Bob Maginnis, president of Maginnis Strategies, LLC, says North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte's alarm should be taken seriously by every American. He predicts the next world war may not start with a single crisis, but with a coordinated assault: China will invade Taiwan, while Russia attacks NATO allies in Eastern Europe.
Maginnis points out in a recent column that he has been warning about the prospect of a two-front war for more than a decade.
"They're tyrants," he states. "China wants to control the world, Russia wants to control its own space, and they're working together closely in order to accomplish that."
He believes Xi could invade Taiwan within the next year, which would put Putin in position to take advantage of the Russian-speaking people in the Baltic countries of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.
Alternatively, Putin could move first.
"He'll create a diversion in Eastern Europe so China is poised to invade Taiwan, to take it," Maginnis poses. "We might or might not go to the rescue and sacrifice thousands of Americans and a lot of our treasure."
But considering there is no formal military alliance between China and Russia, and both countries are risk-averse about direct military conflict with the U.S. and its allies, other experts think it is unlikely – though not impossible – that the two nations will start a third world war.
China claims neutrality but does offer anti-U.S. diplomatic and economic support to Russia, but it has not provided lethal aid in Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine.
The two have deepened their military cooperation through joint exercises in regions like East Asia and the Arctic, but nuclear deterrence and economic interdependence with the West (especially for China) are believed to act as brakes on global war.
Either way, Maginnis has a few suggestions for how the U.S. can prevent it.
First, he says leaders need to be honest with the people about the threat. Second, President Trump must launch the largest rearmament effort since the Reagan era, mobilizing resources and ramping up manufacturing. Third, NATO and Indo-Pacific alliances must be strengthened in meaningful ways.
Finally – and most importantly – Maginnis says we need a renewal of America's founding principles of faith, liberty, and the conviction that justice prevails through righteousness.
"If we rediscover our national purpose and unity, no enemy can defeat us," he writes.
