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UK Under Attack: The New Face of Warfare
Jul 23, 2025
We explore the rising threat of 'grey zone' attacks against the UK, including sabotage, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns. This video discusses the evolving nature of modern warfare and how these actions impact our daily lives, and the need for government transparency. #UKSecurity #GreyZoneWarfare #HybridWarfare #NationalSecurity #CyberAttacks #Espionage #Disinformation #Defense #Geopolitics #ModernWar
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0:03
Is war coming to the doorstep of every
0:06
home in the UK? Hostile attacks against
0:09
the country are said to be increasing in
0:11
speed, scale, and intensity.
0:14
Like this fire set in an East London
0:16
warehouse linked to Ukraine by people
0:19
operating on behalf of the Ban Vagner
0:21
group working for Russia. An example of
0:24
so-called grreyzone attacks launched to
0:27
threaten the day-to-day lives of us all.
0:29
We should be very concerned about the
0:31
threats of of grrey zone attacks. It's
0:33
not like the war we think we know. It's
0:35
it's not like the wars we have seen in
0:37
the past. It's a different kind of a
0:39
war, but it's damaging nonetheless.
0:41
Causes disruption, causes damage, causes
0:45
the social contract to erode, causes
0:48
fear, causes us to lose belief in our
0:51
way of life and causes us to live in
0:54
fear. And that's why it's so important,
0:55
I think, for everybody to understand
0:57
that it is here and it's happening on a
0:58
daily basis. It's not the sort of
1:00
abstract war that one typically worries
1:02
about living in a western country for
1:04
which we prepare with armed forces. It's
1:06
here. It's just not clear what we can do
1:08
about it. These grrey zone attacks fall
1:10
below the threshold of war, but they are
1:13
designed to damage the security of the
1:15
UK and its allies, blurring the lines
1:18
between peace and war. Sabotage,
1:21
espionage, cyber attacks, and
1:24
disinformation all fall into this
1:26
category. A report by the Defense Select
1:28
Committee warns this is bringing war to
1:30
every home in the country with the MOD
1:34
saying it's repelled 90,000 attacks
1:36
linked to hostile countries over the
1:38
last 2 years. And Russia is very adept
1:41
at launching such action in this country
1:44
and across the continent. I think what's
1:47
most alarming is the fact that it's so
1:49
hard to to track these people simply
1:51
because they can materialize at one
1:53
moment, execute whatever their gig is
1:56
and then fade back into the population
1:59
and somebody else will do the next gig.
2:01
But it's not just threats from Russia
2:03
itself we have to worry about. The fire
2:06
in East London was the first time UK
2:08
citizens were convicted for working for
2:09
the ban vagner group. The people
2:12
carrying out these actions are being
2:14
recruited increasingly through what's
2:16
called the gig economy. Something that
2:18
many of us use every day, whether it be
2:20
ordering a taxi, getting food delivered,
2:23
or getting someone to our home to carry
2:25
out a job. Now, these are all perfectly
2:28
legal and above board. But the same
2:30
principle can be applied to something a
2:32
little more sinister. And some of these
2:34
operators are quite difficult to detect.
2:37
They don't necessarily share the same
2:40
ideology as their employer. They're just
2:42
in it for the money.
2:43
It's a shift from professional saboturs
2:45
to amateur proxies. After the scripple
2:48
poisonings in Salsbury, Russia shifted
2:50
to deniable tactics, showing the threat
2:53
is also at home as well as from abroad.
2:56
It is incredibly upsetting that people
2:59
would actively choose to attack our
3:04
countries on behalf of of an adversary.
3:07
But it's a in a in a perverse sort of
3:10
way it's almost a logical development of
3:12
the gig economy. You don't have to have
3:14
any sort of uh emotional links or
3:17
attachment to your employer. You just do
3:20
the one gig and then you submit proof
3:23
that you have done it and then you get
3:24
paid. And that is an incredible
3:27
opportunity for hostile states. It is
3:30
upsetting and I think it's not just a
3:32
result of of the gig economy. also a
3:34
result of people perhaps not feeling a
3:37
sense of commitment to our society and
3:40
that in itself is a result three and a
3:43
half decades of globalization where we
3:45
were all told go out and create success
3:48
and happiness for yourself. Well, if we
3:50
don't have that sort of collective
3:52
understanding of belonging to the same
3:54
society and having a responsibility for
3:56
that society, then when things turn
3:59
darker, then we will inevitably get that
4:03
sort of individualist attitude um
4:08
essentially playing out in in really
4:10
destructive ways.
4:11
But what can be done to combat it?
4:14
deploying more assets to Russia's
4:15
doorstep to dissuade it or doing more on
4:18
the home front to ensure we are
4:20
protected from this threat.
4:21
I think the most important step is for
4:24
the government to be open with the
4:26
public about the threats facing the
4:28
country. And that the argument is always
4:30
made well you know people would panic,
4:32
people would get frightened. Well, it's
4:35
okay to panic or to get frightened. It's
4:37
better to have the information than not
4:39
to have the information. Obviously, the
4:40
government shouldn't reveal every
4:42
detail, but it should talk openly and
4:46
transparently about some of the threats
4:48
facing the country because if we if if
4:50
it doesn't, then how are people supposed
4:52
to to understand that this is serious?
4:54
It's not detrimental deploying forces to
4:57
the Baltic states or to the high north,
5:00
but it's not going to do very much about
5:02
gray zone aggression because we are just
5:04
not going to counter gray zone
5:05
aggression using conventional means
5:08
because that would be escalatory.
5:10
The gray zone threats are a particular
5:12
challenge to UK security, constantly
5:15
evolving and difficult to counter. It's
5:18
a new type of war that can have a direct
5:21
effect on every one of us. David Civil
5:24
Macan, BFBS Forces News.
5:28
Thanks for watching. For more from BFBs
5:31
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5:33
channel.
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