On June 22, 2025, U.S. and Israeli forces launched a coordinated airstrike on Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities, which targeted underground labs, radar stations, and even civilian infrastructure to subdue any nuclear ambitions brewing in Iran. Bombs and missiles launched from U.S. warplanes hit nuclear sites at Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz. Iran responded by attacking Al Udeid Air Base, a major U.S. air base in Qatar. Afterwards, President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire earlier this week, although Israel immediately violated the ceasefire agreements, supposedly in retaliation for missiles fired by Iran.
The Israeli government and the White House claim that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back by many years, despite intelligence elsewhere that suggests otherwise. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) confirmed that attacks took place on its Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz sites, but insisted its nuclear program would not be deterred. They doubled down on this language, proclaiming that minor damage was sustained in the attack. While U.S. intelligence agencies privately report that Iran’s nuclear capability has only been set back by a few months (not years), the White House official documents insist that the attack was “monumental,” “devastating,” and “highly successful.”
Amid the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, President Marcos ordered the immediate and orderly repatriation of Filipinos working in Israel and Iran. However, the repatriation of Filipinos from the Middle East was delayed on Tuesday morning due to the closure of Qatari airspace. Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac was recently in Jordan to monitor the situation regarding OFWs in the region. When Cacdac finally arrived with Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) earlier this week, the repatriates were each given about $3,000 in cash assistance from various Philippine government agencies and contractors.
While we debate the safety of Filipinos in the diaspora, the American exceptionalist perspective assumes the safety of all American citizens around the world. Quite effectively, Trump’s campaign depends on the narrative of strength, so the recent airstrikes are a level of military showmanship akin to his ridiculous display of power on Flag Day. Trump’s foreign policy is a stage play where success is declared, dissent is buried, and American omnipotence is polished for the cameras. But perhaps in striking Iran, they have taken things a little bit too far.
And while the Trump administration finds itself immensely invested in the geopolitical theater of showcasing fragile power hold, New York City is seeing the beginnings of a new revolutionary fervor brewing on the left as we witness the historic democratic primary election of socialist Zohran Mamdani. His rise to the top of the Democratic ticket stunned political observers, as he defeated Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for mayor. Mr. Mamdani is running on a platform of free public transit, expanded tenant rights, and a clear anti-war policy – values that signal a radical break from the politics of profit and punishment that have been normalized in this neoliberal moment.
“The U.S. empire simply cannot afford an independent node in a world system built on American compliance. Iran’s defiance and Mamdani’s victory both threaten that machinery. One through geopolitical resistance. The other through democratic insurgency.”
It may seem like these two events—the bombing of Iran and the rise of a socialist mayoral candidate in NYC—exist in separate universes. But let’s listen closely to the arguments Noam Chomsky lays out in his seminal work, Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order. We see they are deeply, structurally connected. Chomsky argues that under neoliberalism, the world is run not by democratic consensus but by elite consensus: a small cluster of financial and political actors who use institutions, laws, and missiles to enforce their dominance. Neoliberalism is not just an economic policy; it’s an ideological weapon. Its logic is simple: maximize profit, even if it means war; privatize everything; and suppress resistance.
In this light, the recent attacks on Iran are not just about disarmament. They are about demonstrating who has the right to control oil, uranium, and the political future of the Middle East. Iran’s challenge to the U.S.-Israel hegemony—whether through nuclear development or regional influence through its oil reserves—makes it a target not for what it does, but for what it represents. The U.S. empire cannot afford an independent node in a world system built on American compliance. Iran’s defiance and Mamdani’s victory both threaten that machinery. One through geopolitical resistance. The other through democratic insurgency.
It’s poetic, maybe even divine, that while Trump plays out another act in America’s long war saga, a new generation is flipping the script. The missiles may still fly, but a different kind of power is emerging—one that doesn’t require shock and awe to be seen.
It seems to me like President Trump is about to get himself fired by the American people.
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Editor’s Note: The Philippine Daily Mirror welcomes Elaine J.E.. Degale as a columnist. Ms. Degale’s column, The Dreamweaver, will appear every Thursday. Her articles will be in the guest column as her handle is being prepared. Her initial column, We Are Sub-Saharan, was published on March 23, 2025.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Elaine Joy Edaya Degale is a Black-Filipina writer and lecturer at community colleges within the City University of New York (CUNY) and has an Ed.M. and M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University.
She graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College, where she studied International Relations and Development, and continues to support literacy and food programming efforts in Indigenous communities through her Community-Based organization, OperationMerienda.org.
