A quoted post-Cold War assessment treated a strategic attack on NATO as a slight risk with a long warning time. Retaining the deterrent and a core of conventional capabilities was supposed to allow expansion if circumstances changed. The objection is that trained personnel, leadership, production infrastructure, and equipment all take time to create. A further criticism challenges expectations of a more peaceful world by arguing that multiple competing blocs create more possible fractures and fewer common restraints than the earlier two-bloc structure.
Notable Point · 48:38-50:50
Retained core capabilities still take time to expand
Keeping a small core force does not remove the time needed to expand trained personnel, production capacity, and equipment during a crisis.