NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT FRIDAY 2/15/2019

(EDITING, ADDITIONS, EXPANSION ETC. POSSIBLE UNTIL 8AM EASTERN US TIME)

President Trump will take executive action invoking emergency powers to help secure the nation's southern border and sign the bill coming out of Congress that only provides limited funding for a border barrier.   A figure of eight billion dollars in spending on a barrier is mentioned in media reports about the President's emergency plans.

Word of Trump's decision came from the White House Press Secretary Thursday.    The President's emergency action expected to trigger a quick court challenge from Democrats.

One America News Network looking into the massive spending plan President Trump is set to sign and found aid to foreign nations in the trillion dollar spending agreement.

5.3 billion dollars going to Ukraine, Israel and Jordan.  Those nations linked to other nations that President Trump and members of his administration have condemned.  Ukraine next door to Russia. Israel next door to Syria where Russia and Iran have supported the government.  Jordan also a neighbor of Syria.

From Syria a local media report that Russian military police in the area of the Kurdish city of Manbij are operating joint patrols with the Turkish military.    This is said to be taking place west and northwest of the city.

It was called a conference on "peace and security in the Middle East".

Some 60 nations represented at the conference in Warsaw this week but only two nations with high ranking delegations.

Israel led by its Prime Minister-Foreign Minister-Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US represented by Vice-President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The messaging was strong against Iran with Netanyahu first tweeting then dropping the tweet saying the conference was to:

"advance the common interest of war with Iran"

After negative reaction to those comments, Netanyahu took them down.

The words he chose later were "combating Iran".

Vice President Mike Pence spoke Thursday saying European nations were taking an ill-advised step to:

"break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime"

From Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this:

"You can't achieve stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran"

Pompeo said Iran is behind "malign influences in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq".

(SPECIAL COMMENT:   Two things one can consider as the pressure on Iran is ratcheted up by the United States and Israel at the Warsaw Conference.

President Trump is backing away from US involvement in Syria and Afghanistan but one wonders whether its a shift in strategy to now focus military energy against Iran.  The President has spoken of
use of an Iraqi base to 'watch Iran'.

And then one could ask if the noise about Iran is a distraction from the "Deal of the Century" plan being crafted by son-in-law Jared Kushner.    Conservative and patriotic Israelis and Christian Zionists and so on are emotionalized against Iran while a deal is made to give up 90 percent of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinian Arabs.)

And Prime Minister Netanyahu stirring up more controversy this time saying that Poles helped the Nazis perpetrate the Holocaust.

He told a reporter from "Haaretz" in Warsaw Thursday:

"Here I am saying Poles cooperated with the Nazis.   I know the history and I don't whitewash it.  I bring it up."

This led to a call from the Polish President saying that if indeed Mr. Netanyahu had said Poles collaborated with the Nazis,  a Holocaust related summit involving Poland and other countries set for next week in Israel should be cancelled.

But late word is that Poland's government had received clarification from Netanyahu saying his comments were misunderstood by the media.

However, the Israeli ambassador to Poland was summoned to the foreign ministry over the matter.

In Iran Wednesday at least 27 Iranian soldiers killed in the southeastern part of the country in a suicide bomb attack on a bus.

The attack near Pakistan, home of the Taliban, and of Afghanistan.    The US now involved in an accelerated peace process with the Taliban over Afghanistan's future.

Kashmir, a territory in dispute between India and Pakistan since the 1947 partition, is the scene of a deadly attack on an Indian military convoy.   46 soldiers killed and others wounded when an explosives laden van was driven into the convoy.

India says it holds Pakistan responsible for the attack and it will take diplomatic steps to ensure the "complete isolation" of Pakistan.

India says the Jaish-eMohammad group behind the attack is given sanctuary by Pakistan and Pakistan has failed to crack down on it.  India intends to withdrawal Most Favored Nation status for trade with Pakistan.

The president of Haiti says he's staying put for now.    Jovenel Moise says that if he leaves office the country will be in the hands of:

"armed gangs and drug traffickers"

A week of violent protests in the country with seven killed.

President Moise wants to talk with the political opposition.    The opposition started protesting after a court report said that government officials including the president were involved in irregularities surrounding loans made by Venezuela.

Canada has temporarily closed its embassy in Haiti and the United States has ordered all "non-emergency US personnel and their families" out of the country.

It was a symbolic vote and named no specific nation, but the vote was overwhelming in the European Parliament against excessive use of force against demonstrators and laws restricting protesters.    The resolution that passed was seen as directed against the French governments use of grenades and flash bang rounds on Yellow Vests and the recent passage of a law giving authorities the ability to prohibit individuals and groups from protesting.

The vote was 438 for, 78 against and 87 abstentions.

The debate before the vote mentioned Greece and Hungary, Spain and Romania, but France dominated the discussion ahead of the vote.

Eric Drouet, Yellow Vests protest figure and truck driver, is in court today in Paris.   Drouet was arrested last month for staging an unannounced protest on the Champs-Elysees near the Arc de Triomphe.    He could be sent to prison for six months and fined over 8-thousand dollars.

France's ambassador to Italy returning to Rome today after being withdrawn over Italian government support for Yellow Vests protesters.

The Battle of Brexit.....British Prime Minister Theresa May defeated in Parliament on Thursday with pro-Brexit Conservative MP's abstaining from supporting her resolution seen as an attempt to prevent the No-Deal option on March 29th.

The vote 303 to 258.

Mrs. May was not present in Parliament for the vote Thursday evening.

There is a multi-agency investigation underway by federal law enforcement into students from Saudi Arabia vanishing when they face criminal charges in the US, apparently with help from the Saudi government.

This information was passed to Democrat US Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon Wednesday by the Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan.

There have been cases in Oregon and seven other states of Saudi students fleeing the US when facing criminal charges including rape and manslaughter.

More from "OregonLive" at this link.....HERE

William Barr will be back for a second time as US Attorney General.   Barr, who was AG when George H.W. Bush, Bush 41, was confirmed at the Senate Thursday.    President Trump's pick approved 54-45.    One Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, opposing Barr on his views of Constititional rights and three Democrats choosing to vote for Barr.    Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Doug Jones of Alabama.

The man Doug Jones defeated in December 2017 in the Alabama Special Election, Judge Roy Moore, fighting a protracted court battle to clear his name.   Motions and countermotions between Moore and Leigh Corfman, whose allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore led to his defeat in the Special Election.

The former Assistant Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, said he acted the day after his former boss James Comey was fired by President Trump to create an "indelible" record of the investigation of alleged Russian collusion.

McCabe spoke to Scott Pelley of CBS for the "60 Minutes" program and a portion of the interview was released Thursday ahead of the broadcast of the full interview Sunday.

The next presidential election in France is still three years off, but if it were held now the same two candidates from 2017 would be the top two finishers in the first round and face off in the second round.

The Ifop poll taken in recent weeks shows Emmanuel Macron at 30 percent in the first round with Marine Le Pen at 27 percent.

In a second round matchup it would be Macron 56 percent and Le Pen 44 percent.

That's an improvement for Le Pen from her 2017 performance when she only got 34 percent of the vote in the second round.

Another poll taken in France earlier showed Marine Le Pen's approval among the people of France at 43 percent.   

Her niece, Marion Marechal, who gave up the "Le Pen" name hoping to be more popular is around the same level in approval at 45 percent.

And that's the way it really is on this Friday morning February 15th, 2019.