Fire Rat: Earth Season: 4d

28 Aug ~~ 1 Sep

Allegiances and allies. Things lose their distinctiveness by subsuming themselves into larger entities. Loose associations become more formal. Groups of people organise themselves under one banner. Large organisations admit new members. An effort to define Us against Them.

The Fulfilment:

Russia: Chechnya: Govt troops and armour withdrawing from Grozny and some are being sent all the way home to Russia proper. "An effort to define Us against Them."

Cambodia: Ieng Sary, onetime foreign minister in the Khmer Rouge regime, split with the Khmer Rouge earlier this month and is now seeking an independent amnesty and peace with the govt. His followers are seeking admittance into the army of regular troops. "Allegiances and allies. Things lose their distinctiveness by subsuming themselves into larger entities. Groups of people organise themselves under one banner."

Japan: Supreme court rules in favour of the USA regarding the future of American military bases on Okinawa.

Palestine: Arafat calls for and then gets a four hour general strike to protest Israel's new policies in Jerusalem. "Groups of people organise themselves under one banner. An effort to define Us against Them."

Mexico: Overnight, hundreds of armed guerrillas attack military checkpoints and police outposts, killing 12 and wounding 20. People fear a renewed uprising.

Bosnia: NATO troops detain 65 Serbian police today for beating up Muslim civilians returning to their old homes. Later, a convoy of UN officials is besieged by a Serbian mob that roughs them up and destroys several vehicles while police watch. UN demands swift retaliation. "An effort to define Us against Them."

Norway: Spitzbergen: Plane carrying 145 Russian miners and their families slams into a mountain on the Arctic isle --- all dead.

Europa: Declassified American documents from WWII hint strongly that the Red Cross was controlled at its highest levels by the Nazis.

Poland: Parliament votes today to liberalise the harshly restrictive abortion laws passed by Lech Walesa's govt.

France: Paris: Angry farmers parade cows through Paris to the Eiffel Tower to protest low beef prices in the wake of the mad cow disease scare.

Iraq: Large build up of troops in Kurdish areas of the north alarms the West. American troops go on full alert and the warplanes are readied. Iraq explains that the coming attack is in response to a request for help from the leader of one of the two Kurdish factions in the region who wants Saddam to help him capture the city of Arbil from his opponent. "Allegiances and allies. Things lose their distinctiveness by subsuming themselves into larger entities. Loose associations become more formal. Groups of people organise themselves under one banner. An effort to define Us against Them." An interesting event that fits on many levels: one Kurdish faction has essentially dissolved itself into Saddam's regime and turned that regime against the other faction (Us against Them). One caveat: this is awfully close to the end of the Earth Season. Saddam had better watch his step or he may not be around in a couple of weeks ....

Libya: American Louis Farrakhan, extremist leader of the "Nation of Islam", arrives to accept a human rights award from Muammar Gaddafi. Anyone want to comment on either its irony or its sublime appropriateness? :-) "Allegiances and allies."

Israel: Arafat's call for protest prayer at al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City is thwarted by Israeli police who let only 20000 people through the checkpoint gates.

UN: India puts the UN on notice that it will insist on a two-thirds majority in any vote on the nuclear test ban treaty. "An effort to define Us against Them."

Iraq: Govt troops capture Kurdish city of Arbil, expelling or executing one faction and substituting a more agreeable group in its place.

Colombia: Leftist guerrillas launch new offensive to protest govt destruction of the coca crop. Almost 100 dead after two days of fighting. "Allegiances and allies": the peasant farmer uprising is now allied with the long drawn-out civil war between leftists and the govt.

Russia: Alexander Lebed declares the Chechen war to be over. Peace treaty defers decision on future of Chechnya until 31 Dec 2001. Muslims fill the streets of Grozny chanting "Allahu akhbar!" and "Lebed for president!" ... "Allegiances and allies. Things lose their distinctiveness by subsuming themselves into larger entities." This is part of the Revolution: "Some unresolved situation in the world or some condition that has been static or some institution that has been moribund will suddenly give way, become fluid and be transformed. Something that has been intransigent for years will suddenly budge."

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