http://archive.today/2025.11.24-211606/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/world/europe/france-voluntary-military-service.html
France, whose relations with Russia are at a low point, has embarked on a concerted effort to convince its citizens that they must be ready for war. But a warning from the new French Army chief that the country must accept the possible loss of its children has touched a raw nerve.
The army chief, Gen. Fabien Mandon, who took over as chief of staff in September, told mayors gathered in Paris from across France last week that they must become the messengers of a new French resolve on an unstable European continent.
What is needed, he said, is “the spirit that accepts that we will have to suffer to protect what we are.” If France “wavers because we are not ready to accept losing our children,” then “we are, indeed, at risk,” he told the mayors, evoking the growing threat from Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
A statement on Monday from the president’s office said, “On this occasion, the President of the Republic will reaffirm the importance of preparing the nation and its moral strength to face growing threats.”
On Saturday, as he left the Group of 20 meeting in South Africa, Mr. Macron said, “In the world of uncertainty and mounting tensions in which we live, if we really want to be secure, we have to persuade the other not to approach.”
He has taken in recent months to repeating the phrase: “You have to be feared in this world. And to be feared you have to be strong.”