A British member of parliament with a doctorate in Russian military strategy is warning that Russia's Vladimir Putin is preparing an attack on the United Kingdom in preperation of World War III.
"For a long time it was only speculation," Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely, who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote in a Thursday op-ed for The Telegraph. "Now we know for certain: Russian spy ships are mapping wind farms and key cables off the British coast. There can be only one reason for this: to learn how to sabotage U.K. and European critical infrastructure in the event of a full-scale war with the West.
"The sobering truth is that our potential adversaries, Russia in the West and China in the East, are gearing up for wider conflict. That does not mean that conflict will happen — preparation makes it less likely — but we must urgently recognize the extent of the threat to the current order.
"Our world is becoming markedly more dangerous. And Britain is not ready."
Seely's warnings are not to invoke fear, but to prompt urgent preparations for defense on behalf of the U.K.
"We have failed to see the trend, in Russia but also in China, because for too long our leaders naively assumed the rulers of those countries shared our own outlook and assumptions," he wrote. "They do not. As we have seen with Putin, war is not only thinkable, but necessary.
"Using his spy ships in the North and Baltic seas, he is threatening to expand that conflict still further. We cannot afford to let him do so."
Seely warns against remaining in "denial" of the potential for World War III and says the U.K. must stand to be the NATO leader at sea if it were to erupt.
"The NATO alliance remains dangerously exposed at sea," he wrote. "Russia is probing for European vulnerabilities. Apart from food, the daily critical requirements of modern society are energy and communications. The underwater arteries of modern civilization are surprisingly few.
"For example, just three pipelines deliver 43% of our baseline gas supply. Five interconnectors deliver electricity to and from the U.K. and Europe (and one more between Britain and Ireland). There are more communications cables, about 70 in all, but a relatively small number of deep-sea sabotage operations could bring our world to a halt without a shot being fired. We were assured that wind farms would bolster our energy security, but few considered their military exposure."
Russia is gearing up for "a form of total war," which includes kenetic and modern cyberattacks, in addition to cultural infiltration to support its narrative and justify its actions, according to Seely.
"It is a form of total war, using everything from culture to cyber to conventional conflict," he continued. "It reflects the belief that, according to the head of Russia's Armed Forces, the 'very rules of war' have changed.
"It has been clear for years that both Russian official and illicit groups operate under the Kremlin's control. Russia has long used organized crime to do its dirty work, and with the global growth of the Wagner mercenary group, the 'unofficial arms' of the Russian state will only increase.
"Behind them will be Russia's overseas spy agency, the SVR, its internal agency, the FSB, or the bloodthirsty but sloppy GRU, responsible for the [Sergei] Skripal poisoning."
Putin is preparing for war unlike the rest of the world, which sets him up for success if Western countries do not take heed, because the attacks on cyber and infrastructure might cripple opposition before it is too late, Seely concluded.
"My fear is that Putin is gauging options to attack the West, should he wish to escalate, without triggering a NATO military response," Seely wrote. "How would the U.K. or NATO respond to shadowy groups conducting cyberattacks across the U.K. or Europe that result in physical damage or destruction of fuel storage depots?
"Or a series of unexplained glitches or failures on underwater cables? Would a military response be feasible, as Adm. Tony Radakin argued last year?
"We still don't know who sabotaged the Nord Steam 2 pipeline. Could we really risk war on a suspicion? Putin knows this."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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