The President's Daily Brief
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
06 May 2025
In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: First, a veteran CIA station chief just offered some harsh criticism for the former Biden administration regarding the war in Ukraine, saying the former president sorely miscalculated with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, giving Kyiv enough weapons to “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 is taking the gloves off with the Iranian-back Houthis, unleashing 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 on Tel Aviv’s international airport by the Houthis, which injured several people. 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 Jacked Up Fitness: Go to https://GetJackedUp.com and use code BAKER at checkout to save 10% off your entire purchase DeleteMe: Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you text PDB to 64000. Message and data rates apply Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
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 U.S.
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 Goff, a veteran intelligence officer who spent more than 30 years in CIA operations, said the U.S. 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, Goff 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, Goff 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. Goff said, quote, they allowed themselves to be bamboozled by Vladimir Putin and his nuclear saber rattling.
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