April 3—The following item appears in the EIR Strategic Alert weekly newsletter in Germany, datelined April 3, 2025.

The European Union “ReArm Europe” plan and the German rearmament plan are officially motivated by two emergencies: the Russian military threat and United States President Donald Trump’s intention to deprive Europe of the American nuclear umbrella. Don’t believe it.

In reality, the current drive for a war economy is the latest phase of a permanent bailout of the international financial system, the most recent stage of which began around 2017-2019. As central banks realized that the system which they had bailed out with taxpayer money in 2008 was on the verge of collapse again, they launched a new bailout, in the form of the Green Bubble. The narrative was that a new emergency, i.e., the climate crisis, justified a massive injection of government money into Green assets. Thus, in December 2017, a group of central bankers, led by then Bank of England governor Mark Carney, launched the Network of Central Banks for Greening the Financial System. The markets rejoiced: “Green Is the New Gold,” was the message sent to investors.

Then, the process geared up after the Aug. 22-24, 2019 Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, hosted yearly by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, where BlackRock executives launched a scheme for total dictatorial control over the financial system by central banks, similar to what Hitler’s central banker, Hjalmar Schacht, had implemented in 1933.

On Sept. 16-17, 2019, when the financial system was again on the verge of collapse, forcing central banks to issue emergency liquidity, preparations for launching the new bubble accelerated.

On Dec. 11, 2019, Ursula von der Leyen, newly-elected President of the European Commission, announced the European Green Deal, initially estimated to require €1 trillion in sustainable investments over a 10-year period (2021-2030).

As the Green Deal became unsustainable, on Sept. 13, 2023, re-elected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that she had commissioned former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to prepare a report on competitiveness, motivated by the need to “correct” the Green Deal and shift money into the war economy. On March 5, 2024, the Commission issued the European Defense Industrial Strategy paper.

Sept. 9, 2024 was the day Draghi presented his Report, calling for “750-800 billion of additional investments in Europe,” with priority given to defense and “sustainable” green investments. Von der Leyen said this would be the blueprint for her second mandate as President of the Commission.

When Donald Trump was elected U.S. President, Nov. 5, 2024, a new emergency was added to the narrative: a U.S.-less Europe. Following the first phone discussion between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 12, 2025, and EU efforts to sabotage those negotiations, Ursula von der Leyen presented the “ReArm Europe” plan on March 4, providing for €800 billion in investments. Ukraine was to become the “iron porcupine” against Russia, she said.

That same day, Friedrich Merz, would-be German Chancellor, announced a half-trillion-euro special defense fund for Germany. Two days later, Politico headlined its article, “Markets Are Hungry for EU War Bonds.”