Monday, November 26, 2018

NEWS SUMMARY INTELLIGENCE REPORT MONDAY 11/26/2018


(EDITING, UPDATES, ADDITIONS ETC. ARE POSSIBLE UNTIL 830 AM)

It looks the pressure on Russia is being ratcheted up ahead of the G20 summit later this week, where Russian officials are hoping for a face to face meeting between President Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

Three armed Ukrainian ships who tried to operate in an area restricted by Russia were blocked and seized Sunday.    Six Ukrainian crew members were injured when two gunboats and a tug were taken by Russian special forces.

The tensions between Russia and Ukraine in the Kerch Strait have been building for months with repeated violations of the restricted zone in the Sea of Azov by Ukrainian ships.

The Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared martial law and called an urgent meeting of his "war cabinet" over the matter.  Protestors in Kiev threw flares outside the Russian Embassy setting a car belonging to the embassy on fire.

NATO called for "restraint" and "de-escalation" while the European Union says that Russia must:

"restore freedom of passage"

for Ukrainian warships in the area.


The UN Security Council is set to meet to discuss the matter.

Russian aircraft attacked jihadist artillery sites in northern Syria following a chemical attack on the city of Aleppo Saturday night.

The opposition forces shelled the government controlled city with what appear to be chlorine filled projectiles.

The Syrian government reports that 107 people were injured with breathing difficulties following the shelling.


British Prime Minister Theresa May calls it the:

"best and only deal possible"


Her Brexit plan approved by the 27 EU nations Sunday amidst deep dismay and disgust in her own country with many calling it "treason" and a "sell out".

May will now have to manipulate her plan through Parliament where there is said to be a lot of opposition in the House of Commons and inside her own Conservative Party.


US Border Patrol agents used tear gas to drive back some 500 migrants who tried to rush the border near Tijuana, Mexico.

Mexican authorities say the group of 500 will be deported from Mexico for their violent attempt to cross the border.

President Trump says he will not allow any of the members of the "migrant caravan" on the southern border into the United States until the courts have ruled on their individual cases, which could take months.


Democrats will probe President Trump's financial connections to Saudi Arabia.    The new chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Democrat Adam Schiff of California is asking;

"Is his personal financial interest driving US policy in the Gulf?"


Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, widely believed to be behind the October 2nd murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, visited the Gulf oil kingdom of Bahrain on Sunday.

An official in the office of Israel's Prime Minister suggested to Israel Radio last Friday that Benjamin Netanyahu will soon be visiting Bahrain following up on a recent visit to another Arab country in the Gulf region, Oman.

Netanyahu received the President of the African nation of Chad on Sunday.   His visit was on short notice.  President Idriss Deby's country is a majority Muslim country and Deby said there needs to be a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute.

The Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" reports that two Saudi officials met with representatives of an Israeli firm to discuss advanced phone hacking technology sold by the Israeli company.   The meeting took place in Vienna last year.

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower, said earlier this month that the same Israeli company, NSO Group Technologies,  provided technology that was used to track Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi before his murder.

NSO says its products are used to "fight crime and terror".

Lawyers for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange were denied access to him at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London over the weekend.

The lawyers are planning an appeal in a US court in northern Virginia to unseal information that in its redacted form points to Assange either being charged with a crime or facing criminal charges.

The General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ontario is closing down completely with thousands of Canadians facing loss of their jobs.    That's according to CTV News.

Meanwhile, the CBC says government sources have confirmed the plant is set to close, but the government sources say jobs may not be lost because GM is involved a "global restructuring plan".

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