Dear friends,
A little less than one month ago, I published a small announcement here entitled “This has been a really amazing week for me – many thanks to you all!!” in which I mentioned that my article about Russia and the USA had been picked up and even translated by several websites and that I would now write an occasional column for the Asia Times. To my absolute amazement the “tsunami of support” has not stopped since and an amazing week has now turned into an amazing month and letters of support have continued coming in each day. The size of my mailing list has now more than doubled. But the most amazing thing has been the number of translations of my articles which have been made. Here is what has been happening over the past couple of weeks:
In French:
The website Axe de la Resistance will translate into French and publish the full seven part series “Russia and Islam” (you can already find the first three installments of this series in French here, here and here). Axe de la Resistance has also published my recent article about France which you can now find in French here. To my greatest joy, the website of Alain Soral and his movement Egalite et Reconciliation have also made their own translation of my piece about France and published it here.
The website AlterInfo also published my article about the USA and Russia.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to a wonderful person in France – “S” – who has made great efforts to circulate my articles. Thanks, my friend, Fi amanillah!
In Portuguese:
The website Tlaxcala not only published my article about Russia and the USA, they also translated it into Portuguese. Likewise, they published my article about Bandar going insane and also translated it into Portuguese.
In Russian:
A group of people in Russia whom I do not know, but to whom I am immensely grateful translated my article about Russia and the USA and published it in Russian on their website which generated a lively discussion.
In English:
Well yes, my writing is so messy and full of typos that at least one person in India has corrected my article about Russia and the USA and turned it into proper English before circulating it in India (I have no further details). Finally, the Asia Times has confirmed to me that they will also publish the full series on Russia and Islam as a write-off posted on the front with a link to the original.
Needless to say, I am deeply honored and absolutely delighted by all these developments. I have been writing this blog since May 2007 and I have gone through some difficult times. I want to specially thank those of you who have been contributing your comments and stayed with me since many years already, including through the times when I felt rather lonely and isolated.
Finally, the big lesson of all this for me is that there is a real thirst out there for a different kind of thought. That the old categories Left vs Right, East vs West or Progressive vs Conservative are dying off and that many people are fed up with them. Many people are also fed-up with the strict rules of political correctness imposed by *all* establishments. I say that because even though I have published many highly politically incorrect opinions and even though I categorically refuse to get stuck in the Left vs Right categories, I have received comparatively little hate mail. There is definitely something new brewing here. In Russia this “something new” is incarnated by Putin, in France by Soral and Dieudo, in Latin America probably by Morales, in the Middle-East by Nasrallah. The beginnings of a “post-capitalist consensus” maybe?
In what concerns me, I do not feel quite as alone anymore. Instead I am feeling that I am a tiny part of a much bigger “something new” which I find very interesting and immensely inspiring. I hope that a lot of you will also feel that sense of hope and direction.
Many thanks and kind regards,
The Saker
PS: I am taking all of next week off: my wife and I will spend a few days on a Florida Key celebrating my upcoming 50th birthday. Yup, I am not getting any younger, but I am enjoying life more than ever before! I will spend a few days sea kayaking, cross country mountain biking, exploring small islands and generally relaxing. I will resume blogging around the 25th of November. Please use the comments sections to stay in touch with me (I will have my smartphone and tablet with me) and with each other, post whatever you want, and I will do my best to moderate comments as fast as possible and reply to comments (probably in the evenings). I should be able to reply to emails at least one a day. “See you” all soon, The Saker.
UPDATE1: I have just been informed that translations my articles are also being circulated in Brazil:
O longo (20 anos!) “pas de deux” de Rússia e EUA está chegando ao fim?
http://redecastorphoto.blogspot.com.br/2013/10/o-longo-20-anos-pas-de-deux-de-russia-e.html
http://redecastorphoto.blogspot.com.br/2013/10/o-longo-20-anos-pas-de-deux-de-russia-e_17.html
Greenpeace “versus” Rússia – o que interessa e as questões reais
http://redecastorphoto.blogspot.com.br/2013/11/greenpeace-versus-russia-o-que.html
UPDATE2: I just have received the news that my article on Russia and the USA has been translated into Italian:
Italian translation available (2 parts):
www.comedonchisciotte.org/site/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12604
www.comedonchisciotte.org/site/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12615
UPDATE3: just got the news that my article about France was translated into Spanish:
¿Se está gestando una revolución en Francia?
http://investigar11s.blogspot.com.es/2013/11/se-esta-gestionando-una-revolucion-en.html
UPDATE4: Jiwan Kshetry has just informed me that my articles have been piked up in Kathmandu Nepal and that he will continue to publish them in the future:
http://jiwankshetri.blogspot.com/2013/10/saudi-reposte-to-us-calculated-move-or.html
UPDATE5: Cert has just informed me that my article on Russia and the USA has now been translated and published into Czech:
1993 – 2013: Končí dvacetiletí „pas de deux“ Ruska a USA?
http://www.zvedavec.org/komentare/2013/11/5756-1993-2013-konci-dvacetileti-pas-de-deux-ruska-a-usa.htm
UPDATE6: My recent series of articles about the Ukraine (first, second and third) has been translated into French and published by the Le Courrier de Syrie blog:
http://pourlasyrie.blogspot.com/2013/12/ukraine-un-choix-de-civilisation-et-une.html
http://pourlasyrie.blogspot.com/2013/12/lukraine-aux-portes-de-lenfer.html
http://pourlasyrie.blogspot.com/2013/12/pourquoi-la-russie-ne-doit-pas.html
UPDATE7: My article “Saker’s “man of the year 2013”: the Syrian soldier” was translated into French and has been published by Axe de la Resistance, the French news service of the Iranian Radio, Palestine Solidarité and the blog of Philippe Delbauvre.
UPDATE8: My article on the Volgograd bombings has been translated into Portuguese and is now available on redecastorphoto, the blog of Castor Filho in Brazil.
UPDATE9: My article on the Volgograd bombings has been translated into French and is now available on the Axe de la Resistance website.
UPDATE10: The French text of my article about the Volgograd bombings has been published by the Iranian Radio, the Cercle des Volontaires, Palestine Solidarity, Libertes d’Informer, Ce Que Les Medias Ne Nous Disent Pas, the Italian Osservatorio Internatzionale Per I Diritti, and Cameroon Voice. My article on the Saker 2013 man of the year has been published by al-Moqawama. Finally, the French website Interet General Info has published my articles about Russian non-intervention in the Ukraine, Russia-USA relations and about the Volgograd bombings.
Congrats Saker. I’m brand new to the blog but I plan on showing this site to as many people as possible. I have scoured the Internet for sensible answers about the chaotic events of geopolitics and your opinions/perspective is BY FAR the most unbiased, clear, comprehensive, insightful and truthful I have seen from any writer. Not to mention one of the *very few* that doesn’t p**syfoot around certain issues. I wish I found it earlier!
Happy birthday and have a good vacay.
Your excitement is contagious!
Also, hope you enjoy the *secret* Florida Key. I myself had a wonderful scuba diving adventure based off of Key Largo decades ago. Getting there was also an adventure. A friend had a Cessna 140 (yes, 140) that he kept at an airport where Amelia Earhart had taught. We hopped across multiple states (that 140 was slower than the highway traffic below us!) traced the beaches and then parked it on one of the Keys – hitchhiked, with gear (?memory!), the rest of the way.
At any rate, grateful to pick up on your excitement!
It probably isn’t a secret to Floridians such as yourself, but my wife and I discovered that the week before Thanksgiving is a favorable time to avoid the tourist crush in Florida. Maybe next year for us.
Congratulations and celebrations! 50 was a great age that I remember fondly. Ahem. (Alas).
I went through all the series and I have to agree with you more than I would have liked. You may have sensed that I have more than a fleeting aquaintance with ROCOR.
I would put the beginning of the rot earlier than Piotr Veliki. Just a suggestion: it is increasingly sure that the monk Filofei of Third Rome notoriety was none else than Feodor Kuritsyn, the (in)famous Judaizer! I have my suspicions that Vassian Patrikeev was the same. I do not dare to say more, my knowledge of medieval Russia, although adequate, remains imperfect. It is a line to investigate.
I am very much interested in what is going on in France, a place I visit frequently for long periods of time (I have relatives there and a place at Pere Lachaise!).
Have you heard of Aymeric Chauprade?
Happy birthcake (as my little grand-daughter likes to put it)
WizOz
Well deserved Saker and thank you for your insightful articles, i´ll do my best spreading them around.
Mikhas.
Wait a second!
(the things that occur to oneself when one is shaving and showering)
You celebrate your 50th birthday ON or very near to the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination.
That means you were on the down escalator while JFK was on the up escalator.
Maybe you had a chance to wave to JFK or………
maybe JFK had said:
“Heaven Can Wait!”
:)
Nothing but good news for you and it’s always nice to have some good news in todays world.
Many congratulations Saker, thank-you for your analysis and opinions, often your posts are an education in themselves.
I’ve been reading your blog for a number of years and always figured that your audience would only grow, a lot more people need to read your material.
I don’t always agree with with everything you write (not that it’s necessary, FWIW I concur with the vast chunk of your output) but you have certainly opened my eyes on a number of issues and have broadened my horizons immeasurably. (I’m working my way through the 4th Political Theory).
Cheers.
It’s better than nice to to see quality recognized. I’m also a recent visitor to this site, but it’s now on my top list. I don’t agree with everything you write, and you wouldn’t like it if I did, but it is intelligent and honest, and to my uninformed opinion, Russian. Great to see you are having an impact. Good vacation in the keys. I personally find them too commercial. You must have a good spot.
Dear Saker,
Congratulations on a wholly well deserved month. Your articles are consistently outstanding. Speaking for myself I learn lots from them and the fact that they get so widely circulated shows that this is true of others. Well done on a richly deserved recognition for your consistently excellent hard work!
Happy Birthday and Congratulations.
I am glad you are feeling optimistic. I just read some depressing stuff and don’t want to bring you down.
On a positive note, I had an Egyptian customer yesterday and asked her which one she was with, the Qatari Morsi or the Saudi Sisi; she said something you would like: neither. But she was sad about her country and whatever awaits it.
The links you provided for Nasrallah’s speach are not opening.
Warm regards
Mindfriedo
Mindfriedo:
That was one was gal you had as a customer.
I tip my imaginary hat to her.
Saker:
Happy B day
have fun
And then I would love to read or get your take on Egypt
Based on what Mindfriedo has said, It would appear you are of the same mind as me.
And the Egyptian woman
‘sad for her country and whatever waits for it’
Sorry Saker, my mistake. The links are working.
Regards
Mindfriedo
That was one was gal you had as a customer.
should read: that was one smart gal you had as a customer!!!
grr….brain farts as I age ;)
@saker
Saw this on BBC, scary stuff: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24748143
You can google it as “Syrian footage sheds light on Iran’s involvement.”
I am going to watch it till I can make sense of it. At first I am humbled by their bravery and later stumped by their overconfidence and, can’t find the right word, their stupidity.
Regards
Mindfriedo
Saker
Thank you for all your thoughts, analysis and information, I appreciate your time and effort.
Enjoy the holiday, the birthday and especially your wife’s company.
Look forward to the resumption of analysis.
Cheers
KamNam
Deal has been struck Saker. I have a feeling Saudi’s days are numbered.
Mindfriedo
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/secret-us-iran-talks-set-stage-for-nuclear-deal-450141
Interesting
Mindfriedo
That sounds great!! After finding out from the lines at the bottom of this blog that one can reproduce the contents from here, I was prompt on republishing “Saudi reposte to US: Calculated move or Bandar’s insanity?” (http://jiwankshetri.blogspot.com/2013/10/saudi-reposte-to-us-calculated-move-or.html) in my blog for Nepali and South Asian audience. I feel rally happy for the attention your works are getting, may be you are slowly but steadily carving a niche in the worldwide intellectual discourse dominated by abjectly propagandist mainstream media. I plan to keep posting your articles in my blog. My point is, we cannot follow the model of NYT or WSJ keeping a target of millions of readers but if a single young and unbiased man/woman reads a piece like yours and understands an alternative narrative of an issue thereby changing his viewpoint on that, that is an achievement in itself. In fact, this is the most important way of breeding dissenters. Once again, Kudos for your eye-opening articles.
Jiwan Kshetry, Kathmandu Nepal
@Jiwan Kshetry:
Dear Jiwan,
Your honor me with your kind words and with your decision to reproduce some of what I write. All I can say is that I strongly feel that, as David Rovics so beautifully put it in his song, “we are everywhere” and that even though we “lack” a unifying ideology or single leader, are still part of one coherent and focused movement and the worldwide response to what I write simply indicates that a lot of people feel likewise. I am absolutely delighted that you will be passing on some of what I write to a wider audience because I believe that in the era of the Internet when a big part of mankind becomes linked by a a single mega-network we need to talk to each other, exchange views, share experiences and generally collaborate intellectually. So yes, the WSJ or the NYT have the corporate billions to spew their propaganda, but their audience is primarily composed of intellectually sterile zombies. In contrast, our audience is a Petri dish of ideas and that intellectual energy is something the big propaganda outlets cannot claim. In other words, time and history are on our side and even though this might take a while, I have no doubt that we will prevail.
Many sincere thanks and kind regards,
The Saker
in czech: http://www.zvedavec.org/komentare/2013/11/5756-1993-2013-konci-dvacetileti-pas-de-deux-ruska-a-usa.htm