postcards asking when you were going to be back on. I don't get that much, so thank you very much. Well, we're just here for affirmation. So, Bill, let's start with a very specific question. When we're talking about the Russia-Ukraine situation, how screwed are we?
Yeah, it's a very concerning situation. Look, I find that the Biden administration... clearing the cranes use of long range strike weapons into Russia in between, you know, as it's going to transfer transition power to a Trump administration that has talked about negotiations to just be. You know, I don't I don't even know how to describe that. vindictive.
I don't know what the right word is, Mike, but it's it's unseemly at the least. It seems to be an attempt to sabotage Trump administration policies. If after almost three years of war, the Biden administration wasn't going to prove the the long range strike capacity for U.S. weapons, why would it do so now? And to me, it's only the only reason so is to complicate
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Chapter 3: What is the significance of long-range strike weapons in the conflict?
Things for an incoming Trump administration.
But what bothers me even more about this is they've they've they've hooked it on. But I'm sorry for interrupting, Bill. But the White House obviously pegged to this decision, both on the on the long range munitions, the attack and the use of anti personnel mines.
they've pegged both of those decisions to the north korean presence right suddenly that was the game changer from their perspective that's what they're saying so did you is there any credibility in that from your perspective it's an awful excuse the north koreans are providing what 10 000 troops to the combat look i'm no fan of putin or his invasion of of the ukraine it's illegal it's immoral all of those things
But, you know, look, Westerners have volunteered to fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian military. It's that kind of war. I don't understand how Ukraine or how North Koreans in a limited capacity all of a sudden clears the decks for the U.S. to approve long range strike capability for U.S. missiles for something that bothers and.
caused the Russian to use an intermediate range ballistic missile that is equipped to use nuclear warheads to fire it on Ukraine. And, you know, this is that the point I was going to make is that we're just seeing an escalation here. And I warned about this from the very the day one of this war. This is an administration that couldn't manage a war with the Taliban.
with a third rate militia that we've elevated into a regional power in Central Asia. And we think that it can manage a war with nuclear implications
in uh you know against the nuclear power and that that's very disturbing where is joe biden what is he you know look i i try to leave them i believe i i can answer that question yeah i can answer that question i believe he's still in the amazon uh yeah the last i saw he was walking into the forest all joking aside i mean you know he was shoved aside to run for president because of this
This administration should, you know, tread water in Ukraine and hand over the policy to an incoming Trump administration. You know, two months before leaving office, it's going to risk nuclear escalation. I find this to be both disturbing and irresponsible at the same time.
There's so many layers here when we're talking about the decision from the Biden White House to do this. And as you pointed out, look, for the entire duration of this war, the one constant with the White House has been the fear of escalation.
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Chapter 4: What challenges do sanctuary cities face with the new administration?
I know the Situation Report viewers will find it fascinating. I hope you found it interesting. But I also hope that you'll come back next time we pick up the phone and give you a call because what I'd love to do is...
sometime shortly after the inauguration, because I think they're going to move on this pretty quick, once we start seeing some of their actions from within the White House and Tom Holman and others, it'd be great to sit back down with you, Jessica, and talk about where we stand at that point.
That would be my pleasure. I've enjoyed our talk.
Well, that's all the time we have for the PDB Situation Report. Now, if you have any questions or comments that you'd like me to address on the air, reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. Now, don't forget, right? Every month, we put together what we call our Ask Me Anything episodes.
And the way we do that is every couple of days, Carl, the mailman, well, he stops by the secret compound of the PDB and he drops off another mailbag, stuff full of your questions and your comments and your postcards. And then our crack team of interns, well, what they do is they sift through all of those. They pick the most interesting questions and they smush them together.
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Chapter 5: How are immigration policies evolving under Trump?
Chapter 6: What is the outlook for a ceasefire in Ukraine by 2025?
Chapter 7: How do domestic pressures affect Zelensky's negotiations?
Chapter 8: What are the implications of North Korean involvement in the conflict?
The fifth of the population of Russia does not have its own industrial capability. Russia is a nuclear armed country. It has a large economy with petroleum and other exports. It has a large manufacturing base. It makes its own weapons. These are all stacked against Russia.
against Ukraine, we could provide a limited number of weapons systems, even the long range strike systems that we send to the Ukrainians. There's only so many of them that we can send. So they're going to have limited capacity. This war was always stacked against Ukraine.
Ukraine would have been wise to take whatever kind of deal it could and then revamped and rearmed for whatever future conflict may come. Thinking that we're going to drive the Russians to the table by allowing low range strike capabilities for a limited number of missiles and rockets is just it's fantasy to me.
Well, I think you've got two options, right? As with most decision trees, right? People overcomplicate major decisions because they imagine there's endless scenarios. And there really typically are not. There's very few actual options. And in this case, granting permission for the long-range munitions
You're either going to drive him to the table or you're going to get what you get in this case, which is from his perception, further escalation. Right. Launching an IRBM and thinking, OK, well, now, you know, what are you going to do? You're going to you're going to keep firing these attack comes at me or, you know, the storm shadows from the UK, their version.
So I think perhaps there's an issue here where they've misread Putin's motivations and agenda. And there's a lot of work that goes into profiling and understanding world leaders. And we've certainly had a long time to look at Putin. But I go back to, again, this White House decision, because it is fascinating. And I agree with you. Typically on the Situation Report, we don't talk politics.
I don't like to do that. I like to focus on what's happening operationally overseas. But their policy seemed to be at the White House for the duration of this war up until just now to essentially give just enough to not allow Ukraine to have any opportunity for victory, but to basically hold the line, maintain a status quo in what essentially turned into trench warfare from World War I.
And then supposedly because of the incoming North Korean troops, now the dynamics entirely changed. And the White House was very good about this. Everybody's memo said the same thing. When they went out and had to explain this to the press, they were all the same. Well, the dynamic of the North Koreans has changed the picture. And you're right.
There is a problem here that anytime you talk about a negotiated settlement, that people say, well, you're just on Putin's side. No, no. You're trying to be pragmatic in a world where you don't want, what you hope for is not your foreign policy, right? Foreign policy shouldn't be built on the world that you'd like to see, right? It's the world that you have to deal with.
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