{"id":316841,"date":"2026-06-01T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=316841"},"modified":"2026-05-30T12:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T11:50:17","slug":"the-rise-of-the-global-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/06\/the-rise-of-the-global-south\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of the Global South"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Hubris Gargantua – by Mr. Fish<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

28 May 2026\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0The 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 \u2014 which spent tens of billions of dollars sustaining Israel\u2019s genocide \u2014 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<\/a> terminal decline.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s power has been enhanced not only because it \u2014 along with Oman \u2014 controls the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 where roughly 25 percent of the world\u2019s seaborne oil and 20 percent of the world\u2019s seaborne liquified natural gas pass through<\/a> \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u2014 who reportedly<\/a> 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<\/a> the assassination of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a> and other political and military figures, along with<\/a> 168 school children and their teachers \u2014 may strike Iran again. They are desperate. But a renewed bombing of Iran will not work. Iran\u2019s mosaic defense<\/a> strategy ensures all political and military commanders are easily replaced.<\/p>\n

Iran can strangle the world economy by closing the Strait of Hormuz. It can accelerate the pain by getting its Yemeni allies \u2014 Ansar Allah \u2014 to close<\/a> the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea, just as they did<\/a> 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<\/a> five million barrels a day through its pipeline to tankers in the Red Sea port of Yanbu.<\/p>\n

If a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is not reached soon, the global economy will crash, perhaps within weeks. The U.S.<\/a> and its allies, such as Japan<\/a>, have released some of their extensive strategic oil reserves, however they will not be able to cushion markets indefinitely. Stockpiles in America\u2019s Strategic Petroleum Reserve are near their lowest in more than<\/a> 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<\/a> as high as $10 per gallon. This, coupled with shortages of other petroleum-based products, along with nitrogen fertilizer, aluminum, and helium \u2014 an indispensable element in the production<\/a> of MRI machines and semiconductors \u2014 are already shutting down<\/a> vital industries and driving up prices on basic commodities.<\/p>\n

The World Bank projects<\/a> a 31 percent increase in the cost of nitrogen fertilizers alone \u2014 which are produced in the Persian Gulf and transit through the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 if the war continues. This will mean a steep rise in the price of food.<\/p>\n

Trump is like a dog being pushed unwillingly into a crate. When it appears a deal with Iran is close, he snarls and barks, sabotaging the proposed 30-to-60-day ceasefire agreement. Netanyahu\u2019s apoplectic fits about any agreement that would halt Israeli attacks against Lebanon, along with the potential release of some of Iran\u2019s estimated<\/a> $100 billion in frozen assets, spurs Trump\u2019s momentary defiance.<\/p>\n

But the clock is ticking. There is little time left. And the longer Trump waits, the worse it will get. Neither Trump, nor Netanyahu, are the masters of this game. Iran holds the cards.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s dream of formalizing its hegemony over the Middle East, codified in<\/a> the Abraham Accords during Trump\u2019s first term \u2014 which normalized<\/a> relations between Israel and regional states \u2014 is dead. This war and the genocide<\/a> in Gaza killed it.<\/p>\n

Trump is attempting<\/a> to revive them by inserting them into a deal to end the war on Iran. He has demanded<\/a> states previously uninvolved with the Abraham Accords, such as Pakistan and eventually, Iran, sign up to normalize relations with Israel. Pakistan \u2014 the only state to publicly respond \u2014 rejected the invitation due to what it called<\/a> a clash with the country\u2019s \u201cfundamental ideologies.\u201d Every other state Trump appealed to reacted with bewildered silence.<\/p>\n

Iran demands the removal of sanctions and an end to the naval blockade \u2014 which the Central Intelligence Agency concluded<\/a> Iran can endure for months before it experiences severe economic hardship \u2014 in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The proposed agreement makes no mention of Iran\u2019s ballistic missile arsenal, which U.S. military and intelligence officials believe remains at 70 percent pre-war levels, according<\/a> to The New York Times.<\/p>\n

Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar \u2014 a lead negotiator with Hamas \u2014 are the new powerbrokers in the region.<\/p>\n

Pakistan not only signed<\/a> a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia in 2025, it deployed<\/a> troops, jets and air defense systems to the Gulf dictatorship in April. It has also been hosting<\/a> ceasefire talks between Trump\u2019s Dumb and Dumber duo of lead negotiators \u2014 his feckless son-in-law Jared Kushner and fellow real estate developer and golfing partner, Steve Witkoff.<\/p>\n

The war has enhanced the prestige and power of China, which compared to Washington is seen globally as embodying rational, prudent and stable leadership. Iran, in a sign of the new global order, permits<\/a> Chinese and Pakistani tankers, along with other ships not allied with Israel and the U.S., to travel through the Strait.<\/p>\n

Israel, unable to convince the U.S. to do its dirty work of bombing Iran into a failed state, will, I expect, strike out with renewed fury against Gaza, perhaps occupying the remaining<\/a> 30 percent of what is left of the besieged territory. It will continue its Gaza-like policy of turning every structure south of Lebanon\u2019s Litani River into rubble, which it bombs daily despite Iran stating<\/a> that attacks on Lebanon violate the current ceasefire agreement.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s savagery and bluster \u2013 he threatened<\/a> to \u201cblow up\u201d Oman if it fails to \u201cbehave\u201d after reports of Oman jointly charging tolls with Iran for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 cannot mask the impotence of the U.S. The refusal by America\u2019s allies to heed Trump\u2019s call to help him reopen the Strait, along with the economic misery visited on nations struggling to cope with shortages and the rising costs of energy and fertilizer supplies, are stark evidence of Washington\u2019s pariah status.<\/p>\n

Empires, blinded by the myth of their own omnipotence and military superiority, blunder at the final stages into conflicts with little understanding of where they are headed. They alienate their allies. They stumble from one military fiasco to the next, as the U.S. has done for over two decades in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The British Empire in 1956, already in precipitous decline, was humiliated when it conspired with France and Israel to seize the Suez Canal, which Gamal Abdel Nasser had nationalized. The U.S. forced<\/a> all three countries to halt the invasion. Britain\u2019s pound sterling gave way to the petrodollar. It signaled the last chapter of the British Empire.<\/p>\n

The war on Iran is Washington\u2019s Suez Crisis.<\/p>\n

This may not be the end of the American Empire, but it is the beginning of the end.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize\u2013winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for\u00a0<\/em>The New York Times,\u00a0where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief. He previously worked overseas for\u00a0<\/em>The Dallas Morning News,\u00a0The Christian Science Monitor, and<\/em> NPR. He used to be the host of the Emmy Award-nominated <\/em>RT America show\u00a0<\/em>On Contact.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – chrishedges.substack.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28 May 2026\u00a0–\u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":316842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[3143,2642,2846,742,4031,3927,2200,70,2940,481],"class_list":["post-316841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america","tag-anti-hegemony","tag-anti-imperialism","tag-global-south","tag-iran","tag-iran-syndrome","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-us-empire","tag-usa","tag-vietnam-syndrome","tag-warfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316843,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316841\/revisions\/316843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}