The Wire - September 19, 2025

//The Wire//2300Z September 19, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT INCURSION REPORTED IN ESTONIA. POCKETS OF CIVIL UNREST BECOME SOLIDIFIED IN CHICAGO AS LOCALS CONTINUE TO OPPOSE ICE.//

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-International Events-

Europe: Controversy has continued over the past few days regarding the Online Safety Act. Details are hard to verify, however users noted that they could not access the Bible Gateway app from a British or European IP address yesterday afternoon. In a statement posted to their website, the app was reportedly offline due to "technical issues". Some time after this notice was posted, the main support website was taken down completely.

Analyst Comment: It's not clear as to if this is a technical problem unrelated to censorship efforts, or if this website was taken offline due to noncompliance with the Online Safety Act. Either way, this app has a very large userbase, so answers will be sought regarding what is going on.

Estonia: This morning several Russian fighter aircraft reportedly violated Estonian airspace. Estonia stated that 3x Russian MiG-31 fighters entered their airspace, remaining inside Estonia for 12 minutes before departing. 3x Italian F-35's were scrambled to respond to the incursion, though it is unclear as to if the Russian aircraft were actually intercepted. This morning Estonia enacted Article 4 of the NATO charter, which mandates a meeting of NATO to discuss the incident.

This afternoon, Polish authorities reported that 2x Russian fighter aircraft conducted a low-pass flyover of a Polish oil rig platform in the Baltic Sea.

-HomeFront-

Utah: A truck driver was arrested yesterday after a minor traffic incident led to the discovery of two children in the back of his truck. Jacob Ortell Scott was arrested after two girls (aged 12 and 14) were found in the refrigerated trailer he was hauling, which turned out to be his sisters.

Analyst Comment: Very few details have become public regarding this strange case, but local journalists are set on this not being a human trafficking case, simply because the driver was related to the children in his trailer. This is not a certainty, and the mere act itself is exceptionally suspicious; this could have been trafficking or attempted murder, or anything in between.

Illinois: This morning local tensions flared in Chicago as activists have intensified operations to disrupt ICE, with local politicians urging resistance to deportations as well. Various ICE facilities around the city have been targeted by demonstrators attempting to prevent access to the facilities. Several federal vehicles have been attacked and the tires slashed by rioters, and a few dozen protesters (mostly led by local politicians or political candidates) remained demonstrating outside federal facilities throughout the day.

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Analyst Comments: Violating Estonia's airspace is a classic Russian pastime, so even though Estonia is (understandably) freaking out about it, this incident is the fourth time airspace violations have been reported this year alone. This is mostly due to where the airspace violations are taking place...over the Gulf of Finland. Due to the very tight geography of the region, Russia can very easily violate Estonia's airspace by flying across the east-west corridor over the Gulf. Most of the time, Russia uses this as a way of poking Estonia and thus conveying their regional power to NATO. In this case, Russia chose to "poke" this time using MiG-31s...a platform that was a powerhouse during the Cold War, but is a bit dated today and is in the process of being phased out. This is probably an attempt to bully Estonia (again, as Russia is known to do), but in such a manner that is "softer" than sending Su-35's or another more modern platform. Nevertheless, the Cold War antics will continue to escalate as diplomatic efforts continue to be undertaken to end the war in Ukraine.

Analyst: S2A1
Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
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