Early Warning for 15 November
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Good morning. Here’s your Early Warning for Wednesday, 15 November.
A London-based Arab newspaper is reported that Saudi Arabia ‘plans official ties with Israel,’ according to leaked documents. In September, the Saudi Foreign Minister allegedly visited Israel in secret, apparently as a part of President Trump’s strategic plan to bring peace to the Middle East. Overall, the plan seems to be the creation of a U.S.-Saudi-Israeli-backed coalition to defeat Iran and its terrorist group, Hezbollah. But, if true, this deal is made slightly more difficult because Saudi Arabia seeks the acquisition of nuclear weapons or the removal of Israel’s. That means that Saudi Arabia will likely acquire nuclear weapons if the deal goes through, raising the risk of yet another ugly war in the Middle East.
The FBI and DHS released two joint technical alerts yesterday concerning North Korean malware that has targeted the United States. North Korea has a long history of hacking U.S. targets, and its malware should be considered an asymmetric tool in its arsenal to harass U.S. critical infrastructure below the threshold of war. [source] This comes as security researchers are saying that 2017 has set new records in the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in U.S. online and software systems. [source]
The Department of Justice announced that television network Russia Today (more recently renamed ‘RT’) registered under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) as an agent for Russian state-television TV-Novosti. In a written statement, a Justice Department official said, “Americans have a right to know who is acting in the United States to influence the U.S. government or public on behalf of foreign principals.” Congress passed the FARA in 1938 to ensure that the American public understood the origins of the media content it was consuming. The DOJ said registry under FARA does not restrict the network’s freedom of expression or the content disseminated by RT.
Join me on Forward Observer Radio today at 2pm Central as we discuss scenarios for a domestic conflict. You can listen live on Spreaker or catch the podcast edition on iTunes.
Recent Episodes:
- 14 NOV – Sam Hyde, hate crime statistics, and North Korea
- 09 NOV – Is the Middle East about to explode?
- 07 NOV – Why Antifa didn’t bother to show up to the Saturday protests
Looking for the fair and accurate reporting? Each week, the analysts at Forward Observer produce two full-length intelligence newsletters. Strategic Intelligence focuses on the risk of war, systems disruption, and other strategic threats affecting the United States. And Low Intensity Conflict is a weekly look at the development of domestic conflict, revolutionary political movements, tribal violence, and other factors that disrupt our “civil” society.
