Someone has to say what in modern times is the unsayable. It may as well be me: Unless, anyone can think of another solution to the problem, we may need to start thinking about where to put internment centres.
Yes, I know, since the fall of the Berlin Wall there has been a sort of odd attitude that any consideration that there might be another world war is hysterical. We have been fortunate that what wars there have been have been fairly localised and no two ‘big’ powers have faced off against each other, other than via proxies. But that state of affairs can’t last forever.
In the 20th century – after two world wars – the balance of power was held in check by so-called “mutually assured destruction” in which a small number of big players had nuclear arms. But, it is increasingly the case that smaller players see the acquisition of such WMDs as a means to level up. The ‘big players’ of the past were, for the most part, rational actors who understood MAD, but there are now, frankly, fanatical death cults with no such restraint. Iran may be such a player.
Regardless, a new ‘Axis of Evil’ is emerging, united by hostility to the West. Not all their interests align, but sooner or later, as priorities shift, they may align sufficiently to act in concert against a mutual enemy. In WWII, we had an alliance with the Soviets, after all. Today, the mutual enemy of Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea is us. Just as the Internet has globalised concerns and polarised societies,, it will take only one spark for these separate conflicts to merge into one, particularly in an increasingly polarised world. And we will find ourselves, once more, at war.
In a sense, we are already at war with Iran. They are our enemy. Israel is obviously doing all the heavy lifting at the moment, but there is no doubt we are assisting in a material way. They have already mobilised their 5th columnists here. This fifth column is made up of Iranian nationals, Palestinian proxies, broader Islamists who will side with them in a conflict, and of course our own useful idiots in the far-left “Palestinian solidarity” movement.
Iran has already plotted terror attacks on UK soil. According to Hansard on 3 May this year:
Five men were arrested on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act, contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, as part of a proactive investigation in the areas of west London, Swindon, Rochdale, Stockport and Manchester. All five men are Iranian nationals. While four of the individuals remain in police custody, the fifth has now been bailed with strict conditions.
The report continues:
In a separate police investigation, two men were arrested at two different addresses in north-west London, and one man was arrested at an address in west London. All three were arrested under the National Security Act 2023. These three men are also Iranian nationals and remain in police custody.
From the same report we learn that, since January 2022, the police and MI5 had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots presenting potentially lethal threats.
Additionally, The Times reports that three Iranian agents were caught plotting “serious violence” in London, ordered by the Iranian state to carry our assassinations. The three men, incidentally, arrived in the UK on the back of a lorry, posing as migrants.
Then, according to an April Press Release, the UK Government sanctioned an organisation called the Foxtrot Network, an organised crime group backed by Iran:
The Iranian regime uses criminal gangs across the world to threaten people. The UK has targeted this criminal network and its leader, Rawa Majid, due to their involvement in violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime. The UK will not tolerate these threats.
Every year in London, the Iranian-backed Al Quds Day march attracts more than 10,000 people. Were we to go to war with Iran, whose side do you think these people would be on?
Last night activists broke into an RAF base and vandalised military aircraft. It is mind-boggling that this is even possible? Do we not have security at our military bases? We need to start getting serious if war is looming.
This is not the first act of sabotage. There have been several occasions this year where pro-Palestinian activists (who will transfer allegiance to Iran in a heartbeat, just as they now cheer for Houthis) have broken into arms manufactures. They too were not stopped, and instead were allowed to post their acts of sabotage on social media.
‘Palestine Action’ has carried out a series of targeted attacks against UK-based arms manufacturers and suppliers. In March, activists broke into the headquarters of Martin-Baker, a key producer of RAF ejection seats and caused extensive damage. A month later, in April, they vandalised the Righton Blackburns facility in Glasgow. These attacks formed part of a broader campaign of sabotage, with The Times revealing over 350 similar incidents since the group’s founding in 2020, and, The Times notes, “they show no signs of slowing down”.
This cannot be allowed to continue. Criminal prosecutions are not enough. These campaigners – as we have seen with Extinction Rebellion and its offshoots – simply use court cases to grandstand. We need to be clear that security will be beefed up and they need to be made to understand that they may face lethal force in the future. We can’t afford the millions they cause in damage, and a tragedy involving equipment failure due to undetected sabotage is not impossible. Their members need to be monitored by our security services, and on the eve of war, they will need to be rounded up and interned.
It can’t stop there. In the event of a hot war, the leaders, organisers and vocal participants of Pro-Iranian marches, such as the one earlier this week in London, will have to be rounded up and interned too. “REBEL!!!” they cry, “UK/US GO TO HELL!” they screech. We should assume they mean it. If it isn’t blindingly obvious that they will transform this public display in the present to future acts of sabotage, spying, and treachery, let me be the first to point this out.
I would like to think that ‘the people in charge’ are already devising plans to deal with this eventuality, but I’m not even sure our Prime Minsiter even acknowleges the problem. He tweeted earlier today:
The act of vandalism committed at RAF Brize Norton is disgraceful. Our Armed Forces represent the very best of Britain and put their lives on the line for us every day. It is our responsibility to support those who defend us.
He was more animated by the Southport Riots. An “act of vandalism”? Is acting in the interests of a hostile foreign power to cripple UK military aircraft merely vandalism? Spraying graffiti on a shopfront is vandalism; smashing up pot plants is vandalism. Attempting to disable RAF planes – which may be required for the defence of the Realm at a moment’s notice – is terrorism and treason. Indeed the penalty may be life imprisonment.
So “couldn’t we just make it a criminal issue?” I hear you ask. “Shouldn’t we just prosecute and imprison those who break the law?” Well, no. We can’t take the risk. Their next act may be so debilitating as to significantly hamper our fight in an existential war. Imagine if a group had broken into RAF Biggin Hill in 1940 and smashed up Spitfires. If we are going to fight, it will very likely be for the survival of our country, our allies, and indeed our civilisation.
We simply cannot have these enemy sympathisers in the way.
Yes, I expect to be called an hysteric. But internment was necessary in the last war, and it will very likely be necessary again in the next, especially since the technology available to ordinary people would blow the minds of the cryptographers and the Q-branch of the 1940s, or even of the Cold War era. Seemingly ordinary people can be extremely dangerous in 2025 with off-the-shelf tech, and more so when they are sponsored by a hostile foreign enemy.
Today, anti Iranian-regime protestors were violently attacked in London. The footage is shocking. Police were unable to protect them. How is this allowed to happen?
Open borders and multiculturalism has fatally undermined the cohesion and social solidarity we relied on in World War I and II. In World War III – as a consequence of our short-sighted policies and delusions since 1990 – we will have to make some extremely tough, perhaps even heart-breaking, decisions to survive. A war for survival is going to force us to do things tomorrow that were unimaginable yesterday, but we have to give serious thought to today. We cannot simply not think about it and fail to have a plan in place. A desperate, panicked, response will be far worse than a sober and planned response.
As I argued three years ago, war is coming. We have to make our peace with it.
UPDATE: The BBC reports that Palestine Action is to be banned. A lot of good that will do, they’ll just rebrand and carry on, won’t they? The government needs to make it clear that attacks on UK military facilities may be met with lethal force and those caught will face life in prison, as the National Security Act allows. The clowns at Amnesty International are outraged.
