MI6 Scrambling To Stop Trump From Releasing Classified Docs In Russia Probe

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The UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, otherwise known as MI6, has been scrambling to prevent President Trump from publishing classified materials linked to the Russian election meddling investigation, according to The Telegraph, stating that any disclosure would “undermine intelligence gathering if he releases pages of an FBI application to wiretap one of his former campaign advisers.”

Trump’s allies, however, are fighting back – demanding transparency and suggesting that the UK wouldn’t want the documents withheld unless it had something to hide. 

The Telegraph has talked to more than a dozen UK and US officials, including in American intelligence, who have revealed details about the row. 

British spy chiefs have “genuine concern” about sources being exposed if classified parts of the wiretap request were made public, according to figures familiar with discussions. 

Britain knew of Saudi plan to target journalist, warned Saudis against it

 

Now a new report claims that Britain’s external intelligence agency, the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), was aware of a plot by the Saudi government to kidnap Khashoggi in order silence him. British newspaper The Sunday Express says it has evidence from “high ranking intelligence sources” that MI6 was in possession of communications intercepts containing conversations about Khashoggi. The conversations were between Saudi government officials and officers of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID), the Kingdom’s primary spy agency. In the intercepts, a member of the Saudi royal family is allegedly heard giving orders for the GID to kidnap Khashoggi from Turkey sometime in early September. He also instructs the GID to secretly transport the dissident journalist to Saudi soil where he could be interrogated. During the conversation, a discussion took place about the possibility that Khashoggi would physically resist his abductors. At that point in the conversation, the high ranking intelligence source told The Express, the royal family member “left the door open for alternative remedies […] should Khashoggi be troublesome”.

More Dots

 

Interesting Twitter thread from “Lycaon” today. It lays out a series of dots (no better use of Twitter than laying out dots) that connects Clintons, various Trump-Russia actors, and money-laundering. I think Lycaon would do well to re-examine Bill Browder’s  hole-pocked alibi as “anti-Putin avenger” but his inclusion of HSBC, presented by a US Senate committee on July 17, 2012 as a money-laundering entity, and James Comey’s arrival at HSBC as director on March 4, 2013, and then, seven months later, Comey’s appointment as FBI director by President Obama is sequencing worth recalling.

In between, of course, HSBC paid a giant fine in exchange for a clean bill of health.

Russia Really Is America’s No. 1 Enemy – Depending on Who ‘America’ Is

 

US-Russia enmity is here to stay. Cold War II is a fact of life for the foreseeable future. The only questions are where, when, and how it might turn hot. That didn’t happen in Syria this past Friday the Thirteenth, for reasons yet to be explained. But the danger is by no means gone.

Rather, the threat of a major war will continue to intensify as President Donald Trump continues to stack his team with GOP retards who diametrically oppose his oft-repeated desire to improve ties with Moscow. Whether or not his desire is genuine is irrelevant. With each new appointment to the National Security Council and the State Department the Russophobic critical mass grows.

Personnel is policy. The door to rapprochement is being nailed ever more firmly shut

5 Things that ‘Come Next’ with Syria

 

The Danger Of World War Is Far From Removed Following The West’s ‘One And Done’ Missile Strikes.

Now that the “one and done” missile barrage against Syria’s purported chemical weapons program following the alleged gas attack in Douma is over, here are five consequences that need to be monitored in the weeks ahead.

New Kennedy assassination files don’t solve two main riddles

 

Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy? Or was he sent by the KGB or the mafia? And who sent Jack Ruby to kill him?

The 2,891 hitherto unpublished papers released Friday Oct. 27 by the US National Archives Friday on the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy were awaited in suspense, after decades of conspiracy theories were thrown up by that momentous event. The release also touched a responsive chord in the American national and political consciousness that is sensitive to any suggestions of a KGB hand in their affairs.

Europe: Christmas Shoppers in Jihadist Crosshairs

In Ludwigshafen, Germany, a “‘strongly radicalized” 12-year-old boy “of Iraqi heritage” planted a bomb at a Christmas market at the end of November. (Image source: Focus video screenshot)

 

 

• In Ludwigshafen, Germany, a “‘strongly radicalized” 12-year-old boy “of Iraqi heritage” planted a bomb at a Christmas market at the end of November.
• Previously, the festive shopping tradition of Christmas markets had become “potent symbols of freedom,” with Germany’s Interior Minister, Thomas de Maizière, urging people to stick to unserem Leben — “our way of life.”
• In Birmingham, England, the Christmas market has concrete barriers installed to deter vehicular suicide bombers. According to the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service, the magnitude of the terrorism faced by the UK is “unprecedented.”
• French security forces thwarted attacks planned for December 1, against Disneyland Paris and the Christmas market on the main thoroughfare of the French capital, the Champs-Elysée.
• With a pro-Sharia (Islamic law) advocate now secretary of state in the Berlin regional senate, and other Muslims even refusing to shake the hand of the German President Joachim Gauck at events designed to promote integration, Germany’s “way of life” is changing fast.

As the winter nights lengthen, an even darker shadow is falling across the run-up to the Christmas holidays in several European nations. Families in markets and shopping districts across the continent are buying presents in the knowledge that jihadists mean to target them.

EU ‘gets in the way’ of countries ability to keep their citizens safe, former CIA chief warns

The European Union often “gets in the way” of countries ability to keep their citizens safe, a former CIA chief has warned.

General Michael Hayden said the EU was “not a natural contributor to national security” in member states, and that a vote for Brexit in June would have little impact on America’s willingness to work with the UK or other European intelligence agencies.

Quitting the EU ‘would help our security’, former MI6 chief suggests

Sir Richard Dearlove said: ‘The truth about Brexit from a national security perspective is that the cost to Britain would be low’

Leaving the EU would improve Britain’s security, a former head of MI6 has suggested, as a series of serious intelligence blunders in the run-up to the attacks in Brussels emerged.

Sir Richard Dearlove said that Britain’s borders could be strengthened in the event of a Brexit and extremists could be more easily deported, moves which he said were “security gains” with little apparent downside.

Exposure of US spying on Israeli drones served a pressing Russian interest

 

The latest batch of “top secret” documents to be leaked to the web magazine The Intercept by fugitive former NSA advisor Edward Snowden, showing that the US had spied on Israeli air force operations for more than 18 years, is as interesting for its timing as its revelations.

For three years, the magazine has published Snowdon leaks almost exclusively. This time, on Tuesday, Jan. 26, it released files exposing a joint operation by US and British intelligence agencies codenamed Anarchist. For almost two decades, Israeli air force operations, mainly by drones, were monitored and their transmission feeds intercepted from the British intelligence base in the Troodos Mountains in Cyprus, as well as the NSA base in Menwith Hill, north of Manchester, England.

Russian jet SHOT DOWN by Turkey after it flew into their airspace, according to reports

If proven to be true, it means the possibility of WWIII was just put to the test. Russia is provoking and testing for a response.

A Russian retaliation means an attack on Turkey. An attack on Turkey means an attack on all NATO members according to Article 5. An attack on NATO essentially means an attack on the United States which essentially is the backbone of the organization. You get the picture…

Ironically, the last American aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf is now leaving, leaving a perfect opportunity for adversaries to launch an attack.

 

 

 

A RUSSIAN jet has been shot down by Turkish forces after it flew into the country’s airspace, according to as yet unconfirmed reports circulating on social media.

According to reports, eyewitnesses saw a large explosion in Huraytan, northern Syria, while three fighter jets were hovering above.

One journalist tweeted that three Turkish planes were responding to “mysterious” lock-ons from Mig-29 jets, which are used by Putin’s forces.

US vs Russia military showdown is INEVITABLE top MI6 chief warns

RUSSIA and the US are set for a cataclysmic clash, an MI6 chief has warned as Vladimir Putin’s continues its campaign of air strikes in Syria.

Former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers said there is a “real risk of a clash” as tensions boil between both superpowers amid Russia’s bombing crusade in Syria.

His warning comes as Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced Britain is to station a “small number” of troops in the Baltic states in a further move to deter Russian aggression.

Former CIA Agent Warns the World is at its most Dangerous Point in History

A former CIA agent and top U.S. defence expert has warned that the world is more dangerous than it has ever been due to the rise of heavily armed and well funded terrorist groups.

Although the 21st century has not yet been subjected to the mass carnage and industrial scale slaughter caused by the global conflicts between superpowers in the 20th century, the increased threat of worldwide terrorism ensures that no nation can consider itself truly safe.

MI6 spy found in holdall ‘hacked into secret data about Bill Clinton’

MI6 spy Gareth Williams hacked into restricted information about former US President Bill Clinton, it has been claimed.

The 31-year-old codebreaker was discovered inside a padlocked bag in a bathtub at his London home in 2010, sparking a real-life mystery worthy of any 007 thriller.

…

Now it is claimed he illegally obtained a guest list for an event attended by Mr Clinton as a favour for a friend who was going.

Russia’s Holding Back Cyber Capabilities in Ukraine

There is a big difference between the known capabilities of Russian hackers — such as cyber espionage — and the debilitating software the country actually possesses, which could hamper U.S. efforts to predict Putin’s next move, say some security researchers.

So, far Russia’s alleged cyber operations amid unrest in Ukraine have caused more spectacle than destruction. Reportedly a “massive denial-of-service attack” paralyzed Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council servers for several hours last week, but such temporary traffic floods cannot access data or damage systems.

This doesn’t mean Russia can’t carry out a cyberattack that would physically or economically damage Ukrainian citizens.