91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳

Based on highly reliable international contacts, leaked documents and horoscopes from several TV magazines, Nostradamus' Media Watch presents a highly accurate forecast of political events across the globe. Bosnian war crime trials begin Before the end of the year CNN-sponsored war crimes trials begin in Bosnia. The televised trials, mixing the ratings success of the OJ Simpson trial and the popular show Gladiators, has military leaders from all sides participating in a series of obstacle challenges to determine their guilt and innocence, as rated by the audience. The most popular challenges, with both contestants and audience, prove to be "Torch the Village" and "Mortar the Shoppers". By early 1996, similar CNN TV challenges are being negotiated in Northern Ireland, Mozambique and Sri Lanka — and are praised in CNN-affiliate programs as having the potential to bring an end to conventional warfare. However, this claim proves false when a rival telecommunications consortium hires aged French mercenaries, armed with rocket launchers and re-runs of Starsky and Hutch, to take over CNN studios. Great political truths Following the Indonesian government's confession that the killing of Australian newsmen at Balibo in East Timor 20 years ago was not an accident, other world governments begin to come clean. The USA admits that it triggered the Vietnam War with a hoax attack in the Gulf of Tonkin, and maintained the trade embargo for so many decades only because it was a bad loser. The Serbian government admits that it has been backing the Bosnian-Serbs, with men and arms, for several years. Saddam Hussein admits to massacring Kurds with poisonous gas, being an incurable megalomaniac, and to not liking his in-laws. John Howard and Paul Keating admit to not really giving a stuff about the average worker. Maggie Thatcher admits to having a bad dress sense, and wishing she were the Queen. Japanese multi-nationals admit to not really being sorry about the World War II — except for not winning it. The military government of Burma admits that it never planned to hand back power to any democratically elected persons. United Nations scientists speculate that the epidemic of truth has the potential to be a bigger international disaster than global warming.