Vladimir Putin will try to “exploit cracks” in Donald Trump’s administration as a result of his midterms wipeout to intensify his hybrid war on the UK and Europe, security experts have warned.
The tactics already favoured by the Kremlin to sow discord and chaos across Europe could become more common, with Russia’s main strategic goal “to contribute to instability across the continent”.
Simon Diggins, a security analyst and former colonel in the British Army, said any power tussle in the US that stems from the Republicans’ historic defeat in the midterm elections could result in a “two year gap of uncertainty into which all sorts of nastiness could flow”.
How a lab grown ‘human lens’ may bring new eye treatments
Scientists have grown a realistic human lens from stem cells for the first time which could potentially pave the way for new treatments for cataracts and other eye conditions.
New stem cell eye
In a new breakthrough, researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) created the “mini lenses”.
The team, which also includes experts from Cardiff University and the University of Osaka in Japan, said that the lenses closely resemble the natural lens inside the human eye.
It is hoped the new lenses will now be able to be used to test new medicines and better understand eye diseases.
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Hope for treating cataracts in the future
“This is a major step forward as it is very difficult to obtain and study human eye lens tissue while it is developing.”
Said Professor Barbara Pierscionek, from the Centre for Biomedicine and Health Innovation at ARU
The key nutrients you won’t get from drinking oat milk
Replacing dairy products with plant-based ones, such as oat and almond milks, could lead to people missing out on vitamins and minerals, a study suggests.
Milk alternatives might cause health issues
New research suggests that swapping normal milk for plant-based alternatives might cause health issues.
The research team, from the University of Surrey and Queen’s University Belfast, found that even a partial swap may lead to deficiencies in certain essential vitamins and minerals.
The findings
What was studied?
Researchers looked at the risks of dropping dairy in favour of plant-based items.
Vitamins and minerals
They examined the effect on micronutrient intake for iodine, calcium and vitamins B2 and B12.
The findings
They found that even modest replacements of dairy intake with plant-based alternatives led to declines in all four micronutrients.
The health impacts
Vitamin B12 helps , while B2 is important for skin, eyes and the nervous system.
Dr Sarah Bath, associate professor at the University of Surrey and lead author, warned of the impacts from a lack of iodine, which is “needed to make thyroid hormones to regulate our metabolism, support healthy growth and brain development“.
Calls for better food fortification
“Nutrition policy must evolve in tandem with environmental targets, however, it is important that shifts towards more sustainable diets do not compromise on public health.”
Dr Katie Nicol, co-author of the study and research fellow at the University of Surrey
Battle of the supermarkets – the cheapest, revealed
Consumer champion Which? has revealed which supermarket is the cheapest in the UK.
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The cheapest supermarkets revealed
Which? has published its list of the cheapest supermarkets in the nation, comparing the costs of a list of 87 grocery items across all the major supermarkets.
October’s items included a mixture of own-brand and branded products – including milk, cheese and Hovis sliced bread.
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The top three
Retaining the title of cheapest, Aldi’s 87 items came to (£154.34).
Lidl Plus followed closely at £157.17.
Tesco’s Clubcard prices came in third with a basket total of £181.77.
- 4Sainsbury’s Nectar scheme came in fourth with a basket total of £181.77 across 18 discounted products.
- 5Despite having beaten Tesco and Sainsbury’s member prices in September, Asda slipped to fifth place – outpaced in a competitive market (£183.47).
- 6Morrisons (£186.77) came in ahead of Tesco (£187.31) and Sainsbury’s (£191.56) but only without loyalty prices.
- 7Ocado and Waitrose brought up the rear both exceeding £200.
I like to think I’m ahead of the butter curve, but it’s having such a moment right now that I’m not sure anyone can keep up. The rise in popularity of real butter is somewhat curious.
Much of Trump’s second term in power has been preoccupied with foreign policy, from the Iran war to demands that European allies increase their defence contributions.
And while the Democrats have won the Senate and the House, taking control of Congress for the rest of his presidency, most of Trump’s foreign policy decisions can still be carried out through executive order, which will be unaffected by changes on Capitol Hill.
Still, the cracks in his top team have already begun to appear. In a scathing assessment of the elections wipeout for the Republicans, Vice-President JD Vance blamed the Middle East conflict. “Everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there,” he said.
Mathieu Boulegue, a Russia and Eurasia fellow at Chatham House, said: “Russia will probably try to exploit whatever cracks emerge in the administration.”
The current hybrid tactics, below the threshold of open, conventional war, will continue, Boulegue said, but Putin will be counting on concerns that “there is always a risk of over escalation from the Russian side”. “They want to saturate us psychologically,” he said.
Trump had already pulled back his support of Nato and made increased defence demands of the UK and other European members, but the result of the elections in the US, according to Diggins, means: “The message for us, the Europeans, is: you’re on your own.”
John Lough, head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre and former Nato first representative based in Moscow, said Trump will not become “more amenable to Europe” and instead could “threaten to pull the rug from under Nato” entirely. A weakened transatlantic bond would be “music to Kremlin ears”, he added.
This could mean Russia is more emboldened to mount more hybrid attacks against European democracies like the UK.
Boulegue said the threat from Russia “will be consistent” and the strategic goal to contribute to instability across the continent would remain unchanged.
Just last month, two Latvian men were arrested within the bounds of RAF Molesworth, an incident which some have suggested could have been linked to Moscow.
And on Tuesday, seven European flights were grounded after they were targeted by “malicious” bomb threats – as yet unlinked to Russia, but indicative of the kind of grey war tactics its intelligence forces like to employ.
‘This is a man who is looking for his legacy’
Diggins suggested any threats to Europe and the UK could be cranked up during a window of opportunity when Putin “knows that the ability of the Americans to react is weakened”.
At 74, Putin will also be thinking ahead to his legacy and in what state he will be leaving his country in the long-term, Diggins added.
This could drive the Russian dictator to more concrete action than just more hybrid warfare, potentially including attempts to expand Russian territory.
“This is a man who is looking for his legacy and he has a particular worldview. That Russia is a great power and should be regarded in the same way as America or China,” he said.
Putin’s worldview also includes the staunch belief that Russian diaspora populations should be brought back into Russia, something he uses as an excuse to expand its territory.
At risk could be “diaspora Russian populations, particularly in the Baltics and Kazakhstan”.
While Putin will not want to provoke a response from Nato, he might try and push this line as far as possible, he said.
“He’s not going to do anything that would guarantee Article 5 being triggered,” Diggins said. “But he could cause a provocation somewhere like Narva, a city on the border of Russia and Estonia, which is Russian speaking.”
“He could manufacture dissent among the Russian speaking population, which is exactly what he did in the Donbas.”