Author: Nandita Lal

This author has written 11 articles

Trump’s Iran war plunges the Global South into a state of siege

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  • Post last modified:14 July 2026
Trump’s Iran war plunges the Global South into a state of siege

In a scathing new report, the International Development Economics Associates Limited (IDEAs) has documented the heavy toll Global South continues to pay for a war it did not create — as corporations cash in. The report describes a state of siege across the Global South region, with countries facing mounting economic pressure as the fallout from the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran spreads. Global South picks up the tab The report stated that operations of Epic Fury waged by the US, and Roaring Lion waged by the colonial-settler state Israel have led to substantial hardship for countries throughout the global…

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Critical minerals deals give a massive boost to Trump’s cronies

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  • Post last modified:11 July 2026
Critical minerals deals give a massive boost to Trump’s cronies

Trump is synonymous with the grift. He is grifting on critical minerals deals too, unsurprisingly. Incoming reports show that the administration’s push to secure these resources has become a family-and-friends cash cow. Trump’s sons and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s children are especially positioned to profit from billion dollar deals. Cantor Fitzgerald — led by Lutnick for more than 30 years before he handed ownership to his children after becoming Trump’s Commerce Secretary — is all over these deals. Critical minerals: Hottest cash cow The New York Times (NYT) reported that the Trump administration has provided, or is considering providing more than…

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China has saved the global oil market amid Trump’s war on Iran

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  • Post last modified:9 July 2026
China has saved the global oil market amid Trump’s war on Iran

A prominent oil analyst has claimed that China’s dramatic reduction in crude oil imports since the US/Israel war of choice on Iran helped prevent a full-blown global energy shock. Real demand for oil plateauing in China In an interview with German DW, oil analyst Rory Johnston said: Chinese crude oil imports fell by roughly 40- 45%, roughly 5 million barrels a day from pre-war levels to the levels we saw average through June. That is gargantuan. That is a larger shift than the entirety of the world’s SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserves) releases combined. According to Reuters, since the unprovoked war on…

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Palantir is feeling heat from the NHS, but will lobbied politicians listen?

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  • Post last modified:8 July 2026
Palantir is feeling heat from the NHS, but will lobbied politicians listen?

Lib Dem MP Martin Wrigley told the Canary last week that the NHS will consider whether to exit its contract with Palantir at the end of this year. Wrigley added that he would be helping to create an “off-ramp” to help the NHS detach from Palantir. In 2023, Palantir was awarded the £330 million NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) contract, covering up to 240 NHS bodies over seven years. The initial term ends in February 2027 and promises to deliver an integrated system where NHS organisations, up to 240 health bodies, can share operational data. Palantir’s NHS sales pitch Palantir clients…

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Blunted? Even the Wall Street Journal admits the US’s favourite weapon is rusting

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  • Post last modified:26 June 2026
Blunted? Even the Wall Street Journal admits the US’s favourite weapon is rusting

The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) latest feature on how American sanctions on Iran failed because China built a yuan-powered workaround will be a difficult read for Atlanticists. China has built up international trade in the yuan, giving Iran and Russia a way to evade sanctions https://t.co/EviGCVtlXW — The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) June 24, 2026 The piece falls shy of praising China’s financial system, which it says is aimed at weakening Washington’s power to dictate world affairs. The failure of the US’s Economic Fury is explained by WSJ as: “…… in late April when the U.S. escalated its “Economic Fury” campaign against…

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Israel steps up witch-hunt targeting pro-Palestine voices

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  • Post last modified:21 June 2026
Israel steps up witch-hunt targeting pro-Palestine voices

From Fatou Bensouda, a former International Criminal Court prosecutor, to UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese, sanctioned by the Trump administration. There are also Palestinian human rights workers killed in Israeli airstrikes. An Al Jazeera investigation finds US and Israeli retaliation spans from from the courtroom to the incinerated streets of Gaza. Al Jazeera has once against exposed tactics of thuggery by the US-Israel axis against pro-Palestine voices. Their targets include Palestinian fieldworkers on the ground. Furthermore, they include the highest international courts, including the > Gaza at risk of becoming graveyard of international law In January 2025, Ihab Marwan Kamal Faisal, a 33-year-old colleague…

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Musk’s SpaceX, like the U.S. military, is stranded by critical minerals

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  • Post last modified:17 June 2026
Musk’s SpaceX, like the U.S. military, is stranded by critical minerals

The world’s richest man’s new company — SpaceX — may have counted many a chicken before they hatched. China’s chokehold on solar cells and equipment, tungsten, indium, yttrium, and other critical materials should cast doubt on the prowess of American industry, defence and SpaceX alike. The Washington Post’s recent report on the stalled SpaceX-Suzhou Maxwell negotiations shows that all is not well behind the showmanship of American industrial power under Trump and Musk. China is quietly expanding its export control regime against the U.S. and American allies, reaching beyond rare earth minerals to pinch choke points that affect key U.S. industries,…

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“Drill, baby, drill’ backfires: Trump’s illegal war may trigger permanent shift away from oil

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  • Post last modified:12 June 2026
“Drill, baby, drill’ backfires: Trump’s illegal war may trigger permanent shift away from oil

US oil exports are surging as Saudi and Russian exports are disrupted by US-led wars and sanctions — but, there is a big ‘but’ here, the true and permanent winner of Trump’s Iran war might be China’s clean-tech industry. Exports of Chinese-made solar cells hit 1.7bn units in March, a record high for a single month, the Financial Times reported. Trump’s Iran war has propelled China’s cleantech industry https://t.co/cme8pBMfew — Financial Times (@FT) June 11, 2026 Demand in March and April was led by Southeast Asia and Africa, highlighting “how swaths of the oil-dependent developing world have emerged as key markets…

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Let’s explore why central bankers’ top reserve asset is not US debt anymore

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  • Post last modified:9 June 2026
Let’s explore why central bankers’ top reserve asset is not US debt anymore

Globally, central banks now hold 27% of their reserve assets in gold, surpassing US dollar Treasuries at 22%, and just a year ago this was 20% gold versus 25% Treasuries, according to the latest report by the European Central Bank. In 2023, gold’s share was just 16%. Since the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, China has purchased over 350 tonnes of gold, followed by Poland (320 tonnes), Türkiye (220 tonnes) and India (130 tonnes), according to the ECB, as geopolitical tensions continued to drive strong central bank demand for gold. According to the FT: The shifting composition of reserve assets — highly…

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Chevron CEO shrugs off Hormuz toll, but can he really?

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  • Post last modified:9 June 2026
Chevron CEO shrugs off Hormuz toll, but can he really?

Chevron CEO, Mike Wirth, who is the money behind Donald Trump, said his company would not pay a toll to enter the Strait of Hormuz, claiming it is “international waters”. Trump recently threatened to blow up Oman if it, along with Iran, were to charge a toll on the ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Alongside Wirth, Trump also alleged the strait is international waters. The question is: do these Americans really have a choice? Chevron has six vessels under charter in the strait Iran has said: The process of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz by Iran is…

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Hindutva’s red carpet to US tech is an own goal

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  • Post last modified:8 June 2026
Hindutva’s red carpet to US tech is an own goal

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau recently said the quiet part out loud, stating that the US will not let India develop like China. Landau’s remarks are honest about what the USA sees India as: a periphery country, needed to extract profits from by exploiting its low wages, decimating its environment, and plundering its resources. This is similar to how Britain, in 1947, used the sterling balances negotiations to restrict India’s industrial development. Though Britain owed India over £1 billion from World War II, Whitehall froze these funds. Britain leveraged “informational asymmetries while Indian sovereignties were in flux,” which ensured…

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