UK Must Be Ready to Fight War in Three Years, Says Army Head

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BBC: Britain must be ready to fight a war in three years, the new head of the Army has said.

Gen Sir Roland Walker has warned against a range of threats in what he called an "increasingly volatile" world.

But he said war was not inevitable and the Army had "just enough time" to prepare itself to avoid conflict.

Central to this was doubling the Army's fighting power by 2027 and tripling it by the end of the decade, he said.

In his first speech in the role on Tuesday, Gen Walker said the UK faced danger from an "axis of upheaval".

Among the key threats facing the UK in the coming years, highlighted by the general in a briefing, is an angered Russia, which could seek retribution against the West for supporting Ukraine, regardless of who wins the war. » | Jonathan Beale, Defence correspondent | Ian Aikman, BBC News | Tuesday, July 23, 2024

EU Must Defend Ukraine Even If US Reduces Military Support, Macron Says

THE GUADIAN: French president says future security architecture of Europe could no longer be settled by the US and Russia

The European Union has to make bold decisions to defend Ukraine, pre-empting any US decision to withhold or reduce its military support, Emmanuel Macron has said.

In a speech in Sweden, which hopes to be the next country to join Nato, the French president also said the future security architecture of Europe, including arms control agreements covering European territory, could no longer be settled simply by the US and Russia, and Europe had to have a right to determine its own future.

His remarks were designed as a warning to Europe that it needs to ramp up its whole defence effort and prepare for the possibility that either Joe Biden will be unable to push his military assistance budget for Ukraine through Congress, or that later in the year he is defeated in a presidential election by an isolationist Donald Trump. » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Tuesday, January 30, 2023

Hear! Hear! – © Mark Alexander