You have heard of the Weather Report? Here exclusively is this week’s "Earth Report" - a short review of the “big picture” about how the dynamic changes in the Sun and the Earth are effecting our lives more and more intensely, with the latest prognostications and predictions for weathermen, farmers, investors, businessmen, and every man.

This update is keyed to the Earth Changes 2003 Almanac Calendar. The framework for understanding these updates and much of the current status information is maintained in capsule form in the Almanac at the locations cited in the text of this Update.

Seismic Activity is UNUSUALLY QUIET as of this moment, fully one third of normal levels. This will probably change suddenly during the next day or so as the Perigee forces from the Moon finally break through the tectonic inertia and the most likely areas to be suddenly hit with an increase of quakes are the Western Coast of the Americas and the broad belt from the Mediterranean across the Middle East into the Himalayas. Solar Cycle 23 continues to wane but recent planetary alignments and sunspot peaks have produced another period of stormy weather, making this period of time a lousy time for starting a war. A stormy and unpredictable March will be followed by a wet April with major Spring floods in some areas.

For the geopolitical front, the disaster of a war ON Iraq has begun. This rude beast will unleash profound changes in the world, few to the liking of the Imperial Faction which by lies, bribery, and crookery has seized control of the United States.

_____________________________________________________________________
Program Thesis: What are we trying to do with the Earth Changes Bulletin?

Most news media do not handle technical and scientific subjects like geology and earth sciences very well. They don't understand the causes and effects of activities in the Sun and Earth. Accordingly, they often do not understand if, when, how, why to report earthquakes, volcanic activity, global warming effects The treatment often sounds absent-minded, poorly qualified, and frequently contains various technical errors. Seldom is the treatment entertaining and genuinely educational.

Based on new scientific principles which have emerged during the past thirty years, many of the dynamic activities of the Sun and Earth can be linked together to see how a range of effects are linked together. This makes it possible to paint "the big picture" into a perspective which explains many diverse events and processes, especially climate and weather patterns such as global warming and El Nino. From the "big picture", long range predictions can be made for weeks and even months ahead.

The result is sophisticated cutting-edge information which is objective, balanced, astute, relevant, and can be easily seen and appreciated by lay audiences. The perspective is generally global, seldom parochial.

For the framework of concepts, terms, and current conditions which are used or described in the these Bulletins, see the Earth Changes 2003 Almanac Calendar.

To see the internet resources which are used to prepare this Update, take a look at the Earth Monitor front page
http://www.michaelmandeville.com/earthmonitor
If anyone has any suggestions about evolving these pages, now is a good time as I devote a few minutes each day to revising menus and adding new links.


INTERNET WATCH:

Virus activity may be on the upsurge already.
BEWARE – Virulent cyber warfare attacks are more likely now than ever to commence at any time. This will probably take the flood of a massive quantity of web page hits and email messages. By swamping the system in more load than it can handle, the cyber terrorists will attempt to bring the internet to a very slow crawl. The cyber terrorists will of course be trying to cripple the performance of the economy and American institutions.

POLAR MOTION
What is happening to the motion of the Earth.

Steady as she goes with the correction below:

CORRECTION FOR LAST WEEK: The X Wave in Chandler’s Wobble has NOT technically passed its annual MIN. It did pass it a couple of weeks ago but it joggled back out again this past week to make the MIN even smaller on the X Axis. It still has not come back to the average spiral track.

THIS LATEST JIGGLE IN THE SPIRAL TRACK OF POLAR MOTION MAY HAVE BEEN INDUCED BY THE LATEST SUNSPOT SURGE WHICH CAME WITH THE LATEST PLANETARY ALIGNMENTS. I have not been looking for such correlations, I have been more fascinated by correlations with the weather. But after seeing this latest jiggle so clearly connected with the timing of the planetary alignments, it seems worth while to look for such correlations with all of the sunspot surges. IF YOU HAVE A YOUNG BUDDING GENIUS SCIENTIST AT HOME, you might suggest this as a science project. It is all original research and could win a high school science prize.

AS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED: It will now head toward the last annual MAX in this current 6.5 year cycle of Chandler’s Wobble. This annual MAX should be achieved about the beginning of October of this year. This MAX will define the MAX for this entire current cycle. When this 6.5 year MAX point is achieved, the average location of the North Spin Axis can be computed and thus the current rate of shifting in the location of the wobbling pole can also be computed by comparison with the previous cycles.

REPEATED: PRELIMINARY FIGURE FOR RECENT DISPLACEMENT: This is a preliminary indication which needs more work: the average location of the pole appears to have shifted possibly as much as 91.1 inches or 231.5 centimeters since the beginning of 1996. That implies an average rate of shifting of the poles since 1996 of 13 inches/yr. or 33 centimeters/year. This rate is substantially higher than it has been during most of the 20th century. What the rate of acceleration may be I cannot determine at the current time. Is the crust of the Earth currently slipping over the molten mantle at a faster rate? Probably yes.

To see the current graph of polar motion, see
http://www.michaelmandeville.com/earthmonitor/topten_monitor.htm
Scroll down the page until you get to the black and white graphs with show the x and y coordinates of the North Spin Axis on two separate graphs.

For additional current details: see http://www.michaelmandeville.com/ebooks/calendar2003/currentconditions.htm#polarmotion

FOR NEWBIES: The vortex tectonics paradigm of the earth holds that polar motion in the 6.5 year wobble cycle (Chandler’s) creates the major stress in the Earth’s crust which is released by lunar tidal forces each month in the form of earthquakes and volcanism. The acceleration in the motion of the drift of the poles and its relocation forces an increasing tempo in the shape shifting of the Equatorial zone, where 70% of tectonic activity occurs. Accordingly, earthquakes and volcanic activity should increase in frequency and magnitude.

PLANETS

The Moon this day is nearly dead on over the Equator and was Full yesterday and in Perigee today. The next New Moon is April 1, and the Lunar Apogee will follow four days later on April 4. (Perigee = the Moon’s closest approach to the Earth during its monthly orbit which increases gravitational influence of the Moon by as much as 15%; Apogee = the Moon’s greatest distance from the Earth during its monthly orbit).

The next planetary alignment will be on April 6 with Mercury | Saturn. This will be followed on April 15 with a double alignment of the planets or Mercury | Jupiter with Venus | Neptune. (To see a chart of this double of alignment go to the Earth Changes 2003 Calendar and click on the planet link.
http://www.michaelmandeville.com/ebooks/calendar2003/calendar.htm

This double alignment is sure to bring out some stormy solar weather but it may not bring much of it to the Earth. Sunspots should go high, however, and so should earthquake activity related to the Full Moon on the 16th which is followed nine hours later by Perigee. This should be an interesting week for watching the cosmic vectors and their influences on the Earth. Naturally the last week in April should see a lot of Spring rains with major flooding in the usual places of the past few years.

See Earth Changes 2003 Almanac Calendar for additional details
http://www.michaelmandeville.com/ebooks/calendar2003/
The Almanac lays out the entire year in advance to allow you to find the best and worst periods of weather.

SUNSPOTS
The events in the solar atmosphere which impact weather and climate patterns, the magnetic field and auroras, including forecasts for the week, month, and year ahead.

SOLAR WEATHER IS CHAOTIC AND EXTREMELY PETULANT. The solar sea is highly choppy. If this were the olden tribal days, the priests would say that the Gods are extremely angry at someone's recent actions on Earth. Wonder who that might be?

The sunspot numbers peaked on March 9th at 225 for the Mercury | Uranus alignment on March 13th (four days early). The quickly sank to 87 on March 13th but rose inexplicably on March 15th to 125. But they plunged again and as of yesterday, the sunspot count was 65, which is probably close to where they will bob around for the next week or so before they rise again a few days before the Mercury | Saturn alignment on April 6. This will probably produce another 200 plus sunspot peak and again it should be 3-6 days in advance of the alignment.

AS PREDICTED LAST WEEK: The weather disturbance for this last peak was much larger than the weather patterns of the previous week. We are just now experiencing the results in the weather from the recent rises in the sunspot counts and it will take at least several days before the weather moderates.

CORRECTED PROJECTION: the weather should be highly petulant during mid-March through to nearly the end of the Month. More major storms will dump large amounts of rain and snow.

COSMICALLY SPEAKING: THIS IS A LOUSY MONTH FOR INVADING ANOTHER COUNTRY. The potential for sudden, chaotic, severe sandstorms in the Middle East are VERY HIGH.

Solar-induced magnetic fields and flux ARE HIGHLY UNSTABLE. The Fluxgate Monitor at the U of Alaska shows two severe magnetic disturbance during the past 24 hours in the Earth’s Atmosphere. This day’s Solar Wind Speed is a very brisk 738.1km/s and at this hour it is pushing a modest density of only 2.0 protons/cm.

LOOK WHAT THE DISTURBANCES CREATED LAST NIGHT: "I actually saw the already moonlit landscape brighten a bit when these intense auroras appeared [on March 18th]" says photographer John Russell of Nome, Alaska. [gallery]

NASA AURORA ALERT: “Two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are expected to sweep past Earth during the next 24 hours. Sky watchers should therefore remain alert for auroras. The best viewing sites will be at high-latitudes: e.g., New Zealand, southern Australia, Canada, northern Europe, Alaska and northern continental US states like Michigan and Wisconsin. NOAA forecasters estimate a 5% chance of severe geomagnetic activity at middle latitudes, too.”

Two X class flares probably created the disturbances and produced the CME’s. MORE ARE ON THE WAY. There is a 75% probability of major M CLASS or better solar storms. NASA also reports: “Sunspot 314 has a tangled "delta-class" magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. The active region has already unleashed two such eruptions this week: one at 1905 UT on March 17th and another at 1205 UT on March 18th. Both hurled coronal mass ejections into space. Although neither CME was squarely Earth-directed, the expanding clouds could deliver glancing blows to our planet's magnetic field on March 19th and 20th. CME movies: #1, #2

NASA predicts a “50% probability of "active" geomagnetic disturbances in the mid latitudes”. The same can be said for weather disturbances, which could drive chaotic windstorms through the Middle-East.

Jan Alvestad reports: “The geomagnetic field was unsettled to minor storm on March 18. Solar wind speed ranged between 627 and 834 km/sec under the influence of a high speed coronal hole stream. At midnight there were 3 spotted regions on the visible disk. Solar flare activity was high. A TOTAL OF 10 C, 2 M AND 1 X CLASS EVENTS WERE RECORDED DURING THE DAY. The CME associated with the X1 flare on March 18 was a full halo CME and is likely to impact Earth within the next 24 hours.”

Jan Alvestad predicts: "A well defined, huge, recurrent coronal hole (CH25) mainly in the southern hemisphere will be in a geoeffective position on March 11-19. This coronal hole has developed in the northwestern and northeastern trans equatorial parts. After the emergence of region 10314 the central southeastern part of CH25 appears to have closed. A coronal hole (CH26) in the northern hemisphere will rotate into a geoeffective position on March 23. The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly unsettled to active until March 23 due to a high speed stream. The current disturbance could intensify late on March 19 or early on March 20 if the CME associated with an X1 event in region 10314 near noon on March 18 arrives"
See http://www.dxlc.com/solar/

All this means that you can expect the unexpected in weather and disturbances. Freakish sudden storms are likely. Winds and precipitation may set records in various areas.

AS PREVIOUSLY PREDICTED: Continue to expect anything with this Solar Cycle 23, even though THE HIGH PEAK IN SUNSPOT CYCLE 23 IS GONE. During most of March, the sunspot counts should remain well below 100, probably in the 30-80 range. . Peaks above 100 MAY occur during each of the planetary alignments, but not necessarily, and they may well soar very high once again during August and September for the planetary alignments in mid August, the Mars | Earth alignment in late August, and the flyby of this alignment by Mercury on September 10. Temporary peaks in sunspot numbers into the 200 range are possible during this period.

To follow these numbers, view the Solar Cycle 23 Chart at
http://www.michaelmandeville.com/earthmonitor/topten_monitor.htm

GLOBAL DROUGHT AND FLOOD WATCH
Stories and assessments about drought and flood conditions around the world; global information which provides the ability to assess the impacts to agriculture and the natural environment.

AS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED: We can now confirm that the drought patterns of the last few years are breaking up throughout the Northerly latitudes.

We had another 1.5 inches of rain in Black Canyon City this week. For sure, the Southwest will have a very colorful early Spring rally among the wildflowers. Early April will definitely be a wonderful time, one of the best of times, to visit the Southwest. For the more Northerly latitudes, the weather will be highly stormy and no doubt cold for another spell during this last half of March.

For the Southerly latitudes, the weather does not yet appear to have broken the drought pattern because of the hot Summer. But as the weather heads into the Fall pattern, normal rainfall patterns should begin to appear.

AS PREVIOUSLY PREDICTED: Expect things to be mild and relatively normal during the first week to tens days of April, followed by another wave of wet spring storms during the middle of April. The third week of April should be even more petulant following a dual set of planetary alignments. Expect a lot of flooding from heavy wet storms which lay down large quantities of water. Summer monsoons may be late and will be ended sooner than normal by the planetary alignments which begin in mid-August, most especially by the Mars | Earth alignment at the end of August.

For additional details, see
http://www.michaelmandeville.com/ebooks/calendar2003

EL NINO WATCH:

There may be a La Nina during the later part of 2003 and through part of 2004, but it is likely that it will be barely noticeable because of the accumulated “Global Warming” and the relatively high levels of volcanic heat venting in the Earth. The next El Nino is likely to appear in 2005 or 2006.

CHEMTRAILS
See http://www.deepspace4.com/pages/main/pagemain.htm

EARTHQUAKES
Around the world to see the current and potential patterns of seismic activity, with coverage of the windows of danger. I prepared this section by pulling out the Earth Changes 2003 Calendar which has everything plotted on it. You should too. Check out the Almanac as well, it discusses all of the windows for the year and even spotlights the two most dangerous windows.

CURRENT SYZYGY WINDOW: We are in Perigee Full Moon and this window will probably produce the greatest number of quakes from today through to the next three or four days.

NEXT SYZYGY WINDOW FOR THE NEW MOON: Starts about March 30 and runs through about April 3. This period should be fairly mild in both frequency and magnitude of earthquakes.

RECENT EVENT OF INTEREST THIS PAST FEW DAYS

Magnitude 7.0 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
2003 March 17 16:36:16 UTC
Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver
Date-Time Monday, March 17, 2003 at 16:36:16 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time
Location 51.42N 177.91E
Depth 33.0 kilometers
Region RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
Reference 70 km (45 miles) SW of Little Sitkin Island, Alaska
80 km (50 miles) SSE of Kiska Volcano, Alaska
2235 km (1390 miles) WSW of Anchorage, Alaska
3090 km (1920 miles) W of JUNEAU, Alaska
The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: A strong earthquake occurred IN THE RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS about 380 km (235 mi) west of Adak or about 2235 km (1390 miles) west-southwest of Anchorage, Alaska at 9:36 AM MST, Mar 17, 2003 (6:36 AM AHST in Aleutian Islands). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. There have been no reports of damage.

For additional details see:
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_rlat.html

At the moment quake activity above 2.5 far below normal for a syzygy window, even for a non-syzygy window. Only a half dozen quakes a day worldwide are currently being recorded. Most of these are in the Aleutian Island chain or on the Western side (Asia) of the Pacific Rim of Fire. During this past week, one 7.0 quake and many smaller quakes struck the middle of the Aleutian Island Chain near what appears to be a small tectonic plate fragment wedged between the Pacific Plate and the Eurasian Plate (the USGS calls this an extension of the North American Plate but I beg to differ).

To see the world quake chart by the USGS, click on
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/current/

Since quake activity was most widespread after the last Perigee, expect the same to hold true now. The average daily seismic activity will shoot up suddenly during the next few hours and days.

For the most part quake activity was way down this last week, which is not correct for the syzygy window we entered into four days ago. The USGS chart (such charts show all quakes 1.0 and above) for the U.S. and Alaska show 371 quakes for the past seven days (which is WAY down from last week’s 633) with the USGS chart for California showing 304 of these in California during the past seven days (down from last week’s 488). The USGS Chart for the Pacific Northwest reveals 26 quakes (two week sum, down from 27 micro quakes last week) most of them tightly clustered around the middle of the Puget Sound and in the Walla Walla area of Washington State.

The USGS Chart of Yellowstone Cauldera Area shows 0 seismic activity during the last week (down from 16 the prior week) and 7 quakes scattered throughout Utah (down from 28 during the prior week).

Hood was completely silent and the USGS chart for Long Valley Cauldera (Area) showed a running total of 33, which is down by two thirds from 102 for the preceding week (before this past week).

WHICH IS WAY UP.

FULL MOON WATCH ON COLIMA – POPO – COOS BAY – SAN ANDREAS
REMEMBER THE COSTA NOSTRA DAMUS PREDICTION: We will watch Coos Bay, San Andreas, Colima, Popo, very carefully. Let us watch as well for a pattern of increase during the succeeding Full Moon Perigee Syzygies. Centered near the middle of the month for March, April, and May, the Full Moon and Perigee draw tighter together to be virtually dead on in April, then start to draw apart. Their mutual influence should combine exponentially, not linearly. Along about the middle of April, we can expect the worst quake season which has been felt in many months. See the Earth Changes 2003 Almanac Calendar for timing details.

VOLCANOES
Around the world with the most interesting and relevant volcano stories; briefs on the likely eruptions as well as coverage of on-going activity.

It currently appears that the TimeStar prediction for an increase in volcanic activity is wrong. See the following

REPEAT FROM LAST WEEK: Krsanna, whose predictions I do not understand, predicts the potential of an upsurge in volcanism through the Equatorial Belt during March 11-23. Since her prediction corresponds to the Full Moon Perigee Syzygy during the Ides of March, as well as the violent geopolitical dynamics which are present in this late winter period, I quote it herein: Volcanic eruptions could begin anew in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Africa as well as an increase of earthquakes in the South Atlantic. Electrical and magnetic storms are probable along with surprise asteroids. As its name, Earth, implies this window located near the Sandwich Islands is key to conditions of the planet. Conditions associated with Atlantis are closely linked to this window. These include volcanoes and earthquakes in the Caribbean and Mediterranean as well as electrical and magnetic storms. The full moon on the 18th days before the spring equinox is a critical period when the lunar count for Easter begins. This will be a politically and geophysically active period when war-like elements could become explosive with renewed terrorist activity. These conditions will continue through Easter in April. From TimeStar Earth, timestar@timestar.org, http://www.timestar.org

Hood is sound asleep, Yellowstone is falling back to sleep, but El Popo woke up even more, offering a 30 puff day yesterday. Centrapred reports for March 19 (16:00 GMT) that “In the last 24 hours the overall activity of the Popocatépetl volcano remained in a steady level. There were 30 small exhalations accompanied by steam and gas. At 15:32 of yesterday, there was a volcano-tectonic microearthquake of magnitude 2.5, located 7 km to the South-East from the crater. The other monitored parameters remain without important changes. At this moment we can see the volcano with a light fumarole (see image). The explosive events recorded in the past weeks were related with the destruction of the lava dome inside the crater previously reported. As long as there are remains of the dome, which was confirmed recently (see image), explosive activity is possible implying ash emissions and incandescent material ejections around the crater”

Volcanic activity this past seven days is about the same as last week. The Southwest Volcano Centre reports 34 volcanoes on the alert status list (same as last week), 5 volcanoes on the restless list (same as last week), and 19 on the active eruption list (down one from last week).

We can see from this that El Popo is a very inconsistent Bellwether.

AG INDUSTRY WATCH
Because of the high load of stress which the current peak in the sunspots have placed on the Ag industry, we alert on the changing scene in agriculture and how these are likely to effect the broader economy.

Famine reports confirm last year’s predictions. While the world’s attention is focused on a provocative military campaign ordered by George Bush Jr., famines in East Africa have left most of Ethiopia and other portions of Africa in dire straits. Some 38 million Africans are starving to death, which suggests that the U.S. sent the wrong things to the wrong countries in that quadrant of the world.

If people want to unify the world in peace, how about focusing world attention on dealing with that very real, imminent catastrophe.

AS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED: The drought damage to Central and Northern Arizona was truly huge, the largest eco-catastrophe I have ever witnessed at first hand. Well over a million acres of forest land, at least, just in Arizona, are now populated by large numbers of dead trees. In some ranges, all the trees of a certain type are dead, in other ranges, the percentages can vary from 10% to 90%. Pinions were the hardest hit, followed by Ponderosa. The incredibly hardy Juniper has also succumbed in some areas.

ECONOMIC WATCH

AS PREVIOUSLY PREDICTED: It is doubtful that any economic recovery will begin to be felt until much later in the year, probably not until Fall of 2003.

DITECH.COM ARBITRAGER:

Same as last week: 5.25 (short) and 5.550 (long) - their lowest rates
(I am going to watch how close the arbitrager for Ditech.com calls it. I am placing a bet on their interest rate calculations, which are so finely chiseled, they have to be running pretty sophisticated indicator stats. When they clearly go up at least two pegs within a month, even if they are just very small increments, you will know there is wind in the sails of the economy. When the numbers go down you know the economy is still trying to find bottom.)

PREDICTION DJI CLOSE FOR LAST WEEK: Not good, conditions too unstable to call. No rally, may close below 7500 but if so stocks will rally on Monday or Tuesday.
Not bad call, all in all. Just one day off in the beginning of the rally. Market rallied by Friday to close at 7859 and then rallied again this week to close today at 8265.

THIS WEEK’S DJI PREDICTION: “Stocks will continue to rally slowly upward and may close 8500, plus or minus 100. Condition this prediction with the two week prediction, below.

TWO WEEK DJI PREDICTION: As Iraqi soldiers and cities suddenly defect in large numbers to head off U.S. bombers, and if oil fields are not set afire, oil prices will plunge and stocks will climb until the next terrorist attack. If Alqaeda attacks do not occur within two weeks, the stock market will surge temporarily to 9000 and perhaps slightly higher. Any major adverse result in the American War On Iraq will see sudden downturns of one to a few days.

MAJOR ADVERSE CONTINGENCY: There are widespread reports that civil disobedience will break out in England in an attempt to force a liquidation of the parliamentary majority and block up logistical support for the American War On Iraq. There are similar reports that major riots and civil disturbances will break out in Arab countries. WATCH EGYPT. If Egypt destabilizes and its government begins to fall prey to extremist pressures, much of the Mid-East is likely to be severely destabilized. Oil supplies then will be threatened and there may be sudden moves by oil rich governments to liquidate Western securities and cash in favor of heavy purchases of arms and expansion of their security forces. This will depress all stock markets SEVERELY.

REPEAT FROM LAST WEEK: Don’t get fooled by major rallies. These rebounds will be too fast. A fundamental shift in the economy has to be felt before stocks begin to ride the next Bull. The DJI will spend many more months swamping around in the low to mid 8000’s.

GEO-POLITICAL WATCH
How are the sunspots likely to most effect human affairs during the weeks and months ahead?

SIGN OF THE TIMES: Ken Lay, just a good ole boy Texan, the Presiding Officer of the rape of California Consumers, otherwise known as Enron, is still scott free with his crooked billions…But the Enron Wicked Web of greed and gross and egregious “taking advantage of everyone” is beginning to unravel. Enron is now suing Ken Lay directly for the return of some money, 2003 should be a great year for a continuing soap opera of scandalous corporate news. Or maybe not.

IT LOOKS LIKE, America’s hot adventure “reality” show, “The Empire Strikes Back” will successfully keep much of the corporate scandals under the rug. ARE YOU SURPRISED?

AS REPORTED LAST WEEK: Did you hear that Halliburton, Vice President Cheney’s old “employer” has just landed a contract worth nearly $1 billion to oversee (consult on) restoration of Iraq’s oil fields? Now how did they know there was going to be a war? Oink, this Great War of Iraqi Liberation is plainly going to liberate mountains of cash for well connected insiders. Oink, oink, wink, isn’t the opportunity for advancement in America a wonder to behold?!

Keep checking out the Media Lens organization. http://www.medialens.org
They are providing some really good wake up antidote to the Orwellian Newspeak of the Imperial Faction.

Last week it seemed too surreal to suppose that the Imperial Faction finally would attempt to bully its way into Iraq in the face of so much united opposition from nearly all religious and spiritual leaders, most of the United Nations, America’s most important allies, including strong advice against such activity by America’s closest neighbors, Canada and Mexico, not to mention two ex-presidents, half of the population, and a majority of print media editorialists and journalists, many of the people who conducted Gulf War I, including its commander, and a rising tide of opposition from veteran’s groups.

Yet despite the worst political polarization the world has known since Vietnam, the Imperial Faction has successfully consolidated and maintained a climate of opinion and force of will which no doubt will begin an American invasion of Iraq within a few days.

Surreal it is and so it will remain. Everyone twists in the winds of change, no one knows what is going to happen next. Expect chaos and expect that no one will control the outcomes of this next several months.

Many possible outcomes are possible and my favorite one is that the Iraqi people simply give up the struggle and allow the Imperial Faction to occupy Iraq with U.S. troops for awhile. This would cost the Iraqi’s very little, allow them to make another effort to create democratic rule, and impose all the long term social, political, and economic damages of Bush’s polarizing ways upon the Americans, where it belongs.

One of the worst possible outcomes of the invasion will be the heavy use of bombs and missiles in what has been described as a “shock and awe strategy”. Not only will a lot of civilians die, the shells will leave the toxic vapor of “depleted uranium” to haunt the Mesopotamian Valley for a long time. Knowing now what we know about America’s explosive munitions, namely that the residues poison all who come into contact with them and create severe health problems and genetic damage, their use IS THE SAME AS USING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. In effect, every one of these munitions is a “dirty bomb” and their KNOWING use as such in large quantities is indistinguishable from the “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” which international treaties have outlawed. This dirty little secret in one of America’s bigger military hypocrisies.

Mass use of these weapons in Iraq will ignite radical politics AGAINST THE U.S. throughout Eurasia during the next generation and this may eventually sow so many seeds of discord and distrust that even the American dollar may lose its value as an international currency.

Many expect that a wave of catastrophic political change will be unleashed in the Arab Nations as well as in many other Muslim countries. Some destabilization most likely will come as Alqaeda is sure to seek to use this invasion as its rallying cry and as its justification for another wave of terrorism attacks, especially in the United States.

Notice how adroitly Osama Bin Laden has outmaneuvered George Bush, even exactly as he stated several years ago he intended to do with the Americans. The U.S. is expanding direct economic and military dominance over the Middle-East with rifles and bombs. Osama Bin Laden can now claim that his hideous campaign of random terror is not terrorism at all, that it is in fact a campaign of self-defense against an alien, invading army in the service of arrogant, deceitful imperialists whose way of life is corrosively destructive to the way of life outlined in the Koran. Most unfortunately, for fundamentalist Muslims caught in slavish loyalty to literal interpretations of the Koran, Osama’s line will be the real story.

It is easy to see thusly that Saddam will soon disappear but not Osama Bin Laden nor a growing legion of fundamentalist soldiers who emulate him and who seek the destruction of the Great Satan. From this we may infer that the Imperial Faction may handily win a minor war against Saddam Hussein but in doing so the Imperial Faction will ignite a much larger struggle which will be fought over the next generation.

The political cost already is very high. The Imperial Faction has seized such control of the American government that the constitution no longer rules process nor limits the laws authorized by Congress nor constrains the actions of the Executive. Clearly we can see that the U.S. Constitution is no longer an effective document and some major renovation work will be required during the coming decade. Refurbishing the constitution to preserve a Republic and stop the drift to fascism will require several major changes to shore up its various provisions for the separation of powers and make it immune from the acidic effects of money. In the meanwhile, this leaves Americans living an increasingly uncomfortable hypocrisy which will only get worse under the moranic thinking processes of George Bush Jr. and his partners in the Imperial Faction.

This in turn will increase the bitterness of many factions in the U.S. and indeed both political parties are already in the beginning processes of disintegration. Republican conservatives (from among the non-corporate set) are already calling the so-called neo-conservatives (those who support the Imperial Faction) as Stalinists or as fascists and this dissension is going to grow louder and louder. They are already organizing to depose the Republican Party as it is. Meanwhile the social-democrats (the so-called left) are becoming so hardened against the corporate faux-centrists who control the Democratic Party under the Clinton label that they will be highly likely to destroy the Democratic Party than play along with corporate jet-setters as during the past generation.

As politics within the United States increasingly fractures, politics external to the United States is likely to increasingly unify in opposing American policies which are seen as self-serving. The French, Germans, and Russians have clearly consolidated their foreign policies and intend to work very hard at making the United Nations work as a world institution to preserve peace and constrain grandiose impulses by American factions.

The cooperation of the Eurasians is a great and wonderful change in the world, but of course there are a great many cretins in this country who will see this as a threat. They will seek in all ways possible to undermine a rapprochement of American policy with world policy.

There are so many other great dangers and conceivable trends that it is better to leave them alone until events show us we have not yet imagined how this year 2003, a 23 year, the mystery school number of definitive transformation, will turn out. I rather expect that our imaginations are inadequate to the task.

Pray the bombs do not fall!!! Our collective American hell will be infinitely worse for each Iraqi child and mother who is slain by our bombs and for every inch of the country which is poisoned with American dirty bombs.