Nightmare Scenario: Military Chiefs Warn of Double War Threat from Russia and China

[Social Media]

 

Preparing for the Unthinkable: Military Chiefs Warn of Double War Threat from Russia and China

 

Military leaders are sounding alarms over what they describe as a looming "nightmare scenario" in which the West faces simultaneous wars against both Russia and China. According to General Sir Patrick Sanders, former chief of the general staff, the Ministry of Defence has already begun drawing up contingency plans for a crisis that could strike within the next two years. This warning comes amid growing concern that NATO’s current pace of rearmament is insufficient to deter coordinated threats from rival powers.

 

General Sanders, who co-hosts The General and The Journalist podcast, revealed that former military chiefs are already “thinking through and wargaming” how such a conflict could unfold. “It really worries them,” he said. The fear is not hypothetical. With global tensions rising and military capabilities strained, the UK and its NATO allies are facing what Sanders called “double jeopardy, with global consequences.”

 

He described a scenario in which China launches a large-scale invasion of Taiwan, forcing the United States to divert its military resources away from Europe. Russia, seizing the moment, could then launch a calculated incursion into NATO territory—perhaps in the Baltics or even the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard—where it could quickly achieve local dominance. “Having quickly seized limited objectives, limited territory, they sit back behind a nuclear umbrella and they dare NATO to act,” Sanders said. “Now that’s incredibly high stakes, but the payoff for Putin would be very, very high.”

 

The stakes, according to Sanders, would be nothing less than the credibility and survival of NATO itself. Failure to repel such an incursion would, he warned, “effectively mean the end of NATO.”

 

China has set 2027 as the target year by which it aims to have the military capability to invade Taiwan. However, the timeline may be even shorter. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth recently described China’s threat to Taiwan as “imminent.” In this context, General Sanders has joined a growing chorus calling for urgent action, arguing that Britain must accelerate its rearmament now if it hopes to avoid catastrophe. “The good thing about deterrence is that if it works, you never have to go to war,” he said.

 

The general’s comments come as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer faces criticism for not committing to a firm timeline on defence spending. While Starmer has launched an ambitious strategic defence review (SDR), he has only stated an “ambition” to raise spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2034—far short of the 3.5 per cent push advocated by NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte. Sanders praised the SDR’s scale but found fault in its vagueness. “My real concern is this isn’t a plan. It’s clearly been put through the Whitehall blanderiser,” he said. “There are almost no hard dates, no deadlines, no lists of capabilities — and those are the things that will give effect to the ambition.”

 

He emphasised that urgent action should be prioritised over long-term procurement projects, calling for a “front-loaded” investment approach that boosts lethality now. “We can make the force that we have now much, much more lethal, so that relative size matters much less than our ability to inflict losses on much larger forces in a defensive battle,” Sanders explained. He pointed to Ukraine as an example, arguing that its success in resisting Russian aggression offers a model for how smaller, well-equipped forces can deliver effective resistance.

 

The warning from Sanders is stark: the UK and its allies may soon be forced to confront multiple adversaries simultaneously, and unless drastic steps are taken now, they risk being unprepared for a crisis of historic proportions.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Times  2025-06-07

 

 

[Tug]

Don’t worry we have trump as commander in chief Pete Hegseth in charge of the pentagon Kristy knome and her deputy kid in charge of homeland security and a pissed off Elon musk ….what could possibly go wrong….the one and only thing stopping the attack of this country is the nuclear threat they certainly aren’t afraid of our leadership.

[Chomper Higgot]

It’s a scenario based on the premise that Trump would order the US multi art to defend US allies/uphold defense treaty obligations and do anything at all to upset Putin.

 

I say relax.
 

Unless of course you are in Taiwan or Western Europe.

[blaze master]

Impossible. Seeing as how Putin is Trumps best buddy. 

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Unless of course you are in Taiwan or Western Europe.

You mean Eastern Europe?

[Chomper Higgot]

8 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

You mean Eastern Europe?

No I mean Western Europe, as in aligned, not as in previously occupied/controlled by the USSR.

[FlorC]

Well you poke a bear and a dragon , what do you think is going to happen ?

[newbee2022]

4 minutes ago, FlorC said:

Well you poke a bear and a dragon , what do you think is going to happen ?

The bear is fighting the dragon. What else,?🥰

[Tug]

41 minutes ago, FlorC said:

Well you poke a bear and a dragon , what do you think is going to happen ?

I actually agree with you trump isn’t equipped to handle those 2 he’s being played again unfortunately.

[ExpatOilWorker]

4 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

No I mean Western Europe, as in aligned, not as in previously occupied/controlled by the USSR.

Paris is safe....

 

[renaissanc]

This isn't the right Forum to say this because I doubt that people here believe what divinely revealed religions say. But here is one of the many descriptions from Baha'u'llah in the 19th century. It's less detailed:

"The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its plight, that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue. And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then, and only then, will the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody." The Lesser Peace will come about, as a result, and the Greater Peace in future centuries. In short, a global calamity is coming as foretold in many sources. City life will be difficult then.

[frank83628]

Got to keep the fear and war mongering going, the gullible masses lap it up. Russia bad, China bad, korea bad, Syria bad..... funny how it just so happens to be the countries not aligned with the USA & west or central banking

[Lacessit]

When military chiefs sound off with these warnings, I do wonder how much of it is real, and how much is aimed at increasing military budgets.

 

The last time I looked, China was contributing zilch to Russia in its war with Ukraine, happily buying oil at discount prices, while paying for it in yuan.

[BangkokReady]

9 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

and do anything at all to upset Putin

 

How would doing the thing that Putin apparently wants upset him?

[candide]

China and Russia know that Trump is weak. There's a window of opportunity for them now.

[Chomper Higgot]

4 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Paris is safe....

 

Oh

[Chomper Higgot]

33 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

 

How would doing the thing that Putin apparently wants upset him?

Maybe you shouldn’t quote me out of context.

[John Drake]

Trump isn't the only fool. While he's enabling Putin, Macron and Merz are snuggling up to and enabling Xi.

[BLMFem]

5 hours ago, FlorC said:

Well you poke a bear and a dragon , what do you think is going to happen ?

I couldn't say, dragons aren't real.

[BLMFem]

7 minutes ago, John Drake said:

Trump isn't the only fool. While he's enabling Putin, Macron and Merz are snuggling up to and enabling Xi.

I wouldn't call them fools. When one of your childhood friends in practice tells you to eff off, especially wrt trade, who can blame them for looking for alternative trading partners.

[BangkokReady]

40 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Maybe you shouldn’t quote me out of context.

 

Why not?  All the info needed is there. 

 

You're just embarrassed that I pointed out your error.