NATO Admiral: "You need to have water, a radio on batteries and a flashlight''

In a bleak outlook, Admiral Rob Bauer, who chairs the bloc's Military Committee, said people should get ready for conscription within the next two decades. He said it is "not a given" that member states are at peace, as he praised Sweden for preparing its citizens for war.
He said: "It is the whole of society that will get involved whether we like it or not. That realization, we didn't talk about that a year ago." The Dutch military chief said nations will need to mobilize civilians in case a global war breaks out - saying governments need to be "war ready".
"We need a wartime transformation of NATO," the Dutch admiral said on Wednesday at the opening of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
The day after that, at another press conference, he emphasized that governments and companies from the NATO alliance used to live in an age where everything was in abundance, where everything was predictable and everything could be controlled.
"I'm not saying it is going wrong tomorrow. But we have to realize it's not a given that we are in peace. And that's why we have the plans."
NATO members must adapt from the Russian invasion in 2022 to "an era in which anything can happen at any time, an era in which we must expect the unexpected, in which we must focus on effectiveness in order to be truly cooperative," Bauer said.
During the conference on Thursday, answering a journalist's question about the recent statements of the Swedish leaders, the admiral said that it is good for the Swedes to mentally prepare for war.
He said citizens will need to make basic preparations in case a massive conflict breaks out.
"You need to have water you need to have a radio on batteries and you need to have a flashlight on...