Dear friends,
First, I want to thank you for your advice and opinions about how to deal with the privacy issue. To my surprise, opinions were fairly split between option A and option B. I think that I will take some time to write up a small addendum to the “about the Saker” article Submarines in the Desert (which I consider to be the best meaningful introduction to who I *really* am) and that’s it. Enough time spent on me!
I will post a “Week 9” analysis of the war in Syria over the week-end and then, God willing, starting on Monday, the blog will go back to normal – less drama, more analysis :-)
My heartfelt thanks to all of those who have shown their kindness and support in these difficult times – you guys are the best!
Hugs to all,
The Saker
Looking forward to hearing from you again Saker….
Please be back soon, and… don’t forget Montenegro!
I wish *I* could forget Montenegro… They will end up in a civil war if they keep up with this… The smugness of the Europhiles and pseudo-sophisticated buffoons in that network of villages they call a country does nothing but grate my nerves.
Hi Saker,
I am not at all interested in what those people are writing about you. I admire you for your excellent reports/analyses and that hasn’t changed. I’m sorry about your mother and wish you all the best for the future going forward.
I second this.
If in doubt I look at what you do, not what unknown people with shady history say. Talk is cheap.
I totally understand that lot of people in power don’t like what you do and say. I wonder there aren’t more attacks on you. I’m looking forward to May 1 next year.
Glad to have you back! Just got your book and am reading about Russia and Islam. Your writing style is easy to read. It progresses smoothly, logically, and is similar to the way someone would be talking. You cover so many topics, too! I’m looking forward to many evenings soaking up the historical information and analyses in The Essential Saker. BTW, it’s a quality book physically. Nice bright paper, well-bound.
Take it easy Mr Saker, I am sure that your detractors are in envious awe. Best. Gus.
This is what’s going to happen – once people read the defamatory stuff about you out there they will come here to look, if they don’t find a defense they will believe the former. It’s just people being people ( becoming more stupid I might add).
So do what you said, but…
Add a big red count down clock on the about saker page to when you’re ‘coming out’. This is high impact (no reading needed, did I mention people are getting more stupid?) but more importantly it prompts them subconsciously and immediately that there’s more to the story (which makes them doubt what they’ve read out there) and most importantly, that your story will be told.
This will turn the fight back to your terms.
…
Dear Saker,
Either the Gods, a glitch in the matrix, or my linux box caused my little contribution yesterday not to appear on your blog. Oh well. Initially I saw your post about option A/B and I thought, hey what’s up with that beardy beer dude? After reading I jokingly confessed to myself that Santaclaus is indeed real after all.
Plan C was to write a post about option A/B. Well done!
Keep up the great work.
Rather than going with or against it, we are the flow.
Regards from the Netherlands.
“We do not count the parts of the whole. It is not necessary”
(quote: Robert A Monroe)
…
Oh boy, this article from this frustrated lady from Serbia in nothing else just a perfect copy of the script from ZIO psychopaths how to hurt somebody who is already in emotional pain. It has happened to me personally and I feel with you Saker!
But don’t worry, this article said about this poor person everything. She just felt down to the lowest level as human can get, revenge is her strongest weapon and nothing else. If she would read all of your articles she would know everything about your history where you have admitted everything even some of the parts of your life were very sensitive till you have discovered where the truth is.
Maybe she wrote this article for the financial gain who knows? These days people for money will do absolutely disgusting things.
By this article she has just revealed how week she is, mentally strong intellectual would never write such a garbage, but always would try to resolve the differences in the classy way how usually intellectuals comunicate.
Anyway head up, this was one of the stabbing into your progress, but I’m positive these kind of very primitive level of stabbing will make you stronger for the future.
It looks like we came to the final stage of the war between the good and evil, the all world is watching. Astrologers predict that Dec10 we can expect huge clashes and after these clashes the world will start to clear up for every single nation around the world, then lets hope just for the best result for everyone on this beautiful earth.
Blessings to you and keep strong!
Well, I don’t know about astrologers, but Terrence McKenner did so interesting thinking/(foresighting?) in his Timewave Zero theory. Ok, it came from his talking with the mushrooms but none the less has some thought provoking ideas. Basically using some math to map ‘novelty’ he came up with a 21 Dec 2012 ‘crisis’ event. Obviously that’s been and gone now. However, someone with expert math skills wrote that the calculations had a flaw and the date would be somewhere in/around 2016. At the time scale he was talking about +/- five years is hardly inaccurate. Seat-belts on.
Dear Saker,
I’m sorry for your loss. I hope your wife and your family will help you in this moment.
I started to read your posts a little bit more than an year ago and checking regularly your website become natural.
I’m looking forward to receive your book (even if it takes quite a bit here in the old world) and I’ll be ok with whatever you decide concerning your disclosure about yourself.
Un abbraccio
R
What do
Terence McKenna (Archaic Revival)
Timothy Leary (Turn on, tune in, drop out)
Gordon Wasson ( ‘discoverer’ of psychoactive mushrooms)
Richard Alpert ( Ram Dass)
Ken Kesy (Merry Pranksters)
have in common?
They were/are all CIA.
well documented by Jan Irvin on http://www.gnosticmedia.com + the u2be channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/GnosticMedia
the whole “counter-culture” is a joke…
@zweistein and Rublev thanks for the links
Remember that Terence McKenna passed away from massive brain tumor and that he used LSD or similar substances DAILY for years. Course his friends and family said that had nothing to do with his tumor.
Christine
Here we go again with conspiracy theories.Jan Irvin’s style of research (guilt by association),or as I like to call it,(painting by numbers),is flawed and should not be taken as fact.It is half truth and half bias.I realize that the counter-culture is recognized,mostly by fundamental Christian types as a form of paganism.So,it’s easy pickings for these types of attack.From my perspective,as a member of this counter- culture for most of my life,I have to say,no Rublev,the jokes on you….
Well, then I will believe your objective assessment. Because you say so… ;)
ps: my intention was not to convince, the same as pearls are not there to get fed with…
Terence McKenna?? I thought that guy was for real. He is the most far out of them all, hands down. Some people claim Whitley Strieber is also CIA. His father was some kind of Shriner, anyway, but damn, his books on alien probing and such are of high high high strangeness, that’s for sure.
And Timothy Leary…they were for real but were fooled into cooperating with CIA…there’s a difference there…half truths are more harmful than full lies….
Shriners are Masons…not CIA
Good call. Do next to nothing and they will find someone else more fun.
I hope I’m not too late to cast my vote, which is for option A. Your insight into the world situation and your war-avoidance contributions are too critical at this precise moment to be derailed by venomous bile from troubled souls. When you’re in a swamp full of alligators don’t waste efforts on swatting mosquitoes. Stick to your original plan. Yours reminds me of a situation which led to my divorce from a very sorry excuse for a human being. Though I was hurting all over and wanted to lash out, I contained myself and the effort eventually sublimated into a fictionalized account of the experience which I’m hoping will become the Great American Novel, with the added benefit of my own personal catharsis and discovery of precious self-knowledge that had been hidden by feelings. Don’t let anyone else set your pace. When your account does come out, after studied consideration and factoring in everything that’s going on in the meantime, it will probably be a masterpiece of human understanding. We can wait. We trust you.
Here’s another illustrative comparison: The Serbian lady’s stab in your back is exactly what Turkey did to Russia by downing the Su-24. Respond exactly like Putin: don’t take the bait, just win the war!
Well said!
Plus, they probably have the same backers!
Really love that picture of yourself, Mr. Saker. You look like a really great guy to have a beer with!
Change of the games………………whohoooooooooooooooooooo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMnl0nO-oCk
If not too late option A for me. Enjoying your book immensely. BTW, I got both the kindle and print version! First time commenting, reading and learning from this community for about six months now.The Saker has become my favorite site hands down. Because your coherent, truthful and always very insightful analysis to the facts. Keep up the great work!
Saker: You are the man, the guy, we “commoners” and “working class intellectuals” NEED. I automatically assume you will strive to do the thing that carries the most integrity. No worries here.
Saker, I counted 123 instances of ‘option A’ in that thread, and 54 instances of ‘option B’. I used the chrome browser’s search function to get those figures, had to add them up for the 8 pages of responses. And subtracted off the instances from your post, so as to count only for the comments.
About 2:1 in favor of ‘option A’.
… for what it’s worth …
… for what it’s worth …
actually, a lot! I had not bothered doing the exact math. thanks!
The Saker
I have to confess I did not read the full article written by that what’s-her-name — I just skimmed it and couldn’t get into it at all because it was just another smear piece like so many others I’ve seen over the years, directed at all sorts of people who say things worthwhile and fight the dark side.
Sure you have a great blog and good writing and all, but you are just one of many who gets mud thrown at them because they talk about the truth. So Saker, whatever you were drinking in that photo, have another glass (looks like decent brew) and relax. Just keep writing what you think is good and don’t worry about the orcs, trolls, deluded, and so forth — they are always with us somewhere.
The one thing I am pleased about is learning your name, googling on it, and finding that short fragment of the piece about Kanotix. I got a live CD of it now and tried and it looks very promising (once I caught the startup menu to run it in English). It even does sound in youtube. So for me, this episode has not been a total loss at all. Thank you.
I think there is a moral somewhere in my following account of recent personal events. Last Wednesday I got a massive posterior nosebleed — blood everywhere. Got it stopped by some pressure and sitting quietly but it started up again on Friday, so I called an ambulance and went to the emergency room. A million questions, and inflatable balloons and blood pressure drugs, and called in an ENT specialist, and painful packing in and out of my nose, and five hours later I finally got home with a massive bandage and couldn’t breath through it. Four days later I got the packing removed, was instructed not to blow my nose for a week, and still couldn’t breath through my nose, and my stomach had turned from swallowing so much blood (I’d make a terrible vampire). Wednesday night it started again, but finally stopped. Again the whole cavity filled with blood clots. I could not eat or sleep. Last night it started up heavy, and I started passing out. This morning it kept oozing. The lesion wouldn’t close with all the mucous and half-clotted blood all over it.
I had enough. OK, I thought, if I’m going to bleed to death then screw it — at least I’ll take my dying breath through my nose. I blew out all the clots and gunk, snuffled up a bunch of decongestant spray, and then a bunch of very strong salt water, and kept breathing air up, and kept doing it to get to the back cavity where it was bleeding from. No more bleeding. After I sat for a while I smoked a cigarette (vaso constrictor). Still no more bleeding.Sprayed some commercial saline nose spray up and over the next hours or so gently blew a bunch more blood clot out, and snuffled up cold air. Still no bleeding. So I put a little lanolin up there and took a nap (7 hour nap). And now I got some food in me. If it starts again, I’ll do it again, until it closes and heals.
All the medical expert playing around and packing and careful coddling and all, and a week later I was still hemorrhaging. Blow it out and cover it with salt, and it stopped, and is now healing. I used to get massive nosebleeds as a kid, and used blowing and salt water, but I forgot — I got old and timid, and didn’t follow my instinct. I had to remember to cut through the nonsense and act directly, with common sense. I have to baby it now for a while, but I have to know when to baby it so it heals, when to just let it sit, and when to directly attack the cause. It’s a question of who is in charge: my nose, the medical industry, or me. Turns out to be me.
blue, glad to hear you are better, and that you were able to take care of yourself.
Wow, Blue!
You sure don’t do anything by halves, do you?
Who would have thought the common-or-garden nosebleed could be such an epic experience?
Glad you’re on the mend.:)
Posterior can be serious — can’t get to the lesion. Bled some again this morning, but I stopped it after a while maybe 40 minutes but much better than 5 hours at the hospital, and am still waiting for it to heal, which could take a while.
What’s amazing in that in the ‘richest country’ and ‘best health care system’ in the world, supposedly, in the 21st century, nosebleeds are still a problem and treated about as they were a century ago. They didn’t have an endoscope thing to cauterize it — vetigel stuff (which is worth looking up on the web) is not approved for sale in US, and there is no fancy technology, lasers etc., available in my area. Medicine is still fairly primitive and often hard to come by unless you are rich and in a rich area. (In fact it took them 15 minutes or 1/2 hour to locate a light with a charged battery to look into the nose) But going by the web there hasn’t been much research about nosebleeds, despite how common they are. I guess there isn’t that much money in it, in grants or commercially.
But there is stuff for use by the military.
And look at http://epmonthly.com/article/floseal-for-epistaxis-try-high-tech-foam/
Six-pack for $3000.
We don’t have a real medical profession here, but a ‘health care industry’ — emphasis on industry.
I’ve found one needs to do a lot research on his own (thank goodness for the internet) for any condition because doctors often don’t know much outside of their narrow specialty, and have little time for reading up on the latest research to learn more than basics they learned in med school, and are often very ignorant about things such as nutrition which is not usually taught. It’s a very difficult system to practice in, and between doctors (who at least have to make a lot of money to pay off student loans), drug companies, insurance companies, and profit-oriented hospitals the overall level of care leaves much to be desired.
Hi blue,
The way they are treated here nosebleeds is normally by plugging gauze strip soaked with vasoconstrictor solution ( keep an eye with the contraindications for heart patients and glaucoma patients, etc ..) or expansive plug. Applying pressure is the initial performance against bleeding, if allowed by the anatomic area, this is why you should not remove the cap. In persistent bleeding, as seems to be yours, we leave the plug 24 hours after which patient will come to remove it. If the bleeding has not yielded by pressure or vasoconstrictor action, the patient is referred to the hospital for cauterization by otolaryngologist.
This is a basic action in outpatient medicine ( first level of atention ) in neighborhoods and cities in Spain
In the US, you should strive for quality public health as we have here in Spain, this is a basic human right.
Hope you relieve soon. Also take a look at your blood presure, because nosebleed is usually a secondary effect of uncontrolled high blood presure. A good opportunity to check it. f you have blood presure out of control, perhaps next time the bleed could be in a more critical place. Take care.
Last time I was at doctor’s for checkup BP was 129/70, and when I had packing removed was 135/76. Was over 200/100something when the ambulance carted me to hospital. I take losartin because I’m diabetic and it’s supposed to protect blood vessels.
Under all this is I”m getting old and decrepit, and have a lousy diet, with lousy food available and affordable for the most part. The US is not big on keeping people healthy unless you have money. It’s super capitalist, after all, and money and power is what counts. No joke — it’s massive system failure. This is just one illustration of it.
I’ve been trying get a few hemorrhoids fixed for over 10 years — I don’t medicaid (for the poor) pays enough to keep the industry happy. They did a colonoscopy, and he wanted to do a colonectomy, no problem, but it comes down to payment schedules. There’s some things and some diseases they will handle, and others they don’t want to touch, and I think it must be about the money and insurance and such. It’s a machine. (“welcome to the machine”).
I have fibromyalga — no one had this, or even heard of it when I was a kid; diabetes — used be unusual, and with my weight and familiy history there’s no reason I have this. But the food, chemical pollutants, pesticides, endocrine disruptors, radiation, and other stuff in the environment now this is common here.
Similar with education, food industry, legal industry, housing industry, finance and banking industry, and most everything else, politically and profit driven. And the individual who wants and tries to do a decent job and be responsible faces a gauntlet of institutional and structural opposition.
The system is busted. Political, economic, educational, military, manufacturing, social — it’s all busted, and so ubiquitous it’s very hard for people to find a way around the effects of it, or even understand just what is wrong.
Yes, you are right. The medical-pharmaceutical complex in the U.S. is truly monstrous.
The horrors that go on in the American “health” industry have been well described by a prominent “insider” already a few decades ago, no less than by the head of the medical licensing board of the state of Illinois, Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, in his book “Confessions of a Medical Heretic” (for which revelations he, predictably, got severely attacked by the corrupt complex).
The things only got worse since then – much worse in fact. One has to learn to somehow navigate through that system of ill repute, relying only on common sense, while, thankfully, having access to today’s internet resources.
Dr. Mendelsohn entire book is on the web: http://www.ecovillage510.org/tonys/coamh.html
He also had a two-part presentation on YouTube, titled “How to stay healthy in spite of your doctor”, I have watched both, but I see now only its part 2, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuGEBra5dgk (someone “claimed copyright” on part 1…)
Tamponade with Merocel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h_r9-ZdqBU
This is not pleasant to have done when one is awake and unmedicated — rather painful, in fact. It was in there for 4 days. When I tried to sleep I woke up every time my mouth closed and I couldn’t breath — synthetic sleep apnea.
This is pretty primitive. They can re-attach a retina or fix cataracts with a laser, they can do inspect and remove stones from the bladder with an endoscope, they can do microscopic robotic laproscopic surgery, they can wires the brain of an insect and put a video camera on it for remote viewing — but they can’t fix a nose bleed? This is not strange?
Sorry to hear that, blue, I am left with the impression that people like you, at certain age, you find yourself abandoned to your fate by your government, unless counting on a good bank account.
Look, these blood pressure values you had when you started bleeding, are too high for anyone, but much more for a diabetic person. If for any a number around 140/85 would be Ok, in diabetic patients, because of the risk of nephropathy who already have by their own diabetes, the recommended figure would be around 130/70, no more. If you are taking Losartan and your numbers are not stable, you may need a combination of a diuretic, and if still not, there are other medications to associate. We have patients with hypertension difficult to control who come to take a combination of 3 drugs.
If you have many years of diabetes and a certain age, maybe it would not hurt performing an EKG and assessment by a cardiologist.
It is important to monitor your boold pressure. Ideally monitored for 24 hours by an apparatus placed for this purpose. If this is not possible and if you have not easy access to a community nurse, it would be better to have a device to take blood pressure at home. You can buy one at a drug store or electronics store, but at best price on Internet ( you could find a good one for about 50 euros, I attached the list of approved equipment ).
http://www.seh-lelha.org/SEHAmpa.aspx
It seems, from what you say, that you do not do a proper diet for your diabetes, and if the numbers of blood sugar are not well controlled, everything goes wrong, including the blood pressure. Diabetic diet is not so complicated to make, it is a healthy diet, good for any adult at maturity, when sugars in the diet are unnecessary and excess of carbohydrates leads to an unstoppable increase in body weight, which does not bring more than health complications.
Diet and regular exercise ( no need to be an athlete, you only have to walk briskly 45 minutes every day, or half hour two times, or exercise bike at home, or swim in the beach or in the pool, which is provided is to move ) are the mainstay of treatment of diabetes, then come the drugs and insulin, but if you do not do the right diet, there is no way to control it.
Look, blue, we here also have increasingly obese people, and therefore more diabetes and hypertension, as the American way of life is also imposed here, well, in some areas more than in others. Here, now, the trend is towards patient autonomy, and self-care training. As you are a smart person and have time to read, I leave link to EUFIC ( European Food Information Council ) where you can find resources in your own language to take care of yourself.
http://www.eufic.org/index/en
Take charge of your disease, blue, and try to be better, we do not want to lose you, we need you and would miss you.
Good luck and I’m here for whatever you need.
Cheer up! A big hug!
MY BP was up when I was bleeding because it was hard not to get excited while dripping blood like a coffee maker and dealing with the ambulance and all. Normally it’s pretty good.
My weight is in the ‘ideal’ range — MBI about 20.
But diet — I live in poverty (enforced by the government policies, such as hopelessly outdated ‘means testing’), and in a ‘food desert’ with poor quality and selection, and most food sold in quantities too large for me to eat before rotting, and it’s gotten very expensive. There are other circumstances (many involved with too little money) that make all this very difficult to deal with, and with austerity things keep getting worse.
There is what some people have called ‘sawing the rungs off the bottom of the ladder’, so that once you fall into a difficult financial time the policies are such that it’s amazing difficult to get beyond it, and one is penalized for getting in a bit more money even while still living below the poverty level, and with very little ‘social aid’ help. The system is designed to increase the wealth gap. Last year there was about 15% living poverty (and 1/5 of children live in poverty), and that was even with income and wealth threshold figures which are unrealistically low. Add ‘near poverty’ and the percentage jumps significantly. The numbers are jiggered, much as those for unemployment.
The personal financial problems in Europe are in the US too but are papered over, as are housing and medical care problems, with propaganda machinery going full tilt. And a favorite meme of the 1% is that it’s the fault of the individual, such as saying anyone who wants to work can do so, even while there are many fewer jobs than people looking, and that the proportion of jobs available are underpaid, part time, and otherwise insufficient to live on (underemployment). Likewise, inflation figures are phony — yes I could buy a private airplane at a good price, but the price of food and other necessities are through the roof.
As I said, the system is busted, and it does not allow for people living poor, with a non-monetary based local economy. People who give food to homeless people in public a place in many cities are arrested, for instance. Being homeless, or maybe even just poor, is effectively a crime now.
Dear Saker and moderators
…
JohnnyZ, your comment concerning the moderating policy has been forwarded to webmaster.
…..I find this level of censorship very alarming. This also happened around the time the accusations of the Serbian team came about. So maybe there is some fire where there is smoke? It is good to be pro-Russian especially as you are of Russian descent, although you should not conflate the nation with the “leader” (who may or may not be working in the people’s interest). If you are truly patriotic, you should always be open to self-questioning. If you are truly looking for the truth or trying to provide objective analysis, you should allow for questioning your “leader” and his motives and the endgame plan.
Otherwise you have no objective integrity and you are probably a propaganda outlet.
It is true that the Empire is attacking Russia – that is how I landed here because I felt Russia was treated unfairly under the veneer of lies and the Western excuses sounded completely made up and irrational. But the “Evil Empire” meme is getting too obvious and entrenched (for those who pay attention, not for the zombie sheeple).
Johnny Z,
I don’t usually feed comments like yours but you sound like a classic MSM troll.
This site has its moderating rules clearly stated on the site for all to read. If you don’t like the rules – no one is asking you to comment.
The level of censorship here is not very high and allows for different opinions.
Your inference that somehow The Saker is to blame for the behaviour of two unpleasant people – is really a reflection of you.
The whole point of this site is to hear the other side/s of the story that we don’t get from the total propaganda of MSM news (owned by 6 corporations). The Saker has always allowed other views and contributors on this site so your “made up” following the leader comment really is very unbecoming and really not what this site is about.
Who is paying you?
I am not a troll. Check my other comments on the site.
I am Slavic, am living in the West, and am searching for the truth in this mad world. I work in finance and see a lot of discrepancies in the West in both finance and politics. Then came Putin, who was so bashed in the West, while acting much more cleverly, conservatively and rationally that I started to not only root for him, but to partially accept the notion that he is the leader of the “resistance”, the real world “Neo” or maybe “Morpheus”.
But then I started to note discrepancies in Putin’s strategy. When I wanted to discuss these, two of my comments were not posted at all. That is all.
JohnnyZ,
So why don’t you try posting your opinion in a way that doesn’t violate the site’s rules?
Since you are apparently an ‘expert’ on Putin’s strategy (on what – exactly?), I am sure we would like to learn from you.
Not sure how working in finance gives ‘exceptional’ political insights, but it would be useful to know what they are.
I am certainly curious.
I am not an expert on Putin. I am trying to learn and understand. Finance and politics are deeply intertwined. The power of the AZE as you call them stems from fractional reserve lending which is an institutionalized fraud backed by the state. The true masters behind the AZE are ” international bankers”. Finding some discrepancies in Putin’s actions leads to my suspicion that exactly the same people are behind Putin. I tried twice to post my findings/suspicions, but they were not allowed to appear. I am not aware of breaking any rules unless doubting the authenticity of Putin is one of them.
Dear Saker,
Happy to see you decide in favor of A…or is it C? Either way I am sure your family will support you whatever you choose.
Thanks for everything you do
Christine
The opponent:
“We parted on rancid terms and I swore to him that I would make his identity and ideological shortcomings public.”
The Saker:
“I still want to write about issues, not me or my past. So reason two is still current.
I still want my family to be safe and left in peace, but reason three is now compromised. ”
It would appear that the “saker” shares aspects with the opponent on attribution – “identity” of the opponent and the use of “saker” instead of Anonymous.
Amongst other aspects the use of Anonymous focuses on content rather than source for those not predisposed to prejudgement, in contradistiction to the opponents’ system emphasising source within which is subsumed the notion of authority sustaining prejudgement of content.
Both the opponent and “saker” implicitly hold that there are/could be other consequences deriving from attribution including “my family to be safe and left in peace”.
As previously outlined it is unlikely that state actors would place “saker and his family” in jeopardy as a consequence of attribution – since this is already known – or other factors, since various state actors are more likely minded to encourage sustainment of the blog for their own uses.
This motivation could change, the most likely encouragement of change being location as illustrated by the link below:
http://russia-insider.com/en/society/story-line-dissolves/ri11624
The possibility of jeopardy would more likely come from non-state actors whether encouraged covertly or overtly.
In such a scenario the Edward Snowden option may prove relevant since writing on issues is conditioned in various ways by location.
If this is to be considered consistency in narrative is to be encouraged, including historical narratives in regard to refusal to participate in hits published more than one year ago.
A blog is a broadcast medium and hence the opponent does not require to render “ideological shortcomings public” since the “saker” already affects this by broadcasting.
Evaluation of broadcast is a function of purpose and facility, wherein those with less experience in matters under review tend to have less facility in formulating evaluation criteria and methods.
However this is not generally accepted by “populations”, and this notion is useful in the sustaining of “representative democracy”.
Saker, my hardcover copy of your book showed up and I am blown away. Content aside, it is really excellent all around, from the sateen cover to the type-setting. Congratulations and thanks for this wonderful book.
I am delighted to hear that as I did not see the book myself yet!
Saker, I never voted, but I read most of the comments in the other thread. You can not go back to anonymity, but I remember you said long ago during the crisis that you could live with that if you had to. An inconvenience, I think of your family, but perhaps also an unexpected opening. Now, as some have already said, you are free to participate in the media on other terms
The rest of the accusations you can ignore. They are not credible, but if you wish to set the record straight, my advice is to do so now, but be careful, do not give your enemies too many facts. They are ready to call your old employers, teachers and neighbours, if they can.
You successfully wrote a book, did that trigger the attack? You were also interviewed on Sputnik. They were ready to attack you in this difficult time, after what you have gone through recently, and that tells us what sort of people they are.
Something more pleasant to discuss. I came to your blog after the coups in Kiev and of course I wondered where in Europe you grew up. When I listened to one of your podcasts, I was certain you were Spanish. When you started writing about French politics, telling us you wanted to be up to date, I wondered if you, like me, had lived in France for a while. I think you also made a comment that showed you spoke some German or at least that was how I interpreted it. I never guessed you lived in Switzerland. That explains your many language abilities. I spent a couple of months in Switzerland when I was young and I met people, who spoke three or four languages perfectly. The long summer preserved my old school German and I am very grateful for that. People in the Netherlands are also gifted with language abilities. It is a normal thing in some European countries and difficult to explain to some Englishspeakers. There is nothing snobbish about it, it is a European reality and I want to point that out on the blog. It has nothing to do with the upper classes. I remember meeting a Dutch trucker, I was a worker myself, and asking him if he preferred English or German and he said both were ok. In Paris I met Dutch citizens, who spoke better French than I do and they were ordinary people like me.
You are a child of Russia, but you are also a child of Central Europe. As such, you create a bridge between cultures and you do it in the US (perhaps Ann will understand?). I can state categorically that we think in the same way. I am not Russian and my command of the language cannot compare with yours, but I know Russia and Europe. Another thing that unites us is that we lived through the cold war and understand the dangers of today. I see Englishspeaking participants understand this perfectly well. You are a uniting force.
I remember you said long ago during the crisis that you could live with that if you had to. An inconvenience, I think of your family, but perhaps also an unexpected opening.
You are absolutely correct. In many ways, not to have to make efforts to remain anonymous makes things easier for me.
You are a child of Russia, but you are also a child of Central Europe
Of Western Europe, really. Geneva, Switzerland, used to be my home base and living there did have a major impact on me. Not only that, but I am really a child of the Mediterranean, because having spent so much time in Spain, Greece and Italy, and having made a lot of Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian friends, I really feel that my “home” is the Mediterranean.
But central Europe? No, not really.
Kind regards,
The Saker
Johnny Z – Johnny, you’ve hit a nerve I think….
Ann, I am not Johnny. Central Europe is a special place and I think you understand what I mean.
For the record, I lived a long time in southern France and understand what Saker says. I felt at home. Some short visits in Barcelona and Rome were also important. In my present situation, I cannot travel anymore, but I advice those who can to visit foreign countries. I came home from France and Switzerland as a new person. There is so much we can learn from each other. I never got to see North America, but if I had had the means, I would certainly would have visited Canada.
“Mediterráneo” by Joan Manuel Serrat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8oxi_md84Y
Thank you for your work. I think your suggestion is a good compromise between A and B. Especially if you feel right about it yourself. Look forward to your continued contribution in bringing light on important issues.
I hope you will get some peace and stability.