The Lead
Humanity Depends on Understanding: Reality and Morality Go Together
by Marcia Merry Baker (EIRNS) — May. 05, 2026
The President of the United States and three of the country’s top leaders, speaking in the last 24 hours, all put forward uniform updates on the status of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, all unreal and all immoral. No surprise, given that this same government last week hosted the King of England, whose unreal message to America was the equivalent of asserting, “Snow is black.” He said, the British Empire was in solidarity with the U.S. revolutionaries, in their war of independence!
This morning, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine at a Pentagon briefing, then President Trump at the White House later, then still later Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House, all recited the same narratives about the United States against Iran. In brief: The U.S. started “Project Freedom” May 4 for controlling Strait of Hormuz navigation, as separate from, and a successor to, Epic Fury, because these military operations are U.S. gifts to the world. They recited how Iran has committed crimes for 47 years. This year the Tehran government killed 40,000 of its own people. No waterway in the world is safe without the success of the U.S. Project Freedom, they stressed. Nations must endorse a new draft resolution condemning Iran, which the U.S. is preparing for the UN Security Council. And so on.
The whopper delusion came from CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper on May 4, praising Project Freedom: “Over the past 12 hours, we’ve reached out to dozens of ships and shipping companies to encourage traffic flow through the Strait. This news has been quite enthusiastically received, and we’re already beginning to see movement.” Hegseth this morning reported that shippers and insurers were happy.
Just the opposite. Check out the shipping news headlines today. “Trump Hormuz Order Fails To Drop Shipping Risk” (Argus), “Hapag-Lloyd Holds Its Ships Back Despite Trump Pledge…” (ShippingWatch). A total of two cargo ships have gone through the Strait in the last 30 hours.
Nevertheless, Hegseth declared that there is now a successful U.S. “red, white, and blue bubble of protection” over the Strait. Trump said today that, if Iran so much as fires a “peashooter” at U.S. forces, it will be hit by the navy “of the hottest country anywhere in the world.”
In line with this approach of lies and might-makes-right depravity, there are unfortunately similar deluded, militaristic initiatives underway elsewhere in the world. In the western Pacific this week, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi have been on a multi-nation tour to pump up hostility against China, including in the name of freedom of navigation, especially in the South China Sea. They visited, together or separately, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. In the Baltic Sea, the demand for interdiction of Russian-associated shipping was furthered yesterday at a meeting in Warsaw of ministers of the nine-nation Council of the Baltic Sea States. Sweden’s Coast Guard yesterday interdicted a vessel it termed a shadow-fleet carrier for Russia, Sweden’s fifth such interdiction in recent months.
The physical economic side of this grim picture is that of worsening chaos and deprivation. Starting early in March in Southeast Asia, millions of people have been put on a short work week, for lack of fuel for transportation, or they are out of work altogether as factories shut down for lack of inputs. This scene is now spreading widely. The shortage of jet fuel—estimated to be down 40% in annual volume—is just the most dramatic aspect of the general plunge in necessities.
There are positive economic and diplomatic initiatives underway. As of May 1, China resumed shipping certain fuels for export, having embargoed any fuel exports since March 11, to conserve supplies for domestic use, given the Strait of Hormuz blockade. China intends to make 500,000 metric tons available for export during the month of May.
The world situation of fertilizer is dire. Extensive agriculture areas—especially in Africa—have soils whose fertility is low, for lack of farmers having had resources to upgrade them, so crop yields will be automatically down significantly if farmers go without any fertilizer application this season. The African Union will host an online meeting May 20-22 on the fertilizer and food system emergency, to coordinate at top government level, continent-wide, in every way possible to deal with the situation.
Diplomatically, there are initiatives. Today, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left for China, where on May 6 in Beijing he will meet with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and others. Araghchi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on April 27. There was also a phone call today between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Iran, China, and Russia are co-members of the BRICS, which is, whatever the internal frictions, still part of the configuration of nations of the Global Majority seeking common benefit in economic and security arrangements.
These latter initiatives are based on reality and morality, the context for the emergency dialogue and action underway in the process of weekly gatherings of the International Peace Coalition. In addition to this week’s May 8 IPC meeting, the 153rd such consecutive forum, the May 15 meeting is tentatively scheduled to be part of a special EIR News Roundtable on the current world strategic emergency. Expect an invitation soon.
Contents
Strategic War Danger
- ‘Project Freedom’— Blaming Iran for What Trump Started (↓)
- Japanese Prime Minister and Defense Minister on Asian Tour, Pumping Hostility against China (↓)
- Israel Has Seized 60% of Gaza Strip (↓)
U.S. and Canada
- Trump Administration Unleashes Frontal Destabilization of Mexico's Government (↓)
- Mexican Farmers Front Denounces Dope, Inc.'s Destabilization of Mexico (↓)
- 30 Congress Members Demand Exposure of Israel's Nuclear Weapons Program (↓)
New World Paradigm
- Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi Will Visit Beijing May 6 (↓)
- Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rubio Spoke by Phone Today (↓)
Collapsing Imperial System
- African Union To Hold Meeting on Fertilizer and Food System Emergency (↓)
- Slovakia’s Fico Will Not Attend Victory Day Parade While in Moscow (↓)
Harley Schlanger Update
Watch The Daily Update with Harley Schlanger, a short video update available every weekday morning from The LaRouche Organization.
