Fire Rat: Earth Season: 2a

24 Jly ~~ 27 Jly

The birthright is divided. Shares to everyone, but not all sharing. Opponents meet on the field of battle and collide. One triumphs and one is vanquished and seized.

Eruptions. Storms. Coups d'état. Revolts. Crisis. An assault on the Citadel. Power is claimed and used by those who know not their own strength. Things taken by suddenness and not by stealth. The coming of something new. A time for bold action.

The Fulfilment:

Ukraine: Two nuclear accidents within three hours worry Western experts. One man killed by flying debris, but there is no environmental contamination. "Eruptions. Storms. Crisis."

Burundi: Hutu president has taken refuge in the American embassy. Minority Tutsis with army support are overrunning the capital and seeking to re-establish their dominance. "Coups d'état. Revolts. Opponents meet on the field of battle and collide. One triumphs and one is vanquished".

Sri Lanka: Two trains bombed and a third bomb is defused. Seventy dead and 200+ hurt. Police have a group of Tamils in custody for questioning. "Things taken by suddenness" ...

Indonesia: Diplomats meet to fuss over the final details of the global nuclear test ban treaty. India remains a stumbling block.

Israel: Police intervene to haul radical Jews off the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where they had gone to pray. This is forbidden -- the Mount belongs to Islam. "An assualt on the Citadel."

Turkey: Prison protest drags on into its tenth week. Three more hunger-strikers die.

USA: Govt announces increased security at all airports from now on without end.

Canada: Ontario: Potato blight caused by soggy weather destroys most of this year's crop.

Canada: Calgary: Freak storm dumps 60cm of hail, snow and rain on the city. This causes sudden flash floods and crop damage in the millions. Hundreds of motorists stranded in their cars. "Storms. The coming of something new."

Burundi: Military coup overnight puts the minority Tutsi army in control. Thousands of Hutu Rwandan refugees getting pushed back across the border. "Things taken by suddenness and not by stealth."

Sri Lanka: Govt warplanes pound Tamil camps in response to yesterday's train bombing. "An assault on the Citadel. Opponents meet on the field of battle and collide."

Algeria: Police arrest man who seized and hijacked an airplane on the runway at Algiers.

China: Floods worsening. Now 1100 dead, 2.8 million homeless, 4 million isolated. Govt has mobilised 3 million soldiers and civilians to fight the floods nad ordered another 3 million civilians to get ready to pitch in and help. Epidemics feared. Damages exceed $11 billion.

Spain: Lebanese man hijacks plane bound for Cuba and lands it in Florida.

Romania: US army and navy with Romanian troops stage wargames and mock UN mission scenario. Largest joint wargames with Warsaw Pact nation to date. Wargames, hmmm ...

Bosnia: Muslim vs Croat political stalemate is deepening into frustration. A mosque is torched in one village while a Croat Church is bombed elsewhere. "The birthright is divided. Shares to everyone, but not all sharing."

Sri Lanka: Govt launches major new offensive in effort to seize northern rebel town. "An assault on the Citadel."

Nigeria: UN judicial panel heavily criticises the military govt here for its human rights abuses. And the govt heavily ignores the UN ...

Burundi: New govt offers peace talks on the restoration of democracy. But already the Hutus are forming guerrilla units. "The birthright is divided. Shares to everyone, but not all sharing."

Israel: Two Jews killed in drive-by shootings just past midnight today. Govt wants the West Bank sealed again.

USA: Atlanta: At 1:20am today, a pipe bomb packed with nails and shrapnel explodes in the Olympic Village's Centennial Park, killing two people and wounding 120 others. This in spite of heavy security elsewhere. "An assault on the Citadel."

USA: Alaska: Fire aboard cruise ship kills five. Passengers being evacuated.

USA: Washington: Bomb scare forces evacuation of train stations. Hundreds flee in panic, but there was no bomb.

Indonesia: Jakarta: Police storm HQ of the IDP (one of 3 or 4 licensed opposition parties) and forcibly evict the supporters of the party's ousted leader, who had been staging sit-ins over govt rigging of the leadership vote. Riots ensue -- many dead and wounded.

Iran: Troops have invaded north-eastern Iraq with heavy artillery, in pursuit of the Kurds. Invasion and conquest.

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