Who would fight Europe's war against Russia?

With no end in sight for Russia’s war in Ukraine, Western leaders are warning of a potential escalation on the global stage.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has suggested Europe is currently in a “pre-war era”. Joe Biden alluded to the “price of unchecked tyranny” as he backed US support for Ukraine. “But checking tyranny comes at a price and, alas, the West’s young seemingly aren’t prepared to pay,” said Jamie Dettmer for Politico.

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Many people simply “do not yet feel an imminent threat”, said The Economist, and that’s a problem for militaries looking to recruit urgently and retain troops. To boost numbers significantly or sell the public on any type of conscription, “there would need to be a clear and shared understanding of why it was needed. That is lacking in countries such as Britain and France, where it is not obvious what conscripts could do in a modern, technologically sophisticated army.”

Plus, “challenges in the military sector”, including “the quality of life, relocations, international assignments, uncertainty and the possibility of dying”, pose problems for recruiting and retaining service personnel. With changing values and an ageing population, “you need to pay very high salaries to convince people to apply and join the armed forces”, Vincenzo Bove, professor of political science at Warwick University in the UK, told Euronews.

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