All opinions expressed in this article are solely the opinions of the contributors.
Tensions are flaring between China and the United States, with the People’s Republic reporting an increase in military spending by 7.2% this year and its foreign minister warning of conflict with the U.S. On the Russian front, the U.S. has been sending billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine to help in its fight against Putin’s regime, prompting the existential question: What if Russia attacks a NATO country?
Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan examines a scenario in which the U.S. military is fighting China and Russia simultaneously.
Excerpted from Peter’s Mar. 7 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:
With the potential for the Americans to get caught up in simultaneous wars with the Russians and Chinese, do I think the U.S. can handle it? The short answer is that the U.S. will be fine, but if you had asked me this during the Cold War – it would have been a cakewalk for the Americans.
While I don’t think it’s likely (and it is most certainly not recommended), simultaneous wars with the Russians and Chinese wouldn’t be overwhelming for the U.S. military. That is because those two wars would boast extremely different circumstances.
War with the Russians would be a war of supply, providing munitions — specifically the decommissioned and outdated stuff — to the Ukrainians. On the flip side, war with the Chinese would be fought on the seas; the navies would be doing much of the heavy lifting.
The military assets needed to fight these wars would strain different structures, allowing the U.S. military to operate at a manageable and sustainable level.
