The Astrologer of the President

1. The Interpretation of the Sidereal War

"In a near time, the humanity colonized several planets in the galaxy, maintaining the sovereignty of each nation. The great powers of the 21st century expanded considerably their territories and natural resources by annexing the worlds of the Milky Way that possessed more precious minerals. While most of the third world countries only reached moons, asteroids and desolate planets with few energy resources.

On the other hand, the powerful nations established areas for the collection of tariffs, indicating that the free trade, outside the terrestrial limits, was a fallacy and significantly damaged the creation and distribution of wealth.

The main spaceport to collect taxes on raw materials and products, and even transmissions that came from other planets was located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. However, the smugglers, called pirates by governments, almost always managed to avoid security controls and clandestinely took their merchandise to the less advanced countries.

This situation lasted for several centuries, since in practice the great powers didn´t have the capacities nor sufficient resources to stop the illegal trade.

As the years went by, the balance of powers and wealth gradually changed. Many nations that were poor, known as emerging and beneficiaries of commercial tax evasions and some illegal activities, developed new technologies and settled on planets with abundant natural resources.

However, these levels of well-being and prosperity were not enough for their rulers and citizens, who longed to reach and exceed the extraordinary standards of progress and development of the great powers. Even on many occasions, there were attempts of uprising, which were stopped by the actions of the universal organizations, successors of the international institutions of the 20th century, which were dominated by double-moral diplomatic politics, directed in principle by the great powers.

As the discomfort, discontent and resentment of third world citizens was so great, the powerful universal governments chose to give greater concessions to poor and emerging countries, write off debts, reduce taxes on extraterrestrial goods, and eliminate tariffs to galactic transmissions.

They also applied a famous economic foundation: Let do and let pass, coming from a French school of the 18th century, showing some selective tolerance to tax evasion, smuggling, piracy and frequent violations of intellectual property.

Paradoxically, the small countries, which collaborated with the great powers, received these exemptions (which weren´t legal) and could pass their raw materials and products through the asteroid belt of Mars-Jupiter, without paying taxes, while others classified as non-collaborators, undemocratic, outlaw governments or accomplices of illegal practices didn´t have these privileges.

These measures created inequities among developing countries and were insufficient to avoid conflicts. Still the great powers were the main owners of the planets that contained gold, silver, copper, iron and rare-earth elements, and at the same time, there were immense differences between the living standards of the citizens of the north and those of the south. On average, the income of the former ones was equivalent to one hundred times of the latter.

In addition to this, the loss of principles and moral values, the decline of religions and the predominance of atheism led to new rational ways of thinking and acting, characterized by the determination to end injustices and completely dominate the Earth, for the sake of ending with the hegemony of the great powers.

At a critical point in history, some poor and emerging countries, committed to control their radicals, obtained a majority representation in the universal organizations and approved three global laws (of strict compliance on Earth and all the Milky Way colonies):

1. The law of universal citizenship: it establishes equal rights and opportunities for all citizens of the universe (regardless of their planet or country of origin). In that sense, all nationalities and restrictions to go from one world to another are eliminated, setting a universal nationality for all human beings.

2. The law of use of technology: which eliminates property rights over inventions and strategic technology. Therefore, any relevant invention or technology, classified as strategic, that is of great benefit to universal development, will be part of the public domain and can be used by any sovereign state without restrictions.

3. The universal rights law: it ratifies freedom and equality in dignity and rights, the right to life, the prohibition of servitude, the prohibitions of torture, the right to defense, the prohibitions of banishment and arbitrary detentions, the right to the presumption of innocence, the right to protection against attacks on reputation, private life, family and domicile, the right to free movements and establish residence, the right to asylum, the right to individual and collective property, the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, the right to participate in the universal government, the right to social security, the right to work, the right to have an adequate living standard, health and well-being, the right to education, the right to participate in cultural life and scientific progress, and the prohibition against universal organizations or any government to suppress these rights.

The great powers, who felt betrayed by their closest collaborators, decided to ignore these laws, announced their withdrawal from the universal organisms and reactivated their tax collection ports in the Mars-Jupiter area. They also deployed their military spacecrafts around the asteroid belt, in their own countries and in extraterrestrial colonies.

The main manufacturers of weapons and the radical ones of various poor and emerging countries established a secret alliance to end with the dictatorship of the great powers.

Indeed, the disowning of the new universal laws was the trigger for the third world war or first sidereal war (the battle fronts spread across several planets).

In the coming years, the Earth became a chaos. Several anarchic groups, supported by scientists and military, dissidents of the former great powers, took control of all governments. At first, the rebellion movement was very united, but after countries and colonies were handed out, rivalries and warfare between different factions resurfaced.

In short, the sidereal war, conceived to end the authority of the great powers, was transformed into a war of all against all, and the universal governments no longer existed.

Moreover, unexpectedly, all the planetary colonies that had immense resources and military forces rebelled, disowned the new governments of the Earth and easily achieved their independence.

The stories of betrayals were repeated, again and again. As well as the military chiefs of the former great powers were bribed by the rebels, in exchange for wealth and control of some colonies, the conspiracy leaders and their military collaborators were also bought by the rulers of the space colonies.

Sadly, the humanity, which had occupied more than 500 planets in the galaxy, was close to its own self-destruction, while the sidereal war seemed to never end…"

On his twenty-first birthday, Cuasimodo Fiestero finished reading the penultimate chapter of the first book of the saga The Sidereal War. He was a science-fiction fan, but didn´t like to read and only reviewed some parts of this novel, omitting the dialogues between the characters and the scenes of action and violence. Rather, Fiestero was complying with a mandatory reading of the professor of futurology, and it was his duty to analyze the messages of this literary work.

The next morning, without having read the end of this novel, he attended professor Luis Ohlive's class, who expressed:

-Fortunately, we live in a world with human rights and international institutions.

-This path is the result of the evolution of philosophical thought for more than two thousand years.

-It is true that there are authoritarian governments that are a sad scum.

-It is also undeniable that the democratic governments constitute a large majority, and are concerned with preserving democracy, justice and human rights.

-If there were no international institutions, then we would return to a time of barbarism, similar to that envisioned in The Sidereal War.

-Therefore, our duty as citizens is to support governments and ensure human rights.

-So we will never enter the path of self-destruction, conceived by Sabato Fauntleroy.

-Dear students, my exposition ends.

-I already activated the truth device.

-I remind you that if someone lies intentionally, the li-fi radiations will cause a collapse in his neural network and a very painful death.

-I will come first with the repeater.

-Student Cuasimodo Fiestero, how many times have you repeated this course?

The computer engineering student Cuasimodo Fiestero replied:

-Twice.

In a cynical way, the professor Luis Ohlive said:

-Very good!

-You are sincere and recognized this truth!

-Proceed with your defense!

Cuasimodo Fiestero, accustomed to these inquisitorial processes, expressed:

-Professor and students, I always tell the truth!

-I don´t care about the damn device!

-Anyway, I will always say the same!

-I will not give up my beliefs!

However, since Cuasimodo Fiestero wasn´t sincere with his first expressions, he felt a severe pain in his head (of course, Fiestero felt uncomfortable with the truth device).

Warned by this internal pain that he could not lie, his only choice was to expose his true position:

-I don´t like this novel!

-This is disappointing!

-The only matter in favor is that the author recognizes that we live in a dictatorship, disguised as democracy, and that the human race is heading to its eminent end!

-If the industrialized countries that manage the United Nations Organization and the Monetary Fund, at their convenience, continue acting in this way: We will end badly!

-Of course, this world is perverse, unfair and inhuman!

-No country helps others!

-No one fights against famines and epidemics!

-No one ends drug trafficking and terrorism!

-The rich and powerful have their fortunes in tax havens, while the workers pay more and more taxes!

The professor Ohlive interrupted Fiestero and said:

-Dear students, I asked you to read the novel, in order to understand its correct interpretation.

-As you have noticed, Fiestero will never approve this course, unless he changes his mind.

-How are we going to graduate a computer engineer, who will consider fair to support a rebellion, encouraged by his strange beliefs?

-He doesn´t understand that we defeated the path of self-destruction!

-Citizen Cuasimodo Fiestero, leave the room.

-You will never be an engineer!

-You should thank the government that your life and other human rights are respected!

This was the last day that Cuasimodo Fiestero visited the university of ethics and professional training, led by the government of a great power. On the next day, he received a letter of expulsion from the college president.

He imagined very well how the world was developing. Everything worked the other way around. For a long time, the northern countries, known as the great powers, were controlled by investors and corporations, who justified their abuses of power, stating that they defended the Rule of Law. In addition, they insisted that property rights and equal opportunities (for those who support authoritarian models) were fundamental, in order to guarantee the progress and development of humankind.

On the other hand, the southern governments, known as poor