General Charles Flynn has warned that the United States “cannot afford” to go to war again if conflict breaks out in East Asia. From the Middle East to Russia, authoritarian regimes are challenging U.S. power. Some experts believe the US military is using excessive force.
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The outgoing top US military commander in the Pacific has warned that the US is so overstretched that it “cannot afford” another war.
According to Defense One, Gen. Charles Flynn said America’s authoritarian rivals Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are increasing pressure on American military resources.
Speaking at the AUSA conference in Washington, D.C., last week, Flynn called technology and military alliances between authoritarian states “a very dangerous combination.”
Cooperation between these countries is increasing. Russia received Shahed drones from Iran and used them to attack Ukrainian cities. It also receives diplomatic and economic support from China, while North Korea sends rockets and troops.
Russia has returned the favor to Iran, helping it evade sanctions and provide weapons to Iranian proxies Hezbollah and the Houthis.
In East Asia, Russia recently signed a military agreement with North Korea and is conducting large-scale military exercises with China, which threatens Taiwan with invasion.
“There is a limited regional war going on in Europe,” Flynn said. “We have a limited regional war in the Middle East. We can’t have another limited regional war in Asia. Why? Because it’s a global problem for all of us.”
An outbreak of war between the United States and China could have a devastating impact on the global economy.
Bloomberg Economics estimated in January that the cost of the war could reach up to $10 trillion, equivalent to about 10% of global GDP.
Economic Observers said in March that widespread conflict in the Middle East would cause oil prices and inflation to soar, while food and oil markets would be further disrupted if parts of Ukraine were handed over to Russia as part of a peace deal. He expressed his view that it would be.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin participate in a military parade in Pyongyang in June. Gabriel Grigorov (Getty Images)
Mr. Flynn is not the first to warn of the dangers posed by a new alliance of authoritarian powers.
Kathryn Levantovskaya, deputy director of forward defense programs at the Atlantic Council, wrote in January that the U.S. military is stretched thin amid threats in Europe, the Middle East and East Asia.
“The simultaneous pursuit of regional stability in Europe and the Middle East is an important and costly endeavor,” she said.
“Doing so at the current pace given carrying capacity limitations could backfire and harm not only Ukraine but also NATO.
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“At the same time, the weak military and defense industrial base of the United States means that the United States lacks the focus necessary to counter Chinese threats to Taiwan and protect its position in the Pacific.”
Last October, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Stephen Skrenka, deputy commander of all U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific region, told the Sydney Morning Herald that increased U.S. military involvement would take away from its ability to counter Chinese aggression. He said there was a possibility of deflection.
“So far, no items have been removed from this theater. There is always the possibility of what I would call a strategic distraction,” he told the publication.
The U.S. military maintained the ability to fight two major wars simultaneously during the Cold War, but in 2018 it shifted its position to be able to fight one major war while deterring a second enemy. did.
This plan was developed in response to China’s growing military power. Some critics have called for the United States to resume a “two-war posture,” with current doctrine taking into account the dual threats posed by China and Russia, America’s two most powerful adversaries. It claims not to have done so.
Raphael Cohen, an analyst at the Rand Corporation think tank, told BI last November that maintaining the ability to fight Russia and China simultaneously would require a significant increase in U.S. military spending.
But strengthening U.S. alliances could counter the threat, he said.
The question of how to increase military spending amid global instability is a challenge facing governments around the world.
Military budgets are increasing around the world, with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute announcing in May that the US military budget for 2024 was $886 billion, an 8% increase over two years.
Levantovskaya estimated that the United States needs an additional $300 billion in annual defense spending to revitalize the U.S. defense industrial base to protect against global threats.
“In short, the United States faces a strategic choice: its means are insufficient to achieve its ends,” she wrote.
“You have to move one side or the other to close the gap.”
