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Valentine’s Day in Ukraine

That evil Vlad is up to his old tricks again, weaponizing the Western media to stir up hopes for a Russian invasion of Ukraine. See how he does it? Uncle Joe is having a little chat with him about it today. But Vlad was a little careless this time. He left the detailed battle plans he had so meticulously worked on for the invasion in his desk drawer – unlocked – while he was out for a dinner. The Kremlin cleaning staff (a.k.a. spies), noticing the unlocked drawer, found the plans and promptly turned them over to the German news outlet, Bild. Truth is stranger than fiction. Fantasy aside, there is one fiction that is stranger than truth in this case – a pending Russian invasion of Ukraine. Alas, it is not to be, and the factions in the West and EU itching for such a war will find coal in their boxes of chocolate for Valentine’s Day instead of a massacre in the Donbass. For more, read on. Continue reading “Valentine’s Day in Ukraine”

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The Russian R2P decree

On 15 Nov 2021 Vladimir Putin signed what amounts to a Russian version of the American R2P doctrine – the Resposibility to Protect. The situation in Ukraine is about to get very interesting. The gist of the decree is that Russia will protect certain goods going in and out of the Donbass region, as well as the people there. The people of Donbass are essentially of Russian ancestry and many people throughout Russia have relatives there. That is not the case with the remainder of the Ukraine. NATO leaders may just get their wish for more relevance, and sooner than they think, but what is arising is an event, pushed by the US and EU, that will have ill effects for the EU, and ultimately, for NATO. We will have a look at the decree, Ukraine and NATO here. Continue reading “The Russian R2P decree”

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The demise of NATO

In an interview with The Economist a couple of years ago, Emmanuel Macron had the following to say about the NATO alliance: “What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO,” His reference was in response to the actions of the Trump administration at the time in its relations with the EU. Trump, the epitome of the New York real estate mogul, had been poking at the Europeans to spend more money on US weaponry. Macron’s statement was the month before the pandemic began to grip the world’s attention and before the coming supply chain shocks and US actions overseas would enshrine his statement as being one of fact rather than conjecture. The question now remains, is NATO to be removed from life support and allowed to finally meet its end, or is it to remain as the shell of American influence over Europe for the foreseeable future? We’ll have a look at the astrology of the institution here. Continue reading “The demise of NATO”

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The Pandora Papers and Facebook’s face-plant

On 4 Oct 2021 the Pandora Papers were released amidst much hoopla about exposing some of the most corrupt leaders and billionaires on the planet. Featured in Western mainstream news, unsurprisingly, was Vladimir Putin. Putin’s face loomed the largest in The Guardian’s coverage of the papers, yet he was not directly singled out as one of the soiled leaders. That automatically raised suspicions amongst the independent media. Then, later that day Facebook and its subsidiaries (WhatsApp and Instagram) went down as well. So the big question is, what was really going on and what does the astrology for the day say about it? Continue reading “The Pandora Papers and Facebook’s face-plant”

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AUKUS takes on NATO

The AUKUS pact has faded from the news feed for now. But the effects of it will be felt across Europe for months to come. It is apparent at this point the Anglo nations, minus the Kiwis, are circling the wagons in preparation for a showdown with China – or so they seem to think. But what is that going to mean for Europe? Well, it seems the EU is not the superstate than many people thought it was, nor as important as the European Atlanticists thought they were to Uncle Sam. AUKUS has sent a shudder up the spine of the NATO alliance, and as a result, of the EU itself. We will examine what this event means for Europe in this post and some of the wider implications for the future of Europe, of NATO and the West in general. Continue reading “AUKUS takes on NATO”

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The AUKUS ruckus

This is a story that will not be going away any time soon. We all might live in a yellow submarine, as the Beatles would have it, but Australians now get to try their hands at nuclear submarines. Well, ‘Yellowcake’ is part of the process, isn’t it? And we aren’t talking about Betty Crocker here. Jokes aside, the AUKUS – Australian, United Kingdom and United States – agreement has many threads running through it, which we will unpack to a degree here. The general world view is that AUKUS is a sub-standard deal (pardon the pun) for Australia, a win for the United States and UK, a loss for the EU and France, and otherwise an unwise decision on the part of the Australian government. There again, opinions differ, depending on one’s geopolitical stance. So, let’s start unpacking. Continue reading “The AUKUS ruckus”

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Iran at the crossroads

On 17 Sep 2021, the procedure was started for Iran to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This comes as the culmination of what will come to be known as one of the most terrible months in foreign policy for the Anglo West in recent memory. But first, one of my faves from Cream, which will give a hint to the purpose of this post:

Continue reading “Iran at the crossroads”

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The 2021 Kabul airport bombings and what comes next

The world was gripped by the recent bombings at the Kabul international airport, coming amidst the evacuations of many thousands of foreign nationals and Afghanis seeking to leave Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. The airport was jammed with people trying to leave. It was a situation that was a security nightmare, with a government not yet formed, panic among the people seeking to leave and warnings of an imminent attack just hours before the event. At latest count, over 182 people were killed with at least 150 injured. Many questions have been raised and as yet are unanswered. But this event will change the face of Afghanistan. And as an effort to possibly sow wider chaos in that country, it has already backfired. But another specter has raised its head, one that is all too familiar for us now. Continue reading “The 2021 Kabul airport bombings and what comes next”

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Biden’s gambit in Afghanistan

The post follows upon the two-part post on the American/NATO pull-out of Afghanistan. The hysteria and negative reporting in the American media has been going on at full throttle, with reports already steering the narrative in the public toward sanctioning the Afghanis and at the very least delaying recognition of any government that is to be formed. The hot war that has now ended is shifting toward a covert and hybrid war, with the effort to keep Afghanistan destabilized already taking shape. This post will be more of a focus on the US, though, along with the astrology of the US and what it will mean for the nation in the immediate years ahead. Continue reading “Biden’s gambit in Afghanistan”

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The 2021 riots and looting in South Africa

An uneasy calm now exists in South Africa since earlier this month after having seen the worst violence since apartheid. The violence and looting followed upon the jailing of the President Jacob Zuma, who was sentenced to 15 months in jail for contempt of court on 29 June this year. That was after he refused to appear before a commission investigating corruption during his nine years in office. He handed himself over to police on 7 July. His arrest led to protests, violence and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and consequently spread to Gauteng province. Zuma was a controversial figure to say the least. But that is not what concerns us here. What led to the protests and why, and what is it about South Africa that would lead to such large riots? We’ll have a look at those matters here and South Africa’s astrology. Continue reading “The 2021 riots and looting in South Africa”