Important Takeaways:
- Some analysts now argue that World War III is no longer a distant possibility – it has already begun, just in ways more subtle than Western societies experienced at the start of the 20th century’s global conflicts.
- National security expert Mark Toth and former US intelligence officer Col. Jonathan Sweet are among those arguing that World War III is already upon us.
- ‘This third global conflagration doesn’t look or feel like what Hollywood envisioned,’ they claim.
- ‘No mushroom clouds or apocalyptic wastelands. Rather, it is war by a thousand cuts, conducted across multi-regional and multi-domain battlefields.
- The concept of hybrid warfare lies at the heart of arguments that World War III is already underway.
- Toth and Sweet point the finger at Vladimir Putin as the main driver of the march toward disaster and say Russia’s strategy spans multiple arenas
- In Africa, Russian paramilitary groups, such as the Wagner Group, have fueled coups, destabilizing democracies and consolidating Moscow’s influence.
- And in Europe, espionage and damaging covert operations have resurfaced with Cold War intensity.
- Arson attacks targeting logistical hubs across the West to disrupt critical supply chains while daring assassinations cut down Russian dissidents and political opponents in the streets
- ‘Putin’s ability to conduct hybrid warfare is arguably his greatest strength,’ they emphasize, pointing to Russia’s continent-spanning efforts to spread disinformation, construct pro-Kremlin narratives and influence governments and citizens alike to turn against the West.
- This includes sophisticated AI tools that generate deepfakes and fabricated narratives, such as the fake documentary ‘Olympics Have Fallen,’ designed to incite fear ahead of the Paris Olympics.
- Even space has become a battlefield, with Putin threatening anti-satellite weapons aimed at crippling Western communications and intelligence networks.
- Recent Ukrainian strikes using US-provided ATACMS missiles and UK-provided Storm Shadow missiles prompted Putin to unleash the never-before-seen ‘Oreshnik’ – a new hypersonic ballistic missile – on Ukraine.
- Days prior, the Kremlin chief signed into effect an amended nuclear doctrine which officially lowered the threshold under which Moscow can deploy their devastating weapons.
- Although their ranks are suffering heavy casualties, the Russian army is advancing westward in Ukraine at a rate faster than any other time after the initial days of the 2022 invasion, taking an area half the size of London over the past month.
- Elsewhere, the Middle East is reeling amid the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel – a dastardly scheme that triggered an inferno of violence and has left tens of thousands dead in Gaza and Lebanon with no clear end in sight.
- Hamas and Hezbollah’s chief backer Iran has further escalated the situation with missile and drone strikes against Israel, while analysts suspect Tehran is drawing dangerously close to developing nuclear weapons.
- And in the Indo-Pacific, China’s escalating aggression against Taiwan and the Philippines has stoked fears of an explosive clash in this strategically critical region.
- Recent months have seen Beijing adopt an increasingly threatening posture with top US defense officials warning China could attempt an invasion of Taiwan well before the end of the decade.
- All the while… North Korea’s burgeoning nuclear arsenal having completely severed ties with South Korea and sent troops to aid Putin in his war on Ukraine.
- ‘Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was the opening stage (of World War Three). It was his marker to the global community that the world order as it had existed since the end of the Second World War was no longer,’ argued Sweet and Toth.
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