Top NATO Official: Western Civilians Must Be Prepared for War With Russia

Facts

• Admiral Rob Bauer, the chairman of NATO's military committee, on Thursday told reporters that civilians in Western countries need to prepare for the prospect of war with Russia within the next 20 years.¹
• 'We have to realise it's not a given that we are in peace,' Bauer said. 'And that's why we [NATO forces] are preparing for a conflict with Russia. But the discussion is much wider. It is also the industrial base and also the people that have to understand they play a role.'¹
• Bauer, who serves in the Royal Netherlands Navy, further praised the recent remarks from Sweden's Defense Minister who this week told citizens to consider joining volunteer defense units. 'It starts there,' Bauer said. 'The realization that not everything is plannable and not everything is going to be hunky dory in the next 20 years.'¹
• On the individual level, in the case a major war does break out, he said citizens need to be prepared with enough water and batteries to power a radio and flashlight for at least 36 hours, as well as other essentials. 'I'm not saying it is going wrong tomorrow. But we have to realise it's not a given that we are in peace. And that's why we have the plans.'²
• Bauer's comments came from NATO headquarters in Brussels as military chiefs from the alliance's 31 countries — in addition to a representative of Sweden — met to achieve the bloc's 'warfighting transformation,' according to the official NATO release from the event. Strengthening air defenses and aid to Ukraine were among the other agenda items.³
• The comments also come as NATO is to hold its largest-ever military exercise in decades next week — roughly 90K troops from NATO countries are set to take part. The event, named Steadfast Defender 24, 'will show that NATO can conduct and sustain complex multi-domain operations over several months, across thousands of kilometers (miles), from the High North to Central and Eastern Europe, and in any condition,' the alliance said.⁴

Sources: ¹LBC, ²The Mirror, ³NATO and ⁴Associated Press.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by LBC. This is clearly a preparedness conversation officials do not want to have. However, Western citizens really must be ready for the prospect that we could be in a major war with Russia at some point in the next 20 years. Officials are doing their best to avoid that situation, but citizens should nonetheless be ready for the possibility.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. Unwarranted comments such as these only escalate the tensions and provoke a game of nerves with Russian military officials — no less with a huge military exercise taking place near Russia's borders next week. If the West truly doesn't want a war, it should stop provoking it with its short-sighted policies and inflammatory rhetoric.

Predictions