[This analysis was written for the Unz Review] The end of the year is often a time of relative calm when the various parties to a conflict take a moment off, even when they declare nothing of the sort publicly (there are, of course, exceptions to this rule of thumb, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979). This year, both the Russians and the USA ended the year
[this analysis was written for the Unz Review] Those following the news from Russia have probably heard that Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov (official name: Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov), was put into dry dock for major repairs and retrofits. Things did not go well. First, the dry dock sank (it was Russia’s biggest) and then a huge crane came crashing down on the
[This analysis was written for the Unz Review] The recent Paris summit and the few days following the summit have brought a lot of clarity about the future of the Minsk Agreements. Short version: Kiev has officially rejected them (by rejecting both the sequence of steps and several crucial steps). For those interested, let’s look a little further. First, what just happened First, here are the key excerpts from the
The first thing we need to do is the remember what each participant wanted from this summit. Here is a summary of what I think (not how they officially stated it) each starting position was: Zelenskii: key notion “a flexible approach” to the Minsk Agreements No direct negotiations with the LDNR No special status Ukrainian control of the border with Russia Disarmament of the LDNR “militias” Removal of all foreign
[This article was written for the Unz Review] Last year I reviewed Andrei Martyanov’s book “Losing Military Supremacy: the Myopia of American Strategic Planning” for the Unz Review. In that book, Martyanov explained why the era of easy US victories over pretty much defenseless countries was over and what that meant for US force planners. This year it is my immense pleasure to review his latest book “The (real) Revolution
Dear friends, Here is the latest installment of my quarterly conversations with Catherine Austin Fitts. This one was recorded on November 6th. You can listen to the interview on the original Solari Report page: The Emerging Multipolar World with the Saker – The Unraveling Accelerates Listen or download the interview here: https://home.solari.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/sr20191107_InterviewHQ.mp3
Dear friends, As some of you know, once a year I like to pretend that the Saker blog is also some kind of wannabe Time Mag and I like to chose one (or several) “men” of the year. We are in December, so I am doing this again – this is a little silly, but still fun for me. But, before I begin, let me clearly state the following: First,
[this analysis was written for the Unz Review] When I wrote my recent article “Deconstructing Islamophobia” I expected a rather outraged reaction from the usual circles, but I have to admit that the actual level of outrage and even pure rage really surprised me. In fact, I never realized that hatred for, and fear of, Islam had reached such a level, especially in the USA. From time to time I
[this analysis was written for the Unz Review] In a recent article entitled “China, Bolivia and Venezuela are proof that social democracy cannot thrive in the global capitalist order” my China-based friend and correspondent Jeff J. Brown asked me an exceedingly interesting and important question. He wrote: Russia is a social democracy, with a large, successful people owned industrial sector and many social services for the 99% from the Soviet
Dear friends, I have to admit that I am absolutely heartbroken at the news coming out of Latin America. Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Bolivia – everywhere the people are struggling against what has been known as “Yankee imperialism” for decades. The pendulum of history has swung back and forth many times in Latin America. I remember the civil war in Argentina just before the coup
[this article was written for the Unz Review] In my July 25th article “Zelenskii’s dilemma” I pointed out the fundamental asymmetry of the Ukrainian power configuration following Zelenskii’s crushing victory over Poroshenko: while a vast majority of the Ukrainian people clearly voted to stop the war and restore some kind of peace to the Ukraine, the real levers of power in the post-Maidan Banderastan are all held by all sorts
These are the folks who just came to power: They are all members of some kind of Fascist “Christian” cult. This is what these folks did with those who dare oppose them: Trump loves this. He called it a “significant moment for democracy in the Western Hemisphere” and then he proceeded to threaten two more Latin American states by saying “these events send a strong signal to the illegitimate regimes
[this article was written for the Unz Review] Introduction: a short survey of the cuckoo’s nest My initial idea was to begin with a definition of “Islamophobia” but after looking around for various definitions, I decided to use my own, very primitive definition. I will define Islamophobia as the belief that Islam (the religion) and/or Muslims (the adherents to this religion) represent some kind of more or less coherent whole
[this analysis was written for the Unz Review] In his recent article “The Road to Damascus: How the Syria War Was Won” Pepe Escobar summarized the outcome of the war in Syria in the following way: “It’s a quadruple win. The U.S. performs a face saving withdrawal, which Trump can sell as avoiding a conflict with NATO ally Turkey. Turkey has the guarantee – by the Russians – that the
Introduction: I recently spoke to a relative of mine who, due to her constant and voluntary exposure to the legacy AngloZionist media, sincerely believed that the three Baltic states and Poland had undergone some kind of wonderful and quasi-miraculous economic and cultural renaissance thanks to their resolute break with the putatively horrible Soviet past and their total submission to the Empire since. Listening to her, I figured that this kind
[this analysis was written for the Unz Review] Well, that didn’t take too long. Let me summarize what just happened in the Ukraine. Everything was looking oh-so-promising and then suddenly… First, Trump, Macron and Merkel apparently told Zelenskii that he had to sign the so-called Steinmeier formula, which basically spells out the sequence of confidence-building and de-escalation measures foreseen by the Minsk Agreements. Now, you would be excused for thinking
This is a very special day for me, because the topics I will be covering are all very dear to my heart and to my entire family. Following the Bolshevik revolution my family and another 1.5 million Russians fled their beloved motherland at the end of the civil war. All our so-called European “allies” immediately betrayed us (what else is new?), organized an intervention and backed the russophobic Bolshevik regime
This will not be an analysis or even a commentary. Neither am I siding with, or expressing support for, the Turkish military operation in norther Syria. Finally, I am not discussing the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of the Kurdish Independence movement. All I propose to do here, is to draw your attention to a series of facts and logical imperatives which, in my opinion debunk and falsify the disinformation campaign
[this article was written for the Unz Review] No, this will not be an article about Russians kidnapped in Chechnia (that was a very long time ago) or somewhere in a combat zone. I will be talking about the USA and Iran. First, here are a few links for context: About the FBI’s illegal detention of parliament member Inga Iumasheva “Imagine FSB interrogating a US senator? FBI agent questions Russian
C.S. Lewis, in his preface to St Athanasius’ On the Incarnation, urges us to study the classics. He lamented how today (his “today,” but equally if not more importantly our own) people are more interested to read about the great figures of the past rather than the works themselves. He emphasized the need to return to the classic texts of the past, both to expose our own all-too-often hidden presuppositions
