The Atlantic Council issued a report yesterday warning that the U.S. and its allies must be prepared for a two-front war in Northeast Asia and nuclear attacks in the next decade. “The risk of simultaneous conflict [with China and North Korea] are very high,” Markus Garlauskas, the author, said in a pre-recorded video, reported USNI News. “The consequences [of such a two-front war] are tremendous” if it escalates to a nuclear attack.
He wrote in the report, “The near-immediate strategic and operational effects of even the smallest limited nuclear attack—including disrupting military operations, inflaming public opinion, and sharply increasing escalatory risks—would almost certainly far exceed its direct physical and tactical effects. Over the longer term, such a clear violation of the ‘nuclear taboo’ and failure of nuclear deterrence would also mean that the consequences of a limited nuclear attack in East Asia could ripple globally and be felt for generations.”
