NEWS SUMMARY INTELLIGENCE REPORT FRIDAY 12/21/2018 NEWSDUMP WEEK
(EDITING, UPDATES, ADDITIONS, ETC. POSSIBLE UNTIL 8 AM EASTERN)
Its all played out like a WWE wrestling show produced by President Trump's close friend Vince McMahon, but the drama over border wall funding is moving towards its climax as we approach Christmas.
President Trump started out talking about a partial government shutdown if Congress did not approve the border wall funding, then suggested funding could be achieved by using other funds, then it came back to saying he would veto spending bills to cause the partial shutdown if the wall funding wasn't in it.
Late Thursday President Trump tweeted congratulations as the House passed border wall funding 217-185. Now its up to the Senate and we shall see. This morning the President posted a series of tweets urging Senate passage and urging GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell to fight hard for funding for the wall.
General Jim Mattis is leaving as Secretary of Defense.
President Trump tweeted that Mattis is "retiring, with distinction, at the end of February".
The President says a new Secretary of Defense will be named shortly.
In his resignation letter, Mattis urged that the challenges of China and Russia be confronted and that international alliances be promoted. Mattis also said that the President is entitled to a Secretary of Defense whose views are more in line with his.
There are media reports that Mattis was upset with President's decision to pull the US military out of Syria and stop all US military activity there including air support.
Other reaction to the President's Syria decision was negative from the UK and France, which have participated in military operations in Syria.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to intensify Israel's efforts against Iranian influence in Syria.
Speaking at his end of the year news conference in Russia yesterday, President Vladimir Putin called Trump's decision a "fair" one, but said there is no evidence of the withdrawal yet.
A leader that President Trump contacted almost immediately about his decision was Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was trumpeting a military operation against Kurdish fighting units that have been helping the US in Syria.
LATE WORD THIS HOUR IS THAT THE TURKS HAVE DECIDED TO POSTPONE THE OPERATION FOR NOW.
This decision and other decisions on issues that matter to Turkey appear to send a strong signal that the US wants Turkey back in the NATO fold as a buffer against Russia. Turkey has been drawing closer to Russia in recent years.
On to Afghanistan where President Trump has decided to pull out half of the US troops in that country. Word is he made the decision at the same time he committed to the withdrawal of US forces from Syria.
This week US Afghanistan representative Zalmay Khalilzad met with the Taliban for two days of talks in the United Arab Emirates with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the UAE also participating. Those three countries recognized Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
A three month cease fire for talks to occur between the Taliban and the Afghan government was discussed.
The Justice Department is charging two Chinese men with hacking into computer networks of private companies and government agencies.
The men, Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong, are alleged to part of a hacking group linked to China's leading intelligence agency.
The FBI says the two men have been conducting hacking operations for at least 12 years that included US Navy computer systems stealing personal info on more than 100,000 Navy personnel.
They focused their activities on commercial and defense technology companies along with government networks in at least 12 US states and 12 countries.
Israel's "Haaretz" reported Wednesday night that attorneys in Israel's State Prosecutors Office are recommending indictment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in two corruption cases, Case 2000 and Case 4000.
Israel's State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit are now deliberating the three corruption cases against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli police have recommended to the Attorney General that Netanyahu be indicted on the charges involving bribery.
Argentina's former left-wing president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner can go on trial. A court ruled that she can be tried on corruption charges accused of accepting millions in bribes over a 12 year period.
She denies the charges and says they are politically motivated.
Because Fernandez de Kirchner is a senator she cannot be imprisoned if convicted of the charges.
Auto executive Carlos Ghosn was re-arrested on new charges in Japan hours after a court ruled he could apply for bail on the original charges against him. The new charges will keep him in jail for now.
Japan is set to leave the International Whaling Commission. Word is that the government has told members of parliament of its intention. The Kyodo News Agency says there will be a formal announcement next week.
The IWC imposed a whaling "moratorium" in 1986 in the name of building whale stocks back up but it has turned into a permanent ban. Japan sought a loosening of the ban in September but failed.
If Japan sends notification by the end of the year, it can leave the commission on June 30th of next year.
The British army is deployed after a nearly two day shutdown of London's Gatwick Airport. Repeated drone sightings around the airport have caused the complete closure of the busy airport There's disruption of hundreds of flights and thousand of travelers.
Police say shooting down the drone is an option.
The military presence led to the reopening of the airport this morning for some 800 plus scheduled flights today,
Two Scandanavian university students murdered in Morocco were the victims of a terrorist attack.
The students, one from Denmark and the other from Norway, were reportedly stabbed in the neck.
Police have made three arrests.
The suspects pledged allegiance to ISIS in a video they made before the killings.
Former President Barack Obama has visited a children's hospital in Washington DC wearing a Santa hat and offering cheer to patients there.
In France, a pre-Christmas visit to a children's home by embattled President Emmanuel Macron with a question about gasoline prices from the children. Macron saying they will go down.
The Yellow Vests protest movement has raised that issue and others. President Macron is trying to get his popularity back up. A poll released in recent days shows a slight improvement to 27 percent approval for him, but 72 percent disapprove.
Overnight emergency legislation was passed by the National Assembly in France to increase wages and pensions to answer grievances raised by the Yellow Vests protest. Its expected to quickly pass the Senate today.
Yellow Vests are still contemplating protests over the holiday period including one on the Champs-Elysees Christmas Eve.
AND LATE WORD IS THAT YELLOW VESTS ARE SET TO PROTEST AT VERSAILLES TOMORROW WITH THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES BEING CLOSED AND A POLICE PERIMETER TO BE SET UP WHERE PROTESTERS WILL BE BOXED IN
In the independence minded Spanish region of Catalonia pro-independence protesters are blocking roads and facing off with police in the regional capital of Barcelona today as the Spanish cabinet holds a meeting in the city.
The local Catalan leader and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez agreed to have today's meeting as a means of reducing tensions one year after the central government held snap elections in Catalonia in an attempt to break the independence movement.
Back here at home the "First Step Act" passed Congress, criminal justice reform as supported by the President. President\Trump wants to see less jail time for non-violent offenders saying its the right thing to do and will save taxpayers money.
It expands job training opportunities for federal inmates and requires they be housed within 500 miles of their families if possible. 3,000 crack cocaine offenders will get reduced federal sentences under the legislation and judges will have greater discretion in sentencing.
13 are dead in the Czech Republic following an explosion at a coal mine Thursday. The methane blast occurred about a half mile underground.
Getting back to Russian President Vladimir Putin's year end press conference Thursday, he said the US decision to threaten withdrawal from the intermediate nuclear forces treaty raises the risk of nuclear war. The US is claiming that Russia is in violation of the treaty.
Putin also said US voters chose Donald Trump as President and UK voters chose Brexit but their choices are being disrespected by political elites in their various countries.
On the UK and Brexit Putin noted:
"Brexit happened, but nobody wants to implement it"
The British media regulator Ofcom says the "Russia Today" channel, RT, was airing biased news and it is considering sanctioning the Russian media outlet.
And Merriam-Webster Dictionary has its "word of the year". The word is:
"Justice"
With all the talk about a Supreme Court nominee, now Justice Brett Kavanaugh, that does seem to have been a very popular word this year.
And that's the way it really is, Friday morning December 21st, 2018.
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