KOA Headlines
10 28 24 Foreign Policy's Jack Detsch talks about his recent visit to Ukraine
But there's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one. Member FDIC. I don't know if you know this, but when you don't have time to read The Washington Post, you can listen to it. Almost every article has a listening option, and right now you can become a Washington Post subscriber for just 50 cents a week. It's an incredible deal. Stay on top of what's happening by signing up at washingtonpost.com/pod. Deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using Zummo to stream music from iHeart90's radio is easy. Or play iHeart Country, or hip-hop beats. Your choice, all for free. Stream easy with Zummo Play. Outlive and on-demand entertainment with no log-ins, no sign-ups, no accounts, no hassle. This November, get cozy and stay in from movie night with Air Force One starring Harrison Ford and Glenn Close, and The Art of War starring Wesley Snipes, all streaming free on Zummo Play. Go to play.zummo.com now. Life is hard. Zummo is easy. The deployment of 10,000 or so North Korean troops to Russia marking a sharp escalation in internationalization of Europe's biggest war on generations, potential impacts on the battlefield in Europe and in Northeast Asia. On the FBI, zeroing in on a US government office where it believes the leaked US intelligence documents on Israel's attack on Iran were printed. Joining us now on the KOA Common Spirit Health Hotline is Pentagon and National Security Reporter for Foreign Policy. It's Jack Dech. Jack, thank you so much for your time this morning. You were in Ukraine last week as we're talking with the latest of NATO confirming that North Korea sent troops to join Russia's war in Ukraine. Do we know the latest of what is happening? Are they training to fight, and what is the next steps in all this? It seems like they're already being put into the fight, Gina. From what we know, NATO this morning after briefings from the South Koreans confirming that there are North Koreans, indeed in Russia, being deployed to the lines in Khur Square. Of course, Ukraine broke through months ago. The Western estimates indicate this is about 3,000 troops. The Ukrainians have said this could be up to 10,000 troops, potentially, between the front lines and the training camps. It doesn't seem like these are likely to be a major combat supplement for the Russians. From what I heard in my conversations in Kyiv, the expectation is they would be used very similar to the way that we saw the Wagner group forces used in BOC MOOT last year, which is kind of using waves and waves of troops, lightly armed troops, to reveal Ukrainian positions or perhaps overwhelm the front lines. It's not going to add a lot in terms of combat, but it shows that Russia is trying to double down on its advantages in terms of manpower at this stage in the conflict. Jack, does it reveal how depleted and maybe desperate Putin and Moscow are at this moment by with the fighting in Ukraine that they're going this route? It is difficult for them to continue to mobilize their manpower issues, of course, on both sides. The Ukrainians have also been having trouble getting more people into the fight, of course, just the size of the country being much smaller than Russia. This does help Russia sort of get some troops from another place, and we'll see if Kim Jong-un is willing to potentially give him more, but more than anything, it shows the depth of the relationship now between Moscow and Pyongyang, just a relationship that could be used potentially for Russia to supplement North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, of course, something that Western officials worry about quite a bit, and of course, North Korea now exchanging troops, certainly a dramatic escalation of the conflict. Jack, while in Ukraine, did you hear any concerns, thoughts about Ukrainian officials and leaders regarding the U.S. elections here, about what they anticipate, maybe what they're hoping for for an outcome? I think a lot of people are concerned, they're split into different camps. Some are very bullish that Ukraine is going to be able to continue the fight with the mayor who support no matter who's elected, whether it's a Trump administration or a Harris administration. Some are very worried, and certainly you see that worry being reflected in Zelensky's own victory plan, putting offers on the table to potentially take American troops out of the eastern flank of NATO and supplement them with Ukrainian troops, give Ukraine some guarantee to join NATO and long-range strikes. So it does seem like the Ukrainians trying to lock in some of their victories here and their political gains with the West before we see the politics spark up again. Jack pivoting topics here like we mentioned earlier, the latest in the documents, leak and Israel's Iran attack plans, what do we know so far about this leak and the possible source to all of it? So it's still being investigated, of course, but yeah, I mean, to see these documents really heavily classified documents that the detailed, really the nitty gritty of the Israeli preparations for the attack seems to have delayed the Israeli attack. We don't know if it actually took down the ambition in terms of scope and scale because this did end up being a targeted attack against about 20 sites within Iran sites that are really focused on the missile program, potentially things that could speed up the nuclear program, but not the energy grid as the Biden administration was hoping ahead of an election. So this could be a long investigation in terms of where these two documents came from, but shows the frustration that has boiled over within the administration for documents of this high level of classification to leak and show up in the public eye. We don't know how they got out there, but it certainly comes at a time when the tensions within government about this war that's going on in Gaza and then has expanded into Lebanon have been really on a high. Along those same lines, I know they're trying to have talks again about an hostage exchange in that area. Do you anticipate any real progress regarding those talks? It's unlikely at this point, I mean, we don't know the health of the Israeli hostages. And of course, the Israelis have made it a priority at this point in the campaign when it comes to Gaza, of course, with the strike that took out Sinwar, or I should say, the infantry battle that ended up taking out Sinwar earlier this month. Hamas is again leaderless and sort of in a place where they need to figure out what their next steps are, they need to consolidate the movement. So it seems unlikely at this point, with Israel on the front foot, with Hamas in this period of regrouping and naval gazing, it seems unlikely we'll see progress at this point. And Jack, what's the latest that we've seen happening in northern Gaza with Israel's military operations from over the weekend? Well, they've continued, of course, now the fear is that the humanitarian issues could even get worse. Fears of a medical crisis overwhelming the area, supplies can't get in. You have hospitals that are understaffed and under-banded, and you have food that's not getting into the area, so there are a lot of concerns now of a full-on mass migration that it doesn't seem like at this point, people are trying to get out of the areas as quickly as they can, if they can. Pentagon National Security Reporter for Foreign Policy, Jack Deitch, thanks, Jack. Thank you so much. Well, there's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one. Member FDIC. I don't know if you know this, but when you don't have time to read the Washington Post, you can listen to it. Almost every article has a listening option, and right now, you can become a Washington Post subscriber for just 50 cents a week. It's an incredible deal. Stay on top of what's happening by signing up at washingtonpost.com/pod. Deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using Zoomo to stream music from iHeart90's radio is easy, or play iHeart Country or hip-hop beats. Your choice, all for free. Get live and on-demand entertainment with no logins, no sign-ups, no accounts, no hassle. This November, get cozy and stay in from movie night with Air Force One starring Harrison Ford and Glenn Close, and The Art of War starring Wesley Snipes, all streaming free on Zoomo Play. Go to play.zumo.com now. Life is hard.