The they would be the UEG - United Earth Government which controls most human space and is the political side of the UNSC - United Nations Space Command.
It’s weird. The UEG is a democratic body with representation for the colonies. But, it uses military force to maintain its federal Union. In the book Halo Bad Blood they tend to characterise the Insurrectionists a bit like the Stranded in Gears. People causing needless division when humanity needs unity. Basically humanity equals the UNSC in the story. Even if visually they look like the Federation from Starship Troopers they aren’t actually a fascist organisation; seems to be how they’re depicted for the most part. ONI is kind of wheeled out as a scapegoat for any bad stuff if it’s called for.
But yeah, the UNSC has lost its fleet and manufacturing base. Any colony could secede and build its own fleets pretty easily in those circumstances. A bit like how the Spanish Empire collapsed because Napoleon took over mainland Spain and let the colonies drift away from Spains orbit.
Well Sanghelios was occupied by the Created in Halo Bad Blood. A Guardian basically arrives and starts destroying all the ships in orbit when Halo 5 ends. It’s also mentioned that they started terraforming the planet. That’s the last we know.
Some people do the Rise of Skywalker comparison. No, it’s way worse. It would be like if they said “yep First Order was defeated, New Republic back; but we’ve been defeated by the Yuuzhang Vong who are invading the galaxy now” 
Guardians started terraforming Sanghelios (Where Elites live?)?
Yes, in the one of the Sanghelios Warzone multiplayer maps on Halo 5 half is desert and half is green. One with the huge temple in the middle. They explain this as the Created using Forerunner technology to terraform various planets. Think it was a canon fodder article.
I don’t think it’s the Guardians themselves. It’s implied they use a mixture of Forerunner and UNSC tech to do it.
Why would they terraform a planet already suitable for life (With life on it) though?
Well those canon fodder articles imply they were being a little looney and reckless with the terraforming. To the point of putting the lives of people on those planets in danger. Meridian or Reach I could understand. Sanghelios?
Not sure if Elites are meant to be a desert species or not. That would be odd if they added all the green. 
I don’t know if you’ve ever played Stellaris but my assumption is that it’s making a Gaia world that’s a general improvement on the default environment.
I skimmed through Halo: Glasslands and I don’t remember anything about Elites not liking their homeworld.
IMO it doesn’t make sense for the Created to mess up the surface and ecosystems of an existing planet when their whole ethos is “we are the good guys and we do what’s necessary for the greater good”.
Did they terraform the Grunt homeworld too? (that’d suck if you’re a person that breathes methane).
Possibly the devs thought desert world had to be bad. Think Arrakis from Dune. They can live there and love the world but it’s not exactly nice to live. I mean a green world could support more crops and agriculture to feed people. Elites don’t exactly die from the “cold” either.
I don’t think they did anything to the Grunt homeworld terraforming wise. In Halo Bad Blood they actually go there and it’s the only insight to a Created occupied world (if non human). Basically they say yes and they retain a local government and even security forces. But they’re terrified of Prometheans that can just materialise anywhere in the city so they try to deal with the humans to prevent them getting involved. They also use ships to provide the Grunts with food and other forms of aid.
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