NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT-SATURDAY 10/20/2018
(EDITING, EXPANSION, UPDATES UNTIL 815 AM)
The Saudi government came out with its version of what happened to Jamal Khashoggi overnight.
The Saudi government media reports that a fight took place inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd.
18 arrests have been made according to the Saudi government. Two top officials have also been dismissed from their posts.
President Trump was asked if he found the Saudi account credible and he said:
"I do"
Trump also called the Saudi action:
"A good first step"
The President spoke in Arizona where he did make a campaign speech for Republican candidates in the mid-term election.
The president's remarks to the media about Khashoggi came during a panel discussion at Luke Air Force that included executives of defense contractors who are part of a 110 billion dollar deal with Saudi Arabia.
BBC Defense Correspondent Frank Gardner's analysis about the Saudi version of events includes this:
The president's remarks to the media about Khashoggi came during a panel discussion at Luke Air Force that included executives of defense contractors who are part of a 110 billion dollar deal with Saudi Arabia.
BBC Defense Correspondent Frank Gardner's analysis about the Saudi version of events includes this:
"There can only be one of two possible alternatives here-either-as many suspect-the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Slaman was to blame or he had lost control of his inner circle, something most observers find hard to believe."
One other loose end in the Saudi story is what happened to Khashoggi's body. Unnamed officials told mainstream media the Saudis don't know what happened to it because it was handed over to someone in Turkey to dispose of.
A man who is called a "Muslim hate preacher" and a supporter of ISIS, Anjem Choudry, has been released from prison in the UK halfway through his sentence.
The British government jailed him for his support of ISIS and has released him under restrictions and he is now housed at a "probation hostel" instead of being allowed to return home.
In London within the last hour (7AM Eastern US) Leicester Square was the scene of a rally by the "#IAmSoldierX" Movement protesting the discharge of one British solider and the discipline and threatened discipline of other soldiers for being photographed with activist Tommy Robinson.
In London within the last hour (7AM Eastern US) Leicester Square was the scene of a rally by the "#IAmSoldierX" Movement protesting the discharge of one British solider and the discipline and threatened discipline of other soldiers for being photographed with activist Tommy Robinson.
The Justice Department is accusing a woman from St. Petersburg, Russia of interfering in the 2018 mid-term elections.
Elena Alekseena Krushyaynova is alleged to be the financial manager of a Russian media effort to spread negative messages about political candidates of both major political parties in the United States including attacks related to issues like immigration and gun control.
In its reporting on this story the Associated Press calls immigration and gun control "hot-button social issues".
Meanwhile, US officials are warning of Russian, Chinese and Iranian interference in the mid-term elections. They also mention "other nations" that are not named.
Elena Alekseena Krushyaynova is alleged to be the financial manager of a Russian media effort to spread negative messages about political candidates of both major political parties in the United States including attacks related to issues like immigration and gun control.
In its reporting on this story the Associated Press calls immigration and gun control "hot-button social issues".
Meanwhile, US officials are warning of Russian, Chinese and Iranian interference in the mid-term elections. They also mention "other nations" that are not named.
Lawyers representing "Wikileaks" Julian Assange are taking legal action in Ecuador in response to the restrictions imposed on him at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
The Ecuadorean authorities took away his internet access to the outside world in March saying he was interfering in the affairs of other countries.
Assange is holed up there seeking refuge from extradition to the United States and the US government has pressured Ecuador to throw him out of the embassy.
The Ecuadorean authorities took away his internet access to the outside world in March saying he was interfering in the affairs of other countries.
Assange is holed up there seeking refuge from extradition to the United States and the US government has pressured Ecuador to throw him out of the embassy.
The former British Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK, Nick Clegg, has been named the new "Vice President for Global Affairs" at Facebook.
Nigel Farage, Brexit campaigner and former UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) leader tweeted:
"This is bad news for free speech"
The congressional hearings where Republicans and Democrats both went after social media company executives are a strong indicator of major political party efforts to control speech hostile to them on the internet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has joined in the doubt as to whether there is a real fight against ISIS going on in the small pocket of territory Islamic State holds in eastern Syria. In the last five and a half months the territory held by them as shrunk very little.
ISIS is capable of counterattacks including one recently that took 700 hostages.
US, French and British air and artillery support helps Kurdish fighters on the ground in what are called the "Syrian Democratic Forces".
Putin said this about this situation at a meeting in Sochi, Russia this week:
"This territory is under the patronage of our American partners. They rely on the Kurdish armed forces.....
But they obviously have a loose end: ISIS remains in several loose ends and has begun to expand its area of influence recently. They took 130 families hostage-almost 700 people.
I think few of those present here today know that they have made ultimatums, extended demands and warned that if these ultimatums are not met, they would shoot 10 people every day.
The day before yesterday, 10 people were shot. Executed. They have begun to fulfill their threats.
This is just horrifying. It is a tragedy I think. We need to do something about it. Why do our colleagues keep silent? According to the information, several US and European citizens are among the hostages.
Everyone is quiet, there is silence as if nothing is happening."
President Trump has claimed victory in the war against ISIS in Syria in recent months.
A Pentagon spokesman confirms the attack, but expresses doubt as to the accuracy of Putin's description of the situation.
In the days following Putin's comments there have been some coalition air attacks on ISIS positions in eastern Syria.
In the days following Putin's comments there have been some coalition air attacks on ISIS positions in eastern Syria.
LINK …..Daily Mail" story.....
When an end of World War I commemoration is held in Paris next month on November 11th, both President Trump and Russia's President Putin will be there. There's talk that the two leaders may meet with each other then or perhaps sometime next month in Argentina.
Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is set to visit Moscow next Wednesday to meet the Russian president. This week the Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, visited Moscow. The Italian government is calling for an end to sanctions against Russia imposed after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
But another visitor is expected to have a less friendly message for Russia next week. US National Security Adviser John Bolton is set to tell President Putin that the United States is pulling out of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. That reported Friday by "The New York Times".
The President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, tweeted on Friday that he is trying to bring a large group of migrants bound for the US back home. He has asked Guatemala to allow "civil protection agents" in and is trying to arrange transportation for the trip back to Honduras.
Thousands of Honduran migrants are gathered on Guatemala's border with Mexico and there were clashes at the border fence on Friday as the caravan attempted to move north to reach the US-Mexico border.
President Trump has called on other countries to take action to stop the caravan and Mexico responded deploying hundreds of police to the Guatemalan border.
There's been a setback for Australia's new Prime Minister Scott Morrison. His Liberal Party lost the suburban Sydney Wentworth seat in today's by election to an independent candidate. The seat was held by the former Liberal Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who resigned when he was ousted by Morrison.
The Liberals will now have a tougher time keeping control of Australia's House of Representatives.
One other aspect of the by-election was Wentworth's 13 percent Jewish population (Jewish population across Australia is .5 percent) with the Morrison government broaching the notion of moving Australia's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in the days before the election.
When an end of World War I commemoration is held in Paris next month on November 11th, both President Trump and Russia's President Putin will be there. There's talk that the two leaders may meet with each other then or perhaps sometime next month in Argentina.
Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is set to visit Moscow next Wednesday to meet the Russian president. This week the Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, visited Moscow. The Italian government is calling for an end to sanctions against Russia imposed after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
But another visitor is expected to have a less friendly message for Russia next week. US National Security Adviser John Bolton is set to tell President Putin that the United States is pulling out of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. That reported Friday by "The New York Times".
The President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, tweeted on Friday that he is trying to bring a large group of migrants bound for the US back home. He has asked Guatemala to allow "civil protection agents" in and is trying to arrange transportation for the trip back to Honduras.
Thousands of Honduran migrants are gathered on Guatemala's border with Mexico and there were clashes at the border fence on Friday as the caravan attempted to move north to reach the US-Mexico border.
President Trump has called on other countries to take action to stop the caravan and Mexico responded deploying hundreds of police to the Guatemalan border.
There's been a setback for Australia's new Prime Minister Scott Morrison. His Liberal Party lost the suburban Sydney Wentworth seat in today's by election to an independent candidate. The seat was held by the former Liberal Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who resigned when he was ousted by Morrison.
The Liberals will now have a tougher time keeping control of Australia's House of Representatives.
One other aspect of the by-election was Wentworth's 13 percent Jewish population (Jewish population across Australia is .5 percent) with the Morrison government broaching the notion of moving Australia's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in the days before the election.
A Hasidic Jewish couple who are part of the Chabad (Lubavitch) Movement have been fined 84-thousand dollars by Swedish authorities for home schooling their children.
Rabbi Alexander Namdar and his wife Leah have lived in Gothenburg for 27 years, where they are emissaries for the international movement.
The couple won cases in lower courts, but authorities have appealed to the Supreme Court.
One of Chabad's leaders who is also one of Russia's chief rabbi's, Berel Lazar, has written a letter to the Swedish government about the matter saying they are involved in "persecution" of the couple.
One of Chabad's leaders who is also one of Russia's chief rabbi's, Berel Lazar, has written a letter to the Swedish government about the matter saying they are involved in "persecution" of the couple.
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