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"  Over the past few days, pro-Russia groups inside the Ukraine have invited Vladimir Putin to send troops to protect them. NATO is moving more warplanes into the Baltic to counter Russia, which continues to station masses of ground troops on the Ukrainian border. North and South Korea fired artillery into the ocean in each other&amp;#039;s direction. Japan threatened to shoot down North Korean test missiles. Chances are you&amp;#039;ve heard about these cauldrons of antagonism and tension. But there are other flash points around the world about to boil over. Here are a few you might not have heard about: Sweden War fears have gripped Sweden. This week, the head of counterintelligence for the Swedish security service, called S\u00E4po, accused Russia of an intense spy campaign against their nation. &amp;quot;The most serious threat we see right now is war preparations,&amp;quot; S\u00E4po chief counterintelligence analyst Wilhelm Unge said at a press conference. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s no secret that Russia is engaged in this.&amp;quot; Russia is known to have flown warplanes on simulated bombing runs toward Swedish targets. Unge said the Kremlin also has recruited spies and increased signals intelligence operations. &amp;quot;If you weren&amp;#039;t carrying out war preparations against Sweden, you probably wouldn&amp;#039;t have any military intelligence here,&amp;quot; he said. Sweden hasn&amp;#039;t fought a declared war in 200 years, but it and Russia have a long history of conflict: There have been 11 wars fought between the two nations since the 15th century. Swedish foreign minister Carl Bilt is a constant enemy of Vladimir Putin and has been known to compare the Russian president to Adolf Hitler. There are open discussions of Sweden joining NATO, too, making this a flash point worth watching. Central African Republic The CAR, despite attempts by the United Nations to pacify the nation and its capital, Bangui, remains violent. Religiously motivated militias on both sides attack each other, but anti-Muslim groups are driving the violence against civilians and the African Union troops protecting them. This past week, more than 35 people were killed in violent attacks in the capital alone. Adding to the violence are mercenaries and troops from Chad, who opened fire on a crowd in Bangui on Saturday, killing at least 24 people and wounding about 100. Today the European Union said it would send 1000 troops to secure the airport in Bangui, which is used to ferry French and African Union troops to the region. That deployment was due to arrive last month, but a shortage of troops and money from the EU members delayed the effort. Now the region is seething, and the capital seems teetering on the brink of massacre. The people at the UN who decried inattention to massacres in Rwanda 20 years ago are pleading for attention to the CAR today. Venezuela The turmoil in Venezuela is getting more intense as anti-government groups consolidate into a movement that threatens the administration of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00E1s Maduro. The student-driven protests began in February, demanding solutions to the nation&amp;#039;s high crime and food shortages. Street violence associated with the movement has killed dozens of people and injured hundreds of others. The movement is now fixated on forcing Maduro from office, raising the stakes. &amp;quot;They are trying to sell to the world the idea that the protests are some of sort of Arab Spring,&amp;quot; Maduro told The Guardian. &amp;quot;But in Venezuela, we have already had our spring: our revolution that opened the door to the 21st century.&amp;quot; Maduro, heir to the regime of Hugo Ch\u00E1vez, is blaming the United States for manufacturing the protests, calling the events &amp;quot;a slow-motion&amp;quot; coup against his government, one meant to &amp;quot;get their hands on Venezuelan oil.&amp;quot; This weekend the confrontation claimed more casualties. Two close friends of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez were found executed in a Caracas park. And Lopez himself, who was in military jail for a month, has now been charged with public incitement, property damage, arson, and conspiracy. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a10437/this-week-in-armageddon-the-military-escalations-you-havent-heard-about-16675853/>