General Sir Nicholas Carter, Chief of the Defense Staff of the British Armed Forces, has warned the threat of a Third World War is very real and might be ignited by a local conflict in some corner of the world.
He said the "real risk" of World War Three remains owing to growing global instability and uncertainty. An increase in regional conflicts plus the social and economic instability crippling the world have the potential to escalate into a "full-blown war," he said on British TV's Sky News.
"We're living through a time when the world is a very uncertain and anxious place," said Carter. "And of course the dynamic of global competition is a feature of our lives as well.
Asked if he believed there was a "real threat" of World War Three, Carter said: "It's a risk, I think we need to be conscious of those risks. And that's why Remembrance matters."
"Because if you look back at history, hopefully you learn from their experience and you make sure that you're very cautious about how you manage the sorts of regional conflicts that we see playing out in the world today."
The most dangerous local conflict at present is the dispute between Armenia, which is backed by Russia, and Azerbaijan, which is supported militarily by Turkey. Azerbaijan and Turkey are Muslim countries.
The U.S. and the European Union have been largely sidelined in bringing an end to this conflict, which has led to the deaths of anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people, mostly soldiers, since it ignited in late September.
The "real risk that we have with quite a lot of regional conflicts that we have at the moment is you could see escalation lead to miscalculation."
The prospect for an escalation "means more people get involved, more weapons get involved and before you can contain it, it leads to the sides blowing up in a full-blown war," said Carter.
He pointed out the world is still a "very uncertain and anxious place" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have to remember that history might not repeat itself but it has a rhythm and if you look back at the last century, before both world wars, I think it was unarguable that there was escalation which led to the miscalculation which ultimately led to war at a scale we would hopefully never see again," according to Carter.
