Russia is now a spending a third of GDP on their military. Most NATO members can barely crack 2%
We could keep sticking our fingers in our ears and pretending everything is hunky dory, as we did in 2014 or we can start preparing for what we hope will never come. If the Finns and Swedes are worried, and they are a pragmatic bunch not prone to hysteria, I think that speaks volumes.
China is almost certain to invade Taiwan in the next few years. That could go 3 ways, they make a preemptive attack on US Naval assets in the region and then invade (Which would certainly bring the US into the War but gives them a better chance of successful invasion) or they could invade without attacking the US first, which may mean the US stays out but if they do get involved then China's chance of a successful invasion reduces. Thirdly China could blockade Taiwan but most military folk think this is unlikely.
What keeps American military chiefs up at night is having to fight a war on multiple fronts. They want to put all of their effort into the pacific theatre, that means Europe has to deal with Russia by itself and that the middle east allies deal with Iran
The military need to do better at recruitment though outsourcing it to Capita has to be one of the bizarre decisions ever made
Could conscription happen? Things can change very quickly when there's a massive black swan event (See Covid and lockdowns). Though at the moment you can be signed off work for having anxiety so how the government can force people to join the armed forces but can't even make them get a job remains to be seen.
We could keep sticking our fingers in our ears and pretending everything is hunky dory, as we did in 2014 or we can start preparing for what we hope will never come. If the Finns and Swedes are worried, and they are a pragmatic bunch not prone to hysteria, I think that speaks volumes.
China is almost certain to invade Taiwan in the next few years. That could go 3 ways, they make a preemptive attack on US Naval assets in the region and then invade (Which would certainly bring the US into the War but gives them a better chance of successful invasion) or they could invade without attacking the US first, which may mean the US stays out but if they do get involved then China's chance of a successful invasion reduces. Thirdly China could blockade Taiwan but most military folk think this is unlikely.
What keeps American military chiefs up at night is having to fight a war on multiple fronts. They want to put all of their effort into the pacific theatre, that means Europe has to deal with Russia by itself and that the middle east allies deal with Iran
The military need to do better at recruitment though outsourcing it to Capita has to be one of the bizarre decisions ever made
Could conscription happen? Things can change very quickly when there's a massive black swan event (See Covid and lockdowns). Though at the moment you can be signed off work for having anxiety so how the government can force people to join the armed forces but can't even make them get a job remains to be seen.