War

Rioters in Hong Kong clashed with police on Tuesday amid violent scenes during the three-day Chinese New Year holiday.  As rioters set fires and threw bricks at cops, police fired warning shots in the Mong Kok district in order to contain the crowds. Bloomberg.com reports: Forty-four officers were injured, with 24 people arrested. A government statement said there were several hundred rioters involved. “The situation ran out of control and became a riot,” Yau said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has deployed thousands of troops and hundreds of warplanes on Monday to southwest Russia for large-scale military drills, amid escalating tensions with the West and NATO.  Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that military units have been put on high alert on Monday, as troops wait in readiness for potential conflict. AP.org reports: The district includes troops stationed in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as well as forces in the North Caucasus and southwestern regions near the border with Ukraine.

The head of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, may be an undercover Mossad agent named Elliot Shimon, according to sources close to Edward Snowden.  According to these sources, Al-Baghdadi was recruited by the Israeli intelligence agency to wage psychological warfare against Arab and Islamic societies. Usatwentyfour.com reports: We offer below three translations that want to assert that the Caliph Al-Baghdadi is a full Mossad agent: The so-called “Elliot” was recruited by the Israeli Mossad  and was trained in espionage and psychological warfare against Arab and Islamic societies.

NATO and Saudi Arabia are set to discuss Riyadh’s proposal for troop deployment to Syria under the pretext of fighting ISIS, according to reports. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have all expressed their readiness to send ground troops to Syria as part of the US led coalition. Press TV reports: Saudi media quoted NATO sources as saying on Monday that Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman is scheduled to attend the Western military alliance’s meetings in Brussels this week to hold talks on Riyadh’s plan for ground intervention into Syria.

Once again, Russia is being portrayed as the evil bad guys who frequently play opposite the good guys in the form of the peace loving NATO nations. A new BBC program features Moscow initiating an invasion on Latvia followed up with a nuclear strike on Britain.