British MI-5 Director General Ken McCallum took aim at both Russia and China during his annual threats-to-Britain speech Oct. 13, going so far as to call Russia the “aggressor number one,” for its alleged involvement in hostile acts in Britain and other Western countries, reported Reuters. In truth, it is Russia and Iran, along with many others, that could write books on the colonial depredations of the British Empire.

McCallum said he could not speak about the (alleged) Fairford incident because of an ongoing investigation, but he claimed that there had been a major shift this year in “Iranian ambitions to come at harder targets, like military sites.” “The RAF Fairford incident... is not unique. There have been other examples, not just in the UK but around the world,” he said. He echoed comments from other European spy agencies that Russia was using tactics just short of conventional conflict, citing the alleged attempted drone attack on a cargo plane at a German airport and a cyber attack on Polish energy infrastructure. “It’s no accident that Russian aggressors are trying to unsettle other European homelands at a time when their military progress in Ukraine is minimal and horrifically costly.”