The Rise of the Global South

 

The war on Iran has not only ended in a humiliating defeat for the United States, but resulted in a dramatic shift in the balance of power in the Middle East and the Global South.

The humiliating defeat of Israel and the United States in their war on Iran, along with the savagery of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, are ushering in a new world order. This order is one where voices of reason and stability emanate not from the West — which spent tens of billions of dollars sustaining Israel’s genocide — but from the Global South, including China. It is an order where alliances are being rapidly reconfigured to protect countries from a rogue American state that lashes out like a wounded beast, as it spirals toward terminal decline.

The end of the U.S. Empire, led by an impetuous and clueless Donald Trump, is irreversible. The U.S. has lost its sixth war in the Middle East in 25 years. Iran’s power has been enhanced not only because it — along with Oman — controls the Strait of Hormuz — where roughly 25 percent of the world’s seaborne oil and 20 percent of the world’s seaborne liquified natural gas pass through — but because it has delivered a stark message, with its drones and missiles, to U.S. allies and bases in the region, while sending the global economy into a tailspin.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who reportedly lured Trump into the war with Alice-in-Wonderland visions of easy regime change in Iran following the decapitation strikes against the country on February 28, 2026, which included the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other political and military figures, along with 168 school children and their teachers — may strike Iran again. They are desperate. But a renewed bombing of Iran will not work. Iran’s mosaic defense strategy ensures all political and military commanders are easily replaced.

Iran can strangle the world economy by closing the Strait of Hormuz. It can accelerate the pain by getting its Yemeni allies — Ansar Allah — to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea, just as they did to Israel-bound ships when defending Palestinians after October 7. This could result in a complete blockade. Saudi Arabia, with the Bab el-Mandeb Strait open, is able to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and export five million barrels a day through its pipeline to tankers in the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

If a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is not reached soon, the global economy will crash, perhaps within weeks. The U.S. and its allies, such as Japan, have released some of their extensive strategic oil reserves, however they will not be able to cushion markets indefinitely. Stockpiles in America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve are near their lowest in more than 40 years. Once these reserves are depleted, the price of fuel will skyrocket. If a barrel of oil shoots up to $200, the price at the pump could climb as high as $10 per gallon. This, coupled with shortages of other petroleum-based products, along with nitrogen fertilizer, aluminum, and helium — an indispensable element in the production of MRI machines and semiconductors — are already shutting down vital industries and driving up prices on basic commodities.  (more...)

The Rise of the Global South

Germany Tipping Point: AfD Surges as CDU Crumbles

 

Germany is at a political tipping point as the AfD surges past 29% while Friedrich Merz and the CDU face historic collapse. Alex Christoforou and Alexander Mercouris on The Duran break down why Alice Weidel has become Europe's most effective opposition leader, why Merz's rearmament economic plan is a disaster for the German economy, and how the political establishment is preparing to blame Russia rather than their own failures. Is Germany about to experience its most transformative political moment since the founding of the Federal Republic?

The Rise of the New German Militarism

 

In an interview in Berlin, German journalist Patrik Babb explains the rise of the new German militarism and why Germany is so obedient to the U.S.

Max Otte: Germany's Decline & the Civilizational Crisis of the West

 

Max Otte is an entrepreneur, political economist, investment manager, philanthropist and political activist. With 141 votes, he was the runner-up for the election of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany on 13 Februar 2022. Otte discusses the political crisis of Germany, Europe and the US.

By hosting a global weapons bank, Carney is setting up Canada for war profiteering

 

Organizer Rachel Small explains how NATO-aligned bank will make Canada’s economy reliant on endless war

Canada has won its bid to host a new NATO-aligned bank that will fuel a weapons-building frenzy.

Organizer Rachel Small explains how the bank fits into Mark Carney’s militarization agenda and would further tie Canada’s economy to war profiteering.

Another U.S. refinery goes up in flames: 45 major refinery explosions/fires reported over the last month and a half

 

Trump, meanwhile, says he "doesn't even think about" Americans' increasing financial hardships as a result of his Iran war.

More than 45 oil and gas refineries have reported fires and explosions globally in the last month and a half, marking a significant increase over what’s considered “normal” in the way of industrial accidents.

The drastic uptick in explosions is being racked up to warfare in places like Russia and “accidents” in the United States, Mexico, Australia, Romania and India.

TRT World reports:

“Taken together, they point to an energy system operating under unusual pressure at a moment of global instability.”

On Monday, May 11, firefighters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, responded to a fire at the HF Sinclair refinery around 11 a.m., with dramatic video showing massive flames and thick black smoke rising from the facility. Officials have not yet determined the cause of the fire, and no information has been released about possible injuries.  (more...)

Another U.S. refinery goes up in flames: 45 major refinery explosions/fires reported over the last month and a half

Faith leaders hold ‘Moral Monday’ peace rally in Washington to decry Trump's 'unholy war’ in West Asia

 

Faith leaders held a Moral Monday peace rally outside of the White House against what they called the ‘unholy war' in the West Asia region.

Their demands were simple, no to war, no to policy violence, yes to peace and yes to justice.

A new poll finds that just 13% of Americans believe that the US has won the war against Iran.

There is increasing admission in the United States that the war is looking like a loss, economically speaking, no matter what happens next.

After over 70 days of war, the costs are being paid for by the nation's lower class at the gas pumps and the supermarkets.

Research shows, however, that most war costs are incurred after the fighting ends.  (more...)

Faith leaders hold ‘Moral Monday’ peace rally in Washington to decry Trump's 'unholy war’ in West Asia

The Push for War Continues

 

In this episode of TheRedPillDiaries we will be discussing the latest global events with Author & geopolitical analyst E. Michael Jones. He is an American author, former professor, and editor of Culture Wars magazine.

Epstein: Architect of Global Control

 

Ben Rubin and Brian Gerrish discuss the central role played by Jeffrey Epstein in developing the financing model that underpins the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and Impact Investing agendas, as well as the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that will be used to enforce compliance across the entire global economic system.

The conversation draws on UK Column’s own extensive research into the UN, World Economic Forum (WEF), and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) programmes, as well as an exceptional series of articles written by Esc Key.

Related:

At Arm’s Length of Epstein

Trump's Hormuz Tantrum Unleashes Threat of Mass Starvation

 

Over the past 30 hours, the United States escalated the conflict in its war against Iran, when U.S. President Donald Trump on May 2 declared that U.S. “Project Freedom” would begin today, for the U.S. military to control transit through the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. CentCom statement declared that the U.S. Navy will provide “guidance” for ships’ passage, and oppose Iranian interference with force. CentCom reported U. S. forces include “guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members.” There may be a Pentagon briefing on the situation Tuesday, May 5.

A statement from Iran was issued early on May 4 by Iranian Major General Ali Abdollahi, reaffirming the right of Iran to control its waters, and posting a map showing the line across the Persian Gulf above and below the Strait of Hormuz, inside which Iran declares its sovereignty to control transit.

As of this evening reports continue to come out, sometimes conflicting, of warning shots, damage to ships, and the U.S. claim to have sunk six small Iran boats. It is reported that officials from Iran and Oman will be conferring imminently, as the two littoral nations that have worked together for decades on safe navigation. Meantime, the U.A.E. is caught in the middle of the conflict. The UN has a navigation corridor scheme on standby, worked out by a multi-agency taskforce commissioned in mid-March, including the International Maritime Organization. Their goals include providing exodus for the 200 vessels and 20,000 seamen trapped for weeks in the blockade, and also expediting vital flows of commodities and humanitarian cargo.

However, the Trump Administration opposes the principle of international law of the United Nations. The U.S. and Israel continue unilateral action, not only in the Gulf region, but also Israel is striking Lebanon and Gaza hard. Today, Trump posted on social media that Iran will be “blown off the face of the Earth,” if it targets U.S. ships in the Strait. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz announced he will prepare a UN Security Council resolution, along with the U.A.E., against Iran. Waltz last week called for other nations to join the U.S.-led “Maritime Freedom Construct.”

All the while, the worldwide economic shocks grow by the hour, given the shutdown of vital flows of oil, gas, naphtha, fertilizers, sulphur and other commodities through the Gulf. A grim warning of the life-and-death implications for food was given by Svein Tore Holsether, CEO of Yara International, the world’s biggest fertilizer company, based in Norway, who said April 30 that he foresees a scenario of a “global auction” of fertilizer coming into being, where fertilizer goes to the highest bidder and the poor lose out. Yara operates in 60 countries, and sells in dozens more; its fertilizer prices to farmers are up 80% since March.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute leader, used the analogy of “the noose tightening around the neck of humanity” to describe the consequences of allowing all this to continue. To further decisive action to stop the madness, this news service will sponsor its fourth international (online) roundtable this year, of experts conferring on the emergency situation, to mobilize forces to intervene. The date is tentatively set for Friday, May 15, to be conducted concurrently with the weekly International Peace Coalition. An invitation in multiple languages is forthcoming.

Provocations abound. Today a high-rise apartment building in Moscow was hit by Ukraine attack drones, with the obvious implication of targeting the person of President Vladimir Putin. Moreover, the strike took place only days before Russia’s May 9 observance of the 81st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The drone attack took place as the eighth summit of the European Political Community of some 48 nations, plus EU and NATO leaders, in Yerevan, Armenia discussed new multibillion-dollar funding for Kiev to keep the Ukraine proxy war against Russia going. This grouping was initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

There are forces in motion for diplomacy and intervention to stop this warfare. One important focus this month is May 26, when China, rotating President of the UN Security Council for May, will hold a special UNSC open debate at the ministerial level on “Upholding the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter and Strengthening the UN-Centered International System.” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will chair the discussion, and more than the 15 member nations of the UNSC are likely to participate.

This is the direction to take, without delay. Zepp-LaRouche called on everyone to support this initiative for humanity. She warned today that we are in “a period of heightened military tension and danger. Something can go awfully wrong at any moment.”

National Coalition Promises To Fight Canada’s War Bank

 

“Security comes from funding homes, food and education. Security does not come from an economy built on war.”

It was January 2026 when Canada’s anti-war organizers realized what they were dealing with. Activists from groups like World Beyond War and Davenport For Palestine jumped on a Zoom call to discuss Toronto’s bid to host a new global bank that will fund the arms industry. 

The organizers, who mostly knew each other from Palestine solidarity protests and Signal chats, created a document and got together online to look for information about the bank.

“Could it really be that this was a financial institution whose sole purpose was to channel money into arms manufacturing?,” Rachel Small, an organizer for World Beyond War Canada, said they wanted to figure out. “Yes, that is indeed what it is.”

“That was definitely when we coined it a ‘war bank.’”

Since then, Small and her fellow activists held dozens of one-on-one conversations with organizers from the student movement, labour unions, and civil society groups to build what they hope will be a national movement to stop the bank from coming to fruition in Canada. 

On Friday, at a press conference in the heart of Toronto’s financial district, they launched their campaign with the slogan: “Stop the DSRB: No war bank in our city.”

The “Defense, Security and Resilience Bank,” or DSRB, was originally an idea proposed by NATO. Last week, Canada was officially selected as the host country, and some of its major cities — Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal — are vying for the chance to host the bank’s headquarters. 

“The last thing Canada needs is a new military financial arms race,” said Sharmeen Khan, a member of World Beyond War Toronto, at the press conference. “Security comes from funding homes, food and education. Security does not come from an economy built on war.”  (more...)

National Coalition Promises To Fight Canada’s War Bank

NEW: Legacy media largely framed Canada's new War Bank as a win for Mark Carney.

But as @emmapaling reports, a national coalition is mobilizing to oppose it. https://t.co/lVtlbGJZho

— Alex Cosh (@AlexCosh_) May 5, 2026

What's the Matter with Europe?

 

The world laments

Germany's Self-Destruct Pact: Merz Pushes Europe to the Brink

 

Germany is in crisis. Friedrich Merz and the CDU are pushing Germany toward confrontation with Russia, slashing social services to fund a massive military buildup, and picking fights with both the United States and China — all while Germany's industrial economy collapses to 2008 financial crisis levels. Alexander Mercouris and Alex Christoforou of The Duran break down how Germany is abandoning the very foundations it was built on, why the CDU is united behind this self-destructive course, and whether stoking fear of Russia is the establishment's last desperate move to block the AfD from taking power. Is Germany heading toward a complete political and economic breakdown?

• Intro — Merz, Germany, and the Russia escalation debate
• Mercouris: Germany hurtling toward the cliff
• The foundations of the German Federal Republic explained
• Why German leaders are always sensitive about the US alliance
• Quarreling with America during an economic collapse
• Germany's industrial PMI drops to 2008 crisis levels
• CDU fully on board — a kamikaze approach to policy
• Why Merz's unpopularity is an asset for the CDU
• Regional elections — CDU stable, SPD and FDP collapsing
• Is stoking Russia fear the CDU's plan to block the AfD?

Henry V as Foreign Policy

 

The hard path toward Renaissance

Canadian PM explains country’s key weakness

 

Canada’s historical overdependence on the US has put it at a disadvantage, Mark Carney has said, adding that the “good old days” are gone

Canada’s historical overdependence on the US has put it in a vulnerable position and Ottawa should now adopt a more diversified approach to trade, Prime Minister Mark Carney has stated.

The US is Canada’s largest trading partner, accounting for 72% of its exports in 2025, according to Scotiabank.

However, relations between Ottawa and Washington have noticeably soured since Donald Trump assumed office last January, with the US president slapping hefty tariffs on the neighboring nation and routinely referring to Canada as “the 51st state.”

The Canadian prime minister, in turn, has vowed that his country “will never, ever, in any way, shape, or form, be part of the United States.”

In a video address to Canadians on Sunday, Carney said that “many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses - weaknesses that we must correct.” He argued that the “US has changed,” suggesting that it is unlikely that the “good old days will come back.”  (more...)

Canadian PM explains country’s key weakness

The Trump Administration's War on Cuba

 

The Trump Administration’s economic strangulation of Cuba has created unbearable hardships for the population. Medea Benjamin describes what she saw on a recent solidarity delegation and what people can do to break the blockade.

Handala Strikes Back: Steel Giants Foulath and SULB Crippled in Retaliation Cyberattack

 

In the wake of the organized crimes and targeted attacks on the steel factories of the Resistance Axis last week, Handala once again proves that any assault on the Resistance will be met with a severe and unforgettable response.

In a wide-scale and unprecedented cyber operation, the two unrivaled steel giants of the region, Foulath and SULB, located in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, were completely compromised and forced out of operational status.

These two factories, with an annual turnover exceeding $5 billion, a yearly production capacity of 2 million tons of steel, and a workforce of over 2,000 specialists, form the backbone of the Gulf’s economic and industrial infrastructure. Today, these pillars have been brought to their knees by the will of the Resistance, reaffirming that no corner of the enemy’s geography is beyond Handala’s decisive reach.

Never forget, Handala sees everything.

Our shadows hover over your command rooms and decision-making centers, recording every act of betrayal and crime. The fire of our revenge will blaze, sooner or later. No one knows when the moment of collapse for your illusion of security will come.

This cyber operation is both a retaliation for the blood of Handala’s martyred hackers during the Ramadan War and a firm response to the recent crimes against the people of South Lebanon.

We warn all Epsteinist leaders in the region:

This strike is only the beginning of a wave of retribution and demonstrates that Handala’s hand remains on the trigger; no act of treachery will go unanswered, and the age of false security is over.

Handala, the voice of the oppressed and the symbol of justice, will continue on its powerful path.

Today, the steel of the enemy has been broken; tomorrow, it will be the turn of the entire system of corruption and oppression.  (more...)

Handala Strikes Back: Steel Giants Foulath and SULB Crippled in Retaliation Cyberattack

This company used to make weapons for the Nazis. Now it will do the same for Israel

 

Volkswagen is planning to convert one of its factories to produce Iron Dome components

One of Germany’s biggest and most iconic car manufacturers, Volkswagen (VW) and one of Israel’s most well-known arms manufacturers, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, part of the global Rafael Group, are planning to collaborate. If the project is realized, VW will convert one of its German factories in the historic city of Osnabrueck from making automobiles to producing components of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

There are good reasons why this has raised eyebrows. For one thing, it reflects not only VW’s growing problems, but those of Germany’s vital automobile sector and the German economy as a whole. As the Financial Times has noted, the VW-Rafael project would mark “the highest-profile example yet of the German car industry, where profits have plunged,” trying to save itself by entering the “booming defense sector.”

These plunging profits are due to many factors: Chinese competition; Germany’s failure to keep up with cutting-edge technology, communication infrastructure, and business practices; American sabotage by tariff warfare and filching German companies via subsidies; and last but not least, the horrendous energy costs that the entire EU has inflicted on itself by going to war – by Ukrainian proxy and sanctions – against Russia.

The shift to making things for the military, meanwhile, is just a small part of Germany’s breathtakingly misguided response: Namely, a policy of going into massive public debt – under a so-called conservative – to finance a bizarre form of military Keynesianism that is based on illusions (no, Russia is not about to attack), produces self-reinforcing Russophobia (which makes a return to normality even harder), and won’t work as an economic boost, as even the usually government-aligned Spiegel has admitted.

In short, like a prism, the Osnabrueck plan bundles together many of Germany’s worst – and self-inflicted – problems, and the single silliest idea of how to tackle them.  (more...)

This company used to make weapons for the Nazis. Now it will do the same for Israel

Iran BOMBS Amazon, THREATENS US Tech Companies As Trump FLAILS

 

Ryan and Emily discuss Iran bombing Amazon in Bahrain as tech companies are under threat.

Iran Strikes Data Centres: Escalating Cyber Warfare and Corporate Complicity in Zionist/US attack

 

On 1 March 2026, Iranian forces launched drone strikes against Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, coinciding with the first day of intensified regional hostilities following US and Zionist strikes that eliminated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

These operations damaged three facilities: two in the UAE suffered direct hits, igniting fires and forcing power shutdowns, while a Bahrain site sustained structural impact from a nearby drone explosion. AWS confirmed the incidents, noting structural damage, disrupted power delivery, and water-related issues from fire suppression activities, leading to prolonged recovery for affected services.

The strikes triggered widespread outages across banking, payment systems, delivery platforms, and enterprise software throughout the region. Specific impacts included downtime for apps like Uber, Careem, and local banking platforms such as those from Emirates NBD and Bahrain Islamic Bank, with core AWS services like EC2, S3, DynamoDB, Lambda, and RDS experiencing degraded performance or temporary halts, as Fortune details. AWS advised clients to migrate workloads away from the impacted zones (ME-CENTRAL-1 and ME-SOUTH-1 regions), highlighting the cascading effects on Gulf economies heavily reliant on cloud computing.

Analysts view this as a watershed in modern conflict, where commercial data centres transition from civilian assets to strategic military targets due to their role in hosting dual-use AI and intelligence workloads, as Fortune reports. The US military utilises AWS for certain operations, including running Anthropic’s Claude model for intelligence tasks, raising questions about the facilities' dual civilian-military nature. AWS stated in its status update, as Reuters reports: “In the UAE, two of our facilities were directly struck, while in Bahrain, a drone strike in close proximity to one of our facilities caused physical impact to our infrastructure”.

No fatalities occurred, as multiple reports confirm, but the psychological and economic ripple effects proved significant, exposing vulnerabilities in air defence coverage for critical infrastructure.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility through state-affiliated channels, framing the strikes as measured responses to perceived threats. Fars News Agency reported via Telegram that the Bahrain facility was specifically chosen “to identify the role of these centers in supporting the enemy’s military and intelligence activities”.  (more...)

Iran Strikes Data Centres: Escalating Cyber Warfare and Corporate Complicity in Zionist/US attack