Signs of the times
It was the second week of 2020 and a large portion of the Australian eastern seaboard was burning. Catastrophic fires covering more than 10 million hectares had devastated entire ecosystems and townships. Meanwhile, trapped families were huddling together, holding vigil in the bays of beaches, waiting for the ash to stop falling like rain; for the sky to fade from its surreal, apocalyptic red. For help to come.
In capital cities on the east coast, the smoke was so strong people slept with their windows shut. The air quality in Canberra peaked at 25 times above what is considered hazardous.
It was the same week that US President Donald Trump, in the middle of an impeachment process, ordered the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a hugely popular military commander in Iran. Serious discussions of World War
