'We are plunging headlong into catastrophe': Ex-Defence Force chief says nuclear crisis in North Korea and naval clashes in the South China Sea mean Australia could be INVADED

• Australia will soon be invaded, former Australian Defence Force chief claims 
• Admiral Chris Barrie said conditions are similar to those that led to WW1
• 'Australia is plunging headlong into catastrophe,' Mr Barrie said 

By PETER DEVLIN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA and AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUBLISHED: 10:43 EST, 18 July 2017 

s

A retired chief of the Australian Defence Force has claimed Australia will soon be invaded, warning of the increasing tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Admiral Chris Barrie has said the conflict happening now is similar to the conditions that led to World War 1.

'Australia is plunging headlong into catastrophe and we are utterly unprepared,' he said in an analysis published by ABC News.

+6

A retired chief of the Australian Defence Force has claimed Australia will soon be invaded, warning of the increasing tensions in the Asia-Pacific region (stock image) 

+6

Admiral Chris Barrie (pictured) has said the conflict happening now is similar to the conditions that led to World War 1

+6

A Japanese diplomat this week called for action to stop North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s (pictured) missile program 

+6

The parallels with First World War - Britain the dominant power, Germany the rising and aggressive challenger - are obvious. So too today with the United States and China (US President Donald Trump pictured) 

'The time-bomb is ticking and it will explode in our lifetimes.'

The parallels with First World War - Britain the dominant power, Germany the rising and aggressive challenger - are obvious.

So too today with the United States and China.

The second idea is that the European powers 'sleepwalked' into WWI, a terrible conflict that was in no-one's interests, that no-one really wanted and that grievously weakened both sides (apart from the US, a late entrant).

It's a term that's gained considerable currency, particularly through Cambridge historian Christopher Clark's book The Sleepwalkers.

Barrie kicked the idea along recently, saying that one small event - the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo - led to war.

+6

Australia will soon be invaded, former Australian Defence Force chief claims (stock image) 

+6

A satellite image shows what CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative says appears to be anti-aircraft guns and what are likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) on the artificial island Subi Reef in the South China Sea 

'Why? Because the world was antsy, arms races were on, people were highly nationalistic,' Barrie said.

'All of those conditions exist now.'

At the least all this suggests our leaders should be well read in the hope that they don't repeat the mistakes of the past.