#9 Richard Shirreff: The General Who Predicted The Russian Invasion on What's Next

Decoding Geopolitics Podcast

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Support this podcast on Patreon, help me make more episodes and get bonus content, early access and ask questions to the upcoming guests. This is a conversation with General Richard Shirref. General Shirreff was one of the highest ranking British military commanders and a second in command of NATO forces. He has been warning of the Russian threat long before it became mainstream and in 2016, after he left the military he published a book called War with Russia in which Russia attacks Ukraine and afterwards continues to invade the Baltics, catching NATO completely unprepared - a book that was meant as a warning for what might be coming. In this conversation, we talk about why he was one of the few people who saw the threat clearly years before everyone else, why it would be extremely dangerous to underestimate the Russians and how prepared is NATO for a Russian aggression. Richard is extremely candid in his answers and he's not afraid to be critical and say things as they really are and so I think it's an extremely interesting conversation. Thank you to everyone who supports this show on Patreon because you make this possible, and now enjoy the podcast. 00:00 - Intro 01:17 - Predicting Russian Invasion 06:51 - Why we refused to see the Russian threat 11:09 - Russian Invasion in 2022 13:15 - Underestimating the Ukrainians 18:05 - Overestimating the Russians 21:55 - The Russian Threat for NATO 34:06 - How Prepared is NATO? 36:54 - The state of the British Military 40:42 - Do we need to introduce conscription? 44:31 - Is Taiwan a window of opportunity for Russia 46:47 - Can Europe defend itself without the U.S.?