The increase in geopolitical tensions derived from conflicts such as the War in Ukraine has caused the main actors to begin to take positions, in order to be prepared for a new escalation. One of the last countries to make its position clear has been Great Britain. UK Chief of Defense Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin has warned that the world is at the dawn of a “third nuclear age” and has urged its partners to react.
The head of the British armed forces spoke in this sense last Wednesday, during a conference at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), in which he pointed directly to Russia, China, Iran and North Koreaas the main threats facing the West. Radakin has listed some of the events that have generated the most instability in the last year, among which the deployment of North Korean troops in the Ukrainian War or the use of drones from Iran by Russia stands out.
In this way he anticipates that “the world has changed. World power is changing and we are facing a third nuclear age. The era of competition between states, fundamentally, through geoeconomics, has passed into a resurgence of geopolitics, which will last decades.
A more unstable world
Sir Tony Radakin acknowledged that while the UK is not experiencing “an existential threat like Ukraine or Israel”, it is a victim of “the consequences of a more unstable world in a very real way”. Specifically, he referred to “interference“that would have affected its airspace, territorial waters and critical infrastructure, both digital and energy.
Radakin then went on to defend the investment of “substantial sums of money” in the renewal of British weapons and nuclear industrystating that “UK deterrence is the part of our inventory that Russia is most aware of and has more impact on Putin than anything else (…) Before, governments believed they were doing the right thing. Now they know that they are really doing it.” In this sense, NATO was also mentioned, which is encouraged to “remain strong and strengthen against a more dangerous Russia”.
In recent months, the presence of Russian vessels and drones has increased in British territory. Findings that add to actions, such as the breaking of submarine cables in the Baltic Sea, which have led Western powers and NATO to increase their vigilance.