Europeans must be ready to sacrifice some “luxuries” to pay to support Ukraine and to prevent a “wartime scenario” coming to the nations of the continent if they are insufficiently prepared, NATO’s most senior military officer said in a speech namechecking both Russia and China as threats.
NATO’s Admiral Rob Bauer, the Dutch naval officer who is chair of the NATO Military Committee addressed a conference of the European Policy Centre think tank on Monday, and while asserting the alliance is more ready now “than it has ever been”, delivered a somewhat pessimistic message of the need for preparedness for conflict. In a speech aimed at businesses across the alliance, the Admiral outlined that businesses had to be ready for war, but by improving their readiness they also reduced the likelihood of future fighting by improving NATO’s level of deterrence.
The scale of spending needed to keep the peace in Europe is such that ordinary people would feel the pinch in the pocketbook, Admiral Bauer said, calling on politicians to provide strong leadership to make the case this is necessary to voters. He said: “if you ramp up your deterrence and if you ramp up support to Ukraine, there will be less money to spend on other things. It will take away some of our luxuries, it will require sacrifice.”
Also implied is the extra cost on businesses, making a shift away from efficient, cost-cutting but fragile ‘just in time’ models to more robust practices to make businesses in America and Europe more insulated to shock. This itself increases the deterrence of NATO to its adversaries, he said, because knowing Western economies can’t be knocked over by the hybrid warfare of a sudden supply shock denies that weapon to those who would weaponise trade.
While the present adversary is Russia, wise economies would also be seeking to reduce their dependence on China, Admiral Bauer said, reminding listeners that the vast majority of strategic imports like rare earth minerals and essential medicines are made there.
He said:
[Euro and American businesses should ask themselves] is my company or organisation ready for war? What can my company or organisation do to prevent war?
That question might surprise some people, but if we can ensure that all goods and services can be delivered no matter what, then that is a key part of our deterrence… when it comes to great power competition all instruments of power can and will be used, we are seeing that in a growing number of sabotage acts. And Europe has seen that with energy supply.
We thought we had a deal with Gazprom, but we actually had a deal with Mr Putin. The same goes for Chinese-owned infrastructure and goods, we actually have a deal with Xi… we are naïve if we think the Communist Party will never use that power
Businesses need to “be prepared for a wartime scenario”, Admiral Bauer told the conference, intoning that war and preventing war is a “whole-of-society event”, stating: “while it may be the military that wins battles, it is the economy which wins wars”.
While the warnings to Western societies are stark, they comments are not out of character for Admiral Bauer who as the top military officer inside the NATO alliance headquarters works to improve the readiness and deterrence of the signatory states. Part of this push, he has explained, is about rebalancing the alliance so European countries contribute more to their own defence.
Breitbart reported in January when Admiral Bauer spoke not on the responsibility of businesses to contribute to the total defence but of individuals. again speaking of the “whole-of-society” event of a major war, he said the era where Western-fought wars are remote from civilian life is over.
Continue reading: Breitbart.com
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