Defence secretary warns of further wars with Russia, China and Iran in next five years

[shockedcanadian]

What do you mean by "the current trajectory"?

Surely you get the internet in your hometown. Have you read about the two, major and expanding wars, with more potentially on the horizon, on top of the various skirmishes? Wha would the world look like if Harris were president in 2026? That is the question many forward thinking Europeans are asking.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Surely you get the internet in your hometown. Have you read about the two, major and expanding wars, with more potentially on the horizon, on top of the various skirmishes? Wha would the world look like if Harris were president in 2026? That is the question many forward thinking Europeans are asking.

Yes, I have internet in my hometown. Not the point.

The point is what you think the "current trajectory" means.

I have my own views, for you it might be that WW3 will break out tomorrow.

Here's what I think:

1) countries rise and fall. The US is falling. It's falling because America can't do anything now without it being a huge joke, Trump, Biden, Congress. The US has money, but that might change.
2) China is rising. It might not be that powerful, the current leadership is doing its best to keep power, and in doing so is destroying a lot of things that make the Chinese successful in business. However their GDP per capita is about $12,000 to $13,000 right now and I think they can double that easily before hitting the ceiling.
3) Russia is crazy. If Russia gets the Ukraine, it'll be poor. If it doesn't, it'll be poor. The war must be taking a toll and the rich are going to be paying for it and that'll cause loads of problems. However the future might be the ability to grow food and the Ukraine and Russia are huge exporters of grain. If Russia controls it all, it will cause problems for those not on the side of Russia.
4) Iran is being assertive. Backing Hamas, backing the Houthi, they helped destroy the US in Iraq, they can supply oil to China and other countries on the other side of the new Iron Curtain.
5) The population of China, Russia and Iran put together is HUGE (because of China). The population of NATO countries, Japan, South Korea etc is much less than the population of China.

So yes, we're moving towards a new cold war, the proxy wars are there, the Ukraine, Yemen, Palestine.... China might try and take Taiwan first then seek to dominate everywhere else, depends on who becomes leader in the next opportunity, or how soon they can take Taiwan, or if they can or not.

If the US moves away from NATO, the the Chinese, Russian, Iranian side will have it easy. With NATO it's not going to be easy.

 

[shockedcanadian]

Yes, I have internet in my hometown. Not the point.

The point is what you think the "current trajectory" means.

I have my own views, for you it might be that WW3 will break out tomorrow.

Here's what I think:

1) countries rise and fall. The US is falling. It's falling because America can't do anything now without it being a huge joke, Trump, Biden, Congress. The US has money, but that might change.
2) China is rising. It might not be that powerful, the current leadership is doing its best to keep power, and in doing so is destroying a lot of things that make the Chinese successful in business. However their GDP per capita is about $12,000 to $13,000 right now and I think they can double that easily before hitting the ceiling.
3) Russia is crazy. If Russia gets the Ukraine, it'll be poor. If it doesn't, it'll be poor. The war must be taking a toll and the rich are going to be paying for it and that'll cause loads of problems. However the future might be the ability to grow food and the Ukraine and Russia are huge exporters of grain. If Russia controls it all, it will cause problems for those not on the side of Russia.runp
4) Iran is being assertive. Backing Hamas, backing the Houthi, they helped destroy the US in Iraq, they can supply oil to China and other countries on the other side of the new Iron Curtain.
5) The population of China, Russia and Iran put together is HUGE (because of China). The population of NATO countries, Japan, South Korea etc is much less than the population of China.

So yes, we're moving towards a new cold war, the proxy wars are there, the Ukraine, Yemen, Palestine.... China might try and take Taiwan first then seek to dominate everywhere else, depends on who becomes leader in the next opportunity, or how soon they can take Taiwan, or if they can or not.

If the US moves away from NATO, the the Chinese, Russian, Iranian side will have it easy. With NATO it's not going to be easy.

Trump was in power for four years, he didn't leave NATO, In fact, because of him it was funded further. He will ensure that wealthy NATO countries pay their 2%. Even Stotelberg gave immense credit to Trumps contribution to NATOS funding increase.

All of the chatter is designed to scare voters, as they tried in 2016. The world and America, was in a better place when Trump was in power, this is universally agreed. The only nation that was in decline was China and that upsets many who want China to replace America.

 

[Vastator]

World War 3 is already underway. It's just that most folks don't understand modern warfare. So they don't recognize it for what it is...

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Trump would build a strong military presence to ensure we live in peace.

Trump will be blamed since he'll be president. The op might want to save this thread for future reference.

 

[whitehall]

The U.K. defense minister? Translated it means that good old Uncle needs to send more money to Europe.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Trump was in power for four years, he didn't leave NATO, In fact, because of him it was funded further. He will ensure that wealthy NATO countries pay their 2%. Even Stotelberg gave immense credit to Trumps contribution to NATOS funding increase.

All of the chatter is designed to scare voters, as they tried in 2016. The world and America, was in a better place when Trump was in power, this is universally agreed. The only nation that was in decline was China and that upsets many who want China to replace America.

No, he didn't leave NATO.

Did NATO get funded further during his time?

https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2022/6/pdf/220627-def-exp-2022-en.pdf

2015 saw an increase of 1.7% in defense expenditure of NATO countries. (Graph 1)
2016 saw an increase of 3%

But he didn't start being president until 2017. After 2017 there was only one year with an increase in the change of expenditure. Something tells me that it was a lot of Trump lying rather than Trump increasing the amount people spent.

Why did it increase in 2015? RUSSIA. Putin did way more to increase defense spending of NATO countries.

Graph 3 shows NATO countries and their expenditure. 7 countries are over 2%, 3 are at 2%

Greece spends the most. Then the US, then Poland (that's because of Russia), Lithuania, Estonia (both because of Russia), the UK (which didn't increase a thing), Latvia (because of Russia) are the ones above 2%. Greece, the US and the UK, plus countries that border Russia. Then Slovakia, Croatia and Romania increased their spending to about 2%.

Not much to do with Trump. No, the World was not a "Better place" when Trump was in power. Russia was doing its thing before Trump and after Trump. Russia would almost certainly have attacked the Ukraine with or without Trump. Palestine was angry at Israel and Trump getting the embassy moved didn't help either.

It's like saying the world was a better place in the 1930s when Hitler was building up to WW2.

 

[JohnDB]

 

[Blaster]

Give peace a chance.

 

[Dayton3]

The American people are tired of these endless wars.

They will be more supportive when we're winning

 

[Ringo]

Biden warned Congress that the U.S. risks being removed by Zelensky from the list of strategic partners, which means that Ukrainian patriots will lick the asses of U.S. officials not with a servile, but deliberately independent look.

 

[Moonglow]

This doesn't exactly require a crystal ball shocked one....~S~

Not when dealing with humans.