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No one today can claim ignorance of the danger of world war, and yet there is no anti-war mobilization worthy of the name on the planet. A planet now at the mercy of a nuclear conflagration. Every day and every moment, state propaganda disseminates increasingly alarming news in order to rally public opinion to the benefits of militarization and war. For us, it is out of the question to engage in the geopolitics of "Western" defense, or, what amounts to the same thing, that of the coalitions around China and Russia. Our enemy is in every country; that is the task at hand. Therefore, we will begin by condemning French nuclear deterrence and its cost to French "citizens," while attempting to explain why the entire world is rearming.
The Cost of the French Nuclear Deterrent.
While our parliamentarians endlessly debate the French debt, they remain remarkably silent on the cost of public spending on armaments. It must be emphasized, however, that France's arsenal of weapons of mass destruction is becoming increasingly expensive; maintaining it in 2024 will cost €12,048 per minute; and for the nine states possessing nuclear weapons, this figure rises to €146,500 per minute. Parliamentarians of all persuasions seem to be at odds with one another, but when it comes to the war industry, they suddenly join forces.
“The LR (Les Républicains) MPs are thus calling for a faster ramp-up, with an increase of €4.3 billion per year from 2025 to 2027. The LFI (La France Insoumise) group has tabled a similar amendment, which provides for annual increases of €4.3 billion from 2024 to 2026, before falling back to €3 billion from 2027 to 2030.”²
The same scenario is playing out in Germany, where the parliament, led by the Greens, is voting for a €1 trillion war budget.
“Tuesday’s vote is the result of an agreement reached by the likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, of the Christian Democrats, with the Social Democrats and the Greens. The vote was remarkable, in part because German MPs met after the national vote in February, but before the newly elected members of the next Bundestag take their seats.” Indeed, the three parties will not obtain the two-thirds majority needed in the next Bundestag due to gains by the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party, and The Left, a left-wing party. Euractiv
This about-face by the German Greens should not surprise us; history is full of this kind of situation. Let us recall the statements of Michel Rocard (2010-2012): he claimed he wanted to eliminate France's nuclear deterrent to save 16 billion euros over five years; he had even managed to convince General Bernard Morlain. But in the end, the entire political class, from right to left, condemned him.
Alain Juppé, now Minister of Defense, is shirking responsibility. He, who had co-signed Michel Rocard's remarks on November 26, 2010, speaking in the Senate on the defense budget bill, declared: "I dream of a world without nuclear weapons, of course, but I never said that France should set an example before everyone else! As long as progress hasn't been made globally, France must not lower its guard." Nothing should hinder the continued operation of France's nuclear arsenal and its modernization and renewal programs. Citizen contributions will amount to more than 53 billion euros by 2030; that much public money taken from the social needs of the working world.
International "radioactive" finance is investing its money.
Among banks, it's not just fossil fuels that are popular. According to the report "Untenable Investments,":
"According to this report, 287 banks, pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, and other financial institutions have maintained financing or investment relationships with one of the 24 major global companies producing nuclear weapons systems for China, the United States, France, India, Russia, and the United Kingdom. It should be noted that the number of institutions engaging in this radioactive finance has been steadily decreasing in recent years—from 325 to 306 and now 287—since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force on January 22, 2021.
"But the report specifies that while the number of institutions in this market is declining, they hold (compared to the previous 2023 report) more bonds and shares ($477 billion versus $461.3 billion*) and loans." ($343 billion versus $285.9 billion), for a total of $820 billion. These increases confirm the attitude of
The nuclear powers have all developed programs to modernize and renew their arsenals.”
This is, in reality, a concentration/centralization of capital.
Seven financial institutions (Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, Crédit Mutuel, Groupe BPCE, La Banque Postale, and Société Générale) granted $35.5 billion in loans to companies producing nuclear weapons, and two of them (Crédit Agricole and Groupe BPCE) held $4.9 billion in shares and bonds in nuclear weapons companies. It should be noted that these private banking institutions invest as much in companies that produce nuclear weapons systems for France (Safran, Thales, Leonardo) as in companies that develop the arsenals of the United States and the United Kingdom. Conversely, foreign banks (BlackRock, USA, with $2.5 billion in Safran, Vanguard, USA, with $426 million in Thales) are investing in companies essential to the production of French nuclear weapons systems. Even more surprisingly, it is reported for the first time that Chinese banks are undertaking economic activities with companies strategic for French deterrence. These include the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which granted a $424 million loan to Airbus; this company owns 37.5% of the capital of MBDA, prime contractor for the ASMP-A nuclear cruise missile. The Bank of China also made a $226 million loan to Leonardo, which also holds a 25% stake in MBDA.
La Banque Postale and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, two state-owned banks, have invested a total of $286 million in Airbus. Currently, no French bank complies with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Crédit Mutuel Océan, under pressure from political authorities, withdrew its recognition of the treaty in 2023.
"These banks are not complying with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which prohibits financing companies that make a substantial contribution to the production of nuclear weapons systems. They are thus guilty of violating international law and their corporate social responsibility commitments," denounces ICAN.
Why this apocalyptic global rearmament?
Not a day goes by without the Western world flexing its muscles and deploying its arsenal of deadly weapons, not a day goes by without Putin's Russia and its North Korean allies adding fuel to the fire, all while the world has long possessed the means to destroy the planet. The classic reasons for this enthusiasm for militarization are imperialist rivalries, the conquest of territory, the redistribution of the world, and the appropriation of crucial raw materials to determine who will ultimately rule the world. This, schematically, is the response of those who claim to be Marxists. It's not entirely wrong, but clearly insufficient to explain the fundamental reasons for global rearmament—or rather, over-rearmament. Some, and they will recognize themselves, believe that capitalism has entered a period of decline and has become obsolete. We agree that it is in a new phase, but not from the same perspective. We know that capitalism is above all a dynamic, constantly competing mass, the famous "sink or swim" mentality, which translates into having critical mass—that is, sufficient financial resources to sink its competitors. Capitalism, as we have seen for decades, is a chaotic organism whose development spirals from the bottom to the top until its expanded reproduction through the extraction of surplus value (absolute and relative) reaches a standstill. Overproduction erupts into the open, accompanied by protectionism and tariffs. Hence its recourse to the militarization of the economy in order to temporarily save certain key sectors through the windfall of credit. However, we must now examine the possibilities that global capitalism has today to hope to survive the crises that are undermining it.
The Limits of the Militarization of National Economies
Simply by watching television, it's easy to see the stakes for each nation-state and each bloc. Trump, in this respect, is an open book; he openly states that the EU must finance the war in Ukraine and that the United States will sell weapons to Ukraine in exchange for rare earth minerals. The EU is primarily rearming on credit, while it is already in debt. France claims to lead European "defense" thanks to its nuclear deterrent, and the Europeans, with the "Rearm Europe" initiative, are embarking on this adventure only with the hope of remaining among the top arms sellers.
At this level, there is no better selling point.For weapons manufacturers, proving themselves in combat is more important than actually using them. Ukraine is merely a testing ground where arms dealers of all nationalities compete. For these merchants of death, the goal is to directly promote their aircraft, missiles, drones, and other weapons on the ground, with the aim of selling them. In this regard, the confrontation between India and Pakistan revealed that India has just lost one or more Rafale fighter jets in combat.
"According to Reuters, American sources confirmed that at least one Rafale was shot down by a PL-15 missile. This news remained unofficial on the Indian side – New Delhi never publicly acknowledged the loss – but it was officially confirmed by Éric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation, and General Jérôme Bellanger, Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force." 7
Hence this admission:
"The Rafale, until then presented as one of the most reliable and invulnerable fighter jets on the market, saw its reputation shaken during Operation Sindoor on May 7th. Just after midnight, the screens in the Pakistani operations room turned red: dozens of Indian Rafales were crossing the border. After several nights spent on a mattress set up a few meters from the screens, the Pakistani Air Chief of Staff, Zaheer Ahmad Babar, immediately ordered his Chinese J-10CEs to neutralize the Indian Rafales as a priority. 'He wanted to destroy Rafales!' reports an officer present." https://opexnews.fr/rafale-embuscade-operation-sindoor-pakistan/
That being said, it does not appear that Rafale sales have been affected; the order books for Rafales are full. And on November 17, 2025, a delivery agreement for 100 Rafale fighter jets was signed with great fanfare between Macron and Zelensky. Given the urgency of the situation, the government believes it can divert some orders to supply Ukraine. But let's not be misled by the pronouncements of warmongers, all complicit in militarization. For example, Greenpeace published a report denouncing French and EU duplicity under the subtitle "Gas, Fertilizers, Nuclear: How the EU Fuels the Russian War Machine." Here is an excerpt from the report: "For decades, the French nuclear industry has worked closely with Rosatom. This Russian state-owned company collaborates with French industry at every level of the production chain, from uranium mining to the construction of power plants and the processing of nuclear waste. Rosatom exploits nuclear technologies, both civilian and military, controls the Kremlin's 'nuclear button,' and dictates sector regulations." This company, founded by Vladimir Putin, plays a strategic role for his regime. More than just a company, it is a geopolitical, economic, and military tool for the Kremlin. Every Russian reactor built outside of Russia creates an energy, technological, financial, and geopolitical dependency between the purchasing country and the Russian regime. A veritable arm of the Russian state, Rosatom played a role in the first-ever diversion of a civilian nuclear power plant for military purposes during the 2022 takeover of the Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine, which has since been occupied by the Russian army. Rosatom has thus become a criminal enterprise, complicit in crimes and abuses committed within the plant and against Ukrainian personnel, and participates in the nuclear threat against the Ukrainian and European people. The EU and France are fueling their own dependency. Yet, neither France nor the EU has ended its trade relations with Rosatom. France's dependence on Russian nuclear power is such that for the past three years, Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly declared his support for Ukraine, while discreetly maintaining economic ties with one of Vladimir Putin's largest companies.
This proves that war is merely an escape from the contradictions that plague global capitalism, where everyone is an enemy but everyone agrees on the savior "red broth."
Germany is militarizing its automotive industry.
According to the European Commission, the "Rearm Europe" plan will not only stimulate growth. In addition, it will boost technological innovation and therefore productivity: "A sharp increase in defense investment will generate positive spillovers throughout the economy, thus contributing to its competitiveness, job creation, and innovation in many sectors" (European Commission, 2025:21). The overproduction across the entire automotive industry is now glaringly obvious in Germany and Europe. German companies like Volkswagen, Mercedes, Bosch, ZF, Porsche, Ford, Audi, etc., are choosing to devalue/eliminate thousands of workers to prevent the devaluation of capital, resulting in layoffs and unemployment.
Partial unemployment and wage cuts are the attributes systematically used. The trade and tariff war was triggered by Donald Trump with his blackmail of 25% tariffs on vehicles and spare parts from the EU, reduced to 15% following a real bargain with Ursula von der Leyen. Recently, the business daily Handelsblatt ran the headline: "The semiconductor crisis could plunge Germany into a third year of recession.
" The emerging crisis reveals the obsolescence of global capitalism, which initially leads to global rearmament, and more specifically, to the rearmament of Europe. The leaders of these countries tout the benefits of this security-driven militarization, claiming it creates jobs, citing the example in France of the Brittany Foundries, which was transformed into a shell factory. Similarly, in Germany, the automotive industry is converting to the production of weapons of war. The German group Rheinmetall, specializing in armaments and automotive equipment, will convert two of its automotive plants, in Berlin and Neuss, to produce military equipment. To this end, Finance Minister Klingbeil (SPD) is pushing through an austerity budget that slashes across all social sectors and triples military spending. In June 2024, Rheinmetall signed an agreement with the struggling automotive supplier Continental to take over and train around one hundred employees from a plant that will close in 2027. The German company is not the only one redirecting its factories towards defense. KNDS, another German defense contractor, announced in early February 2025 that it would take over Alstom's Görlitz plant to produce tanks instead of trains.
Rheinmetall also signed a framework contract worth €8.5 billion to supply 155mm shells to the Bundeswehr and its allied countries, the Netherlands, Estonia, and Denmark. The first deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2025.
The preemptive liquidation of the superfluous dangerous classes.
Machinery having first supplanted human physical strength and then human brainpower, to the point that capitalism is now nothing more than a global factory of superfluities, hence its tendency to want to liquidate, consciously or not, this mass of dangerous classes<sup>8</sup> and to reduce their dependence<sup>9</sup>.
This liquidation of dangerous classes manifests itself in various forms. It can be deliberate, like that of Trump, the racialist theocrat, and his crony Netanyahu; or, more insidiously, it involves deliberately inciting overpopulated populations to clash and self-destruct (e.g., Sudan), followed by famine. This is the direct or indirect consequence of rivalries, as in the Middle East, revolving around oil revenues, but also of religious conflicts. The massacres, wars, and genocides affecting the Middle East are inspired by Leo Strauss's (1899-1973) Chaos Theory, which can be summarized as follows:
"Power is exercised through the destruction of all resistance rather than through building," or "It is by plunging the masses (vulnerable countries) into chaos that elites (dominant countries) can aspire to the stability of their position."
If, as we believe, capitalism has entered its destructive phase towards both human beings and nature, and if its function is to organize the permanent devaluation of labor in order to counteract the devaluation of capital, then it must now systematically attack the social gains it has begun dismantling in recent years. However, the excessive debt of Europeans is clashing with the perceived "necessity" of rearmament for the EU and Great Britain. At this level, as we have already highlighted, three countries are leading the way: France and Great Britain (nuclear powers), and Germany, a rising power. These three powers are playing their historical trump card on the world stage, and they are aware of it. Consequently, they are already moving to the next stage of dismantling the welfare state.
Chancellor Merz declared in August 2025:
"We can no longer afford the welfare state."
His government is proceeding in stages, as in France, in order to deceive the people. As in France, commissions are tasked with developing proposals for dismantling pensions and healthcare contributions, and the first measure decided is to abolish Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and replace it with a basic allowance.
Recently, the IMF, in a report dated November 4, 2025, on the economic situation in Europe, declared, through Alfred Kammer, the IMF's European director in Brussels, "How can Europe pay for things it cannot afford?" In summary, the report concludes that the welfare state of the ap
The post-World War II era is no longer compatible with rearmament, trade wars, and protectionism. As a result, pensions, healthcare, and numerous other public services must be sacrificed, as they can no longer be financed except through private means. Rigorous austerity measures and further deregulation of the economy are inevitable.
Towards self-impoverishment based on ecological ideology
From the moment the leading figures of triumphant capitalism believe that 80% of the world's population is no longer necessary to keep the bourgeois machine running, they will have to manage the resulting lack of surplus value in order to save the planet's profits. As we have just seen, there are those who directly engage in the extermination of surplus populations and those "managerialists" who believe they can manage this population. This is the case with the World Economic Forum (WEF), which, through its leader Mr. Schwab, is planning various measures developed within the "Great Reset." This is primarily a form of self-impoverishment based on ecological ideology. The argument of climate change (which is very real) has become the central focus of a major guilt-tripping campaign targeting overconsumption, which is blamed for the spread of CO2. The propaganda machine will do everything to prepare for the future of widespread impoverishment. To achieve this, the WEF wants to develop a policy of "degrowth" and advocate abstinence. The WEF's leaders are organizing a new crusade against "the tyranny of growth" and for the repayment of their debts, eyeing the savings of the "middle classes," the only ones they can still fleece. Taxocracy is underway; it is expected to smooth out inequalities, leading to widespread impoverishment coupled with a monastic lifestyle. A vast ideological enterprise masking the collapse of the global economy and advocating a pause in economic development, limiting it to mere reproduction. 7 For Mr. Schwab's Forum, border closures are one of the greatest barriers to global equality. Here, Schwab seems to oppose protectionism without considering that the return to national protectionism is simply the consequence and failure of the globalization of Capital, its inability to continue extracting both absolute and relative surplus value. The accumulation of global debt has replaced the accumulation of surplus value. 10
GERARD BAD, 17/11/2025
Notes
1- For weapons that are illegal according to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
2- Vincent Lamigeon, Challenges, May 10.
3- Michel Rocard, born August 23, 1930 in Courbevoie and died July 2, 2016 in Paris, was a French statesman. He was Prime Minister from May 10, 1988 to May 15, 1991.
4- Air Force General (Ret.) Bernard Norlain, former Chief of Staff to Michel Rocard, President of Initiatives for Nuclear Disarmament (IDN).
5- Let's do the math: 13% of €413 billion equals €53.69 billion, or an annual average of €7.67 billion for nuclear weapons; whereas this amount was €5.02 billion in the previous Military Programming Law (LPM). While acknowledging that this represents only a portion of the costs associated with this weapon of terror. (Source: Sortir du nucléaire)
6- In France, the 2024-2030 Military Programming Law (LPM), focused on modernizing and renewing the nuclear arsenal, will allocate an average of €7.67 billion annually to this purpose. This figure can be compared to the two previous LPMs, which averaged €5.02 billion (2019-2023) and €4.66 billion (2014-2018). France dedicates nearly 11% to 15% of its military budget to its nuclear forces and infrastructure. The costs of this expenditure are far from transparent, as the "deterrence" budget does not include those related to the Rafale fighter jets of the Strategic Air Forces.
7. Dassault's share price fell sharply after the announcement in May 2025 that the Chinese fighter jet (C-J10), used for the first time by the Pakistani Air Force, had shot down one or more Rafale fighter jets of the Indian Air Force. The Chinese company's stock price consequently soared (+40% in two days). The reason given by one expert: "There is no better publicity [for a defense company] than a real-world combat scenario (1)." 1. M. Srivastava, C. Clover, "China’s J-10 “Dragon” shows teeth in India-Pakistan combat debut", Financial Times, May 9, 2025.
8. Welfare dependency must be challenged (as Malthus suggested in his time) because it is the main obstacle to employment. This means that governments fully intend to leave the superfluous to fend for themselves, as the universal basic income (citizen's basic income) is merely a smokescreen, a compilation of the Active Solidarity Income (RSA), the Activity Bonus (PA), and income tax. The rise of the dangerous classes is simply the consequence of increasing impoverishment, which will inevitably destabilize social life, as is currently happening. Added to this in recent years is a new wave of migration at the EU's borders. Here again, superfluous people, victims of wars, natural disasters, and unemployment, are seeking refuge in Fortress Europe. Trump is the very embodiment of this hunt for the dangerous classes.
9—As early as 1995, the world's powerful gathered at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and declared that "80% of the world's population is no longer needed to keep the bourgeois machine running; they will have to manage the resulting lack of surplus value to save the planet's profits." Can we imagine 80% of people wanting to work finding themselves unemployed? "It's certain," says American author Jeremy Rifkin, who wrote the book *The End of Work*, "that the remaining 80% are going to have considerable problems."
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