Asteroid Astrology: International

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A Death in Baghdad: Soleimani’s Assassination

If you recall, it was an assassination that began World War I. Is history about to repeat itself, in the death of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, killed by a US drone as his convoy exited Baghdad International Airport on 3 January 2020? Soleimani was head of Iran’s elite Quds force, a division of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, primarily involved with extraterritorial military and clandestine operations. Soleimani had coordinated with proxy and client terrorist groups in anti-US actions outside Iran, across the Mid-East, had pioneered the IED attacks, and was responsible, directly or indirectly, for the deaths of countless Americans and local civilians.

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Bibi’s Swindle Return

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu was indicted on charges of corruption on November 21st, just as asteroid Swindle returned to its natal degree of 26 Virgo. The embattled Netanyahu has been fighting for his political life for months, with two inconclusive general elections in April and September 2019 showing no clear victor, and neither Bibi nor his chief rival, Benny Gantz, able to form a collation government, leaving Israel essentially leaderless. Head of the center-right Likud Party, Netanyahu has been PM since 2009, following an earlier stint in the late ‘90s, but has been under investigation for corruption for almost three years, before Israel’s Attorney General filed charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu, a staunch Trump ally, has characterized the indictment as a “witch hunt” and attempted coup (gee, I wonder where he got that idea from?).

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Trumplet, Prince of Greenland

“To buy or not to buy, that is the question.” US President Donald Trump faced this apparent dilemma this week, as he floated a desire to purchase the island of Greenland from the Danes. The bizarre notion may have been prompted by the ghost of Hamlet’s father, rattling around the West Wing while on vacation from Elsinore, but initially it yielded mocking commentary from around the globe. Until Greenlanders rebuffed Trump, and the Danish Prime Minister called the idea “absurd.” Then The Donald went into full assault mode, calling the PM “nasty” and cancelling a state visit to Denmark, a NATO ally, planned for early September.

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Boris Johnson, Britain’s New PM

At 12:05 PM BST on July 23rd, 2019, in London, England, it was announced that former UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had been elected Leader of the Conservative Party, currently in power in Britain. Although the formality of outgoing PM Theresa May’s resignation to the Queen, and Her Majesty’s formal invitation to Johnson to form a government, will not occur until the following day, the vote effectively makes Boris Johnson the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

 

A former journalist, Member of Parliament, Mayor of London and Foreign Secretary, the blonde, mop-headed Johnson has often been compared to Donald Trump, predominantly for their trademark bluster and the incendiary nature of their statements, as well as a similarly anti-immigrant, isolationist, transactional political opportunist bent. A leader in the pro-Brexit movement, Johnson has vowed to fully sever ties with the European Union by the current October 31st deadline, come what may.

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Cruel Britannia: Theresa May’s PMexit

On May 24th, 2019, UK PM Theresa May made a tearful departure from the political scene, as she announced her resignation in the wake of the collapse of the disastrous Brexit negotiations to withdraw Britain from the EU. The move was not unexpected, as May had intimated as much, should the third vote on a dissolution proposal fail in Parliament, which it did in late March. At that time the European Union gave Britain a further seven months to craft a deal suitable to all parties, but having failed at each successive attempt over the prior three years, May felt new leadership was required to resolve the impasse.

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Brexit Deadline Looms

There were a lot of bad and flawed decisions that came out of 2016, like the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. With Uranus and TNO Eris locked in embrace and opposing Jupiter, populations across the globe that considered themselves disrespected, marginalized, or disadvantaged (all Eris) rose up in revolt, seeking change (both Uranus), with responses which were overblown and expressed in the political realm (both Jupiter). At least in the US we can say that only a minority of the electorate supported this ill-considered change.

 

Not so in the UK, where voters narrowly approved the British exit, or Brexit, from the European Union. In a sterling example of why we don’t generally submit complex policy decisions to the whims and prejudices of the uninformed masses, Britain now faces that most dreaded of possible outcomes from the vote: a Hard Brexit, with no deal achieved to replace Britain’s about-to-be-severed continental connections.

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