The threat is very real and it has never been so strong since the end of the Cold War. Especially since new communication technologies and the international context allow disseminators of fake news and other destabilization campaigns to develop rapidly. The British government in any case takes “very seriously” the threats of influence coming from foreign states before the legislative elections, assured Sunday the Minister of Defense Grant Shapps, after the alert launched by a responsible for the fight against -terrorist.
“You have several different actors (…), Iran obviously, Russia, North Korea, who could decide to interfere in our (electoral) processes. Obviously it’s something we take very seriously,” the minister said on Sky News. The head of the fight against terrorism and deputy commissioner of the London police, Matt Jukes, has warned in recent days in the media of the threat of interference from foreign states while the legislative elections are to take place this year in the Kingdom -United.
An increasing terrorist risk
“There is a gigantic amount of misinformation online. The volume of this activity is greater than it has ever been in any other election year,” said Matt Jukes, citing Iran, Russia and China as a “triple threat” to the UK . For the official, the threat level is “the most acute since the Cold War” in terms of espionage and foreign interference. Matt Jukes “was absolutely right to sound the alarm”, said Grant Shapps on Sunday, affirming that “we must of course ensure that we maintain a very secure system for our democracy”.
The police official also warned that since the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the police had recorded a very clear increase in the terrorist threat in the country, with a significant increase in signs of radicalization on the internet. The police thus recorded seven times more reports of this online activity between October and December than during the same period of the previous year, a good part of which came from minors. “All this online activity is an integral part of a dangerous climate,” said Matt Jukes, which “has the potential to push people toward terrorism.”
“It is difficult to remember a world that is so unstable, dangerous and uncertain,” he insisted, adding that “the speed and scale of the impact of global events (in the UK) is extraordinary “. The risk of the terrorist threat is estimated as “substantial” by the British authorities, at the third level on a scale of five.