“Europe today is moving towards a war footing,” Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe, told The Cipher Brief. That's the whole point.”And while that urgency is felt less in Western Europe, where increased defense expenditures are less politically palpable, the signs across much of the continent are unmistakable: to an extent not seen since the height of the Cold War – and in some places not since World War II – Europeans are girding for war. Spain and other nations are facing a skeptical public, for whom the Russia threat, and thus the need to move to anything like a war footing, is a tough sell. And that's one thing that Europe has to prepare for in case that happens.” But he also noted that President Trump has vacillated between abandoning Europe and offering robust support. Europe’s leaders “need to recognize that Russia's at war with us, even if it doesn't look and feel like war in the traditional sense,” Lt. Gen. Hodges said, referring to those gray-zone actions.