2026 Global Favorability Flips: China Overtakes US | Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center's "Spring 2026 Global Attitudes Survey" marks a clear inflection point. As stated in its July 15 report: "Views of China have improved in recent years while opinions of the US have worsened, to the point where China is now seen more positively than the US in most of 36 countries surveyed." Across the 20 countries tracked every year since 2023, the median favorable rating of the United States has fallen to 36 percent while China's has risen to 46 percent. The survey of 42,151 adults, conducted February 8–May 13, 2026, shows the reversal is no longer marginal.

 

2026 Updated Scatter Plot – Key Changes from Spring 2025: The Spring 2026 data shows a clear structural shift: The Top-Left "pro-US / negative China" cluster has shrunk. It is now mainly limited to Israel (still very high US favorability), Japan (China only 11%), South Korea, India, and Poland. The Bottom-Right "pro-China / negative or lower US" cluster has expanded dramatically and is now the dominant zone. Canada (China 44% / US 33%) and Mexico (China 59% / US 40%) have fully crossed into this quadrant. Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan (near 90% China), and many middle-income countries sit firmly here. A large group of European and other high-income countries have drifted downward (lower US) and rightward (higher China), filling the lower-middle and bottom-right areas. The old US-centric top-left concentration has eroded, while the pro-China bottom-right has become the new gravitational center of global public opinion.

A scatter of national favorability ratings now places the large majority of countries in the zone where China outranks the United States. The extremes are stark. In Pakistan, 90 percent hold a favorable view of China—a staggering +75-point advantage over the United States. Malaysia posts a +56-point gap, Indonesia +48, and several other Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern publics show double-digit leads for China. At the opposite extreme, only 11 percent of Japanese adults view China favorably. The United States retains a clear edge in just six countries: India, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Israel (where 81 percent rate the US favorably), and Poland.

 You can choose your friends, not your neighbors.

The shift is driven by simultaneous movements in both directions. Pew notes that "China being assessed more positively than the US is a relatively recent shift in most countries surveyed. This reversal in favorability is often driven by shifting views of both superpowers: improving views of China coupled with worsening views of the US" Canada offers one of the cleanest illustrations: "a majority of Canadians (57%) had a positive view of the US in 2023, while 14% viewed China positively. In 2025, Canadians were equally favorable toward the US and China. Now, more Canadians have a favorable view of China (44%) than the US (33%)." Parallel reversals appear across much of Europe and Latin America. Americans' nearest neighbors—Canadians and Mexicans—"also view China more positively than the US." 

 

How people in 36 countries view the US and China
(5 who have favorable opinion of ...).

 

In many countries, the US-China favorability gap has reversed. 

Regional and demographic patterns sharpen the picture. Views of China are closely linked to national income: people in middle-income countries across Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of South and Southeast Asia tend to hold far more positive opinions, while those in high-income European and East Asian nations remain more skeptical. Within the Asia-Pacific region itself the contrast is extreme—nine-in-ten Pakistanis see China favorably, compared with just 11 percent of Japanese adults. In Latin America, several publics that once clearly preferred the United States are now evenly split or lean toward China.

 

CNN: Global opinion for the US plummets by 79% since it

began its war on Iran. Only country hated more is Israel.  

 

Age divides reinforce the longer-term momentum. In nearly every country surveyed, adults under 35 express significantly more favorable views of China than those over 50. Even inside the United States, younger Americans are markedly less likely to hold "very unfavorable" opinions of China than the oldest generation. The generational gap appears consistently across high-income and middle-income publics alike, suggesting the current shift may deepen rather than reverse.

 
Confidence in the two presidents tracks the same regional and demographic contours. "While many people still lack confidence in Xi, positive views of him have become more widespread, and more overall now say they have confidence in Xi than in Trump." Across the continuously tracked countries, median confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping now exceeds that in US President Donald Trump. In most European nations, Xi leads Trump by double-digit margins even though absolute confidence remains modest—the highest reading for Xi is just 37 percent in the United Kingdom. In Mexico the disparity is especially sharp: confidence in Trump sits near single digits while confidence in Xi is several times higher. Trump retains an edge mainly among China's immediate neighbors—India, Japan, and the Philippines.

 

POTUS 47—Wrecking Ball to the Empire.

 

In middle-income countries the contrast on foreign-policy roles is sharper still. "People in 17 middle-income countries raise more concerns about the United States' foreign policy than China's. A median of 75% say that the US interferes in the affairs of other countries a great deal or a fair amount, while 45% say the same of China. In nearly every country surveyed, more people see the US as an interferer than China." South Africa illustrates the practical consequence: 72 percent call China a reliable partner versus 46 percent for the United States, and the share saying China contributes to peace and stability has risen from 47 percent in 2023 to 64 percent in 2026. In Pakistan the reliability gap reaches 84 percent for China versus 36 percent for the United States; in the Philippines the reverse holds (81 percent versus 42 percent).

 
One residual American advantage remains on personal freedoms. "More say the US government respects the personal freedoms of its people than say the same of the Chinese government." Yet the gap is closing rapidly. "People in nearly every country surveyed have become less likely to say the US government respects its people's personal freedoms" since 2021. In Sweden the figure has plunged from 61 percent to 27 percent; drops of 25 points or more also registered in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Spain. In Mexico the numbers have already flipped: roughly one-third say China respects personal freedoms while only 20 percent say the same of the United States.

 

» The reversal is no longer marginal. «

 

While "fortresses" of pro-American sentiment remain—Israel, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, India, and Poland—the Spring 2026 data show a world that has moved decisively from a US-led consensus toward a more fragmented reality. China's economic and diplomatic influence is increasingly welcomed, especially in middle-income regions and among younger cohorts. The extremes of the favorability map now run from 90 percent positive in Pakistan to 11 percent in Japan, with the United States holding majority favorability in only a handful of places.

 

Reference:
Pew Research Center (July 15, 2026) - People in many countries now view China more positively than the US.
Pew Research Center (July 15, 2026) - Views of China and Xi Are Improving Globally. 
Pew Research Center (June 23, 2026) - Trump Gets Negative Reviews Internationally as Fewer Say US Is a Reliable Partner.

See also:

Pew Research Center (July 15, 2025) - Views of the US have worsened while opinions of China have improved.

Iran's Methodical Gutting of US Power in West Asia | Pepe Escobar

The ways Iran is dismantling the entire American military ecosystem across West Asia with an extremely disciplined strategy are something to behold. The whole CENTCOM support infrastructure is devastatingly fair game: from costly early warning radars to full air defense systems; from hangars to logistics hubs; from fuel and ammunition storage to forward operating bases; from naval and maritime surveillance assets to intel collection and communications nodes. [...] Iran knows where everything is located—to the millimeter. No need to go for flashy photo ops, Shock'n Awe-style, monopolizing the news cycle. What matters is the Chinese torture of steadily degrading the enemy's capabilities; the strategy is painfully methodical and painfully precise.

 

» Hitting one of those sitting ducks is being kept for the appropriate time. «

   

[...] The Iranian Way of War is a sophisticated mix that may eventually be studied in Western military academies. All logically interconnected—from destruction of enemy support infrastructure to steady degradation of intel, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities; from attrition of air defense and interceptor inventories to widespread disruption of logistics. And all that is supremely cost-effective—but certainly not for the attacking Empire, as every malfunctioning Patriot costs millions of dollars and simply cannot defend scores of different locations simultaneously.

» Iranian Way of War may eventually be studied in Western military academies. «

 

[...] In the bigger picture, the Russia-China-Iran interlocking strategic Eurasia partnerships remain in full effect. That's Russia-China in practice supporting the Axis of Resistance. Iran uses the Russian Murmansk system—inexorably jamming GPS and blinding US/Israeli missiles. Iran also uses Chinese BeiDou—the equivalent of GPS, unjammable by the Americans and rendering precision to the centimeter to Iranian missiles and drones. And Iran uses the Russian Kometa: electronic chips equipping missiles and drones wreaking havoc on American electronic warfare.

 

» Just check the satellite images. «

 

In a nutshell: this is how a systematic degradation of the whole regional architecture that allows the US and its vassals to project military power across West Asia looks. Played out in front of the whole Global South. The manual is available for all, live, in real time. [...] Iran's precision, restraint, and reach are shutting up the whole vociferating spectacle emanating from the Empire of Narratives, as Iranian missiles and drones relentlessly strike fighter jets, Black Hawks, data centers, logistics depots, power plants—and more.

Desperate Zionist jingoism.

 

The Global South just needs to check the satellite images of proverbial craters across Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE. And Iran hasn't even started yet. Were Iran to obliterate Qatar’s remaining LNG trains, that would leave most of the planet with no LNG from Doha for at least a decade—not to mention the helium for making microchips.

 

Hello, ground invasion: Iran to receive QW-12 and FN-16 MANPADS from China.

The massive humiliation of hitting and disabling one of those multibillion-dollar sitting ducks is being kept for the appropriate time. And as everyone knows, Iran runs the clock, and time is on its side. None of that, of course, minimizes the risks of the escalation ladder; and we are still in the middle of what could become the Mother of All Escalation Ladders.

Quoted from:
Pepe Escobar (July 29, 2026) - The deaf, dumb and blind Empire of Piracy. 

 

Lose Hormuz, Lose the Dollar, Lose Hegemony: Game Over | Jeffrey Currie

Jeffrey Currie, former Goldman Sachs head of commodities and a lifelong insider of the dollar system, defines the one red line America cannot cross: handing control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran is not a tactical retreat; it is the formal end of the US as a global hegemon and the death of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

For the Epstein class, the only acceptable Iran is one

that caves in to the hegemon and its dollar scheme.

In 1945, the US made a deal the world still lives under: it would control every major shipping lane with its navy, and in return, the world would use the dollar and recycle capital through New York. Oil was the strategic commodity that made the bargain stick. After Nixon broke the gold standard in 1971, that same arrangement evolved into the petrodollar system that still funds American living standards today.
 

» Give Iran the Strait, and the dollar dies. « 

If the US walks away and allows Iran and Oman to manage the Strait under any fee structure, the rest of the world will see that the big-stick policeman has quit. Every other chokepoint on earth immediately becomes fair game. The Fifth Fleet would then need Iranian permission to enter or leave its own base in Bahrain—an image that ends the illusion of global hegemony overnight.

Currie points to Switzerland, where a 30-year fixed mortgage can sit around 50 basis points because global capital floods into a perceived safe currency. That is the kind of privilege the US still enjoys. The country currently spends about 7 percent more than it produces; remove the forced global demand for dollars, and that gap becomes direct economic pain.

 

» We're fighting wars. It's not possible for us to take care 

of Medicare, daycare, Medicaid, all these things. « 

 Orange ape guns and butter salad, July 27, 2026.

 

History offers no comforting precedent. No previous hegemon—Britain, Spain, or any other—lost control of the world’s most important sea lanes and remained the hegemon. The US can retreat to a Monroe/Donroe/Technate of America Doctrine posture and control only the Western Hemisphere, but then it is no longer a global power and the dollar is no longer the reserve currency. 

 

Reference:

Jeffrey Currie (July 28, 2026) - Iran Rejects $6 Billion in Return for Free Hormuz Passage. (video)

 

Iran Conflict Now Existential for US Global Hegemony—No Exit Allowed | General Wesley Clark

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark, a centrist-to-hawkish democrat, has laid out what he describes as the real thinking inside Washington. According to him, this is no longer simply about Iran; it is about whether the United States remains the global hegemon or watches its power collapse in real time. Stopping is not an option—that is the hard line now being drawn. Clark makes clear that if America pulls back and allows Iran to retain control of the Strait of Hormuz, the damage to U.S. global leadership would be permanent. He warns that such a retreat would undermine American deterrence, weaken influence in Asia, and compromise European security all at once. This moment represents a critical decision point: failure here would not be a temporary setback but the end of the post-1945 international order.

Clark rejects any notion of simply walking away or accepting a weaker deal. “Pulling back, that’s no good,” he states without hesitation. In his view, a memorandum of understanding worse than previous agreements would signal American weakness to every rival watching. China and Russia are already encouraged by the current trajectory, and he insists they should not be allowed to celebrate any further gains.There is no easy military solution, yet retreat would be far worse. The immediate focus must remain on keeping the Strait open and isolating the theater of operations. Any pause would only give Iran time to rebuild, rearm, and entrench itself more deeply. At the same time, Clark emphasizes that the longer-term threats posed by Iranian missiles and nuclear capabilities cannot be ignored.

In the end, Wesley Clark speaks not as a pundit but as a former NATO Supreme Commander with deep insight into how key circles in Washington view this conflict. For them, the war has become existential for American global power, and stopping is no longer on the table.

  

"Iran Will Make Sure the US Economy Is Destroyed" | Foad Izadi

Iranian Professor Foad Izadi of the Department of American Studies at the University of Tehran’s Faculty of World Studies has just laid out the clearest statement yet of Iran’s official current thinking. After failed talks and repeated US aggression, a growing number of voices inside Iran no longer believe diplomacy can work. Iran’s answer is simple and brutal: raise the cost until the American economy itself is broken.

» Make sure the US economy is destroyed while Trump is the president. « 

 

That is the explicit goal now being discussed. Take 20 percent of the oil coming from the region, and prices stay high for at least two years. High oil prices for two years mean the end of Trump, the end of his presidency, and the end of the American economy—three goals at the same time.

» There is no diplomatic solution. Only a military solution. «

 

Negotiations have failed for more than 20 years. Every time Iran sat at the table, the US bombed the table. The problem with the US, therefore, has no diplomatic solution. It has a military solution. Continued attacks are needed to cause enough pain so this never happens again, and military deterrence is restored.

 

» They will go thirsty! «

Iran's plan to evict 50,000 US troops. 
 

Iran’s target list: oil facilities, hit hard enough that repairs take a long time; desalination plants that supply 98 percent of the water for Gulf countries. With 50,000 US troops in the region, if those countries lose water, the troops have no choice but to leave and drink water back home in America.

Why this level of force? For 46 years after the 1979 Iranian revolution, the US never attacked Iran the way it is attacking now. Only in the last year did the attacks intensify because Washington believed it could handle the cost. Iranians are tired of being hit every few weeks, losing civilians and infrastructure. Enough is enough. The cost so far has not been high enough. Trump keeps attacking. The equation must change.

 

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims to have inflicted well over 200 US military fatalities across targeted bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, with waves of missiles overwhelming and effectively neutralizing billion-dollar US defense infrastructure.

America ends wars when its politicians finally realize they made a mistake. That is how US wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan ended. Either the executive branch or Congress concludes the price is too high, and the funding ends. 

» The President of the United States wants to give Iran's frozen assets to companies and countries that have suffered damage in the war. From now on, we announce that any company or country that accepts this proposal will never be allowed to transit the Strait of Hormuz. «

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari, July 28, 2026.

The same logic is now being applied: force the realization that the current policy is destroying the US economy, and the policy will change. Iran has decided that only the language of force works. Raise the economic cost high enough, for long enough, and the United States will be forced to stop. This is no longer about limited deterrence. This is about breaking the American economy while Trump is still in office.

Reference:
Foad Izadi (July 28, 2026) - "They Will Go Thirsty": Prof. Izadi Reveals Iran's Plan to Evict 50,000 US Troops. (video)
Foad Izadi (July 28, 2026) - "Make Sure The US Economy Is Detroyed": Prof. Izadi’s Warning To The US. (video) 

July 29, 2026: Iranian civil defense teams have miraculously rescued two children, transporting them to a hospital on Qeshm Island, as the search continues for three others trapped under the rubble from the latest US terror attack. How was this a legitimate target? The war crimes keep piling up as the US becomes more desperate.

Russia Warns UK of Nuclear Poseidon Tsunami

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at a naval meeting yesterday (July 26) that Russia is finalizing the Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater vehicle for service entry, indicating the system is nearing operational deployment. Poseidon is an unmanned underwater vehicle of about 100 tons, equipped with a nuclear propulsion system providing virtually unlimited range. 

A single nuclear-armed Poseidon torpedo can devastate a coastal city.

It can operate at depths exceeding 1,000 meters and reach speeds of up to 70 knots (around 130 km/h). The system carries a nuclear payload of up to two megatons and is designed to strike coastal targets such as naval bases and port infrastructure, either through direct detonation or by generating a large-scale radioactive tsunami. Owing to its depth, speed, and maneuverability, Poseidon is considered extremely difficult to detect or intercept, with Russian leadership asserting it has no global equivalent.

On June 14, 2026, UK Royal Marines seized the Smyrtos, a sanctioned 
Russian "shadow fleet" oil tanker, in the English Channel. Full circle.

Perfidious Albion returned to its original trade: piracy.

  

Within this context, Putin referenced the potential use of Poseidon against the UK, framing it as a decisive strategic capability. He emphasized that while the underlying technologies exist, further refinement and adaptation to specific operational environments are ongoing. These statements suggest that, once fully deployed, Poseidon could be integrated into contingency planning involving high-value maritime or coastal targets.

Russian President at naval meeting, July 26, 2026.

In parallel, a Russian naval presence near the UK has drawn attention. On July 21, a Russian frigate conducted live-fire artillery exercises in international waters approximately 74 kilometers south of Plymouth, as reported by the UK Ministry of Defence and cited by the BBC. Initial warning shots were observed, and the Royal Navy, alongside a French military aircraft, closely monitored the activity. The French aircraft reportedly requested clarification of the vessel’s intentions via radio communication. Russia stated that the drills, which lasted around 30 minutes, were conducted in accordance with international maritime law and that nearby vessels had been notified in advance to maintain distance.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia retains all options to confront Britain, including the Poseidon nuclear-powered drone submarine, part of Russia’s naval nuclear system and described as a "Doomsday" weapon. The remarks followed Burnham's first meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on July 27, 2026. 

The frigate, identified as the Neustrashimy, was also reported to be escorting Russian tankers through the English Channel, where Russian naval transits are not uncommon. No injuries or direct engagements with other vessels occurred. However, the timing and location of the exercise have led to interpretations that it may have served as a strategic signal, particularly in light of recent political developments in the UK.

Ukraine targeted Iranian cargo ship and Russian oil rig in Caspian Sea, July 25, 2026.

Levante, Ukraine, Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, Red Sea. Regional wars merging. 

 

The new UK leadership is pursuing a more assertive stance toward Russia and Iran, including closer alignment with the US, a posture perceived by Moscow as escalatory. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Russian military activities were conducted within the bounds of international law and denied any intent to issue a direct threat. Nevertheless, he stressed that repeated expressions of unconditional UK support for Ukraine have significantly reduced prospects for improved bilateral relations.

Al-Aqsa Triangle: Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb, and Suez Chokepoints

Following the partial disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait is emerging as a second potential global energy chokepoint. The Ansar Allah movement (Houthis) in Yemen has announced an initial naval blockade targeting Saudi vessels, citing the long-standing Saudi air and sea blockade of Yemen. 

Al-Aqsa Triangle: Yemen–Iran strategy to disrupt global trade
by closing the Middle East's three key maritime chokepoints.

Bab al-Mandeb links the Suez–Red Sea corridor to the Indian Ocean and, alongside Hormuz, forms a dual chokepoint system vulnerable to escalation via Iran-aligned actors. A simultaneous disruption would block roughly a quarter of global energy flows and a large share of Asia–Europe trade, with Hormuz carrying 27% of seaborne oil and 20% of LNG, and the Bab al-Mandeb/Suez corridor each handling 11% of global trade and 8% of LNG. 

The Bab al-Mandeb is not yet fully closed. Commercial traffic continues, but the corridor is operating under elevated threat conditions. Attacks on selected vessels have increased, producing selective disruption rather than a comprehensive blockade. In response, some shipping lines are rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope, while others continue transit under heightened security measures, including naval presence and route adjustments. In response to constraints at Hormuz, Saudi Arabia has shifted a significant share of exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, where approximately 4 million barrels of crude are loaded daily. Roughly 3 million barrels per day are destined for Asian markets and transit the Bab al-Mandeb.

American worthless signature: The repeated breaches of the agreement by the Great Satan regarding the MOU signed by the Presidents of Iran and the US have once again laid bare a fundamental truth: the signature of the US President is utterly worthless and devoid of credibility. It further reaffirms that coercion and brutality are inseparable components of the US creed and doctrine. Imam Sayyid Mojtaba Khamenei, July 17, 2026.

Rerouting via the Cape of Good Hope adds 6,000 km (3,700 miles) and 10–14 days transit time, in some cases longer. This materially increases fuel, charter, and operating costs. War-risk insurance premiums for Red Sea transit have also surged, adding several hundred thousand USD per voyage. Escalation risk centers on a full blockade scenario. If Ansar Allah forces interdict all international shipping, not just Saudi vessels, the impact would be significantly greater.

 

Strategic Trade Significance: Hormuz vs. Bab al-Mandeb

Hormuz concentrates unmatched upstream energy dependency, funneling roughly 20% of global oil (17–20 million bpd), over 20% of LNG, and a decisive share of global helium vital for high-tech and medical supply chains. Because Saudi and UAE pipeline bypasses cover only a fraction of normal volumes, any disruption creates an immediate physical supply deficit—driving rapid oil and gas repricing with direct spillovers into petrochemicals, fertilizers, and industrial inputs.

Bab al-Mandeb anchors throughput rather than production, serving as the southern gateway to Suez. It carries 12–15% of global trade, including major Asia–Europe container traffic, dry bulk, and mid-single-digit million bpd of oil. Unlike Hormuz, these flows can be rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope, though doing so adds roughly 6,000 km, 10–14 days, and sharp increases in fuel costs, vessel utilization constraints, freight rates, and war-risk premiums.

Consequently, their economic transmission mechanisms diverge. Hormuz is a quantity shock that removes physical supply and forces immediate energy repricing. Bab al-Mandeb is a friction shock that preserves supply but degrades delivery efficiency, triggering broader, slower-moving inflation across manufactured goods, energy derivatives, and food. Fertilizer markets sit at the intersection, relying on Hormuz for Gulf ammonia and urea to exit, and on Bab al-Mandeb for efficient delivery to European and African markets.

Simultaneous impairment escalates systemic risk nonlinearly. Upstream supply contraction combines with downstream logistical breakdown, eliminating volume availability and transit efficiency at once. This dual constraint compresses global inventories, amplifies price volatility, and propagates cost increases across industrial inputs and consumer goods with minimal buffering capacity.

The Bab al-Mandeb handles thousands of commercial transits annually and links the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and Suez Canal—one of the world's critical trade corridors. Full closure would force large-scale rerouting around Africa, extending delivery times, increasing freight rates and insurance costs, and placing renewed stress on global supply chains.  

 

July 21, 2026: Iran Destroys F-15 Hanger Base, 100 US Troops Lost as Trump Panics.

Cost transmission effects would likely be broad-based. Higher transport costs would feed into fuel prices (gasoline, diesel, heating oil), airfares, food, consumer goods, and imported products. Firms would absorb higher logistics and energy costs, with partial pass-through to end consumers.

July 21, 2026: Bab al-Mandeb Strait Becomes New Shipping Flashpoint as Houthis Signal Blockade.

 

The EU is engaged via Operation Aspides with a mandate limited to protecting civilian shipping. The US and the UK are conducting separate military strikes against targets in Yemen. Historical precedent indicates limited containment success: prior multinational naval deployments with dozens of warships failed to durably constrain Ansar Allah capabilities. Current Ansar Allah systems include even more advanced drones and missiles than in 2025.

Zero Exits: Houthis Blockade Saudi Arabia. 

 

A concurrent escalation in Bab al-Mandeb alongside sustained tension in the Strait of Hormuz would affect the region's two principal energy and trade corridors simultaneously, posing a high-risk scenario for global economic disruption and upward pressure on energy, transport, and consumer prices.

"Barbault Basket": Known World Ends, New One Begins | Mark A. Shryock

The article "The World We Have Known Ends This July—a New One Begins" by Mark A. Shryock explores the "Barbault Basket," a rare, symmetrical astrological configuration peaking between July 19–21, 2026. 

 

 » The most beautiful and beneficial configuration of the 21st century. «

Phoenix—the firebird that burns, falls to ash, and rises again.

 

Five planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto—will lock into a geometric pattern that French astrologer André Barbault spent his entire life trying to understand. He called it a "basket." It is a rare alignment in which the slow outer planets cluster in one section of the zodiac wheel while one planet sits apart, like a handle on a basket. Barbault believed this formation marks periods when civilizations reorganize themselves—when the old order breaks apart and something new attempts to take its place. 

 

This July, the basket he theorized will appear for the first time in the 21st century. Barbault rejected intuitive readings, focusing instead on tracking planetary data across centuries. He refined the Cyclic Index, a tool that sums the closest angular distances among the five outer planets, and discovered that low index values—signifying tight cosmic clustering—have historically aligned with global catastrophes such as the Black Death, the Spanish Flu, and World War II. 

 

The Barbault Basket (July 19–21, 2026)—a rare outer-planet configuration—Jupiter (~6° Leo) opposing Pluto (~4.5° Aquarius, orb ~1.9°), supported by tight harmonics: Neptune (4° Aries R) sextile Pluto (~0.2°), trine Jupiter (~2.2°); Uranus (2° Gemini) trine Pluto (~2.2°) and sextile Jupiter. Saturn (~14° Aries) anchors the Aries cluster.  A "basket/cradle" activating long cycles during the Cyclic Index ascent—signaling a pivotal civilizational shift: renewal, innovation, and collective reorganization after 2020s crises. Precise tropical longitudes confirm the symmetry—pointing to power shifts, creative breakthroughs, and spiritual-technological realignment. 

Using this system, Barbault famously published a prediction in 2011 that accurately identified a global pandemic window for 2020–2022. The upcoming July 2026 basket is distinct from the broader index, forming a precise 72-hour geometric pattern in which Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, and Jupiter converge at the 4-degree mark of their respective zodiac signs. In this configuration, Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus form a supportive “Minor Grand Trine,” while Jupiter in Leo acts as an opposing “handle” to complete the basket shape. 

 

Because this alignment simultaneously activates three major historical outer-planet macro cycles, Barbault designated it as the most beautiful and beneficial configuration of the 21st century, predicting it would trigger a "splendid re-launch of civilization" following the post-2020 global crisis. Culturally and socioeconomically, he believed this threshold would elevate the lower strata of the global population, alleviate severe poverty through international solidarity, and force humanity to choose between mechanical technological expansion and deeper spiritual evolution. This shift is further extended by a second basket configuration forming a year later, in June 2027.

 

The Sun's offset from the center of mass of the solar system

 (black dots on the left side of dates), 2025-2040.

Astronomically, Shryock notes that planetary alignments can shift the solar system’s barycenter over 800,000 km from the Sun’s center. Critics stress that any link between this asymmetry and human behavior remains unproven—likely apophenia or selection bias. Some classical astrologers add that the basket’s “soft aspects” may foster complacency and escapism as easily as constructive systemic change.

To understand how Barbault’s methodology operates, it is useful to examine both the specific zodiac signs activated in the 2026 alignment and the historical precedent of 1989. The July 2026 basket simultaneously activates four different signs at the 4-degree mark, a placement representing the most raw and emergent expression of their symbolic energies. Pluto in Aquarius drives the systemic dismantling of old collective power structures and the transformation of technological networks. Opposing this is Jupiter in Leo, acting as the basket’s handle to amplify creative expression, joy, and individual sovereignty following periods of collective trauma. 

 

Meanwhile, Neptune in Aries introduces a spiritualized dimension to human action, while Uranus in Gemini triggers sudden technological breakthroughs and reshapes collective communication systems. Barbault previously demonstrated the utility of tracking outer-planet configurations by successfully anticipating the geopolitical shifts of 1989. Writing decades earlier in his 1967 book Les Astres et l’Histoire, he identified that a rare triple conjunction of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in Capricorn during 1988–1989 would determine the geopolitical trajectory of the 21st century. He theorized that the world’s two dominant superpowers would simultaneously reach the end of their rivalry and merge into a single current. This mathematical forecast materialized in the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

The second basket configuration, forming in June 2027, acts as a critical continuation of the transformative threshold initiated in July 2026. According to the article, this alignment deepens the broader civilizational recovery while shifting the planetary emphasis through the introduction of different symbolic archetypes. Mathematically, the 2027 configuration involves the dwarf planet Ceres positioning itself at 6–7 degrees Leo, directly opposing Pluto at 6 degrees Aquarius. 

 

This tension forms the "handle" of the second basket, while Uranus in Gemini and Neptune in Aries create smooth, flowing aspects to Pluto at the same degree, forming the supportive base. Because Ceres represents agricultural fertility, cycles of grief, and nurturing, astrologers interpret this configuration as a pivot toward rebuilding, regeneration, and healing a fractured world. The transition suggests that while the 2026 alignment focuses on large-scale structural, political, and systemic resets, the 2027 configuration emphasizes the integration of feminine, matriarchal archetypes to ground and sustain those changes over the long term.

 

Reference:
Mark A. Shryock (June 29, 2026) - The World We Have Known Ends This July–a New One Begins.

Optimized Barbault War Index begins declining through the 2070s.

 

See also:

André Barbault (1990) - The Fall of the USSR: History of a Prediction.

TPR (2026) - 2026 Saturn-Neptune Conjunction: Global Ideological and Institutional Reset.