Home Page - Towards real democracy and better global governance

Since taking office for the second time, President Donald J.Trump (DJT) continues to make provocative and disruptive pronouncements on a daily basis.¹ His controversial actions are having global repercussions. It remains to be seen as to what the longer term effects of these interventions will be.

The Doomsday clock was reset to 85 seconds before midnight on January 27 2026; the closest to midnight since it was started in 1947.

In order to set the present website context, a timeline of some notable events is listed below.

The massive and unsustainable interest payments on US debt and the enormous US trade imbalance need to be addressed. On April 2 2025 ("Liberation Day") DJT announced sweeping new tariffs on some of the largest US trading partners, saying that the US had been "..pillaged, raped and plundered.." for years by its international trade partners.

An alternative reading of the situation is that in 1971 President Nixon unilaterally ended the gold standard, which seeded a new form of 'global' capitalism and financial speculation. Many corporations, including large US corporates, found it cost effective to shift their manufacturing activities to countries where labour costs and environmental regulations were much lower than those in their home countries. From this perspective it is difficult to view the US as a victim in these developments.

DJT's action caused turmoil on global stock markets as affected US trading partners considered how best to respond. Many other countries also have large debt interest payments. It was estimated that his "big, beautiful bill", signed into law on July 4 2025, will add in excess of three trillion dollars over the next ten years to the already massive federal deficits. Its purpose was primarily to fund US tax cuts and additional spending on border security, defence, and energy production.

Consistent with his "America first" policy, DJT is actually reducing US defence commitments to countries which had hitherto relied upon US backing. This has caused widespread concern and uncertainty as countries have had to review their own defence budgets accordingly. He has even hinted that he might pull out of NATO. At the NATO Summit in 2025 Allies made a commitment to investing 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ² annually on core defence and security related spending, by 2035.

In 12 April 2025 Iran and the US began a series of negotiations aimed at reaching a nuclear peace agreement, following a letter from DJT to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. A 60 day deadline was set by DJT for Iran to reach an agreement. This deadline passed without an agreement and on 13 June 2025 Israel mounted an unexpected attack on Iran, against a background of an ongoing proxy war between Iran and Israel. The main declared justification was to set back Iran's nuclear fuel enrichment programme, which many believe to have gone beyond the level of enrichment necessary for civil nuclear power. Within just over a week of intense missile exchanges between Israel and Iran, the US joined the war on Israel's side and executed "Operation Midnight Hammer" on 22 June; a massive and sophisticated surprise bombing raid on three of Iran's key nuclear sites, which included targeting twelve "bunker-busting" bombs at Fordow.³ This joint Israel/US war against Iran became known as the Twelve Day War.

After two years of Israel pulverising Gaza in response to the original attack on Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023, DJT proposed a 20-point plan in early October 2025 to address the Israel-Gaza war and the broader Middle Eastern crisis. It was endorsed by the United Nations Security Council in November 2025, and his "Board of Peace" was established in January 2026.

In late December 2025 protests erupted in Iran, initially triggered by grievances over its weakening economy, but against a background of decades of repression. It is understood that the economic crisis was in part exacerbated by the reimposition of UN sanctions and tightened EU/US measures in late 2025 following renewed nuclear violations. In addition a range of US-led efforts targeted Iran's "shadow banking" and "shadow fleet" (used to trade oil).

In January 2026 the Iranian authorities cracked down on the "rioters" with unprecedented levels of unlawful force, resulting in mass killings and serious injuries. They also cut internet access to prevent information flow to the outside world. DJT urged protesters to keep going, and that "help is on its way".

Also in January 2026, with the declared rationale of its war on drugs, the US captured the authoritarian Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a military operation in Caracas. DJT announced that the US was "going to run the country, until we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition" of power. It was evident that he also intends to control the country's oil.

DJT declared that he wants the US to acquire Greenland, one way or another, before China or Russia does.

On 6 February 2026 the US and Iran held indirect talks in Oman, mediated by Oman's foreign minister. This first round of renewed talks started amid uncertainty over missing enriched uranium. Iranian government negotiators offered to dilute the 60% uranium stockpile if all sanctions were lifted, while government hardliners criticised the negotiations. Towards the end of the second round on 20 February DJT gave Iran a 10-day ultimatum to reach a deal or else the US would attack Iran. By 26 February during the third round of negotiations, it was reported that both sides were far from reaching a deal.

On 28 February 2026 Israel and the US began a series of strikes against Iran. The US launched "Operation Epic Fury" targeting Iranian command and control infrastructure, drone, missile and radar sites. Israel launched a wave of decapitation strikes, killing the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several high officials and members of his family. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel, US military bases and US-allied Gulf States, and subsequently also civilian infrastructure in those states. Significantly Iran took control of the Strait of Hormuz, which is a major international trading route.

The conflict between the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah and Israel escalated into the 2026 Lebanon war, which has resulted in many civilian deaths and over a million people displaced.

By early April 2026, despite frequent claims by DJT about the extent of wipeout of Iran's military capability, the regime was still functioning, and still launching drones and ballistic missiles aimed at targets in Israel and several Gulf states. It was also still controlling the flow of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which continued to wreak havoc on the financial markets, particularly affecting oil and gas prices. The supply of fertiliser and other important commodities normally shipped through this route was also being affected.

A two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran was brokered by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif. High level talks were held in Islamabad between 11 and 12 April to stabilise the ceasefire and negotiate a potential resolution to the war. No agreement was reached, as significant sticking points remained on both sides, including the status of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear programme. No "memorandum of understanding (MoU)" was issued. Another controversy was whether Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon were included in the ceasefire. It comes as no surprise that the main sticking points reflect the incompatible requirements of the hardliner factions within the US, Israel, Hezbollah, and Iran leaderships.

On April 12 2026 Hungarian prime minister for 16 years, Viktor Orbán, lost the general election spectacularly to Péter Magyar after a record breaking voter turnout. Magyar's party Tisza now has a two thirds parliamentary majority. ⁴

DJT announced that on 13 April the US navy would commence a naval blockade of Iran's ports in the Strait of Hormuz. On 16 April he announced that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a ten-day ceasefire. He has asserted that Israel would not attack Hezbollah during this ceasefile, and that Iran had agreed to allow the US to physically remove all the enriched uranium dust from Iran. Also that Iran has removed its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, although the US blockade would remain until a deal is completed. Different views about the status of some of these assertions are also being reported.

Many people who were forced to flee from their homes in Lebanon during the 2026 Israeli attacks are desparately trying to return while the ceasefire holds. Their journeys are fraught by severely damaged roads and infrastructure, and they also face the dangers of unexploded ordnance within the rubble.

Russia's war on Ukraine continues, as do other wars such as in Sudan, which are less in the media spotlight.

In order to make sense of what is going on, we depend more than ever on trusted and experienced political analysts who are able to take a long term perspective. For example: ^ccc,^esup,^fr, ^fotw

^ccc  [Tchakarova, 2026b]^[Bibl] Stop Calling it World War III. It Isn't. The Iran War is a Cold War 2.0 Flashpoint and Understanding the Difference Matters.

This article is particularly topical at the time of writing when some of the consequences of "corridor control" are becoming plain for all to see.

^esup  [Tchakarova, 2026a]^[Bibl] The Hard Geopolitical Truths No One Wants to Hear in Europe.

^fr  [Ahmed, 2025]^[Bibl] Alt Reich: The Network War to Destroy the West from Within.

^fotw  [Hagger, 2022]^[Bibl] The Fall of the West: A Warning to the Western World.

Notes

¹ It is becoming increasingly difficult to know what to believe in this era of fake news, semantic inversion, and AI-generated fake videos, "recordings" and images. "Truth Social" may be an oxymoron, but the words have to be taken seriously because they come directly from the President of the United States.

Arrogance and semantic inversion^[PS]

²  The acronym GDP is another very commonly used term, but many people are not aware of the anomalies present in its make-up.

³  Iran's most strategically important and heavily protected uranium enrichment facility is at Fordow, which is set deep within a mountain, and only the US has the weapons capability to attempt to disable it.

⁴  Might this dramatic electoral result reflect an increased public awareness of the downsides of far right politics, and mark the beginning of a shift back towards democracy and away from a general global trend towards increased autocracy?

The most serious global predicaments/ problems are human-caused. They are created either directly, or indirectly, by those controlling the status quo.

History shows time and again that weapons proliferation, war, and conflict are not the way to secure and sustain peace. To risk the potential deployment of weapons of mass destruction is insane. Unfortunately those in power invariably choose to exert control through force rather than co-operate through diplomacy.

At this stage of human evolution we can only hope that the political and economic élites who control the 'superpowers' will somehow restrain their inclinations to resort to devastating force to settle their differences. Since, in effect, the term 'superpower' refers to a political entity which could deploy the most destructive weapons, we still have a long way to go.

The human suffering and devastation caused by wars continue long after the wars have ended. If or when reconstruction starts in Gaza, for example, it is to be expected that more bodies, and unexploded ordnance, will be uncovered. Decades after the Vietnam war, unexploded munitions continue to cause deaths, injuries and hinder development. At the current rate of progress in that country, it is estimated that it could take a century or more to clear. How long in the case of Gaza?

Somehow our leaders need to be persuaded to co-operate peacefully towards developing a fit-for-purpose system of global governance; a system which views nation-states as populations of fellow human-beings, and not as rival-economies separated by borders to be played by those with vested interests (TwVI).

These days meaningful democracy has become so corrupted and compromised that many people - and unfortunately this now includes many young people - actually appear to believe that their interests might be better served by more dictatorial regimes. The general trend in nation-state politics appears to be moving away from genuine democracy towards more autocracy^dg, often by means of far right campaigns.

A political spectrum map can help visualise shifting trends in nation-state politics. Some of the prerequisites for a better type of global governance system and leadership might be inferred by considering the broad characteristics of political systems, ranging from the polarities of the political spectrum: left to right, and from democracy (free) to totalitarianism/ dictatorship (unfree). Some relevant links are listed below.

Home for most people is ideally within a nation-state, with shared socio-cultural roots and values. But the present nation-state geopolitical/geoeconomic structure is part of the problem. National governments inevitably prioritise citizens within their jurisdiction over those in other nations, while global markets promote commercial rivalries between states, under the guise of promoting healthy competition. A nation-state mentality can feed disputes and tend to drive a "them and us" mindset. History has demonstrated that institutionalised religion can also fuel divisions between people.

The conventional wisdom, epitomised by the familiar phrase "survival of the fittest", seems to vindicate the actions of the state in maintaining law and order. But in times of war we have all seen that war crimes proliferate, and that ordinary citizens suffer appallingly. Those "over the border" are viewed as enemies; and not as human beings who just want to live in peace. Instead war creates more ruined lives, more dead bodies, more heaps of rubble, and more hatred and vengefulness.

The killing of innocents by an aggressor is recognised as morally wrong, and even in war is regarded as a violation of international law, whether it is carried out by rebel groups or by a nation-state military command. A major problem with rebel groups is identifying the extent to which they represent their fellow countrymen and women, versus whether they act on behalf of another nation-state. It seems to suit warring factions to deliberately so muddy the waters. Groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas tend to become embedded in the local political system, even operating as a political party with some local autonomy. Inevitably therefore, in the case of a proxy war, rebel group actions are treated by the other side as being on behalf of supporters from outside the country. Innocent civilians are in effect used as human shields by the proxy group, and many get killed or displaced.^ivh

In this increasingly multi-polar world, there seems to be little evidence that our leaders ever pause to consider where all this aggression is taking us all. A less well publicised insight of Darwin, which informs an emergent materialist natural science perspective on altruism, is that: "selfish individuals might out-compete altruists within groups, but internally altruistic groups out-compete selfish groups". ^tmoe This perspective provides a larger context for a common humanity; which is at the core of all genuine spiritual teachings. In the words of the well known song; "love is all we need".

Notes and updates

^ivh This is happening at the time of writing as Israel continues to pulverise Lebanon, in order to eliminate Hezbollah, which it regards as an Iranian-backed proxy group.

^tmoe Two modes of existence^[MC]

An ultimately fundamental inconvenient truth is that we all live in a shared biosphere. The implications of this fact are never given sufficient priority by those with vested interests (TwVI). If the necessary political action keeps being deferred, we are heading for a climate catastrophe. By which time it will be too late.

The habitability of the planet is entering a critical phase. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office (UNHCR) has estimated that by mid 2024 there were over 120 million forcibly displaced citizens across the world. The UNHCR projects that by 2050 the number will be over 1 billion. This situation ought to be widely recognised as deeply shocking, given that the displacements are human-caused; largely due to war and conflict, climate change-related events, and poverty.

Governments may accept "economic migrants" to make up for employment shortfalls; at their discretion and on the terms of the respective nation-states. But the "immigration of illegals" is viewed very differently; as witnessed by the response of many leaders in the US, Europe, and in the UK. It is understandable that this has become a hot political issue because, as with unsustainable nation-state debt, it publicly reflects the beginning of a breakdown in the established world order.

The actions of DJT since he took office for the second time are likely to increase global inflation. This will devalue the cost of historic sovereign debt,^wosd but will also depress the prospects for economic growth. The ongoing dilemma for central banks regarding their main control lever of interest rates further exposes the difficulties of dealing with global problems within a nation-state system.

The adverse consequences of decades of cumulative cost externalities ^cext are becoming increasingly apparent; for example, human-caused climate change, and plastic pollution of the oceans. This is highly visible evidence that the prevailing dominant policy of overconsumptive environmentally unsustainable economic growth, on a finite planet, is not a fit-for-purpose governance concept.

All this poses a headache for the authorities. Progress towards solutions remains stalled in a general paralysis of denial, which is exacerbated by the straitjacket of global market competition between nation-states, and of the monetary system. During financial crises the default excuse for propping up the central banks is that they are "too big to (be allowed to) fail". Now it seems that the systemic dysfunction is just "too big a task to change".

Notes and updates

^wosd The agenda of global élites^[PS]

^cext Cost externalities are the unwanted side effects of providing a product or service which are intentionally ignored by the provider in order to maximise (their) profits.

Cost externalisation^[PS]

The present state of the world provides undeniable evidence of serious dysfunction in global governance. To avert global catastrophe we all need to wake up and collaborate before it is too late.

For decades, countless initiatives by dedicated concerned citizens and activists to move towards a more humane and environmentally sustainable type of governance structure have been persistently blocked by 'the authorities' - even including key recommendations from major UN Summits. This is extremely frustrating for all but the blockers, and must be absolutely devastating for those whose lives are ruined by the adverse consequences of ongoing failed governance.

In general, anything which increases regulation, to the detriment of short term profit, is strongly resisted by

.

The analysis described on this website argues that those controlling and implementing the Big 3 aspects of the prevailing governance system - whether directly or indirectly - are effectively responsible for all the major global human-caused problems affecting the habitability of the planet. Those of us who are overconsuming must also share some personal responsibility.

The present state of affairs has arisen from the following Big 3 political, economic and financial mandates.^pef

Whether we are considering global security - which includes global warming and climate change, public health, Artificial Intelligence (AI), or indeed any of the major human-caused global problems, the Big 3 are at the core of the dysfunction which needs to be fixed. Reform of the Big 3 must therefore be regarded as integral to any future developments in global governance if these major problems are ever to be reduced.

Much is expected from the UN. But as already mentioned, many previous UN recommendations have been blocked by

, as have many excellent citizen-initiatives. In general the UN has been inadequately funded by 'the authorities', and has been unable to realise its many important and commendable aspirations and goals, or achieve the prevention of so many of the world's problems.

With the current economic and monetary system, in the end, citizens pay for everything; either as taxpayers, customers, or as donors. And any of us could be paying in terms of suffering the adverse consequences of cumulative cost externalities inherent within this system; depending upon our circumstances.

Reasonably well-off citizens can influence the status quo; subject to the prevailing Big 3 rules. For example when society decided that slavery must be abolished, compensation had to be paid to the slave owners. In a similar vein a recent manifestation of steadily increasing legislative oppression called 'Corporate courts'- also known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) - allows large corporations which face increased regulation to sue governments for compensation for future lost profits.

Such evolutionary trends in corporate law, together with inadequately regulated AI, the surveillance society plus increasing control of citizens, are important reasons for necessary citizen-engagement and vigilance. Citizens in turn need to monitor the actions of 'the authorities' to hold them to account for both legal and non-binding commitments made, for example regarding EU Climate Law, and the COP Paris Agreement.

Wider citizen recognition that Big 3 dysfunctionality lies at the root of all the major human-caused global problems would provide common ground for single issue campaigns, which might otherwise have limited impact.

Reform of the Big 3 is necessary in order to begin to tackle the major human-caused global problems. But this will take years.

We do not have years to tackle the most pressing global problems. If we don't get on with addressing these, it will be too late.

To wait any longer for the authorities to halt further global warming, without us doing what we can, could be potentially catastrophic.

So we - all concerned citizens who care about the way the world is going - must focus on doing what we can to help safeguard the habitability of the planet. Most of us could do more to practically engage in relevant lifestyle changes and/or citizen action.^ifca

It is evident that even to persuade those of us who overconsume to become 'citizen-reducers' meets with great resistance. Overconsumers who do not want to get involved in citizen action themselves might however be prepared to provide some independent funding support for relevant citizen action projects.

Those who feel disempowered by TwVI and their ilk really need to consider participating in constructive and peaceful activities which could lead towards progressive reform of the

.

Notwithstanding the history of total intransigence by the status quo, and the ongoing erosion of democracy and consequential disempowerment of activists everywhere, new Citizens' Assemblies are evolving acround the world. They are tackling a variety of issues which concern them, and are proving inspirational. In 2021 at COP26 the first online Global Citizens' Assembly was launched, marking a shift in the way global governance is conducted. Behind the scenes work is continuing, and a permanent Global Citizens' Assembly - now called Citizens' Track - was launched in 2025 at COP30.^ct This will give citizens a voice on the governance of global issues such as global warming and climate change, public health, and AI.^lbf

Citizens' Assemblies and the Citizens' Track offer a promising way forward. However independent sources of funding will be essential to support such citizen action, and the wide range of pilot studies needed to seed developments towards a fit-for-purpose global governance system. Several examples of such pilot studies are outlined on this website. One of these studies considers the political implications of a mandatory internalisation of all costs (MIAC) based economy.

For the sake of all life on the planet, we have to hope that the life-priorities of enough capable individuals might be mustered to facilitate change in the right direction, before it is too late.

But will we act? And in time?

A good start might be to acknowledge that (1) the global consequences of corridor control conflicts, such as the 2026 Strait of Hormuz chokepoint situation, and (2) the increased risk of catastrophic degradation of the habitability of our planet, are all significantly increased by our ongoing overdependence on fossil fuels.

Although DJT would not agree, it would be a win:win step in the right direction if considerably more of us took active steps towards transitioning to using renewable energy sources, and to more mindful and efficient use of energy in general.

Evolving global context, as reported in the western media

Summary of core website thesis