Just saw this in the Kyiv Independent, which might help explain why French President Macron has been so willing to be more confrontational with Putin of late over the war in Ukraine — he apparently has the growing support of a more patriotically-inclined French youth behind him!
Poll: Half of French youth willing to fight in Ukraine to defend France
Over half of young French citizens would fight in Ukraine to defend France, according to a poll cited by Le Parisien, a French newspaper, on April 12.
The Institute for Strategic Studies of the Military School (IRSEM) and the General Directorate for International Relations and Strategy (DGRIS) surveyed 2,300 young people aged between 18 and 25 last summer.
The bodies, which are part of France’s Defense Ministry, asked the question: “If the protection of France required the country to engage in the war in Ukraine, would you be ready to defend your country?”
Of the respondents, 51% said yes, including 17% absolutely agreeing and 34% answering “maybe yes.”
Young French citizens also favor deploying French troops to Ukraine more than the older generation. In the survey, 31% of youth thought positively about deploying French troops on the side of Ukraine, while only 17% of those aged more than 50 agreed.
Doing a deeper dive, I delved into an English translation of the LeParisien article the poll results were first published in:
"Renewed patriotism": 57% of young French people surveyed ready to enlist in the army "in case of war"
Young French people are showing a "revival of patriotism", showing themselves ready to defend their country in the event of conflict, according to an unprecedented study on young people and war, conducted in 2023 and published on Friday by bodies of the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
Among the striking figures of this sociological study, the first on the subject since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, one in two young people between 18 and 25 years old says they are ready to commit to France in Ukraine.
…
To the question: "If the protection of France required the country to engage in the war in Ukraine, would you be willing to commit to defend your country?", 51% of respondents answered "yes", including 17% "yes absolutely" and 34 "yes maybe". Almost a quarter of boys (24%) said "yes absolutely", compared to 12% of girls.
Without mentioning any particular country, 57% of the young people surveyed said they were ready to enlist in the army "in the event of war".
"There is a revival of patriotism that responds to a need for meaning, commitment, to feel useful," the researcher told AFP. "There is a strong sense that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, on the doorstep of the European Union, represents a tangible peril."
...
Several polls had already shown a positive evolution in the relationship of young people to the military institution, especially since the jihadist attacks of 2015 in France. But this study delves deeper into representations of war, the influence of video games and young people's willingness to get involved.
Global warming is their top concern, but many (77%) see it as an additional risk of war.
A large majority of respondents (62%) consider that "it would be a good thing to reintroduce compulsory military service", which was abolished in 1997 and partially reintroduced by several European countries such as Sweden.
Rather more disturbingly, the poll also found that while:
The possibility of a nuclear conflict, brandished by Russia, is widely feared (69%). The use of nuclear weapons "against a country in the event of a major conflict" even garners 49% of favourable opinions, who consider it either "acceptable in some cases" or "completely acceptable".
Perhaps they actually think a "Nuclear Winter" scenario in the aftermath of a full-scale nuclear exchange with Russia might somehow be “useful” in combatting the effects of Global Warming? — Hint, it certainly wouldn’t be worth the risk!
Here’s a link to an article in firstpost that also addresses the growing debate in Germany and throughout Europe over bringing back conscription to help redress the military balance between NATO and an increasingly bellicose and imperialistic Russia.
