The Scorpio Festival 2021

We have settled in for the winter months here in Rovereto, with just a few weeks to go until the start of winter. The first dusting of snow has appeared on the mountains in the distance. The Christmas lights are going up all over our little city, preparations for the Christmas markets to start next month. This year I will not be attending the food stalls there because a green pass will be required to enter. I am not much of a fan, anyway, as most of what is on offer is sweet and beverages. But I will enjoy the lights at night and early morning when our oldest four-legged friend takes me out for her morning stroll. But, such is COVID fever here in Sud Tyrol. Talk now is the cursed passes may be extended until March or even June. The populace has other ideas, though, and protests against the measures are growing – a welcome sign. However, with Christmas lights appearing city-wide, I have started to do the same here at the house. When I am finished with my efforts at festive lighting, everyone in Rovereto will know where the American lives, at least one of the 12 who live here. We Americans do like to make a statement, and the bigger, the brasher, the more attention-grabbing, the better. Pictures and news at 11:00, as the saying goes. Watch for pics on social media.

In line with our theme for this letter, though, at present we are still in the preparatory stages for the winter, the start of which is always indicated when the Scorpio colors appear – autumnal colors – and the little ghosts, goblins and aspiring witches and warlocks appear on the streets at the end of October. Skeletons sometimes later run amok during the night, too, with the signs of their activities appearing the following morning, as in missing trash cans and various and sundry litter in the streets. I’m talking about Halloween, of course, and this year the city put on a pretty good showing, with shop owners dressed in appropriate attire passing out dental horrors (candy) to the kids and tables set up at various points in the city where the kids could manufacture their own costumes, along with activities (you know, like the large inflatable sliding boards) where the young-uns could burn off their sugar rushes before going home to dinner. The parents were most appreciative, but maybe they won’t be when the dental bills start to arrive. And the day after Halloween, as the street cleaners plied their trade, it was one of our public holidays – ‘Holy-ween’ – better $C:\Users\tian_\Pictures\Site Pictures\japanese_maple_autumn.jpg$ known as All Saints day.

‘Tis the season: This season in the northern hemisphere is always one of sudden change in nature as death and repose set in. It is the opposite in the southern hemisphere. But here the colors this year have been splendid. The city has seen fit in the past to plant Japanese maples in strategic parts of the city-scape, and they are aflame in reds and oranges. In the southern hemisphere other things are starting to be aflame that are not so pleasing. But as a small example of the duality in which we all live, Scorpio has two meanings (as do all the signs), depending on where you live north or south of the equator. In the north, outer life goes into repose, the seeds from trees and plants disappearing underground, the landscape appearing barren and destitute, dead to all outer appearances. Such is the northern view of Scorpio as a seasonal effect. But in the south, Scorpio is the period of regeneration and accelerated growth, with what had lain underground springing to life. In the north, the Pluto rulership of Scorpio represents death and the end of growth cycle. In the south, Pluto represents the treasures hidden underground and their regeneration. Pluto, as god of the underworld, represents both, and we will be looking at both aspects of Pluto and Scorpio in this letter later in relation to world affairs. Darkness and repose, or emergence into light – Pluto and Scorpio call on us to name our poison, or the nectar of our becoming. The choice is ours.

Orthodox Scorpio: It is an unfortunate legacy in astrology that Scorpio and Pluto are associated more with death and darkness than with rebirth and regeneration. It is our northern emphasis on Scorpio that tends to prevail in astrological texts. Scorpio is seen as dark and mysterious, as moody, full of passion and lust (from the old Mars rulership), suspicion and all the general undercurrents of human nature. Scorpio does have rulership over the subconscious mind, that portion of mind that has fallen below the level of consciousness. And that can be good or troublesome, dependent upon our past inclinations. But in the southern hemisphere, Scorpios tend to have a different presentation. True, they can exhibit the qualities just mentioned, but on the whole I have experienced southern hemisphere Scorpios to be full of life and more positive than their northern compatriots. There needs to be some rewriting of astrology for the southern hemisphere, as we discovered in my Chinese astrology classes.

$C:\Users\tian_\Pictures\Site Pictures\gnostic_kundalini.jpg$ Esoteric Scorpio: As to the human subtle anatomy, Scorpio again has a dual rulership, somewhat reflective of its Mercurial rulership at the Hierarchical level.^[1] Scorpio rules the nether regions of the torso. It also governs the path of discipleship.^[2] It governs the tests and trials associated with that path and which one encounters in the process of self-discipline and mind training prior to and through the first great expansion of consciousness which is called the third initiation, or in Christian terms, the transfiguration. In Buddhist terms, that expansion of consciousness is called the Path of Seeing, and entering into the Ground of the Very Joyful. The planet Mars covers this period, as it is both the orthodox and the esoteric ruler of the sign. Mars is the god of war, as we know, but in Scorpio, this is the person at war within themselves, seeking alignment between their own personality and their higher nature, or higher Self. The personality in most cases will fight mightily against being a conduit for the energy the higher Self transmits. But on the beginning of the Path, one starts by developing the mind of bodhichitta (of compassion toward all beings) – in other words, the service ethic. The choices made in Libra, archetypally speaking, are put to the test in Scorpio. And where are the major battles fought? – largely below the diaphragm.

We thus have several connections in the human anatomy, between consciousness, evolution, Scorpio and the three rulers of this most important sign for humanity: Mars, Pluto and Mercury. In the orthodox, Mars governs the heat in the body. It has a natural rulership of the solar plexus center/chakra. It is also connected with kundalini latent.^[3] Kundalini is the ‘serpent fire’ coiled at the base of the spine, and thus the base chakra. Mars thereby also has rulership over the base chakra, as does Scorpio. Scorpio in medical astrology rules the sacral chakra, the sexual organs and the draining process of the kidneys and thereby the bladder. This, we see Martian connections with all three of the lower major chakras. These are also known as the ‘personal chakras’. Truly, Mars rules the personality,^[4] from the standpoint of energy and the chakras, the latter representing aspects of consciousness. We also find the elementals of the personality in those chakras – physical (base chakra), emotional (solar plexus) and mental (sacral).^[5] Mars represents the status quo of the personality in these connections, a personality that is not oriented toward spiritual pursuits. But when the personality begins its first steps on the Path – when we first decide it is better to live toward a higher goal and ethic – then the other rulers of Scorpio take hold.

Pluto has rulership over the base chakra, first ruling the energy of kundalini locked there, and thereafter in its stirring upward in the spine. It also has rulership over the solar plexus chakra.^[6] Then we experience what is called the ‘lesser burning ground’,^[7] as the rising energy of kundalini burns away the obstructions that stand in the way of our enlightenment. We experience internal heat out of the ordinary, localized, internal fevers, inflammations of strange or uncertain origin, and always as these phenomena pass, a growing expansion of our consciousness. The experiences can be quite painful, and at all three levels, physical, emotional and mental. They can also be quite joyful with the added realizations. Thus, Pluto rules over the unlocking of the fire at the base of the spine^[8] and the consequent process of purification, leading ultimately to the top of the head and the activity of that fire throughout all the chakras in the body. In Buddhist terms, these preliminary stages are the first two paths, of accumulation and preparation, leading ultimately to the third path, where yet another ruler of Scorpio takes hold – the Path of Seeing – ruled by Mercury.

Mercury rules active kundalini, ‘ultimate bodhichitta’ (the mind of enlightenment) in Buddhist terminology. When active kundalini rises to the head centers and is active in synthesizing all three, then the 3^rd eye is opened fully and the disciple ‘sees’ (as in understands via direct experience) the reality of the Soul and Spirit. Pain is left behind, at least temporarily, and the bliss of spiritual knowing is experienced directly. Through the struggles of discipleship, really meaning the experiences of purification (‘preparation’) on the ‘burning ground’ the disciple emerges triumphant. Scorpio, Mars, Pluto and Mercury rule over or have their roles in all of these processes. The first path begins the release of the person from the control of the lower nature. Kundalini begins to stir. The second path or stage begins the processes of penetration into the Mysteries, via direct experience. The third stage or path marks the stage of real insight, as in a true experience of intuition – a vision of the universal, of complete openness/emptiness. The goal is achieved, leading to the Scorpio motto, “Warrior I am and from the battle I emerge triumphant.”^[9] The battle is always internal. The result is entry into the Kingdom of Souls.^[10]

Woman in red sleeveless dress standing on burning ground HD wallpaper | Wallpaper Flare We are facing a burning ground of sorts in our present world situation, with strong Scorpio and Pluto overtones, or undertones, if you like. This is particularly true across the West, where the old grasping for personal material wealth is being pressured to give way toward a focus on wealth for the good of the whole, notwithstanding within that framework the individual can still become wealthy. And the main battlegrounds for that are in the US and the UK, both of which have strong financial empires and both of which can be quite secretive in their approach, with ‘underground’ financial transactions taking place all the time and ‘black money’ being used to cause extensive suffering in parts of the world the Western powers seek to control. The real battle, then, is to release the souls of these nations into greater world service instead of self-service. And in that vein, we find Pluto particularly active in the present national charts of the US and the UK. With that, we move on to the full moon and then our world outlook. In that vein, keep in mind with what follows to look beyond the smoke and dust of media and government rhetoric in order to pierce beyond the veil.

The full moon takes place on 19 Nov 2021 at 8:57 UT (6:57 PM AEDT). It is also called the ‘Beaver Moon’ in the Farmer’s Almanac, and as well will be the longest lunar eclipse of this century. We’ll have more on that in a bit. The Moon is conjunct the star Algol in the figure and the Sun is conjunct Arrakis, for Dune fans. Since the Sun and the Moon are involved we can allow a wider orb for conjunctions with stars. These stars have symbolic significance to what is taking place in the world. Arrakis (μ Draco) is known as ‘the Dancer’ and is the bright nostril of the Dragon. The brighter stars in Draco are said to have the character of Mars and Saturn, the two standard malefics. The combination of the two planets can bring death and destruction, or very concentrated study and penetrating insight. “Draco gives an artistic and emotional but somber nature, a penetrating and analytical mind, much travel and many friends but danger of robbery and of accidental poisoning.” To the Kabbalists it is associated with the 13^th trump card of the tarot, ‘Death’.^[11] The card depicts the Grim Reaper (Video. Spoiler: It was the salmon mousse.) Arrakis is called the Dancer due to its position next to the ‘Lute Player’ (Alwaid) in the same constellation. And in that vein, we see our leaders in the Anglosphere dancing to the tune of the oligarchs, as is being revealed at an accelerating pace.

What is being reflected back to us in the Moon is its association with Algol (β Perseus), the ‘Demon Star’, ‘Mischief-maker’ or ‘Satan’s head’. To the ancient Chinese, it was ‘the Mausoleum’ (Dà Líng). When conjunct the Moon it is said to bring extreme illness and violent death.^[12] This goes back to the mischief we see some of our leaders getting up to, as is especially coming out in the US and the UK. We will get to some of that mischief a bit later in this letter. In addition, the Moon is conjunct the dwarf planet Sedna, which is signaling the end of the old financial order. In all, this eclipse will have very strong financial overtones and effects.

Otherwise, the full moon figure shows Mars moving off the t-square it had formed with the Mars/Uranus base and apex Saturn, which was in play around the 10^th of this month, a combination that speaks of intractable situations and sometimes violent and/or destructive outcomes. Now we see Mars and Venus in sextile, a much more pleasing influence in general, but one that also raises passions, and with Mars then opposite Uranus and Venus forming the ‘easy opposition’, we have a strongly passionate excitability. The full moon axis makes a t-square with a Jupiter apex, showing over-exuberance. The overall picture of this figure is one of showing up the excesses of power and possibly bringing about the downfall of public figures who have, shall we say, ‘misbehaved’. This figure also sets a tone going into next year of very much coming to light that has been hidden in the shadows for years, and that will be a most welcome thing, except for those people who have been exposed. That brings us to the eclipse, which will magnify everything just stated and which will be in effect for the next years leading up to 2025.

The eclipse will be visible over all of North America, most of South America and Far Northeast Asia. It will be a partial lunar eclipse, with the eclipse axis across the 28^th degree of Taurus/Scorpio. The Sabian symbols read as follows:

A woman, past her “change of life”, experiences a new love. (28 Taurus)
The king of the fairies approaching his domain (28 Scorpio)

King of the Fairies The lunar symbol speaks to our ability to rise above our personal limitations, whether biological, emotional or mental, and conjunct Algol, indicates the death of the old and the emergence of the new, with the illusion of catastrophe in attendance with that process. The solar symbol speaks to something larger, being the use of the imagination and symbolism to attain ‘the kingdom’, which is where our own higher Self resides – the Kingdom of Souls. Both of these symbols represent transformative events, one personal (the Moon) and the other transpersonal and universal (the Sun). The Sun with Arakkis is instructive, in that we need to learn a new dance, one not dictated by tradition or by people with power and influence, but instead to open ourselves to the universe of possibilities rather than what we are told are certainties or what to believe.

When it comes to transformative events, one has to look at the eclipse activations. At the start of December Mars will begin to activate this eclipse, with the exact conjunction on the 9^th. If that happened by itself, it might signal some violent event or fire, but it is sextile to Saturn at the same time, which moderates the effect and steadies the overall picture. Mars will activate it again in August next year when Mars passes over the lunar side of the eclipse axis and straight after over Algol. We may see a more active period with that activation, as there will be no moderating, calming influence. The culmination lines in this eclipse are of interest, too, with the solar culmination line running from Moscow down through West Asia (Middle East) and the horn of Africa, all hot spots, covered in a bit here. The lunar culmination line runs through the Yukon just east of Alaska, but is of no great moment. However, the Saturn culmination line runs through Beijing, Indonesia and Perth (think: AUKUS), while the Pluto anti-culmination lines runs through Washington, showing changes to come in American infrastructure and housing, with none of those changes being inspiring.

The housing crisis: Americans need to be aware, and perhaps the world too, that there is a housing crisis coming quickly in the US, of the same magnitude or greater than that of 2008. We need to understand this, because it is part of the American dream to own one’s own home, but there is something more insidious behind what is happening:

“Panic is driving housing prices up in a few different ways. Americans are flipping out because of the supposed…

Lack of building materials, which means there must be a housing “shortage” because construction is mostly off the table, so they must buy now or be left outdoors.
Prices, that are just going to keep going up so they must buy now before the affordability train leaves the station forever.
“Historically low mortgage rates”, which are probably the most dangerous aspect of this situation that will turn it into the next economic fiasco.

One of the key reasons that the 2008 Financial Crisis happened was because of the low interest rates on mortgages and inflated values of homes in connection with a lack of regulation over the financial world as a whole – and these exact same things are happening again right now in front of our faces…”

Business's Growing Role In Confronting The Housing Crisis Italics added. The housing crisis is building as we speak, and may break with the Mars transit over the eclipse in August next year, if not before. In the US chart housing and infrastructure is ruled by Mars, ruler of the US 4^th house. At the 2008 crash there was a transit of Uranus square to the US Mars from the 3^rd house (media and local transport). This time there is a transit of Neptune (uncertainty, nebulosity, weakness, deceit) to Mars from the 3^rd house, signaling the supply chain crisis and the resultant lack of building materials, all the time we are told the economy on track and doing well. All this brings us to our present considerations across the world. And since Pluto is the orthodox ruler of Scorpio, since the US is experiencing its first Pluto return (and in the 2^nd house of economics and national wealth) and since the seat of the current international world financial order is primarily in the US, there will be a more pointed look at the US in this letter.

Scorpio tails and other tales: Keep in mind as we go along, much of what follows may sound dark. But also bear in mind that from the study of history and cycles, we have been here before, lived through it and went on to thrive. I see no reason to doubt it will be any different this time around, either. Also keep in mind we will be discussing the Washington establishment and Wall Street here for the most part and their effects on the American public. That aside, the next few years in the US will be ‘exciting’. See the events to come as labor pains, and that means labor, too, as in labor unions, labor movements and the coming birth of a new economic outlook for the US and the West. Our national house-cleaning is going to be labor-intensive. And Pluto does indeed indicate a major cleansing.

Before we dive in to wider affairs, there was quite a bit more I wanted to address in this letter, but it is already long enough. There are items like,

The bogus war that is supposedly looming in Ukraine (Don’t look for it),
the hyperbole over the Chinese hypersonic weapon that wasn’t,
the Russian anti-satellite test (successful by the way) that has the US alarmed, but which the latter has plans for too,
the supply chain crisis in the US that is likely to get worse, also and why,
why the US will not go to war but why the threat of war is profitable and How many wars would Biden like to fight? (War is a racket, but the threat of war is an even bigger racket),
Iran’s mastery of the nuclear negotiations, and what happens after the JCPOA is pronounced dead? (there will be huffing and puffing),
the new Great Game in Central Asia and the Caucasus,
Sultan Erdogan’s concerted effort to ruin Turkey and weaken NATO,
the threat of peace, and
Xi’s new communist manifesto.

These are all important stories, and without even mentioning COVID in Europe, which is now the epicenter of a large number of people entering ICUs. But for this letter we look at Pluto and the US and its carry-on effects.

Pluto and the US: There are certain videos which I have taken to calling ‘popcorn videos’, meaning taking one’s time to sit down with a big bowl of popcorn and taking in what is being presented. There was a recent video in that vein about the economic strategy of the American Empire, also known as Pax Americana, which explains much of and about the economic situation in the US, how we got here and where the world is headed as a result. There is also a transcript available at the link. A thumbnail synopsis is as follows:

For almost a century the US has sought to dominate the world financially, friend and foe alike, with the military as its enforcement arm. Its financial policy is coercive and predatory.
Brussels, as in the EU (Scorpio Sun), is or has been largely controlled by Washington since WWII. NATO (Scorpio rising) is the enforcement arm of that control. But NATO is brain dead and on life support. For its life support it relies on endless reporting of Russian ‘threats’ and ‘aggression’.
Washington will not tolerate any competition of a sort that threatens that dominance. Until the last few years, war has been the result of resistance to Washington. Except against weak nations, that has finally ended.
The current economic, supply chain and coming housing crisis is meant to turn the US into a renters’ economy. COVID measures are a part of that process. “You will own nothing and you will be happy”, a la the Schwab doctrine, discussed in the Libra letter under ‘How the West was lost’. 2030 is the deadline. That is discussed later in brief.

The biggest fear Washington and Wall Street have is a united American public. By design, they keep the public divided, as witnessed by close elections and the cult of personalities that go with those elections and policies, for example. On the one side we have issues like ‘wokeness’, critical race theory, gender issues and now COVID. On the other side we have fear of communism and socialism invoked, ‘Christian values’ (of the militant, non-Christian sort, not discussed here), free market capitalism, small government (as in little to no regulation) and the old favorite, ‘God, guns and gays’. And these are just a few of the issues that keep us from talking to each other.

$C:\Users\tian_\Pictures\Site Pictures\divided_america.jpg$ The emotional heat generated by these false narratives serves to keep the neoliberal system in place, with growing intolerance between the two sides. And the media on both sides of the political fence serve only to reinforce those falsehoods. In short, a great glamour has been cast over the American public, and by extension, the collective Western public. You may think these preceding points to be off the mark or even conspiratorial. They are, however, in keeping with our lower Scorpio theme. All I would say is to take a step back and have a good, hard look. America’s underbelly, which needs to come under the purifying power of Pluto, is being highlighted by its Pluto return, especially over the coming year. That underbelly is economic in nature and is fomented by its oligarchy/billionaires (who control the media) and growing aristocracy. We begin with a current example and thereafter address specific points which will go toward explaining the bullet points preceding. In our current affairs we start with the recent ‘revelations’ by the Gray Lady about the now infamous Steele dossier, a result of the ongoing Durham investigations into Russia-gate. There are two points to keep in mind as we go along here – petroleum as an underground resource (ruled jointly by Neptune, Pluto and Scorpio) and debt, also ruled by Scorpio in its natural house arrangement, which also rules ‘other people’s money’, as in landlords, for instance.

The real purpose of Russia-gate: Before we even start, there is really only one thing you need to know about the West’s relationship with Russia. All else is secondary. The line of thought goes something like this:

The establishments in London and Washington are desperate – and that is probably not hyperbole – to keep Russia and the EU from forming business ties. The EU and Russia as a combined economic entity/bloc and by extension China, would form a pan-Eurasian economic bloc that would dwarf the economic empire of the US and UK. And the US/UK bloc would have little if any control over it. As a result, the US and UK establishments are trying every conceivable angle to keep the EU distant from Russia, to the extent of forcing another Iron Curtain to come down across Eastern Europe, thus isolating the EU from Russia. If such a situation was to eventuate, it would be the EU who would suffer the most. The reasons why will become clearer as we go along here. This is where Russia-gate came in.

As a people, we Americans need to take a step back, meaning Trump supporters and haters alike, and realize what was really going on with all the Trump-Russia business. Whether or not Trump had any dealings with Russia is immaterial. What has stood out with the ‘revelations’ about Russia-gate has served to highlight several areas of interest: Firstly, it was about the Washington establishment and MIC desperate to keep Russia as an enemy and distant from the American public. There is big money at stake, and rapprochement with Russia would mean a loss of huge profits for defense contractors, along with the American public realizing that Russians, on the whole, are no different from the rest of us. But there was more. Secondly, Russia-gate served the Great Game of geopolitics. Trump was just a convenient fall guy who stepped into a trap of his own making after making noises on the campaign trail about having better relations with Russia (which is actually desirable, in keeping with world goodwill), and then had to play along with the establishment to keep his place. His daughter also played a hand there, highlighted later. Thirdly, Russia-gate played solely to domestic politics. The rest of the world, except maybe for Western Europe, saw Russia-gate for what it was – a psy-op, and complete fabrication, hence the term ‘revelations’ being highlighted. There is nothing new in these reports. The information contained in them has been known to some independent journalists since the start of the whole affair. From here we need to make a short digression to understand what this Russia-gate business is really all about.

$C:\Users\tian_\Pictures\Site Pictures\four_presidents.jpg$ Leo Presidents: Many readers may be interested to know that the four presidents preceding Biden were all Leo types. Two had Leo Sun (Clinton and Obama, both Democrats) and two had Leo rising (‘W’ and Trump, both Republicans). Their election campaigns contained a lot of fanfare and show and were focused on their personalities to a large degree rather than substance, which diverted public attention from what was taking place under our noses. These four presidents were installed, vetted by vested interests, to turbocharge the neoliberal construct we have now and to perpetuate it since its beginnings with Nixon. When I say they were ‘installed’ as President, were we really given a choice as to whom to elect? And most of those presidential races were quite close. The Democrats ran on platforms of hope and change, and the Republicans ran on strength and security. The outcomes of their respective presidencies have resulted in more of the same policies as their predecessors, giving us neither hope nor change nor strength nor security. What we see currently is quite the opposite, actually. Presidents change, but policy remains.

As an example of how policy doesn’t change with American presidents, each of these presidents, despite their rhetoric, expanded the military activities of the MIC, either directly, through arms sales or both. The Democrats have expanded open warfare, as did ‘W’, the latter being the worst offender in terms of the scale of war and the loss of liberties for the American public and scale of suffering overseas. Clinton oversaw the Balkanization of Yugoslavia and the large movement eastward of NATO, along with the attempted balkanization of Russia. Tony Blair played his part there, too. ‘W’ gave us and the world our two ‘endless wars’ in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Patriot Act for Americans. Obama oversaw the Arab Spring uprisings and Libya, which induced a huge migrant crisis for Europe. Hillary Clinton was instrumental in those activities, too. The drone wars were expanded under Obama, and under Trump, too. Trump’s wars were more hybrid instead of kinetic, but wars just the same, especially against the ‘Big 3’ of the Resistance – Iran, China and Russia. He also went after Venezuela, as well as pushing for arms to the Saudis in their prosecution of the war in Yemen and his support for Israelis. Economic war is warfare just the same and produces intense suffering and death in the target nation, unless that nation has the wherewithal to overcome it.

Each of these ex-presidents are now seeking to preserve their legacies, supposedly in support of ‘democracy and peaceful co-existence among nations’, casting the US as a force for good in the world. Each of these men also had a hand in promoting neoliberal policies, with support of business over labor, and each of them were convinced of the righteousness of what they were doing. There is another story behind the latter comment, which will be addressed in a coming blog post. Each of them also presided over war crimes while at the same time they waxed on about human rights in the nations that were attacked and how the US should intervene to protect the people of those nations, or how they ‘stand with the people of ___’ (insert country), while at the same time producing acute economic hardship on those nations via sanctions and military actions. They and their supporters can try to whitewash the legacies of these men all they like, but the fact is these presidents had to toe the line of the Washington Blob in order to stay in office. And it is no different with Biden.

Our elections in the West, but in the US particularly run in a vicious cycle: People are dissatisfied with the performance of a particular administration. We are told we can vote them out if we don’t like it. The next administration comes in and performs much the same. We blame the President for failures and vote for another candidate hawking his wares. Rinse and repeat. Biden’s administration is proceeding along the same line, and the results are always the same. Fingers get pointed, personalities are trashed, the next election comes along with the media circus and the spectacle repeats. Why would this be? An example might help explain it.

Every election cycle in the US has the same elements in the candidates’ rhetoric – jobs and economy. One of the biggest employers in the US is the collective defense industry, which is the main component of the MIC. When funding for an aircraft carrier is passed in the Congressional budget and begins construction at a shipyard, for example, it is not actually built at the shipyard. It is manufactured in all 50 states and in foreign countries. It is simply assembled into the hull at the shipyard. This ensures the continuance of the MIC. Every senator and member of the House is elected on the same platforms as the President, and they ensure the parts for that aircraft carrier are manufactured in their state, because it means secure jobs for their constituents and thereby their reelection. The donors to their campaigns are part of the MIC, either being chief executives, business owners or billionaires who have made their fortunes off the arms trade. Sales of American weaponry abroad are big business. But if there is no military threat from outside their borders, why would nations buy expensive American arms? That is where the media comes in. “America must be kept strong against threats from foreign states!” It is the same tired old refrain we hear at every election cycle. Russia has been the favorite demon in the past, with China now having knocked it off its pride of place, much to the relief of Russians.

The MIC and US elections: Every US President since the death of FDR has been passed the chalice and task of keeping American manufacturing and military in the No. 1 position in the world. With every chalice passed, a little more poison is added to it, to keep the president in line. Presidents who stray from the establishment line are ousted due to economic concerns or even assassinated as we saw with Kennedy. Biden made noises about changing the economy, raising taxes on the wealthy and abstaining from armed conflict and now we see spikes in inflation and prices for consumer goods, supply chain disruptions and so forth, with another large housing crisis about to land. Is it by design or systemic of long standing? If it continues, Biden and the Democrats will lose big at the next elections. Presidents who seek détente are handed economic woes, as we saw with Bush Sr. But the situation has come to the point where no US President is able to change the system. They are up against the donors, the Congress (who have to keep the arms trade alive for their constituency and for their employment after leaving office), the judiciary, the media machine and a public routinely scared by American media.

It took Obama seven years until he finally lamented the US establishment was geared toward war, and that he was helpless to do anything about it (Video, from 8:00. Watch the whole thing and understand what we are up against). Presidential candidates might talk a good story and maybe have the right intention about helping the American public and ending wars going in, but they soon find themselves up against a behemoth, also ‘affectionately’ known as the Washington Blob. Trump played the Blob’s game. He had to. His first trip abroad as President was to Saudi Arabia, for example, with deals in his briefcase upon leaving for billions in arms sales. He pressured the EU for more military spending – so long as they spent that money on American weapons. Turkey had other ideas and promptly got bounced from the F-35 program and now find themselves outside of the Beltway’s good graces after buying Russian air defenses. France just felt the sting of American opportunism with the AUKUS deal because the Aussie subs were to be built by Europeans instead of Americans. And Australia will soon feel the pinch to the ear and be led to confront China, perhaps even ‘encouraged’ to lease American nuclear submarines in the pursuit of that objective.

$C:\Users\tian_\Pictures\Site Pictures\A-Military-Industrial-Complex-T226.jpg$ The arms industry in the US is pervasive and insidious. It filters through to many aspects of life and economy in the US. In my home town in the US I worked in a transnational firm that made parts for the American Humvee, among parts for domestic vehicles. There were large corporations in my area that contracted for the military. One made missile guidance systems. Another made training aircraft for military pilots. Still another made fabrics for many military concerns. And these were some of the highest-paid jobs in the area, with the best benefits, before offshoring took place under the Leo presidents. But the stock market boomed, showing how well the corporate sector was faring, all the while people’s wages stagnated as a measure of living standards and job security was to be seen no more. This is not to blame Leo, but to highlight the focus on personalities over issues. We see the former now with Biden, though, who is cast either as an inept and failing old man in many comments I see and as his ratings indicate, unable to lead the country effectively, or as a savior whose hands are tied by a recalcitrant Congress and Republicans. Is the pattern clear enough? Yet, what can Biden (or any President) really do aside from executive orders, when two members of his own party stalemate his proposed reforms in a divided and divisive Congress and cause his BBB Plan to be watered down to such an extent that the average American will see little if any benefit from it? This brings us back to Russia.

Russia-gate and fallout: Russia-gate has served domestic politics by keeping the public divided, with Democrats and Liberals hanging on every word, hoping the next ‘bombshell’ would be the end of Trump. But Trump, meanwhile, was serving the interests of his class, the oligarchs, in cutting taxes to the rich and corporations and keeping defense spending high, by focusing on Israel, Iran and China, all the while sanctioning Russia. The fix was in, and the media churned out the endless tune. And to his supporters, Trump was held up as the victim of a witch-hunt, with his voter base rallying around him. Neither side – Republican or Democratic voters – really saw Russia-gate for what it was. Perhaps there is a chance for a cross-party conversation to begin taking place with these recent revelations, but more likely will be that the fingers will be pointed at the Democrats. Still the tune plays on, with talk of Trump running again in ’24, keeping the Dems scared and the Repubs hopeful. I wouldn’t count on it. The times, they are a-changin’. Trump has served his purpose. If he does win another nomination I would be surprised, if he even decides to run again. More revelations are set to be rolled out.

Perhaps the most outstanding features of Russia-gate have been the media coverage, which was great for generating media ratings, and in exposing the corruption that has taken place in the Justice Department and the Democratic establishment, not that establishment Republicans are any better. The sooner we realize we have all been had, the better. The recent stories coming out about Russia-gate have shone a glaring light on the FBI, too, who knew the whole Russia-gate story was nonsense since 2017, when the story first appeared. It has also shown the organization to be anything but non-partisan and unbiased. The emerging stories show the complicity and falseness of American media organizations in the whole process. The liberal media in the US was hysterical over Trump, and it made their executives and some of their presenters rich in the process. And now the more conservative news outlets are doing likewise with the Biden administration. How is the Hunter Biden laptop story any different from Russia-gate in terms of keeping the nation divided, for instance? How is going after ‘Crooked Hillary’ going to change the corrupted system? It wouldn’t. Nothing of substance would happen to her anyway, given past precedents. The focus on domestic politics brings up recent elections, though, which have many Democrats worried, and more sensitive types fearing dystopia in America. But this is an old story.

$C:\Users\tian_\Pictures\Site Pictures\clowns_jokers.jpg$ Local US elections: Here we are, stuck in the middle. There were two gubernatorial races in the US in the past weeks that sent the shiver up the spines of establishment Democrats. In Virginia, one Glenn Youngkin (R) defeated the incumbent Terry McAuliffe (D) in the race for the Governor’s mansion, a race the latter should have easily won. And in New Jersey, the Democrat incumbent narrowly avoided defeat. Both of these races showed the dissatisfaction that is growing among independent and Democrat voters in the US over the performance of the Biden administration, over his handling of the COVID crisis and his failure to pass the BBB bill (which has now been narrowly passed). This has many liberal and Democratic voters worried the Republicans will make clean sweeps of the Congress in 2022 and the White House in ’24. And they probably will, too. But the same thing happened with Obama as well. The same has happened with Republican administrations. It is a familiar scene that would appear to be contrived, with the Democrats representing a sort of ‘controlled opposition’, which feigns support for its voter base but instead continues the same neoliberal policies as before, while enriching its members at the same time. The Republicans do the same with their voter base as well. The Democratic Party would appear to be all but unreformable. Obama, for instance, has done very well for himself after leaving office. We’ll get to that in a moment. And members of Congress on both sides keep those revolving doors into well-paid jobs in Big Pharma and defense industries after leaving office. Why would they vote against those interests? And it is not just the US. This happens in the UK and Australia, too. Leaders in Brussels are well paid to keep the system going, also. You could transpose the parties of one country into the next and would see no difference. That should tell us something.

Bye, bye Miss American Pie: But in perhaps one of the biggest and largely unreported pieces of news in this century thus far is the recent statement by Gen. Milley at the Aspen Security Forum, that the unipolar order, in other words Pax Americana, is over:

“We’re entering into a tri-polar world with the U.S., Russia and China being all great powers. Just by introducing three vs two you get increased complexity.”

The statement is straight from the horse’s mouth, from the Chairman if the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military. Graham Allison agrees with him. It should be front page news in the US. It should also be cause for celebration, because he went on to say the following:

“Today, the United States, Russia, China, allies and partners are going to have to be very careful and conscious about how they deal with each other going forward and coordinated communication between the great powers will be a necessity.”

The last line quoted is in direct contradiction of what we see by some leaders in Europe and the US regarding Russia. And plans behind the scenes appear to be suggesting Washington and the EU are trying to force Russia to intervene in eastern Ukraine, which would draw the curtain down on any further constructive relations between Russia and the West in the immediate future. Madness. However, given what Milley has said it gives us, or should give us pause for reflection and a reevaluation of Western policy toward Russia, China and other powers. The Israelis and Saudis need to do likewise regarding Iran, Yemen and other Shiite powers in the region. But instead, what we will probably see for the next short period ahead is doubling down on existent policy.

Time to lift the veil: It would benefit everyone to study Russia, China and other world cultures to get a clearer view of what is actually taking place in international affairs. When it comes to Russia, for instance and for a starting place, one would do well to read the posts of the two Andreis (Raevsky and Martyanov) and the two Patricks (Lawrence and Armstrong). Armstrong posts his ‘Russia Sitrep’ every couple of weeks, looking at developments within Russia and Russia-Western relations. Lawrence has posted various times on Russia’s relations with the West. Martyanov and Raevsky are expat Russian military analysts living in the US, with intimate knowledge of both nations and a love of American and Russian people and culture, at least American culture prior to the ‘90s. One could do the same with China, starting with Godfrey, Daniel and Jerry (interview).

$C:\Users\tian_\Pictures\Site Pictures\houthis.jpg$ The Yemeni earthquake: Then to the Middle East/West Asia, one can read posts by Elijah and Sharmine and Co. For example, the war in Yemen, at least the kinetic part of it, is fast drawing to a close, with a victory by Yemen. Marib is about to fall to the Houthis. Recent actions by Ansar-Allah (the Houthis) have shown the UAE in no uncertain terms why they need to exit Yemen and stop all cooperation with the US, the Saudis and Israel in the Red Sea. It turns out the Houthis flew a drone swarm over the entirety of the UAE without being detected, only to reveal themselves intentionally upon their leaving. The Emiratis were panic-stricken at the thought. The Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb is about to come under the control of the Houthis, which will mean a seismic shift in relations between the nations in the region, in favor of Yemen. The Saudis are likewise under threat in a way similar to that of the UAE. This is the reason why we see the Saudi retreat to the south of Yemen, abandoning the west coast of Yemen and why there has been a flurry of negotiations between nations and factions in the region, including the recent seeming rapprochement between the Saudis and Iranians. Those negotiations fell through, because the Saudis wanted Tehran to pressure the Houthis to cease their offensives in Yemen. Tehran was not interested, telling the Saudis ابدا (not in a million years). Here is the reality emerging in the region, and important to note (machine translate from Arabic):

“Yemen is entering a new phase of confrontation aimed at finishing off the Saudi-Emirati-American aggression against it, and all the field and political facts indicate the impossibility of adjusting the balance of power, even if it is decided to directly enter the American and even Israeli forces into the war, as Saudi Arabia desires. But everyone feels that the whole region will be facing a new reality during the period between [now and] the end of the year. On this scale, the Lebanese, whether supporters of Saudi Arabia or opponents of the Resistance, are supposed to understand the cause of the anger gripping the House of Saud. They must realize that Riyadh no longer finds a space or arena other than Lebanon to invent papers to negotiate with the other party. But the problem is that the Saudis do not know, after their failure to comply with the operational results [of Houthi advances], and announcing the cessation of the war, lifting the siege, and paying compensation for the reconstruction of Yemen, that the door will remain open to new rounds of field confrontations that will focus this time in the heart of Saudi lands.”

Emphases added. The entire article is a must-read if you want to understand what is taking place in Yemen and many of the activities that are taking place in the region. When Marib falls, as appears to be inevitable now, Shiite forces will control the mouth of the Red Sea, meaning also the Suez Canal by extension, and the Persian Gulf, by dint of their military capabilities. It is too much to go into here, but the days of Western control over those shipping routes are coming to a close. The economic costs and costs to standards of living to Europe especially would be enormous should anything be attempted in terms of the West trying to force control in the region. Europe thereafter would have to depend on the Northern Sea Route for affordable shipping and thus Russia. So, perhaps we see a quite complicated set of factors immediately in front of us and international relations that will have to be very carefully handled. Negotiations now trump military might as a means of keeping shipping and energy moving. It is also worth noting the Chinese have a military base – their only one outside China – in Djibouti, across the Mandeb Strait from Yemen. Interesting times, indeed.

Coming back to the US and UK, for all their talk about human rights and so forth, both nations have supported the Saudi war on Yemen. Their people haven’t. But the war serves establishment purposes in that a Saudi victory would more or less guarantee Saudi and Western control over the mouth of the Red Sea and thereby the Suez Canal, giving control over a huge part of the world’s shipping and Europe. This was discussed more at length in the Aries letter this year (‘Israel and the Suez’). Western control of the Suez would also suit Israel quite nicely, too, as they are avowed enemies of the Houthis. This is a situation that should be closely monitored. But it also indicates there must be a strong 1^st or 6^th ray in the Houthis to be able to persevere all this time and emerge victorious against the world’s greater powers. Their victory is yet another example of how the tide is turning against Western foreign policy. ‘Rag-heads in sandals’ have again largely prevailed over some of the most modern military hardware and tactics in the world, as was recently demonstrated in Afghanistan. What message does it send about the West’s and Washington’s ability to enforce their policies militarily? The Saudis are going to have to sit across the table and negotiate with the Houthis. The Israelis have been served notice, too.

COP26: Returning to the West, the G20 and the conference on climate change (COP26) has come and gone now to great media fanfare. The message has gone out: We all must do our part. However, it should be apparent to everyone now, if it hasn’t been already, that the wealthy and powerful are clueless at best when it comes to addressing climate change, and hypocrites at the worst. First there was the G20 Summit in Rome and then on to Glasgow for the COP26. The two can be seen as being part of the same initiatives by the Western powers. COP26 ended with a milquetoast document that sort of danced around climate priorities. As it turned out, the conference was more for show than for substance. The G20 was also a meeting for the 1^st and 2^nd tiers of the wealthiest nations in the world. The top tier is the G7, and all of them were at COP26. The G20 in Rome was a “Let them eat cake” moment. Consider the following, and then consider what it would have taken to put on such a display of opulence, while we are told to make do with less:

COP26: Royal 'climate change hypocrites' billboards roll out across Edinburgh and Glasgow | The National “Heads of state from the world’s wealthiest nations gathered for the first time in person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic at the recent G20 summit meeting in Rome, Italy. The two-day meeting culminated in a grand dinner at the Quirinale Palace, where the evening’s menu featured salmon with dill, pumpkin risotto, sea bass fillets, tomato and celeriac puff pastry, and for dessert, a “delicate” steamed mandarin cream. Guests sat around a large formal dining table in a high-ceilinged palatial room with an impressive crystal chandelier and window dressings of tasseled red drapes.

The dinner was the modern-day equivalent of “let them eat cake,” the phrase (inaccurately) attributed to the epitome of frivolous luxury by the ruling class (and the last queen of France before the French Revolution), Marie Antoinette. The leaders of the G20 nations, who had gathered under the banner of “People, Planet, Prosperity,” appear to have disproportionately focused on the third rung of their agenda and limited its scope to the prosperity of elites like them. On the three critical issues of climate change, global corporate taxation, and COVID-19 vaccines, the world’s wealthiest nations looked out for themselves at the expense of the rest of the world.”

Emphases added. I suppose it was their version of sitting across the kitchen table and having a heart-to-heart – kitchen diplomacy. After the COP26 conference, Scott Morrison of Australia proudly held up the planphlet for the Australian plan to cut emissions to net zero by 2050. (video). At the conclusion of the conference, the leaders of these wealthy nations hopped into their private jets and went back to their respective nations to tell us all we need to tighten our belts and do something about our living standards (meaning we have to make do with less). Now it is all ‘electric this’ and ‘wind and solar that’, while the elites in the EU have seen fit to ease their citizens into being cold this winter because, well, we can’t use dirty gas to heat our homes, can we? Personally, I am all for doing things to help the environment, but hypocrisy needs to be called out at every turn. On a more humorous note and because cattle release copious amounts of methane into the atmosphere, we even have articles coming out to the effect that men who eat steak (noting women who eat steak are omitted) may be suffering from ‘masculinity stress’, (some of the comments are hilarious) the article being a combination of climate activism, male stereotypes and ‘wokeness’. I’ll reserve comment but you can read the article. ‘Wokeness’ is another manifestation of American culture and Scorpio undercurrents there these days, but we will have to address that elsewhere.

The COP26 conference was also heavily politicized. After the fact we had two American Presidents lambasting Russia and China. Why? – because neither Putin nor Xi showed up in person, although there were delegations from Russia and China at COP26. But apparently it takes an 85-vehicle entourage to escort Biden around Rome to see the Pope, and then on to Glasgow, not to mention the large aircraft required to fly all those vehicles over. We might suppose the Pope warrants such an entourage. I doubt they were rented from Thrifty Car Rentals at Fiumicino airport (FCO). It was American exceptionalism on display. But those two countries, Russia and China, are doing more to address climate change than the combined West. And if the Pentagon were a nation, it would be in the top quarter of polluters on the planet. Yes, you might say I am less than impressed with the whole affair. There is quite a bit we could say here, but instead we will just have to unpack the most important points.

Our oily challenge: Controversy aside about whether or not climate change is real, we have looked at the issue of oil (‘It’s all about oil’) and hydrocarbons in past letters and what could be done about it. What is emerging as a result of the COVID crisis over the past couple of years is the need for reliable, abundant and consistent energy supply. There are only two ways extant that guarantee such a supply of electricity if a nation has no access to adequate hydroelectric means – fossil fuels and nuclear. So-called green energy has proven itself to be unreliable, as was recently pointed out to Europeans, along with mismanagement of existing structures in the US. Fossil fuels are cheap, but they are also on their way out over the coming decades in terms of being economically viable. In fact, the US is facing serious choices about its energy supply, as in to frack or not to frack, or to open pristine wilderness and the oceans to more oil drilling. Its nuclear industry has fallen far behind and is not being pursued except for weapons, and the Biden administration seems intent on cutting oil pipelines.

$C:\Users\tian_\Pictures\Site Pictures\cop26_netzero.jpg$ The preceding brings us to why the end document of the COP26 was so weak – it was co-opted by Big Oil (who sent over 500 delegates to the conference) and political and economic expediency primarily across the Western nations, who still rely heavily on fossil fuels. Except for its submarines and large ships, the Pentagon is nearly wholly dependent upon fossil fuels for mobility. Clearly, we are facing a crossroads about energy supply and that has nothing to do with climate change. It has instead to do with the waning 6^th ray cycle which had oil as a major energy source, the incoming 7^th ray transmitted via Uranus which rules technology, nuclear energy and electricity, and the rapidly coming changes in economic structures, also a result of the Uranian transit through Taurus. And speaking of pipelines, we now face the highest inflation rates in 31 years in the US, about to be exploded by the fallout from the producer price pipeline, probably about which few people know anything.

It may surprise some readers to learn that Russia and China are ahead of the game when it comes to weaning themselves off fossil fuels. They are also ahead of the game in terms of addressing climate change. But they have chosen paths different from the Western nations. China, for instance, has invested heavily in high-speed rail for mass transit (gradually replacing air travel within China), electric vehicles, is planting forests the size of Belgium each year and managing its environment with a number of projects and it is making strides in its nuclear energy for domestic purposes. The Russians face a different set of circumstances. Their biggest obstacle is their huge, undeveloped land mass and harsh winters. However, they have over 20% of the world’s forests, which cover 45% of their land, have huge reserves of cleaner natural gas (yes, there are differences in types of natural gas), but their local environmental activism is still a mixed bag, though growing. The Chinese also face a huge obstacle, and that is in supporting its large and aging population to a decent standard of living. But this brings in a point we never hear mentioned.

Energy independence: We have been made dependent on fossil fuels, for heat, for electricity, for transport and for a huge chemical industrial complex which relies of petroleum for its feedstock, including fertilizers. The auto and transport industries are some of the biggest corporations and we have grown used to the convenience of being able to hop in our cars to travel large distances. In one sense this has meant greater freedoms in general. In another sense in means we are easily controlled by the whims of the people who control the energy. He who controls the energy now controls the economy and thereby the governments of the world. Perhaps this gives a hint as to why there is an energy crisis in Europe now. But here is a thought: What if every nation in the world was energy independent? It is possible, but it would mean huge investments in research and infrastructure, something the oligarchs are loathe to engage. They would lose control, you see? But this is exactly the purpose behind the plans of China, Russia and Iran – to become energy independent.

Russia is already energy independent. China is fast approaching that. Iran could easily be energy independent and that is the main reason behind their nuclear industry. It has nothing to do with bombs. We will go even further out on a limb here and just state the matter outright: If every nation were energy independent, the climate crisis would be a non-issue. If there were no need to import oil or gas, then fossil fuels would largely cease to be an issue. The atmosphere would quickly clear. But that would also mean nations like the US would no longer control the energy reserves of the world, and the Beltway is fast losing that ability anyway. The latter is the reason why the US is seeking so strongly to ‘counter’ the rise of the aforementioned ‘enemy nations’. They represent competition for American oligarchs, and that simply cannot be tolerated. The US will not tolerate competition. This is a key thing to remember about the reasons behind the foreign policy of the Beltway Blob, joined like a Siamese twin to Wall Street. Washington has just thrown cold water on thawing relations with Russia. Why are relations between Russia and the US so bad? The answer goes back to economies:

“Of course, the explanation for this conundrum is rather mundane. American corporate capitalism cannot abide peaceful international relations because such a benign state of global affairs is anathema to its hyper-militaristic economy. Under prevailing conditions of dysfunctional U.S. capitalism, relations with Russia (and China, Iran, and so on) are designed to, necessarily, be bad. Hence, the perverse position in Washington this week of destroying any diplomatic opening with Russia.”

What Can We Learn from Utopians of the Past? | The New Yorker WEF-think: There is one last item to add to the G20/COP26 agenda and then we will move on. It has to do with all the hype around the WEF and the Great Reset, which is a myth anyway, a fake Utopia. More than that, though, the WEF is a gathering of the elites of the world at Davos. Going back to the quote at the start of this section, we can perhaps begin to get a sense of why these people are so out of touch with the realities of the vast majority of the world’s populace. It may surprise you to know, or perhaps not, that some of the world’s leaders across disciplines have been through a school sponsored by Schwab and the WEF – the Young Global Leaders Forum, based in Geneva. Some of its more illustrious alumni include Emmanuel Macron, Mark Zuckerberg, Jacinda Adhern, Anderson Cooper (of CNN), Sebastian Kurz, Jack Ma (who was recently fined billions by the CPC for abuse of financial position), Ivanka Trump and several high-profile Hollywood celebs (DiCaprio, Kutcher and Theron) along with Brin and Page of Google. It is a long list. As a point of interest, DiCaprio (Scorpio Sun) does TV ads here in Italy for the Fiat 500, an anachronism if you know Italian culture. (English version, Italiano, climate version). This is not to say these people are part of some grand conspiracy or even evil. But they do represent and transmit certain trains of thought that enter into the public discourse, thoughts they encounter in groups like the Young Global Leaders Forum. You can draw your own conclusions.

One can watch media trends to gain insight into the state of affairs toward which the elites would like to steer us. There is a period piece playing now in Italy from the ‘60s, for instance, that shows the tiny little cars and the lifestyles of Italians in those days, referring back to DiCaprio. The Fiat 500 represents the old Italian la dolce vita and supposedly happier times in Italy. (For modern motor-heads there is this.) We get lots of American shows here from cable TV overdubbed in Italian, too, with the likes of Homestead Rescue, Naked and Afraid, a slew of Tiny House series, which is of interest for Italian and probably other EU citizens. It is of interest in terms of what is represents – living with less, glamourizing ‘roughing it’, living off-grid ‘in harmony with the environment’ and in the woods, and so on. Now, these are not mainstream shows, but they do appeal to sectors of the populace. They are interesting to watch, too. But the message is what is important. We also get a number of American reruns (I Dream of Jeannie and so forth). Even here, American culture is promoted, which is another message, and I have spoken with many Italians who simply have the wrong idea of what American life is like in watching these shows. But I digress.

Migrants and oil: In terms of America’s Pluto return, we have to look at what is taking place in Europe regarding migrants and why. It is also related to the US/Saudi relations across several administrations now, as well as Western energy interests. We start with the Saudis and the Arab Spring, the latter which is not as it has been portrayed in the West, and which has preceded the large migrations of people from affected countries to Europe. France and Qatar planned together to orchestrate the Arab Spring uprisings (machine translate from French) in North Africa and West Asia, with help from other members of the Arab League. The Saudis were integral to this process. This was done to ensure (the French and Qataris thought) energy supplies to Europe. The US got involved to ensure its continuing control of oil pricing and energy supply as well. The Saudis and the US are joined at the hip regarding money supply, as in the petro-dollar, which is now under threat due first to Trump’s threats of cutting the Saudis off from weapons and then Biden’s policy regarding the murder of Kashoggi. It is also under threat due to increasing Russian and Chinese activities to bypass the US dollar in trade. Biden has sought to pressure the Saudis and Russians to pump more oil in order to lower energy prices at home, to no avail. The Russians are happily selling their oil and gas to the East, and have said “Nyet” to Biden. Word through the pipeline is that pending Russian deals to the East to divert oil and gas from the EU were a major reason why the Germans withstood pressure from Washington over Nordstream, with more on that in a bit. But that pressure appears to be still in effect. In yet another self-defeating move by German regulators, they have temporarily suspended the certification of Nord Stream 2 due to a legal technicality. It will be a cold and expensive winter in Europe.

Americans Are Paying A Steep Price For Biden's War On Energy - Climate Change Dispatch Gasoline prices are rising steadily in the US now because of US policy toward the Saudis and the Saudis’ inability to end the war in Yemen, which they are losing badly. To offset the costs of the war, the Saudis are keeping supply capped, which results in higher oil prices, increasing their coffers as well as those of Russia. Oil prices per barrel have doubled since this time last year. No doubt Biden will soon be making deals with the devil Crown Prince of Saud to get oil prices down. He just tried, with a reported sale of $650 million worth of air-to-air missiles to the Saudis. Economy will trump Biden’s campaign trail ‘moral outrage’ over Kashoggi’s murder, though. The Saudis literally have Washington and Biden over a barrel, pun intended. And it would have been no different under a Trump administration, for reasons to follow.

In terms of domestic politics this rise in oil prices and inflation is bad for Biden’s ratings, who is made the fall guy for the increasing crisis. Ratings are even worse for Kamala Harris, now more despised than Dick Cheney, which is quite an achievement. There is little Biden can do, however. With the US dollar pegged to Saudi Arabia, too much pressure on the Saudis might prompt them to begin settling their accounts in yuan, which would be disastrous for the status of the US dollar. The latter is unlikely to happen soon. In reality, what is happening now goes right back to the Arab Spring and even before, to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter two which were about oil as well. In summation, the high prices and shortages of energy we are seeing is due precisely to Western imperial ambitions regarding energy supply from the aforementioned regions and foreign policy regarding Russia, Iran and China. For Americans, blaming a President for such events ignores longstanding policy objectives by the Washington establishment, which has bipartisan support. Those same policies, however, have been hard on Europe, which to a degree has had to play along with Washington.

The EU and the Arab Spring: The results for Europe of the Arab Spring and America’s endless wars has had several very negative results, which now hang over EU leaders like the Sword of Damocles in the form of blowback. Those failed policies are also producing fractures in the union itself, keeping in mind the chart for the EU has its Sun in Scorpio. The wars and uprisings primarily prosecuted by the US, UK and France and backed by the EU as a bloc have done little to ensure energy supply to Europe and in fact have only produced greater insecurity. Those wars and revolutions have also displaced millions of people, a good portion of which have landed on European shores, the UK included. The migration crisis in the EU from 2015 was a direct result of Western warmongering and meddling.

The West had planned oil pipelines through Syria and Afghanistan as part of plans for energy security, control of resources and as a geopolitical tool against Russia. The Syrian war was won by the Syrians with the help of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, thus scuttling plans for the pipelines to run through that nation from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with Turkey hoping to benefit from transit fees, thereby bypassing Russia. In what must be a bitter irony for some EU leaders, much of the EU now relies on Russian gas for major portions of its energy needs. Of interest to some readers might be that the article just linked was posted a couple of years before The Guardian lost its independent status and became a British government mouthpiece. Several links in that article go a ways toward explaining the reasons for the war in Syria, which was anything but a civil war and was instead a proxy great power conflict. That brings us to a recent development pointed out by Pepe Escobar:

“[There has been] a proposal that is sitting at a crucial desk in Moscow for approval for two years now, as I reported at the time: an offer by a reputable Western energy firm of $700 billion for Russia to divert their oil and gas exports to China and other Asian customers, away from the EU.

This proposal was actually the key reason for Berlin to resolutely counteract the U.S. drive to stop Nord Stream 2. Yet the torture never stops. Russia now faces an additional hurdle: a carbon tax on exports to the EU which include steel, cement and electricity. That may well be extended to oil and natural gas.

$C:\Users\tian_\Pictures\Site Pictures\genoil.png$ “Every sentient being across the EU knows that Nord Stream 2 is the easiest path to lower natural gas prices across Europe, and not the EU’s blind neoliberal bet of buying short term in the spot market.”

That ‘reputable Western energy firm’ is Genoil, with its main office at the Rockefeller Center in New York. The desk in question is that of Shmal Gannadiy, a top oil advisor to Putin. But there is more to this. Genoil has big plans, and they involve Russia and China, knowingly disadvantaging the EU. Hint: it is all about profits, as well as a foreign policy tool:

“This proposal shields Russia from German and EU threats relating to the Ukraine, sanctions from the EU Carbon tax, or sanctions from the US. Genoil’s proposal will include the Genoil technology implementation to reduce the carbon footprint and enhance the environmental competitiveness of Russian energy and manufacturing sectors would represent one of the largest commercial transactions in history. It is commonly known in Brussels that the global carbon action initiatives have made EU manufacturers significantly less competitive, and this trend will be exacerbated over the next five years. The EU is implementing emergency legislation called the “Carbon Border Tax” which will most likely drive the EU out of the world market.”

Emphases added. What would all this mean, really? Why would the leadership in Brussels shoot itself in the foot and disempower the EU on the world stage? They may make it sound all noble, about saving the planet, but it would cause mass suffering in Europe. And why has Putin not OK’d the plan? The obvious reason is he doesn’t want to see an unstable EU on Russia’s borders. In terms of profits for Russia, it would be the same if they sell oil and gas to the East or to the EU. Either way, Russia stands to make a lot of money. If that energy was diverted to the East, as the plan is laid out, the EU would have to import expensive LNG. A ‘Green New Deal’ would be forced on the continent to an extent. And with energy prices out of reach, it would kill European manufacturing and induce a renter economy in the EU. But the US transnational would make a pile of profit, and the EU would cease to be a US competitor, Washington would still have some control over energy supply, Russia would be locked out of Europe, and the Great Game would continue. It is a clever plan from a US foreign policy perspective, really. Is the picture starting to emerge? If that deal were to happen (I have my doubts it will, or in reduced form), it would split the EU.

Belarus and migrants: Now we find the tables turning in West Asia and the EU is left with how to ensure its energy needs going into the future. Negotiations would seem to be the order of the day. But there has been other blowback as well for the EU. As a further example of blowback from EU and American policy, we have the overblown crisis (which is a skirmish, really) involving the migrants passing through Belarus and Lukashenko’s threats to cut gas supply. The Western media is hyping the plight of the migrants on the Belarus-Poland border, which is bad enough. But there is also a clear double standard in the reporting. Some perspective is in order. Since the start of this year there have been over 100,000 illegal migrants to European shores. We hear nothing about that except for isolated cases on our news outlets. Those people are greeted with care and concern for the most part and allowed in, and pending assessment, are allowed to stay. Most of them end up in Germany, Scandinavia and the UK. In comparison, there have been around 10,000 migrants at the borders of Belarus, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia since July, after sanctions were imposed on Belarus because of a Ryanair flight which landed in Belarus after a faked bomb scare. Those migrants are greeted with water cannons and pepper spray. And, they arrive from the same areas destabilized by Western actions, mostly comprised of Iraqi Kurds.

$C:\Users\tian_\Pictures\Site Pictures\_121514214_man_crying_gettyimages-1236463413.jpg$ The Poles and the Baltic states are shrieking about an invasion of migrants and are talking about building walls on their borders. But Belarus has close ties with Russia and Russia is being blamed in part for the crisis, though they have no part in it. The situation there is heavily politicized and is being used to further cast Belarus and Russia in a bad light. Of course Lukashenko is part of the problem, with some comment saying he should be replaced. That was the reason behind the attempted color revolution there. The West wanted someone they could control in Belarus, someone more ‘democratic’. The eventual aim was to draw Belarus into the West’s orbit and even into NATO. But that is not to be now, hence the sanctions. The Polish behavior toward those migrants is over the top and, as an EU country, is bound by EU protocols. But because it is Belarus this story is all over Western media. Combine this story with all the preceding, especially gas stories, and we can expect endless stories this winter and the next couple of years ahead against Russia. The situation between the West and Russia has reached its Rubicon moment. With the West in decline and Russia and China going from strength to strength this is to be expected. This is an old Atlantean karma working out, specifically revolving around theft, the great Atlantean sin. And imperialism essentially involves theft. Imperialism must go in the face of the increasingly emerging Aquarian energies, energies which Russia and the US must work out between them.

In closing, as much as we are told about wars and rumors of wars across our planet, our focus instead needs to be directed to affairs at home and our own house-cleaning. America faces a critical moment in its history, as do many nations in the West. Whoever wins the internal struggles in our home nations will determine our future for the next decades ahead. The labor movements and protests we see growing across the combined West are an encouraging sign. But we should also be aware that it takes only a relatively small but focused minority with a plan to bring about the needed changes and to balance the poles between capital and labor, as Alice Bailey describes the struggle in the West. That should be of great encouragement and a cause for action. This is a battle for hearts and minds, a very Scorpionic battle, indeed. Yes, the reactionary forces (the materialists) have great temporal power, but it rests on the assumption that the people will remain ignorant. Hence we see the big push now to censor ‘misinformation’, to de-platform content that vested interests find objectionable and enforcement of the idea that we do not need to think, but rather to believe. These are developments worthy of scorn and exposure. And people are rising in scorn of old policies that enrich the wealthy still further while draining our own purses.

These next few years will usher in sweeping changes across the world. Those changes are already taking place in East Europe and across Asia. Those changes are in development across the West, but first the old systems must be shaken and reformed, or cast out altogether. We should hold steady the thought that history tells us we will rise above our present woes. But we will not do so without effort, without a united purpose. And our first step on that road is to enlighten ourselves, each individually, letting go of old emotional sentiments and habits of thought. There is a path to prosperity and peace for all of us, but first we must build the path. The Scorpio interval each year gives us reminders about finding our path, our way, through the struggle to see, to understand and to rise above the smoke and mirrors which engulf us in our daily lives. Our struggles are not so hard when we realize we all struggle in kind, realizing the Scorpio motto: “Warrior I am and from the battle I emerge triumphant.” We will prevail. Let us go onwards and upwards, undismayed by the phantoms, uproarious sounds and frightening displays – illusions, glamours and maya, one and all.

Scorpio blessings,
Malvin
19 Nov 2021
malvin@malvinartley.com

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Picture Credits:
Scorpio eagle: http://www.globallightminds.com/category/art-books-poetry-literature/
Japanese maples in autumn: https://www.bunnings.com.au/diy-advice/garden/planting-and-growing/how-to-grow-a-japanese-maple-tree
Kundalini yoga: https://www.gnosticserpent.com/knowledge-base/kundalini-yoga/
Woman on burning ground: https://www.wallpaperflare.com/woman-in-red-sleeveless-dress-standing-on-burning-ground-wallpaper-153553
King of Fairies: https://www.celtic-weddingrings.com/fairy-stories/king-of-the-fairies
Housing: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhessekiel/2019/10/29/businesss-growing-role-in-confronting-the-housing-crisis/?sh=4612110611b3
Divided America: https://pndblog.typepad.com/pndblog/2021/01/make-america-whole-how-to-heal-our-divided-society.html
Leo Presidents: https://www.axios.com/donald-trump-schedule-obama-bush-clinton-513c73ff-4d15-4e7a-9676-334557a894ee.html
MIC cartoon: https://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com/products/postcard-a-military-industrial-complex
Clowns and jokers: https://glendalecherrycreek.com/2021/06/clowns-to-the-left-of-us-jokers-to-the-right/
Houthis: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bidens-effort-end-yemen-war-hindered-continued-fighting/story?id=76202962
Climate hypocrite: https://www.thenational.scot/news/19691957.cop26-royal-climate-change-hypocrites-billboards-roll-across-edinburgh-glasgow/
COP26 net-zero: https://grist.org/climate/will-fossil-fuel-sponsors-be-allowed-at-the-next-u-n-climate-conference-cop26-net-zero/
Fake utopia: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/30/what-can-we-learn-from-utopians-of-the-past
High gasoline: https://climatechangedispatch.com/americans-are-paying-a-steep-price-for-bidens-war-on-energy/
Genoil: https://www.environmental-expert.com/services/genoil-anton-oil-field-services-576838
Crying migrant: https://www.bbc.com/news/59233244

Bailey, Alice A., Esoteric Astrology, (1936) New York, NY, Lucis Publishing, p. 68 ↑
Ibid, p. 195 ↑
Ibid, p. 664 ↑
Ibid, p. 210 ↑
Bailey, Esoteric Psychology II, p. 304 ↑
Esoteric Astrology, p. 78 ↑
Op cit ↑
Ibid. p. 517 ↑
Ibid, p. 226 ↑
Esoteric Psychology II, p. 351 ↑
Robson, Vivien, The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, p.43 ↑
Ibid, p. 124 ↑

2014 in L'Alpe di Siusi, fresh from the US and Australia.

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