Gen. H.R. McMaster, who served as national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, warned in a Thursday interview that the US, UK and other nations are “on the cusp of another World War.”
H.R. McMaster, 61, told Britain’s LBC Radio that Washington and London should up their defense spending to 4% of GDP — double the amount currently asked of NATO nations — and prepare to invest in missile systems like Israel’s Iron Dome to meet “cascading crises.”
“We could be on the cusp of another World War,” McMaster told host Andrew Marr.
“I know that sounds dramatic, but I think we have to take it seriously so we can prevent that from happening,” he added, noting his suggested boost to defense spending “would be a historic low relative to Cold War levels.”
“It’s a heck of a lot cheaper to prevent a war than to have to fight,” McMaster added.
Asked by Marr how Trump would meet the moment if put back into office Nov. 5, McMaster stood by his former boss and said he would back embattled nations like Ukraine when “presented with the facts.”
“We know for sure Trump will demand burden sharing and reciprocity, but I think Europe is on board with that now,” he said of the 77-year-old’s calls for NATO nations to pay up in defense spending. “He was right about that wasn’t he?”
McMaster added that the 45th president was also “right” about “Germany’s unwise decision” to grant Russian President Vladimir Putin “coercive power” over its economy by depending on Kremlin gas exports via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
The ex-national security adviser, however, criticized Trump for his “gullibility of thinking” he could strike a deal with Putin.
“Putin is not interested in a deal,” McMaster explained. “Putin wants to drag everybody else down, under the theory that he can be the last man standing and he can restore … the Russian Empire. He’s been quite clear about that when he did the interview with that useful idiot, Tucker Carlson.”
In response to a suggestion by former UK chief of defense staff Gen. Sir Tony Radakin that Britain should pay for its own Iron Dome-style missile defense, McMaster said his foreign counterpart was “absolutely right about that.”
“I think that every country is going to have to develop these kinds of defenses and long-range missiles, hypersonic missiles are important,” McMaster added.
“Maybe [former US President] Ronald Reagan had it right with Star Wars, with space-based capabilities as well,” he said.
In a Wednesday congressional hearing, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Dr. John Plumb revealed for the first time that Russia is also developing a nuclear anti-satellite capability.
“This capability could pose a threat to all satellites operated by countries and companies around the globe, as well as to the vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial, and national security services we all depend upon,” Plumb told House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio).
Turner spooked the nation’s capital this past February, when he hinted at a “serious national security threat” received by the Intel panel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky led his nation into its third year of war against Russia that same month, and the Israeli military’s assault on Hamas terrorists in Gaza will enter its seventh month next week.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has also renewed military activity near the island of Taiwan, renewing fears of a future invasion by Beijing.
