The black farce of Trump’s relations with the Kremlin roll on with a summit set for July 16^th and Trump announcing that Putin has denied meddling in the 2016 elections. So that’s alright then. Didn’t happen.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with aiming for a détente with Russia but Putin’s track record isn’t one which inspires trust in either integrity or motives. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials insist that the Trump administration has been tougher toward Russia than Obama was. They cite American sanctions, arming of Ukrainian troops, expulsion of diplomats and vocal public shaming of Russia for its cyberattacks. And yet and yet –  as a former diplomat said about Trump: “what he’s been saying completely undermines the policy. It’s like he’s untethered from his own administration.”

The meet is scheduled three days after the Solar Eclipse at 21 Cancer which is conjunct Trump’s Saturn Venus in Cancer and conjunct Putin’s Uranus.

An Eclipse on Saturn is grow-up-time, face responsibilities, pay the price for past actions.  With Venus involved it may lead to an emotional crisis, leaving him feeling bereft and alone, his guardian angel having disappeared and with a dent in his self-image. The eclipse effect runs on for several months.

An Eclipse conjunct Uranus offers an opportunity for more freedom – and Putin is licking his lips with relish in the aftermath with tr Pluto trine his Jupiter, making him even more pushily confident than usual.

Trump looks bad-tempered from early July and certainly at odds with Mike Pompeo. July was always going to be the start of a run of disagreements between them, worsening through 2019.

Trump’s relationship with Putin is very enmeshed with a composite power-hungry Sun Pluto conjunction, so very much a bond with one dominant partner. If birth times are accurate there’s also a composite Yod of Sun Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Moon which would suggest a contact which will have fateful consequences for both.

There’ll be a definite burp of tension and irritation between them from July 25^th into mid August and again in October.

The concern amongst Western allies is that Trump’s bro-romance will give Putin carte blanche to do as he pleases in eastern Europe, with the US seemingly intent on pulling away from NATO.

None of the USA/Russia relationship charts look positive this year so the president may well be out on a limb.

Three Identical Strangers is a documentary film on US cinema release about identical boy triplets, deliberately separated at their adoption when six months old as a psychological experiment on nature and nurture. One went to a working-class family, one middle-class, one wealthy and the adoptive parents were not told about the missing brothers. All the children suffered separation anxiety at the time, banging their heads against cribs; two of them were in and out of psychiatric hospitals in their teens and one was up on a robbery charge connected to a murder. They only met up by chance aged 19.

Dave Kellman, Bob Shafran and Eddy Galland were born 12 July 1961 shortly after 1 am in New Hyde Park, NY to an unmarried mother who became pregnant after a one-night stand. They became close, set up a business together in their twenties though it didn’t last and Eddy committed suicide in his mid 30s.

The psychiatrist Peter Neubauer, a renowned child expert, 5 July 1913, Austria, now dead, refused to apologise for what he’d done. He visited them separately and kept records of their development.

The boys have a New Moon in Cancer in the 3^rd house which rules siblings, so the separation would have been especially painful, given Cancer’s sensitivity to letting go. Their Sun opposes Saturn in Capricorn which would leave them with low self-worth. Most significantly they have a frustrated, enraged Mars Pluto conjunction square Venus – producing a turmoil of dark feelings.

Neubauer was also a Sun Cancer in an expansive, over-confident opposition to Jupiter; with a heavily aspected, immoveable Mars in Taurus on the focal point of a Fixed T Square to Mercury in Leo opposition Uranus. His Mars was conjunct the boys’ Ascendant. He worked with Anna Freud in London who was also involved in the study of the triplets. Born 3 Dec 1895, also Austria, she had Mars, Uranus, Saturn in Scorpio so not exactly sentimental or open to argument.

The relationship chart between Neubauer and the boys has a composite Mars square Saturn with Mars trine Uranus –  Mars Saturn hints at cruelty; Mars Uranus at explosive anger.

Nuebauer’s ideas were extreme even for the time and several adoption agencies refused him permission to split other twins and triplets for his study. He did nothing to help the growing boys when they developed problems and his results were never published. Of the three brothers, one is a lawyer, the other an insurance agent. The one who suicided did not get on with his adoptive father and was most affected by the reunion and finding his real family. He had bi-polar disorder. One of the adoptive fathers said they would have been more than happy to take all three boys which makes it all the more tragic.

Joe Jackson has died, aged 89, renowned for shaping and promotion of the Jackson 5, comprising his sons Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael, and later Randy who were a phenomenon in the late 1960s and 70s. But also known for his cruelty in beating his children and he was described by Alex Petridis as ‘one of the most monstrous fathers in pop.’ Michael later said he was so frightened of his father he’d sometimes vomit when he saw him and eventually fired him as manager.

Born 26 July 1929 in Arkansas, Joe Jackson was a showbizzy Sun Venus in Leo square Jupiter in indulgent Taurus; with a stubbornly possessive and materialistic Mars in Taurus perhaps opposition a Scorpio Moon squaring onto Neptune. Very intense and unyielding. His Sun, Saturn and Pluto all aspected Mars midpoints – an angry man.

He was father to 11 children, including Janet and LaToya Jackson.

Michael Jackson’s chart, 29 August 1958 Gary, Indiana on the time I have of 11.43pm would put a Sun Pluto conjunction in his 4^th which is a doubly controlling father, perhaps leading Michael in his adult life to demand total control of his own domestic life, with tragic results. Like his father he had Mars in Taurus and Saturn in self-righteous Sagittarius.

Janet Jackson also has Mars in Taurus conjunct her Sun, opposition Neptune, sextile Saturn and trine Uranus Pluto – so her experience of him would be scary. Even worse LaToya Jackson has Mars in Aquarius opposition Jupiter Pluto square Saturn in Scorpio, inconjunct Neptune which is a monstrously pushy and cruel father.

Michael’s relationship chart with his father had a central Pluto dominating the composite Sun, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter in a conjunction; with the composite Mars square the Sun and probably trine the Moon – so all anger and control.

Saudi Arabian women are moving out of purdah in moves decreed by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS). They can now drive, open their own business without a male’s permission and can retain immediate custody of their children after divorce without having to file any lawsuits. The first concert featuring a female singer was held late last year and in January 2018 a sports stadium in Jeddah became the first in the Kingdom to admit women. All of this possible by new regulations restricting the powers of the religious police.

His surprise appointment as heir to the throne was decreed just after midnight on 21 June 2017 in Riyadh, fittingly enough with a Moon Venus conjunction in Taurus in place, so female-friendly. It’s an innovative chart with a Saturn trine Uranus trine North Node in Leo; with Saturn opposition Sun Mercury as he laid out his ambitious plan to move Saudi Arabia into the 21^st Century in better shape without the heavy reliance on oil and with an eye to the younger generation’s needs and interests.

It’s also fairly ruthless with a controlling 10^th house Pluto opposition a 4^th house Mars, so likely to run into resistance from the conservatives and hard-line clerics though equally unlikely to give way. There’s also a Yod of Moon Venus sextile Neptune inconjunct Jupiter. Such an apex Jupiterian yod can have an influential effect on the masses with a powerful vision of what an improved society should be like. But it can be undone by over-ambition and over-confidence. The Jupiter is further emphasised being on the focal point of a T Square to the Mars Pluto opposition, which makes it inspirational, highly-energised, tolerant, freedom-oriented though again needing to slow down to consider long term practical consequences.

MbS, 31 August 1985, is a hard-working Virgo Sun possibly opposition a Pisces Moon square Uranus in Sagittarius, which will make him a radical thinker, keen to defy traditional views, high-wire, excitable and scattered. What will balance out his tendency to go in too many directions at once is a plethora of Fixed planets, especially a Fixed Grand cross of Pluto in Scorpio opposition North Node square Jupiter opposition Venus in Leo, with Saturn Mercury in Leo square Saturn in Scorpio. He’s relentlessly determined, stubborn to the nth degree and won’t budge or give up easily, sweeping social niceties to one side to get what he wants.

Tr Uranus will oppose his Pluto from this July onwards starting a three year shake up of his Grand Cross, which will see more changes taking place in his life. With a setback by 2021 and high-hopes being dashed in 2022. But there’s little that will slow his inexorable progress.

Saudi Arabia, 15 January 1902 3.45am is undergoing staggering changes over the next three years with tr Pluto conjunct the Saturn this year and Sun Jupiter in Capricorn in 2020/2021. The never-quite-together triple conjunction of Saturn Pluto and Jupiter will cross all of those planets so the country will be changing out of all recognition with some trepidation, some painful effort but resulting in great successes as well.

He has ruffled feathers with his incarceration of other Saudi Royals and oligarchs late last year; never mind putting the clerics noses out of joint; and letting the population know their time of feather-bedding with state support is coming to an end.  But he fits the Saudi chart well and if he can rein in his military impetuosity (Yemen and Iran) he might just be the one to foster a new Middle Eastern social lifestyle more in keeping with the times.

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Actress Pauley Perrette, the forensic goth Abby Sciuto in top-rated NCIS TV series, has left after 15 seasons, letting fly with a few tweets about physical assaults.  Which turned out to be an on-set fracas with the lead (Jethro Gibbs) Mark Harmon’s dog, who bit a crew member as he was playing with him. She says she had decided to leave for other reasons but in the past two seasons has not acted with Harmon in the same scene.

Never my favourite character, she has nonetheless had an interesting life and range of talents, with a degree in criminal justice, a part-time singing career and the highest Q score of female artists (= brand familiarity and appeal rating). Her first marriage ended after 3 years with a restraining order against her ex and accusations of abuse; and in subsequent relationships she foreswore marriage until same-sex marriage are legalized in the US.

Born 27 March 1969, she has a chart split into three almost contradictory parts. Her pro-active Aries Sun is opposition a lucky Jupiter Uranus and trine Mars in crusading Sagittarius, making her lively and outgoing. She also has a self-protective and creative Water Grand Trine of Mercury in Pisces trine a Cancer Moon trine Neptune in Scorpio, formed into a Kite by Mercury opposition Pluto  as well as opposition Jupiter Uranus – not always realistic, but capable of putting her views across forcefully. She also has a notable and tricky Yod of Neptune sextile Pluto inconjunct Saturn Venus in Aries. Saturn in Aries is self-reliant, quite hard-edged and as a Yod apex planet demands a good deal of maturity for it to operate well. Venus on a Yod can be influential in the arts and public relations.

Tr Uranus was opposing her Saturn Venus as she decided to leave, setting her on a new track; though it won’t be an easy adjustment with tr Pluto moving to square both in 2021/2022.

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, is in a sad tangle with his family. His adult children claim he is in cognitive decline due to dementia; while he is counter-suing them for elder exploitation and fraud, accusing them of “slander” for suggesting he has Alzheimer’s. His suit accuses them of interfering in his personal emotional relationships and forbidding him to marry; while they have suggested that his legal action against them is the product of an unnamed third party, not their father.

He was born 20 January 1930 2.17pm Glen Ridge, New Jersey, with a career military father. His mother committed suicide the year before his Moon landing, as her father had done before; and Aldrin said he inherited his depressive problems leading to his well-publicised alcoholism from her.

He has an intense, talented and challenging chart, with an influential and secretive 8^th house Sun Mercury in Aquarius in a lucky trine a 12th house Jupiter in Gemini; a practical and determined Earth Grand Trine of Saturn in Capricorn in his 7^th trine Neptune in the 4^th trine North Node in Taurus. His Mars in Capricorn on the cusp of the 8^th is in a do-or-die determined opposition to Pluto square a maverick Uranus in the 10^th and also squaring onto a focal point Moon in Libra in the entertaining 5^th house which also rules children.

None of his emotional planets or placings are easy. Saturn in the 7^th makes for tricky one-to-one relationships and he’s had three marriages. His Moon especially aspecting Mars Pluto will have brought aggravated and angst-ridden family relations. A Taurus North Node often attracts difficult battles over money.

Tr Pluto is now on the cusp of his 8^th house of joint finances where it will stay probably for the remainder of his life. This is often a time of being trapped by circumstances which are out of the individual’s control and ongoing tussles over money. Tr Pluto is also squaring his Moon this year for family and children problems.

He’s not had a remotely easy life despite his iconic status and extraordinary achievement and it’s such a shame he can’t find peace at this late stage, whatever the rights or wrongs of this gruesome court wrangle. He’s going in for a competency assessment this week.

Pic: Gage Sidmore

Melania has had a free pass up till now because of Trump’s appalling behaviour. But her fascist-slogan ‘I don’t care’ jacket worn in the most inappropriate circumstances is starting to swing opinion the other way.

Her own chart is fairly hard and very money-oriented with Sun Saturn in Taurus, and Sun opposition Jupiter in Scorpio, plus Mercury Venus in Taurus trine Pluto; and an ambitious Capricorn Moon. She knew what she was doing when she signed the contract to become arm-candy for a mega-wealthy, much married philanderer.

Her relationship chart with the USA is sagging through this year and next with tr Neptune opposing the composite Mars Venus, taking the shine off her aura.

Close to her childhood family and aggressively protective of their privacy, she brought her parents over to the USA, listed as living at Mar-a-Lago in 2007. They have become legal permanent residents and are on their way to gaining citizenship.

Her father, 24 March 1944, is only two years older than Trump.  He lived better than most in communist Slovenia, first as the mayor’s chauffeur then a salesman, with a question about tax evasion charges at one point and an illegitimate son whom he disavowed until forced by a DNA test to support. When GQ revealed all in 2016 the writer Julia Joffe was flamed in anti-semitic abuse on social media by Trump fans, which Melania did nothing to quell.

Viktor Knavs is a Sun Mercury (Moon) in Aries opposition Neptune and trine Pluto North Node in Leo with Jupiter also in Leo so flamboyant, pro-active, a go-getter. He’ll always have had grandiose dreams with Neptune Pluto in aspect to his Sun. He’s also got a hard-edged Saturn Mars in Gemini.

Melania is close to him with an affectionate composite Sun Venus in their relationship chart; an adventurous Mars square Jupiter; and a chained-together Saturn square Pluto. Though there’s a sinking feeling between them through 2018/2019; with more than a few jolts and anxiety spasms at the same time.

Trump is also friendly with him with a similar composite Sun Venus, which is surprising given Knavs’ Saturn Mars squaring Trump’s Moon opposition Sun.

Her mother Amalija, 9 July 1945, a Sun Moon Saturn in Cancer with a materialistic Mars in Taurus trine Jupiter in Virgo, has a cooler relationship with Melania with a composite Sun Saturn trine Jupiter; and a tense Venus Mars square Pluto.

The Black Shirt fascist slogan ‘I don’t care’ which became the rallying cry of Mussolini’s followers, symbolising their willingness to die for their cause, is still mystifying.  In the past she has echoed Trump’s diktats verbatim including the birther nonsense. Her father as a communist would have been anti-fascist – though truthfully there’s little difference between authoritarian attitudes and their dislike of those-not-like-us.  Zara, the Spanish retailer of the cheapo jacket, not her normal style, has form on questionable designs with swastikas, tee shirts similar to concentration camp outfits, and alt-right symbols.

Add onto that the fact that she appears to have no real interests, intellectual or political, apart from fashion, pilates and her son Barron, so it’s impossible to know quite what was going through her head, if anything.

The uproar over the handling of USA refugee immigrants has turned the spotlight back on Australia’s draconian policies of warehousing incomers, often fleeing repression, on offshore islands. When described to Trump in 2017 by PM Malcolm Turnbull, he remarked “You are worse than I am.”

Brigid Delaney writing in the Guardian describes these internment camps as ‘so grim and dangerous that they are often worse than the conditions people were fleeing from – as hot as hell, with all sorts of tropical diseases and only basic medical care. Places where there’s nothing to do and nowhere to go. Places with random outbreaks of violence, that end in murder (RIP Reza Barati). Places where it’s easy to get away with rape. Places where pregnant women can’t access abortions. Places that are almost guaranteed to send their inhabitants mad.’

It started as a hurried political response to the arrival of one boat in 2001 and has consolidated over a decade and a half into a permanent policy, with the support of both Australia’s major political parties. Dozens of countries, the United Nations, and rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have documented and condemned the illegal detention.

More than three-quarters of those forcibly sent by Australia to one such centre Nauru whose asylum claims have been assessed have been found to have a “well-founded fear of persecution” and are legally owed protection.

Foreign journalists – save for a handful of selected reporters – are forbidden entry to the island. Dr Peter Young, formerly the chief psychiatrist responsible for the care of asylum seekers in detention on Manus and Nauru, described the camps as “inherently toxic” and said the immigration department deliberately harmed vulnerable detainees in a process akin to torture. The traumatologist and psychologist Paul Stevenson said that in 40 years working with the victims of terrorist attacks and natural disasters, the conditions in Nauru and Manus camps were the worst “atrocity” he had ever seen.

All of which is the context for one astrological thought. The policy was established in 2001 on a Saturn opposition Pluto (in Gemini/Sagittarius) which has the same feel as the approaching Saturn Pluto conjunction which will dominate 2019. At the moment Eastern European countries are hardening their attitudes to refugees, with Orban in Hungary enacting a decree that helping migrants will be a criminal offence against EU diktats so it isn’t just Trump.

Saturn is rigidly disciplined, status-driven and authoritarian and has no reason to mellow when combined with Pluto’s need for control. A world view based solely on power sees only the victorious or the oppressed. There can be no quarter given when compromise is seen as a sign of weakness, a lowering of defences as potentially life-threatening. There is no room for compassion or sentimentality.    Freedom of choice is not a Saturn–Pluto concept, so beliefs that do not fall in line with the established order come under pressure whether religious, political or ethnic.

The last Saturn Pluto conjunction in Libra in 1982 oversaw the Falklands War; Israel invaded the Lebanon and were instrumental in the Sabra/Chatila refugee-camp massacres of Palestinians; and Solidarity, the Polish workers’ organization, demonstrated against martial law, only to have the Soviet authorities tighten their repression.

In 1946–48, with Saturn–Pluto in Leo, the messy partition of India and Pakistan led to massacres and killings; the Cold War started, bringing down an Iron Curtain between Russia and Western Europe, symbolic of Saturn–Pluto’s determination to build defensive barriers. Japanese and German war-crime tribunals were ongoing, bringing to public awareness the extent of the atrocities of the Second World War.

The previous conjunction in 1914 kicked off WW1. One conjunction earlier in 1882, Saturn–Pluto in Taurus saw the outrages in rural Ireland when 10,500 families were brutally evicted. Tsar Alexander III was at the same time exerting an iron rule in Russia, forcing Orthodox beliefs on the population, and persecuting dissidents.  Saturn–Pluto was in Pisces in 1819, when freedom of the press was abolished in Germany and universities placed under State supervision in an attempt to check revolutionary and liberal movements. The Peterloo Massacre in England at the same time saw the militia attacking a crowd for listening to speeches on parliamentary reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws.

It’ll be a grim time to be a refugee  fleeing oppression.

Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Israeli PM has been charged with fraud for ordering $96k worth of meals from gourmet chefs on state funds. The local view is it will hardly dent Benjamin Netanyahu’s image, fading into insignificance compared to the bribery and corruption charges which he is facing. His party’s poll rating remains high, despite charges pending, with a surge upwards after Trump withdrew from the Iran deal.

Sara Netanyahu, 5 November 1958, is described by Haaretz as being ‘a synonym for all those traits that parents with values would raise their kids to avoid. These include tight-fistedness, self-indulgence, exploitation, malice, abusing the weak, rudeness and aggression extending at times to violence.’

She is a Sun, Jupiter, Venus, Neptune in Scorpio square Uranus (Moon) in Taurus so incredibly Fixed and stubborn; with Mars in bullish Taurus opposition Mercury, so not much give in her chart. Venus Jupiter is super-indulgent with a liking for money; and her Mars Mercury is also in a do-or-die determined square to Pluto.

She does look rattled this year having passed on a possible deal which was withdrawn when she initially refused and tried to reinstate when charges were laid. Solar Arc Pluto is in a devastating conjunction to her Neptune exact within months; with some luck in July but also wracking tensions mounting; self-destructive influences over the year end and a disruptive 2019.

Benjamin Netanyahu is also looking boxed-in with his Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Sun, exact within ten weeks. And despite his popularity in the polls does have tr Saturn moving through his low-profile First Quadrant which tends to be less successful, with mishaps and misjudgements.

His 14 May 2015 11.05pm term chart will be rocking on its axis with the Solar Arc Pluto square the Uranus, exact in 10 weeks’ time as well. So despite his popularity, events look like getting in the way. He looks stressed and confused through this year, with the same plus a few disasters next and a major setback in 2020 with Solar Arc Saturn square his Mars in Leo, which will take the shine of his chutzpah. His marriage looks under serious strain also in 2019 and 2020.