In remarks yesterday at the Brookings Institution, Gen. John Hyten, Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, forcefully asserted that “we never fought the Soviet Union” and “for the great powers, our goal is to never go to war with China and Russia.” Such an event would “destroy the world and the global economy. It will be bad for everyone, and we have to ensure that we do not go down that path.” Any attentive journalist would have immediately figured out the significance of General Hyten’s statements, in today’s climate of great-power geopolitical confrontation, but aside from RT, other defense-related publications studiously avoided reproducing these statements from his speech. (https://www.rt.com/russia/534794-war-china-destroy-world/)
Hyten reported that Russia has systematically pursued modernization of its nuclear arsenal; this has been done in the context of the New START Treaty, which limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads the two nations can have to 1,500. “So, we have to decide where we want to put those—submarines, ICBMs … that puts a limit on what we have.” But, he went on, with China, there is no limit. Air Force Magazine reported his comment that China is rebuilding “hundreds and hundreds of fixed silos” to hold ICBMs. Given China’s declaration of a “no first use” nuclear weapons policy, he said, “You have to ask yourself why are they building that enormous, enormous nuclear capability, faster than anyone else in the world?” In comparison, Hyten said, the U.S. is moving “unbelievably slow … when you have a competitor like China—and Russia—that can move fast, you have to be able to move fast, as well.” China is “America’s pacing military threat.” But, Russia “cannot be discounted” either.
