14-02-2026: The staggering revelations emanating from just the first tranche of documents released from the Epstein files have reverberated around the globe. Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein was first arrested in 2008 and was charged and convicted for paedophilia and organising prostitution. He served 13 months in prison and then was re-arrested in 2019 for human trafficking. But these crimes are barely half of the story. Epstein colluded with the Western capitalist elite to facilitate a level of depravity that many can barely conceive. They engaged not only in sexual crimes with minors, but outright murder and cannibalism. Implicated are some of the highest political figures, such as US Presidents Trump (mentioned 38 000 times so far) and Bill Clinton and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.[1] Also heavily involved was the former Prince Andrew, while names such as Richard Branson and Bill Gates appear. Perhaps more concerning than base profligacy was the fact that Epstein and his elite guests repeatedly authored emails to each other discussing their crimes and laughed about it.

The Epstein Class

Former British diplomat Alastair Crooke is correct to write that after Epstein, nothing can continue as before.[2] All of the institutions of the corrupt capitalists in the West are forever tarnished, and people can no longer simply go along and vote for one or the other corporate parties that are paraded as political and pretend that the system is not irredeemably rotten. Transnational paedophilia, human trafficking and degeneracy at monumentally wicked levels does not exist without political, police, juridical and media cover. The gap between the people and the elites is now a chasm which can never be bridged. Fatuous attempts to link Epstein to Russia are risible. Epstein’s links to the Israeli state are numerous, and not only to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Israel emerges in the files as the strategic node in Epstein’s global network.[3] And this is following a two-year genocide by the Israeli state on Palestine, fully funded and endorsed by the very same Western capitalist states which are now hell bent on pushing a catastrophic regime change war on Iran.

Iran is warning Washington that any attack will result in a regional war,[4] but this could easily be a tripwire for World War III. Iran, after sustaining a 12-day war last year, and outright US/Israeli internal regime change attempt by arming and facilitating barbarous terrorists in early January – may with justification close the Strait of Hormuz if attacked, resulting in a potential quadrupling of world oil prices. Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi coined the term “the Epstein class” to describe the horror of the US/UK/Israeli ruling class crimes, which are not even yet fully revealed. Moreover, this Epstein class is simultaneously responsible for the lapse of the New START Treaty, as the Russian Federation offered to extend it for 12 months – but the Trump Administration refused to even answer. This astounding development now means that for the first time since the early 1960s, there are no limits on the accrual of nuclear weapons.

War on Multipolarism

Even more jarring than the crimes of the Epstein class is the realisation that there will likely be no charges laid against the elites named in them. In fact, Bill Gates was invited to attend the Australian Open tennis tournament by Prime Minister Albanese at the same time as the files were released. On top of this, living standards for working people in the West are falling, with wages barely keeping up with outrageous costs for food, housing, electricity, water and gas. It is no coincidence that the West’s economic fortunes are plummeting at the same time as its morals, ethics, culture and politics are hitting rock bottom. This is capitalism in 2026, and it is not pretty. These are also some of the reasons why a decrepit capitalism in the West is driving the world to a global war, with multiple theatres across several planetary regions.

Standing in stark contrast to the sheer decadence and dysfunction of Western capitalism is the rising multipolar world. Whatever one may think of the politics of the leaderships of Iran, Russia, China and their BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa plus 15 other states) Global South allies, not one of them is even referenced in the Epstein files. In fact, given the iniquity of the Epstein class of the Western elites, the BRICS governments, along with those of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in Africa, appear as almost angelic by comparison. The multipolar BRICS, the SCO and AES pillars have arguably formed in response to years of military, economic and political provocations from the ruling classes of the United States of America (US) and the European Union (EU). Indeed, its NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) project is almost dead in the water, with divisions between the US and the EU widening, while EU subordination to Washington continues.

Epstein-led imperialism is arguably preparing World War III to prevent working people the world over from turning towards the multipolar alternative. It is no coincidence that Venezuela via a presidential kidnapping, Cuba via a fuel starvation blockade, and Iran via an internal and external war are targeted for regime change. Cuba and Iran are BRICS members, and Venezuela was the next in line to join. Imperialism has attempted to regime change Russia via the arming of Nazis in Ukraine but has been defeated in all practical terms. Socialistic China is of course the ultimate target but is being left until last as it has by far the largest and most powerful economy. Public ownership of the major means of production, nationalised land and a planned economy means that Red China is leaping ahead of the disintegrating capitalism in the US and the EU, in virtually all fields – industry, manufacturing, infrastructure, technology, science, aviation, ship building, robotics, telecommunications and much more.

When it is a case of the Epstein class versus the rest, it is self-evident that workers of the world must stand with the Global South. It is true that multipolarity in itself will not lead to socialism, and indeed, this is far from the current goal. Yet today’s multipolar drive does not stand in contradiction to an international class struggle for socialism, and in fact may well be a component of it. Marxist leadership will be crucial to this long march. Capitalist depravity, degeneration and imperialist war must be buried in the past.

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

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[1] www.babel.ua/en/news/124686-trump-mentioned-in-jeffrey-epstein-s-files-over-38-000-times (11-02-2026)

[2] www.strategic-culture.su/news/2026/02/09/the-slow-epstein-earthquake-the-rupture- (11-02-2026)

[3] www.palestinechronicle.substack.com/p/mapping-epsteins-israel-connections (11-02-2026)

[4] www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx20z5nv9jxo (11-02-2026)


Image: Part of Little St James Island, which was owned by the late billionaire and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. http://www.radaronline.com