Important military planners and decision-makers in the security sector from NATO and EU states, representatives of armaments companies, the Bundeswehr and various European „politicians“, especially foreign and defense ministers paid 1000 euros entrance to participate in the 17th Berlin Security Conference 27-28 November 2018.
Lieutenant-General Ben Hodges, former Commander in Chief of NATO Land Forces in Europe issued a warning and said:
„A war of the United States of America against China in about 10 years is unavoidable.“
Earlier, in October, at a security conference in Warsaw, he had stressed:
The United States needs a very strong European pillar. I think in 15 years – this is not inevitable – but there is a very high probability that we will be at war with China.“
Financing and training for European security will continue to be a top priority for Washington, Hodges said, adding that the US must also „prepare for the case that we have to fight in the Pacific in ten or fifteen years“.
In Berlin he spoke about the planned NATO Logistics Headquarters for rapid deployment of troops to Eastern Europe in Ulm:
„I can not imagine a country that could take on this responsibility better than Germany, even from the point of view of geographical location and capabilities. From an American point of view, Germany is our base. Most of our soldiers stationed in Europe live in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. It is our home „.
US General Ben Hodges also criticized the Black Sea as currently forming an open flank of NATO; there would be no reasonable ability to defend oneself sufficiently.
„It would take six days today to be in Bulgaria with combat units; that can not be. „Moreover, the ports are not designed to extinguish ammunition and explosives; moreover, they are too full – three days are currently needed to erase unit for a brigade, to make them operational. That too is too long.
Another shortcoming the general the general complained about: about ten percent of European ports are already „in Chinese hands“. Politicians are in demand „when it comes to investing in military mobility. In the air, on land and at sea, „money should be put into the hand so that transport could be faster and safer.“
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Germany would take more responsibility on the road to a European Defense Union, while at the same time fulfilling its obligations to NATO. According to the minister, Germany has increased its defense budget from 35 to 47 billion euros since 2014. However, its own military capacity is necessary, „so that it does not happen again as in the wars in the Balkans, where US forces had to come to the aid of the Europeans.“
Sponsors of the 17th Berlin Security Conference: Raytheon Company, US armaments and electronics group, MBDA S.A.S., a European defense company with offices in France, Great Britain, Italy, Germany and Spain, as well as the German defense companies Schmidt and Bender, ThyssenKrupp and others.
Source: https://deutsch.rt.com/meinung/81098-damonendammerung-krieg-gegen-china-und/