PDB Afternoon Bulletin | November 27th, 2024: Isolated Hamas Pushes For Ceasefire & China's Military Purge Intensifies
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It's Wednesday, 27 November. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. All right, fair enough. Again, it's the Late Afternoon Bulletin. I apologize for my travel schedule. Let's get briefed. First, with a temporary ceasefire now in place in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, a newly isolated Hamas has reached out to Arab negotiators to revive negotiations for their own truce with Israel in Gaza.

Then, Chinese President Xi Jinping's purge of the CCP's armed forces is intensifying, with China's defense minister becoming the latest high-profile official to come under investigation for alleged corruption. Now, is it just me, or does it seem like every time Xi wants someone out of the way, suddenly it's a corruption charge? Now, either they have massive corruption issues within the regime, or they have a lot of corruption issues within the regime.

or she just uses corruption as a smokescreen to remove folks who have fallen out of favor with him.

Or, I suppose it could be that both are true. But first, our afternoon spotlight. In the wake of Wednesday's ceasefire agreements between Israel and Hezbollah, it appears that Hamas militants in Gaza are growing wary about continuing their war against the Jewish state on their own. Well, okay, technically, they're not alone. They always have their Iranian puppet masters nearby.

Just hours after Israel's truce with the Iranian-backed terrorists in Lebanon, officials with Hamas said they were ready for their own truce with Israel in Gaza. They immediately reached out to mediators in Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, expressing a desire to revive the long-stalled negotiations and reach what they called a, quote, serious deal to exchange prisoners, according to a report from the Times of Israel.

Now, as we discussed earlier on the PDB, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a 60-day cessation of hostilities beginning on Wednesday, which will see Israel gradually withdraw its forces from Lebanon.

Without a terror partner occupying Jerusalem's attention at their northern border, Israel can renew their focus squarely on Gaza, and that's a reality that Hamas seems eager to avoid. Indeed, Israeli officials said a key achievement of the ceasefire with Hezbollah was that it broke the link between the two fronts and isolated Hamas from their allies in Iran's so-called axis of resistance.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Wednesday, quote, "...from day two of the war, Hamas was counting on Hezbollah to fight by its side. With Hezbollah out of the picture, Hamas is left on its own. We will increase our pressure on Hamas, and that will help us in our sacred mission,"

of releasing our hostages, end quote. A senior Hamas official attempted to downplay the significance of Hezbollah signing their own deal with Israel, saying, quote, Hamas appreciates the right of Lebanon and Hezbollah to reach an agreement that protects the people of Lebanon, and we hope that this agreement will pave the way to reaching an agreement that ends the war of genocide against our people in Gaza, end quote.

Now, despite their overtures, it doesn't appear that Hamas is willing to make any meaningful concessions. As you'll recall, mediators in Qatar put negotiations between Israel and Hamas on hold in September, following many failed efforts to reach an agreement. They told both Israel and Hamas that the talks would remain suspended until both sides were ready or prepared to compromise.

But reports indicate that Hamas's demands are unchanged. Officials said any deal must include assurances that Israel will permanently end the war, withdraw their forces from Gaza, and engage in a swap of prisoners for the remaining Israeli hostages.

Israel has long stood firm that they will not consent to an agreement that requires their full and permanent withdrawal from Gaza, as it would simply allow the remnants of Hamas to reconstitute and threaten Israel again in the future.

Hamas, meanwhile, continues to lay the blame, of course, at the feet of Netanyahu, despite the fact that their now-deceased former leader, Yahya Sinwar, torpedoed repeatedly promising ceasefire talks throughout the spring and summer months. A senior Hamas official claimed Wednesday that they have shown, quote, high flexibility to reach an agreement, really, but that Netanyahu remained the chief obstacle to a truce.

Netanyahu, for his part, said that the ceasefire with Hezbollah will allow Israel to refocus their attention on both Hamas and their backers in Iran, while giving their military some much-needed time to rest. He said Wednesday that Israel remains, quote, "...committed to completing the annihilation of Hamas," end quote.

Now, whether or not Israeli leaders will engage in new talks with the terror group is frankly anyone's guess. But the Biden administration has said that they plan to mobilize a fresh international effort to broker a deal in the coming days. Coming up, Chinese President Xi Jinping's purge of the Chinese Communist Party's armed forces is intensifying, with China's defense minister becoming the latest senior official to come under investigation for alleged corruption. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. China's Defense Minister, Admiral Dong Jun, is under investigation for corruption, marking yet another high-profile shakeup in the People's Liberation Army, the PLA, as President Xi Jinping intensifies his purge of China's armed forces. According to the Financial Times, the investigation into Dong zeroes in on procurement irregularities dating back to 2017.

This aligns with Xi's anti-corruption push, which has implicated at least 16 senior military officials since mid-2023, including Dong's two immediate predecessors, making that three defense ministers in as many years. That's a lot of defense ministers. The swift and secretive nature of these investigations is striking.

Former Defense Minister Li Shengfu was last seen in public in August 2023 and formally investigated just two days later. Now, similarly, the last time that we saw Dong in Chinese state media was on 22 November during a meeting in Laos, suggesting his inquiry may have begun shortly afterward.

Adding to the controversy, China's foreign ministry dismissed the corruption allegations as "shadow chasing" and that's an idiom often used to dismiss baseless rumors. This cryptic response mirrors Beijing's opaque handling of similar cases, where accusations of bribery and abandoning party principles have become, frankly, a recurring narrative.

The corruption probes have also ensnared senior figures tied to the PLA's rocket force, a branch critical to China's nuclear and conventional missile capabilities. Reports from U.S. intelligence describe shocking lapses, including missiles filled with water instead of fuel and malfunctioning silos within a force that you would think is central to Xi's modernization goals.

In April 2023, Xi ordered the most extensive military reorganization in nearly a decade, dismantling the strategic support force that he created in 2015 and replacing it with three specialized branches focused on information support, aerospace, and cyber warfare.

Two months later, he convened the first military political work conference since 2014. A rare conclave—when was the last time you heard anybody use the word conclave? No, thank you—aimed at reasserting his authority and emphasizing party loyalty within the PLA. Now, the fact that Dong was removed soon after assuming the position—

also deals a significant blow to China's military diplomacy. Appointed in December 2023, Admiral Dong was the first defense minister to hail from China's navy, a branch pivotal to projecting power in flashpoints like the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

His appointment initially thawed tensions with the U.S., leading to resumed talks with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after a breakdown under Dong's predecessor. However, relations soured again earlier this month when he refused to meet Austin at the same defense summit in Laos, where he was last publicly seen.

The ongoing turmoil raises questions about Xi's ability to maintain control over the PLA, an institution that he's sought to centralize and modernize. The corruption scandals come as Beijing ramps up military drills, of course, around Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China claims as its own.

It's important to note, U.S. intelligence assessments suggest that systemic corruption and capability issues within the PLA could deter Xi from pursuing major military action against Taiwan, at least in the short term.

Dong's investigation not only emphasizes deep-seated corruption within the PLA, but also exposes Crackson Xi's efforts to build a modern and loyal military force by 2027. Now, whether these purges will restore discipline or further erode confidence in the PLA, well, that remains to be seen. It's also unclear which CCP member will replace Dong. And I promise, that's my last double entendre of the segment.

And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Wednesday, 27 November. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. And of course, to listen to the show ad-free, well, you know what to do, hopefully. Just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow, which just happens to be Thanksgiving in the U.S. Until then, stay informed.

Stay safe, stay cool.