November 3rd, 2025: Maduro Begs Moscow & Beijing For Help, Plus Trump’s Nigeria Ultimatum
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It's Monday, the 3rd of November. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. And welcome to a brand new month. And a big congratulations to Ole Miss. Hotty toddy. Yeah, another big win over South Carolina. And I believe that puts their chances of getting into the college playoffs at at least 85%. So, well done. All right. Let's get briefed. First up, as pressure builds on Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela is looking east for salvation. A new report shows the embattled strongman pleading with Moscow and Beijing for help, even asking for missiles and radar systems to shore up his defenses. I'll have the details. Later in the show, President Trump puts Nigeria on notice.
He's ordered the Pentagon to, quote, prepare for possible action after reports that the government there has been targeting Christians. Plus, Ukraine's campaign against Russian energy infrastructure continues. Kiev says it hit a key fuel pipeline near Moscow and launched a drone strike on a major oil port along the Black Sea. And in today's back of the brief, a possible thaw between Washington and Beijing. After the Xi-Trump summit, the US and China have agreed to open a direct military hotline to prevent future clashes. Yeah, that seems like a sound idea. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. New reporting from the Washington Post suggests Nicolas Maduro is getting nervous. Well, to be fair, he does have half the U.S.
military perched off his coast. As the U.S. ramps up pressure in the Caribbean, the Venezuelan strongman is reaching out to his old friends, Russia, China, even Iran, pleading for help to shore up his military. According to internal U.S. government documents obtained by The Post, Maduro has quietly requested a new round of military support from Moscow. The wish list includes defensive radar systems, replacement aircraft engines, and possibly even missiles. He's also turned to Beijing, asking Chinese defense firms to fast-track new radar detection technology. And from Iran... He's asked for passive detection equipment, GPS scramblers, and long-range drones capable of striking targets a thousand kilometers away.
And that's roughly the distance from Caracas to Miami, if my math is correct. The documents suggest these requests were delivered through multiple channels, including a personal letter to Vladimir Putin. likely hand-carried to Moscow by one of Maduro's senior toadies. Now, to be clear, it's not the first time that Maduro has called Moscow for a lifeline. As we noted last week, during the 2019 protests that swept through Venezuela, private security contractors flew in to protect Maduro and his inner circle when his grip on power was faltering. And just last week, it was reported that a military cargo plane connected to the Wagner Group from Russia landed in Caracas, potentially carrying assistance.
But there's another reason that Maduro is looking abroad for help. Venezuela's military is in rough shape, and that's putting it diplomatically. Years of corruption, sanctions, and economic collapse have left the armed forces hollowed out. Reports from Western intelligence and independent analysts describe a force plagued by broken equipment, low morale, and dwindling readiness. Many aircraft are grounded for lack of spare parts, radar systems have fallen into disrepair, and fuel shortages have limited training and patrols. Even the Financial Times recently noted that the Venezuelan army is in a, quote, poor state of readiness to fight an external enemy. In other words, the regime's deterrent power exists mostly on paper, if it exists at all.
And that makes Maduro's scramble for foreign support less about posturing and more about survival from his perspective.
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