​I was halfway down the A120, groggy from last night's late session and an especially rebellious mug of instant coffee slapping itself about in the cupholder like it knew I didn't believe in travel mugs. June rain clung to the windscreen in that lethargic Essex way, thick enough to annoy, too thin to matter. The world looked bleached out and mildly threatening—like a wet ferret wrapped in cling film. And the charts? As limp and non-committal as a councillor at a planning enquiry. No trades on Friday. Not one.

May 2025 marked a critical juncture in global pandemic dynamics, underscored by the resurgence of multiple infectious diseases across regions. COVID-19 cases climbed steadily, with global test positivity reaching its highest point in nearly a year (~11%), driven primarily by emerging Omicron subvariants such as BA. 1.8.1 and BA. 8.1. Hospitalisations have increased, particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific. However, no new variant of concern has been declared.

Parallel to the resurgence of COVID, vaccine-preventable diseases have re-emerged as significant threats. Measles outbreaks escalated in the United States, notably in Texas, and in Australia, highlighting the downstream impact of declining immunisation rates in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pertussis is also resurging across the Americas, further straining under-resourced public health systems.

On the policy front, the World Health Assembly adopted a landmark Pandemic Agreement in May, aiming to strengthen global cooperation, surveillance, and equitable access to vaccines and diagnostics—a significant step toward future pandemic preparedness.

At the animal-human interface, avian influenza continued to pose a potential spill over risk, with H5N1 spreading among mammals and H9N2 and H10N3 triggering concerns in Asia and the Middle East. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) now urges broad-scale animal vaccination campaigns to pre-empt zoonotic transmission.

Overall, May 2025 highlighted the fragility of global health systems in the post-COVID era, underscoring the urgent need for sustained vaccination efforts, robust genomic surveillance, and cross-sectoral coordination under the One Health approach.

​May 2025 saw an intensification of insurgencies and terrorism in the Sahel, Somalia, Pakistan, the DRC, and the US. Dominant actors include Islamic extremist groups, Baloch separatists, white supremacist paramilitaries, and M23 rebels. Terrorism is diversifying—high-impact civilian and military targets, plus critical infrastructure attacks. Global indicators (e.g., the Global Terrorism Index) show a rising number of affected countries. Counter-terror strategies must adapt to decentralised, hybrid, and ideologically plural threats.

​Written from a trading desk that hasn’t slept since Putin barked and drones lit up Kyiv’s sky like New Year’s in hell.

​May 2025 marked a pivotal month for the global defence sector, characterised by escalating geopolitical tensions, rapid technological advancements, and significant shifts in procurement strategies. From multi-billion-dollar contracts awarded by the U.S. Department of Defence to the unveiling of ambitious missile defence systems like the proposed "Golden Dome," defence companies worldwide navigated a dynamic landscape marked by both opportunity and disruption.

Major U.S. primes, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, secured substantial awards related to missile systems, naval platforms, and next-generation aircraft. Simultaneously, a growing cadre of smaller, tech-driven firms gained ground with advanced AI, drone, and augmented reality solutions, signalling a broader transformation in modern warfare priorities. Across Europe and Asia, policy reforms and export ambitions continued to shape defence-industrial strategies, while high-level defence cooperation, including significant foreign military sales, reinforced the West's global posture.

This report consolidates the most significant developments from May 2025, including contract awards, technological breakthroughs, strategic shifts, and the performance of defence equities, providing a comprehensive view of the evolving defence-industrial complex.

The month of May 2025 witnessed continued volatility across global conflict zones, with notable escalations in Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. Persistent insurgent violence, civil wars, and transnational terrorism produced substantial humanitarian and geopolitical consequences. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the most significant conflict developments during the month, integrating quantitative casualty data, detailed group-specific activity reports, and analyses of military, political, and economic impacts.

What a week.

I entered June with the chart screaming indecision and the world spiralling into engineered chaos. But this is the battlefield I live for. While diplomats shuffled papers and drones lit up airfields, I moved in silence and scalped the oil market with intent.

I wasn't guessing—I was tracking pressure points, hunting imbalance, and riding momentum like a war-hardened speculator. This week, the trades spoke for themselves.

​KNELSTROM OIL TRADING: WEEKEND WRAP — GONZO EDITION (16–23 MAY 2025)
"When the crude flows sideways, and the screens flicker with lies, only lunatics profit."

SOMEWHERE IN THE ENERGY DESERT...
​
The week started like a hangover from a ghost war — WTI limped across the charts like a bruised heavyweight, leaning against the 200 EMA as it owed him money. The RSI flickered in and out of consciousness, twitching around the 50-line like a junkie trying to stay clean. And yet — we traded. By God, we traded.
This was no week for cowards or purists. This was for the degenerate pip snatchers and the tactical oil rats—sweaty-fingered button-clickers who dance with volatility at 3 AM, half-drunk on caffeine and geopolitics.

​The village lay there Sunday morning like a drunk passed out, twitching in their sleep. No school run to herd the kids through, no mad scramble for lost shoes or abandoned homework — just me, a battered old Canon slung over my shoulder, wandering half-aimlessly through damp lanes where the hedgerows were exploding with new green and the crows were kicking off over scraps.

​It was a bitter, wind-shanked morning when the madness came clawing back. Walking the kids to school through the frost-bitten wastelands of commuter-ville — past the sullen faces of the sleep-deprived and the vaguely menacing thud of builder's radios pumping out brain-cell-murdering pop — I could feel the old itch creeping up the back of my skull.