Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, NATO’s chairperson for its military committee, has issued a stark warning that should send chills through Europe’s cozy boardrooms: businesses need to prepare for a wartime scenario. Speaking at the European Policy Center in Brussels, Bauer laid it out plainly—global supply chains, heavily reliant on China and Russia, are vulnerabilities that adversaries can and will exploit.
“If we can make sure that all crucial services and goods can be delivered no matter what, then that is a key part of our deterrence,” Bauer said, emphasizing that preparation isn’t just a military task but a societal and economic one. In other words, it’s time for European and American businesses to pull their heads out of the sand and realize their “just-in-time” models aren’t going to cut it in a world where autocratic regimes like Russia and China weaponize trade and infrastructure.
Bauer didn’t hold back, pointing to Europe’s energy fiasco with Russia as a cautionary tale. “We thought we had a deal with Gazprom, but we actually had a deal with Mr. Putin,” he said, highlighting how dependency on foreign powers can quickly turn into a chokehold. The same, Bauer warned, applies to China, which dominates critical supply chains for rare earth materials and essential pharmaceutical ingredients.
“We are naive if we think the Communist Party will never use that power,” Bauer said. And he’s absolutely right. While European leaders hold summits on climate change and gender equity, Xi Jinping is quietly tightening his grip on the supply chains that keep Western economies running.
Bauer’s call to action wasn’t just a warning; it was a wake-up call for Western businesses. “The commercial decisions they make have strategic consequences for the security of their nation,” he stressed. Translation: stop worrying about ESG scores and start thinking about how to keep your country’s lights on during a crisis.
As tensions between Ukraine and Russia escalate—with Russia testing new ballistic missiles and even bringing in North Korean soldiers—it’s clear the stakes are higher than ever. Yet Europe, with its obsession over welfare states and endless regulatory red tape, seems more concerned about banning plastic straws than bolstering its defenses.
The admiral’s conclusion was as clear as it was dire: “While it may be the military who wins battles, it’s the economies that win wars.” And there’s the rub—Western economies have become bloated, fragile, and overly dependent on authoritarian regimes.
This isn’t just a European problem; it’s a global one, and America isn’t immune. For years, conservatives have been warning about the dangers of over-reliance on China and the globalist fantasy that trade with authoritarian regimes would magically transform them into democracies. That hasn’t happened. Instead, we’ve handed them the keys to our factories, our pharmaceuticals, and our future.
It’s time to return to the principles of self-reliance and national sovereignty that made the West great in the first place. While the left obsesses over virtue-signaling policies and green energy pipe dreams, the right understands that real security—both economic and military—comes from strength. Admiral Bauer’s message is clear: the time for wishful thinking is over.
Western nations must prepare for the realities of the modern world: a world where adversaries use supply chains as weapons, energy as leverage, and propaganda as artillery. The left might scoff, but history has a way of vindicating those who prepare for hard truths.
