The clock will start its countdown to World War Three in 2025 ahead of a “big grab” by Vladimir Putin which will force the UK to use force, warns a global affairs expert.

Tensions are simmering around the world with war between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East as well as the conflict in Ukraine while China is being accused of espionage in the UK and other Western countries. And as we head into the New Year two experts in international relations agree that 2025 is only likely to see the situation deteriorate with the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House.

Prof Anthony Glees from the University of Buckingham believes that Putin will stick to his long term plan of taking back all the countries which were part of the USSR. And Prof John Strawson from the University of East London says 2025 will see the “greatest challenges to international order since World War 2 ended 80 years ago”.

Prof Strawson explained: “The dangers stem from the rise of great power rivalry and the decline of international cooperation. In 1945 the Allies created the United Nations even before the war ended with the aim of promoting a new world order, in the 2020’s that order has effectively collapsed as we can see in the wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and the tensions over Taiwan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin talks to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ( 
Image:
Getty Images)

“Trump’s victory in the US elections is a symptom that international instability is having an impact on domestic politics. Donald Trump’s well-known unpredictability symbolizes this and underlines how the domestic situation of the main powers has an impact on international relations. All this makes 2025 a dangerous year.” Prof Glees is sure that Trump will seek to impose a peace on Russia and Ukraine but he believes that a deal will not affect Putin’s expansionist ambitions. And the West is better off preparing for war, which he says is the “most important thing we can do to prevent one”.

Trump is confident of agreeing a peace in Ukraine ( 
Image:
AFP/Getty Images)
Trump repeatedly said during presidential campaigning that he could settle the conflict in Ukraine in just one day. And his staffers have been widely reported as saying that his plan is to freeze the current front line in place between Russia and Ukraine, and introduce an 800 mile buffer zone between the two countries.

While another crucial element to the alleged proposal would be an agreement that Ukraine would not join NATO for another 20 years. It has been said that this would save face for Putin, not least as it would more or less guarantee that Ukraine doesn’t join NATO in his lifetime. And it would likely mean that the US would heavily arm Ukraine so that Russia did not attempt to invade.

But Prof Glees believes we will move closer to war in 2025 even if it doesn’t break out so soon. “I do not believe for one second that Putin will stop with this deal. Putin also said today that Russia was now well-placed to ‘establish our primary goals in Ukraine’,” he stated.“Please note the word ‘primary’ because there are also ‘secondary’ goals. They are even more horrific than his ‘primary’ ones. By 2027 he will be busily undermining the rump Ukrainian state in all the usual ways and I also think we will go out of his way to kill Zelensky.”

And then Putin will carry out his “big grab” which will lead to WW3, said Prof Glees. “He will turn to his strategic plan of re-establishing the USSR and its satellite system in all but name by turning on all the post-1997 NATO states,” he continued. ” He’s said it is his intention to force them to leave NATO and I believe we should take the threat very seriously, as we should have taken all his threats seriously but signally failed to do.

“We’re talking about Finland, Sweden, Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia; Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and West Macedonia. In other words, a really big grab by Putin, so big that I am confident we will oppose him by force and that will be how WW3 will develop. This will shape our deteriorating relations with Russia. Trump’s foolish and false peace deal will start the clock for the countdown to war.”