EXCLUSIVE! WW3 HAS Begun: No atomic mushroom clouds. No nightmare 'day after' scenario to survive. But military experts explain why they believe the third world war has already started

Source, photos and full article can be seen here: Daily Mail

From the battlefields of Ukraine to the volatile waters of the Indo-Pacific, the fabric of global stability as we hurtle towards 2025 appears frayed, stitched together with little more than fragile diplomacy and the threat of a nuclear winter. 

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. 

The early stages of World War III may not be fought not through the conventional means of tanks and trenches beyond the frontlines of Ukraine, but through hybrid threats, covert battles and ideological jockeying in the digital arena.

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.

Here, MailOnline speaks to Sweet and Toth along with military chiefs, former presidents and geopolitical experts to assess whether we are really entering a new period of global attrition.

Unfortunately, the signs are ominous. 

Hybrid warfare and covert ops

The concept of hybrid warfare lies at the heart of arguments that World War III is already underway. 

Unlike traditional wars, today's conflicts are fought not just with guns and bombs but through all manner of tactics including cyberattacks, disinformation, sabotage and economic manipulation.

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 - not just in Ukraine, but from Africa to beyond Earth's atmosphere and the digital theatre.

In Africa, Russian paramilitary groups, such as the Wagner Group, have fuelled coups, destabilising 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

According to Sweet and Toth, this unconventional 'grey zone' warfare is Vladimir Putin's area of expertise.

'Putin's ability to conduct hybrid warfare is arguably his greatest strength,' they emphasise, 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. 

'Kinetic' conflicts and physical warfare

Though citizens of Western nations may have to be wary of disinformation, there are several hotspots where so-called kinetic warfare is very much underway. 

Nowhere in the world is this more obvious than Ukraine where hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been slain in the war closing in on the three-year mark.

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.

Ukrainian servicemen of the 43 Artillery Brigade fire a 2S7 Pion self-propelled cannon towards Russian positions at a front line in the Donetsk region

The Russian President also declared this week that Moscow could soon begin to strike 'decision-making centres' in Kyiv if Ukraine continues to hit targets in Russia with US and UK missiles as more than a million Ukrainians without electricity in freezing cold temperatures following mass drone and rocket attacks.

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 defence officials warning China could attempt an invasion of Taiwan well before the end of the decade.

All the while, Kim Jong Un stands by, his fist clenching the keys to 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.

'Russia continues to play the victim while escalating against Ukrainian civilians,' they said, underscoring the Kremlin's intent to destabilise its adversaries.

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