Professor Warns UK Govt Is Preparing For Civil War, Using Russian Invasion Threat As Cover

Gulf Insider

05-07-2025

A prominent academic in London has warned that the UK government is actively preparing for the break out of a civil war, but is using the 'logically absurd' cover of a Russian invasion to put contingencies in place.
Pointing to remarks made in the 2025 National Security Strategy paper last month, Professor David Betz of King's College London has suggested that the British government is using the phantom threat of a foreign attack in order to harden critical national infrastructure against sabotage.
'For the first time in many years, we have to actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat,' the Whitehall paper noted, adding that 'critical national infrastructure – including undersea cables, energy pipelines, transportation and logistics hubs' are a major target.
During a discussion with Professor Lewis Halsey, Professor Betz, a modern war expert recently stated 'there is growing apprehension about the security of Britain, the security of its infrastructure specifically, and about the potential for active conflict at home in a very direct manner, effecting people in a very direct manner.'
'But that's not external in origin, that's internal, and that has to do with the way our society is now configured, it is highly fractured,' Betz continued, adding 'Low trust, highly fractured, and highly politically factionalised which is leading us increasingly inevitably into civil conflict.'
Betz further outlined how the Russian threat is being amplified as a cover story.
'The fact of the matter is there is a great distance between us and Russia… we are not militarily threatened in a direct way on the ground by any obvious external enemy, even Russia,' Betz outlined.
'Which isn't to say there aren't things which Russia could do to attack the UK should they wish to, but one of those is not occupying the village green with Russian soldiers, that simply, frankly, is a rather bizarre assertion,' he contended.
'What they're concerned about is domestic conflict, and they perfectly understand this, but that's completely politically toxic for them to say so publicly, hence the convenience of saying 'we need to develop… a citizen's militia for the protection of critical infrastructure',' Betz further noted.
'To say that we're doing this against the potential of Russian attack, which is frankly a logically absurd proposition, but it is convenient as a pretext,' he emphasised.
Betz also recently posited that many European countries are on the verge of civil war and may already be past the point of no return.
He says his research shows there is a statistically significant chance of a civil war breaking out within five years in a major European country, with a distinct possibility that the conflict could spill over to neighbouring Nations.
Professor Of War Warns Many European Countries Are In A 'Pre CIVIL WAR' State
Speaking to documentarian Andrew Gold, Betz further noted that it is likely too late to prevent things getting 'very much worse' in Europe, and that governments may only be able to better prepare for the inevitable.
'I would probably avoid big cities. I would suggest you reduce your exposure to big cities if you are able,' Betz chillingly urged.