World War Three: Inside the War Room (BBC Two war cabinet simulation)

This article is about a controversial 2016 UK media product that was a politically bias, militarily daft, shitty and ASB BBC propaganda show meant to degrade Russia's popularity in the West and undermine the UK's trust in the viability of the both The UK's and Baltic states' survival during a Russian attack.

The concept

The 1 hour World War Three: Inside the War Room, showed senior former British military and diplomatic figures discussing how they would react in a hypothetical scenario where Russia invades Latvia after Russian nationalists rebelled in the restless and ethnically Russian Latgale region of Latvia.

The events (as far as I remember)

Old BBC news footage of the Ukraine crisis.
Latgale rising.
Latvia calls for help.
Russia intervenes.
Failed diplomacy.
British and American special forces.
The special forces are crushed by a local troops and the Russian warlord makes the 2 Brits go on rebel TV and forcibly eat there national/regimental shoulder patches.
Failed diplomacy.
America calls for war.
Russian cyber attack on USA, UK, Poland and Latvia.
Failed diplomacy.
America calls for war.
An Anglo-American fleet sets out for Latvia. Poland offers assistance. France calls for peace and Germany tries to clam Russia down.
Failed diplomacy.
The ethic Russia rebels and some covertly install Russian troops take Daugavpils and more than twenty towns in the surrounding region by force.
America calls upon its NATO allies to deliver an ultimatum to the Russians to leave within 72 hours or be forcibly ejected by NATO. Poland takes up arms and joins the Anglo-American side.
Russia blows up the fleet with an atomically armed Iskadr missile. A major British and American ship sink will almost all aboard.
Russia claims it war an accidental launch by a rogue commander.
Failed diplomacy.
America calls for war.
A second atomically armed Iskadr missile is use in Latvia.
A NATO jet is shot down over the Latgale by anti-aircraft missile batter a few miles into Russia.
America calls for war.
The UK bombs the anti-aircraft battery.
America calls for war.
Both nations nuke the anti-aircraft missile battery.
Spain, Germany and France quit NATO. Germany switches sides and is now an ally of Russia. Denmark and Italy refuse to join in any further combat and give up out of fear. Poland refuseses to stand down. Romania dithers, but is more for than against.
Russia fires a nuke at London in revenge. (Obviously the USA and Poland will also get nuked sometime soon).
One wants a nuclear holocaust, one would retaliate in kind after radar intelligence (assumindly RAF Fylingdales and or UK GCHQ Cheltenham) has spotted the likely targets, the rest think that killing large numbers of Russians is evil and if Putin is nuking the shit out of nations it justified every thing he did, even the Latgale Rebellion.
They stand down the Trident fleet, say they are all doomed losers and leave the bunker.
London is nuked.
A blurb comes up saying that the closest call for years was the Russian invasion of Ukraine to help liberate the Dombass Russians. The BBC reckoned a atomic war was nigh and a new Cold War had started.

The panel of experts

The people

The 'War cabinet': Lord Arbuthnot, General Richard Shirreff, Oona Muirhead, Sir Tony Brenton, Sir Christopher Meyer, Ian Kearns, Baroness Neville-Jones, and Lord Admiral West.

General Shirreff's post program comment

“At this point it was clear deterrence had failed. My feeling was it had become a moral issue – that the use of force can only be justified to prevent a greater evil…if the UK is going to be obliterated, what is going to be achieved if we obliterate half of Russia as well? It was going to create an even worse evil.”

Group think

Well, they all wanted a war, apart from one who thoght NATO should abandon Latvia because big and agresive nations should destroy small and defesless nations. After they get to the edge of war, they quit once Putin pressed the atomic button, save for one who wanted an atomic holocaust with Russia. As they try to save there butts, mushroom clouds pushed up over London.

Latvian criticisms and Russia's response

Russia's ambassador to Latvia, Alexander Veshnyakov called the programme a "dangerous provocation".
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov branding the show "trash".
Even before its broadcast, and with almost no details about its content, it cause a online uproar in Latvia and after broadcast in Russia.
Jānis Sārts, director of the Riga-based NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence (STRATCOM) commented that the genre of entertainment should not be confused with reality.
Russia’s senior television journalist Dimitri Kiselev spent nearly ten minutes denouncing the BBC production. A clip of former UK Ambassador to Russia Sir Tony Brenton expressing pleasure at the idea of ‘killing tens of thousands of Russians’ was shown and then repeated on Vesti's hourly news programs during the past week. Kiselev asked rhetorically how the British would react if Russia produced a Russian equivalence show from its War Room.
Russia Today (RT) slammed the British broadcaster for presenting Russia as "Dr. Evil Incarnate, the villain that regularly plays opposite peace-loving NATO nations.".
I personally thought the scenario was rigged to lead to war regardless of what they said or did. Russia would have first hit the intelligence services, early warning posts and a relivent military target first. The losses in my view are UK GCHQ Cheltenham, RAF Fylingdales, RAF Woodbridge and say HMNB Devonport.

World War Three: Inside the War Room (BBC Two war cabinet simulation)

Contents