Earth Tiger: Wood Season: 4d

29 Mar ~~ 1 Apr

Hacking and pruning of the fresh growth. Keep the children safe, for they are the embodiment of the new life of Spring. There is a very strong sense of pointless and senseless loss -- a loss without meaning or purpose. Political intimidation on these days will have the strongest military overtones --- the sword will be unsheathed and the intentions will be deadly.
Weather: Hopeful signs of Spring are dissipated when temperatures drop and the cold returns. The fluctuations are less noticeable now -- it is beginning to iron itself out.
The Fulfilment:
France: Strasbourg: Three day congress held by the neo-fascist National Front party led by LePen draws some 50000 protesters into the city for a confrontation. Protesters, with encouragement from the city's mayor, have draped the city in black flags and crepe paper. Delegates to the congress have been warned to confine themselves to barracks for their own safety. Political intimidation.
India: Kashmir: Bomb aboard a bus kills fifteen people and maims sixteen others. This is the second full day of talks between India and Pakistan on the future of the area.
Yemen: Wild gunman charges through two schools, shooting indiscriminately at teachers, staff and the children. Eight dead and a dozen children wounded. "Keep the children safe, for they are the embodiment of the new life of Spring. There is a very strong sense of pointless and senseless loss -- a loss without meaning or purpose." Source of his grievance was an accusation of rape against the headmistress (!!!) with his daughters, but a doctor could find no evidence of molestation.
Israel: Israeli troops fight running battles with Palestinian mobs today, while Arab police intervene only half-heartedly. Political intimidation.
Cambodia: Four grenades cast into peaceful crowd at a political rally. Twelve are killed and another hundred maimed, but the man speaking (the real target) escapes unharmed. "Political intimidation on these days will have the strongest military overtones --- the sword will be unsheathed and the intentions will be deadly."
India: Congress Party withdraws its support from the coalition government because of police investigations into its corrupt past. This is interpreted as a signal to call off the dogs, so to speak. Political intimidation.
France: Strasbourg: Antifascist marches turn violent last night with some vandalism and police confrontations reported. Political intimidation.
Albania: Parliament approves coming of a multinational UN security force to get food into rebel areas.
USA: Tennessee: About a dozen tornadoes blow through, killing several people and injuring dozens.
Canada: BC: Windstorm with gales of 110km/h causes damage throughout the lower mainland and into the northern USA.
Russia: Yeltsin approves new treaty with Belarus moving towards full reintegration in the near future, with common currency, customs, foreign affairs and military defence policies. This will mean the end of Belarus as an independent state -- it will be only slightly more independent than under the Soviet system. Byelorussian and Russian citizenship will be merged. "Hacking and pruning of the fresh growth."
Spain: Train derails, killing twenty and injuring 80 others, many very badly indeed. "There is a very strong sense of pointless and senseless loss -- a loss without meaning or purpose."
Albania: It is now known that eighty people drowned in the ship that was capsized by an Italian patrol boat last week. Memorial services held today in Albania. "There is a very strong sense of pointless and senseless loss -- a loss without meaning or purpose."
Albania: Feared secret police, the Shik, are disbanded today, after decades of terrorising populace. Southern rebels may be willing to talk now. "Hacking and pruning of the fresh growth."
UK: Ulster: Protestant marching season begins today, but marchers voluntarily bypass Catholic areas. Several bombs found, but all are defused without incident. "Political intimidation on these days will have the strongest military overtones --- the sword will be unsheathed and the intentions will be deadly."
Yemen: Yesterday's shooting spree perpetrator is hauled up before a judge today and tried and sentenced to death by firing squad. He has appealed the verdict and the appeal will be heard tomorrow. Talk about not wasting time!
Egypt: Arab League votes to suspend all normal diplomatic relations with Israel and to reimpose their old economic boycott of Israel in protest of the construction of new settlements around Old Jerusalem. "Hacking and pruning of the fresh growth."
India: Government scrambling to prepare itself for a vote of non-confidence in ten days time. Talks with Pakistan are cut abruptly until government questions are settled.
Zaire: Rebels arrive in the mineral fields of the far south: gold, diamonds, cobalt and uranium lie everywhere. Local governors do not flee, but stay to welcome the rebels.
Kenya: Nairobi: Fire destroys slum housing 10000 people. Death toll unknown. "There is a very strong sense of pointless and senseless loss -- a loss without meaning or purpose."
UK: After 50yrs in the passenger railway business, British Rail came to an end today with one last (late) train. Government is out and private regional franchises are in. "Hacking and pruning of the fresh growth ... [with] ... a strong sense of loss".
Russia: Sudden misunderstandings leave the Treaty of Union with Belarus up in the air. If signed, Belarus will effectively disappear. "Hacking and pruning of the fresh growth." Belarus has barely emerged from the shadow of the Soviet Union and already it is voluntarily offering to sacrifice that new identity. The child is reabsorbed into the womb.
Albania: New PM meets southern rebels for the first time today to begin rebuilding public trust and public order.
Israel: Gaza: Two bomb incidents today. In one, a suicide bomber lay in ambush for a passing school bus but detonated too soon and the children were unharmed. In the other incident, Israeli soldiers are thought to have lobbed a grenade at a passing Arab taxi, killing a Palestinian policeman. "Keep the children safe, for they are the embodiment of the new life of Spring. There is a very strong sense of pointless and senseless loss -- a loss without meaning or purpose." I cannot think of anything more pointless than a suicide bomber who misses his target or kills only himself, nor anything more senseless that to make a target of schoolchildren.
USA: New England: Winter snowstorm dumps 60cm of snow on the area. Easily the worst storm of the whole winter, closing down schools and airports and many roads. "Hopeful signs of Spring are dissipated when temperatures drop and the cold returns," although this hardly qualifies as "less noticeable," does it?

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