The Cardinal Crisis
Uranus square Pluto: The third of seven exact global square aspects between Uranus and Pluto began on May 20, 2013. The effects worldwide, before and after the square, are easily seen in global events. In the photo above, from the nation of Turkey, a woman named Ceyda Sungur, a urban planning professor at Istanbul's university, turns her face away as she is showered with teargas by a Turkish police officer in Gezi Park in Istanbul, Turkey. She had come down from her nearby university office to defend the green park from diggers paid by Turkey's government to tear up the park. Caught on camera as she was sprayed head to toe in tear gas, Ceyda Sungur's treatment at the hands of Istanbul's riot police seemed the epitome of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and has neatly encapsulated the government's heavy-handed response to a civilized protest. The Genzi Park protests erupted into nationwide mass demonstrations on 31 May 2013 with a widespread police crackdown on a campaign to save Istanbul's Gezi Park from demolition. Turkey's defiant Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on June 9, 2013 told his supporters that his patience "has a limit" as Turkish police under his command continued to fire tear gas and powerful jets of water at demonstrators in several Turkish cities in unrelenting protests against Erdogan's decade-long rule. There are reports of Turkish citizens who have been killed by the police in the protests. More than 4,000 people, many of whom are young and middle-class, have been injured and three people have died in the nationwide unrest so far, tarnishing Turkey's image as a model of Islamic democracy. In a fresh bid to calm the turmoil, the man who initially ordered the the first police crackdowns, the governor of Istanbul, Huseyin Avni Mutlu, apologized on Twitter saying that he wished he was with Turkish citizens camping out on Taksim Square to protect the park. "I salute the young people of this country who chose to sleep on the square under the stars instead of in their warm beds," he said. The hue-and-cries in Turkey since May has spiralled into a mass outpouring of anger by hundreds of thousands of Turks against Erdogan and his party, seen as having become increasingly authoritarian.
Image: Osman Orsal/Reuters
The Perigee SuperMoon
Earthquakes, Storms, Floods & Geophysical Instability
Plus,
NSA Surveillance Program Angers Americans
Earthquakes, Storms, Floods & Geophysical Instability
A flooded statue sits in the swollen Vltava River in the center of Prague, Czech Republic, on June 2, 2013
Image: PressTV
Plus,
NSA Surveillance Program Angers Americans
Also,
The Secret War:
Infiltration, Sabotage & Mayhem?
&
The Grand Water Trines Of 2013:
Presages On 2014, Unfavorable Travel, November's Scorpio Hybrid Solar Eclipse & The Ebola Virus
Presages On 2014, Unfavorable Travel, November's Scorpio Hybrid Solar Eclipse & The Ebola Virus
Also,
Europe Rejects Monsanto
Global Backlash Grows Against Genetically Modified Foods
Featuring,
The Uranus-Pluto Square:
What it Is & What it Means To Us
GLOBAL ASTROLOGY
By
Theodore White, mundane Astrolog.sci
Θεόδωρος
Peace & Goodwill To Humanity
All Praise & Glory Be To IAO, The Immortal God
Mark Twain once said, "The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog."
As the world slides further into this solar year of 2013; we continue to witness the impacts of the cardinal crisis world transits on populations worldwide.
What we are seeing take place globally is what I have been forecasting on for years. These are the cardinal crisis years.
From the revelations of massive spying by the government on millions of Americans to the events taking place in Syria, Turkey and elsewhere, to the scandals, the violence and mayhem erupting worldwide - all of it - are sure signs of the times that we are in a historic and transitional global era.
Since December 21, 2012's YOD configuration, we have also witnessed major events take place throughout the world, especially in the United States which is undergoing a major generational transition, as are other nations.
What is really happening is that those who are ideological and evil are being called out by global transits as the world around them, along with their sick illusions, are proving to be just that - illusions.
Many, if not all of them, are heading into perdition.
Though either they do not know, or believe it, when the time comes - and it shall come - their lifetimes will been have wasted in their evil foolishness. And it will have been all for naught.
From the events of the Boston Marathon Bombing of April 15, 2013 to the tragic events in West, Texas, just two days later; along with revelations of government spying on American citizens in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and National Security Agency's PRISM scandal - we can obviously see the world has been experiencing challenging times as the cardinal crisis world transits confirm.
According to astrological transits, the Boston Marathon Bombings were planned and done by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, Craft International and associated agents of the federal government and the state government of Massachusetts.
And it is all going to come out.
Those agencies, headed by baby boomer establishment types, who think everyone else is stupid have disgraced those agencies by their evil and sick acts - especially the FBI.
Shame on all of you.
It is quite typical of these now elderly baby boomer establishment types to blame young people for things that they have not done. It is also typical of baby boomers to do this since they obviously are not in their right minds.
No matter, those who did these evil acts, and those who planned and supported them, have the evil demons and Archons to face and that is a horror beyond all horrors that they are not ready for - not in the least.
They should repent, while they are still in the body and have time - and tell the truth - to save themselves. For each individual will be held to account for their evil acts.
However, the crimes of those who planned and perpetrated the bombings, and the murders associated with it - both before, during and after the event - will come into public view.
This decade - the Twenty-Tens - is really about the end of the late 20th century; along with those of that era who have brought their outmoded ways and outdated methods of that former bloody century into this new century.
What they have wrought will eventually be seen as nothing short of ignorance and sin by history, still, we all have to experience and witness this stupidity coming from those whom I continue to state are heading straight into perdition.
This is the Cardinal Crisis Decade.
This decade features great changes. It is about a dying oligarchy and the outgoing baby boomer establishment unable to come to terms with their own crimes, their own sins, their own mortality, as they are now advanced in age.
Both generations lack the good Spirit, but some do know, intuitively, that they will be held to account for all their crimes, but they continue to be unable to rectify this and their time runs out.
I speak truth - as you, who are evil and do no good - take yourselves headlong - into perdition.
I speak truth - as you, who are evil and do no good - take yourselves headlong - into perdition.
Mary Magdalene said: "Woe, woe, unto sinners!"
Salome answered said:
"My Lord Jesus, a murderer who has never committed any sin but murdering, if he comes out of the body, what is his chastisement?
"My Lord Jesus, a murderer who has never committed any sin but murdering, if he comes out of the body, what is his chastisement?
Jesus answered and said:
"A murderer who has never committed any sin but murdering, if his time is completed through the sphere {Earth}that he comes out of the body, the receivers of Yaldabaōth come and lead his soul out of the body and bind it by its feet to a great demon with a horse's face, and he spends three days circling round with it in the world.
"Thereafter they lead it into the regions of the cold and of the snow, and they take vengeance on it there, for three years and six months.
"Thereafter, they lead it down into the Chaos before Yaldabaōth and his forty-and-nine demons, and every one of his demons scourges it another three years and six months.
"Thereafter they lead it down into the chaos before Persephonē and take vengeance on it with her chastisements another three years and six months.
"Thereafter they carry it on to the way of the Midst, and every one of the rulers of the way of the midst takes vengeance on it with the chastisements of its regions another three years and six months.
"Thereafter they lead it unto the Virgin of Light, who judges the righteous and the sinners, that she may judge it.
And when the sphere turns itself, she commands that it shall be cast into the outer darkness until the time when the darkness of the midst shall be upraised; then it, the soul, will be destroyed and dissolved.
And when the sphere turns itself, she commands that it shall be cast into the outer darkness until the time when the darkness of the midst shall be upraised; then it, the soul, will be destroyed and dissolved.
"This is the chastisement of the murderer."
~ Jesus Christ, the Pistis Sophia
~ Jesus Christ, the Pistis Sophia
Their acts, seen in the many anomalous events featuring mass shootings, bombings, maiming, murders, generational theft, corruption and draconian laws that violate the natural laws of civil liberties, could not come at a worst time considering that this is the cardinal crisis decade.
And again, time runs out for both aged generations.
Unless they come to terms within themselves with what they have wrought, tell the truth and repent, then they will continue to head straight into perdition and shall be cast into the outer darkness, where Christ said there is "weeping and the gnashing of teeth."
As for proof of the historic transitional era I have forecasted that we are now in - in this cardinal crisis decade - all one has to do is to browse the world news of our current times...
Recent Mundane News
The Perigee Super Moons of June & July 2013
A town sign sits in several feet of water on May 31, 2013, in Chelsea, Iowa
Image: Bryon Houlgrave, The Des Moines Register
The Perigee Moons Of May, June & July 2013:
Earthquakes, Storms & Geophysical Instability
By
Theodore White, astrometeorologist.sci
There's a saying in Astrometeorology: "Don't mess with Mother Nature."
That's what I call the Sun and the laws of physics that govern our planet's climate and weather.
As the perigee moon of June and July near, we can expect to hear of a wide range of geophysical disturbances, including earthquakes, some large magnitude, worldwide.
Although there are always some kind of seismic activity; when there are astrological configurations strong enough relative to the Earth, we experience stronger seismic activity. So it will be during the months of lunar perigees.
And, as forecasted, the recent cold, wet spring of 2013 has led to a wide range of weather events, from monster tornadoes in the southern Plains states of America to the wildfires I forecasted striking the mountain west to massive flooding in Central Europe.
Due to the condition of the Sun and the configurations of the planets relative to the Earth, I have forecasted a highly variable year of weather worldwide for 2013, including the wettest spring and summer on record.
Floods will continue to be a serious problem for years to come, according to my calculations. We are also in the transition years between global warming and global cooling, thus, we can expect these extremes of weather to continue for several more years.
In late June 2013, the planet Jupiter will reach its northernmost point as it enters tropical Cancer. In astrometeorology, this transit of Jupiter confirms a wet solar year that will last into mid-2014.
That's what I call the Sun and the laws of physics that govern our planet's climate and weather.
As the perigee moon of June and July near, we can expect to hear of a wide range of geophysical disturbances, including earthquakes, some large magnitude, worldwide.
Although there are always some kind of seismic activity; when there are astrological configurations strong enough relative to the Earth, we experience stronger seismic activity. So it will be during the months of lunar perigees.
And, as forecasted, the recent cold, wet spring of 2013 has led to a wide range of weather events, from monster tornadoes in the southern Plains states of America to the wildfires I forecasted striking the mountain west to massive flooding in Central Europe.
Due to the condition of the Sun and the configurations of the planets relative to the Earth, I have forecasted a highly variable year of weather worldwide for 2013, including the wettest spring and summer on record.
Floods will continue to be a serious problem for years to come, according to my calculations. We are also in the transition years between global warming and global cooling, thus, we can expect these extremes of weather to continue for several more years.
In late June 2013, the planet Jupiter will reach its northernmost point as it enters tropical Cancer. In astrometeorology, this transit of Jupiter confirms a wet solar year that will last into mid-2014.
Also, the months of late May, June and July 2013 will have seen three straight perigee moons.
The closest perigee moon will take place on June 23, 2013. This means that between June 20 through 27 overall, there should a variety of geophysical events that make headline news.
The closest perigee moon will take place on June 23, 2013. This means that between June 20 through 27 overall, there should a variety of geophysical events that make headline news.
In the annals of Astrometeorology, it is well known that when 'super-moons' occur, they spark geophysical events ranging from large magnitude earthquakes, to strong storms with gusty winds and powerful tornadoes.
There are storms of torrential rains that causes flooding that can strike farmlands and multiple urban areas.
After the cold, wet spring I forecasted, what is happening is that regions that have had a late snow melt this year and so will experience floods, along with the heavy rains that help to raise water tables.
With snow on higher ground, and with heavy rains in valleys, that can mean swelled rivers along with their tributaries.
The water table becomes so saturated that the ground cannot hold any more water and floods ensue. This raises the risk of landslides as well.
Parts of western Africa, Canada, America and Europe are highlighted.
In southern Somali town of Jowhar, hundreds of families and farmers have been displaced after a river burst its banks in Middle Shabelle region.
Jowhar town is 90 kilometers north of Somali's capital city Mogadishu and has access to Somalia's biggest road that links the southern and central regions of the country.
Parts of western Africa, Canada, America and Europe are highlighted.
In southern Somali town of Jowhar, hundreds of families and farmers have been displaced after a river burst its banks in Middle Shabelle region.
Jowhar town is 90 kilometers north of Somali's capital city Mogadishu and has access to Somalia's biggest road that links the southern and central regions of the country.
It is also at the heart of a rich agricultural area but with the recent floods farmers are worried that the region might become food insecure and call for immediate help from both the government and the United Nations.
After the May perigee moon, heavy rains also fell across much of central Europe.
A couple in a Prague suburb carry three kittens in a plastic bag through floodwaters.
Image: Roman Vondrous / CTK via AP
Because of flash flooding, homes were evacuated across parts of southern Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland as rivers reach dangerously high levels.
The Czech capital Prague was on high alert in early June, as city officials said that they fear a repeat of the catastrophic floods of 2002.
The River Vltava had inundated towns and villages that were upstream of Prague.
The River Vltava had inundated towns and villages that were upstream of Prague.
A flooded statue in the swollen Vltava River in the center of Prague, Czech Republic, on June 2, 2013.
Image: PressTV
In Germany, the cities of Passau and Rosenheim also declared a state of emergency. Rivers, including sections of the Danube River in Germany and in Austria have burst their banks thus flooding the surrounding residents.
Image: Getty Images
Germany's province of Bavaria will continue to see heavy rains in June, according to my Astromet forecast.
The continuing heavy rains are likely to worsen the floods that affected parts of the Danube and the Inn, among other rivers in that area.
The German cities of Passau and Rosenheim also face floods. Town officials in Passau, which sits at the confluence of three rivers in Bavaria could have a very busy month ahead of them.
Image: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Bavaria is not the only German state to be affected; towns and cities in Saxony, Thuringia and Baden-Wuerttemberg are also inundated.
High water levels were also reported in Poland, Switzerland and Bulgaria in early June.
The month of June into early July will most likely feature swelling rivers that lead to widespread floods.
Caution is urged through regions of North America and Europe during both months.
Caution is urged through regions of North America and Europe during both months.
There was also flooding on the Iowa River after May 2013's Perigee Moon.
The Perigee Moon Of June 23, 2013
The Perigee Moon Of June 23, 2013
Analysis by
Theodore White, astrometeorologist. sci
The Perigee Full Moon of 22-23 June 2013 will be the closest perigee of the solar year. The full perigee moon May 24-25, 2013 was also a supermoon.
The word 'perigee' describes the moon’s closest point to Earth.
With June's full perigee moon, we can expect the land and sea tides to rise and fall precipitously during perigee events.
Seismic activity along with strong storms, floods, gusting winds, and a host of geophysical events are presaged worldwide.
Moreover, the line-up of the Earth-Moon will oppose that of Jupiter, which will be at 29-Gemini on June 23, 2013.
This called a 'syzygy,' which is a straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies in a gravitational system that can spark moon-quakes and earthquakes.
Look for these geophysical events three days before, during and after the Perigee Full Moon.
Perigee Moon-Earth-Jupiter Syzygy
The Full moon occurs on June 23, 2013 at 2-degrees tropical Capricorn at 11:32 UTC.
The crest of the moon’s full lunar in June 2013, and its perigee will occur within an hour of each other.
click on graphic to enlarge
In the United States, the moon will phase full on June 23rd at 7:32 a.m. EDT; 6:32 a.m. CDT; 5:32 a.m. MDT and 4:32 a.m. PDT.
When you look into the sky, the moon will appear about as full on June 22nd as it will on the night of June 23rd. The mid-June 2013 full moon is the closest and biggest full moon of the year.
The Moon will not be so close to the Earth again until August 2014.
These full moons happen in cycles of 14 lunar, or synodic, months. That's because 14 lunar months nearly equals 15 returns to a perigee.
In the United States, the moon will phase full on June 23rd at 7:32 a.m. EDT; 6:32 a.m. CDT; 5:32 a.m. MDT and 4:32 a.m. PDT.
When you look into the sky, the moon will appear about as full on June 22nd as it will on the night of June 23rd. The mid-June 2013 full moon is the closest and biggest full moon of the year.
The Moon will not be so close to the Earth again until August 2014.
These full moons happen in cycles of 14 lunar, or synodic, months. That's because 14 lunar months nearly equals 15 returns to a perigee.
A 'lunar month,' in astrometeorology is a reference to the periods between successive full moons, or a mean period of 29.53059 days.
What an Astromet calls an anomalistic month refers to successive returns to a perigee which is a period of 27.55455 days:
14 x 29.53059 days = 413.428 days
15 x 27.55455 days = 413.318 days
14 x 29.53059 days = 413.428 days
15 x 27.55455 days = 413.318 days
If you have clear skies, then a good time to photograph the perigee, or 'supermoon' is when the moon is rising as that is the time when it will appear largest in the sky.
Try to use a tripod for your camera and apply a slow shutter speed. By using manual settings and slowing your camera's shutter speed you should achieve better focus.
A smaller aperture on your camera - a f/5.6 or f/8 - will get the best photograph of June's Perigee Moon you want.
The term 'Super moon' was named by forecasting astrologer Richard Nolle.
The term that Nolle coined has been debated by materialist scientists who seem to remain ignorant of the fact that perigee moons have been well-known in astrometeorology for centuries.
Most people know that the Moon has power over tidal forces, but few know that the Moon also raises the land tides as well. This has impact on both sea and land tides.
Another reason why it is impossible for those who claim that storms and earthquakes cannot be 'predicted' is that they continue to see the Earth, a planet, as a 'closed system' when the Earth is anything but.
The Earth is part of the solar system, and as such, all the planets have effects on one another.
It would seem that those who make claims which treat the Earth as somehow 'outside' of the forces of the solar system require much more attention to the astrophysical and geophysical facts of the matter and much less to their ideologies and uninformed opinions.
The entire natural world, including the Earth, all of it - is Astrology.
The entire natural world, including the Earth, all of it - is Astrology.
The June 2013 is the Moon’s closest encounter with Earth until August 10, 2014, when the moon will be five kilometers closer.
The full moon will transit even closer to Earth on September 28, 2015 at 356,877 kilometers and closer still on November 14, 2016 at 356,509 kilometers.
The November 2016 perigee moon will feature the closest full moon until November 25, 2034.
The perigee Moons of the years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 – will have the full lunar phase occurring at or nearly the same hour as lunar perigee.
These perigee moons are associated with the geophysical events of storms, earthquakes and floods.
These perigee moons are associated with the geophysical events of storms, earthquakes and floods.
It is my long-range forecast that the decades ahead - the 2020s, 2030s, 2040s, and 2050s - will feature ever higher floods globally, as the world experiences a climate of global cooling I've forecasted to officially begin in 2017 and last to the year 2053.
Looking further ahead, there will be a Perigee Full Moon which will come closer than 356,500 kilometers for the first time in the 21st Century.
That perigee Moon will take place on November 25, 2034, when the Moon will be 356,446 kilometers from the Earth.
The closest perigee full moon in this century will happen on December 6, 2052 at 356,421 kilometers.
That perigee Moon will take place on November 25, 2034, when the Moon will be 356,446 kilometers from the Earth.
The closest perigee full moon in this century will happen on December 6, 2052 at 356,421 kilometers.
The Grand Water Trines Of 2013:
Presages On 2014, Unfavorable Travel, November's Scorpio Hybrid Solar Eclipse & The Ebola Virus
Presages On 2014, Unfavorable Travel, November's Scorpio Hybrid Solar Eclipse & The Ebola Virus
By
Theodore White, mundane Astrolog.sci
I have written about the Grand Water Trine before in previous editions of Global Astrology.
The global astrological configuration sees the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune - all in 120-degree aspects from one another in the tropical water Signs of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces.
Though some astrologers would take these water trines as wholly favorable, I tend to view these configurations as presages that point also to future events which require serious preparations.
On June 26, 2013, just as transiting Mercury stations retrograde which will last to July 20th, the giant planet Jupiter will enter the northernmost Sign of tropical Cancer.
Jupiter's motion here into the Sign ruled by the Moon, as well as the Sign the United States is under, calls for serious attention to the trends which have led to this time since the negative events of September 11, 2001 and into 2002, when Jupiter last left tropical Gemini and entered Cancer.
Jupiter will enter tropical Cancer on June 26, 2013 and will transit there until July 2014.
Over the course of this year, the U.S. and many other countries will have to face the truths behind the machinations of their 'shadow governments' which are being plowed through, in phoenix-like fashion, by the transit of Pluto in tropical Capricorn.
A powerful time in the world will occur by April 2014, when the outer planets form into a configuration called the 'Grand Cardinal Cross.'
This is a series of global squares and oppositions in cardinal Signs that will revolve globally next year.
The tone and atmosphere, is highly unfavorable and shows that the populations of the world will have had enough of the lies and crimes committed by those holding onto power and abusing it at every turn at the expense of populations.
The Grand Water Trine of 2013
The Grand Water Trine between Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces in 2013 is shown in the above isolation mundane chart.
The grand water trine will last from about late June through to August 2013, however Jupiter and Saturn will remain in trine, or close to it, through the rest of 2013 to July 2014.
The months of June, July and August 2013 indicate that it is time for populations to really begin to evolve under this global configuration.
During the time of the grand water trine, those who are about to benefit from the knowledge they have gained in relation to the state of the world, the lies told versus the truths, are able to clearly make out the differences of reality under these planetary configurations.
For instance, Saturn trine Neptune helps individuals and groups can deeper insights into the economic, cultural, social and political forces that have operated in the past and those that operate in the present.
The insights are part of a sequential pattern of unfoldment where the secret activities of those in power are better understood and defined.
Jupiter trine Neptune shows a sustained period of mental, intuitive and spiritual growth where people become more active in the promotion of generosity, peace and understanding; rather than the paranoid reactionary ideologies of the outgoing establishment and dying oligarchy.
Jupiter trine Saturn shows that after years of economic decline that the worst may be yet to come on financial world markets.
This trine between both business planets, Jupiter and Saturn, relative to the Earth, shows that progress can be made by individuals and organizations who have honest means to achieve their goals.
Those who are able to utilize the Jupiter-Saturn trine often take a serious-minded and responsible attitude with a healthy balance between optimism and caution while showing concern with honesty and integrity.
The effect over the months of June, July and August will allow many people to make significant progress should they not waste the summer season in the northern hemisphere being lazy.
This grand water trine calls for attention to the present as it pertains to the future, let's say, the next three years, to about 2016.
The Grand Cardinal Cross of next year will begin a series of powerfully and sometimes intractable events ranging from geopolitical upsets, civil clashes among states and an unfavorable atmosphere for extended travel.
The transits of 2013 also call for attention to the weather/climate and to the spread of deadly diseases in 2014.
In my Astromet forecast for the Winter of 2013-2014, I am forecasting a brutally cold, snowy, icy and long winter for North America.
The Winter of 2014 in the northern hemisphere will be made longer by the following cold and wet spring while extreme drought conditions in California and blazing hot weather in the west and Pacific northwest will lead to wildfires.
Astronomic calculations show that cooler air will also be evident in the central to eastern United States in mid-summer 2014 as the trending to global cooling will continue.
During the winter of 2014, planetary configurations indicate to me that well below-normal-cold temperatures will cause major disruptions for at least two-thirds of the United States.
This will be preceded in autumn 2013 by a rare hybrid Total Solar Eclipse on November 3, 2013 in Scorpio that will cross the Atlantic Ocean and cast its shadow over equatorial Africa.
The ominous Scorpio eclipse of early November 2013 indicates that a serious outbreak of deadly diseases like the Ebola Virus could easily begin to spread afterward when the eclipse point is squared by the Sun in Aquarius by February 2014.
By then, look to Western Africa where the hybrid eclipse passed over and through equatorial Africa to regions like Liberia and Nigeria where the Ebola virus could easily grow into a near pandemic by the cardinal spring and into the summer of 2014.
Extreme caution is urged by then as Mars will enter Scorpio and conjoin transiting Saturn in Scorpio by August 2014.
All my presages for 2014 features a strange era into the middle years of this decade with a prelude to that upcoming powerful cardinal year that features the Grand Cardinal Cross of Spring 2014.
There are also a series of 'tetrad' total lunar eclipses that begin in 2014 and will extend their influences well into 2015.
These are known as 'blood moon' eclipses and the regions of the Middle East and the Gaza Strip are highlighted, as well as increased violence in the Ukraine, also Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya will see heightened levels of extreme violence.
The solar year of 2014 is a very unfavorable year for extended travel, especially to foreign locations as bloodshed, mass violence, incidents of civil wars, accidents, mysteries and death by extended travel; along with the spread of diseases like Ebola make the solar year of 2014 very malefic in my mundane perspective.
I advise strong caution for extended travel for the entire year of 2014 - in fact, it is best not to travel at all as world transits are very unfavorable.
So, during the time of the Grand Water Trine, the three months of June, July & August 2013 offer some of the best world transits to make adjustments and changes to schedules and to closely mind the world events going into 2014.
In this light, economically, politically and socially, after several years of what I call 'generational warfare' perpetuated by the dying oligarchy and the baby boomer generational establishment; we are in a transitional period in the Twenty-Tens.
These are two generations that have dominated the economic, cultural, social and political worlds since 1969.
Now, in 2013, their ideological influence has come to an end, but the messes both generations have left behind will require time to clean up by younger generations.
At this time, during the summer season in the northern hemisphere, we can easily see how both the advanced oligarchy and baby boomer establishment have broken the intergenerational contract:
The record levels of unemployment among those under 55 years of age to 16 years old - globally- has led to hue-and-cries and revolutionary sentiments.
By June, July & August 2013, the world finds itself less than a year away from a powerful astrological configuration known as the Grand Cardinal Cross.
That cardinal cross will take place in the month of April, but will have impacts before, during and after the major planetary configuration.
I will continue to forecast and write on the coming Grand Cardinal Cross in more editions of Global Astrology.
For the present time however, the months of June, July and August see another planetary configuration at work - that of the Grand Water Trine. I have written about this configuration before on Global Astrology.
Though the trine is considered beneficial, this configuration acts as both a stimulus and a warning about the state of many world economies and their banks, which I continue to say are unhealthy, being rife with corruption and criminality.
A 'catharsis' of sorts begins to set itself up again during the summer season of 2013 and then peaks in activity during the winter of 2014, into the spring of 2014, and continues through the rest of the year.
It continues mainly through the world square between Uranus in tropical Aries and Pluto in tropical Capricorn.
The third of seven exact squares between Uranus and Pluto took place May 20, 2013, with another four exact squares to go between now and 2015.
The effects of the Uranus-Pluto square since the Saturn-Uranus opposition of 2008, has brought about challenges to the status quo system of the late 20th century - in the early 21st century by means of the advanced oligarchy and baby boomer establishment.
Their attempts to draw the world backward, to retard evolution and positive growth, has led to protests and mass demonstrations - worldwide.
We saw this in the so-called 'Arab Spring' of 2011 as well as the "Occupy' movements in the United States and Western Europe.
These are only the beginnings of the birth pangs of challenges to the outworn, outmoded status quo of the ideologies of two aged generations.
Under Uranus-square-Pluto, we will continue to see radical movements and pressures on the world's financial system as the geopolitical crisis enters a new stage in 2013-2016.
We are sure to see revolutionary sentiments spread; as well as right-wing fascism that blames the economic crisis on immigrants, rather than on the true causes.
This emerging 'catharsis' extends through to the year 2016 in my astrological estimation, and thus calls for attention to detail when it comes to the economic, cultural, social and geopolitical impacts on the globe.
I cover the Uranus-Pluto World Square again, in this edition of Global Astrology.
In June 2013, a series of major planetary ingresses and astrological configurations takes place, which opens the period from 2013-2016 worldwide.
The Summer Solstice
Sun Enters Tropical Cancer
Friday, June 21, 2013
click on mundane Ingress Chart to enlarge
The Sun enters tropical Cancer on Friday, June 21, 2013, at 1:04 a.m., EDT. The Ingress chart above is set for Manhattan, New York, and shows the Sun reaching 00-Cancer, its northernmost point.
You can see in the chart above the Grand Water Trine between Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune still building at the ingress of the Sun into Cancer.
The domestic issues in the United States, from the generational dysfunction at play in the events from the Sandy Hook shootings, the Boston Bombings, the West, Texas explosion, along with the revelations of the NSA_FBI spying on millions of Americans lead straight to the Grand Cardinal Cross of 2014.
The cardinal ingress of the Sun into tropical Cancer takes place five days before Jupiter enters Cancer, the northernmost Sign.
This opens up another phase of the cardinal crisis decade into the middle years of the Twenty-Tens, and presages call for ever bigger events to take place.
Before we continue with events in the U.S., lets go to the United Kingdom and hear what British astrologer Shane Ward says with his mundane view of the Grand Water Trines of 2013 and the hue-and-cries taking place in Great Britain:
The domestic issues in the United States, from the generational dysfunction at play in the events from the Sandy Hook shootings, the Boston Bombings, the West, Texas explosion, along with the revelations of the NSA_FBI spying on millions of Americans lead straight to the Grand Cardinal Cross of 2014.
The cardinal ingress of the Sun into tropical Cancer takes place five days before Jupiter enters Cancer, the northernmost Sign.
This opens up another phase of the cardinal crisis decade into the middle years of the Twenty-Tens, and presages call for ever bigger events to take place.
Before we continue with events in the U.S., lets go to the United Kingdom and hear what British astrologer Shane Ward says with his mundane view of the Grand Water Trines of 2013 and the hue-and-cries taking place in Great Britain:
The Cardinal Crisis
Tensions in Great Britain:
The Grand Water Trines of 2013
By
The Grand Water Trines of 2013
By
Shane Ward, mundane Astrolog.sci
Corporate profit making under the present capitalist system is malignant and self destructive.
What is more is that the people who run these corporations know it but either care not a jot or can see no alternative, but to carry on spreading the disease.
If the world was one human body, then a corporation owning the left hand, intent only on making a profit for it’s shareholders (let’s say they are the fingers of the left hand) would have the left hand clothed in the warmest glove while the rest of the body, bereft of resource, froze to death.
They would then be in charge of the richest, most powerful, well clothed and protected dead hand.
Ultimately capitalism, at least in the way it is structured today, must change to survive - and it cannot be allowed to grow again to dinosaur proportions.
On 2nd June 2013 an applying square between Mars in Gemini and Neptune in Pisces gathered power.
Neptune, in it’s own sign made trine to Saturn in Scorpio, which is notorious for trying to keep functions and structures secret; and starting a grand trine with Mercury (trade) in Cancer (at home) with Venus (financials) waiting in the wings to knock of a second grand trine in a couple of days time.
To make matters more complicated, the position of Mercury and then Venus - who both need to make 5-degrees of Cancer to make the grand trine - start to apply by opposition to Pluto in Capricorn (Saturn’s sign) and also makes a T-square with Uranus (the reformer) in Aries (the activist).
Now, this 7-planet involvement in motion is triggered with the square, which is a problem to be acted upon, then moves into a grand trine: a defense mechanism determined to keep everything going on as it is - and finally a T-square, which demands that there must be reforms.
So, let us pick this situation apart and give it some kind of real meaning.
On Sunday morning, 2nd June 2013, the BBC reported on a survey (Which?) asking people if they could work out the cheapest energy (Mars) tariff for their gas (Neptune) and electricity (Uranus.)
Of the two types of energy, gas has seen some of the biggest hikes in cost, mainly because of it’s link to oil prices (oil is also Neptune.)
Now with Mars and Neptune in a waxing square, the rising cost of energy is not a new story, but it is also true that nothing of any significance has been altered to benefit the customer.
In fact, for the UK, and there are many energy firms owned by foreign business, all of the big six companies take out the profit for their shareholders before doing anything else.
Some of the companies have a really bad reputation for not paying fair tax in the UK (mentioning no names NPower.)
And, when there are any dealings with Mars and Neptune one has to consider how much fraud contributes to the embarrassingly slow passage of any of the energy companies to reform their cost structure in a way that would provide transparent pricing and genuine competition to a product that for virtually everyone is a force-purchase.
One might also question as to whether aggressive tax avoidance and filtering profits through Lord knows how many companies and ending up in a tax haven - whilst perfectly legal in today’s society - is not only fraudulent but must be one of the reforms made before 2020.
Neptune (confusion, vagueness, obfuscation) is a great description of the current energy tariff pricing structure for UK consumers.
First there are a number of ‘price plans’ with each company setting the start of the plan differently; one company charging price ‘A’ for the first 1500 units and a second charging price ‘A’ for the first 2000 units.
Price 'B' becomes equally difficult and price 'C' settles down because most people in an average family dwelling would have paid prices 'A' and 'B' anyway and settled into price 'C' long before the end of the month.
The average price of fuel is similar no matter what company you choose, so it is clearly a method used by the big energy companies just to create confusion.
The cornucopia of price tariffs are confusing not just because of their different pricing plans but also the way that the units are calculated.
At the moment it is necessary to use a calculator to follow the formula given on the bill to work it out.
Why they can’t just charge you gas at a simple price per term is either an amazing act of cerebral incompetence; or a deliberate ploy to do absolutely anything to keep energy bills obscure.
The energy minister for the government, and Ofgem, the regulating body, appeared to denounce the 'Which? Survey' that proved the best way to help customers understand the cheapest energy company for them was to make prices a flat price per unit purchase.
The energy minister told the BBC in June 2, 2013 that blending the standing charge in with the unit cost of energy might make it cost more for some of the lowest income households.
In my humble opinion, this is a huge energy market, a large regulating body and a government department for energy creating muddle headed thinking with no intention of making any changes.
If we tried to blend the standing charge in with a price per unit we would once again be confusing prices. It is simple... it is so simple.
If we tried to blend the standing charge in with a price per unit we would once again be confusing prices. It is simple... it is so simple.
Tell us the single price per unit for the whole month -separately, no price plans, and then tell us the standing charge and we can see at a first glance who is offering the cheapest gas and who is trying to rip us of with standing charges.
It is really that simple.
It is really that simple.
And before anyone comes back at me about competition between companies, that is simple too.
Make your price per unit cheaper than the other guys.
Problem solved.
Now get on with it.
Make your price per unit cheaper than the other guys.
Problem solved.
Now get on with it.
The energy companies know this, but they don’t want to do it.
The Grand Trine demonstrates how the defenses are in place.
First, there is the product provided by six big institutions (Neptune in Pisces) in trine with Saturn in Scorpio: deals and structures conducted away from the public gaze.
To complete the grand trine on June 2, 2013 it is Mercury in Cancer (domestic trade) and quickly followed on 4th June by Venus in Cancer (domestic profit.)
In layman’s terms, this set of Grand Trines demonstrates the murky behind the scenes stuff that is going on in our domestic energy industry is something that the big six companies are more than happy to remain murky and behind the scenes.
Whether there is fraud, deliberate non competition, excessive profit and even bribery and corruption (all of which are possible.)
The fact is that the energy companies want to protect the level of profit and the continued security of their market share at all cost.
They don’t care about fuel poverty or the quality of life for their consumer. The profit always comes out before the investment or price freeze.
Many astrologers imply that a trine aspect is an ease aspect and somehow nice.
Well the grand trine here shows how easy it would be for the big energy companies to sit on their hands and just let everything carry on in their favor as it is right now.
And the consumers do not think it is very nice; in fact the people are very angry about it.
By 4th June 2013, when Venus starts to apply itself to the grand trine, Mercury starts to apply its opposition to Pluto and sets of the T-Square with Uranus.
The Uranus / Pluto square is the third in a series of seven squares that will finish in 2015.
On the collective it symbolizes a life changing sequence of events challenging (square) reforms (Uranus) to the status quo (Pluto.)
On the collective it symbolizes a life changing sequence of events challenging (square) reforms (Uranus) to the status quo (Pluto.)
The global events that will unfold between 2010 and 2015 are ongoing and history will wax lyrical about the hugely fundamental shift in power and influence in a manner far too great for this small article.
But suffice it to say that corporate power and energy are just a part of this mighty square’s journey through the old, corrupt and outmoded functions of life - so that by the 2020s - history will look back at a decade of blistering change.
Mercury symbolizes not just trade but also that of the trickster; it makes sense when you consider the apparent need for sales ‘techniques’ to persuade people to spend money on something they probably never needed or wanted.
Energy, however, is a force purchase.
People have no choice but to spend money on it, so the only choice is to whom they spend that money with.
Energy, however, is a force purchase.
People have no choice but to spend money on it, so the only choice is to whom they spend that money with.
All energy companies buy electricity and gas from one source.
The price may vary for them according to how much is purchased in one go but aside from that, the only other competitive variations they can change are the administrative costs (the standing charge) and the profit taken out.
The price may vary for them according to how much is purchased in one go but aside from that, the only other competitive variations they can change are the administrative costs (the standing charge) and the profit taken out.
As mentioned before, at the moment the profit is taken out first, then whatever is left from money taken in can be channeled into infrastructure, safety and development projects.
But if transparency is forced by showing clearly what the customer is paying for, the game changes dramatically.
Energy companies may then have to consider taking their profit last, invest less in maintenance and repairs (bad idea but it often happens that way) or go out of business.
And energy companies know that they are not being competitive because of the way they trade. The changes being demanded are scary for them because the reforms needed will be root and branch reforms.
And in a few day’s time from this article they will know that they cannot just sit back and do nothing.
But they will still try to do just that.
So it means that we have to make them - like decide among ourselves which company is the most expensive and wipe them off the map by switching to anyone else - then see if the survivors want to reconsider their position.
And in a few day’s time from this article they will know that they cannot just sit back and do nothing.
But they will still try to do just that.
So it means that we have to make them - like decide among ourselves which company is the most expensive and wipe them off the map by switching to anyone else - then see if the survivors want to reconsider their position.
By 7th June the pot starts to boil. Mercury moves on to set up the close T-square it started a few days before and Venus takes the grand trine spot with Saturn and Neptune in its own right.
Now we will be talking money. But the energy companies will try desperately to suggest benefits and offer sweeteners and literally anything and everything except the necessary reforms.
But Mercury has moved on to become the negotiator for change and reform, so Venus will take on the role that is all to do with protecting profit and market share.
It is likely to be a conflict that progresses not an inch.
Now we will be talking money. But the energy companies will try desperately to suggest benefits and offer sweeteners and literally anything and everything except the necessary reforms.
But Mercury has moved on to become the negotiator for change and reform, so Venus will take on the role that is all to do with protecting profit and market share.
It is likely to be a conflict that progresses not an inch.
Here demonstrates the sheer reluctance of companies to work with the reforms and make the right changes.
Often, the resulting compromises and caveats that get proposed rather than just do what needs to be done generate some hideous abomination of an unacceptable work around, watered down to the point of being useless.
Asking a company to change something that will cost it in profit is like trying to engage a turkey in how it would like to be carved at Christmas.
The scenario with the energy firms places the spotlight on Ofgem as a viable regulator and surely must review what exactly it is that they are regulating that make them suitable for the purpose.
The UK has always had the potential for fraud in business (Neptune in 2nd house of 1801 Mundane Chart) and with Saturn presently in the UK's 2nd house, we are about to witness an increasing series of scandals involving money and power.
Because the Uranus-Pluto square will bring all the ugly little buggers kicking and screaming to light.
The UK has always had the potential for fraud in business (Neptune in 2nd house of 1801 Mundane Chart) and with Saturn presently in the UK's 2nd house, we are about to witness an increasing series of scandals involving money and power.
Because the Uranus-Pluto square will bring all the ugly little buggers kicking and screaming to light.
Neptune can also symbolize the highest of ideals (how many times to we hear a company caught red handed espouse the policy that the company takes its responsibilities very seriously?
It sounds like a good thing to say but they still got caught doing the opposite.
Telling people your high values is one thing, but living up to them is completely different.
With Saturn running through secretive Scorpio there will be so many behind the scenes shenanigans while pretending altruistic high morals to the public face.
From now until the beginning of 2015, at the very earliest, one would be wise to look closely at every promise made by government or business.
We can expect mendacity with bells on, half truths, omissions and statistical contortion.
From now until the beginning of 2015, at the very earliest, one would be wise to look closely at every promise made by government or business.
We can expect mendacity with bells on, half truths, omissions and statistical contortion.
For example, the UK government pounced on the news at the beginning of June 2013 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that they expected the economy in the UK to grow by 0.8 per cent in 2013 and 1.5 per cent in 2014 - a small revision down from its November forecast.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne leapt on the news that the OECD backed further spending cuts, justifying his austerity measures.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne leapt on the news that the OECD backed further spending cuts, justifying his austerity measures.
When one scrutinizes the OECD mission to: ‘promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.’
Note the term to ‘promote policies.’
The OECD was originally formed to assist in co-operation between countries after World War II, to encourage mutual growth and to avoid revenge through economic means or retribution of one country to another.
But, considering that governments send ambassadors to the OECD to espouse government policy, it is hardly surprising that the OECD simply regurgitates the expectation of individual member countries.
Put simply, they are no independently objective body.
Note the term to ‘promote policies.’
The OECD was originally formed to assist in co-operation between countries after World War II, to encourage mutual growth and to avoid revenge through economic means or retribution of one country to another.
But, considering that governments send ambassadors to the OECD to espouse government policy, it is hardly surprising that the OECD simply regurgitates the expectation of individual member countries.
Put simply, they are no independently objective body.
If my previous predictions are in any way to be fulfilled (and I have no reason to consider otherwise) then I believe that the chances of the United Kingdom growing by 0.8 per cent this year is about as realistic as cycling backwards to Mars on a pedalo.
Until 2016, the UK is very much in danger of a triple dip recession, unemployment has still to increase, the Euro will collapse and the only way any of us will go right now is down.
Barbault’s method is still to play out it’s prediction of 2016 as the lowest economic point.
Lying in politics is alive and giving us little chance of making informed decisions.
Corporate newspapers censor what is really going on in the world; Avaaz, 38 degrees and Care2 Causes are among those who lead the way in true freedom of the press.
If you want to know what is going on: don’t ask a politician and don’t believe corporate owned media.
Until 2016, the UK is very much in danger of a triple dip recession, unemployment has still to increase, the Euro will collapse and the only way any of us will go right now is down.
Barbault’s method is still to play out it’s prediction of 2016 as the lowest economic point.
Lying in politics is alive and giving us little chance of making informed decisions.
Corporate newspapers censor what is really going on in the world; Avaaz, 38 degrees and Care2 Causes are among those who lead the way in true freedom of the press.
If you want to know what is going on: don’t ask a politician and don’t believe corporate owned media.
The effects of the grand trine of June 2013 appears to be greatly upsetting, as what we want to change is met with implacable indifference by those who must change.
The protests in Turkey over building on Taksim square may well prove the point.
Those who resist the changes will pay only lip service to the disenfranchised. If nothing else, the inaction will demonstrate visibly why reforms must happen.
We are a large body of people, enslaved and suffering purely for the comfort and rewards poured upon our metaphorical left hand.
Eventually, for self survival if nothing else, the right hand must rip the glove from the left just to demonstrate how bloody cold it is.
We should watch this Grand Trine with personal interest because the bigger, and more influential grand trine in July 2013 - when Jupiter meets Saturn and Neptune - will join all the little personal niggles and disgruntlement with corporation and governments into one big disenchantment.
Austerity and unemployment will figure incredibly high on the agenda (and food crisis, energy, environmental, banking - it’s almost becoming everything) and as a water trine one can expect with the two societal planets in play there will be much emotional input.
Demands for structural reform and wholesale overhaul will be much in evidence.
Consider that when people feel strongly enough they will take to the streets.
Many have already done so, but with Jupiter joining the party; vast swathes of people not normally disposed to protest and vocal disaffection will join the activists.
The Euro zone will perhaps experience this much more because of the dire effects of austerity and unemployment they have suffered in comparison the the UK, US and other less afflicted nations.
From 14 July 2013 to 19 July 2013 Mars will become increasingly more assertive.
Riots may be impossible to stop. Venus in aspect to the Uranus-Pluto square points the finger exclusively at money (austerity and the banks that caused it) as the causation.
In the UK we may finally bury one slogan forever, ‘we’re all in this together’ and show Prime Minister David Cameron the power of his second slogan, ‘The Big Society’ is alive and well when the people rise en masse against the policies he and his party have made them go through.
But let’s not get too happy about all this talk of retaliation and revolution.
The grand trine is not an aspect that symbolizes sorting anything out. It is a lot of noise and energy that will certainly put any government or corporation on notice that they reform or die.
But for national austerity programs running now, the dye is cast and there is no turning back.
If the trine is an ease aspect; then in this case it is like a greasy pole and once you’re on it there is very little to do but wait until you get to the other end.
No, this grand trine is the precursor to the real business that will be the cardinal Grand Cross of 2014.
The 2014 Grand Cardinal Cross over Great Britain
click on chart to enlarge
What goes on in 2013 is a bit like a trailer before the film premier.
Perhaps governments and large companies, banks included, should think of this as a year’s notice to change voluntarily.
Unlike trines, the squares and oppositions cause incredible friction and the choice then is likely to be ‘change, or be changed’.
What goes on in 2013 is a bit like a trailer before the film premier.
Perhaps governments and large companies, banks included, should think of this as a year’s notice to change voluntarily.
Unlike trines, the squares and oppositions cause incredible friction and the choice then is likely to be ‘change, or be changed’.
We may also have to beware of some serious terrorist activity as Mars conjuncts Jupiter to join the grand trine but also Jupiter opposes Pluto (Jupiter / Pluto connects with terrorist activity.)
I imagine that affected governments will want everyone focused on the fearful effects that terrorism causes, mostly to distract us from the main reason for our discontent.
The fact is that, because of the grand trine, the time will be ripe for anything that can happen with ease to happen.
But irrespective of individuals and extremist organisations, the main focus on reform is just not going to go away.
I imagine that affected governments will want everyone focused on the fearful effects that terrorism causes, mostly to distract us from the main reason for our discontent.
The fact is that, because of the grand trine, the time will be ripe for anything that can happen with ease to happen.
But irrespective of individuals and extremist organisations, the main focus on reform is just not going to go away.
We the little people have a huge role to play.
Anyone who says nothing and does nothing are accepting passively that they can do nothing about the way life is.
The Arab Spring defies that stance. We in the more affluent West have had it so much easier and our worst enemy as a result is evident in our apathy to participate.
For those who really would like to see improvements and are willing to get involved, organisations like 38 degrees and Avaaz offer many opportunities to sign and even start petitions in order to force political debates and change the course of political opinion.
Avaaz has over 20 million members, so we are not talking small groups. So if you haven’t joined a group, consider the thought over July as all the reasons to be part of such a group unfolds in front of you.
The grand trines should be sufficient warning shots over the bow of those who want the status quo to stay as it is that it cannot and it will not.
This is the firing gun and let all those with ears to hear pay attention.
It is also the beginning of a momentous change in who holds the reigns of power in our world.
This is the firing gun and let all those with ears to hear pay attention.
It is also the beginning of a momentous change in who holds the reigns of power in our world.
~
Well said Shane Ward.
So, as we can see, the people of Great Britain are up in arms as well in this cardinal crisis decade.
Well said Shane Ward.
So, as we can see, the people of Great Britain are up in arms as well in this cardinal crisis decade.
This, so that by September 2013, you will have made enough progress to withstand the coming of the cardinal crisis transits as they begin to slowly reassert themselves in late August 2013 and into the months ahead.
Because after the grand water trine of 2013 comes the Grand Cardinal Cross of 2014, which features intense cardinal transits relative to the Earth that will show itself by means of the negativity of the oligarchy and the outgoing baby boomer establishment.
They are bound to make the atmosphere worse simply because that's what they bring to the party. You see, they want to 'live forever.'
Of course, they won't, as no generation 'lives forever,' therefore, expect to witness even more anomalous, sick, criminal and evil behavior out of both generations until their time on Earth is done and that time is nearly here.
Now, onto the United States, where a series of shocking government scandals have rocked the American people over the spring months of 2013.
This happens again, just in advance of the coming Grand Cardinal Cross of 2014.
The Cardinal Crisis Years
The NSA-PRISM-FBI surveillance program Angers Americans & Internet Companies
By
Theodore White, mundane Astrolog.sci
Theodore White, mundane Astrolog.sci
“It is the greatest absurdity to suppose it [would be] in the power of one, or any number of men, at the entering into society, to renounce their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those rights; when the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection and defense of those very rights.
The principal of which … are life, liberty and property.
The principal of which … are life, liberty and property.
"If men through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation.
"The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty. It is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.” - Samuel Adams.
"The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty. It is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.” - Samuel Adams.
On June 5, 2013, the Guardian Newspaper broke the story of Operation PRISM, designed to do something the NSA is blocked from doing in the United States - and that is to have a surveillance program directed on American citizens.
And nothing could be more stupid than for the federal government of the United States to anger it's own people, and make no mistake about it, Americans are rightfully pissed.
And nothing could be more stupid than for the federal government of the United States to anger it's own people, and make no mistake about it, Americans are rightfully pissed.
And so it goes in these cardinal crisis years.
In the months leading up to the Grand Cardinal Cross of 2014, the events of our times frequently have proved out my forecasts that we live in historic transitional times.
Back in the March 2012 special edition of Global Astrology, we covered the National Security Agency's (NSA) building of a massive new center in Utah, designed to intercept and capture communications worldwide.
In the months leading up to the Grand Cardinal Cross of 2014, the events of our times frequently have proved out my forecasts that we live in historic transitional times.
Back in the March 2012 special edition of Global Astrology, we covered the National Security Agency's (NSA) building of a massive new center in Utah, designed to intercept and capture communications worldwide.
The reason why I published that article last year was because of the world transits just ahead after the December 21, 2012 YOD, which was highlighted in an edition of Global Astrology.
We are in historic times, where the lies and cover-ups of the last 50 years (1963-2013) are emerging into public view. Nothing can stop these truths from surfacing with the planetary configurations now in play.
The shocking revelations that emerged of the National Security Agency's collection of data on tens of millions of Americans was added to a subsequent new report that showed that the NSA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are directly tapped into central servers at nine U.S. internet firms, in order to provide constant monitoring of audio, video, photos, emails and documents as well as their connection logs.
The classified program, called 'PRISM,' has been said to have been in operation since 2007 and PRISM been a leading source of intelligence that is given to the President of the United States every single day as part of the president's daily intelligence briefings, according to the Washington Post.
The Washington Post also noted that PalTalk hosted "significant traffic" during the 2011 Arab Spring and the ongoing Syrian civil war.
It appears that Microsoft Corporation was the first to give into the government requests in 2007, though Apple resisted for five years. After the death of Steve Jobs, Apple then joined the club it appears.
Dropbox is on the government’s wish list for other servers that the NSA has in its sights.
According to the presentation slides that outlines the program, it appears to indicate that surveillance of Dropbox was “coming soon,” according to the Washington Post, which said the companies have been given immunity from lawsuits through a "directive" signed by the U.S. Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence.
But according to the Guardian the companies are unaware the program exists and are not cooperating.
Some who responded to a Guardian's request for comment denied knowledge of the program.
“Several senior tech executives insisted that they had no knowledge of PRISM or of any similar scheme,” the Guardian writes.
“They said they would never have been involved in such a program. ‘If they are doing this, they are doing it without our knowledge,’ one executive told the paper. The Guardian did not identify the source’s company.
Those who have been ignoring all these violations of the U.S. Constitution are now waking up as they see various government agencies break just about every privacy law that's on the books.
At this time some people should be feeling a bit like Alice, you know, tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Writer Jamie Ditz says,
"Another day means another round of revelations surrounding the NSA’s horrifyingly large-scale surveillance of Americans and indeed most everybody else.
The day started with a report from Declan McCullagh saying that, in absence of more evidence to the contrary, there was no reason to believe the NSA had “direct access” to the PRISM companies’ servers.
Like most expressions of optimism or at least hope that our worst fears aren’t being realized, within hours the Guardian leaked another piece of the puzzle, an additional capture from the “top secret” Powerpoint presentation on PRISM that confirmed that not only was direct access the whole point of the scheme, but that all of those hopes that it was 'limited' to indirect access was actually a whole separate system of additional surveillance that the NSA also has.
In effect, they are having their cake and mercilessly spying on it too.
In effect, they are having their cake and mercilessly spying on it too.
Then there’s “Boundless Informant,” the latest dystopian name in a growing collection of NSA 'services.'
The whole point of this one is to keep track of just how much data the NSA is sweeping up in its growing war on privacy.
The answer is, as usually, frighteningly grim, with the data leaked by the Guardian about this revealing that the NSA collected, in one single 30 day period in March, 97 billion pieces of “intelligence” worldwide - including several billion culled directly from the United States.
All of this reveals several things, including that Google, Facebook, et al. flat out lied about not giving the NSA “direct access,” that the Obama Administration has been and is continuing to lie about not systematically spying on hundreds of millions of Americans as a matter of course, and that there is no speculation about government intrusion into our personal lives that doesn't seem to pale in comparison to the reality."
On Friday, June 7, 2013 in his first public response to the Guardian's disclosures on NSA surveillance of Americans, U.S. President Barack Obama said that congressional oversight was the American peoples' best guarantee that they were not being spied on. "These are the folks you all vote for as your representatives in Congress and they are being fully briefed on these programs," he said. Obama insisted that any surveillance was "very narrowly circumscribed' but he did not offer examples of this. Meanwhile, American senators have expressed their frustration at the NSA's refusal to supply statistics. In a letter to NSA director General Keith Alexander in October 2012, Senator Ron Wyden and his Democratic colleague on the Senate intelligence committee, Sen. Mark Udall, noted that "the intelligence community has stated repeatedly that it is not possible to provide even a rough estimate of how many American communications have been collected under the Fisa Amendments Act, and has even declined to estimate the scale of this collection."
The whole thing seems very much beside the point for the Obama Administration, comfortable that their secret laws and positions of unchecked power are entirely secure even now that the public is aware of how badly their privacy and common decency is being violated.
Instead, officials are focused on shaking their fists at the press for waking people up to the truth, and threatening to prosecute the whistleblowers who, in contrast to the many public officials who seemed aware of this terrible policy, actually felt the need to speak up."
At a U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, June 13, 2013, FBI Director Robert Mueller said that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved the program and it has been conducted in compliance with American law and with oversight from Congress.
The FBI chief also said that former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden is the target of a criminal probe.
"The individual who has admitted making these disclosures ... is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation," Mueller said.
"These disclosures have caused significant harm to our nation and to our safety. We're taking all necessary steps to hold the person responsible for these disclosures," he added
It seems Director Mueller and his fellow baby boomer establishment types in government and in Congress - including those running the National Security Agency and the government contractors who serve themselves - who were kids back in the 1950s and early 1960s who watched the popular American television show below seemed to have not learned their lessons well at all:
The Cardinal Crisis Decade
Massive NSA Spying on Americans puts President Obama Under Pressure At Home & Abroad
image: Evan Vucci/AP
After the New Moon of June 8, three days after the revelations of NSA spying on Americans, President Barack Obama faced mounting domestic and widespread international backlash against American surveillance operations, as his administration struggles to contain what is becoming one of the most explosive national security leaks in American history.
Political opinion grew as baby boomer members of Congress called for the immediate extradition of NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden from Hong Kong as other senior politicians in both major parties questioned if the surveillance programs went too far.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, who acts as chairman of the national intelligence committee, has reportedly ordered the NSA to review how it limits the exposure of Americans to government surveillance.
Feinstein said that what Snowden did in releasing knowledge of the program to journalists "was an act of treason."
Still, world transits clearly show the effects of the shocking revelations made public.
For instance, officials in European capitals demanded immediate answers from U.S. counterparts and denounced the practice of secretly gathering digital information on Europeans as "unacceptable, illegal and a serious violation of basic rights."
The NSA, meanwhile, asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation and said that it was assessing the damage caused by the disclosures.
For instance, officials in European capitals demanded immediate answers from U.S. counterparts and denounced the practice of secretly gathering digital information on Europeans as "unacceptable, illegal and a serious violation of basic rights."
The NSA, meanwhile, asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation and said that it was assessing the damage caused by the disclosures.
Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who revealed secrets of the Vietnam war through the Pentagon Papers in 1971, described Snowden's leak as even more important and perhaps the most significant leak in American history.
Snowden disclosed his identity in an explosive interview with the Guardian that was published on June 9, 2013. Snowden said that he was a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the Central Intelligence Agency and current employee of the defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.
Snowden worked at the National Security Agency over the past four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.
In the interview, Snowden identified himself as the source for a series of articles in the Guardian Newspaper, that included disclosures of a wide-ranging secret court order that demanded Verizon pass to the NSA the details of phone calls related to millions of customers and a huge NSA intelligence system called Prism, that collects data on intelligence targets from the systems of some of the biggest tech companies.
He said he became disillusioned with the over-reaching nature of government surveillance in the United States:
"The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to," Snowden said. "There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to."
"The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to," Snowden said. "There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to."
He explained that, "my sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."
As media interest intensified on Snowden by Monday, June 10, he had already checked out of the Hong Kong hotel where he had been staying and reportedly moved to an undisclosed location.
Meanwhile, pressure from all sides grew on the White House and Obama administration to explain whether there was effective congressional oversight of the programs revealed by Snowden.
The Director Of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told NBC that he had responded in the "least un-truthful manner" possible - thus opening himself up to perjury - in congressional hearings in 2012 that the NSA did not collect data on millions of Americans.
The Director Of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told NBC that he had responded in the "least un-truthful manner" possible - thus opening himself up to perjury - in congressional hearings in 2012 that the NSA did not collect data on millions of Americans.
Clapper also confirmed that Feinstein had asked for a review to "refine these NSA processes and limit the exposure to Americans' private communications" and report back "in about a month".
Meanwhile, in Europe, the German chancellor Angela Merkel indicated she would press President Obama on the revelations at a Berlin summit to take place next week.
Deputy European Commission chief Viviane Reding said she would also press American officials in Dublin, Ireland, adding that "a clear legal framework for the protection of personal data is not a luxury or constraint -but a fundamental right".
Deputy European Commission chief Viviane Reding said she would also press American officials in Dublin, Ireland, adding that "a clear legal framework for the protection of personal data is not a luxury or constraint -but a fundamental right".
Peter Schaar, Germany's federal data protection commissioner told the Guardian that it was unacceptable that U.S. authorities have access to the data of European citizens "and the level of protection is lower than what is guaranteed for American citizens."
His Italian counterpart, Antonello Soro, said that the data dragnet "would not be legal in Italy" and would be "contrary to the principles of our legislation and would represent a very serious violation."
His Italian counterpart, Antonello Soro, said that the data dragnet "would not be legal in Italy" and would be "contrary to the principles of our legislation and would represent a very serious violation."
In London, the British foreign secretary William Hague was himself forced to defend Britain's use of intelligence gathered by the United States.
In the House of Commons, Hague told MPs that British laws did not allow for "indiscriminate trawling" for information. "There is no danger of a deep state out of control in some way," he said.
In the House of Commons, Hague told MPs that British laws did not allow for "indiscriminate trawling" for information. "There is no danger of a deep state out of control in some way," he said.
But Hague was reluctant to go into any detail on just how Britain handled information offered by U.S. intelligence agencies, as opposed to information requested, or whether it was subject to the same ministerial oversight, including warrants.
The president's transits and secondary progressions show that he has a choice to make and that is to either confront the criminal shadow government that have repeatedly violated the U.S. Constitution, or he shall be remembered in history as a turncoat to the American People.
The revelations of the widespread collection of American's data brought about condemnations from everyone on all sides of the social and political spectrum, including the leaders of telecommunications companies whose millions of customers have sounded off:
The revelations of the widespread collection of American's data brought about condemnations from everyone on all sides of the social and political spectrum, including the leaders of telecommunications companies whose millions of customers have sounded off:
Strongly-worded denials of participation in any government surveillance program sprang from the mouths of the world's most powerful Internet entrepreneurs two days after the June 5th media scoop by the Guardian.
On Friday, June 7, 2013 Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg called press reports to the contrary "outrageous."
On Friday, June 7, 2013 Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg called press reports to the contrary "outrageous."
Zuckerberg said that: "Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the U.S. or any other government direct access to our servers."
Google's CEO Larry Page said that: "We have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government – or any other government – direct access to our servers."
Yahoo released a statement that read in part that: "We do not provide the government with direct access to our servers, systems, or network."
The Guardian says that these "flat statements, not to mention the indignation, however, contrasted sharply with a more insinuated, and distinctly consensual, picture that has begun to emerge of the relationship between the NSA and the Internet companies."
A widely shared piece by the New York Times discovered that with the notable exception of Twitter, it seems some large Internet companies approached by the NSA for access to users' information "cooperated, at least a bit."
Here are the facts as we know them:
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense (DOD.)
It is responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S. government communications and information systems that involves information security, crypt-analysis and cryptography.
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense (DOD.)
It is responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S. government communications and information systems that involves information security, crypt-analysis and cryptography.
A form of the NSA has been in operation since the late 1940s. It was a predecessor was the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA) created on May 20, 1949.
Even back in the 1970s and 1980s, the NSA was so secret that those who spoke of it used its initials - NSA - to stand for: “No Such Agency.”
By law, the NSA’s intelligence gathering is restricted to foreign communications - not domestic.
The Guardian and Washington Post described a close working relationship between top intelligence officials and the named companies involved in surveillance of American citizens.
For instance, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Martin E. Dempsey, met "personally with executives including those at Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Intel," according to The New York Times reports.
For instance, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Martin E. Dempsey, met "personally with executives including those at Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Intel," according to The New York Times reports.
Among many remarkable details are revelations that Facebook and Google – and possibly other companies – discussed with security officials the construction of 'separate, secure portals,' something like a digital version of the secure physical rooms that have long existed for solely to obtain information, in some instances on company servers.
Through these online rooms, the government would simply request customers' data, and then the companies would then "deposit it" and then then the government would take it.
Obviously, all of this violates a host of laws already on the books to protect the data and privacy of American citizens.
Obviously, all of this violates a host of laws already on the books to protect the data and privacy of American citizens.
The NSA whistleblower is American Edward Snowden, who sadly told the Guardian that "I do not expect to see home again."
Snowden was interviewed in early June 2013 in Hong Kong by the Guardian journalist who broke the story, Glenn Greenwald.
"The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything,' Snowden, 29, said.
"With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting.
"If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards."
"With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting.
"If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards."
Hear more of Snowden says about all of this himself in the exclusive interview below:
"Here’s a seemingly comforting statistic:
In all of 2012, the Obama administration went to the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court only 200 times to ask for Americans’ “business records” under the USA Patriot Act.
Every year, the Justice Department gives Congress a tally of the classified wiretap orders sought and issued in terrorist and spy cases – it was 1,789 last year.
At the same time, it reports the number of demands for “business records” in such cases, issued under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.
And while the number of such orders has generally grown over the years, it has always managed to stay relatively low.
In 2011, it was 205.
There were 96 orders in 2010, and only 21 in 2009.
Thanks to the Guardian’s scoop, we now know definitively just how misleading those numbers are.
You see, while the feds are required to disclose the number of orders they apply for and receive (almost always the same number, by the way), they aren’t required to say how many people are targeted in each order.
So, a single order issued to Verizon Business Solutions in April 2013 covered metadata for every phone call made by every customer.
That’s from a single order out of what will probably be about 200 reported in 2014's numbers.
The public numbers are the one bit of accountability around the surveillance court, and the Justice Department applied them to misdirect the public away from a massive domestic NSA spying operation that, as several Senators approvingly noted today - which has been running for seven years.
In 2011, Acting Assistant Attorney General Todd Hinnen relied on the same misleading numbers when he told the House Judiciary Committee that “on average, we seek and obtain section 215 orders less than 40 times per year.”
Congressman James Sensenbrenner rightly took Hinnen to task today for playing with the numbers.
“The Department’s testimony left the Committee with the impression that the Administration was using the business records provision sparingly and for specific materials,”Sensenbrenner writes (.pdf). “The recently released FISA order, however, could not have been drafted more broadly.”
While some in Washington D.C. call Edward Snowden "a traitor," it appears that on the back of the recent snooping scandals enveloping the federal government, from Benghazi, to the Tea Party-IRS scandals to the Department of Justice bugging the telephones and computers of Associated Press journalists, many are rallying to Snowden's defense:
Back in 2006, a technician at an AT&T switching center in San Francisco followed some fiber optic splices straight into an NSA wiretapping program that was parked on the backbones of the Internet.
But the whole pie is certainly bigger than that.
There are hints of broader surveillance in the Verizon order.
In addition to call records, the order demands cell phone data, like customers’ IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) number and another identifier that reveals the make and model of the phone.
The mobile data is a non sequitur in that particular order, because Verizon Business Services is not a mobile carrier; it’s the long distance and land-line business Verizon acquired as MCI in 2005.
The obvious conclusion is that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) uses the same catchall boilerplate order over and over again - just changing the company name and the date.
And that's the federal court that is supposed to be protecting Americans from abusive domestic surveillance?
Well, FISA is not only failing in that duty - it’s also lazy.
Thanks to that laziness, we can fairly surmise that the orders are routine, and they are served on other carriers. Probably all of them. And probably continuously, renewed every three months for the last seven years.
That means the Administration has a database of every call to suicide prevention, every tip to a government fraud whistleblowing hotline, every call to the “find a meeting” number for every Alcoholics Anonymous chapter.
And all it told us was that it uses the USA Patriot Act "every now and then."
With Saturn peregrine in Scorpio, Neptune in Pisces and Jupiter entering tropical Cancer, where it will square Uranus in Aries and oppose Pluto in Capricorn, all of this comes right on time for these world transits.
Judith Emmel, an NSA spokeswoman, told the Guardian in a response to the latest disclosures that: "NSA has consistently reported – including to Congress – that we do not have the ability to determine with certainty the identity or location of all communicants within a given communication. That remains the case."
Emmel told the Guardian that: "Current technology simply does not permit us to positively identify all of the persons or locations associated with a given communication (for example, it may be possible to say with certainty that a communication traversed a particular path within the Internet.
It is harder to know the ultimate source or destination, or more particularly the identity of the person represented by the TO:, FROM: or CC: field of an e-mail address or the abstraction of an IP address.)
It is harder to know the ultimate source or destination, or more particularly the identity of the person represented by the TO:, FROM: or CC: field of an e-mail address or the abstraction of an IP address.)
"Thus, we apply rigorous training and technological advancements to combine both our automated and manual (human) processes to characterize communications – ensuring protection of the privacy rights of the American people. This is not just our judgment, but that of the relevant inspectors general, who have also reported this."
She added that, "The continued publication of these allegations about highly classified issues, and other information taken out of context, makes it impossible to conduct a reasonable discussion on the merits of these programs."
Yet, documents that the Guardian said it has seen says that the NSA does in fact break down its surveillance intercepts that could allow the agency to determine how many of them are from the United States and that the level of detail does include individual IP addresses.
Of course, the shocking revelations mean that the American federal government has a lot of explaining to do about all these violations of the U.S. Constitution along with a host of laws that deny illegal telephone wiretapping, the reading of private and professional emails and collection of data of American citizens.
Moreover, all this government illegality opens them up to lawsuits and the first of several seems to have appeared just days after the Guardian's revelations.
Both the Guardian and the Washington Post learned of the program through a 41-slide PowerPoint presentation that was leaked to them by government contractor Edward Snowden.
The top secret slides were apparently used to train intelligence operatives on the snooping program.
The top secret slides were apparently used to train intelligence operatives on the snooping program.
According to the Washington Post, the system is not a dragnet, per se, since the program doesn’t vacuum everything indiscriminately.
But it allows NSA analysts at Ft. Meade to sit at their desks and fish the data stream for key terms.
But it allows NSA analysts at Ft. Meade to sit at their desks and fish the data stream for key terms.
Seems that the federal government and President Barack Obama forgot American history: The Watergate years of the 1970s opened up all kinds of revelations of illegal activities directed against American citizens, including surveillance data on Americans; which is a charter violation of federal laws, not to mention the U.S. Constitution. It was that, along with a host of other crimes, that led to the conviction and jailing of many government officials and the forced resignation of President Richard Nixon in August 1974.
The program is supposed to focus on data pertaining to foreigners. But search terms the analysts use to pull data are only designed to be at least 51 percent accurate in determining a target’s “foreignness.”
This means a lot of U.S. content is bound to get caught in the net.
But training materials obtained by the Post don't appear to be too concerned about accidental collections of U.S. content, calling it “nothing to worry about” and telling analysts to simply report those accidental collections in a quarterly report.
The program is supposed to focus on data pertaining to foreigners. But search terms the analysts use to pull data are only designed to be at least 51 percent accurate in determining a target’s “foreignness.”
This means a lot of U.S. content is bound to get caught in the net.
But training materials obtained by the Post don't appear to be too concerned about accidental collections of U.S. content, calling it “nothing to worry about” and telling analysts to simply report those accidental collections in a quarterly report.
The program is a cousin to another bulk-collection program code-named BLARNEY, which collects internet “metadata” - address packets, device signatures and other information - that speeds through the Internet.
BLARNEY, which presentation slides illustrate with a shamrock and a leprechaun’s hat, says that it is “an ongoing collection program that leverages IC [intelligence community] and commercial partnerships to gain access and exploit foreign intelligence obtained from global networks.”
The news comes in the wake of yet another report published by the Guardian revealing that the NSA and FBI have been collecting phone records for millions of Verizon customers with a court order.
That order came April 25, 2013 and was to extend to July 19, 2013. It was rated 'top secret' and was not to be declassified until April of the year 2038.
The phone records collection only pertained to metadata and did not involve the content of phone calls, but the new report about tapping internet companies would collect content as well as metadata.
That order came April 25, 2013 and was to extend to July 19, 2013. It was rated 'top secret' and was not to be declassified until April of the year 2038.
The phone records collection only pertained to metadata and did not involve the content of phone calls, but the new report about tapping internet companies would collect content as well as metadata.
The very existence of National Security Agency (NSA) was not revealed for more than two decades after its establishment in 1952, and even now its structure and activities remain largely unknown. Hence its wry nickname: No Such Agency.
Of all the American intelligence services, it is has been the best hidden, and prided itself on having the fewest leaks – at least until now.
How many people does it employ? Well, that is classified.
How many people does it target? The NSA tells Congress that it does not have the tools to provide such figures.
How many people does it employ? Well, that is classified.
How many people does it target? The NSA tells Congress that it does not have the tools to provide such figures.
When President Harry Truman first set up the NSA, the agency was exclusively aimed at monitoring communications abroad.
The question that had exercised politicians and civil rights organisations since the Senate unveiled it in 1975 is to what extent its ferocious appetite for data has encompassed American citizens.
General Lou Allen, the first NSA leader to appear in public, told Congress back in the mid-1970s that the NSA maintained lists with hundreds of names, including American citizens under surveillance for their anti-war dissent to the Vietnam War, or suspicious foreign connections.
The question that had exercised politicians and civil rights organisations since the Senate unveiled it in 1975 is to what extent its ferocious appetite for data has encompassed American citizens.
General Lou Allen, the first NSA leader to appear in public, told Congress back in the mid-1970s that the NSA maintained lists with hundreds of names, including American citizens under surveillance for their anti-war dissent to the Vietnam War, or suspicious foreign connections.
But, as technology evolved, so did the NSA's capacity to intercept an astonishing variety and volume of communications.
Satellites scoop up calls and emails in the ether and beam the information back to earthbound receiving stations.
One estimate suggests that each of these bases hoovers up roughly one billion emails, phone calls and other forms of correspondence every day, and the agency has up to 20 bases.
Satellites scoop up calls and emails in the ether and beam the information back to earthbound receiving stations.
One estimate suggests that each of these bases hoovers up roughly one billion emails, phone calls and other forms of correspondence every day, and the agency has up to 20 bases.
"This is not science fiction. It is happening now," a source with knowledge of the NSA said.
Domestic snooping exploded in scale after September 11, 2001, when George W. Bush authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on Americans - without the previous requirement for warrants.
Within a few months of taking office in 2009, the Obama administration's Justice Department conceded that the NSA had been guilty of "over-collection" of domestic communications, but they claimed the excess had been "accidental."
Within a few months of taking office in 2009, the Obama administration's Justice Department conceded that the NSA had been guilty of "over-collection" of domestic communications, but they claimed the excess had been "accidental."
With every passing administration, the NSA has ballooned.
One well-informed estimate of its staffing levels is 100,000, of whom about 30,000 are military and the rest private contractors.
The NSA headquarters is a vast office park of smoked glass that sits in Fort Meade, among the leafy Washington suburbs, along with big complexes in the states of Georgia and Texas and with overseas bases in England, Germany and Japan.
One well-informed estimate of its staffing levels is 100,000, of whom about 30,000 are military and the rest private contractors.
The NSA headquarters is a vast office park of smoked glass that sits in Fort Meade, among the leafy Washington suburbs, along with big complexes in the states of Georgia and Texas and with overseas bases in England, Germany and Japan.
By far, the biggest surveillance agency in the world, the NSA shares some of its work with four other allies:
Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Together, they are what is known as the "five eyes." Of the five eyes, the largest following the NSA itself is located in England, that's the General Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Together, they are what is known as the "five eyes." Of the five eyes, the largest following the NSA itself is located in England, that's the General Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
In the wake of Watergate, it was a Democratic senator and lawyer, Frank Church, who in 1975 raised the alarm at the agency's tentacles.
During a series of hearings into the work of the intelligence agencies, Church had warned that the NSA's magnifying glass could easily be turned on the American people.
During a series of hearings into the work of the intelligence agencies, Church had warned that the NSA's magnifying glass could easily be turned on the American people.
"I don't want to see this country ever go across the bridge," he said.
"I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss.
"That is the abyss from which there is no return."
"I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss.
"That is the abyss from which there is no return."
The Church Senate hearings subsequently to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which required a warrant to do any surveillance of communications within the United States.
This FISA court, made up of a small group of judges appointed by the chief justice, and located inside in the justice department. It was given the task of deciding whether to grant warrants.
Under this baby boomer establishment, FISA has been perverted, as it now approves 99% of all requests.
This FISA court, made up of a small group of judges appointed by the chief justice, and located inside in the justice department. It was given the task of deciding whether to grant warrants.
Under this baby boomer establishment, FISA has been perverted, as it now approves 99% of all requests.
In 2005, the New York Times reported that the Bush administration secretly authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside America, to search for "terrorist activity." without the FISA court warrants.
That order was signed in 2002, but the Times cited officials who expressed concern about legality. The Times delayed publication of the article for one year because the federal government had concerns about "its impact."
No doubt.
That order was signed in 2002, but the Times cited officials who expressed concern about legality. The Times delayed publication of the article for one year because the federal government had concerns about "its impact."
No doubt.
In the face of the subsequent uproar, the Bush administration then said that it had ended the warrantless surveillance in January 2007 and resumed the practice of obtaining NSA warrants. Then, in 2008, Congress loosened some of those constraints in the FISA Amendment Act.
So, what happened was that this massive surveillance has continued under the Obama administration, at home as well as abroad as the culture of secrecy persists.
This, as the president himself, when he was a candidate stated that he was against the spying on Americans by the government.
So, what happened was that this massive surveillance has continued under the Obama administration, at home as well as abroad as the culture of secrecy persists.
This, as the president himself, when he was a candidate stated that he was against the spying on Americans by the government.
For years, Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall have been demanding to know just how many people inside the U.S. have been spied on by the NSA.
No answer was given to either senator, or to anyone else for that matter.
Wired.com reports that,
"The first of what likely will be many lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s dragnet phone surveillance program was lodged Sunday [June 9, 2013] declaring the newly disclosed spy operation an 'outrageous breach of privacy.'
The suit names Larry Klayman, the former chairman of Judicial Watch, and two others who say the government has illegally spied on their Verizon accounts.
The spy program, Klayman’s suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia claims, “violates the U.S. Constitution and also federal laws, including, but not limited to, the outrageous breach of privacy, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and the due process rights of American citizens.”
The suit comes days after the Guardian posted a leaked copy of a top secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinion requiring Verizon to provide the NSA the phone numbers of both parties involved in all calls, the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number for mobile callers, calling card numbers used in the call, and the time and duration of the calls.
The order was directed at Verizon Business Services, the long-distance and landline business Verizon acquired as MCI in 2005. Klayman, who founded Judicial Watch, said in the suit he was a Verizon Wireless customer.
The suit did not specify the type of Verizon service the other two plaintiffs have.
Still, other Verizon customers are likely to bring their own lawsuits.
The suit names Verizon, NSA, Justice Department, President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and others. The case comes as the American Civil Liberties Union and others are petitioning the FISA court to explain the legal rationale behind authorizing surveillance of this magnitude.
The world transits associated with this clearly show - under the aegis of Saturn's peregrine transit in Scorpio, along with Neptune's transit in tropical Pisces and the ongoing Uranus-Pluto world square - that things are going to get even uglier as new revelations about the targets of the massive surveillance become public.
The world transits associated with this clearly show - under the aegis of Saturn's peregrine transit in Scorpio, along with Neptune's transit in tropical Pisces and the ongoing Uranus-Pluto world square - that things are going to get even uglier as new revelations about the targets of the massive surveillance become public.
On June 10, 2013, The American Civil Liberties Union along with Yale Law School's Media Freedom and Information Clinic filed a motion requesting secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court opinions on the Patriot Act to be made public in the light of the Guardian's revelations.
The motion seeks any and all documents relating to the court's interpretation of the scope, meaning and constitutionality of Section 215 of the Patriot Act – which authorizes the American government to obtain "any tangible thing" relevant to foreign intelligence or terrorism investigations – to be published "as quickly as possible" and with only minimal redaction.
The motion seeks any and all documents relating to the court's interpretation of the scope, meaning and constitutionality of Section 215 of the Patriot Act – which authorizes the American government to obtain "any tangible thing" relevant to foreign intelligence or terrorism investigations – to be published "as quickly as possible" and with only minimal redaction.
"In a democracy, there should be no room for secret law," said Jameel Jaffer, ACLU deputy legal director.
"The public has a right to know what limits apply to the government's surveillance authority, and what safeguards are in place to protect individual privacy."
"The public has a right to know what limits apply to the government's surveillance authority, and what safeguards are in place to protect individual privacy."
There was support for Snowden among civil liberty activists. Daniel Ellsberg wrote a piece in the Guardian:
"In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago".
"In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago".
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an internet rights group, called for a "new Church committee" to investigate potential government infringements on privacy and to write new rules protecting the public.
In the wake of the Watergate affair in the mid-1970s, a Senate investigation led by Idaho senator Frank Church uncovered decades of serious abuses by the U.S. government of its eavesdropping powers on citizens, journalists, politicians and anyone else deemed a threat to the status quo of that era.
It once brought a president down, and with him, nearly his entire administration and embarrassed the United States worldwide.
"Stupid is as stupid does," said Forrest Gump.
The Cardinal Crisis Years
'The Secret War'
INFILTRATION. SABOTAGE. MAYHEM.
FOR YEARS, 4-STAR GENERAL KEITH ALEXANDER HAS BEEN BUILDING A SECRET ARMY CAPABLE OF LAUNCHING DEVASTATING CYBER ATTACKS...
NOW IT’S READY TO UNLEASH HELL.
By
James Bamford
Inside Fort Meade, Maryland, a top-secret city bustles.
Tens of thousands of people move through more than 50 buildings - the city has its own post office, fire department, and police force.
But as if designed by Kafka, it sits among a forest of trees, surrounded by electrified fences and heavily armed guards, protected by antitank barriers, monitored by sensitive motion detectors, and watched by rotating cameras.
To block any telltale electromagnetic signals from escaping, the inner walls of the buildings are wrapped in protective copper shielding and the one-way windows are embedded with a fine copper mesh.
Tens of thousands of people move through more than 50 buildings - the city has its own post office, fire department, and police force.
But as if designed by Kafka, it sits among a forest of trees, surrounded by electrified fences and heavily armed guards, protected by antitank barriers, monitored by sensitive motion detectors, and watched by rotating cameras.
To block any telltale electromagnetic signals from escaping, the inner walls of the buildings are wrapped in protective copper shielding and the one-way windows are embedded with a fine copper mesh.
General Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency; also chief of the Central Security Service and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command
Illustration by Mark Weaver
Illustration by Mark Weaver
This is the undisputed domain of General Keith Alexander, a man few even in Washington would likely recognize.
Never before has anyone in America’s intelligence sphere come close to his degree of power, the number of people under his command, the expanse of his rule, the length of his reign, or the depth of his secrecy.
A four-star Army general, his authority extends across three domains:
He is director of the world’s largest intelligence service, the National Security Agency; chief of the Central Security Service; and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command.
As such, he has his own secret military, presiding over the Navy’s 10th Fleet, the 24th Air Force, and the Second Army.
Alexander runs the nation’s cyber-war efforts, an empire he has built over the past eight years by insisting that the United States' inherent vulnerability to digital attacks requires him to amass more and more authority over the data zipping around the globe.
In his telling, the threat is so mindbogglingly huge that the nation has little option but to eventually put the entire civilian Internet under his protection, requiring tweets and emails to pass through his filters, and putting the kill switch under the government’s forefinger.
“What we see is an increasing level of activity on the networks,” he said at a recent security conference in Canada. “I am concerned that this is going to break a threshold where the private sector can no longer handle it and the government is going to have to step in.”
In his telling, the threat is so mindbogglingly huge that the nation has little option but to eventually put the entire civilian Internet under his protection, requiring tweets and emails to pass through his filters, and putting the kill switch under the government’s forefinger.
“What we see is an increasing level of activity on the networks,” he said at a recent security conference in Canada. “I am concerned that this is going to break a threshold where the private sector can no longer handle it and the government is going to have to step in.”
In its tightly controlled public relations, the NSA has focused attention on the threat of cyber-attack against the United States, the vulnerability of critical infrastructure like power plants and water systems, the susceptibility of the military’s command and control structure, the dependence of the economy on the Internet’s smooth functioning.
Defense against these threats was the paramount mission trumpeted by NSA brass at congressional hearings and hashed over at security conferences.
Defense against these threats was the paramount mission trumpeted by NSA brass at congressional hearings and hashed over at security conferences.
But there is a flip side to this equation that is rarely mentioned:
The military has for years been developing offensive capabilities, giving it the power not just to defend the US but to assail its foes.
Using so-called cyber-kinetic attacks, Alexander and his forces now have the capability to physically destroy an adversary’s equipment and infrastructure, and potentially even to kill.
Alexander - who declined to be interviewed for this article - has concluded that such cyber-weapons are as crucial to 21st-century warfare as nuclear arms were in the 20th.
The military has for years been developing offensive capabilities, giving it the power not just to defend the US but to assail its foes.
Using so-called cyber-kinetic attacks, Alexander and his forces now have the capability to physically destroy an adversary’s equipment and infrastructure, and potentially even to kill.
Alexander - who declined to be interviewed for this article - has concluded that such cyber-weapons are as crucial to 21st-century warfare as nuclear arms were in the 20th.
And he and his cyber-warriors have already launched their first attack.
The cyber-weapon that came to be known as Stuxnet was created and built by the NSA in partnership with the CIA and Israeli intelligence in the mid-2000s.
The first known piece of malware designed to destroy physical equipment, Stuxnet was aimed at Iran’s nuclear facility in Natanz.
The cyber-weapon that came to be known as Stuxnet was created and built by the NSA in partnership with the CIA and Israeli intelligence in the mid-2000s.
The first known piece of malware designed to destroy physical equipment, Stuxnet was aimed at Iran’s nuclear facility in Natanz.
A handout picture released by the official website of Iran's presidency office on April 8, 2008 shows Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visiting the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, 270 kms south of Tehran.
Image: AFP Photo
By surreptitiously taking control of an industrial control link known as a Scada (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system, the sophisticated worm was able to damage about a thousand centrifuges used to enrich nuclear material.
The success of this sabotage came to light only in June 2010, when the malware spread to outside computers.
It was spotted by independent security researchers, who identified telltale signs that the worm was the work of thousands of hours of professional development.
Despite headlines around the globe, officials in Washington have never openly acknowledged that the US was behind the attack.
It wasn’t until 2012 that anonymous sources within the Obama administration took credit for it in interviews with The New York Times.
The success of this sabotage came to light only in June 2010, when the malware spread to outside computers.
It was spotted by independent security researchers, who identified telltale signs that the worm was the work of thousands of hours of professional development.
Despite headlines around the globe, officials in Washington have never openly acknowledged that the US was behind the attack.
It wasn’t until 2012 that anonymous sources within the Obama administration took credit for it in interviews with The New York Times.
But Stuxnet is only the beginning.
Alexander’s agency has recruited thousands of computer experts, hackers, and engineering PhDs to expand U.S. offensive capabilities in the digital realm.
The Pentagon has requested $4.7 billion for “cyberspace operations,” even as the budget of the CIA and other intelligence agencies could fall by $4.4 billion.
It is pouring millions into cyber defense contractors. And more attacks may be planned.
Inside the government, the general is regarded with a mixture of respect and fear, not unlike J. Edgar Hoover, another security figure whose tenure spanned multiple presidencies.
“We jokingly referred to him as Emperor Alexander - with good cause, because whatever Keith wants, Keith gets,” says one former senior CIA official who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
“We would sit back literally in awe of what he was able to get from Congress, from the White House, and at the expense of everybody else.”
“We jokingly referred to him as Emperor Alexander - with good cause, because whatever Keith wants, Keith gets,” says one former senior CIA official who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
“We would sit back literally in awe of what he was able to get from Congress, from the White House, and at the expense of everybody else.”
Now 61 years old, Alexander has said he plans to retire in 2014; when he does step down he will leave behind an enduring legacy - a position of far-reaching authority and potentially Strangelovian powers at a time when the distinction between cyber-warfare and conventional warfare is beginning to blur.
A recent Pentagon report made that point in dramatic terms. It recommended possible deterrents to a cyber-attack on the U.S.
Among the options?
Launching nuclear weapons.
A recent Pentagon report made that point in dramatic terms. It recommended possible deterrents to a cyber-attack on the U.S.
Among the options?
Launching nuclear weapons.
He may be a four-star Army general, but Alexander more closely resembles a head librarian than George Patton.
His face is anemic, his lips a neutral horizontal line. Bald halfway back, he has hair the color of strong tea that turns gray on the sides, where it is cut close to the skin, more schoolboy than boot camp.
For a time he wore large rimless glasses that seemed to swallow his eyes. Some combat types had a derisive nickname for him: "Alexander the Geek."
Born in 1951, the third of five children, Alexander was raised in the small upstate New York hamlet of Onondaga Hill, a suburb of Syracuse.
He tossed papers for the Syracuse Post-Standard and ran track at Westhill High School while his father, a former Marine private, was involved in local Republican politics.
It was 1970, Richard Nixon was president, and most of the country had by then begun to see the war in Vietnam as a disaster.
But Alexander had been accepted at West Point, joining a class that included two other future four-star generals, David Petraeus and Martin Dempsey.
Alexander would never get the chance to serve in Vietnam. Just as he stepped off the bus at West Point, the ground war finally began winding down.
In April 1974, just before graduation, he married his high school classmate Deborah Lynn Douglas, who grew up two doors away in Onondaga Hill.
The fighting in Vietnam was over, but the Cold War was still bubbling, and Alexander focused his career on the solitary, rarefied world of signals intelligence, bouncing from secret NSA base to secret NSA base, mostly in the U.S. and Germany.
He proved a competent administrator, carrying out assignments and adapting to the rapidly changing high tech environment.
Along the way he picked up masters degrees in electronic warfare, physics, national security strategy, and business administration. As a result, he quickly rose up the military intelligence ranks, where expertise in advanced technology was at a premium.
His face is anemic, his lips a neutral horizontal line. Bald halfway back, he has hair the color of strong tea that turns gray on the sides, where it is cut close to the skin, more schoolboy than boot camp.
For a time he wore large rimless glasses that seemed to swallow his eyes. Some combat types had a derisive nickname for him: "Alexander the Geek."
Born in 1951, the third of five children, Alexander was raised in the small upstate New York hamlet of Onondaga Hill, a suburb of Syracuse.
He tossed papers for the Syracuse Post-Standard and ran track at Westhill High School while his father, a former Marine private, was involved in local Republican politics.
It was 1970, Richard Nixon was president, and most of the country had by then begun to see the war in Vietnam as a disaster.
But Alexander had been accepted at West Point, joining a class that included two other future four-star generals, David Petraeus and Martin Dempsey.
Alexander would never get the chance to serve in Vietnam. Just as he stepped off the bus at West Point, the ground war finally began winding down.
In April 1974, just before graduation, he married his high school classmate Deborah Lynn Douglas, who grew up two doors away in Onondaga Hill.
The fighting in Vietnam was over, but the Cold War was still bubbling, and Alexander focused his career on the solitary, rarefied world of signals intelligence, bouncing from secret NSA base to secret NSA base, mostly in the U.S. and Germany.
He proved a competent administrator, carrying out assignments and adapting to the rapidly changing high tech environment.
Along the way he picked up masters degrees in electronic warfare, physics, national security strategy, and business administration. As a result, he quickly rose up the military intelligence ranks, where expertise in advanced technology was at a premium.
NSA
National Security Agency
The nation’s largest employer of mathematicians. The Department of Defense created this agency in 1952 to intercept, collect, and decrypt foreign communications. In the past decade, the NSA poured hundreds of millions of dollars into offensive cyber-war R&D.
CAE = Centers for Academic Excellence
CAE = Centers for Academic Excellence
Launched in 1998, this NSA initiative seeks to increase the number of college students competent in “information assurance.” In 2012, the agency accredited four universities to lead the way in training the next generation of cyber operators in “collection, exploitation and response.”
In 2001, Alexander was a one-star general in charge of the Army Intelligence and Security Command, the military’s worldwide network of 10,700 spies and eavesdroppers.
In March of that year he told his hometown Syracuse newspaper that his job was to discover threats to the country.
“We have to stay out in front of our adversary,” Alexander said. “It’s a chess game, and you don’t want to lose this one.”
But just six months later, Alexander and the rest of the American intelligence community suffered a devastating defeat when they were surprised by the attacks on 9/11.
Following the assault, Alexander ordered his Army intercept operators to begin illegally monitoring the phone calls and email of American citizens who had nothing to do with terrorism - including intimate calls between journalists and their spouses.
CSS
Central Security Service
Originally envisioned as a fourth branch of the armed services, this organization is now described as a “combat support agency.” It coordinates with the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines and Air Force to eavesdrop on foreign signals - like tapping into undersea cable or wireless communications.
SCS = Special Collection Service
A unit whose existence has never been officially acknowledged by the defense establishment. But according to the accounts of an anonymous CIA official, members of the ultra- top-secret group are involved in covert eavesdropping from U.S. embassies around the world.
Congress later gave retroactive immunity to the telecoms that assisted the government.
In 2003 Alexander, a favorite of defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, was named the Army’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence, the service’s most senior intelligence position.
Among the units under his command were the military intelligence teams involved in the human rights abuses at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison.
In 2003 Alexander, a favorite of defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, was named the Army’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence, the service’s most senior intelligence position.
Among the units under his command were the military intelligence teams involved in the human rights abuses at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison.
Two years later, Rumsfeld appointed Alexander - now a three-star general - director of the NSA, where he oversaw the illegal, warrant-less wiretapping program while deceiving members of the House Intelligence Committee.
In a publicly released letter to Alexander shortly after The New York Times exposed the program, US representative Rush Holt, a member of the committee, angrily took him to task for not being forthcoming about the wiretapping:
“Your responses make a mockery of congressional oversight.”
Alexander also proved to be militant about secrecy.
U.S. CyberCom
U.S. Cyber Command
Established by the Department of Defense in 2009 to deter cyber-attacks - "proactively."
In March 2013 Alexander gave a hint of the command’s mandate to the House Armed Services Committee: “I would like to be clear that this team - this defend-the-nation team - is not a defensive team.”
JFCC-NW = Joint Functional Component Command for Network Warfare
Created in 2005 as part of U.S. Strategic Command, which controls the nation’s nuclear arsenal, it played a lead role in promoting the idea of thwarting Iran’s own nuclear ambitions with a cyber attack. Folded into Cybercom in the year 2010.
In 2005 a senior agency employee named Thomas Drake allegedly gave information to The Baltimore Sun showing that a publicly discussed program known as Trailblazer was millions of dollars over budget, behind schedule, possibly illegal, and a serious threat to privacy.
In response, federal prosecutors charged Drake with 10 felony counts, including retaining classified documents and making false statements.
He faced up to 35 years in prison - despite the fact that all of the information Drake was alleged to have leaked was not only unclassified and already in the public domain, but in fact had been placed there by NSA and Pentagon officials themselves.
He faced up to 35 years in prison - despite the fact that all of the information Drake was alleged to have leaked was not only unclassified and already in the public domain, but in fact had been placed there by NSA and Pentagon officials themselves.
As a longtime chronicler of the NSA, I served as a consultant for Drake’s defense team. The investigation went on for four years, after which Drake received no jail time or fine.
The judge, Richard D. Bennett, excoriated the prosecutor and NSA officials for dragging their feet:
“I find that unconscionable. Unconscionable,” he said during a hearing in 2011.
“That’s four years of hell that a citizen goes through. It was not proper. It doesn’t pass the smell test.”
But while the powers that be were pressing for Drake’s imprisonment, a much more serious challenge was emerging.
Stuxnet, the cyber-weapon used to attack the Iranian facility in Natanz, was supposed to be untraceable, leaving no return address should the Iranians discover it.
Citing anonymous Obama administration officials, The New York Times reported that the malware began replicating itself and migrating to computers in other countries.
Cyber-security detectives were thus able to detect and analyze it. By the summer of 2010 some were pointing fingers at the U.S.
Stuxnet, the cyber-weapon used to attack the Iranian facility in Natanz, was supposed to be untraceable, leaving no return address should the Iranians discover it.
Citing anonymous Obama administration officials, The New York Times reported that the malware began replicating itself and migrating to computers in other countries.
Cyber-security detectives were thus able to detect and analyze it. By the summer of 2010 some were pointing fingers at the U.S.
Natanz is a small, dusty town in central Iran known for its plump pears and the burial vault of the 13th-century Sufi sheikh Abd al-Samad.
The Natanz nuclear enrichment plant is a vault of a different kind. Tucked in the shadows of the Karkas Mountains, most of it lies deep underground and surrounded by concrete walls 8 feet thick, with another layer of concrete for added security.
Its bulbous concrete roof rests beneath more than 70 feet of packed earth.
Contained within the bombproof structure are halls the size of soccer pitches, designed to hold thousands of tall, narrow centrifuges. The machines are linked in long cascades that look like tacky decorations from a ’70s discotheque.
The Natanz nuclear enrichment plant is a vault of a different kind. Tucked in the shadows of the Karkas Mountains, most of it lies deep underground and surrounded by concrete walls 8 feet thick, with another layer of concrete for added security.
Stuxnet & Cyber warfare: The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant was the likely target of the Stuxnet worm.
Its bulbous concrete roof rests beneath more than 70 feet of packed earth.
Contained within the bombproof structure are halls the size of soccer pitches, designed to hold thousands of tall, narrow centrifuges. The machines are linked in long cascades that look like tacky decorations from a ’70s discotheque.
To work properly, the centrifuges need strong, lightweight, well-balanced rotors and high-speed bearings. Spin these rotors too slowly and the critical U-235 molecules inside fail to separate; spin them too quickly and the machines self-destruct and may even explode.
The operation is so delicate that the computers controlling the rotors’ movement are isolated from the Internet by a so-called air gap that prevents exposure to viruses and other malware.
The operation is so delicate that the computers controlling the rotors’ movement are isolated from the Internet by a so-called air gap that prevents exposure to viruses and other malware.
In 2006, the Department of Defense gave the go-ahead to the NSA to begin work on targeting these centrifuges, according to The New York Times.
One of the first steps was to build a map of the Iranian nuclear facility’s computer networks. A group of hackers known as 'Tailored Access Operations' - a highly secret organization within the NSA - took up the challenge.
One of the first steps was to build a map of the Iranian nuclear facility’s computer networks. A group of hackers known as 'Tailored Access Operations' - a highly secret organization within the NSA - took up the challenge.
They set about remotely penetrating communications systems and networks, stealing passwords and data by the terabyte.
Teams of “vulnerability analysts” searched hundreds of computers and servers for security holes, according to a former senior CIA official involved in the Stuxnet program.
Armed with that intelligence, so-called network exploitation specialists then developed software implants known as beacons, which worked like surveillance drones, mapping out a blueprint of the network and then secretly communicating the data back to the NSA.
Flame, the complex piece of surveillance malware discovered by Russian cyber security experts last year, was likely one such beacon.
The surveillance drones worked brilliantly.
Teams of “vulnerability analysts” searched hundreds of computers and servers for security holes, according to a former senior CIA official involved in the Stuxnet program.
Armed with that intelligence, so-called network exploitation specialists then developed software implants known as beacons, which worked like surveillance drones, mapping out a blueprint of the network and then secretly communicating the data back to the NSA.
Flame, the complex piece of surveillance malware discovered by Russian cyber security experts last year, was likely one such beacon.
The surveillance drones worked brilliantly.
The NSA was able to extract data about the Iranian networks, listen to and record conversations through computer microphones, even reach into the mobile phones of anyone within Bluetooth range of a compromised machine.
The next step was to create a digital warhead, a task that fell to the CIA Clandestine Service’s Counter-Proliferation Division.
According to the senior CIA official, much of this work was outsourced to national labs, notably Sandia in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
So by the mid-2000s, the government had developed all the fundamental technology it needed for an attack.
According to the senior CIA official, much of this work was outsourced to national labs, notably Sandia in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
So by the mid-2000s, the government had developed all the fundamental technology it needed for an attack.
But there was still a major problem:
The secretive agencies had to find a way to access Iran’s most sensitive and secure computers, the ones protected by the air gap.
For that, Alexander and his fellow spies would need outside help.
The secretive agencies had to find a way to access Iran’s most sensitive and secure computers, the ones protected by the air gap.
For that, Alexander and his fellow spies would need outside help.
This is where things get murky.
The late Ali Ashtari
One possible bread crumb trail leads to an Iranian electronics and computer wholesaler named Ali Ashtari, who later confessed that he was recruited as a spy by the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. Israel denied the claim.
One possible bread crumb trail leads to an Iranian electronics and computer wholesaler named Ali Ashtari, who later confessed that he was recruited as a spy by the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. Israel denied the claim.
Ashtari’s principal customers were the procurement officers for some of Iran’s most sensitive organizations, including the intelligence service and the nuclear enrichment plants.
Ashtari in better days
If new computers were needed or routers or switches had to be replaced, Ashtari was the man to see, according to reports from semi-official Iranian news agencies and an account of Ashtari’s trial published by the non-profit Iran Human Rights Voice.
He not only had access to some of Iran’s most sensitive locations, his company had become an electronics purchasing agent for the intelligence, defense, and nuclear development departments.
This would have given Mossad enormous opportunities to place worms, back doors, and other malware into the equipment in a wide variety of facilities.
Although the Iranians have never explicitly acknowledged it, it stands to reason that this could have been one of the ways Stuxnet got across the air gap.
This would have given Mossad enormous opportunities to place worms, back doors, and other malware into the equipment in a wide variety of facilities.
Although the Iranians have never explicitly acknowledged it, it stands to reason that this could have been one of the ways Stuxnet got across the air gap.
But by then, Iran had established a new counterintelligence agency dedicated to discovering nuclear spies.
Ashtari was likely on their radar because of the increased frequency of his visits to various sensitive locations.
He may have let down his guard.
“The majority of people we lose as sources - who get wrapped up,or executed or imprisoned - are usually those willing to accept more risk than they should,” says the senior CIA official involved with Stuxnet.
In 2006, according to Iran Human Rights Voice, Ashtari was quietly arrested at a travel agency after returning from another trip out of the country.
In June 2008 Ashtari was brought to trial in Branch 15 of Iran's Revolutionary Court, where he confessed, pleaded guilty to the charges, expressed remorse for his actions and was sentenced to death.
On the morning of November 17, 2008, in the courtyard of Tehran’s Evin Prison, a noose was placed around Ashtari’s neck and a crane hauled his struggling body high into the air.
Ashtari may well have been one of the human assets that allowed Stuxnet to cross the air gap.
But he was not Israel’s only alleged spy in Iran, and others may also have helped enable malware transfer.
“Normally,” says the anonymous CIA official, “what we do is look for multiple bridges, in case a guy gets wrapped up.”
Less then two weeks after Ashtari’s execution, the Iranian government arrested three more men, charging them with spying for Israel.
And on December 13, 2008, Ali-Akbar Siadat, another importer of electronic goods, was arrested as a spy for the Mossad, according to Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Unlike Ashtari, who said he had operated alone, Siadat was accused of heading a nationwide spy network employing numerous Iranian agents.
But despite their energetic counterintelligence work, the Iranians would not realize for another year and a half that a cyber weapon was targeting their nuclear centrifuges.
Once they did, it was only a matter of time until they responded.
And sure enough, in August 2012, a devastating virus was unleashed on Saudi Aramco, the giant Saudi state-owned energy company.
The malware infected 30,000 computers, erasing three-quarters of the company’s stored data, destroying everything from documents to email to spreadsheets and leaving in their place an image of a burning American flag, according to The New York Times.
Just days later, another large cyber attack hit RasGas, the giant Qatari natural gas company.
Then a series of denial-of-service attacks took America’s largest financial institutions offline.
Experts blamed all of this activity on Iran, which had created its own cyber command in the wake of the US-led attacks.
James Clapper, U.S. Director of National Intelligence, for the first time declared cyber threats the greatest danger facing the nation, bumping terrorism down to second place.
In May, the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team issued a vague warning that U.S. energy and infrastructure companies should be on the alert for cyber attacks.
It was widely reported that this warning came in response to Iranian cyber probes of industrial control systems. An Iranian diplomat denied any involvement.
But he was not Israel’s only alleged spy in Iran, and others may also have helped enable malware transfer.
“Normally,” says the anonymous CIA official, “what we do is look for multiple bridges, in case a guy gets wrapped up.”
Less then two weeks after Ashtari’s execution, the Iranian government arrested three more men, charging them with spying for Israel.
And on December 13, 2008, Ali-Akbar Siadat, another importer of electronic goods, was arrested as a spy for the Mossad, according to Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Unlike Ashtari, who said he had operated alone, Siadat was accused of heading a nationwide spy network employing numerous Iranian agents.
But despite their energetic counterintelligence work, the Iranians would not realize for another year and a half that a cyber weapon was targeting their nuclear centrifuges.
Once they did, it was only a matter of time until they responded.
And sure enough, in August 2012, a devastating virus was unleashed on Saudi Aramco, the giant Saudi state-owned energy company.
The malware infected 30,000 computers, erasing three-quarters of the company’s stored data, destroying everything from documents to email to spreadsheets and leaving in their place an image of a burning American flag, according to The New York Times.
Just days later, another large cyber attack hit RasGas, the giant Qatari natural gas company.
Then a series of denial-of-service attacks took America’s largest financial institutions offline.
Experts blamed all of this activity on Iran, which had created its own cyber command in the wake of the US-led attacks.
James Clapper, U.S. Director of National Intelligence, for the first time declared cyber threats the greatest danger facing the nation, bumping terrorism down to second place.
In May, the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team issued a vague warning that U.S. energy and infrastructure companies should be on the alert for cyber attacks.
It was widely reported that this warning came in response to Iranian cyber probes of industrial control systems. An Iranian diplomat denied any involvement.
The cat-and-mouse game could escalate.
“It’s a trajectory,” says James Lewis, a cyber security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“The general consensus is that a cyber response alone is pretty worthless. And nobody wants a real war.”
Under international law, Iran may have the right to self-defense when hit with destructive cyber-attacks.
William Lynn, deputy secretary of defense, laid claim to the prerogative of self-defense when he outlined the Pentagon’s cyber operations strategy.
“The United States reserves the right,” he said, “under the laws of armed conflict, to respond to serious cyber attacks with a proportional and justified military response at the time and place of our choosing.”
Leon Panetta, the former CIA chief who had helped launch the Stuxnet offensive, would later point to Iran’s retaliation as a troubling harbinger.
“The collective result of these kinds of attacks could be a cyber Pearl Harbor,” he warned in October 2012, toward the end of his tenure as defense secretary:
“An attack that would cause physical destruction and the loss of life.”
If Stuxnet was the proof of concept, it also proved that one successful cyber attack begets another. For Alexander, this offered the perfect justification for expanding his empire.
In May 2010, a little more than a year after President Obama took office, and only weeks before Stuxnet became public, a new organization to exercise American rule over the increasingly militarized Internet became operational: the U.S. Cyber Command.
“It’s a trajectory,” says James Lewis, a cyber security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“The general consensus is that a cyber response alone is pretty worthless. And nobody wants a real war.”
Under international law, Iran may have the right to self-defense when hit with destructive cyber-attacks.
William Lynn, deputy secretary of defense, laid claim to the prerogative of self-defense when he outlined the Pentagon’s cyber operations strategy.
“The United States reserves the right,” he said, “under the laws of armed conflict, to respond to serious cyber attacks with a proportional and justified military response at the time and place of our choosing.”
Leon Panetta, the former CIA chief who had helped launch the Stuxnet offensive, would later point to Iran’s retaliation as a troubling harbinger.
“The collective result of these kinds of attacks could be a cyber Pearl Harbor,” he warned in October 2012, toward the end of his tenure as defense secretary:
“An attack that would cause physical destruction and the loss of life.”
If Stuxnet was the proof of concept, it also proved that one successful cyber attack begets another. For Alexander, this offered the perfect justification for expanding his empire.
In May 2010, a little more than a year after President Obama took office, and only weeks before Stuxnet became public, a new organization to exercise American rule over the increasingly militarized Internet became operational: the U.S. Cyber Command.
Keith Alexander, newly promoted to four-star general, was put in charge of it.
The forces under his command were now truly formidable - his untold thousands of NSA spies, as well as 14,000 incoming Cyber Command personnel, including Navy, Army, and Air Force troops.
Helping Alexander organize and dominate this new arena would be his fellow plebes from West Point’s class of 1974: David Petraeus, the CIA director; and Martin Dempsey, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Indeed, dominance has long been their watchword.
Alexander’s Navy calls itself the Information Dominance Corps. In 2007, the then secretary of the Air Force pledged to “dominate cyberspace” just as “today, we dominate air and space.”
And Alexander’s Army warned, “It is in cyberspace that we must use our strategic vision to dominate the information environment.”
The Army is reportedly treating digital weapons as another form of offensive capability, providing front-line troops with the option of requesting “cyber fire support” from Cyber Command in the same way they request air and artillery support.
Alexander’s Navy calls itself the Information Dominance Corps. In 2007, the then secretary of the Air Force pledged to “dominate cyberspace” just as “today, we dominate air and space.”
And Alexander’s Army warned, “It is in cyberspace that we must use our strategic vision to dominate the information environment.”
The Army is reportedly treating digital weapons as another form of offensive capability, providing front-line troops with the option of requesting “cyber fire support” from Cyber Command in the same way they request air and artillery support.
All these capabilities require a giant expansion of secret facilities.
Thousands of hard-hatted construction workers will soon begin erecting cranes, driving backhoes, and emptying cement trucks as they expand the boundaries of NSA’s secret city eastward, increasing its already enormous size by a third.
“You could tell that some of the seniors at NSA were truly concerned that cyber was going to engulf them,” says a former senior Cyber Command official, “and I think rightfully so.”
In May, work began on a $3.2 billion facility housed at Fort Meade in Maryland.
Known as Site M - the 227-acre complex includes its own 150-megawatt power substation, 14 administrative buildings, 10 parking garages, and chiller and boiler plants.
Thousands of hard-hatted construction workers will soon begin erecting cranes, driving backhoes, and emptying cement trucks as they expand the boundaries of NSA’s secret city eastward, increasing its already enormous size by a third.
“You could tell that some of the seniors at NSA were truly concerned that cyber was going to engulf them,” says a former senior Cyber Command official, “and I think rightfully so.”
In May, work began on a $3.2 billion facility housed at Fort Meade in Maryland.
Known as Site M - the 227-acre complex includes its own 150-megawatt power substation, 14 administrative buildings, 10 parking garages, and chiller and boiler plants.
The server building will have 90,000 square feet of raised floor - handy for supercomputers - yet hold only 50 people.
Meanwhile, the 531,000-square-foot operations center will house more than 1,300 people.
In all, the buildings will have a footprint of 1.8 million square feet.
Even more ambitious plans, known as Phase II and III, are on the drawing board.
Stretching over the next 16 years, they would quadruple the footprint to 5.8 million square feet, enough for nearly 60 buildings and 40 parking garages, costing $5.2 billion and accommodating 11,000 more cyber-warriors.
In short, despite the sequestration, layoffs, and furloughs in the federal government, it’s a boom time for Alexander.
In April 2013, as part of its 2014 budget request, the Pentagon asked Congress for $4.7 billion for increased “cyberspace operations,” nearly $1 billion more than the 2013 allocation.
At the same time, budgets for the CIA and other intelligence agencies were cut by almost the same amount, $4.4 billion.
A portion of the money going to Alexander will be used to create 13 cyber attack teams.
In April 2013, as part of its 2014 budget request, the Pentagon asked Congress for $4.7 billion for increased “cyberspace operations,” nearly $1 billion more than the 2013 allocation.
At the same time, budgets for the CIA and other intelligence agencies were cut by almost the same amount, $4.4 billion.
A portion of the money going to Alexander will be used to create 13 cyber attack teams.
What’s good for Alexander is good for the fortunes of the cyber-industrial complex, a burgeoning sector made up of many of the same defense contractors who grew rich supplying the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
With those conflicts now mostly in the rear view mirror, they are looking to Alexander as a kind of savior.
After all, the U.S. spends about $30 billion annually on cyber security goods and services.
With those conflicts now mostly in the rear view mirror, they are looking to Alexander as a kind of savior.
After all, the U.S. spends about $30 billion annually on cyber security goods and services.
In the past few years, the contractors have embarked on their own cyber building binge parallel to the construction boom at Fort Meade:
General Dynamics opened a 28,000-square-foot facility near the NSA.
SAIC cut the ribbon on its new seven-story Cyber Innovation Center; the giant CSC unveiled its Virtual Cyber Security Center.
And at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, where former NSA director Mike McConnell was hired to lead the cyber effort, the company announced a “cyber-solutions network” that linked together nine cyber-focused facilities.
Not to be outdone, Boeing built a new Cyber Engagement Center.
Leaving nothing to chance, it also hired retired Army major general Barbara Fast, an old friend of Alexander to run the operation. She has since moved on.
General Dynamics opened a 28,000-square-foot facility near the NSA.
SAIC cut the ribbon on its new seven-story Cyber Innovation Center; the giant CSC unveiled its Virtual Cyber Security Center.
And at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, where former NSA director Mike McConnell was hired to lead the cyber effort, the company announced a “cyber-solutions network” that linked together nine cyber-focused facilities.
Not to be outdone, Boeing built a new Cyber Engagement Center.
Leaving nothing to chance, it also hired retired Army major general Barbara Fast, an old friend of Alexander to run the operation. She has since moved on.
Defense contractors have been eager to prove that they understand Alexander’s worldview. “Our Raytheon cyber warriors play offense and defense,” says one help-wanted site.
Consulting and engineering firms such as Invertix and Parsons are among dozens posting online want ads for “computer network exploitation specialists.”
And many other companies, some unidentified, are seeking computer and network attackers. “Firm is seeking computer network attack specialists for long-term government contract in King George County, VA,” one recent ad read.
Another, from Sunera, a Tampa, Florida, company, said it was hunting for “attack and penetration consultants.”
Consulting and engineering firms such as Invertix and Parsons are among dozens posting online want ads for “computer network exploitation specialists.”
And many other companies, some unidentified, are seeking computer and network attackers. “Firm is seeking computer network attack specialists for long-term government contract in King George County, VA,” one recent ad read.
Another, from Sunera, a Tampa, Florida, company, said it was hunting for “attack and penetration consultants.”
One of the most secretive of these contractors is Endgame Systems, a startup backed by VCs including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Bessemer Venture Partners and Paladin Capital Group.
Established in Atlanta, Georgia in 2008, Endgame is transparently anti-transparent.
“We’ve been very careful not to have a public face on our company,” former vice president John M. Farrell wrote to a business associate in an email that appeared in a WikiLeaks dump.
“We don’t ever want to see our name in a press release,” added founder Christopher Rouland.
True to form, the company declined interview requests.
Established in Atlanta, Georgia in 2008, Endgame is transparently anti-transparent.
“We’ve been very careful not to have a public face on our company,” former vice president John M. Farrell wrote to a business associate in an email that appeared in a WikiLeaks dump.
“We don’t ever want to see our name in a press release,” added founder Christopher Rouland.
True to form, the company declined interview requests.
Perhaps for good reason:
According to news reports, Endgame is developing ways to break into Internet-connected devices through chinks in their antivirus armor.
Like safe-crackers listening to the click of tumblers through a stethoscope, the “vulnerability researchers” use an extensive array of digital tools to search for hidden weaknesses in commonly used programs and systems, such as Windows and Internet Explorer.
And since no one else has ever discovered these unseen cracks, the manufacturers have never developed patches for them.
According to news reports, Endgame is developing ways to break into Internet-connected devices through chinks in their antivirus armor.
Like safe-crackers listening to the click of tumblers through a stethoscope, the “vulnerability researchers” use an extensive array of digital tools to search for hidden weaknesses in commonly used programs and systems, such as Windows and Internet Explorer.
And since no one else has ever discovered these unseen cracks, the manufacturers have never developed patches for them.
Thus, in the parlance of the trade, these vulnerabilities are known as “zero-day exploits,” because it has been zero days since they have been uncovered and fixed.
They are the Achilles’ heel of the security business, says a former senior intelligence official involved with cyber warfare. Those seeking to break into networks and computers are willing to pay millions of dollars to obtain them.
They are the Achilles’ heel of the security business, says a former senior intelligence official involved with cyber warfare. Those seeking to break into networks and computers are willing to pay millions of dollars to obtain them.
According to Defense News’ C4ISR Journal and Bloomberg Businessweek, Endgame also offers its intelligence clients - agencies like Cyber Command, the NSA, the CIA, and British intelligence - a unique map showing them exactly where their targets are located.
Dubbed Bonesaw, the map displays the geo-location and digital address of basically every device connected to the Internet around the world, providing what’s called network 'situational awareness.'
The client locates a region on the password-protected web-based map, then picks a country and city - say, Beijing, China.
Next the client types in the name of the target organization, such as the Ministry of Public Security’s No. 3 Research Institute, which is responsible for computer security - or simply enters its address, 6 Zhengyi Road.
The map will then display what software is running on the computers inside the facility, what types of malware some may contain, and a menu of custom-designed exploits that can be used to secretly gain entry.
It can also pinpoint those devices infected with malware, such as the Conficker worm, as well as networks turned into botnets and zombies - the equivalent of a back door left open.
Dubbed Bonesaw, the map displays the geo-location and digital address of basically every device connected to the Internet around the world, providing what’s called network 'situational awareness.'
The client locates a region on the password-protected web-based map, then picks a country and city - say, Beijing, China.
Next the client types in the name of the target organization, such as the Ministry of Public Security’s No. 3 Research Institute, which is responsible for computer security - or simply enters its address, 6 Zhengyi Road.
The map will then display what software is running on the computers inside the facility, what types of malware some may contain, and a menu of custom-designed exploits that can be used to secretly gain entry.
It can also pinpoint those devices infected with malware, such as the Conficker worm, as well as networks turned into botnets and zombies - the equivalent of a back door left open.
Bonesaw also contains targeting data on U.S. allies and it is soon to be upgraded with a new version codenamed Velocity, according to C4ISR Journal.
It will allow Endgame’s clients to observe in real time as hardware and software connected to the Internet around the world is added, removed, or changed.
But such access doesn’t come cheap.
One leaked report indicated that annual subscriptions could run as high as $2.5 million for 25 zero-day exploits.
It will allow Endgame’s clients to observe in real time as hardware and software connected to the Internet around the world is added, removed, or changed.
But such access doesn’t come cheap.
One leaked report indicated that annual subscriptions could run as high as $2.5 million for 25 zero-day exploits.
The buying and using of such a subscription by nation-states could be seen as an act of war.
“If you are engaged in reconnaissance on an adversary’s systems, you are laying the electronic battlefield and preparing to use it,” wrote Mike Jacobs, a former NSA director for information assurance, in a McAfee report on cyber warfare.
“In my opinion, these activities constitute acts of war, or at least a prelude to future acts of war.”
The question is, who else is on the secretive company’s client list?
Because there is as of yet no oversight or regulation of the cyber weapons trade, companies in the cyber-industrial complex are free to sell to whomever they wish.
“It should be illegal,” says the former senior intelligence official involved in cyber warfare.
“I knew about Endgame when I was in intelligence. The intelligence community didn’t like it, but they’re the largest consumer of that business.”
“If you are engaged in reconnaissance on an adversary’s systems, you are laying the electronic battlefield and preparing to use it,” wrote Mike Jacobs, a former NSA director for information assurance, in a McAfee report on cyber warfare.
“In my opinion, these activities constitute acts of war, or at least a prelude to future acts of war.”
The question is, who else is on the secretive company’s client list?
Because there is as of yet no oversight or regulation of the cyber weapons trade, companies in the cyber-industrial complex are free to sell to whomever they wish.
“It should be illegal,” says the former senior intelligence official involved in cyber warfare.
“I knew about Endgame when I was in intelligence. The intelligence community didn’t like it, but they’re the largest consumer of that business.”
Thus, in their willingness to pay top dollar for more and better zero-day exploits, the spy agencies are helping drive a lucrative, dangerous, and unregulated cyber arms race, one that has developed its own gray and black markets.
The companies trading in this arena can sell their wares to the highest bidder - be they front-men for criminal hacking groups or terrorist organizations or countries that bankroll terrorists, such as Iran.
Ironically, having helped create the market in zero-day exploits and then having launched the world into the era of cyber war, Alexander now says the possibility of zero-day exploits falling into the wrong hands is his “greatest worry.”
The companies trading in this arena can sell their wares to the highest bidder - be they front-men for criminal hacking groups or terrorist organizations or countries that bankroll terrorists, such as Iran.
Ironically, having helped create the market in zero-day exploits and then having launched the world into the era of cyber war, Alexander now says the possibility of zero-day exploits falling into the wrong hands is his “greatest worry.”
He has reason to be concerned.
In May, Alexander discovered that four months earlier someone, or some group or nation, had secretly hacked into a restricted U.S. government database known as the National Inventory of Dams.
Maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, it lists the vulnerabilities for the nation’s dams, including an estimate of the number of people who might be killed should one of them fail.
Meanwhile, the 2013 “Report Card for America’s Infrastructure” gave the U.S. a 'D' mark on its maintenance of dams.
There are 13,991 dams in the U.S. that are classified as high-hazard, the report said.
A high-hazard dam is defined as one whose failure would cause loss of life. “That’s our concern about what’s coming in cyberspace - a destructive element.
It is a question of time,” Alexander said in a talk to a group involved in information operations and cyber warfare, noting that estimates put the time frame of an attack within two to five years. He made his comments in September 2011.
In May, Alexander discovered that four months earlier someone, or some group or nation, had secretly hacked into a restricted U.S. government database known as the National Inventory of Dams.
Maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, it lists the vulnerabilities for the nation’s dams, including an estimate of the number of people who might be killed should one of them fail.
Meanwhile, the 2013 “Report Card for America’s Infrastructure” gave the U.S. a 'D' mark on its maintenance of dams.
There are 13,991 dams in the U.S. that are classified as high-hazard, the report said.
A high-hazard dam is defined as one whose failure would cause loss of life. “That’s our concern about what’s coming in cyberspace - a destructive element.
It is a question of time,” Alexander said in a talk to a group involved in information operations and cyber warfare, noting that estimates put the time frame of an attack within two to five years. He made his comments in September 2011.
The Cardinal Crisis Years
Europe Rejects Monsanto
Global Backlash Grows Against Genetically Modified Foods
Global Backlash Grows Against Genetically Modified Foods
By
Theodore White, mundane Astrolog.sci
The war over Genetically Modified Food heightened in the spring of 2013 as the world entered a new solar year and another phase of the cardinal crisis global transits.
That battle took a serious turn in May 2013, when the Monsanto Corporation said that it plans to stop lobbying its genetically modified plant varieties in Europe because of "low demand" from European farmers.
"We are no longer working on lobbying for more cultivation in Europe," Brandon Mitchner a representative for Monsanto’s European branch, Tageszeitung, said in an interview set to be published in late May 2013.
"Currently we do not plan to apply for the approval of new genetically modified crops. The reason is, among other things, low demand of the farmers,” he continued.
A spokeswoman for Monsanto Germany, Ursula Luttmer-Ouazane, admitted that Monsanto recognizes that GMO crops were currently not embraced on the European market.
A spokeswoman for Monsanto Germany, Ursula Luttmer-Ouazane, admitted that Monsanto recognizes that GMO crops were currently not embraced on the European market.
A May 2013 protest against Monsanto in Germany
"We've understood that such plants don't have any broad acceptance in European societies," Luttmer-Ouazane said. “It is counterproductive to fight against windmills," she added.
A spokesperson for the German Ministry of Economy and Technologies described the move as an“entrepreneurial decision” which needed no further comment.
The ministry added, however, it has long made its opposition to gene modification technologies known.
The ministry added, however, it has long made its opposition to gene modification technologies known.
"The promises of the GM industry have not come true for European agriculture, nor have they for the agriculture in developing and emerging economies," the ministry said in a statement.
Eight national governments in the European Union have already banned Monsanto's MON810 maize and other forms of GMO cultivation in their countries under an environmental protection provision known as the 'Safeguard Clause.'
Particularly fierce protests in Germany prompted the German government to introduce measures in 2009 because of concerns genetic agricultural cultivation could lead to ecological degradation of soil and crops.
Monsanto’s rivals, like Bayer CropScience, BASF and Syngenta, had by and large already pulled out of the German market because of large-scale public opposition.
Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and most recently, Poland, are among the other European nations who are enforcing the ban on GMO crops.
In April 2013, Italy joined the ranks of European nations looking to ban the cultivation of genetically modified crops on its soil.
In April 2013, Italy joined the ranks of European nations looking to ban the cultivation of genetically modified crops on its soil.
The announcement comes amid a series of public relations battles that have brought the U.S. firm considerable worldwide focus.
Also in May 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it had conducted genetic tests on wheat from an 80-acre farm in Oregon in April.
The tests revealed the wheat was an experimental variety created by Monsanto that had never been approved for sale.
The tests revealed the wheat was an experimental variety created by Monsanto that had never been approved for sale.
The discovery prompted Japanese authorities to cancel part of a tender offer to buy U.S. western white wheat. The Japan government then suspended imports of both that particular variety as well as feed wheat.
Other large importers of U.S.-wheat throughout Asia said they were closely monitoring the situation.
Other large importers of U.S.-wheat throughout Asia said they were closely monitoring the situation.
Then, the situation heightened in June 2013, when American Farmers launched two class action lawsuits against the biotech giant following the discovery of unapproved genetically modified wheat found to be growing in the Pacific Northwest.
According to farmers, the company’s negligence ruined their wheat sales. Customers angrily said that they would not purchase any genetically modified wheat from them.
Though the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has never approved either the growing or sale of GMO wheat in the U.S., the agency began investigating when an Oregon farmer found wheat growing in his fields that was resistant to Monsanto’s patented Roundup pesticide, known by its scientific classification: Glyphosate.
According to farmers, the company’s negligence ruined their wheat sales. Customers angrily said that they would not purchase any genetically modified wheat from them.
Though the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has never approved either the growing or sale of GMO wheat in the U.S., the agency began investigating when an Oregon farmer found wheat growing in his fields that was resistant to Monsanto’s patented Roundup pesticide, known by its scientific classification: Glyphosate.
That farmer sent samples of the Roundup-resistant wheat to Oregon State University, which conducted tests.
OSU then contacted the USDA, which confirmed that the wheat was a GMO variety that Monsanto had been authorized to field test in 16 American states, including Oregon, from 1998 to 2005.
OSU then contacted the USDA, which confirmed that the wheat was a GMO variety that Monsanto had been authorized to field test in 16 American states, including Oregon, from 1998 to 2005.
Surprisingly, the GMO wheat discovered in Oregon had somehow been growing over a decade after test crops should have been destroyed in 2001.
Though the scientific merits of the growing and consumption of GMO crops are still a source of contention, genetically modified wheat is a commercial liability for American farmers, who exported $8.1 billion worth of wheat in 2012.
That's nearly half of the total $17.9 billion U.S. wheat crop.
That's nearly half of the total $17.9 billion U.S. wheat crop.
Following the USDA’s confirmation that GMO wheat was present, Japan immediately canceled a 25,000-ton import of soft white wheat, and both South Korea and Europe announced even more stringent testing of American wheat shipments for possible contamination.
According to the plaintiffs in lawsuits filed against the biotech giant, Monsanto should have been aware that open-air testing of transgenic wheat posed a risk to farmers.
"The announcement led to immediate concern that the development could disrupt exports of soft white wheat from the Pacific Northwest.
An official with the Japanese Embassy stated that the country would cancel orders for Pacific Northwest soft white wheat because Japanese people were 'concerned about the discovery of unapproved wheat,'" according to the complaint.
Though genetically modified crops such as corn, soy and canola are common in the United States, GMO wheat differs in that it would be directly eaten by humans - rather than used for feed for livestock.
Moreover, consumers in both Asia and Europe are sensitive to gene-altered foods, to the extent that both China and Hungary recently destroyed U.S. imports that were found to be genetically modified.
Moreover, consumers in both Asia and Europe are sensitive to gene-altered foods, to the extent that both China and Hungary recently destroyed U.S. imports that were found to be genetically modified.
"Asian consumers are jittery about genetically modified food," said Abah Ofon, an analyst at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore who spoke with Reuters.
"This is adding to concerns that already exist on quality and availability of food wheat globally," he added.
The incident is not the first time that the discovery of GMO crops have ruined export sales.
Back in 2006, a large portion of the American long-grain rice crop was found to be contaminated by an experimental strain from Bayer CropScience, prompting import bans in Europe and Japan.
That led to sharply lowered market prices, and the company eventually agreed in 2011 to pay $750 million to farmers as compensation.
Back in 2006, a large portion of the American long-grain rice crop was found to be contaminated by an experimental strain from Bayer CropScience, prompting import bans in Europe and Japan.
That led to sharply lowered market prices, and the company eventually agreed in 2011 to pay $750 million to farmers as compensation.
The discovery of GMO seed in Oregon so many years after Monsanto’s field trials concluded has alarmed critics, who say that control measures on transgenic crops are dangerously insufficient.
Prior analysis conducted on GMO canola, for example, has concluded that 83 per cent of wild canola plants growing along roadsides in North Dakota tested positive for genetic modification.
Prior analysis conducted on GMO canola, for example, has concluded that 83 per cent of wild canola plants growing along roadsides in North Dakota tested positive for genetic modification.
For its part, Monsanto has stated that its "own internal investigation has confirmed that it did not have any prior test site at the location where the material under investigation was reported to have been present.”
In other words, neither the government regulatory agencies, nor Monsanto, can determine just how GMO wheat found its way to the Oregon fields.
In other words, neither the government regulatory agencies, nor Monsanto, can determine just how GMO wheat found its way to the Oregon fields.
Farmers say that Monsanto was aware of the "potential detrimental market effects arising from the use of such crops," but failed to enact safeguards.
"Due to Monsanto's wrongful conduct, soft white wheat destined for export markets for use in food products has been rejected for the purposes for which it was intended.
"Because scheduled shipments already have been postponed and canceled, the presence of genetically engineered wheat has detrimentally impacted the domestic and global wheat markets and damaged plaintiffs and other wheat farmers," states one complaint.
"Because scheduled shipments already have been postponed and canceled, the presence of genetically engineered wheat has detrimentally impacted the domestic and global wheat markets and damaged plaintiffs and other wheat farmers," states one complaint.
Plaintiffs are now seeking compensatory, exemplary and punitive damages for negligence, nuisance and product liability, according to Courthouse News.
Farmers are also asking that Monsanto decontaminate farmland, equipment and storage facilities that may be tainted by GMO seed.
Farmers are also asking that Monsanto decontaminate farmland, equipment and storage facilities that may be tainted by GMO seed.
The European Union for its part said it will test any incoming shipments, with plans to block those containing GMO wheat.
The USDA announcement followed a massive, global "March Against Monsanto" held in May 2013 that saw demonstrations against the Missouri-based firm in at least 52 countries.
Organizers for the global protest said around 2 million protesters showed up at rallies being held in 436 cities to protest against the seed giant and the genetically modified food.
A Monsanto Scandal?
By
Jon Rappoport
It’s a scandal.
In June 2013, the Monsanto Corporation just announced it is giving up on most of Europe, as people there don’t want Genetically Modified Food.
While in the United States, the struggle is for labeling GMOs.
This is some kind of “fairness doctrine.”
Let the American consumer decide what kind of food to buy. Choice. It’s the American way, right?
No, actually it isn’t.
The evidence gathered over the last 10 years is staggering. GMO food and the herbicides sprayed on them constitute a major health hazard, to say the least.
And this doesn’t begin to cover the lying business practices of Monsanto, who promised farmers that Roundup would kill weeds in the fields.
Instead, the weeds have proliferated to the point where the farmers have to kill everything growing with stronger, more dangerous herbicides, like Paraquat.
Instead, the weeds have proliferated to the point where the farmers have to kill everything growing with stronger, more dangerous herbicides, like Paraquat.
In the U.S. laws exist to prosecute crimes involving endangerment of health and crimes related to false marketing practices.
These laws are on the books. When it comes to Monsanto, they’re gathering dust on the shelves.
Choice and fairness apply to competitive products that are safe.
The consumer picks one type of tomato over another. The consumer buys walnuts rather than pecans. The consumer chooses black olives over green olives.
The consumer picks one type of tomato over another. The consumer buys walnuts rather than pecans. The consumer chooses black olives over green olives.
Choosing non-GMO corn instead of GMO corn still leaves dangerous GMO corn in produce bins.
Should a bottle of cyanide sit on a store shelf next to a bottle of salt, just to be fair to the consumer?
To give him a choice?
Three or four federal law-enforcement agencies would arrest and prosecute the store owners who sell cyanide, as well as the distributors, and the packagers.
But in the case of GMO food, the FDA and USDA, the relevant agencies, do nothing. Neither does the Department of Justice.
Aside from several counties in America that have banned the growing of GMO crops, the big push is for labeling of GMO food in stores. That’s it.
The theory is, when consumers have a choice, they’ll overwhelmingly reject GMOs and put a serious crimp in Monsanto’s business.
That may or may not happen (if labeling is widespread), but the theory doesn’t directly address Monsanto’s crimes.
The “kinder, gentler” approach is based on two assumptions:
One, American consumers need soft activism. They won’t demand legal rejection of GMO food. They will, however, choose the right food.
One, American consumers need soft activism. They won’t demand legal rejection of GMO food. They will, however, choose the right food.
And two: Monsanto has made such a powerful inroad on food-crop farming, it’s too late to take it back. It’s too late to declare all the GMO crops illegal.
“You see, so many people are taking Vioxx, we can’t go to court over it. It’s a done deal, even though patients are dropping like flies.”
It wasn’t a done deal.
Neither are GMOs.
In a previous article, “Meet Monsanto’s number-one lobbyist: Barack Obama,” I detailed Obama’s horrendous record when it comes to allowing new GMO crops to enter the food chain, and his outrageous appointments of ex-Monsanto stalwarts to important and key positions in his administration.
In a previous article, “Meet Monsanto’s number-one lobbyist: Barack Obama,” I detailed Obama’s horrendous record when it comes to allowing new GMO crops to enter the food chain, and his outrageous appointments of ex-Monsanto stalwarts to important and key positions in his administration.
But Obama is “a good man.” He must be doing the right thing. He’s popular, so it wouldn’t be wise to attack him on the issue. Better to lay back, paste a smile on our faces, and try to secure labeling for GMOs.
Of course, that’s exactly the wrong strategy.
But, as in all campaigns, the longer people wait and do nothing and remain timid, the less likely it is they can succeed, if and when they decide to move.
But, as in all campaigns, the longer people wait and do nothing and remain timid, the less likely it is they can succeed, if and when they decide to move.
That’s why Monsanto now has so many acres of GMO food growing in the United States. That’s why Monsanto has been able to push its unconscionable propaganda down the throat of the American consumer.
That’s why Whole Foods and other major health-food companies decided to surrender the real battles and opt for co-existence with Monsanto.
When there is continuing crime in a community, the people, the citizens have to go after and expose the public officials who are doing nothing about it, who are indeed profiting from it.
In the case of Monsanto, the officials are, among others, President Barack Obama, Tom Vilsack, head of the USDA, and Michael Taylor, food czar at the FDA.
When there is continuing crime in a community, the people, the citizens have to go after and expose the public officials who are doing nothing about it, who are indeed profiting from it.
In the case of Monsanto, the officials are, among others, President Barack Obama, Tom Vilsack, head of the USDA, and Michael Taylor, food czar at the FDA.
But health-food companies, who should be leading the battle, are either friendly or neutral toward these bad actors.
They’re hedging their bets. They’re saying, “We’ll inform consumers so they can make good choices, we’ll do labeling, but don’t expect us to be more aggressive than that. Don’t expect us to get mad.”
They’re hedging their bets. They’re saying, “We’ll inform consumers so they can make good choices, we’ll do labeling, but don’t expect us to be more aggressive than that. Don’t expect us to get mad.”
Neutrality is apparently the American way. First and foremost, the business of America is business. And the idea of consumers staging a full-bore boycott against Whole Foods? Out of the question.
No, consumers are too busy loading up bags with groceries.
No, consumers are too busy loading up bags with groceries.
Monsanto relies on that. Monsanto knows Americans are tuned up to buy, buy, and consume, and then buy more. Americans consider it their right not to be distracted from that obsession.
Obama, like Bush and Clinton before him, are silent on the GMO issue.
They all pretend it doesn’t exist. They sell out the people at the drop of a hat, and they don’t lose any sleep over it. Conscience? Never heard of it.
They all pretend it doesn’t exist. They sell out the people at the drop of a hat, and they don’t lose any sleep over it. Conscience? Never heard of it.
Ditto for major mainstream news outlets. “We don’t cover the Monsanto story in depth because it’s a he-said he-said thing. The scientific issues are complex. People on both sides make interesting points. But there’s no traction…”
That’s a bunch of crap. Make me the managing editor of the Washington Post for a year and I’ll send sales of the paper through the roof.
I’ll let the hounds loose on Monsanto 24/7 and pound on the story day after day. The bottom line of the Post will look healthier than it has since Watergate, a minor topic compared to GMOs.
I’ll let the hounds loose on Monsanto 24/7 and pound on the story day after day. The bottom line of the Post will look healthier than it has since Watergate, a minor topic compared to GMOs.
But the Post doesn’t really care about their bottom line. They would go bankrupt before they’d venture into these waters. They’re sold out from the top down. They’re part of the cover-up.
I’ve written about this before, but here it is again.
In the early 1990s, when the U.S. health freedom movement was at a fever pitch, when people were going after the FDA for raiding natural practitioners’ offices and trying to limit access to nutritional supplements in stores, I sat in on several significant meetings of activists.
People who controlled those meetings, who were connected to supplement companies, wanted a bill in Congress to protect the consumer. To give the consumer choice and access to supplements. That’s all they wanted.
I told them, in no uncertain terms, that this wouldn’t work over the long term. We had to go after the FDA. We had to attack.
I had a dossier on the FDA. I, like others, knew a lot about their crimes going back a long way.
I was told this was the wrong strategy. “First,” they said, “let’s get a good bill passed in Congress. Then we can attack the FDA.”
They had no such intention, and I told them so. They were never going to support going after the FDA and exposing it down to the ground as a criminal agency.
They had no stomach for it, and they were sold out themselves. They had a confined agenda, which had to do with helping to guard supplement companies’ profits.
They were slick operators. They knew how to present themselves as neutral and rational. They could spout New Age garble at appropriate moments.
“Anger can be self-defeating.” “You achieve your aims when you come from a place of doing service.”
“Anger can be self-defeating.” “You achieve your aims when you come from a place of doing service.”
The same thing is happening now.
“Give people the right to know, the right to choose what’s in their food.” It plays well, because it caters to the wholly absorbed self-interest of the health-food consumer with discretionary income.
“Give people the right to know, the right to choose what’s in their food.” It plays well, because it caters to the wholly absorbed self-interest of the health-food consumer with discretionary income.
It doesn’t work in the long run. It papers over the fact that corporate criminals, in partnership with the highest government officials, are committing RICO crimes against the health of the American people.
The appropriate emotion is outrage.
In case you hadn’t noticed, for the past 40 years there has been a major psyop in progress against righteous outrage and on behalf of Nice. Be nice. Be friendly. Be happy. Be self-contained.
Don’t make waves. Anger is a sign of a mental disorder. Outrage isn’t Spiritual. You’ll injure your Karma.
In case you hadn’t noticed, for the past 40 years there has been a major psyop in progress against righteous outrage and on behalf of Nice. Be nice. Be friendly. Be happy. Be self-contained.
Don’t make waves. Anger is a sign of a mental disorder. Outrage isn’t Spiritual. You’ll injure your Karma.
Karma was invented to prop up a caste system. It was used to promote passivity.
Silence is not golden. Profits are.
Labeling food that isn’t poisonous, while permitting the sale of poison, is let’s-pretend virtual reality.
I’ve met so-called health entrepreneurs who’ve adopted squeaky clean New Age cover-personalities to obscure their sleazebag cynical motives.
They’re very slippery characters. They do their real work in conference rooms where they look at spread sheets.
They’re very slippery characters. They do their real work in conference rooms where they look at spread sheets.
The chance of them going after GMO criminals is zero.
Once in a while, if you wait for it, or if you push them a little, you’ll see something come into their eyes. A dead cold nothing. It’s a sign of the personal Arctic region where they really live.
They don’t till, they don’t plant, they don’t harvest. They sell. They’re very much like the Sunday television preachers who are there to hustle dollars.
Only they take a kinder, gentler approach. They’re all about “consciousness” and saving the planet.
Only they take a kinder, gentler approach. They’re all about “consciousness” and saving the planet.
If the planet were alive in the way they claim it is, the planet would have long ago consigned them to a desert island under a blazing sun.
The Cardinal Crisis Years
The Uranus-Pluto World Squares:
What it is & What it Means to Us
By
Theodore White, mundane Astrolog.sci
Theodore White, mundane Astrolog.sci
As many of you can see from this edition of Global Astrology, the world has been, and continues to experience crisis and challenges in the Twenty-Tens.
For years I have been warning anyone who would listen that this decade would see widespread disruptions, hue-and-cries and revolutionary sentiments worldwide.
And this is exactly what many people have been witnessing just three years into this new decade. And it's going to get worse too.
From the Arab Spring and Occupy Movements of 2011 to the mass protests in many countries, all of this corresponds to the Uranus-Pluto global squares now underway.
Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn is one of the mainstays of the cardinal crisis years the world is now undergoing.
1st exact Uranus-Pluto square - 24 June 2012
2nd exact Uranus-Pluto square - 19 September 2012
3rd exact Uranus square Pluto - 20 May 2013
4th exact Uranus square Pluto - 1 November 2013
5th exact Uranus square Pluto - 21 April 2014
6th exact Uranus square Pluto - 15 December 2014
*7th exact Uranus square Pluto - 17 March 2015
*The seventh and final Uranus-Pluto square takes place on 17 March 2015 with both planets direct. The previous six exact squares occurred when either Uranus, or Pluto were retrograde.
What the Uranus-Pluto squares mean that we will continue to witness revolutionary sentiments along with drastic changes and disruptions on the basic goals and objectives of populations - worldwide.
The astrological advice is that such a powerful global configuration is not a good time to initiate changes, but with Uranus and Pluto in cardinal Signs - which are movable - this means that whatever adjustments must be made that people should realize that these changes will be valuable in the future.
Under Uranus square Pluto, there can be sudden and unexpected financial losses that come about by means of government intervention and neglect - affecting banks, joint finances, domestic economy, corporate, business and insurance affairs along with goods of the dead.
Under Uranus square Pluto, there can be sudden and unexpected financial losses that come about by means of government intervention and neglect - affecting banks, joint finances, domestic economy, corporate, business and insurance affairs along with goods of the dead.
For instance, the truth of the global banking insolvency under this global square that has been written about extensively by mundane astrologer William Stickevers, remains very much in play during this cardinal crisis decade.
Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn shows that the lives of people may be suddenly changed by large-scale forces that are beyond their personal control.
Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn shows that the lives of people may be suddenly changed by large-scale forces that are beyond their personal control.
The sectors affected are cultural, economic, ecological, social, technological and geopolitical.
It is essential then, under this powerful global configuration, to adjust as gracefully as possible while making the most out of the opportunities that are brought about by the new circumstances.
Under the Uranus-Pluto squares, people may have to face perils brought about by dysfunctional and dangerous establishment forces, like the police, soldiers and government agents.
Under the Uranus-Pluto squares, people may have to face perils brought about by dysfunctional and dangerous establishment forces, like the police, soldiers and government agents.
The cardinal square means that old friendships, group and organizational ties may become severed and people who are meaningful to others may die suddenly and unexpectedly.
Generally, Uranus seeks to rebel against the prevailing status quo with attitudes of that of cultural and political non-conformist.
The desire for personal freedom, regardless of consequences is a hallmark of Uranus' transit in tropical Aries.
Individuals can become bored with the routines of 'normal' life and seek change in ways which challenge and disrupt the status quo. The individuals' friends and/or associates may be annoying to his or her family and professional associates.
Violence can pop up suddenly - and with drastic consequences.
Because of this, some people are forced to change jobs or domestic arrangements under difficult circumstances as a result.
In doing so, it is important for individuals to guard against becoming too closely aligned with unreliable and eccentric people and groups under this global Uranus-Pluto square.
Rebellious attitudes spread throughout populations worldwide with revolutionary business and political attitudes becoming radical due to suppression and oppression from the establishment.
The squares seek change under Uranus in Aries while Pluto's transit in Capricorn shows how the status quo has been hijacked by the dying oligarchy and their baby boomer establishment.
Both generations, now in their elderly years, sees their oligarchy and establishment falling apart - as the Uranus-Pluto square forces.
The anomalies witnessed worldwide is their reaction to all this. It shows how their ideologies are crumbling in the early 21st century.
The Australian mundane astrologer Ed Tamplin points out that,
"The economic steamroller of globalization is a Plutonic force, grinding individual cultures into monolithic sameness and servitude.
Contrasting that, Uranian uprisings are delivering effective counter punches.
A united spirit of rebellion is invigorating those living under tyrannical rule, as well as nations being controlled from foreign shores.
"The economic steamroller of globalization is a Plutonic force, grinding individual cultures into monolithic sameness and servitude.
Contrasting that, Uranian uprisings are delivering effective counter punches.
A united spirit of rebellion is invigorating those living under tyrannical rule, as well as nations being controlled from foreign shores.
The horoscope of the modern Republic of Turkey, timed for 8.30 pm October 29 1923, is currently fielding the Uranus Pluto square right across the most sensitive angles of the chart.
As these revolutionary energies impact, the individuals battle the state.
The Iranian Republic born April 1 1979 @ 3 pm has Uranus now nearing its Sun and change is imminent.
But in 2014 the same Uranus-Pluto square is headed for the Sun in the horoscope of the USA, now facing its own dilemma of individual rights versus omnipresent surveillance.
In the formative days of a united America, U.S. colonists engaged in a fight against what they conceived to be an oppressive empire inflicting economic and military control from afar.
Back then the founding fathers identified with the willful self-determination of Uranus.
Now, the obvious challenge for the ‘superpower’ is to avoid mimicking the identical dictatorial empire it once fought so fiercely to free itself from?
Back then the founding fathers identified with the willful self-determination of Uranus.
Now, the obvious challenge for the ‘superpower’ is to avoid mimicking the identical dictatorial empire it once fought so fiercely to free itself from?
Uranus and Pluto are repeating a cosmic arrangement occurring in the 1930’s, when autocrats suffocated democracy in Europe and Russia, and investment and banking fraud engineered the Great Depression.
As history repeats to a degree, we can examine who is now propagating war and division, and who is promoting economic strangulation and inequality.
The conglomerates and the manipulators behind most of the world’s troubles are exposing themselves.
During this Uranus Pluto square some governments will adopt a jackboot mentality to quell the opposition.
Yet Pluto, now in Capricorn, is not merely about domination and control.
As history repeats to a degree, we can examine who is now propagating war and division, and who is promoting economic strangulation and inequality.
The conglomerates and the manipulators behind most of the world’s troubles are exposing themselves.
During this Uranus Pluto square some governments will adopt a jackboot mentality to quell the opposition.
Yet Pluto, now in Capricorn, is not merely about domination and control.
The obsessive overkill of Pluto in corporate Capricorn ultimately leads to political breakdowns and power changing hands.
Oligarchies are actually diminished when Pluto moves through this governing sign.
A classic example of a fall was the unchallenged supremacy of the Catholic Church literally being cut in two by the rising of the Reformation, while Pluto transited Capricorn.
Another was the U.S. break with Great Britain, and the world’s most powerful empire losing its most valuable land and resources.
The most domineering power structures are heading for a sudden reversal in the coming years as Pluto again weaves its way through this administrative sign.
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If history, and planets be the guideposts, then the voices of dissent will be amplified in the new mindset of a people’s revolution. And when that occurs the Arab Spring will not be contained to the confines of the Middle East."
~
Ed Tamplin is correct. So, as we can see, these are indeed historic times, as forecasted; which clearly shows that we are in what I call the 'Cardinal Crisis' Decade.
These years are transitional. We are in-between the end of the age of the late 20th century and the early 21st century, as defined by generations.
The generation of the oligarchy, born in the 1920s are dying, as well as their establishment children, the baby boomer generation, born under Pluto in Leo; as they are seeing the end of their influence in global society.
These anomalies of disruptive, dysfunctional and violent events worldwide are caused by the oligarchy's and establishment's fear of death - of their own mortality.
So, they are taking out their angst on everyone else and shall be remembered by history - and surely damned by it as well.
Both generations have long been in denial of the passage of time.
However, time moves on nonetheless and as always, Time itself has the very last say.
If history, and planets be the guideposts, then the voices of dissent will be amplified in the new mindset of a people’s revolution. And when that occurs the Arab Spring will not be contained to the confines of the Middle East."
~
Ed Tamplin is correct. So, as we can see, these are indeed historic times, as forecasted; which clearly shows that we are in what I call the 'Cardinal Crisis' Decade.
These years are transitional. We are in-between the end of the age of the late 20th century and the early 21st century, as defined by generations.
The generation of the oligarchy, born in the 1920s are dying, as well as their establishment children, the baby boomer generation, born under Pluto in Leo; as they are seeing the end of their influence in global society.
These anomalies of disruptive, dysfunctional and violent events worldwide are caused by the oligarchy's and establishment's fear of death - of their own mortality.
So, they are taking out their angst on everyone else and shall be remembered by history - and surely damned by it as well.
Both generations have long been in denial of the passage of time.
However, time moves on nonetheless and as always, Time itself has the very last say.
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6 comments:
Theo, you were right about the floods, it's all happening as you said it would!
I think you are a good teacher and I love reading your blog. You and other astrologers speak of the "Boomers", "their Oligarch parents", "Gen X-ers", and so on. What is it astrologically that defines the parameters of any generation? How do you know when a new generation begins, and who in the history of Astrology originated the method of calculating this? Can generations truly "overlap", and if so, how in the scheme of things do these "overlap" individuals figure with respect to their generation's karmic lessons?
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