 For NATO countries bordering Russia, real war is possible, France warns. The French ambassador to the US warned a real war is possible for NATO countries on the border with Russia. Laurent Billy, speaking during a Washington Post, connected the deterrents NATO provides in the current war between Russia and Ukraine to show the alliance deterred Soviet aggression after governments like Czechoslovakia and Poland during the Cold War. Members on the front line bordering Russia or Ukraine and France and Germany believe real war is possible in Europe again. For France, that means putting the nation on a war footing in defence, spending and revitalising its industrial base, he said. Billy called the fighting in Ukraine the challenge of our generation and compared it to those faced by the greatest generation who fought and won World War II. The world is in an era of competition where powers like Moscow and Beijing want to end the rules-based order that followed that war, he said. As an example, he said he did not expect Chinese President Xi Jinping to back away from bringing Taiwan under Beijing's control.