I moved to Europe (Scotland) about 10 years ago, and prior to that lived most of my life in China and the USA. One thing that struck me is that in both China and the USA, the idea of a war close to home is not a thing. Nobody considers it to be a remote possibility, and it isn't. There is simply no entity who can project enough power to mess with either of those countries for a sustained period of time on their home turf.<p>It's different in Europe - the UK seems to be the least conscious of the possibility of war but the farther east you go, the more it's on people's minds.<p>I've been to Poland a few times now, and each visit through chatting with randoms in a bar or pub (and through chatting with a number of Polish friends here in the UK) I had a similar experience: there would be a point where someone would casually remark that they're just spending time concentrating on keeping fit (aerobic and weight lifting) because "the next war is coming."<p>Poland of course has particularly horrible geographical luck and an extremely war-torn past to reckon with, but I was really struck with this idea that anecdotally many folks seemed to be living under the perception that the next war is coming, and we all need to be prepared. I've had similar but less extreme and consistent conversations with folks in Romania, for example.<p>I'm not really sure what there is to learn here, apart from the fact that the EU has been a phenomenal success in its real purpose - keeping the peace in Europe. Just look at this list of wars in Europe: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_in_Europe" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_in_Europe</a><p>Is the world getting safer? I think so. Is the risk of large scale war like France is planning for decreasing? I hope so. But we are on very new footing in terms of this being the new normal, despite what it might feel like, and this perception certainly differs based on how close to perceived threats you might live.
Doesn't seem too out of the ordinary. NATO did a similar thing a few years back on the Russian border. It's basically a mixture of sabre-rattling and getting the cobwebs out of the military in terms of logistics, planning and communication.
>"including whether citizens are “ready to accept the level of casualties we have never seen since world war two”"<p>And if they're not ready then what? Oopsy can't have big war cause not enough votes? I do not like this part at all. It reads like they actually want a war assuming they train the obedient to be willing to die "en masse".
Does the French preparing for war mean anything at all? The French are horrible at preemptive preparation, much less actually fighting. No one has forgotten the second world war.