by Peter Zeihan on March 7, 2023

With the potential for the Americans to get caught up in simultaneous wars with the Russians and Chinese, do I think the US can handle it? The short answer is that the US will be fine, but if you had asked me this during the Cold War – it would have been a cakewalk for the Americans.

While I don’t think it’s likely (and it is most certainly not recommended), simultaneous wars with the Russians and Chinese wouldn’t be overwhelming for the US military. That is because those two wars would boast extremely different circumstances.

War with the Russians would be a war of supply, providing munitions – specifically the decommissioned and outdated stuff – to the Ukrainians. On the flip side, war with the Chinese would be fought on the seas; the navies would be doing much of the heavy lifting.

The military assets needed to fight these wars would strain different structures, allowing the US military to operate at a manageable and sustainable level.