Perpetual War or Perpetual Peace?

Oct. 27, 2026 (EIRNS)—Will humanity ever be free of war for good? The cynical assumption that conflict and war will always be part of human civilization is just that—an unproven assumption, one which has sway only over those who cannot envision a future era based on a completely different concept of self-interest than the colonial “might makes right” of geopolitics—now collapsing so fantastically before our very eyes.

Developments of the past several days offer abundant proof of that, showing an acceleration in consolidation of a new kind of paradigm, one based on respect for sovereignty, the right of all people to development, and the rejection of war as a method of conflict resolution.

On Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV delivered a video address to the gathering of top religious leaders from all continents who had come to Assisi for a three-day dialogue on “Unarmed and Disarming Peace.” Addressing the failure of post-Cold War globalization to bring peace, Leo said, “precisely in these times marked by a ‘culture of power,’ there is a need to cultivate the spirit of Assisi, which entails a rejection of the religious justification of war, a spirit of mediation and dialogue, and contemplative reflection combined with creative action in the service of a future of peace.” The gathering issued a joint Appeal for Peace, which also put the matter in stark terms: “We cannot allow the world to surrender definitively to the logic of war and conflict in international relations,” it reads.

The same spirit pervaded the summit of heads of state of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Moscow, which Russian President Putin addressed in its plenary session. “To address the challenges facing the global gas industry,” Putin insisted, “we should not erect barriers but, on the contrary, strengthen cooperation…. We must rely on our own capabilities and sovereign technologies and develop open, trust-based cooperation founded on mutual benefit and respect for each other’s interests.”

The GECF gathering in Moscow will be followed on Wednesday by the 3rd Russia–Africa Summit, at which 48 African nations will be represented, 22 of them by their head of state, for what a Kremlin statement has described as “the further development of Russia’s multifaceted ties with African nations in politics, trade and the economy, investment, science and technology, and humanitarian and cultural affairs.”

Notably absent from this dynamic are governments of the collective West, who desperately cling to their commitment to global hegemony—and war—come hell or high water. As nations of the Global Majority were meeting on questions of mutually beneficial development and disarmament, Defense Minister Wes Streeting penned an Oct. 24 op-ed headlined, “Britain must be ready for war in 1,000 days,” in which he urged Britons to stockpile food and supplies, declaring, “[M]y defining priority as Defense Secretary is to make sure that this country is ready to fight and win a war.” Fewer and fewer in the West are buying it: European governments face a disintegrating economic and social situation at home, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to protest the economic sacrifice of the population to feed the policies of the elites.

And yet, despite the failing state of the trans-Atlantic system, the danger of a new attack by the U.S. and Israel on Iran, or perhaps a false flag incident in Europe to be blamed on Russia, grows by the hour. What is driving it?

“What we see is a huge financial bubble,” Sergey Glazyev, Russia’s foremost economist, warned in an Oct. 26 interview, "which concentrated about 40% of the American financial market in these IT companies, which continue to show good health. But what they’re doing is moving towards technofascism. In fact, the main strategic planning center of all these wars is the American technofascists, because they are trying to maintain their leadership not only in the United States but also in the world…. It is very dangerous for the world, but it will not work….

“This financial bubble will in any case collapse. And I am sure that in the near future the American and Western financial system will suffer a huge crisis, not only because of the artificial intelligence bubble, but also because of the derivatives bubble. According to some estimates, the derivatives bubble is more than two quadrillion dollars….

“Unfortunately, the politicians who make decisions in the West, especially in Britain at the moment… they want to continue the war [in Ukraine]… I can tell you that the war will finish together with the collapse of the artificial intelligence financial bubble.”

Given the two options before us, one the continuation of a global empire system, and the other a new paradigm which rids humanity of war forever, which one is more realistic?

“Be careful how deep you dig a pit,” Putin warned in his Tuesday address, referencing the suicidal policies of the West. “You might be the one to fall in it.”