Major Conflict between Great Powers More Likely – US General

By Staff, Agencies

As the world becomes more unstable, the “potential for significant international conflict is increasing, not decreasing,” a top US military officer told lawmakers on Tuesday.

US War Secretary Lloyd Austin and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, defended the record-breaking $773 billion budget the US War Department is requesting for the fiscal year 2023 at a grueling House Armed Services Committee hearing.

The meeting saw innumerable mentions of US adversaries Russia and China, both of whom are perceived in Washington as a threat to US global power.

Milley dubbed Russia's military operation in Ukraine as “the greatest threat to peace and security of Europe and perhaps the world” in his 42 years serving in the US military. However, it was “heartening” to see the world rally around Ukraine, he added.

Both military officials later pointed to billions allocated to space and cybersecurity as examples of US preparedness. They acknowledged that Washington has no defense against the hypersonic missiles that both Russia and China have successfully tested, but reassured the committee that the development of the “glide-phase interceptor,” a cutting-edge missile capable of countering hypersonic missiles, is proceeding apace.

Milley claimed that only the presence of US "hard power" might have prevented Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. “With respect to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it's been a longstanding objective of Putin. And to speak candidly, short of the commitment of US forces into Ukraine proper, I'm not sure that he was deterrable. [This] would have required the use of US military forces and would have risked armed conflict with Russia, which I wouldn't advise.

“I believe a lot of our European allies, especially those such as in the Baltics or Poland or Romania or elsewhere, they are very, very willing to establish permanent bases,” Milley said.

Austin said that NATO was still discussing how it should bolster its permanent presence in Eastern Europe. "If NATO deems that it's appropriate to change its footprint, then certainly we'll be a part of that," he said.