Is this a veiled threat – or just the Pentagon beating the drums of war again?
This statement signals brewing tensions within the Pentagon, military analyst and former Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter tells Sputnik.
However, it's just a “speculative pronouncement,” not reflective of Trump-era defense policy, according to the pundit.
Ritter was struck by the fact that:
Guillot is speculating on a conflict beyond his remit, which belongs to US strategic command.
His stance contradicts Trump’s, who acknowledged Russia’s special military operation was provoked by NATO expansion:
"We had Trump say that there was justification for Russia's actions, that they understood that the expansion of NATO served as a provocation," Ritter stresses.
What else rings the alarm bells of the Pentagon's warmongering?
Guillot also claimed the US could be drawn into a "direct military conflict" with Iran, China, or North Korea.
He went even so far as to claim that "war with one adversary could quickly expand into war with an enemy coalition."