Former special advisor to the Trump administration, General H.R. McMaster, has urged Britain and the United States to increase defense spending in anticipation of a coming global confrontation. He warned that the world may be on the brink of “another World War.”
A cascading series of crises is unfolding, he said, which could spell disaster for the state of the world. These crises include, but are not limited to, Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war against Hamas.
McMaster advocated that the government increase defense spending to a staggering four percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, double the amount as required by the US’s membership in NATO. The money, he says, should be tasked towards missile and defense systems of the sort that Israel has developed with its Iron Dome.
If America does not take the prospect of a new World War seriously, McMaster warns, it will not position itself to prevent such a war from happening. He further pointed out that during the Cold War, defense spending was often much higher than four percent of GDP. It is much cheaper, he said, to prevent a war than it is to fight one. In his view, every country will be forced to develop new long-range missile systems and Iron Dome type defense systems in the coming years. Former US President Reagan, he said, had the right idea with his Star Wars proposal, and such systems may require space-based weapons platforms.
He pointed out that in addition to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, violence and instability has erupted in Venezuela, Sudan, and Haiti. Further, Taiwan is being actively threatened by China’s naval exercises, and China has an avowed policy of re-integrating Taiwan into the Chinese system by fair means or foul. The sum total of these, and other, conflicts that are emerging around the world threaten the security of the West. If the West’s premier powers do not take these threats seriously now, they will be forced to deal with them later whether they wish to or not.
