DEFCON ONE
World faces looming global war with ‘robot tanks & AI weapons’ as threats grow from Russia & China, warns top US General
AMERICA'S most senior general issued a stark warning that the world is facing an increased risk of "global war" amid rising threats from Russia and China.
General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the grim prediction as the spectre of nuclear conflict continues to hang over the brutal war raging in Ukraine.
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He was speaking to cadets graduating from prestigious US Military Academy West Point as he warned about the risk of a global clash and new technologies like robot tanks.
Gen. Milley said: "The world you are being commissioned into has the potential for a significant international conflict between great powers. And that potential is increasing, not decreasing."
"And right now, at this very moment, a fundamental change is happening in the very character of war.
"We are facing right now two global powers, China and Russia, each with significant military capabilities, and both who fully intend to change the current rules based order."
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He went on that Russia's vicious attack on Ukraine is teaching the world that "aggression left unanswered only emboldens the aggressor".
And he urged the world to remember the horrific atrocities committed by Putin.
Gen Milley said: "Let us never forget the massacre that we have just witnessed in Bucha nor the slaughter that occurred in Mariupol.
"And the best way to honor their sacrifice is to support their fight for freedom and to stand against tyranny."
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Drawing up his vision of what war may look like in the coming years, he envisioned a grim conflict that would be just as a dramatic shift from "sailing to steam ships".
He said that artificial intelligence (AI) being used in war is the "most profound change ever in human history".
"You'll be fighting with robotic tanks and ships and airplanes," the general predicted in his speech.
"We've witnessed a revolution in lethality and precision munitions.
"What was once the exclusive province of the United States military is now available to most nation states with the money will to acquire them."
[The US] are challenged in every domain of warfare in space and cyber, maritime air and, of course, land
General Mark Milley
He warned: "Whatever overmatch we the United States enjoyed militarily for the last 70 years is closing quickly.
"And the United States will be, in fact, we already are challenged in every domain of warfare in space and cyber, maritime air and, of course, land."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has seen the shadow of Cold War-esque tensions fall over Europe and beyond, with fears Vladimir Putin's invasion could spark World War 3.
And tensions have ratcheted up to terrifying levels as Russia has issued barbed nuclear threats to the West.
It has contributed to nations such as Sweden and Finland now seeking to join NATO for the first time as they fear Putin's increasingly erratic and paranoid actions.
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And meanwhile, the other challenge comes from China - who continue to surge and square up to the West over issues like the South China Sea.
Beijing has been one of the world's fastest growing powers and has one of the world's largest militaries.
Communist leader Xi Jinping's nation is currently predicted to overtake the US economy by 2030.
And China share a chillingly close alliance with Putin's belligerent Russia.
It comes as The Sun Online spoke to one of Putin's most hated enemies, US-born financier and political activist Bill Browder.
He warned the West is only waking up to the fact Putin is a "monster" 22 years too late.
"This war doesn't end," he said. "The war didn't start on February 24, it started back in 2014 when Putin seized the Ukrainian territory of Crimea."
He accused many in the West of "mental gymnastics" over the past eight years to call the war the work of "Russian-backed separatists," rather than an official Kremlin-sanctioned mission.
Mr Browder has been dubbed one Putin's "true enemies" and is believed to be on the Russian tyrant's hit list - with multiple attempts made to arrest him and being subjected to death threats.
He previously testified to US Congress that mad Vlad is the "the biggest oligarch in Russia and the richest man in the world" - estimating his fortune could be as much as £150billion.
"This war could easily go on for another eight years," the anti-corruption campaigner told The Sun Online.
"Putin is not going to give up and the Ukrainians are not going to give up.
"The closest comparable is the Iran-Iraq war which went on a decade and killed a million people."
He also warned of a further escalation from Putin if the war continues to go badly for Russia.
"Putin has catastrophically failed both in terms of military strategy and in terms of his interaction with the West," he said.
"His army and economy are being decimated, neither of which he predicted, and I suspect that Putin's next step is some type of dramatic escalation, if not to give him the upper hand, then at least to show how brutal he is."
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He said if Putin decided that a military victory was impossible, he would instead target a "scorched earth" policy, repeating the devastation of Mariupol across Ukraine.
This could be followed by the full mobilisation of up to two million Russian reservists, and even a biological, chemical, or nuclear attack.
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