Beneath the formal language of alliance commitments, European defence officials are confronting a truth that military budgets alone cannot resolve: a society unprepared to endure sacrifice cannot sustain a prolonged war, no matter how well-armed. At a Munich security conference this week, NATO planners acknowledged that Russia may already be prevailing in a quieter contest — one waged through disinformation, cyber-attacks, and the patient cultivation of political movements that erode Western solidarity from within. The weapons exist; the collective will to use them, and to bear the cost, remai