The Aquarius Festival 2025

 

Topics (linked to paragraphs): Aquarius The Aquarian Age It’s elemental, really The great liberation Note The full moon Current events The greatest danger The legacy continues The challenges The stars and the admin The clans The DOGE Four principle aims Astro-cartography of Trump 2.0 Ukraine – the end of the war? The Munich Security Conference The other security meeting Let us be clear Riyadh The real game BRICS Europe, going forward The ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ Who controls whom? Shock-and-awe What is to come of West Asia? In conclusion

Greetings Everyone!

Spring is slowly arriving here in Rovereto. The buds on the trees are appearing and flowers are starting to open. The Li Ch’un – the first day of spring in the Chinese solar calendar – on the 4^th of this month has come and gone, inaugurating the true Year of the Wood Snake. Yang chi for the northern hemisphere is beginning to stir, emerging from the winter’s sleep. The elementals of the vegetable kingdom are awakening, bringing the plants back to activity. This will have relevance in a bit as we go along here. Otherwise, the daylight hours are also becoming more pronounced, along with the activities of the animals. The birds are chirping their welcome to the day earlier and earlier, as well signalling the coming of my morning alarm – one of our dogs rousting me for her morning relief and her breakfast. Yes, here in the north activity is increasing, while in the southern hemisphere the yang chi is beginning its retreat. And thus the cycles of nature repeat themselves.

With the Year of the Wood Snake now firmly upon us we also see increased activity in the international sphere. Trump is now in office, practicing his usual gambit of political ‘shock-and-awe’, seeking to manoeuvre for negotiating space. At least in the Western world that is having its effects. We will be addressing all that shortly. This year marks a sort of pivot. The increase in Light we have experienced since the end of WWII has reached its apex of momentum^[1] and a steadier rhythm in world affairs will ensue hereafter. In other words, after this year a new rhythm will settle in, resulting in a more measured state of affairs, little as it might seem at the moment.

The anxiety and uncertainty we are experiencing now is only temporary and will soon pass. We are witnessing a ‘changing of the guards’ in terms of politics and cycles. Uncertainty and its resulting anxiety across the world public are to be expected at such times. We always confront it, resolve it and move on. But times like these always show the measure of the human soul. I see no reason for it to be any different this time around. Important decisions will be made this year, worldly and spiritual, and a sweeping clarification is taking place, as those who have been observing these changes can attest. Whenever there is greater Light coming into the world there is also a commensurate magnification of the darkness in society. Energy – Light, in this case – is impersonal and is seized upon by those who are able to access it. For materialistic forces such energy tends to produce insanity and a shattering effect, while for the spiritually inclined among us it represents a grand opportunity for the advancement of spiritual objectives. The major struggles such an increase in Light has produced will be decided this year.

We hold the conviction that the spiritual potential of humanity will be increased and that the forces of materialism will be pushed back beyond all hope of resurfacing after this year. Of course there will still be bumpy episodes. This is to be expected. We have been through a lot, gaining in wisdom as a result. My sense is that our common humanity will prevail. Call me a dreamer if you like, but the subjective and planetary cycles are inexorable and bring their results, detailing the progress of the human soul. Our opportunity is now.

Many people with whom I have had communication and as well having heard through the grapevine have noted increased physical manifestations these last years especially outside of the ordinary process of ‘loosening’ as we age – aches, pains, insecurity, periods of emotional unrest and mental confusion, and so forth. These are also manifestations of the increase in Light (meaning spiritual energies) as it impinges upon the human personality in all its departments – physical, emotional and mental. These manifestations can be seen in the nature of purifications as the elementals that constitute and underpin our various bodily systems adjust themselves to the incoming energies. We can either welcome those manifestations as indicators of progress and cooperate with the process or rebel and try, as we often do, to maintain our individual status quo. Our bodies (physical, astral and mental) resist change and seek to maintain themselves against the term of incarnation, the latter set according to our karma and the work our souls seek to complete in any given lifetime. This brings us to our current theme, Aquarius, in a mean not normally addressed in relation to this sign: The liberation from our requirement to reincarnate.

Aquarius: We most often associate Aquarius with friendship and brotherhood, humanitarian causes and the like. When an Aquarian type has some measure of soul contact and what we would call ‘soul infusion’, wherein the soul is beginning to be the predominant factor in a person’s life, then Aquarians do indeed involve themselves with humanitarian and spiritual efforts. It is the sign most associated with service. As the sign, through the precession of the equinoxes through the ages, became and more dominant and pronounced, we saw all sorts of service organizations arise across the world. Spirituality, in distinction to religion, became predominant, as well as did the rise of the secular state. There is spirituality in all religions, but most people now see religion more as a cultural construct than as a path to God. Also, as the Aquarian age waxed, we saw the emergence of groups comprised of members who had dedicated their lives to service in like mind. We also saw the rise of volunteer organizations – all indicators of the waxing Aquarian influence. In this we see the actions of two of the rulers of Aquarius, Uranus and Jupiter. Uranus is the current orthodox ruler of Aquarius, while Jupiter is the esoteric ruler.^[2]

The influence of Uranus became apparent after its discovery. We could say its influence manifested in our material reality. Uranus was discovered in March of 1781. Its discovery was preceded by some minor discoveries regarding electricity. ‘Electricity’ derives its name from the Latin ‘electricus’, meaning ‘of amber’. The effect was noted when fur or feathers were rubbed on amber, producing static electricity. But the nature of static electricity was not formalized until ca. 1600. Just prior to Uranus being observed for the first time the planet announced its coming via the start of the first Industrial Revolution, ca. 1750. Uranus is synonymous with technology, especially electrical technology. There were rapid developments in electrical theory and technology in the following century, giving rise to our modern world. This all happened in the peak of the Western cycle, which was a 250 year cycle that saw the rapid rise and dominance of the Western world from 1775. That cycle also saw the birth of the United States, its rapid growth and development, its apex, and now the decline of its dominance over world affairs.

The Aquarian Age: We are told the Aquarian Age is just beginning, that the Sun is (by precession) in Aquarius.^[3] Yet we still have the carry-over of energies and tendencies of the Piscean Age. We have the following for consideration in this vein:

“This is a transition period between the passing out of the Piscean Age, with its emphasis upon authority and belief, and the coming in of the Aquarian Age, with its emphasis upon individual understanding and direct knowledge. The activity of these forces, characteristic of the two signs, produces in the atoms of the human body a corresponding activity. We are on the verge of new knowledges and the atoms of the body are being tuned up for reception. Those atoms which are predominantly Piscean are beginning to slow down their activity and to be “occultly withdrawn,” as it is called, or abstracted, whilst those which are responsive to the New Age tendencies are, in their turn, being stimulated and their vibratory activity increased.”^[4]

The quote might seem an odd or obscure statement, but it goes to the ultimate purpose and action of Aquarius in the way we have examined these matters recently. It is said that one cannot expand one’s consciousness without changing one’s bodies. In that regard, we are talking about refinement of our bodies (ridding ourselves of obstructions and old energies) and bringing our energies up to a higher, more refined standard. And that means working at an energetic level. Physically it means focusing more upon etheric energy rather than diet, although the latter is important, too. That means sunshine, exercises that incorporate greater etheric energy into the system, intermittent fasting and the like. We cannot go into all that here, but perhaps the idea is clear. Emotionally it means avoiding negativity and stilling the astral body, thus bringing one’s emotions under control. And mentally it means one thing – all of the varying stages of meditation, dependent upon one’s abilities in that area. In Buddhism all of this is known simply as mind training. What does it really mean, though? It relates to the elementals of our bodies, and in effect, all of nature.

It’s elemental, really: In reality, ‘tuning up for reception’ relates to one’s control over the elementals that govern and nourish the material constructs of our bodies at any level. These elementals are known otherwise as the ‘Baskets of Nourishment’ or ‘the Blinded Lives’. To put it another way, one can see a human cell as a construct, like one would see under a microscope (the physical form), or one can see said cell (if one has the ability to do so) as a point of light, a tiny life. It is the ‘tiny life’ with which we are concerned here, which is a little packet of energy, around which it attracts the matter that forms the living cell. We could call the elemental ‘the soul of the cell’. What does this have to do with Aquarius? It turns out Aquarius rules this hierarchy of lives, and that has a direct bearing on our consciousness and the control we have over our vehicle and even nature itself.

The great liberation: Our bodies are a great confluence of united energies, variously represented in our cells, our organs, our systems and so on. These manifest as energy fields (the human aura) to one who has clairvoyant vision. Our bodies obscure part of those energy fields. Our goal, as humans, is to remove those obstructions to the light, thus freeing the elementals to shine, but in concert with the divine light of our true nature, instead of obscuring it. The end of that process has been described as ‘rainbow body’. In Aquarius we are in the process of liberating those lives (thus performing a service), at the same time expanding our own consciousness and divine powers. The end goal, as it were, is liberation from the necessity to reincarnate, thus releasing us to universal service, free of karmic attachments. We do this via the steady and graded process of contemplation and succeeding revelations as one-by-one the obstacles to omniscience are removed. It can be a painful process, and it is experienced upon the 4^th Buddhist Path – the Path of Meditation. In Buddhism this is normally done on long solitary retreats, over several years. It is said in the Bailey books that Aquarius brings one to the third initiation, but there is much left unsaid in those books. In order to be a true and fully developed ‘world server’ one must start from the Path of Seeing, or third initiation, and then proceed through the ‘415 discards’, leading to the final discard, known in Buddhism as the Great Renunciation (ultimate discard), or in Christian terms, the crucifixion initiation. This is called the 4^th initiation in the Bailey books.

The Great Renunciation is in effect the discarding of all attachments, even group attachments. An initiate of this degree is not bound to any particular group but is beginning to be able to serve to every person or group according to their need. Such an initiate is then in truth a true world server, an advanced bodhisattva. Such a bodhisattva is also endowed with advanced powers (siddhis), superhuman in nature, like one would read about in The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. They can come and go in incarnation as the need arises, no longer bound by karma, because they have released the binding elements that have produced the karma in the first place. There is very little to be done in terms of human spiritual development at this point. One then enters upon the 5^th Path – the final Path on the way to the status of Master of the Wisdom. This is called the Path of No-More-Learning. It involves the final removal of all the subtle impediments to full enlightenment and it proceeds very rapidly. We will cover this more in the next letter. From here we move on to the full moon, which itself has a strong Uranian influence this year.

Note: before we go on, I have said before that if a letter will be late (after the full moon) a preview will be posted on the website, either at the ‘Latest Letter’ or ‘Western Astrology’ icons in order that you will have an idea of the energies of the lunation and the time of the full moon. Thereby, the full moon is listed in past tense here, as follows. As an illustration of why that will be the case from here on, we saw the effects of Uranus in this full moon on the very day itself in several events: Tulsi Gabbard was confirmed as Director of National Intelligence (she was widely opposed for the post), Putin and Trump confirmed they will meet and begin to hash out agreements (there is direct dialog between the US and Russia after years), the Israelis backed off from their threat after negotiations to begin bombing again on Saturday (allowing thousands of aid trucks to enter Gaza), Iran confirmed there will be no negotiations between Washington and Tehran, VP JD Vance threatened Europe over whose AI (US or Chinese) was allowed to be used in Europe) and Pete Hegseth (Secretary of Defence) has let the world know – especially the pro-war parties in the West – that it is game over for Ukraine. What a difference a day (or Uranus) makes! And now for the full moon…

The full moon took place on 12 Feb 2025 at 13:53 UTC (11:53 pm AEDT). Probably the key concept to take away from this full moon is to expect the unexpected. The full moon axis forms a t-square with Uranus at the apex. In addition, the Sun, Mercury and Ceres are conjunct within a couple of degrees. The t-square is less than a degree of being exact. And Mars was at its maximum out-of-bounds declination the day before. Needless to say this is a volatile figure and simply reflects the times. With the involvement of Ceres we can expect the Uranian influence to be accentuated, meaning perhaps events suddenly appearing that force a change of strategy or tactics. In other words, we will be faced with situations that provoke a sudden awareness that events and history as they have been presented to us are not what they have seemed. This full moon presages the three major full moons this year – Easter, Wesak and Goodwill (April, May and June) – wherein our outlook on the world will be possibly radically changed. Those three full moons will also mark the definitive start of a new cycle of world development that will encompass the next 250 years at least in terms of international affairs. Subjectively, those three festivals will also give us insights into the spiritual developments that will shape the evolution of human consciousness (as well as those of all five of the natural kingdoms with which humanity is connected^[5]).

The forces of liberation are at work with this full moon. Weaknesses will be exposed in old factions, leading to hitherto hidden facts being revealed. Old, crystallized political and economic structures are being broken and collapsing. This will apply across the world. Such is the case as shown in the midpoints of the full moon figure. I have found that midpoints always feature in mundane (event) charts and should be considered in equal measure to planetary aspects. They provide an underlying framework to a chart, as it were. The rhetoric in the West at the moment is all about appearing to be strong, but for observers of international affairs such talk is about appearances and bargaining positions rather than anything of real substance. These points will be addressed in what follows. With the Sun in Aquarius, this full moon brings a particular focus on the United States, Russia, and to a lesser extent the Netherlands, with their Aquarian souls. Very great and accelerating changes are taking place in the US and Russia since the start of this decade. And as to the nations and cities with Aquarian personalities we also see shaking and shifting, with some of those personalities coming closer into alignment with the national soul, while still others lag behind. Such is the case with Moscow and Switzerland (the national personality), for example.

Neptune is on the Moon’s north node, indicating that expectations are out of alignment with realities. We will see this in the diplomatic sphere especially as the months pass. Neptune on the nodes is not generally viewed favourably, though it can indicate spiritually sensitive people coming forward. Mars is still retrograde, but is trine to Saturn – a wealth-building aspect. Mars midpoints are also quite favourable for initiating projects. Projects born today have the capacity to slowly grow into being of benefit to humanity, as well as producing wealth. There is little else to say about the full moon figure for this letter, as the main points have been mentioned. With all the preceding we move on to our look at current events, with a particular focus on the new administration in the US. There is a blog post on the matter with an analysis of the astrology and a general overview from a more mundane perspective, if one is interested.

Current events: The following events have taken place since the last full moon, following on from those mentioned in the Capricorn letter:

• Lukashenko was re-elected in the Belarusian general elections, beginning his 7^th term as president. The West branded the election as a sham. Lukashenko is not ‘their man’.
• The first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire was completed. This is covered in the Palestine update.
• DeepSeek crashed the Nasdaq market in the US, putting the US tech sector on notice. It also caused the biggest single loss for a company in stock market history (Nvidia).
• Trump began strong-arming nations in North America, ostensibly to stem the flow of fentanyl precursors into the country. There is more to that than meets the eye.
• The Valdai Discussion Club (a Russian think tank) is ongoing. The theme this year is “The Middle East – 2025: Learning Lessons from the Past, Surviving the Present, and Designing the Future”.
• The US State Department at last admitted that the unipolar world order has ended.
• Jolani in Syria changed his terrorist name to his real name (Ahmed al-Sharaa) and duly appointed himself as acting president of Syria, at the same time proclaiming elections will take place in a few years, while the killing in Syria will last at least that long as well.
• Trump announced the US would take ownership of Gaza. It shocked and angered the world.
• Trump and Putin had a phone call. They decided to meet on a variety of matters. They spoke on the phone for 90 minutes and extended mutual invitations to each other’s capitals. Most likely they will meet in a 3^rd country. The Saudis were mentioned in that regard.
• The Trump negotiating team and their counterparts from Russia met in Riyadh for talks preliminary to the tete-a-tete between Trump and Putin, to be arranged. Both parties stated after the fact that the talks had been ‘constructive’. This is covered below.
• The Munich (In)Security Conference came and went, as did a ‘Well, that was interesting’ huddle of pro-war Europeans after the fact. These, too, will be covered below. There was talk about democracy in Munich, or lack thereof, which brings us to our deeper look into manifesting events. We start on democracy with the US and pass to Europe a little later.
• The German elections were decided. The EU and German liberals won. Now the battle for the coalition begins. The vote was split between the old East Germany and West Germany that we saw prior to the post-WWII reunification. Chaos will reign in Germany for a while. Speaking of democracy, we begin with America and our deeper look into events.

The greatest danger to American democracy is the uneducated American public – better than half the American public, as described in a recent interview. This is not to denigrate the American public, much as the preceding statement might seem. The ignorance is by design. The public in the US has been so inundated and indoctrinated with lies, disinformation and the notion of American exceptionalism (false patriotism) for decades now that anything that is happening outside the US is of no consequence to them so long as it doesn’t interfere with the satisfaction of their way of life. As an American who has travelled back and forth from the US in recent years I can vouch for what the interviewee had stated. The American media has become nothing more than a propaganda machine, as recent revelations about USAID can attest. However, even there we are getting biased reporting and skewed coverage.

A simple compilation in video format says more about the American propaganda machine than any amount of written words (See also Here and Here.) This also includes conservative media outlets that side with Trump. Sinclair Broadcasting Group is one of the worst (find your local station on the list) for trumpeting what it calls fake news and for lambasting social media. Keep in mind, too, that the internet – meaning social media – is controlled by 6 major corporations, who control the algorithms and who is allowed on their platforms. This has morphed and changed since the turn of this century, but the practices still remain. So yes, we have to be careful on social media, too. But fact-checking takes time and effort, even to the point of checking the origins of photos and videos. Most people could not be bothered, much less care if what they see is true of not. That brings us to our present administration.

The legacy continues: What we will realize as we go along here is that, rather than representing a revolutionary or destructive administration, Trump v. 2.0 is actually a continuation of the American establishment and foreign policy. What we are seeing is a re-branding and streamlining of the Washington establishment. What we mean by the Washington establishment are the oligarchs and corporations who fund the campaigns and grease the wheels of power, along with the think tanks in DC and the political factions who decide who sits in the seats of power in Washington. In the past the pendulum has swung back and forth between those factions, but policy has remained unchanged. Now, due to changes outside the US – largely the rise of China, the rebirth of Russia and the emergence of BRICS, the establishment has decided a new course is in order. They have finally come to the conclusion that the US is no longer the sole superpower. Now we begin the fight for establishing of ‘spheres of influence’ in order to secure Washington’s hold on power over two main regions – West Asia, the UK and The EU. Russia has already decided its course, as announced in 2007 by Putin. The essential structure of the US government has not changed. Therefore it is not really correct to call this administration a ‘revolution’. It is a readjustment. Along with that readjustment, Pluto in Aquarius has worked to reveal the machinations of the past by certain Washington factions. Over time, all will be revealed. We are only in very early days of these changes. The so-called ‘Deep State’ is another matter, which we will get to. But as to this administration, we begin with this observation by an Australian journalist:

“On arriving at the White House, it’s the first rule of American politics for the new president to overestimate his power, and for his staff and appointees to confer that exaggeration upon themselves. The second rule for these novices and freshmen is to declare as much of this power as possible in public, and as quickly as they can. Their aim is to steal a march on their rivals within the new administration; box the Congress into a corner; and create faits accomplis to prevent the courts from injuncting and reversing. Also, believing the President of the United States to be next to God, he and his appointees enjoy the feeling of divinity, walking on water, tossing their rivals into hell, anticipating heavenly rewards on earth, etc. These rules are so simple, a child of four years old can understand and say them aloud; he has.”

The ‘he’ referred to is one of Elon Musk’s many children (4 y/o), the youngest of his 12 (recognized) children. For myself, I have questions about the video and to whom the child was addressing, but we will leave that for now. But Musk’s presence in the White House raises serious concerns, concerns which will affect all of America. It has a bearing on what follows, which we will address presently. Children aside, the first 100 days of every American administration, where the incumbent has passed the baton to his rival, have been as described in the quote as long as we can remember. The first 100 days is called the ‘honeymoon period’ for every new presidency. That comes to a close at the end of April for each administration. Then it is ‘game on’, getting down to the real work. It is seen as a gauge of how the presidency will proceed, or not, for the next four years. We have certainly seen the exaggeration of the sense of power with this administration thus far, amplified on ‘X’/Twitter and other social media and with attempts at taking a wrecking ball to the Biden administration policies. In reality, those have been bipartisan policies in many cases for decades. We remember, though, that no president is elected outside the dictates of the Washington establishment. And Trump is no exception.

This administration is a continuation of decades of US foreign and domestic policy. But we are presented with a different face this year, for one of several reasons. Firstly, the aim of foreign policy for decades has been to maintain control of West Asia, the breakup of Russia, the control of shipping lanes and economic dominance over the world. None of that has changed with this administration. But certain realities became wholly apparent within Washington with the last administration, starting with the first Trump administration, and even before. As it stands, Russia, China and Iran form a troika of resistance against the old US (really, Anglo-American) hegemony, which did not exist a few years ago. The aim of foreign policy in the past was to keep Russia and China separated, as well as Russia and Germany separated. The US has failed at the former and succeeded with the latter, however temporarily.

The challenges: The Nixon shock of 1971 has proven to be a burden to the US and has become unsalvageable, especially given the speed at which the BRICS nations are bypassing the US dollar and the SWIFT payment system. The American economy has turned into a debt-based rentier system since the Reagan presidency, where the US national debt has ballooned into its present unsustainable levels. The bypassing of the dollar will likely become reality over the entire BRICS bloc next year, with the Saturn/Neptune conjunction at 0° Aries. Trump will attempt to stave that off by seeking to make deals with the individual nations of that bloc, keeping a foot in the door, as it were. At present, Trump does not have good intelligence on what BRICS really is.

Russia has become the premier military power in Eurasia and at present far surpasses the US in the ability to field a viable army with standard weaponry, in air defences and so on. The inability to project and field a large army by the US is due primarily to two factors – the loss of the US industrial base since the Reagan years, and the woeful state of American public health. Cue RFK, Jr. We could add lassitude and ignorance to the list of health challenges for the American armed forces. In addition to the challenges just cited, China is a manufacturing mega-power and Iran has the capacity to crash the world economy by choking off the Persian Gulf from shipping. If you don’t believe the latter, you can start to understand with the linked video, just cited. Lastly, Europe is riven with internal and widening divisions and has sabotaged itself from within, over the war in Ukraine and the super-state that the EU has become. The EU has proven to have been ineffective against Russia in Ukraine. In order to offset these rapid changes, the US establishment decided something drastic had to be done to restore its pre-eminence. Cue Donald Trump.

The stars and the admin: For the astrologers reading, we can get an idea of what is to come and what is happening with a quick glimpse of the astrology of some of the key people in this administration. Without going into detail (which would certainly be revealing), we see a combination of mutable signs (Trump, Gemini Sun; Rubio, Gemini Sun; Witcoff, Pisces Sun; Hegseth, Pisces Sun, Sag rising) with Sun/Saturn hard aspects (Hegseth, square; Rubio, conjunction; Vance, square). For the exceptionalism we have Trump (Leo rising) and Vance (Sun/Asc in Leo). With Vance and Trump we have the ‘America first’ agenda. With the Sun/Saturn we have the focus and ambition in the race to make the America-first happen, and the mutable signs give the fluid nature needed to navigate the obstacles ahead, which are many, and to give the ‘spin’ to the press, which we especially see with Trump and Rubio. Tusli Gabbard has her Moon in Leo, and with Aries Sun conjunct Venus and Mars opposite Pluto she will be a force for cleaning up the intelligence community in this administration. Reading between the lines, this administration is no fly-by-night crowd. Vance in particular has designs on leadership, perhaps having been chosen in case something happens to Trump, whose health is in question (the last two paragraphs at the link). Where have we heard that before in reference to US presidents? Vance certainly has the ‘presidential’ astrology and ambition for it with the double Leo and Sun/Saturn square. If anything were to happen with Trump the baton would easily pass to him, which would also be the case by law. He would then nominate the vice-presidential post. We note this only because Trump is not young.

The clans: However, this administration is unusual and marks a ‘changing of the guards’ in a key area – the oligarch clans who predominate. In the past the focus has been on Wall Street, with the powers-that-be there and the king-makers in New York and Chicago having a big say in who landed in the White House. That is not the case now. The oligarch clans associated with the White House have shifted to Silicon Valley – cue Musk – as seen during the inauguration ceremony with the chief Silicon Valley crowd all lined up in prominent seating behind Trump. Those people all have deep ties to the military-industrial complex, with the focus being shifted from industry to Big Tech and the control over Big Data. That means the possible emergence of a growing and equally menacing techno-feudalism. The harvesting of the world’s data is really the chief purpose behind the DOGE, along with the control over that data the tech sector can bring. There was a recent must-see interview where this techno-feudalism was described, along with its evolution.

The DOGE: Much as the DOGE has been touted and hailed in social media as being in place to cut waste – to ‘trim government fat’ – the reality is it is a scam. The real aim is to cut taxes for the wealthy and reduce private sector wages. It is an oligarch initiative. In case you think this is in error, have a read of what Musk and the billionaires want to do to programs like Social Security. Musk has been spreading outrageous lies about Social Security on his ‘free speech’ platform, ‘X’ and in the Oval Office. As an American, this is outright perfidy. The new Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (a billionaire) had Musk set up the DOGE. He had this to say about it:

“Back in October … I flew down to Texas, got Elon Musk to [set up DOGE], and here was our agreement: that Elon was gonna cut a trillion dollars of waste fraud and abuse,” Lutnick told Jesse Waters of Fox News Wednesday night. “We have almost $4 trillion of entitlements, and no one’s ever looked at it before. You know Social Security is wrong, you know Medicaid and Medicare are wrong. So he’s gonna cut a trillion and we’re gonna get rid of all these tax scams that hammer against America and we’re gonna raise a trillion dollars of revenue.”

That’s right – to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Listen to the double-speak in what he said: When he says ‘you know Social Security is wrong’, what he means is it cuts into profit margins. When he talks about ‘the tax scams that hammer against America’ he is talking about taxes on wealth. OK, so they cut taxes – what pays for infrastructure? If we buy the plan of tariffs funding everything and industry coming back to America, common sense says it is a pipe dream. Human nature says if a nation is threatened with tariffs and there are other markets, that nation will simply shift its exports to more favourable regions. German carmakers, for instance, are going to Russia and China. They aren’t clamouring to come to the US.

The Republican Congress has already drafted a bill to cut $880 billion from Medicaid and food stamps, which will directly impact Trump’s elderly and poorer voter base. Try to tell me I am mistaken. I have friends and family who are on Medicaid. The fact that perfidy and mendacity have been exposed by the actions of the DOGE minions thus far – which absolutely needed to be exposed – instead presents the mirage of Trump ‘collapsing the Deep State’. It is doing nothing of the sort. What has been done by the DOGE up to this point is more about revenge on the one hand (much of what has been exposed was promoted by Democrats) and streamlining operations overseas and domestically on the other hand. What is happening there is bringing those operations directly under the control of the Executive, where they should be. How they would be applied after that is another matter.

Eliminating income taxes for Americans would require the theft of Social Security funding and other similar programs. Yes, it would be small government at the end of the day, and it would mean tremendous suffering for the American people. Perhaps it would also be the fulfilment of prophecy.^[6] We see an administration dominated by Big Capital. We might get the sense that an internal battle is about to come for the US. The battle between labor and capital is prophesied to be resolved in the United States,^[7] and to a lesser extent in the UK and France. Over time the reins of government are also said to be gradually returned to the people of each nation, meaning the masses.

There has been a recent wrinkle in Trump’s plans, though. The DOGE may not be with us for much longer, as well as Musk. The GAO (Government Accountability Office) – an independent office under the purview of Congress, and over which the Executive branch (Trump) has no control – has just opened an investigation into how and why the DOGE minions were able to access sensitive documents and personal records in the US Treasury. Those records are our records, if you are an American and in case you didn’t know. And the DOGE already has all the records for Social Security. And yes, the investigation was pushed for by two Democrats. However, if we are going to have transparency it must be across the board and non-partisan. There are also court proceedings in process against the DOGE as well. We didn’t vote for Musk. The pushback against this administration has just begun, and will more likely than not grow in intensity.

There appear to be serious questions about Musk’s conflicts of interest with the DOGE. The findings of the DOGE appear to be nothing more than a glorified advertisement for Musk’s ‘X’ platform, formerly Twitter. Then we learn that Elon Musk’s companies were under investigation by five Inspectors General when the Trump administration fired them and made Musk the investigator. Musk’s astrology shows the natal Sun and Mercury square to Uranus, a combination that indicates an aversion to authority, in this case meaning regulations. As it is, the ultimate aim of the DOGE is to reduce taxes yet again, even more than the cuts Trump pushed through 8 years ago. That means cutting taxes for billionaires again. Apparently his net worth of almost $400 billion is not enough for Musk. All this brings up what the principle aims of this administration actually are.

Four principle aims: What we have with the Trump 2^nd term is a parallel evolution, but still in line with the long-established aim of the Washington establishment to prevent or at least weaken the Russia-China alliance, the preservation of some form of hegemony, control of the world’s resources and so forth. This administration is not destroying the ‘Deep State’ – it is bringing it directly under Trump’s purview. It is cleaning the rust off the sword and sharpening it, figuratively speaking. This is what we see regarding the revelations from USAID and the like. Again, notice that what has been revealed thus far relates largely to Democrat initiatives, while we hear very little about Republican initiatives. The main foci of this administration can be distilled into four main points thus far:

• Revenge: Never underestimate the desire of Mars on a Leo Ascendant for revenge. This is why Trump wants to ‘clean up’ the Justice department, as he claims. That will also serve to expose the perfidy (it’s a good descriptor) of the Democrats and Liberals, leaving the other parties largely untouched.
• Finish with Eastern Europe and West Asia: China is the main ‘threat’, as the administration sees it. Some comments we see are to the effect that the old game of trying to peel Russia away from China and vice-versa. This is one reason why we see the hype around the peace talks about Ukraine. There will be more on this point below.
• Cut taxes yet again, especially on the wealthy and corporations. The end goal is to eliminate taxes altogether, which would mean the financial ruin of the US. And that involves cutting all sorts of social services and keeping wages low.
• Secure the dominance of the US dollar: Trump is an economic libertarian and businessman. His biggest concern is the ability of the BRICS bloc to cement the means of bypassing the SWIFT system and to trade in their own inter-bloc currencies, which removes the leverage over international trade the US has enjoyed for decades.

The first point above is well underway. The following three points are where this administration will falter. As to why, the simple answer, stated above, is the world has changed dramatically since 2018 especially – since Trump’s first term – and the US is no longer the ‘top dog’ on the block in key areas. Rubio recently came out and admitted it:

“…it’s not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power. That was not – that was an anomaly. It was a product of the end of the Cold War, but eventually you were going to reach back to a point where you had a multipolar world, multi-great powers in different parts of the planet. We face that now with China and to some extent Russia, and then you have rogue states like Iran and North Korea you have to deal with.”

As to who the rogue states are, that is debateable. But at last the US has admitted it is no longer the sole superpower. Rubio stated the real focus of this administration out loud, recalling the 2^nd point, above. They now have to share that place with BRICS, Russia and China. So we come to why there are hurried negotiations with Russia, and the reasons have little to do with humanitarian concerns. The Americans know they have precious little time to confront BRICS and China in any significant fashion. That window is closing fast.

Astro-cartography of Trump 2.0: A look at the administration’s astro-cartography confirms what most analysts with knowledge of the world at large are saying regarding Trump’s objectives. Belligerence is shown in the Mars lines in the chart, and both the Mars direction and the Mars culmination lines converge in Southeast Asia, China and central Russia in the Orient, while the Mars direction line in the other direction converges with the Sun/Pluto line in the American East Coast. The Mars direction line runs right through Panama, eastern Canada and over Greenland, too. The direction lines are where, across the world, the administration in this case projects its influence, always originating in Washington. The culmination lines are where a person (or administration in this case) has focused their intent in terms of policy. And as to where the administration seeks to make gains and to expand, we see the Jupiter direction line running through Mexico, Western and Eastern Europe and West Asia.

As a point of interest, looking back at the Biden administration’s astro-cartography we note the Mars/Uranus culmination lines cut right through Eastern Europe and Africa, while the same direction lines meet in the African Sahel and the southern border of the US. Mars/Uranus combinations are explosive and disruptive, with the conjunction described thus, with all the points having been in evidence:

“Obstinacy, brutal frankness, self-will and willfulness, intolerance, haste and premature action, the liability or proneness to injuries or accidents.”^[8]

It is an interventionist combination, one which failed in every respect. We won’t go into detail here. There was a blog post on that administration just after the inauguration. Biden came to office at the end of the pandemic. This administration has come in at the end of two major conflicts. In both cases the economy was the deciding factor for the two elections, which is most often the case for any election worldwide. Biden initiated the proxy war in Ukraine in the first half of the administration, which distracted the public from the pandemic recovery efforts and from the huge profits being made from Big Pharma and the US arms manufacturers. Instead, with the wars ending and the multipolar world rapidly coalescing, Trump has to keep the arms manufacturers humming by ‘making Europe an offer it can’t refuse’ – by the EU paying 5% of GDP on American weapons. Instead of sanctions, Trump will try to strong-arm nations through tariffs. It is the same playbook, just different means. Both of the administrations show a large influence of the oligarch class in the US over policy. With Biden it was more hidden. With Trump the administration relationship with the oligarchs is out in the open, which brings us to Ukraine.

Ukraine – the end of the war?: The Munich Security Conference over the past few years has been almost entirely focused on Ukraine and NATO. No one there has asked the people of Ukraine what they thought. In a recent street interview in Kiev seeking public opinion there about the peace negotiations that have started in Saudi Arabia, when people were asked:

“NONE of them know what to expect and most have adopted a “wait and see” attitude. One woman got it right though. She said “It’s as if the war is a hockey game and Ukraine is the puck.” The people around her nodded in agreement…”

Preliminary talks between Washington and Moscow about ending the war in Ukraine may begin soon. Excluded from those negotiations are Kiev and any European nation. Let that sink in, because it tells us what the war was really about, and instigated by whom. The people who instigated the war sit comfortably in London and Washington, followed dutifully by the subservient EU leadership. We have looked at this many times in these letters since February of 2022, so it is pointless to go over old ground. The anniversary of the Russian intervention in that senseless and horrific war is today, Feb 24^th. We will just put the matter bluntly, because the leadership of the West and the supporters of Ukraine for these past three years need to finally own up and acknowledge the facts, as recently stated by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian diplomatic corps, noted in the bolded text below:

“…The European Union, as an integration bloc, and nearly all of its member states have become an extension of NATO, obediently following Washington’s directives. In this regard, the situation surrounding the sabotage and “investigations” of the Nord Streams is more than revealing. Further confirming this is the vague comment from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte about whether Putin’s phone call with Trump constitutes a “betrayal of Ukraine” by the West or not. Both the question and the answer are meaningless. Let me repeat: The West betrayed Ukraine when it obstructed its democratic transition and independence, interfered in its internal affairs, pitted Ukrainians against Russians, incited Slavs against Slavs, then initiated an unconstitutional coup, lied about implementing the Minsk agreements, and ultimately provoked a bloodbath in the region.”

We can call it whatever we like – a war, a special military operation, an intervention, a conflict – the fact remains: Ukraine as a result has lost any sovereignty it ever had, is on its way to being broken up and hopelessly in debt to Washington and Europe (the latter to a lesser extent). The current leaders in Kiev will have either fled or been killed by the time this is over and the people who remained in what is left of Ukraine will be languishing in a poor state of affairs, with millions of its best and brightest either living in estero, dead or maimed for life. This is the reality we are all facing. And what remains will most likely be dumped at the feet of Europeans, a Europe which will be financially unable to aid in the reconstruction and who will more likely than not turn their backs on the very people they claim to have supported. In addition, the truth is the Russians and the Chinese will more than likely be the ones to help remaining Ukrainians who want it (the ones east of Kiev) back on their feet. The western parts of Ukraine may be dissolved into neighboring nations, where their culture has existed for many centuries. There is little else to say on the matter at the moment, but this brings us to Munich.

The Munich Security Conference: This year’s Munich Security Conference (MSC) was a real eye-opener, not to be missed. Not since 2007 has there been such an important European security conference. In 2007 Putin told the unipolar, rules-based order Russia was no longer going to participate. Putin was ridiculed and ignored, after shocking the audience. Well, they aren’t ignoring him now, much as the European elites would like to try. If you want to read some mainstream political media spin on the 2007 conference Politico offered up a good example in 2022. As we now know the West was not trying to ‘integrate Russia into the Western order’ in the first years of this century. The West wanted Russia at heel then and eventually broken up. They still want to try. JD Vance was at this year’s MSC, where once again the audience was rattled, reduced to tears, this time by the United States, where he dealt the audience a dollop of truth couched in not a heaping helping of hypocrisy. Effectively, the US wants to dump Ukraine on the EU and extract payment from them.

Vance’s talk at this MSC excoriated the behaviour of the Europeans. On the whole he called out the perfidy on the EU elites, and rightly so, but at the same time leaving out the long and well-known perfidy of the United States. That work of ‘bringing democracy’ to the wider world is well known outside the West. Vance’s speech was a case of, “Do as we say, not as we do! The people have a voice!” Of course, what he said about the EU was true regarding democracy, immigration and the weakness of the EU. What was left unsaid was that the path to the EU, having been funded by the CIA, has resulted in the EU dutifully following Washington’s dictates for decades when they see benefit from it – think NordStream (which the US sabotaged), the deception that was the Minsk agreements, scuttling the Istanbul peace agreement with Ukraine in 2022, the Maidan coup in 2014 – and that is just a taste of the long list. The EU was supposed to play a part in a repeat of the 1990s in Russia, or so thought the elites. But American ideals of democracy are democratic for the Americans in that it is bipartisan in the US, much as the current administration is trying to tar the Democrats with mendacity, with much of it deserved.

The bipartisan US learned the trade of perfidy and intervention quite well from Perfidious Albion – the well-earned nickname of Great Britain, who plied the trade of deception, political intrigue and interference throughout its days of empire. The UK establishment still likes to keep its hand in it. Of course, it is correct to say that no nation has clean hands, but the hypocrisy in Vance’s speech to the EU was eye-watering. Some EU leaders are calling Vance out on it, too. His speech was a fine example of American exceptionalism, spoken in impressive presidential-ese Leo voice. There has been swift reaction to his speech, too, among the leadership of the biggest European cheerleaders and participants in the Ukraine war. The main aim of the speech, if not the effect, appears to have been to begin the fracturing of the EU, which likely may start next year.

The other security meeting: A meeting of a few of the heads of European states was convened by Macron immediately after the MSC, ostensibly to discuss European security. There was considerable Leo represented at that meeting – London, France, Berlin, Italy/Rome. The meeting carried a Shakespearian story line, in that it turned out to be much ado about nothing. Macron and Starmer wanted to cobble together a ‘peacekeeping’ force to send to Ukraine, but the leaders of Italy, Poland and Spain said no, nie and no. Scholz had left the meeting early, saying such an idea was too early while there was still fighting in Ukraine. Starmer and Macron went away empty-handed. The other leaders had better sense. Macron is advocating for a European military force, based partly in fear, partly in the past, hurt pride and French exceptionalism, the latter common to all the Leo types just listed. From the last link here:

“Thus the advocates of a European force for Ukraine have fallen into a state of mental confusion for which “cognitive dissonance” is a wholly inadequate description. They have created for themselves a belief in Putin’s megalomaniac ambition, leading to the idea that in future he will “test” NATO by attacking the Baltic States, though Putin has never shown the slightest desire to do so, and this would run hideous risks for minimal gains.”

What is described there in bold text is a case of Leo psychological projection, which has no basis in fact concerning Putin. Russia does express its own Leo personality, though it was more pronounced in the past. The meeting was not about European security, looking at the list of attendees. It was about prolonging the war in Ukraine. Basically, this was Western Europe and Poland. The reason these people were called out and shamed in Munich runs along lines of the following:

“In Munich we see the classic adaptation of the OODA-loop by Trump to destroy his NATO and EU enemies. Now, at this juncture, some might ask, “Wait a minute. How did NATO and the EU become the enemy of Donald Trump?” The answer is quite clear — because they are an extension of the very establishment elites Trump has declared war on in America today.

These are the European elites who conspired against Trump during his first term, who pined for former President Barack Obama while delaying enacting Trump-mandated reforms in the hope that the American electoral cycle would purge Trump from the American political stage. These are the people and institutions that doubled down on American warmongering, allowing themselves to sucked into a Ukraine trap that was designed to destroy Russia for America’s exclusive benefit, destroying Europe in the process.

The Europeans, ever the compliant minions, were too blinded by their willingness to serve to see that they were as much the sacrificial lambs as was Ukraine. And, when it looked as if Trump was going to emerge victorious, it was the Europeans — in NATO and the EU — who conspired with the Biden administration to “Trump proof” policies in hopes that they could, once again, simply ride out four years of Trumpism while the U.S. establishment contained and undermined Trump from within…”

But Europe is not exactly compliant. There is hope for Europe to reclaim its sovereignty, but tha t would not fit with Washington’s plans. The leaders that were at this other meeting will likely be thrown out of office soon, starting with Scholz. Perhaps more realistic and independent heads of European states will replace the current crop of liberal, WEF/globalist-aligned heads of state like Macron and Scholz. The EU is looking shaky astrologically in a couple of years, with NATO preceding it by a year (as in next year).

Trump has stated NATO will not be this administration’s main focus, as they want to focus instead on China. Western Europe, who have depended upon NATO (meaning primarily the US) for their military security, has felt the US has pulled the rug out from under them and now the bloc is struggling to find its feet and relevance in this rapidly changing geopolitical chess board. So, why is the US pulling away from Europe? The answer is economic.

The Trump administration is practicing a time-honored American malpractice when it comes to waging war: Once it is clear the costs of waging war outweigh the benefits (weapons sales, kickbacks, exploitation of resources and the like), Washington will just walk away and leave others to clean up the mess and shoulder the costs. At that point Washington will declare victory. Vietnam, Serbia, Laos, Libya and Afghanistan are recent examples. Europe has exhausted and all but ruined itself over this war, having little else to contribute. And as a result, the US is – at least for now – talking about pulling 20,000 troops out of Europe, which has sent the European leadership into apoplexy. “What do we do now!?” Well, starting with a bit of reflection on how we came to this place, here is some advice:

“What have we learned? Well, something that Moscow learned a long time ago: Washington is not reliable (the complicated Russia word is недоговороспособны which essentially means that you can’t make an agreement with it and even if you do, it won’t keep it). In a word, Washington caused the Ukraine disaster and, now that it’s gone irredeemably bad, is walking away from it and leaving it to Europe…In the simplest, bluntest and most brutal terms the fact that has just hit it in the face is that USA is over there and Russia is here. The USA can make a mess anywhere and walk away at any time; remember Vietnam? Afghanistan? Well now it’s you.

So Europe, there’re four things you’d better do immediately: 1) figure out what your real interests are; 2) get yourself into a position to defend them; 3) make your peace with Moscow. (A European master of realpolitik told you years ago “The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia“.) And fourth, read and meditate on the joint Russia-Chinese statement of three years ago. Why? Because that’s the future.”

Have the elites in Europe learned? Only time will tell, but the UK will probably be the last to learn, along with the Danes, French and Germans. Look East, Europe. Look East. China is holding the door open. The Chinese have offered to Europe to merge the Belt and Road with Europe’s ‘Global Gateway’ strategy. So far the latter is simply just talk. But it would be a good move once the Atlanticists in Europe have been side-lined. It would open the whole of the Eurasian landmass to European travel and business. Then, shortly after the MSC, diplomatic delegations from the US and Russia (at the American initiative) met in Riyadh to initiate talks about a future meeting between Putin and Trump. Remember, Trump was always painted as a ‘Putin puppet’ in the American press.

Let us be clear: Neither Zelenskyy nor Putin started this war. It was fomented by the United States and began as a civil war against the residents of the Donbas, who did not agree with the results of the Maidan Coup. The war started in 2014 at the direction of Ukrainian president Poroshenko, under the ‘advisement’ of the West. It has been a war long in the planning, as in almost 30 years. It was the result of Western hubris, thinking they had caused the collapse of the Soviet Union. That is another story. But as to the war itself, Zelenskyy initially wanted to end it when he was elected as the puppet president in 2019. By that time the war had been ongoing for five years, the neo-Nazis (yes, there are) firmly entrenched. Remember, the Western press used to warn us about the neo-Nazis in Ukraine. Then somehow they were whitewashed and became Ukrainian patriots and ‘freedom fighters’. This is in the same vein as what we see in Syria, where one of the founders of ISIS/Daesh is now the self-declared ‘president’ of Syria, with Western officials now lining up to shake hands with him and celebrate a ‘free Syria’.

As for Zelenskyy, when a gun is pointed at one’s head, what viable choice does one have? Zelenskyy was put forward as a candidate for president by Victor Kolomoisky, a Jewish Ukrainian oligarch. He ran on a peace platform, remember? Soon after being elected he went into the trenches in the Donbas and tried to roll back the shelling of the Donbas. It could have been an act. But that is when it was made clear to him there would be war, and if he tried to stop it there would be ‘consequences’ for him. Zelenskyy committed treason against Ukraine, yes. He was more a coward than a hero, and well paid for it. But he did not start the war. The US and European elites in the EU pushed for and provoked this war. Now that it is ending and they have been exposed they are scrambling to keep it going, somehow. We see this in the press even now. And still we hear the EU crowd bang on about ‘shared values’ and how Russia could launch a major war in Europe within five years. They even give us a timeline.

The preceding points are hard truths to people who have been cheering for Ukraine these past three years, at the same time tarring Russia and Putin as desiring to march into London if they could. It is ridiculous propaganda, bought and paid for by the CIA. But we can tell the end is near for the regime in Kiev by reporting in the US press. Apparently Zelenskyy has been told to leave for France (to live) immediately. His family money is there, protected by a Rothschild bank. There are polls on social media asking people to make a bet on how much longer he has. This is a pretty sure sign his days remaining in Kiev are quite short, one way or another. Relations between Zelenskyy and the White House have soured considerably in recent days. So, with Zelenskyy about to go, what remains? That brings us to Riyadh.

To be clearer still, it is not Trump who will end the war. The Russians will dictate terms, as they have won the war. Once the US agrees to those terms, then the war will end. Trump has already said as much, admitting that Russia does not have to agree to anything the US puts forward. There is no talk now of ‘peace through strength’. Deals will be made, for certain. With enough business deals having been made to be able to sell it to the American public, then Trump can go on TV and make all the declarations he wants about how he ended the war. Trump’s real job in the negotiations to end the conflict is to secure enough of a face-saving optic that the US can then walk away and declare victory, thus bringing an end to the long struggle by the Anglo-American Empire to remain the world hegemon. Trump’s term in office, seen in the larger view, is about overseeing the end of Pax Americana. As to the rest of the West, well, some nations will try to prolong the old order and try to spoil the peace, but the world will see them increasingly sliding into irrelevance. What Washington is seeking to do was made abundantly clear in Riyadh.

Riyadh: This will eventually be seen as a watershed moment. When Team Trump, headed by Marco Rubio and Team Putin, headed by Sergei Lavrov met in Riyadh, this was a preparatory excursion into re-establishing diplomatic relations between the US and Russia. But it was more. It was a meeting to begin to define the structure of the spheres of influence between the major world powers, led by the US and Russia in terms of hard power, and by the US and BRICS in terms of economic power. In terms of both – hard and economic power – the US has found itself in a weakened position. The meeting in reality was an overture about deciding the future of Europe. If we look at how the US is framing Europe now it is clear the US wants Europe as a kind of cash cow on the one hand and as a dependency on the other hand. Trump (representing the real powers in the US – the corporations and oligarchies) has been quite open about it: Buy expensive American oil and gas, and spend 5% of European GDP on very expensive American weapons.

The only reason the US cares about Ukraine at this point is for its resources, since they know beyond doubt now that the war is lost. To keep Europe on side, they want the Europeans to remain fearful of Russia, even though the Russians have no interest in invading Europe and pose no actual military threat. It is actually Washington and Wall Street who are afraid, because the natural alignment is a Europe united in cooperation politically and economically with the rest of the huge Eurasian land mass, meaning BRICS. The British establishment is especially worried because they see the eventual rapprochement between Russia and Germany. To put Washington’s fear another way, the US in relation to Europe is across the ocean. Russia is part of Europe. And the majority of Russians are European.

The meeting in Riyadh seems to have had some success. The meeting was not about ending the war. The two sides had to sit across the table and hear each other out. If fact, it was recounted by both sides that they actually heard each other for the first time. That was the American take. Rubio and Co. probably did hear a great many things they had not heard for the past years. For instance, they heard that $330 billion worth of US business had to leave Russia when the sanctions were introduced. They also heard that the US had to pull all their troops out of Eastern Europe as a precondition for normalization. This was the first diplomatic interchange between the two nations since the beginning of the Biden administration. They agreed to reinstate their respective embassy staffs in each other’s nations. That in itself is a big start and hopeful sign. It is also a big step in avoiding a nuclear war. Take a deep breath, and give a sigh of relief, everyone! This was a positive step toward disarmament and ending the bloodshed in Eastern Europe, including Russia. Keith ‘Corn Flake’ Kellogg, as he is known in YouTube-land, was not in attendance. The Russians see the man as a complete imbecile. His job appears to be to somewhat keep the old narrative (America tough) going until further diplomatic gains are made.

As for Ukraine, Trump is proposing a solution to Ukraine that has been surmised will be worse for Ukraine than the Versailles Treaty was for Weimar Germany, demanding reparations for what the US has spent. The Versailles/hyperinflation/rise of the Nazis meme is based in myth. That said, Ukraine would never be able to repay what Trump is demanding, not under present conditions – and especially should not pay since the US and UK fomented the war in the first place. The US should be contributing to rebuild Ukraine, but it doesn’t work that way. What Trump is proposing is simply economic imperialism. The US has already made a fortune off the war, one which the average American will never see. And all those trillions in minerals that sends Lindsey Graham into heights of hyperbole? – Well, they are not commercially viable. The Russians (Soviets) never developed them, for that very reason. And Lindsey Graham, along with Trump, appears to have been taken in by a myth that was put forward by Zelenskyy himself. Oh, what a tangled web we weave…In response, the US has threatened to cut Starlink services to Ukraine over the minerals deal Trump presented to Zelenskyy, should Zelenskyy refuse to sign the deal. The Ukrainian military would be operating blindly, should that happen.

As a result of the meeting in Riyadh we already see changes. Putin is preparing to receive Western companies back into Russia – this time under Russia’s terms. American carmakers and Samsung products need not apply. The Chinese have already cornered those markets in Russia. These preparations resulted from the attendance at the Riyadh meeting of business officials from both administrations. Those two officials in fact did most of the talking. Trump is a businessman and transactional in his dealings, lest we forget. But the meeting is a sign of a recovering atmosphere between Washington and Moscow. It had been rumored there was a 3-stage White House plan for ending the war, but that was shot down by Lavrov. Instead, a Finnish MEP has told the press Washington had given the Europeans three weeks to agree to a deal for Ukraine or all US forces would be pulled from Europe. In truth, it could take up to six months for the war to end. The Finnish point is likely back room strong-arming, or it may be false. It is meant to strike fear into the European public. At any rate it is doubtful the US would pull its forces out of Europe. The threat of military intervention is a very useful tool for Washington to keep the Europeans in line – especially the Germans. So, what is Trump’s ultimate plan, then? What is his real strategy?

The real game at hand was recently outlined by Yanis Veroufakis in an article exposing Trump’s plans for saving the US economy and thereby its hegemony. The first phase of the plan is to shock the central banks of nations with the threat of tariffs into lowering those nation’s interest rates. This is the central part of his plan, one that most comments do not appear to understand. That, in part, was another intention behind Vance’s speech at the MSC, which would/might cajole Europeans to spend massive amounts of money on very expensive US weaponry. That is the 5% on ‘defence spending’ Trump has mentioned regarding Europe. Europe can ill-afford it. But the real intent is to lower the exchange rate on the US dollar while still maintaining it as the world’s sole reserve currency. BRICS represents the fatal obstacle to that plan, as BRICS seeks to bypass the dollar in cross-payments within the bloc. And to be clear – which Trump does not understand – the BRICS bloc has no intention of producing its own currency. He does not seem to understand BRICS at all. Their major effort is toward the bypass mechanism.

But back to tariffs, they would raise the price of goods going to the US, thus having a negative effect on the home nation’s manufacturing. Germany, Ireland and Italy would be the hardest-hit nations in the EU. Nations may reduce interest rates as a result in order to stimulate growth in their own economies – or they may find other buyers. Their currencies would weaken. Word through the grapevine is there are over 300 Western firms, hat in hand, begging to re-enter the Russian market instead of relocating to the US. Such a move with the tariffs by Trump would antagonize the targeted nation. Trump has threatened Europe with tariffs. It would be an act of economic warfare. He hopes to divide and conquer Europe by dealing transactionally with each individual EU nation, bypassing Brussels. Tariffs would be the first phase of his attack.

When we see the various world currencies weakening against the US dollar it will bear witness to the success of Trump’s first phase. The Euro has steadily lost value against the US dollar since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022 and was almost at parity at the first of this month. When tariffs bite, the dollar depreciates against world currencies, encouraging US exports, and money flows into the US Treasury from foreign sources, even with Americans paying higher prices for imported goods. What Trump hopes for is for depreciation of the US dollar to cancel out the rise in prices from the tariffs. It is a very risky gamble. But if it goes according to his plan, then he starts the phase two – one-on-one meetings with world leaders wherein they are coerced into Trump’s demands (which will vary according to the nation involved). There he will ring up victories. But there are big risks with this plan. Reduction of the trade deficit will reduce the funds coming into the Treasury. Remember, Trump is a businessman, but he is not a long-term strategist or a politician. However, he is savvy enough to know how economies affect nations.

This plan relies on speed of implementation and the fear it generates among nations. Europeans are already cowed, but that may not last for long. Then, the BRICS nations are moving quickly toward alternative payment systems. If they create a Bretton-Woods alternative based in commodities instead of fiat, Trump’s plan is doomed, even with 100% tariffs against BRICS countries. There are also risks for him based in the US itself. If tariffs do not work as planned then Trump will have to either sacrifice his base or his donors to continue. We probably do not have to guess which of the two groups he would choose. But America is in a real crisis. Most Americans live hand-to-mouth and have little sense of security. This is probably the single biggest factor that got Trump elected. If he cannot deliver long term on that promise of MAGA, then his base will turn against him, like a significant part of Biden’s base turned on him, costing Harris the election. But since BRICS is seen by Trump as a huge threat we turn next to that emerging bloc.

BRICS: BRICS is becoming what the European Economic Union used to be before the EU took over the economic bloc and established an autocratic technocratic federation instead. BRICS is facing a rocky year, even though the core members of the bloc – Russia and China – are making quick gains on getting their house in order regarding payment systems and trade agreements. Trump has it out for the bloc, though, and there are two weak links – Brazil and India. Brazil has a very powerful anti-BRICS group high up in the Brazilian establishment. They also have close ties to Washington and Wall Street. We probably do not need to say more, except that Brazil is the head of BRICS this year (BRICS has a rotating leadership structure). As to India, Modi was recently in Washington for meetings with Trump, where his comments raised eyebrows in Moscow. Trump is trying to split India off from relations with Russia and seeking to pull India back into the Quad to face off against China.

Europe, going forward: The Europeans, meaning the leadership in Brussels and the pro-war EU states find themselves in quite an unenviable position now. The UK, France, Germany, Denmark, the Baltics and Poland especially are facing some very sobering choices as a result of the Trump-Putin rapprochement. At least at the moment it appears that Washington and Moscow are on their way toward some sort of agreement about Ukraine. Trump has stated he will not even be talking with the EU leadership in Brussels regarding trade deals, but instead with the individual nations. Trump, with his Gemini Sun, understands divide-and-conquer very well. Trump holds the EU in disdain, but there is something far deeper to that than personal sentiments. The fact that Putin and Trump are not including the EU in the negotiations about Ukraine has the heads of the EU states quite rattled and piqued. However, the EU and many of the national leaders there have only brought this on themselves. Referring to the rebuffed parties:

“Everyone had that opportunity. Everyone could have sat at the negotiating table a long time ago. But they only met with themselves, Putin was not allowed anywhere, but he opened the door to everyone, they didn’t come, no one listened to him. Trump was disgusting to them. Well, now the two people who no one wanted to talk to will sit together.”

And so it is. Now the leaders of the various EU nations and the UK are left trying to salvage something – anything – from the debacle in Ukraine. As a last effort in seeking to keep the war going the Baltic statelets are seeking to provoke Russia regarding their tanker fleet. That in itself is a bad idea and could lead to a military confrontation. The Russians have stated flatly that any interference with their fleet will be considered as an act of war against Russia. We will have to see how all this plays out over the next few months, but for now we shift our attention to West Asia.

The ‘Riviera of the Middle East’: Before we even start on this debacle, there is one thing to keep in mind: The project will never happen – not in the way Trump and the Israelis envision it. The reasons for saying so will be outlined here. Trump’s statements about taking over and owning Gaza while the alleged Israeli war criminal (Netanyahu) was at the White House was about optics and as a show of ‘paying Caesar what is owed Caesar’, meaning Trump’s Zionist mega-donors, like Miriam Adelson. The optics were actually poor, looking at Trump and the US. Trump looked like a butler manning the chair for the honoured guest, or master if you like. Trump appeared to be reading from a script (from 2007) when he made his remarks about Gaza. But this reflects his typical negotiating style – send a shock first to get people’s attention and loosen things for negotiating room, and then get down to business. So, this is all about ‘art of the deal’ at this point. Those were the optics. But what was the reality? So, we get down to the business of Gaza as a real estate deal, which is how Trump presents it, or how it was presented to him by his son-in-law, more likely – even more so, by the Washington establishment since 2007 (see link above).

There has been no better example of who is in charge – Israel or the US – than what Trump just demonstrated. In making his statement he placed Netanyahu in a trap. Trump is calling the shots, at least with Israel. To Hamas, this ceasefire was about ending the war. Hamas has played it smartly by not releasing all the hostages at once. And so far it has held. But Bibi had no intention of ending the war. The genocide has just been shifted to the West Bank, about which we hear little. Bibi had made a secret agreement with his cabinet that he would restart the war after the first phase of the ceasefire, which ended a few days ago. The Israelis have yet to begin the 2^nd phase. If Bibi re-escalates the war Trump will withdraw support. Steve Witcoff was just there to ensure the 2^nd phase went ahead. Bibi had to return to his cabinet and tell them he could not woo Witcoff. So, who controls whom? At the start, while Trump had secured the ceasefire, Bibi had thought he could get away with only with only implementing the first phase. And we see now that Bibi had to back down from re-escalating after the end of the first phase deadline, mentioned above. But there is a question that has been nagging on social media since this latest episode of ethnic cleansing started at the end of 2023: Who is really in control? To an extent, we have answered this.

Who controls whom?: To take an even closer look at who is controlling whom, Israel is somewhat like the Frankenstein monster that has decided to cut itself loose from its host, yet it still relies on the host for its very life. In order to guarantee funding for Israel and thereby to secure Israel as the proxy who can be used to exert control over the region, Zionists (Jewish and ‘Christian’) in Washington set up the various Zionist groups who fund the election campaigns of politicians at the federal level in Washington, thereby securing their fealty. This has secured the unending and firm support for Israel for decades in Washington, as well as in Europe. This has been blessed by the Washington establishment and wealthy Zionists, as well as ensuring the widespread corruption we see in Washington. The Germans are kept cowed to the cause through their collective guilt over WWII. But behind all this the fact remains: Israel was created to secure the West’s and especially Washington’s and the UK’s interests (meaning control of resources) in West Asia.

The Arab monarchies have been trapped into this arrangement, too, by having large financial holdings across the West in exchange for protection (from whom, we might ask) and economic wealth, secured through Western institutions arms and US military bases. The ultimate goal to secure the West’s (meaning Washington’s now) control in the region is for the resistant factions, represented for us in The Resistance, to be scattered to the four winds and to normalize relations between the Arabs and Israelis. Iran has been the major impediment to the realization of Washington’s plans. But as it stands there is little hope of overthrowing the government in Tehran. The tenure of this Trump administration will likely be the last hope of the Western establishments to facilitate the Greater Israel project and the dreams of full domination of the region. It is one of the reasons why Trump’s cabinet is loaded with Israel-firsters.

Continuing, when Bibi came to Washington for his meeting with Trump, Trump knew Bibi was in a weakened position. Bibi left Washington bereft of anything he had asked for – American troops, attacking Iran, Greater Israel – and then Trump laid this deal on him. So, what exactly was the deal Trump presented? We have the following points:

• The Israelis would have to finish what they wanted to do in Gaza, but without American troops. The IOF would have to defeat and rout Hamas all on their own.
• At the conclusion the Israelis would have pushed all the Palestinians out of Gaza.
• The nations of the region would be paying to rebuild Gaza, or perhaps the proceeds for the sale of the gas that lies off the shores of Gaza, with American contractors and corporations doing the work, of course. Americans never pay to rebuild anything they destroy unless they can see a huge benefit from it, like the Marshall Plan, which gave the US control over Western Europe.
• Once Gaza had been rebuilt, the Israelis and regional actors would pay protection money to the US for the security of Gaza.
• No doubt, American real estate investors (like the Kushners) would make a handsome profit off the deal.
• And there is another, hidden reason for Washington to seize Gaza for itself. Once the Gazan gas was secured it could be sold directly to Europe, thus flattening Russian gas sales to Europe and thereby weakening Russia. Perhaps this is a reason why Russia has secured its two bases in Syria, for just such an eventuality. Time will tell on that one.

This deal was a classic Mafioso ploy – “I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse. It will be beautiful.” Beautiful for the Mafioso. In having Bibi in Washington Trump had made good on his promise to his donors in having Bibi there as the first foreign leader, unfreezing weapons to the IOF and securing a hostage exchange. But unknown to those donors at the time, Trump had also set the trap for Bibi. The Israelis saw it almost immediately. In the astrological analysis of the Trump administration, linked previously, we note there is a clear indication for blackmail in this administration – and Trump just did that very thing to Bibi. You see, word has it that Trump despises Bibi Netanyahu. This is partly payback for Bibi having thrown Trump under the bus in his first term for assassinating Soleimani (worth reviewing), by Bibi’s having denied any involvement. But the assassination was actually Bibi’s idea. Trump has just served up the classic cold dish to Bibi, like the Count of Monte Cristo in that literary classic. I have looked at Israel’s chart and I see a political and social crisis coming for Israel toward the end of April. We’ll see if my working chart for Israel pans out. What follows is why Trump’s plan, as well as Israeli plans for Gaza, will never work out.

For 15 months the Israelis have been fighting a guerrilla war against an entrenched Hamas. Hamas is still there, still active and appears to be gaining in membership. One can kill people, but you cannot kill an idea. We have just seen an example of that with the massive turnout for the funeral of Nasrallah in Beirut, with an estimated over one million attendees from across the region, all sympathetic with Hezbollah and The Resistance. For the Americans to ‘own’ Gaza, they would have to put troops into Gaza to ‘finish the job’ the IOF started, and at which the Israelis have failed. Even then, American forces in general are not great at urban guerrilla warfare, and levelling parts of Gaza have created the perfect landscape for such a war. It would take years to clear out Gaza, and even after there would be constant insurgent activity, rendering Israel a very insecure place, always on edge. Who would want to live there? So, putting US troops in Gaza is unlikely to happen, especially considering Trump is still talking about removing the US forces now in Syria. We have to wait and see on that one, too. Trump says he is committed to ‘buying and owning Gaza’. Is that really what he is after, though? We remember from the start of this war what the real intention was to seize the large gas and oil reserves off the coast of Gaza, to which the Palestinians have rightful claim.

Shock-and-awe: Trump has authorized the shipment of a quantity (we don’t know how many) of American MOAB bombs to Israel. It is the largest non-nuclear weapon in the US arsenal. This is in addition to the 2,000 lb bombs that had been withheld by the Biden administration. The Israelis have wanted these MOAB bombs since they were developed (2003) but have thankfully been denied access to them, until now. Colloquially these are known as the ‘Mother Of All Bombs’, playing upon the acronym. These are mentioned here because of how they will be used. And make no mistake: There are plans to use these now that they are being shipped. The real name of these bombs, and hence the acronym is ‘Massive Ordinance Air Blast’ bomb. The only time they have been used is once in Afghanistan, under Trump’s first term in office, just after taking office. The ostensible use at that time was to reach the ISIL-K militants in mountainside tunnels. The effects of the strike were questionable, as there remained hundreds of tunnels further on and trees 100 meters from the blast zone remained standing. The use of this bomb was widely seen as political grandstanding. Trump denied directly authorizing use of the bomb at the time. This time, in placing it in the hands of the Israelis, he has in effect authorized its use. That has serious implications for the region. The following was stated about the weapon itself:

“The MOAB is not a penetrator weapon and is primarily an air burst bomb intended for soft to medium surface targets covering extended areas and targets in a contained environment such as a deep canyon or within a cave system.”

The quote describes where the bomb has its planned use – probably against the Palestinians in Gaza. Gaza is a flat plain. Comments on social media mistake how it will be used. It is not a bunker buster. It would not be used to get at Hamas’ tunnels or Iran’s nuclear facilities. It would likely be used in the context of ‘shock-and-awe’, to ‘persuade’ the Palestinians to leave Gaza. Instead, it would enrage the Islamic and wider world and probably provoke a regional conflict. It would also galvanize all of The Resistance into renewed activity, especially Iran. Thankfully, from what I have been able to find, only 15 of these monstrosities have ever been produced. There is another, equally monstrous weapon and its derivatives (the ‘Big BLU’ series) that would be used against deep tunnels, with the acronym ‘MOP’ – Massive Ordinance Penetrator. To my knowledge these have never been used. But if Trump has authorized sending the MOAB to Israel it is not beyond imagination the latter has or will be authorized soon. The latter would be used in a strike against Iran. All this is just insanity, aside from being inhuman, and shows the amount of empathy (basically none) this administration, along with the Israelis, have for anyone outside of their ‘interests’. At the very least this administration states openly the way the US State Department has thought and operated all along – stating the obvious.

What is to come of West Asia?: What will be the end result in West Asia is anyone’s guess. But to anyone who has studied the situation there, and given the internal challenges the US faces at this juncture the outlook for Israel is not good. Sure, one can bomb the people, but the idea of Resistance has only hardened with the Israeli response to Al-Aqsa Flood. Israel itself is in a very troubled state of affairs. Once all the hostages in Gaza are released, are we to expect Israel to say enough is enough? It would appear not. The Zionists want to see the fulfilment of their Eretz Israel plan. Then there is the Turkish-occupied western and northern Syria (the present leaders in Damascus are all Turkish citizens). There is a whole story there for another time. The Saudis have their dream of the NEOM project on the coast of the Red Sea. Egypt and Jordan are prepared to go to war if Israel tries to flood them with Palestinian refugees. And Israel refuses to leave southern Lebanon. They may be changing their minds soon enough. These are interesting times in West Asia.

In conclusion, the changes that we have seen since the February full moon this year have been extraordinary. Yet, they were changes whose time had come. All they needed was a catalyst, in the form of a dramatic change in the US to cause them to precipitate. Of the three nations mentioned with Aquarian souls in Alice Bailey’s The Destiny of the Nations, that of the United States is the youngest, and it shows on the world stage. However, its potential for advancing the human condition in a positive manner is tremendous, and has done so thus far. That the nation has gone astray in recent decades is also clear, but that is changing quickly. It is a matter of putting its house in order as we move gradually more fully into the Aquarian Age. We have had to take a deeper look into the present administration with this letter, as the Aquarian soul of the US continually seeks its full expression. The crises the US is facing will serve to draw that out more fully as the years ahead will prove. No president or administration will express that soul. Only the American people will rise to that occasion. And we (speaking as an American) will do so through trial and error, by holding the ruling classes to account, by calling and rooting out the corruption that current holds the nation in thrall, and through all that and more, realizing we are one among equals with all the other nations. It is not our job to ‘save the world’ alone.

As much as many comments we are seeing are that the Trump administration is a revolution, the real revolution has taken place outside the US. We see that in the weakening of the Western world order. We see it in new financial exchange systems taking place, in marvels of engineering and nation-building, blocs emerging due to shared interests and win-win instead of confrontation. And in all this, the United States is forced to adjust. So, too, will Europe. Amidst the apparent chaos, the energies of the Aquarian Age are impressing change upon us. We applaud the US finally admitting to and exposing truth, yet realizing there is still much to be done, that this is only a start. We cheer the fact the terrible war in Ukraine is coming to an end. And whatever the motives, we cheer on the fact that Europe is being made – finally – to stand on its own feet. And Trump looms large in this. But the real test to come for the US will lie not with this administration across the world, but perhaps because of it, for the American people. For now, we wait and see. The Aquarian soul of America is stirring. It’s a funny thing about crises and about people in general: Crises bring out the best in us, provided they are handled well, with an attitude toward understanding. Progress will be made, as well as mistakes. And through it all we remember that united, we can overcome all trials.

These letters are sent as a service. If you wish to be added to or deleted from the mailing list leyìt me know. Feel free to pass these along, but do so without charge or alteration.

1. Bailey, Alice A., Esoteric Psychology I, (1962) New York, NY, Lucis Publishing, p. 103 ↑
2. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p. 68 ↑
3. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age II, p. 425 ↑
4. Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 3 ↑
5. Humanity encompasses the mineral, vegetable, animal and human kingdoms as well as the Kingdom of Souls. Implicit in that are all the associated devas/angels and elementals. The World Teacher is ‘the teacher of humans and angels, alike’. The externalisation of the Hierarchy, as described in the books of Alice Bailey also encompasses all those groups. It is all too much to describe here, but will be variously touched upon in these letters to follow. ↑
6. “The selfishness of the United States is also due to youth, but it will eventually yield to experience and to suffering; there is—fortunately for the soul of this great people—much suffering in store for the United States.” Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, p. 429 ↑
7. Bailey, Problems of Humanity, p. 26 ↑
8. Ebertin, Reinhold, The Combination of Stellar Influences, (1972) Tempe, AZ, The American Federation of Astrologers pubs., p. 159 ↑