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”
Bolton’s Thanksgiving wish
Insanity: Def – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
The ‘Stache is up to his old tricks again. This time he wants a Thanksgiving turkey, as in regime change in Turkey. John Bolton, America’s favorite neocon, has decided Turkey doesn’t have enough democracy, so he has put together a little project to help Erdoğan see the errors of his ways and play nice with NATO. There is the Middle East to subdue, more mercenaries to train and well, NATO has to be united and strong to be able to go up against China and Russia. Oh, and let’s not forget Iran. Turkey must be on board, like fully on board. But The Sultan has other plans, it seems. To help things along, then, we have the latest in regime change projects: The Turkish Democracy Project. We can be certain the Turks will be most appreciative for ‘Big Mo’ Bolton’s help. Continue reading “Bolton’s Thanksgiving wish”
Tunisia’s constitutional crisis
On 25 July 2021, the President of Tunisia, citing Art 80 of the Tunisia’s constitution suspended Tunisia’s parliament and sacked the Prime Minister. The opposition in Tunisia is calling the move a coup. President Kais Saied says he is acting within constitutional law, saying the COVID crisis represents a threat to the nation’s security, further pointing to the mishandling of the crisis by the parliament and the sacked PM. Tunisia has been held up as the success story of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, being held as an example of the triumph of democracy over autocratic rule in the MENA region. So, is this a coup or a simple crisis that will eventually blow over? Continue reading “Tunisia’s constitutional crisis”
The HMS Defender incident
The day before the full moon, on 23 Jun 2021, the British warship HMS Defender crossed into disputed waters off the coast of Crimea. To the Russians, there is no dispute about whose waters those are. But to the Western world at large, at least publicly, Russia is an occupying force on Ukrainian territory. To hear the British side of the story in their media, the Defender was practising freedom of navigation innocently in Ukrainian waters at the behest of Ukraine. The truth is, the incident was a propaganda exercise to be used against Russia. We will examine the incident and its meanings and ramifications here, along with the astrology, of course. Continue reading “The HMS Defender incident”
The Surfside condo collapse
On the day of the full moon, 24 Jun 2021, at 1:30 am local time, a 12-story apartment complex came crashing down, leaving 11 people confirmed dead and 150 missing as of this writing. The missing are believed to be buried in the rubble. Most of them would have been sleeping at the time. Residents had been concerned about the building’s integrity since early 2019, yet nothing had been done to correct it. This was a catastrophe that could have been avoided had timely action been taken, as in effecting the needed repairs to the building. There are many takeaways from the collapse of the Champlain Towers South building, not the least of which is America’s crumbling infrastructure. Continue reading “The Surfside condo collapse”
The centenary of the CPC
Tomorrow will be a big day in China. July 1st 2021 marks the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Somehow, we might surmise few people in the West will be celebrating along with the Chinese. And actually, unless one hears it on the news, very few people in the West would even know how old the CCP is, much less when it was founded. But we are going to have a look at it here, largely because it is important to understand just what all the fuss about China is in the West and why America might possibly want to go to war with China. With all the negative press China gets in the West at present, a look at the astrology might give us some clues as to why, and why the West’s pushing back against China’s rise may not be the brightest idea in the world. Continue reading “The centenary of the CPC”
The Cancer solar ingress 2021
The Aries to Cancer quarter for 2021 has been quite an exciting period, with Mars out-of-bounds for two-thirds of the quarter. ‘Exciting’ may not be the word some readers would use to describe a quarter marked by the world being on the edge of WWIII over the Donbass, a war in Israel between Hamas and the IDF, an insurrection by Palestinians against Israeli security forces, the strange case of the Ryanair flight in Belarus, the Ever Given incident, and so forth. But yet to other readers, some other rather major and positive changes have come out of that period. The Aries quarter lived up to its forecast and then some. The Cancer-to-Libra quarter will appear to be a smoother ride, but beware the hidden agendas, the big fails and blunders and the tests of nerves. For this quarter, security concerns will see marked and perhaps revolutionary crossroads and turning points. Continue reading “The Cancer solar ingress 2021”
The Iran-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership
Receiving little notice or discussion in the mainstream press, Iran and China have just signed a comprehensive strategic agreement, stretching over 25 years, to the tune of upwards of $500 billion. In other words, this is a permanent agreement, if one thinks in the long term, as do most Asian nations. The agreement will be a boon to both Iran and China – a win-win agreement for sure. It will also mark some serious re-thinking of strategies in the West relative to Asia and especially to the Middle East, now known as West Asia. The Beltway is not happy about the agreement, for obvious reasons given their current animosity to both Iran and to China. This agreement bears a closer look, as it marks the start of big changes to come in the power base in West Asia and American influence therein. Continue reading “The Iran-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”
ScoMo’s ‘women problems’
It would appear that some Aussie pollies assume their fortunes extend to asserting their mandated right, by virtue of being elected, to abuse women peers and young staffers. In the latest episode, from the day after Valentine’s day (cringe-worthy, that) Australia has been roiled once again with yet another sex scandal, this time with Liberal Party pollies getting their jollies in Parliament House and generally harassing some of their women peers in the process. The National Party occasionally gets called out, too. Not a good look, boys. I wouldn’t go so far as to call them ‘mates’. ScoMo, the PM (a.k.a. ‘Slow Mo’ and ‘Scotty from Marketing’) is not exactly helping himself or the situation, either. I could be more pointed about the matter, and I will later in this piece. But for now, we want to look at what is going on in the Aussie chart, and if there is anything in particular that would indicate such a trend over the years. (I’ve heard a lot of goss on the subject, having lived there for almost 20 years. And no, I won’t be telling stories. This piece isn’t about prurient curiosity.) Continue reading “ScoMo’s ‘women problems’”
The Aries solar ingress 2021
With the solar ingress into Aries every year we start a new astrological cycle. As it turns out, this year also marks the start of a braver new world, and for many reasons. Much of why that would be will be covered in my Aries letter for 2021. We will touch on a few of the points here. In general, the Aries quarter will be marked by sudden events, some upsets, strong rhetoric and ‘messaging’, rebellion and a strong urge to freedom. We will see these sorts of events at home and abroad. And with the new boss in town (or so he thinks), we already see that the more things change sometimes, the more they stay the same. With these ideas in mind, we go to examine this quarter, from March through June. Continue reading “The Aries solar ingress 2021”