Former U.S. Army Commander Says There is No Way NATO Can Defeat Russia in Europe

Ben Hodges, a former commander of US Army Europe, stated in an interview with the Washington Post that he does not believe NATO can defeat Russia in Europe.

Hodges believes that NATO would be too weak, slow and feckless to be able to stop Russia from invading Europe if they chose to do so.

“Being faster than the Russians to get to a critical place is the only metric that matters for effective deterrence, and we still can’t do that,” Hodges said. “Military mobility is still a problem. It is better than it was five years ago, but that’s not the metric that matters.”

Hodges said that even if the troops were completely prepared, NATO would be unable to get the heavy equipment in place needed for troops to repel Russian forces. Europe lacks the infrastructure, such as tunnels and bridges, for armored vehicles to be transported fast enough by NATO for Europe to adequately stand up against theoretical Russian aggression.