Photo: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/AFP
Photo: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/AFP
The U.S. and Europe have no clear plan for a joint attack from Russia and China.
First published in The Atlantic on August 17, 2026.
by Simon Shuster, The Atlantic
August 20, 2026
| reading time: 9 Min.
Western military planners do not seem eager to talk about their nightmare scenario, much less prepare for it. But they tend to agree on how it would begin: a coordinated, near-simultaneous attack on opposite sides of the planet, in which Russia targets a NATO member in Eastern Europe while China makes its move against Taiwan. The U.S. military would need to react on two fronts at once—three if it remains at war in the Middle East.












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