The Lead
Collective West Rushing to Militarist Madness
by Marcia Merry Baker (EIRNS) — Sep. 30, 2025
Today, the question hangs over the world: How will Hamas respond to the ultimatum given by U.S. President Donald Trump: agree to the Gaza Peace Plan? or suffer unspeakable consequences? This puts on the world community on notice to intervene for a true process of peace. That means a development perspective, and respect for all peoples.
Standing next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Sept. 29, Trump said, after announcing his “Comprehensive Plan To End the Gaza Conflict”: If Hamas rejects the plan, “Israel will finish it off.” Trump repeated that ultimatum this morning, saying Hamas has “three or four days to decide.” Speaking to reporters, as he boarded Marine One, Trump said that he hopes Hamas agrees. “They paid a big price” in waves of leadership lost. “Hamas is either going to be doing it or not, and if it’s not, it’s going to be a very sad end.”
All the while, the Israel Defense Forces are not only continuing the destruction of lives and devastation of Gaza, committing genocide, but also Israel has escalated attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Many nations, in the first 24 hours after the U.S.-Israeli plan came out, have responded with words of support for the effort of seeking peace. Today in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “Russia always supports and welcomes any steps by Trump that work to avert the tragedy that is now unfolding.” Today in Beijing, Spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Guo Jiakun said, “China welcomes and supports all efforts conducive to easing tensions between Palestine and Israel.” Guo went on: “China advocates upholding the principle of Palestinians governing Palestine,” under a two-state solution. There are similar expressions from other nations and individuals. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sept. 30, that it is positive that President Trump himself is involved in the process.
However, what is needed is active intervention to truly bring about a break with the past, and a “miracle-shift” into a new dynamic for Palestine and Israel, to end the genocide, and start rebuilding for a common future in the region. The principles, and concrete measures, are laid out in the “Oasis Plan,” the long-proposed approach by Lyndon LaRouche. It is circulating widely in United Nations and international circles through the Schiller Institute, and through the International Peace Coalition.
Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche stressed the point: Stopping the genocide in Gaza, and setting in motion mutual-benefit measures for all in Southwest Asia, is a moral test for all civilization right now.
The backdrop to Israel’s deadly rampage is the descent of Western leaders and so-called elites into the domain of “might makes right” across the board. The rush to military build-up has reached the stage of madness in the nations of Europe, the United States, Canada and Global NATO. Look at the events of just this week, on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the United States today, President Trump and Secretary of Defense (War) Pete Hegseth staged speeches on the new “war ethos” in the U.S. military, and announced military expansion plans. In a very unusual event, the audience comprised U.S. generals and admirals summoned on short notice from around the world, to the Quantico Marine Base, near Washington, D.C. Trump announced that the U.S. military budget will be a trillion dollars next year. Military shipbuilding will be cranked up and force numbers expanded. He coyly discussed the next-generation fighter jet to be built, likely to be named the F-47 (after Trump’s own 47th Presidency). Moreover, Trump announced new measures for combatting “the enemy within.” He is creating a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force.” He did raise the need to do all possible to avoid nuclear warfare.
Hegseth spoke of stiffening military standards, and announced that he will be giving two more speeches in the near future: one in October on military innovation, and one on the U.S. military role in the Western Hemisphere, at a time to be announced. This morning’s focus was on the concept “personnel are policy.” In his grandstanding style, he decreed no more fat or bearded soldiers, and similar directives (against wokism, climate lies, etc.), certain of which are welcome, because of the degeneration in the military over the last generation, along with the overall decline in the U.S. cultural and physical condition. However, the main take-away from his hyper-performance, was that he is not the man for the position he holds.
In Europe on Oct. 1, the European Union Council meeting take place in Copenhagen, bringing in Heads of State or Government from all 27 EU member nations, to discuss the topics of fortifying Ukraine and building up Europe’s defenses against an attack from Russia. Instead of discussion on resolution of the Ukraine conflict, the subject will be the 19th package of sanctions against Russia and against countries trading with Russia. On Oct. 2 in Copenhagen, representatives of 47 nations, hosted by the European Political Community, are invited to confer on similar points of intensifying conflict, and on military build-up.
How to overcome this rush to doomsday militarism and sham patriotism? With diplomacy, and a commitment to physical economic development in the common interest, solutions can be worked out to even the most horrifying, entrenched conflict.
ON Sept. 30, a most important international (virtual) conference call took place in this spirit, with Helga Zepp-LaRouche and young people from many nations from around the world. Zepp-LaRouche pointed out: “We are one humanity; we have one future, which will either be the New Paradigm and peaceful relations among all nations on the planet, or we are going to destroy ourselves in a thermonuclear war, which no one will survive.”
Contents
Strategic War Danger
- U.S. Orders Acceleration in Military Production in Readiness for Conflict with China (↓)
- Izvestia Reveals NATO Buildup against Russia in Black Sea Region (↓)
New World Paradigm
- Italian Foreign Minister Argues, 'Putin Doesn't Want World War III' (↓)
- Mexican Farmers Insist, Free Basic Grain Production from Speculators Now! (↓)
- China Announces World's Largest Water Management System (↓)
Collapsing Imperial System
- No Let-Up in Israeli Brutality against Palestinians (↓)
- Ecuador Wracked by Violent Protest over IMF Austerity Measures (↓)
- George Galloway Given the ‘Terrorist Treatment’ at London Airport (↓)
U.S. and Canada
- Tony Blair Is Delighted That Trump Has Proposed To Serve as Blair’s Boy To Run Gaza (↓)
- Commerce Secretary Lutnick Says U.S. Must ‘Fix’ India and Brazil (↓)
- Hegseth and Trump Lead a War Cry Before the Generals and Admirals (↓)
Science and Technology
Harley Schlanger Update
Watch The Daily Update with Harley Schlanger, a short video update available every weekday morning from The LaRouche Organization.
