Yes, yes, of course, the correct formula is: If you want peace, prepare for war. The original Latin (Si vis pacem, para bellum) is found in the De re militari by the Roman Vegetius, who lived in the 5th century.
The saying expresses the idea of ‘armed peace,’ which helps explain why Switzerland, which has not experienced war for centuries, nevertheless has one of the most demanding military service regimes: every Swiss citizen, after their (compulsory) military service, remains at the disposal of the army for nine years (!) and must attend three-week refresher courses each year. Switzerland is always ready for war—so as not to have to fight it.
From this perspective, what is happening in Europe today is a reversal (or a perversion) of the formula. War is being prepared there, but not to achieve peace. It is to achieve war. A pointless war. And that is frightening.
This thought occurred to me ten days ago when I opened a large letter that the Dutch government sent to all its citizens, which included a manual entitled Bereid je voor op een noodsituatie, meaning: Prepare for a crisis situation. It reminded me of those terrifying films from the 1950s in which the American government explained how to survive a nuclear attack…
They seem to have lost sight of the fact that Russia is a nuclear power and that, according to a study published by Nature in 2022, a nuclear conflict would kill more than half of humanity, or five billion people. — Fouad Laroui
The following week, in Paris, I watched in astonishment as the French Chief of the Defence Staff made some very worrying remarks. Judging a war with Russia within three or four years to be a credible possibility, he declared:"If our country falters because it is not prepared to accept losing its children (...), then we are at risk. Losing its children..."
It's enough to make anyone bewildered. It seems that the most important countries in Western Europe are preparing for war with Russia for the sake of having this war, and not to avoid it. In doing so, they seem to have lost sight of the fact that Russia is a nuclear power and that, according to a study published by Nature in 2022, a nuclear conflict would kill more than half of humanity, or five billion people. And that includes us, who have nothing to do with these European squabbles.
Conversely, and to my great surprise, I found myself agreeing a few days later with someone classified as far-right but who is one of the few figures to refute these bellicose or alarmist remarks. I, who consider myself a man of the left, was surprised to find myself nodding my head in agreement when Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the president of ‘Debout la France’, forcefully asserted on television, in front of hostile journalists, that Russia is not a threat to Europe, that Europe must be reconciled with Russia, etc. Jean-Luc Mélenchon says nothing different.
It's unbelievable. In Paris, it's now the far left and the far right who want peace, who are hoping that Donald Trump will resolve this Ukrainian issue before it leads to an apocalyptic war—a war that so-called moderate or centrist governments, from France to the Netherlands, from Germany to Poland, are actively preparing, in their fury to integrate Ukraine into NATO, Moscow's sworn enemy, which is a historical misinterpretation given that Ukraine is the cradle of the Russian nation…
Towards perpetual peace.
By Fouad Laroui
December 3, 2025 at 10:58 AM
