To wonder if anyone has or is considering moving to a country that's less likely to be involved if Putin attacks a NATO country. (title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

Not something I think about. I have another passport but I would be more likely to need to flee a Reform government than a Russian invasion.

We’re in Switzerland. Whilst my day to day life feels safer (eg walking in the city alone at night doesn’t bother me) I honestly don’t think it will be safer if WW3 breaks out. The nature of attacks will be very different to WW1/2 and won’t be contained by borders. For sure somewhere like NZ would be better. Aside from that, it’s very hard to move here post-Brexit anyway.

"Although Keir Starmer insisted that “nobody is talking about conscription” during an appearance on the News Agents podcast, it wasn’t that long ago that Rishi Sunak was proposing national service for all 18-year-olds."

Rishi sunak didn't have a serious strategy and it wasn't proper national service. It was a vote grab for a certain target group.

He wouldn't necessarily win against the rest of NATO. They have more personnel, a higher combined GDP, and their combined military equipment is not too far off the US.

The rest of NATO has focused more on things like public healthcare and removing wealth inequality as they've historically had the backing of the US. However, any war would likely be drawn out and preceded by much political posturing, giving the rest of NATO time to produce more munitions/equipment.

In theory Russia should've steamrolled Ukraine and the US should've streamrolled the Taliban but the former has been going on for years and the latter was a couple of decades after which the US gave up. No way could they just take Europe.

There have been a lot of military simulations and the US often doesn't come out very well. Like when the Swedish ultraquiet sub 'The Gotland' faced off against an entire US carrier group and 'sank' the USS Ronald Reagan carrier ship despite it being surrounded by many ships/submarines/anti-sub aircraft.

It was only a training exercise but the Gotland was able to send photos of the Reagen in its crosshairs whilst still being undetected by the entire US fleet so 100% it could've sank it. A £100m submarine (now succeeded by newer designs) facing off against an entire US carrier group and sinking a £6bn ship worth 60x it's own value! And it managed to do this repeatedly over multiple reenactments to the point the US requested to borrow it for two years to study it.

Given the US navy is one of their biggest assets it's not great that a tiny cheap sub bested an entire carrier group and sank one of their biggest nuclear carriers undetected. And in the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition the UK has beaten the US 15 times and only lost twice.

Hopefully, it nevers comes to that but I don't think the rest of NATO would be a pushover by any stretch. The US are far more reliant on Europe for imports than we are on them, and logistically they'd likely face more difficulty importing resources than most of Europe would due to being surrounded by water.

Sadly they do have long range missile abilities. If anyone would like to find out how this could look, theres a great Sky podcast called The War Game where they have former MPs, military leaders and other specialists run through what an attack on the UK might be like. But its stark listening, as military funding has been cut to the bare bones ofter decades of peace time.

I think about this a lot with my 3 sons (all babies/young children at the moment). I have zero intention of letting them fight, kill or die for this country. It was my main motivation for chasing my Irish citizenship when I was pregnant with number 1 to make sure they had options other than here. I would and will move in a heartbeat if we decide it's in their best interest. I will do whatever I can to dissuade them from voluntarily joining the army when they're old enough too.

There is no doubt that the world is a dangerous place at the moment but it has always been that way. I was a child in the 60s/70s. I remember my Dad going to his civil defence meetings. Not sure what they actually did as I was quite small but he was just an ordinary person. He was almost called up for the Korean War as he did his national service in the late 40s/early 50s.

I also remember the invasion of Cyprus.

The Cuban Missile Crisis saw Russia and America facing off in the 60s and the world seemed to be on the brink of nuclear war.

I think things seem worse nowadays because we have so much access to news 24 hours a day. When I was growing up there were a set number of news programmes on TV/radio and newspapers. There were probably many conflicts going on which we never even heard of.

People forget about the Bosnian war which was only in the 90s.

Awful things happen everywhere and I think that because in Western Europe we have lived in relative peace since 1945 we can't imagine war. My grandparents lived through the first and second world wars but there are fewer and fewer people left who even lived through the second world war.

I think what I'm trying to say is that , yes the world is a dangerous place but it always has been. We certainly shouldn't bury our heads in the sand but I don't think moving countries is any guarantee.

A coal tit! How lovely. I never see them.

You wouldn't say that it the UK was invaded though!

I might consider moving to Ireland if I and my family wanted to. I doubt my DC would though. Not because of Putin though.

Agree re Ireland. Whilst we hold a neutral status and are not members of NATO we are very much allies of UK and USA. Reliant on UK to protect our airspace and the US airforce using Shannon airport our neutrality won’t hold in the event of WW3.

Clearly no geo-political skills 🤣🤣🤣

It’s so unlikely to me that I don’t even think about it. Russia is struggling with Ukraine. Why would they think of attacking another country?

Makes no sense.

Not trivialising anything.

Mithering about the subject of potential war on opinion forums achieves nothing except instilling an ongoing level of anxiety.

All the blabbing about lockdown before it happened changed nothing.

Much better to get on with real life, try to take real world action to improve things and then relax and enjoy the moment - because it's all we really have.

If there’s an issue a lot of the EU is closer anyway.

I live in Minnesota so it feels like civil war is going to break out any minute any way. For my state’s people who aren’t white, it probably feels like it already has.

I love this state but I don’t love this country anymore. But I don’t want to leave because then “they” win, plus who would take a non-wealthy low skilled American right now anyway?