Dear friends, Christ is Born!
Welcome to my new blog!
There still might be kinks here and there, especially in the archives before 2014, but generally it looks solid to me.
Most of the work on the new blog was done by Gevorg from Armenia who did an absolutely *phenomenal* amount of work which included many, many hours of hard labor including patiently tutoring me on the capabilities of the new blog and asking my input on my preferences which often included complicated features such as the “community rss” (you can now see on the right column the headlines of all the other Saker Community blogs). If somebody needs a great webmaster, email me and I will help you get in touch with Gevorg.
Gevorg was not alone, however, and I also need to thank the following great people:
“X” (Administration)
“A” and “O” (Backend development)
The new blog includes many features which blogspot lacks. I encourage you to play around with the numerous ways of organizing the information and try out the various sections for yourself. Most importantly, I would ask everybody to begin commenting only here, on the new blog, and not on the old blogspot blog, so we can see what works well and what needs fixing.
My plans for the future are this: until the new blog is totally functional and all the kinks have ironed out, I will continue to double-posting on blogger and on the new blog with the sole purpose of keeping a backup and another archive. However, I will eventually close down the comments section on the old blog (once I am sure that everything works smoothly on the new blog). Still, I ask you to already voluntarily stop commenting on blogpost and to only post comment here, on the new blog. Please only post comments on blogspot if you have a technical problems posting on the new blog.
The other good news is that the Serbian Saker blog is now back with a brand new team, so make sure to check it out.
Finally, thanks for the hard work of “A” the transcript of my third podcast is available for download on the Saker Podcast download page.
That’s it for today. I will be back, God willing, on Friday.
Cheers and hugs to all,
The Saker
Well done. Looks good. I’ve not yet worked thru all the site options but decided to submit a comment from Oz to test the system.
I reply to myself to see how the feature works.
This is done via iPad on which the blog site looks great.
поздравляю Saker ! et С ПРАЗДНИКОМ!
Congratulation Saker for the good work and your ability to attract the very best talents.
This site is elegant and functional and hopefully will serve as a privileged forum for sharing and understanding.
Well done.
Clean fresh and easy to navigate.
Also happy to report that our Ukrainian residing Russia born cousins have escaped the junta are now safe in Sevastopol.
Wow! New Blog is totally awesome! Kudos to Gevorg and his team.
Saker, the word “Blog” is not on the top left, but on the picture a bit further down. Also since that area is moving, one can only see the word “blog” when the pic returns to the first spot.
I’m sure that’s clear as mad. LOL
Congratulations to all!. Exceptional job and worth the wait.
Opps, now I see it. Sorry.
The new blog looks awesome!
Some info on the oil price crash.
On Sep 22nd, it was announced that Rockefeller heirs decided to dump oil and go for renewable energy. On that day oil was at 95usd or so. Then it went into freefall. I would presume that they started dumping oil long before the announcement, when oil was still at 110usd area.
According to Andrey Fursov, the Rockefeller family (together with Rothschild, Baruch) is one of the wealthiest and most powerful players and traditionally the oil-business is their business. So my guess is that they are they have a lot to do with the oil price crash.
https://in.news.yahoo.com/rockefellers-reinvest-renewable-energy-134217877.html
fabulous, super duper, heartfelt thanks to all who have created this website and who contribute according to Saker principles.I’ll miss those little house number captchas…..
I don’t like the new blog at all. The old one was more simple and easier to follow.
Anyway, I am here.
Is anybody going to comment on what has happened in Paris?
I have commented about it in the last open thread on the old blog.
Agree. I don’t understand the structure of the blog. It is not obvious what is most recent. Most of what I can see seems to be old.
Dear Katherine, you can go to the very top and click on the orange button called “Blog”. That will bring you to the blog section of this website where all the articles are listed in chronological order. You can bookmark that link if you want to go there directly next time.
UPDATE: “Blog” is now called “Latest Articles“.
Hi Wend, I kind of feel the same way.
Ann, what’s really good about this site is that we can make replies directly to a comment, as I’m doing to yours. It’s the greatest strength of this new blog, and one that I saw working wonders for consensual discussion in the previous version of the new blog, during the short time it was running. I’ve noticed that you try to make responses to several disparate comments when you write, and I think you’ll like this attribute a lot. Be of good heart, see how it grows on you :)
Personally I found the homepage a bit bewildering at first encounter, but I think we’ll all find that soon most of the material will be familiar. If you get lost, I’ve found it helps to click on the “RSS feed” link in the top menu – the black bar at the very top of the page – this gives the actual chronological list of blog posts.
Ah – thank you Grieved. I was wondering where to find the chronological posts – RSS feed at the top of the page left hand side bar.
Maybe the Saker when he is back can add this to his welcome post so everyone knows. Thanks The Saker.
Rgds,
Veritas
If you go to the very top of the website and click the orange “Blog” button then you will go to the blog section of this website. There you will find all the articles in chronological order like on blogspot.
UPDATE: “Blog” is now called “Latest Articles“.
Thank You! That’s a nice view, just became my bookmark for this site :)
Embrace change, it’s good for the soul…. ;-)
Hi Wned, +1 from me too.
I like the navigational sections for older content but front page would be nice to have it time lined like content on the old blog.
Another issue as with fortruss blog is the lack of scaling on mobile devices. I read off a 7 Inch phablet at 320dpi and it was nicer when I could scale the text a little. Now i feel like I am reading contents label on food packaging.
Just a couple thoughts. Thanks.
Again, If you go to the very top of the website and click the orange “Blog” button then you will go to the blog section of this website. There you will find all the articles in chronological order like on blogspot.
Regarding scaling font-size…
It’s currently not integrated into the theme but if more people should mention the same problem then we can think about a solution for it. Is zooming or font-size increase not possible on your mobile device?
UPDATE: “Blog” is now called “Latest Articles“.
WOW wherever did you find Gevorg from Armenia???! ! !
Impressive and delightful.
So pleased to see St George and the dragon prominently displayed…
Gevorg found Saker. He’s been a long-time reader here, I don’t know what name he uses here though.
One advantage of this blog, is the THREADED comments. It is obvious who you are replying to, and you can skip side conversations you are less interested in.
The new site looks awesome, Great work!
The site looks very good. Great job guys.
Wow! The new site looks fantastic. Many thanks to Gevorg and the team for this great work!
Congratulations on the new site and thank you very much to everyone who made this possible.
At first glance it seems that the information is very well organized. The font size is better than in the other attempt.
Looks great, really, but I have affection for the old blog, you know that I become attached to everything/ everyone…..
The only thing, I hope not to miss something important for not having checked all sections. In the old blog, usually trying to read every post.
Saker not see the section on Housekeeping and Open Threads
elsi, if you go to the very top and click on “Blog”, you’ll go to the blog section of this website where all the articles are listed in chronological order.
Hi Gevorg, what a good job! Are you moderating now?
A question: Do you find it’s ok to copy here my comment on the attack in Paris that has become in the last open thread of the old blog?
I think that the Saker may open a new thread just for that topic elsi. Maybe you can wait a little while.
Ok, I ´ll wait, no problem. I really want to know Armenia, I was about to go this year but September did not seem like the best time to go, because of the rain.
Ah ha, thanks for the tip Gevorg.
Could we get page scaling support happening as well???
Please. :-)
Thanks for your work.
Thank you very much to all for the kind words regarding the development of the new Saker website. It was my pleasure developing it for him. His excellent articles surely deserve there audience.
Greetings from Armenia.
Gevorg
Gevorg – Top job! You are to be congratulated – Saker is fortunate to have found you.
Beautiful work and excellent blog! Informative and thoughtful. Thanks, Saker, for your work. May God bless you!
This version looks real good – happy nativity and kudos for all of that hard work
Like the new site and the new look. Keep up the good work!
This looks so damn amazing!
Congrats!
Congratulations on the new site. It looks and behaves very well. Gevorg clearly knows his business.
elegant!! & yet very functional – I am impressed with the skills that went into this.
blessings on each of you that worked to make this a reality.
All my best wishes to Saker and friends for this new site and year!!
This is one of my top five sites and spiritwise my number one.
This is a remarkable effort, splendidly done; Bravo! For those of us who came recently to this informative site, the sections are helpful to expand our understanding of Saker’s positions, so that hopefully he will not need to keep repeating himself. And I like very much the topics lines of each of the Saker communities so that there is more of a connection to them ongoing.
A second time, Bravo!
Dear The Saker,
The new blog looks wonderful – congrtulations. Thank you to Gevorg for all the great work you have done. Also thanks to:
“X” (Administration)
“A” and “O” (Backend development)
I noticed one small thing – where the donate button is I didn’t see the instructions for Amazon payments too as per the old blog.
Look forward to exploring the whole blog over the coming days.
Rgds,
Veritas
You will find that information on the contact page here:
/contact/
Thank you :)
It looks awesome, it also loads much faster than the old one, Gevorg did a great job!
It is good to be on the new site. The reply field is much easier for an old man like me. I am looking forward to the postings!
Looks very good so far.
Nice new site although Russia Insider might become jealous. Merry Christmas .
This is a very nice site – the first attempt at the new blog wasn’t nearly as successful as this one. Congrats to Saker and “great job” to Gevorg!
Hmm… so far, I like this one better than the older “new” site. A lot of the critiques that people had about the older “new” site have been fixed. Thank you!
Perhaps the link to seeing all posts in chronological order (“blog”) could be more prominent, but it’s not a huge issue. Anyway, I’m going to explore before passing further judgement, but so far I like what I see.
Very well done!
You stuck it to Google and that stupid Blogspot format.
Very nice work, and perfect day in Saker’s world to be ‘born’.
Appreciated, Gevorg and the team. Take a bow and our thanks.
I posted this comment below on the old blog and I think two others have also mentioned the same article and would like The Saker’s thoughts or a least a discussion started on this apparent volte-face ‘bowing and scraping to Empire USA’ by China:
Does anyone know what to make of this apparent ‘tugging of the forelock’ to USA hegemony -from Asia Times?
“Wang Yang reportedly said, “China and United States are global economic partners, but America is the guide of the world. America already has the leading system and its rules; China is willing to join the system and respect those rules and hopes to play a constructive role.” ”
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/CHIN-01-050115.html
Larchmonter445 January 06, 2015
Anonymous 06 January, 2015 01:34
RE: China and the US
China’s one of four Vice Premier’s words are not policy. They were words Americans wanted to hear. They were spoken in trade meetings in Chicago.
Chinese want to change the power of the US inside all the institutions of trade, finance, commerce, banking. The US hegemony will persist for another decade at least in some ways.
China is heavily invested inside the US, holds 1 Trillion of US debt in Treasuries, and 1 Trillion in dollars. They are huge trading partners and US investors pour money into China.
Taken that China seeks no hegemonic role for itself, and it is about 30 years behind in military, China uses these opportunities to play sweet, soft music for Americans who make deals with them.
China and Russia are together for the next 30-35 years at least. Nothing changes because some soft words were spoken to stroke America’s ego.
China will own the biggest markets and dominate the developing world while the US will still be lighting its foot on fire over and over.
Let me know if Xi or Li ever speak like this.
What Xi says is the US and China should cooperate to end wars, fight terrorism, narco-trafficking and smooth out regional problems around the world like Syria, Iran, and North Korea.
Understand that the Premiership (from whence Wang comes as one of four VP’s) is about economic issues, trade in particular.
He has no portfolio that includes state relations.
If he was from the Foreign Ministry, this would be big news.
The fact it is disseminated as regurgitation from Hong Kong 9Asia Times is not pro-Beijing0, and it is sourced from a foreigner working at Beijing University-NGO style expert from Italy, means, he is writing Western POV, not Chinese.
So, it’s big words to get big contracts and deals for China.
Blowing smoke up someone’s butt.
Chinese are masters of telling you what you want to hear.
Like the environmental deal they gave to Obama. They do nothing for 20 years, then they’ll think about doing something.
Thanks Larchmonter, I had hoped this was the case. I must confess though to always enjoying Pepe Escobar’s articles in Asia Times, although he is a bit off the mark at times with exaggeration.
Today’s article by Pepe in A.T. would be a very oblique one if it were ‘establishment’ driven.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-080115.html
You mention Indian sources and one occasional contributor to Asia Times is M K Bhadrakumar.
His articles are so different, abstract in many ways and yet so detailed that at times verification is difficult. Take this one which shouldn’t be dificult to verify :
http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2015/01/01/ice-cracking-in-us-russia-ties/
” In the run-up to the summit, the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has unilaterally announced that Kiev no longer intends to militarily regain control of the eastern territories.”
Whereas there were signs of this ever since Kiev cut off services to the east back in November did he actually say this and can one really believe it as sincere, particularly since the USA calls the shots in Ukraine?
Sanctuary One, I don’t know if you’ll see this but I’ll try to add this to other threads as well – regarding India. An Indian guest author here last month by the name of Avarachan recommended some good sources for us. His article on December 12 was this: Following the Chinese example, India decides on a strategic partnership with Russia
In the body of his article he endorsed this site, which I now keep bookmarked as a great source:
And down in the comment thread later he gave us this:
I’ve gone back to the Diplomat a couple of times but not enough to know what I think of its position. It’s an open question to me – all opinions welcome.
Thanks for the India links; assessing any ulterior motives/agenda on websites is important. At the same time, within reason -and that can be difficult to define- I like opposing articles that are intelligent and articulate. I find that balance more comforting since I am a boundary thinker -horizontal rather than vertical and, with the entire spectrum spread out so to speak, I can form my own opinion and pursue my own research from the data presented.
Some of the India newspapers are just echo-chambered western MSM but consistently so and lacking any subtlety are easy to filter out.
I was wondering about that as well. Perhaps simply dip[lomacy while the New Order is being prepared? Or is it capitulation?
The Chinese and the Russians want to be part of the leadership of the world’s systems of trade and commerce, banking and financial investment. They want an equity position. They don’t want second-class, obedient follower positions which is what is going on now in the IMF, BIS, WB etc, etc, including SWIFT, and the Ratings orgs.
They keep speaking to that goal while building and bankrolling the Eurasian development of the EEU, New Silk Road, Maritime Silk Road, Eurasian Belt and the BRIC’s development.
So, they are doing two things. They say to the Hegemon: change and we are with you; and they act: China and Russia have been moving forward with scores of actions related to scores of nations. And they are moving on defense of these new partners and building infrastructure of energy (oil, gas, nuclear) and roads, railroads and ports or access to ports for land-locked nations.
That is what is going on. China is not bowing to the Hegemon on any issue. And you should be aware that Russia is not bowing to the Hegemon on anything.
This material is not difficult to find on the Internet. Just don’t use Western media sources or paid-for-fifth column or NGO sources. Go to the nation like China. Read China Daily and Global Times. Don’t read Hong Kong-based sources. They are all British or Taiwanese or US backed outlets.
Russia has a variety of sources: RT, Tass, and now FortRus, Russia Insider, English.Pravda even has a bit of useful info.
Then go to some India sources. They are all over the place, but you’ll learn to perceive whose goose or what gravy is being served.
Nothing in the West is of any use. Nor is Google search unless you want 155,000 of the same article dispersed across their servers.
I watched a speech of Zbigniew Brzerzinski in China sometime in Decrmber last year, he was scolding the Chinese leadership for allowing a couple of loud mouth underlings to give the impression that China will oppose American policy WRT Russia. He openly made veiled threats and reminded the big shots in the room to keep their minions in check, and was applauded with a standing ovation by the Chinese elites, in China. I’m not sure how you can trust China’s promises to Russia on the one hand, while casting doubt on those same promises to America. Those promises cost China nothing. Especially when there’s ample proof that the entire Chinese elite was set up with American financing and guidance. Not to mention the fact that China is inseperably tied to the U.S economy at the structural foundations. How can you be so certain that they’ll threaten their own interests and risk destruction for Russia’s sake? What have they to gain from risking American terror that they don’t already have from American patronage? Will China even purchase oil and gas from Russia at higher prices than market value as a show of support in these difficult times, or are they more likely to take full advantage of America’s manipulation of the oil market and enrich themselves at Russia’s expense? What loss are they willing to take to prove their solidarity with Russia?
Simply sublime.
BRAVO !!!
Regarding Charlie Hebdo, I notice this post from two years ago:
/french-magazing-to-publish-shocking-caricatures-of-the-prophet-mohammed/
To Gevrog,
You have done a fantastic job!
The site is iPad friendly. It is also well organized.
:)
Thank you so much for helping saker with the site and making it so user friendly.
On XP and Firefox 22 the articles are truncated without a ‘more’ link.
(End of line for M$ here. Havent checked on Linux yet).
I do prefer the personalized *feel* of the old site, as the new one looks more ‘typical’ though
well designed.
As a side note I really, really like the new ‘Latest Comments’ tab.
One suggestion, though: A community forum would greatly help in keeping important threads alive and current. Your website software may have a free addon, or there are plenty of free Open Source solutions at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Internet_forum_software
Website looks good, but readers are used to blogspot, thus they find it simpler to find articles and comment in the old platform. People in general do not like change but I’m sure you’ve got your reasons for this move.
As a long time reader, I want to say that this is the most informative blog in the whole blogosphere.
I enjoy reading your views and analysis as well as the views of the readers.
All the very best for you Saker. 2015 will be very eventful.
Congratulations for your new blog and design. It looks great.
On Francesco Sisci’s article in atimes.com. He has been critical of Putin’s policies in most of his posts. Besides, somebody who states the the European banks are sound seems to be coming from ‘Alice in Wonderland’. To assume that China would seriously align themselves to the US is utter nonsense, even if China would state so publicly.
Thank you Saker, looks great!
The new site is wonderful! Kudos to the team!
Comment: When I reply or otherwise comment, I am returned to the TOP of the page…awkward, as then I must find where I was before the comment.
Love the new blog!
:)
Is there a size limit on how long a comment can be here – like there is at the Blogspot site? I didn’t see a place for “technical info”, such as format tools for comment posts. Maybe a “site FAQ” page in the “About This Blog” or “Sitemap” sections might be handy to provide miscellaneous info on how to post, posting formatting and any other things people might have questions about the site, as these questions arise?
Congratulations! The blog is great.
Congratulations this is absolutely great! Worth every minute of the wait. Its a huge improvement over blogger and it also does better than the old new blog :). It also looks great on my phone with a 3.5inch screen.
The rss feeds from the other sakers is another great feature. My personal favorite is the archives. I had began exploring the archives and on blogger it was a real pain navigating to a particular year month and post. This makes it so much easier.
If I may presume I do have a couple of hopefully useful suggestions. Have a block with the titles of posts made on this day a few years back. I think it would be fun. Also have a must read posts block e.g must read for newbies.
just my 2cts
this is really an awesome home for an awesome blog.
Your first suggestion is something to consider. Your second suggestion is already available on this website.
In the main slideshow at the top you will find index slides about topics in the “Spotlight”. These articles have been picked out of the archives which go back several years. “Newbies” can, in addition to that, also read the articles listed under “About the Saker”, “Personal Remarks” and “Saker Rants” to get a better understanding of what this blog is all about.
Didn’t dig deep yet but at first glance it looks like stellar work. Images! Images everywhere! My bet is that the traffice will take a solid boost from this. Awesome.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/194441/stephen-cohen-how-new-york-times-got-ukraine-wrong#
like always, Stephen Cohen presents an academic view of things. listen to id.
Nice, nice, nice. Good job done. Very easy to comment too. OT but a link about the false flag in Paris: http://aanirfan.blogspot.se/2015/01/mossad-attacks-paris.html
Excellent job!
There is one minor (but annoying) bug. The main menu marker is always focused on “Blog”, regardless of the section you are actually viewing.
The “Blog” section button is highlighted so people hopefully will find it more easily. It’s highlighted on every page. People are still missing that there is a blog section on this website where they can find the articles in chronological order.
UPDATE: “Blog” is now called “Latest Articles“.
Firefox on XP does not show the menu items seen on the top bar in this picture (Homepage, Blog, etc). Nor does it show the items on the bar below (Analysis, Interviews, etc). Instead, it shows a little white square (consisting of white lines) at the left end of those bars. Clicking on it, brings a pulldown menu with all the items arranged vertically, on black background.
That version of the menu which you are describing is for mobile devices which have a screen resolution of below 1024px. It is not a problem of Firefox or Windows XP. What screen resolution are you using?
I am using 1024 x 768 which is the maximum in my computer.
I have already put this theme to use the narrowest width which it supports. Unfortunately that is 1024px. You are exactly at the edge of this themes settings when it comes to changing the layout for mobile devices. But I’ll find a solution for this. Give me a little while and I’ll try to fix this for you. You can leave your reply here when it works for you.
I’ve looked into this issue and unfortunately I have to leave the layout settings as they are because the majority of the visitors are using higher resolutions.
But you can try this…
Try to zoom down the website by one step. If you are using the Firefox browser then it is “Ctrl -“ (control minus). Other browsers should be similar. You usually find the zoom function under the setting “View”.
You can also try to go into full-screen mode of your browser and see if that helps in this situation. If you are using Firefox then you would have to hit F11 to get in and out of full-screen mode. But the first option will probably solve your problem.
Great promissing work in the vineyard. Congrats!
Regarding the assasinations in Paris: the empire of chaos accomplishing in the short and the long range, stirring the fires of rage of any kind. Whatever or however the strings are which are guiding the murdeous puppets, the ratio remains “The engeneering of Consent” (Edward Bernay).
2014 has seen this “even tectonic shift” also in a broad realization of what George Orwell even noticed after WWII, the complete surreal world of PR as “normality”.
To me it’s a relieve every day, to realize, that the artificial mindsetters have no
access to heaven and the Sun-Moon-planets-family and their accordance with the archetypes deep inside ours.
Yesterday, January 7th, Mars the ejector reached a very distinguished grade in the zodiac: 26° Aquarius. It’s here where Pluto of the water-aeon (feeling, specially religious) is residing since 1305 till 2159.
And Pluto, the ruler of that part in life, which belongs to the ancestors and the coming generations within the livings, rules Scorpio the opposit- partner in our psyche, which nurtures the bond with the species in opposition to Taurus, the consumption of the individual. So Pluto claims in every time for a relative amount of abandonment. If there is no or not enough waiver Pluto seems to be loaded with plans and structures created out of cold wrath. Who then appeares as the executor of this wrath, depends on the political landscape. A Policy, like that of Wladimir Putin, with it’s large abandonments in 2014 e.g. Cuba, Sudan, Novorossia !!! … is crucially more in accordance with the equilibrium of things, than that of the empire.
Here the chart and reading of the complete week in the astrological window:
http://astromundanediary.blogspot.de/2015/01/freedom-and-sacrifice-likewise-and.html
Very nice work from Gevorg and team.
To Bot Tak on this blog and I think it was Elsi on the old blog.
The comments section on the old blog had a maximum of 4k (4096 bytes).
Gevorg will no doubt answer for this blog,but I wanted to point out something else.
When people type on a text editor every space is a value, 1 byte,so if you leave a empty line it uses whatever the line capacity is,50?,60?
Empty lines and spaces between words make for easy reading,but it is all memory.
cheers.
Spaces between words are characters, yes. Entire empty lines between paragraphs are not 100’s of “space” characters, they are just 2 sets of “line feed” and “carriage return” characters.
So that space above ^^ only cost me 2 characters. Some simple old text editors might not work like this, but sensible ones should.
We’ll have to find out, but there is sure to be some kind of length limit. It would depend on how the program sends your post contents back to the server, which depends on memory allocation within the software. Very long squashed posts are hard to read. It is better to space them out legibly and post them as 2 or 3 posts.
Congratulations on the new Web Blog. Best wishes for a healthy happy prosperous New Year 2015
any comments on ukraine budget passing in Rada?
http://youtu.be/DH4ggfI9zwY
any comments on siding with west for money?
http://regnum.ru/news/polit/1882765.html
http://fortruss.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/cannon-fodder-for-donbass-not-yet-ready.html
even ukr beginning to realise new troop mobilisation could be useless-poor quality.
Will EU embrace Eurasian e. Union ? Sounds much more sensible than TTIP thing…
http://fortruss.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/italian-medical-mission-reports-of.html
50 hospitals destroyed report
http://fortruss.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/lugansk-republic-press-conference-re.html
re batman
Any thoughts on these people?Recommend saker.net to be on their links?
http://newcoldwar.org/manifesto-of-the-peoples-front-for-the-liberation-of-ukraine-novorossiya-and-transcarpathian-rus-2/
http://newcoldwar.org/interview-boris-litvinov/
Boris Litvinov was interviewed by Halyna Mokrushyna for New Cold War.org on November 30, 2014 about the political situation in Donetsk, the region’s relations with Ukraine and Russia, and the future of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Boris Litvinov is the former head of the Supreme Council of the DPR and is a deputy of the People’s Council of the DPR. Not sure if vineyard has been notified of this report-apologies if people have seen it.
Ukrainian military spokseman Andriy Lysenko told the press on Monday that Russia was sending soldiers disguised as separatrist militants to bolster the defence of the seized eastern Ukrainian lands, amid an ongoing internal battle between the insurgency leadership.
MOSCOW, January 5 (Sputnik) — An Iranian Air Defense commander on Monday warned NATO against flying planes within the country’s airspace following recent claims identifying an aircraft from the military alliance.
Fortrussblog needs new vineyardsaker.net link-still got older one, also russia insider…..
novorossiya, voice sevastopol, sputnik seem to be more self contained/just relying on twtter fb etc etc-can/should saker supporters do some kind of “outreach” eg contacting via these social media to these sites with new saker.net link, also anna-news,vkontaktye etc?Or is everyone happy it grows naturally? Saker is obviously able to add his own links if he wishes! Any other websites that might like a saker link? Just wonder what Saker would be happy with……
Newsweek:In Yekaterinburg, the main city of Russia’s Ural region, retired army officer Vladimir Yefimov organizes army veterans to fight for Russia in southeastern Ukraine, more than 1,000 miles away.
While Russia’s deployment of army troops and non-official Russian “volunteer” fighters in Ukraine is not news, Yefimov describes in new detail how Russian army vets are selected, organized and paid to join the war. His account underscores that the army of Russian “volunteers” is run with at least the tacit help of the Kremlin.
Yefimov is a former special forces (spetsnaz) officer who now heads the Sverdlovsk Oblast Fund for Special Forces Veterans. In an interview with Yekaterinburg Online, a local news website, he told of sending between 150 and 250 fighters to Ukraine’s Donbas war zone this year.
I’ve been looking for the social media icons can’t seem to find them on the articles. Still in the fine-tuning to be done I hope. Congrat’s on a fine new site. Well worth the wait.
Yes, we have been discussing social media integration and I think we will have it in the coming days.
Long-time reader, first time commenter. Well done on the new blog. Best wishes for continued success.
hopefully my comments are getting through to the correct place, I had previously on old website felt at times that every blog by Saker seemed to in the end “diversify” too far? from the initial subject focus, but that encouraged diverse opinion and a wider range of commentators too- I quite liked that open thread idea (maybe it could be permanent but have a daily time limit that gets expunged every day? “The Daily Open Thread”, so people can just peruse that if they wish?? like a kind of “brainstorm section”?? or maybe I just need to be more familiar with how the comments work)as a way of just submitting miscellaneous collections /links of info etc that might be relevant to the ethos of vineyard saker as well as individual topics …..but then there is always a danger of such a thing of just being overrun, then attracting trolls etc……it is nice noticing /bringing to attention of people other articles from say fortruss, RI etc, but is it better to let people read these for themselves as these sites seem to very good at collating these articles , whereas I come here for info and analysis and a sense of belonging to a wider community……
Comment on RSS Feed: Clicked on it and got a bunch of formatted code (aka gobbledygook).
Cheers
Which RSS feed did you click that produced the “gobbledygook”?
The top thread is not worth posting on,Gladio does not change it’s spots,Charlie who?,is that you Charlie Brown?.
Here is something that will be of interest to those supporting Russia.
http://www.vineyardsaker.co.nz/
Conversation: Nikolai Starikov on Ukraine, Sanctions and the Ruble Collapse.
In the Q & A Starikov states quite clearly that in 2000 Vladimir Putin tried to get the State Duma to subordinate the Central Bank to the State.
They ALL! refused.
More recently his,and Fedyrov’s political party tabled legislation before the State Duma,once again removing the independence of the Central Bank,and guess what?….
280 of the deputies FLED rather than vote!,no yes vote,nil no votes, not even an abstention, they just leave before the Americans sanction them.
There dear people you have the true 5th column, someone can just arrive with a suitcase of 100$ bills at their house and the deputies will do what they ask,it isTHAT simple.
We reap as we sow,and accept false narative after false narative.
Who elected these deputies? thats right,the same kind of people who elected the US congress,the UK parliament…etc,etc.
We reap as we sow.
Caveat Emptor.
Joat, thank you for these details. This perspective offers us a good measure of what Russia is up against.
I can see why you visit the Oceania blog, they seem to carry some great financial analysis, I’m going to have to follow them. I’m still reading this post they just translated from the French Saker: http://www.vineyardsaker.co.nz/2015/01/08/the-united-states-prepares-to-end-precious-metals-trading-and-set-the-dollars-value-officially-by-stratediplo/
The link you gave leads to a 404 error: “The page you are looking for
has been moved or doesn’t exist anymore!”
I edited the link to make it work. It may be that the link and it’s title were too long for the formating tags. I’ll keep an eye on this.
2 attempt
Hi Grieved, I have just finished the dollar article on Oceana.
Those that follow the PM movements like Troyounce.blogspot.com
http://troyounce.blogspot.co.uk/
quickly realize the total falsity of the so called ‘markets’.
This measure was bruited about in autumn last year and it is to me, a clear signal of impending doom for the paper debt obligation gambling casino refered to as the ‘Comex’ a.k.a Crimex.
The vast majority of the PM movement is controlled via the Forex markets,not the paper futures contracts,just watch every day on Kitco,the US ‘Exchange Stabilization Fund’ and the British equivalent
‘Exchange Equalization Account’ ramp the US dollar and dump Au,Ag.
The charts on Kitco move in lockstep,gold and silver down,dollar up.
They are obviously restricting a ‘flight to safety’ by only allowing a small daily incremental increases.
* The US is in the process of losing the ‘Petro Dollar’
* Two thirds of all dollars are outside of the US
* For those dollars to come home would create a disaster,so they will not allow real ‘price discovery’ of anything.
In the last three months the dollar Index has gone from 73 – 92.4,a complete fiction of fundamentals,like Ukraine currency,15.4980/1 USD
Russian Rubles 61.7523/1 USD….really Ukraines currency is 4 times the worth of Russia’s? not to mention that Russia is the richest country in the world?.
Once they get rid of their dumb ass politicians the Russian people will be richer per capita than Americans and the Brits et al.
To me this adds up to……
By the pricking of my thumbs something wicked this way comes
cheers.
I watched a speech of Zbigniew Brzerzinski in China sometime in Decrmber last year, he was scolding the Chinese leadership for allowing a couple of loud mouth underlings to give the impression that China will oppose American policy WRT Russia. He openly made veiled threats and reminded the big shots in the room to keep their minions in check, and was applauded with a standing ovation by the Chinese elites, in China. I’m not sure how you can trust China’s promises to Russia on the one hand, while casting doubt on those same promises to America. Those promises cost China nothing. Especially when there’s ample proof that the entire Chinese elite was set up with American financing and guidance. Not to mention the fact that China is inseperably tied to the U.S economy at the structural foundations. How can you be so certain that they’ll threaten their own interests and risk destruction for Russia’s sake? What have they to gain from risking American terror that they don’t already have from American patronage? Will China even purchase oil and gas from Russia at higher prices than market value as a show of support in these difficult times, or are they more likely to take full advantage of America’s manipulation of the oil market and enrich themselves at Russia’s expense? What loss are they willing to take to prove their solidarity with Russia?
Good new look, but two important details that bother me are:
1. The standard view in the homepage should be posts in chronological order as it always has been. Assigning articles to a medley of sections is too confusing and should be optional by each viewer. The chronological view allows us to quickly see all the posts that have appeared since our last visit, and is the easiest way not to miss any posts.
2. The comments don’t have a time stamp except for the date, which makes it difficult to identify them. This problem is compounded by the fact that there is no longer a link to point to a particular comment (in the old blog, the time stamp on a comment contains a link to the comment.
(1) The easiest way to find the articles in chronological order is to click on the orange “Blog” button at the very top. It will bring you to /blog/ where all articles are listed as you describe. You can bookmark this link if you prefer to see the articles in the chronological blog view.
(2) I’ll note your second remark and can try to add that feature. Currently the comments are separated into several pages when there are many of them. 55 top level comments is the maximum for each comment page. I would have to deactivate that feature in order to add the direct link of the comment. Otherwise it may change later on and become not-findable.
UPDATE: “Blog” is now called “Latest Articles“.
Thank you. I think deactivating the multiple page feature for comments would be good, as it would make searching among comments much easier. And the ability to link to each comment would be great because there are some excellent comments being made on this blog to which one may wish to refer to by having a link.
I’ve added your suggestion to my to-do list and will pass it on to the Saker. There is too much going on right now but we’ll consider it. The first article about the events in France has already over 310 Comments. I’m not sure if people will want to scroll so much on one page especially when it is a more lengthy article.
I very much apperciate your considering this and of course I did not make those suggestions in any kind of earnest or sense of entitlement. It’s just that I immediately missed them as useful features of the old blog.
I am infinitely grateful to this blog, mainly because of Saker’s analyisis, but also because of the great quality of some of the comments that appear here. I’ve often quoted comments from this blog using the link embeded in the old time stamp, which scrolls the page automatically to the specific comment. Great feature for a blog with such outstanding commenters.
Yes I really like this new blog. Love the facility to reply directly to a comment. Also special mention on the choice of Saker logos. Great! Have the feeling of us all embraced under the wing of this fearless bird. Also love the Saker head in ‘thinking’ pose – quite a character study.
Thanks for posting the formatting tools above the posting boxes. Very handy reference for slow learners like me.
Your welcome.
Vineyard Moderator – may I suggest one final thing to add to the formatting tools above the posting boxes? One more line showing how to use
I’ve added explanations for three more editing options, one for quoting, one for citing and a third one for a blockquote. Thanks for the suggestion.
Could you give us the byte capacity of the comments field please,is it 4k like blogger?.
thank you for your work.
Using an android tablet and the stock android browser, some lines of text are overwritten and unreadable. This is a fairly common problem, many sites are like that. Using the chrome browser on the same device, the site comes in loud and clear. A big improvement over the old site. Excellent work, and thanks for making this all available to us.
Congrats!
Excellent effort to all involved!
Remember one thing: Do NOT turn into Zerohedge…
Saker’s a rough diamond – this all looks very polished and tarted up to me – good luck my friend. . .
Hi Saker, and congrats for the new blog. It was about time you ditched the servers of a company who willingly collaborates with The Company. I know a couple of people who would have liked to comment on your old blog but were afraid to because of that.
Your moderation policy is perfect, but it takes all the fun out of trolling.
@ The Saker(s)
Judging from the totally disingenuous affirmations you made about the current state of western sexuality being the fault of Catholicism (not to mention the outright lies and cowardly insults which you permit from other posters against Christian denominations you dislike) I suppose you intend to promote the cause of Eastern Orthodoxy as the only salvation of the world.
As Jesus Christ said, you should first look at the beam in your own eye. I recommend you to start with I.Aksakov’s works, and then maybe progress to the accord of Metz.
You may “remove in anger” my post, it is your prerogative and in fact I wrote it for you. I just want to tell you that you and your people will not make any friends in the West or in the Eastern Europe with this kind of aggressiveness and truthtwisting. People have longer memories than you think.
And right now you (in the plural) need all the friends you can get.
Catholicism has been a curse on the world since the Paulinization of the church.
Eastern Orthodoxy did not create disgusting medieval hygeine,e.g ‘washing is a sin’ i.e. paying too much attention to the body, etc.
Eastern Orthodoxy did not create the ‘ Spanish Inquistion’ or the ‘Auto de Fe’.
Likewise Eastern Orthodoxy did not create the Portuguese Inquisition and Mexican Inquisition.
Eastern science did not keep learning from the masses,while the European countries were but 5 centuries behind Arabic medicine, astronomy,poetry and Sufi mystics etc.
The Catholics were ‘Flat Earthers’ & ‘Sun revolves around the Earth’ type of people,persecuting those like Copurnicus & Galilao for ‘Heresy’.
Lest we think this is all in the past,just check out the Christian Brothers in Australia and Ireland and South America.
Opus Dei has tentacles all over the world and is allied to every right wing repressive movement,the Vatican is ‘Fascist Central’ and always has been.
The same tired old argument arrives…which is bad?
the singers or the song
Oh, dear… Vatican “fascist”, the evil Opus Dei… How very Da Vinci code.
Well, maybe the Eastern Orthodox Church should remember the collaboration with the repressive communist regime and then work its way down the ages to the times when it burnt the old believers at the stake (just like the inquisition by the way) for not accepting to cross themselves with three fingers. And then even farther to the time when the Byzantine emperors ordered the heretics to be blinded, with the complete accord of the church (like the 10,000 bogomils who had their eyes gouged). And don’t forget the first years after WW2 when the church gladly accepted all the properties stolen from the “uniates” when they were forcefully “reunited” with the orthodox.
At least the Vatican publicly appologized for its past misdeeds, whereas Orthodox Central continues to deny its own, although the whole world knows them. That should give you pause for thought.
Bonjour,
J’aime beaucoup ce nouveau site. Je le trouve clair, facile à utiliser,les thèmes sont bien classés et les articles sont aisés à retrouver. Mille félicitations et remerciement au concepteur et réalisateur de ce beau site.
Un autre plaisir: la présence du faucon méditatif en haut à droite de la page d’accueil. Parmi les images proposées antérieurement, c’était mon préféré. Je suis ravie de le retrouver là, en symbole d’une puissance retenue, Belles fêtes de Noël et amitiés à tous nos amis qui suivent le calendrier orthodoxe.
is it ok to keep adding items to previous blogs where they are more appropiate-eg Ukraine crisis,to continue these, rather than clog up new analysis and blogs with perhaps extraneous information, but will these show up as “new comments”?
Yes, they will show up as new comments. But they will have a short staying time in the “Latest comment” section at the bottom of the page, given the amount of new comments that pours in.
appreciate your reply, thank you.
Hello, there is a couple of usability problems I have found so far:
1) i cannot enlarge text on iPad which makes it hard to read for me;
2) Comments window should be at the top of the comments section, right after the article, so a user does not have to scroll all the way down.
Thanks!
Usually web browsers have zoom functions that allows you to enlarge the font-size of a text. For example on Firefox it is “Ctrl +” to increase the size of the text and “Ctrl -” to decrease it. I am quite sure that the Safari browser has this too.
Furthermore your second suggestion is a good one and I’ll pass it on.