[Two updates at end] On 20 Aug 2020, on a flight to Moscow from the city of Tomsk in Siberia, Alexei Navalny suddenly fell ill and the flight was diverted to Omsk, where he was placed in a medically-induced coma by doctors. The doctors in Omsk initially checked for poisoning, given Navalny’s wife was claiming he had been poisoned. They later declared that he had suffered from a ‘metabolic disorder’, i.e. low blood sugar, which led to something resembling a diabetic collapse. He was placed on a ventilator and later flown off to Germany with great fanfare. The rush to claim poisoning is suspicious and there is reason to believe the event has been scripted. Social media immediately jumped on the ‘Putin poisons another of his opponents’ meme. Fortunately, we have the man’s chart and can look at what the astrology says really happened. This episode has a distinct air of an emerging Skripal-esque drama, which will occupy the media for weeks and give a much-needed (?) distraction from other issues.
We start here with Navalny’s chart, which is posted on https://astro.com (chart). The birth time was given by his mother as 1:30 pm local time. Navalny was born 4 Jun 1976 in Butyn, coordinates listed on the chart, below (bigger):
We won’t analyse his chart here save for a few factors, pertinent to this episode in his life. Navalny has diabetes, by his own admission in 2019. Problems with pancreatic secretions are shown by the Moon/Jupiter midpoint. He has Pluto at that midpoint, indicating significant trouble and possible self-sabotage in that regard, or a possible catastrophic problem at some point. In terms of character it shows a person who has a desire to start great enterprises, as in becoming President of Russia, for instance. The combination also points to, “an extraordinary and unusual striving for possessions and wealth.” At this point it will help to be clear about Navalny and Russia.
Alexei Navalny is held up as some sort of champion against Putin in Western media, a ‘fighter for freedom and democracy’, and a battler exposing corruption in Russia. The truth is a little different. In fact, Navalny is a far-right, nationalist xenophobe who is funded by an exiled Russian oligarch, or several, who had robbed the Russian people of their wealth, as well as being funded by Western NGOs. Navalny is not a ‘nice guy’. He has done his best to stir up trouble in Russia, as in seeking to ‘drain the swamp’ in Moscow and install one more suitable to Western interests. Navalny is a neoliberal capitalist.
In the last election in Russia, Navalny threw his support behind the KPRF Party, a hardcore Stalinist and pro-capitalist organization, founded by functionaries of the former Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), which liquidated the Soviet Union. We have the following:
Navalny, whom the Western press has promoted for years as a “democratic” alternative to Putin, speaks for sections of the Russian oligarchy and the upper middle class that seek to replace the Putin regime with one that is directly aligned with US imperialism. However, whatever their differences over foreign policy and the distribution of wealth and power at the top, they share a mutual hostility toward and fear of the working class.
Under conditions of a growth of the class struggle internationally, they are above all determined to prevent an offensive of Russian workers and its linking up with the working class on an international scale. It is this that drives Navalny toward forming an alliance with those political forces that have the greatest experience in suppressing and politically disorienting the working class: the Stalinists and the Pabloites.
What a Navalny government would entail would be a return to the Yeltsin years in the ‘90s or something similar, the decade that almost sank Russia – and Belarus, by the way. There is a connection between Navalny’s latest events and Belarus, later.
To be clear, then, Navalny has no real interest in the Russian people. His real desire is for wealth and power, as well as the limelight. He certainly has it now. Any idea that Navalny is a progressive of leftist is simply a veneer.
Returning to his chart, we find a Sun/Venus conjunction opposite Neptune. This combination gives hypersensitivity to all environmental factors and introduces a decided unrealistic/over-idealistic tone to his thinking. It also leaves him open to betrayal. There is also the danger of glandular problems if he fails to watch his health. That conjunction is also sextile to his Mars, which gives him magnetism, public appeal and charm when he wants to win hearts and minds.
The Mars midpoints in Navalny’s chart are very descriptive of his activities and his self-motivations (Mars). Those are Mars=Nep/Plu, Mars=Sun/Plu and Mars=Jup/Ura.
We note in particular the closest midpoint in his chart, which is exact, Mars=Nep/Plu: “A lack of energy, the misfortune to be used as a tool for other people’s interests, a lack of resistance and stamina. – The tendency to succumb to external powers, being utilized as a medium.” That mention of being used as a tool refers to his otherwise being used as a ‘useful idiot’. We’ll have more on that in a bit, too.
Mars=Sun/Plu describes, “The desire to perform record achievements, over-exertion or overtaxing one’s powers, ruthlessness. – The tendency to work to the point of a physical breakdown.” Mars in this combination is sextile to both the Sun and Pluto, giving him more than the usual energy and is perhaps the most powerful configuration in his chart
Lastly, Mars=Jup/Ura: “the desire to realise one’s ideas at once, a love of freedom. – The desire to make one’s fortune in life, speculations, making fortunate decisions” He has certainly displayed all of the above characteristics.
With the background from Navalny’s chart in mind, we move on to look at what was going on astrologically for him on the day of his collapse. His chart with directions and transits is below (bigger):
Without looking yet at the directed midpoints, there is one direction that stands out, as well as one transit. The direction is that of Saturn creating a midpoint, Sat=Sun/Nep, with his natal Sun/Neptune opposition. Neptune rules poisons and poisonings. However, directions or transits by Neptune usually, as opposed to directions or transits to it, show poisonings. What we have with this Saturn direction is instead a ‘health direction’: “Inhibitions through illness or physical debility, an emotional affliction. – Illness through mental and emotional suffering, an impeded blood circulation, bad or unhealthy blood.” We have no idea what was going on in his personal life leading up to this event.
The transit by Uranus square to his natal Mars activates the aforementioned Martian midpoints, save for that of Jupiter/Uranus. Mars rules his 8th house, too (death/transformation). Those midpoints with Uranus can be particularly violent. But they can also indicate medical interventions. To the Neptune/Pluto midpoint, the Uranus transit gives, “A propensity and a flair for unusual, adventurous, mystical and supernatural experiences. – Hyper-sensitive nerves. – Peculiar discoveries.” To the Sun/Pluto midpoint, the transit gives, “Carrying out fanatic reforms without regard for oneself. – Sudden adjustment to new circumstances (arrest)”. That latter transit gives one pause to think. Was the hammer about to fall on Navalny again for some reason?
The FSB (Russian Security Bureau) had closely monitored Navalny in Tomsk, both on the ground and with drones. They gave a detailed account of his movements, which is unusual given the circumstance – but then, perhaps not. Given that the claim of poisoning was trotted out so soon, as in immediately after the event and without any medical examination (immediately pounced on by his supporters, in other words), it would appear the FSB wants to quickly lay the poisoning story to rest. But to do so only arouses more suspicions. And then, why were they following and monitoring him so closely? But the end result of recounting his movements was to show that, if indeed he was poisoned, it had to have happened either in the airport or on the plane, which is true enough. He appeared to be healthy before he boarded the plane in Tomsk.
At the start, though, mention was made of Navalny’s diabetes, with the doctors saying he had a ‘metabolic disorder’, the latter shown by the Saturn direction to the Sun/Neptune natal opposition. Was Pluto activated in some way on the 20th, activating the ‘diabetes midpoint’? In fact, there was – a square by Mercury, within the 1.5° orb allowed for midpoints. This would point to nervous troubles causing problems in the solar plexus area, problems with liver and pancreatic secretions.
All the preceding being said, we now come to a most interesting setup in his chart, made even clearer when we finally get to his directed midpoints. We see a classic poisoning setup in the Saturn/Pluto transits straddling the directed Neptune. Neptune, in turn, is directed by semisquare to Navalny’s Venus. Transiting Mars also squares transiting Saturn and semisquares natal Venus, forming a ‘death axis’ of sorts with Venus. But for a poisoning, Venus would have to rule his Horizon axis, which it doesn’t. Instead, it rules his 2nd and 9th houses (finances and long-distance travel, as well as court judgements). That setup would indicate more along the lines of a separation than anything else, as Venus does not rule a key area of his chart that would indicate immediate danger to his person. Instead, an emotional-mental injury is indicated. More to the point, this looks like a setup for a betrayal, and one involving a woman or affair of the heart (Venus).
Looking closer, we see both the Ascendant and Midheaven directed to Navalny’s natal Mars, with the Uranus transit activating it. All of this points to a sudden change in circumstances, and a possible relocation. And that brings us to his directed midpoints. There are two of particular note. The directed midpoints are shown below (bigger), outlined in the red boxes on the outside of the chart wheel:
The first directed midpoint is Jup/Sat=Asc; “An inconstant or an insecure attitude with regard to other persons. – A change of residence, a change of occupation, a separation.” Directions to the angles are of particular importance.
The next is the direction Mars/Ura=MC/IC: “An inflexible character, the desire for independence, a person “putting the pistol to someone’s head“, an act of violence, extraordinary achievements. – The execution of drastic and violent measures, injury, accident, operation.” This, needless to say, is a drastic direction. The pistol reference is of key interest in this piece, and refers to it being done to him, since the direction is to his Meridian axis. Perhaps he had been given warnings about some impending event, not to his liking.
Navalny made a lot of enemies. He has with little doubt been financed by some oligarchs, but he also stuck his nose into the business of other oligarchs, in the name of fighting corruption. He may well have done so, but he was also financed by corruption. Khodorkovsky, one of the oligarchs who fled Putin’s crackdown on them, and who also fleeced many Russians, is an ally of Navalny and recently commented on the ‘poisoning’.
Navalny had been in Tomsk for political purposes, supporting local candidates for elections who shared some of his views. His activity was suspicious, though, in that he was overly cautious, renting seven rooms at the local hotel for four guests, spending the night in rooms not allocated to him, using a safe house and not using his own credit card. Yet, the police services knew all of this. He had been in Novosibirsk, the third-largest city in the Russian Federation, in the days previous, where he was filming for an investigation.
And in another turn of events, Navalny’s shine was wearing thin with the people backing him. He is one of the people one might expect to find behind attempts at regime change – trained in the US (2010) at Yale University for his future role as an opposition leader, backed by anti-Putin oligarchs and constantly digging into the oligarchs who are connected with the Russian government. We have our own version of the latter in the United States and other western nations, too. But if he was to be an opposition leader, as the Western mainstream likes to paint him, he only polled at around 2% at the last election in which he took part. That’s not exactly to sort of performance such foreign actors are expecting in an opposition candidate. It looks more like a Guaidò than a viable candidate.
Most Russians don’t even care about Alexei Navalny. Only 9% have a positive view of him and about 31% of those polled didn’t even know who he was. The Gray Lady has posted its account of Navalny’s ‘heart-rending’ screams on the flight from Tomsk, and painted him as the main opposition to Putin. Putin’s main political rival is a man named Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who polled at about 7% in the last election. Navalny is hardly ‘Putin’s kryptonite’.
The German doctors have released their report as to their findings, which begin to reveal the truth. The key wording is as follows:
“Clinical findings indicate poisoning with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. The specific substance involved remains unknown,…The effect of the poison – namely, the inhibition of cholinesterase in the body – was confirmed by multiple tests in independent laboratories. As a result of this diagnosis, the patient is now being treated with the antidote atropine.”
Emphases added. Reading that carefully, the doctors there didn’t say they had found a poison. The italicized word in the quote is the key. They noted an effect, not a poison. There appears to be some careful wordsmithing going on here.
Cholinesterase is one of many important enzymes needed for the proper functioning of the nervous systems of humans, other vertebrates, and insects, remembering the direction of Mercury to the Plu=Moon/Jup midpoint. There are bodily functions that can cause a depletion of cholinesterase, without poisoning:
liver disease; chronic anaemias; malignant states; cardiac failure; severe acute infections; malnutrition; tuberculosis; uraemia; collagen diseases; surgical shock; severe burns; blood dyscrasias; haemodialysis; therapeutic radiation; treatment with albumin, AB-132 and certain phenothiazine drugs.
The latter drugs have been used in psychiatry. If there is an attempt in that report to begin to try to frame a narrative toward poisoning – whether there was or not – then their findings will not be shared with the Russian doctors. There will be a cover-up and the media will run with the story that Navalny was poisoned – another Skripal-esque smear campaign against Russia. The timing of this is critical to understand why.
There is currently an attempt at a color revolution in Belarus, covered in a forthcoming article. In the days leading up to his alleged poisoning, Navalny had been involved in investigations into the governor of Tomsk regarding alleged corruption. He had also been posting videos urging on the protests in Belarus against Lukashenko. The governor of Tomsk is one Sergey Zhvachkin, a member of the United Russia Party (Putin is de facto leader of the Party). Regarding the two items – Belarus and Zhavachkin – the latter probably had nothing to do with Navalny’s present woes. Belarus is the more likely candidate. Here’s why:
The attempt at the color revolution is taking place for several purposes and came on the heels of the US troop transfer from Germany to Poland, on Belarus’ border – to dissolve the Union State Treaty, to install a Western-friendly neoliberal government and to pull Belarus into the EU bloc and the NATO, for obvious purposes. The Poles, Baltic States, Germans and the Ukrainians are all in on it and have their special interests. The Poles have long had designs on Belarus, as have the Ukrainians, with Lithuania having had long cultural connection with that nation. The Germans are eyeing the prize of the heavy industry in Belarus, which would be broken up and privatized, they hope to German concerns. The US would have, they hope, a large military base that much closer to Moscow. The Union State stands in the way.
There is much to gain from smearing Russia and placing them in a bad light in the eyes of Belarusians and the West, in general. With a good smear on the go, it would be that much easier to place sanctions on Russia and Belarusian authorities should they openly intervene in seeking to salvage the Union State. It comes down to the following: Navalny was no longer useful to the people pushing him as an alternative to Putin. A useful idiot is sometimes more useful dead than alive, or even ill, for that matter. Navalny is not stupid, though – misguided, yes, with visions of grandeur, definitely, and easily influenced. But he is not stupid. And as a double Virgo, he planned his every move.
There is good reason to be suspicious of the whole affair:
- There was a rush to pronounce Navalny’s collapse as a ‘poisoning’. A Google search of ‘highly likely Navalny was poisoned’ shows the trend clearly, with some American outlets just flatly stating he was poisoned. Period. That is either sloppy journalism or leading of public opinion.
- There is no direct evidence that he was poisoned. There is a very interesting Twitter thread with information from the Russian doctors, refuting the claim that Navalny was ‘likely poisoned’.
- There was a private jet, privately financed and filled with medical specialists, waiting on the tarmac in Omsk the next morning, ready to whisk him off to Germany. That is out of character. The German government is now calling for the perpetrators of the ‘poisoning’ to be held to account, without any real evidence of a poisoning.
- He arrived in Germany with Angela Merkel’s blessing, as her ‘guest’, complete with military escort and security details. Merkel has called on Russia to “fully explain what happened” to Navalny. I expect they will. It may not be what she wants to hear, though.
- It would serve no useful purpose, nor make any common sense, for the Russian state to poison Navalny. Firstly, it would not be a good look. If they had, he would not have been allowed to go to Germany, as in the evidence would go with him. He was no threat to the government, he is hardly well-known inside Russia, and he was quite useful at keeping the liberals (as in neoliberal, pro-Western factions) divided and stirred up.
- We already hear statements like ‘highly likely’ he was poisoned out of the mouths of Western officials, a la Skripal, and that was even before the German doctors announced their findings.
- The attempted color revolution in Belarus is not going well and is well on its way to fail, with the result being that Belarus would be gradually absorbed back into Russia. Belarus is not the Ukraine, and Belarusians know very well what went on there. They want no part of a repeat of Maidan in Minsk.
We can bet this story will be milked for all it is worth until Belarus blows over. Navalny stands every chance of finding a new home in Germany, where he can try to stir up trouble in Russia in absentia. Russians will quickly forget him. We can probably fully expect another Skripal-esque fish story to emerge in the days and weeks ahead, with every effort made to sway public opinion away from Russia and toward Belarusian ‘freedom and democracy’. Personally, my take on this is that Navalny knew the axe was coming down and that he had to move fast to save his neck. His astrology says he is sick. People who rush to say he was poisoned by the ‘Putin regime’ watch too many 007 films. Navalny can now look forward to his new life in Germany, or elsewhere, once he leaves hospital.
Update for Sep 3 2020: It’s official now – Navalny has been ‘Skripaled’. USA Today rolled out the fairy tale yesterday. Most informed comment upon reading it was initial laughter and then shaking of heads. Anyone who followed the Skripal saga under the Theresa May administration is now looking at the Germans and thinking, “Don’t they have more imagination than that??” At the very least, if the German doctors really are claiming there was ‘Novichok’, it displays either very sloppy diagnosis or amateurism (in Russian, machine translate). One of the Russian doctors described what took place with Navalny while in Omsk. And as of October, the entire story has come unravelled, even by Navalny’s own testimony.
Let’s get a handle on a few facts before we go further: Apparently, Navalny has been poisoned by the deadly ‘Novichok’, so deadly that it doesn’t kill anyone, nor anyone surrounding the poisonee. Navalny was such a threat to the Russian state that he had to be knocked off, except for the fact that he was never mentioned by Putin and only polled at around 2%. Navalny was rushed off to Germany, where his blood was tested at a military laboratory, overseen by the US, where the pronouncement was duly given – Novichok. That Novichok is supposedly pretty fantastic stuff. And then, the big question: Why was Germany so eager to get Navalny rushed off to Berlin?
The timing of the whole affair is the giveaway at what is really taking place, and theories abound as to why the Germans are doing this. Here are a few to ponder:
- The attempt to overthrow Lukashenko in Belarus has failed. The Germans in particular wanted access to the heavy industry there and this Navalny thing is a case of sour grapes and distraction.
- Merkel needs a cover story in order to be able to cancel the NordStream project, which is nearing completion, in order to avoid public and corporate backlash. Germans would have to pay dearly for their gas thereafter (This scenario is doubtful. The Germans and Western Europeans want that cheap Russian gas.) And as of October, the Dutch have approved the NS2 completion, thus defying Washington.
- Putin is scheduled to address the 75th anniversary of the founding of the UN, starting on 21 September. He is scheduled to give his speech the next day. Europe is preparing its response to the Navalny affair, which would likely be more sanctions against Russia. Putin’s speech is unlikely to be full of niceties and talk of the brotherhood of nations.
- The Russians have rolled out the last phase of their large-scale testing of the coronavirus vaccine, due to be completed shortly. There is a large-scale information war by some countries against the Russian vaccine. Navalny may be fodder for that information war.
- The West’s man in Montenegro was defeated in its recent election by a coalition of opposition parties, who happen to lean toward Serbia and Russia. Montenegro is a NATO member and there are fears that the opposition could turn the nation away from NATO and the West. Russia is a staunch supporter of the Serbs. Navalny could be used as propaganda there as well.
- It is an attempt by US intelligence services to drive a wedge between Russia and Germany, who are in secret negotiations for industrial cooperation, gas and commercial transit links. German industrialists would love to see the formation of such a bloc. (This is very plausible.) It would be a nightmare for the interventionists in the Beltway.
- It is all a shadow game in order for Germany to be able to play the ‘good partner’ to the US, all the while the German industrialists want better relations with Russia.
- It comes on the heels of the smack-down of the US in the UN over the snapback of the Iran sanctions. Germany was opposed to the snapback. The German state is not monolithic. Some factions want cooperation with Russia while others want to sabotage those relations, the latter being Atlanticists.
- It is a scheme on the part of Navalny to make a grand, dramatic exit from Russia, never to return. He knew his time in the sun was finished in Russia, and was facing some rather troubling developments there. Now he can simply fade away after making a heroic exit after he battles and survives the ‘deadly Novichok’. (This is plausible, too.)
- It is meant to torpedo any possibility that Russia will be invited to the next G7 meeting (even though most all the G7 members are already opposed). The same is true of any meeting proposed or scheduled between Trump and Putin. That well must be poisoned.
In all, this latest Skripal-esque saga appears to be nothing more than yet another attempt to discredit Russia, especially their GRU (security services), who would have access to the magical Novichok. The timing of events – Belarus, COVID vaccine, Montenegro, the UN speech, NordStream nearing completion, the recent UN defeat for the US – is all just too obvious. In addition, there has been an escalation in events that are putting a strain on US-Russian relations. It is an election year, too. Russia is advancing, technologically, economically, diplomatically and in many other areas, and must be stopped.
The only tool left for the Beltway bandits and Atlanticists to stakk Russia’s progress now is propaganda. Navalny will probably disappear from view before too long, to be relocated – who knows where? If the Russians had really wanted him dead, Navalny would be pushing up daisies. And lastly, according to the Russian doctor who oversaw his case, he confirms what the astrology for Navalny shows – the guy is chronically ill and he suffered a health crisis on the plane. The saga is meant for Western consumption, and most people will probably believe it without questioning much. Most Russians will be glad he is gone.
Update from 15 Jul 2021: The OPCW has just given the game away and confirmed what many people outside the West already knew: the Navalny affair was a setup to smear Russia. It was a false flag-type of event that never really happened. Navalny collapsed from illness. The ‘poisoning’ bit was a story engineered between France and Germany. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign affairs, outlined the story, the main point being the OPCW was called to Germany to investigate a poisoning the day before Navalny had even collapsed. This was stated in a document put out by the OPCW itself via the dates listed. Between Douma and Navalny, the OPCW can no longer claim it is an impartial investigative body.
Featured pic from Times of Israel