Dear friends,
Today, with the kind permission of Phil Butler, I am posting the full text of my contribution to his book “Putin’s Praetorians: Confessions of the Top Kremlin Trolls“. There are a couple of reasons for that. The main one is that I strongly believe that this book deserves a much bigger visibility than it has received (this is also why, exceptionally, I am placing this post in the top “analyses” category and not elsewhere). Please read my review here to see why I feel so strongly about this book. Frankly, I am rather shocked by the very little amount of reviews this book as generated. I don’t even know if somebody besides Russia Insider has bothered writing a review of it or not, but even if somebody has, it is still a crying shame that this most interesting volume has been so far ignored by the alternative media including the one friendly to Russia. So by posting my own contribution here I want to bring back this book to the “front page”, so to speak, of our community. Second, I want to ask for your help. Right now the Kindle version of the book has 15 reviews on Amazon and only 1 review for the printed paper version. This is not enough. I am therefore asking you to 1) buy the book (Amazon wants reviews by purchasers) and 2) write a review on Amazon. Guys – that is something most of you can do to help, so please do so! We need to show the world that there is what I call “another West” which, far from being russophobic is, in fact, capable of producing real friends and even defenders of Russia. So, please, do your part, help Phil in his heroic struggle, get the paper version of the book and review it on Amazon!
Thanks a lot for your help, hugs and cheers,
The Saker
——-
How I became a Kremlin troll by The Saker
By birth, experience, and training, I truly had everything needed to hate Putin. I was born in a family of “White Russians” whose anti-Communism was total and visceral.
My childhood was filled with (mostly true) stories about atrocities and massacres committed by the Bolsheviks during the revolution and subsequent civil war. Since my father had left me, I had an exiled Russian Orthodox Archbishop as a spiritual father, and through him, I learned of all the genocidal persecutions the Bolsheviks unleashed against the Orthodox Church.
At the age of 16, I had already read the three volumes of the “Gulag Archipelago” and carefully studied the history of WWII. By 18 I was involved in numerous anti-Soviet activities such as distributing anti-Soviet propaganda in the mailboxes of Soviet diplomats or organizing the illegal importation of banned books into the Soviet Union through the Soviet merchant marine and fishing fleet (mostly at their station in the Canary Islands). I was also working with an undercover group of Orthodox Christians sending help, mainly in the form of money, to the families of jailed dissidents. And since I was fluent in Russian, my military career took me from a basic training in electronic warfare, to a special unit of linguists for the General Staff of the Swiss military, to becoming a military analyst for the strategic intelligence service of Switzerland.
The Soviet authorities had long listed me, and my entire family, as dangerous anti-Soviet activists and I, therefore, could not travel to Russia until the fall of Communism in 1991 when I immediately caught the first available flight and got to Moscow while the barricades built against the GKChP coup were still standing. Truly, by this fateful month of August 1991, I was a perfect anti-Soviet activist and an anti-Communist hardliner. I even took a photo of myself standing next to the collapsed statue of Felix Derzhinsky (the founder of the ChK – the first Soviet Secret police) with my boot pressed on his iron throat. That day I felt that my victory was total. It was also short-lived.
Instead of bringing the long-suffering Russian people freedom, peace, and prosperity, the end of Communism in Russia only brought chaos, poverty, violence, and abject exploitation by the worst class of scum the defunct Soviet system had produced. I was horrified. Unlike so many other anti-Soviet activists who were also Russophobes, I never conflated my people and the regime which oppressed them. So, while I rejoiced at the end of one horror, I was also appalled to see that another one had taken its place. Even worse, it was undeniable that the West played an active role in every and all forms of anti-Russian activities, from the total protection of Russian mobsters, on to the support of the Wahabi insurgents in Chechnya, and ending with the financing of a propaganda machine which tried to turn the Russian people into mindless consumers to the presence of western “advisors” (yeah, right!) in all the key ministries. The oligarchs were plundering Russia and causing immeasurable suffering, and the entire West, the so-called “free world” not only did nothing to help but helped all the enemies of Russia with every resource it had. Soon the NATO forces attacked Serbia, a historical ally of Russia, in total violation of the most sacred principles of international law. East Germany was not only reunified but instantly incorporated into West Germany and NATO pushed as far East as possible. I could not pretend that all this could be explained by some fear of the Soviet military or by a reaction to the Communist theory of world revolution. In truth, it became clear to me that the western elites did not hate the Soviet system or ideology, but that they hated Russian people themselves and the culture and civilization which they had created.
By the time the war against the Serbian nation in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo broke out, I was in a unique situation: all day long I could read classified UNPROFOR and military reports about what was taking place in that region and, after work, I could read the counter-factual anti-Serbian propaganda the western corporate Ziomedia was spewing out every day. I was horrified to see that literally everything the media was saying was a total lie. Then came the false flags, first in Sarajevo, but later also in Kosovo. My illusions about “Free World” and the “West” were crumbling. Fast.
Fate brought me to Russia in 1993 when I saw the carnage of meted out by the “democratic” Eltsin regime against thousands of Russians in Moscow (many more than what the official press reported). I also saw the Red Flags and Stalin portraits around the parliament building. My disgust by then was total. And when the Eltsin regime decided to bring Dudaev’s Chechnia to heel triggering yet another needless bloodbath, that disgust turned into despair. Then came the stolen elections of 1996 and the murder of General Lebed. At that point, I remember thinking “Russia is dead.”
So, when the entourage of Eltsin suddenly appointed an unknown nobody to acting President of Russia, I was rather dubious, to put it mildly. The new guy was not a drunk or an arrogant oligarch, but he looked rather unimpressive. He was also ex-KGB which was interesting: on one hand, the KGB had been my lifelong enemy but on the other hand, I knew that the part of the KGB which dealt with foreign intelligence was staffed by the brightest of the brightest and that they had nothing to do with political repression, Gulags and all the rest of the ugly stuff another Directorate of the KGB (the 5th) was tasked with (that department had been abolished in 1989). Putin came from the First Main Directorate of the KGB, the “PGU KGB.” Still, my sympathies were more with the (far less political) military intelligence service (GRU) than the very political PGU which, I was quite sure by then, had a thick dossier on my family and me.
Then, two crucial things happened in parallel: both the “Free world” and Putin showed their true faces: the “Free world” as an AngloZionist Empire hell-bent on aggression and oppression, and Vladimir Putin as a real patriot of Russia. In fact, Putin slowly began looking like a hero to me: very gradually, in small incremental steps first, Putin began to turn Russia around, especially in two crucial matters: he was trying to “re-sovereignize” the country (making it truly sovereign and independent again), and he dared the unthinkable: he openly told the Empire that it was not only wrong, it was illegitimate (just read the transcript of Putin’s amazing 2007 “Munich Speech”).
Putin inspired me to make a dramatic choice: will I stick to my lifelong prejudices or will I let reality prove my lifelong prejudices wrong. The first option was far more comfortable to me, and all my friends would approve. The second one was far trickier, and it would cost me the friendship of many people. But what was the better option for Russia? Could it be that it was the right thing for a “White Russian” to join forces with the ex-KGB officer?
I found the answer here in a photo of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Vladimir Putin:
If that old-generation anti-Communist hardliner who, unlike me, had spent time in the Gulag, could take Putin’s hand, then so could I!
In fact, the answer was obvious all along: while the “White” and the “Red” principles and ideologies were incompatible and mutually exclusive, there is also no doubt that nowadays true patriots of Russia can be found both in the former “Red” and “White” camps. To put it differently, I don’t think that “Whites” and “Reds” will ever agree on the past, but we can, and must, agree on the future. Besides, the Empire does not care whether we are “Red” or “White” – the Empire wants us all either enslaved or dead.
Putin, in the meantime, is still the only world leader with enough guts to openly tell the Empire how ugly, stupid and irresponsible it is (read his 2015 UN Speech). And when I listen to him I see that he is neither “White” nor “Red.” He is simply Russian.
So, this is how I became a Kremlin troll and a Putin fanboy.
The Saker
I think anybody with a brain and working memory can follow events in Russia and see that it is on the right course. I said ‘follow events’ rather than follow western media.
I think anybody with a brain and working understanding of basic ethics can watch video of VVP and read transcripts, and conclude that he is an uncommonly talented man of high moral principles.
Vladimir Putin responds to the strategic military turn of the EU
http://bit.ly/2jpK5ec
Since the fact remains that there is no Truth in the Western media or Searchable on the Internet, with algorithms rigged to bury anything good or important about Russia, we only have Putin’s Trolls as guides to the Truth. The minefield, once there, is our responsibility to traverse.
So be it. We demand of them proof of their worth each time they write or speak to us and logic for their analysis. Passion, anger or grief is not enough.
Precisely, this is how global Truth-Seekers come to the Saker’s Vineyard, examine the links to other neighborhoods of information and opinion, and participate in the dialectic of forums where peers can rip away at falsehoods, inaccuracies and propaganda.
The Western Truth-Seeker is as well equipped as any to discern all the attributes of professional bullshitters, nation-state agitators and the ideologically blinded of all stripes.
And what is very apparent, seeking the Truth is becoming a crime of thought. And “sanctions” will be brought against both the sources and the consumers of Truth. There is a price to be paid.
In a world of lies and deceit, the sacred duty is to find, consume and propagate the Truth, support those that do and, often, contribute to the production of such Truth.
We are a tiny group that is representing a massive part of humanity. We do the hard work of finding, evaluating and disseminating the Truth of Freedom’s fight against the Tyranny by our governments and by the Elites who control all distribution channels except for the very few that stand against the storm of evil.
Fate has it that Russia holds the Faith and that Putin tells the Truth, and that Russians are willing to fight and die to help the weak promote the Eurasian civilizations against the void of ideologies and Satanism, be it deviant Liberalist behavior or nihilist Wahhabi terror.
We understand the struggle. We cheer the heroes. We cry for the martyrs. And we shout out our support. Presente!
Wonderfully said. Thank You !!
As inspiring as it is true. Spoke for all of us, Larchmonter.
As has happened before in human history, we happen to be part of a ridiculously thin line of reason and truth standing against the avalanche of lies, repugnant hypocrisy and sheer evil emanating from just about all the seats of concentrated illegitimate plutocratic power. If it weren’t for Russia’s and Iran’s heroic stand to rightfully defend their sovereignty and push back agains this horrid regime of global criminality, humanity would not stand a chance. Incidentally, Saker, like Putin, is apparently on a path of evolution in his political perceptions, the mark of people who using their natural intelligence respect the lessons of history and have the courage to accept their mistakes and change to discard their prior erroneous views. My only worries at this point—shared by many here—are the degree to which Russia destiny is tied at this point to the biological presence of Pres. Putin on this earth, and its attachment to capitalism as the engine for its future, long-term development and self-sufficiency. Based on a value system anchored in selfishness, no matter what its apologists and propagandists say, capitalism is riddled by definition with contradictions: claiming to represent the best bulwark for democracy it stands for the tyranny of raw money, the reign of plutocracy and organised corruption, inevitably leading to the grotesque inequalities in wealth seen these days when 3 Americans have more wealth and power than half of the US population. Claiming to be a shield for Christianity, its core values are diametrically opposed to everything that Christ taught, or any moral philosopher worth his salt. This colossal imposture requires, again, by its core structure, a regime of immense lies to maintain legitimacy. Last, capitalism is not just unable and unwilling to deal seriously or timely with the global ecological implosion we are witnessing and which our rotten species leadership has brought upon us. Devoid by design of any true ethical compass, capitalism has been for many generations directly on a collision path with nature. Already by the late 1980s most scientists saw an amoral global system of runaway industrialism as the main agent responsible for “puncturing the biosphere.” From that point on matters have only gotten horrendously worse, fast. The lesson is clear: humanity cannot afford to have its systems of modern mass production tied to a completely unethical industrialism.
In sum, any nation—let alone a great nation that has done so much and suffered so greatly as Russia—deserves to have a genuinely ethical, democratic (serving the people) and fully rational system of economic organization. Embracing capitalism will only sign her certain and eventual decline, and death as a functional nation, as the endless internal and external problems generated by capitalism (inequality, incurable unemployment, abetted racism, cultural degeneracy, oligarchic corruption, constant need for wars and markets, etc, etc.) will crawl all over her body like lethal parasites with all the eloquent ugliness we see today in the once promising United States. And the democratic mechanisms won’t be there to effect prompt rectification, as we see exemplified in China, which is already leading the world in ecological salvation, after engaging in serious environmental degradation during her period of “forced march/war communism” economic development as a result of her desperate struggle to gain and maintain her sovereignty.
P. Greanville
Editor
The Greanville Post
I agree with many of your points but what, exactly, do you propose to replace capitalism? Socialism is, at best, a band-aid on capitalism. I’ve read Marx, if he was right and all you need to do is reallocate the means of production, then the USSR, China, Viet nam, and etc. would all be paradise.
I don’t mean to be harsh, I also hate capitalism and would love to see it disappear, I just don’t see what you replace it with.
Peace from Texas
Your reply is a bit disconcerting and partially erroneous, starts by establishing a wrong premise, and so typical of so many anglo “pragmatists” schooled in immediate satisfaction and “practicality” at the expense of well thought out and articulated answers to complex human problems. However, it is a good question, in this culture, so let me try to give you a useful response.
Socialism/communism is/are not “bandaids” to capitalism. They are complete, comprehensive sociopolitical and economic organization systems that build on and hugely improve anything that capitalism has to offer that we might recognise as good while cancelling the many aspects that are toxic and noxious. If you are thinking of public libraries, a public, universal healthcare system, etc., as you see in some developed capitalist nations like France, Britain, Canada, Germany, Scandinavia, etc., or Medicare and the VA system, public education, libraries, etc, in the US, you are indeed seeing “patches on capitalism” (patches by the way that extend its life and legitimacy, proving that socialism is powerful antidote to capitalist malignancy).
In judging the merits of capitalism vs socialism you need to always include the historical context, the continuum of human experience in which these enormous and often painful transformations take place. Snapshots are useless to understand such processes but make good propaganda points for the capitalists, that’s for sure.
You declare, basing yourself on the version of reality distributed in the West, which people like us on this site expose routinely, deplore and try to demolish with nuanced truths, that…”USSR, China, Viet nam, and etc. would all be paradise [but are not],” etc. Again, these are huge topics, but let me reply telegraphically:
(1) Whatever we may think, hate it or love it, the Soviet Union was a colossal accomplishment for humanity. It transformed a basically backward, agrarian nation into a sovereign superpower in a few generations—while also waging the most desperate and heroic struggle against easily the most dangerous and brutal enemy ever seen in modern history, the invading fascist armies spearheaded by Germany, and craftily supported by the “West”, again, a horde that sowed death and destruction on a scale impossible to understand by Westerners, especially Americans, who have always enjoyed the luxury of a continental-size nation bounded and protected by two immense oceans. As most of us know, the defeat of Nazi Germany was a Soviet/Russian accomplishment. The brave and resourceful people of Russia—to whom we are all indebted—lost 27 million people in that war, the equivalent of the whole populations of New York, California and Texas at the time. Not to mention the vast destruction of the young nation’s agricultural and industrial and urban plants. The US saw no real casualties or disruptions at home, losing no more than 1/60th the Russian toll. The second nation that suffered immensely in that war, China, recorded a similar magnitude of death and destruction, figures ranging from 24 to 36 and beyond millions of dead (no one knows to this day the exact figure) as World War 2 really began earlier in Asia with Japan’s genocidal conquest of China’s starting by 1930, fully a whole decade before things really got rough in Europe.
In the years immediately after the end of WW2 the West’s boycott and war by any means possible against the Soviets and Russian people continued. Indeed it is perfectly reasonable to say that no one knows for sure what the Soviet experiment could have been if it were not for the unrelenting hostility of the Western capitalist powers, denying the new nation all vital resources and waging internal and internal war against it with a view to toppling its
What leaders do is almost always conditioned by the dialectics of history they inhabit. The Soviet Union faced enemies inside and without all her life, creating very real problems for her leadership, and a siege mentality easy to degenerate into paranoia. So while this is not to excuse whatever errors or crimes they may have committed, it is also a matter of honesty to remind everyone that political paranoia is rarely something that occurs out of the blue, in a vacuum, or as simply perversely capricious behaviour by rulers—it has its origins in real world circumstances. The capitalist world, led by the anglozionists and their filthy bankster plutocracy with their citadel in Washington after 1945, bears a huge responsibility for the added dimension of pain absorbed by the Soviet/Russian people.
Under such conditions attaching to Russia, China, Cuba, and obviously to Vietnam, which American power literally devastated for over 20 years, even putting this question forth shows a bit of bad faith or recalcitrant ignorance of elementary fact and proportion. Social construction of a radically new system requires above all external and internal peace, something that ALL these nations have been denied by the capitalists, thereby causing enormous and often lethal deformities. It’s like having a baby beaten to a pulp in its cradle and then expect it to perform well and surpass well developed, mature and healthy giants.
In sum, the question should be: Why is the West, and particularly the United States, a country blessed by nature, perennially mired in wars, grotesque inequality, incurable unemployment, economic insecurity, racism and a healthcare system that is far more a cruel ripoff than a rational and just system of medical delivery for the population? If the US is today not shown to its own population for the colossal criminal mess it is—all of it man-made, product of its gangster system of politics and economics—we must thank the propaganda machine that keeps Americans as the most disinformed and brainwashed people on the face of the planet.
If they knew the actual truth about their condition and its causes, they would certainly not think that they are living in paradise, either. True paradises do not need revolution for improvement, by definition, but the US needs revolution badly.
Hard-hitting, highly perceptive comment indeed. Respect.
Yes, that was a good post by patrice.
If one looks at some of the key, base fundamentals, as outlined in patrice’s post, it seems clear for myself and has for quite some time, but too many people haven’t yet seemed to have made those observations and connections. I blame the barrage of propaganda, spanning years, combined with a fair bit of denial and ideology that prevents having those long-held beliefs of the typical U.S. citizen, of their ‘benevolent and honorable country,’ crushed; it’s devastating when that light bulb goes on and you can see the reality that everything you previously thought/believed, was utterly wrong and backward, and that your celebrated ‘leaders’ have wrought destruction, pain and misery over several lifetimes, with no other intent but to destroy innocent people, worldwide.
Thank you, Patrice,
No offense to ‘Critic’, but I get so tired of having to do what you did above, day after day, one mis or ill-informed person at a time.
But here we see the effects of a life-long inculcation of incessant Western propaganda machine in all of its relentless tenacity. And it’s obvious why it is applied so heavily: it is the only glue holding the now-teetering and dangerously belligerent empire together in its desperately in denial phase.
Which of course censorship as is being practiced is such a striking example.
Courage, me hearties, Courage and integrity.
TO A CRITIC‚
Forgive me, I should have answered your direct question. You replace capitalism with genuine socialism, OR any form—cal it what you will— of sociopolitical organisation genuinely grounded in compassion, empathy, social justice and genuine democracy, plus a healthy and firm respect and love for nature.
Can it be done? Of course it can. Just let humanity straighten its house WITHOUT the constant malignant meddling of the global plutocracy and its economic and military proxies.
The countries you posit as “failures” actually point the way, and prove the fact that society can be salvaged and healed. Cuba, a tiny nation just 90 miles from the monster’s shores, has managed to give its population free, splendid education, all the way to college; the best medical care in the Western hemisphere, in many dimensions surpassing the US in accomplishments; and a cure for prostitution, unemployment and many other endemic diseases under capitalism, all of this literally under the malefic gun of the United States always forcing it to shuffle its priorities to maintain itself alive and independent.
I strongly recommend you read more, sites like this, and good books not permeated with Western propaganda.
The story of China’s dramatic transformation is well told by Jeff Brown, a native Oklahoman living in China for over 15 years, who until his late 50s was as firm a believer in the Western propaganda canon as the next clueless guy. he wrote a monumental eye-opener, dedicated to his compatriots, in particular: China Rising: Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations (https://www.amazon.com/China-Rising-Capitalist-Socialist-Destinations-ebook/dp/B01LZ5KKNQ ). His latest episode on his radio program, Radio Sinoland, focuses on this topic, personal awakenings: FREEDOM 101 – Jason Hirthler and Jeff Brown share their stories of hope, on China Rising Radio Sinoland (http://www.greanvillepost.com/2017/11/26/freedom-101-jason-hirthler-and-jeff-brown-share-their-stories-of-hope-on-china-rising-radio-sinoland/
A book that can also teach you a great deal about the spirit of socialism and China in the throes of liberation from Japanese and Western imperialism is the story of Canadian doctor and hero, Norman Bethune: The Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Dr. Norman Bethune, by Sydney Gordon. (https://www.amazon.com/Scalpel-Sword-Bethune-Voyageur-Classics/dp/1554884020).
As well, I recommend you check what Ramin Mazaheri, a gifted correspondent for PressTV, and contributing editor to The Greanville Post and The Saker can show you about the surprising building of socialism and national sovereignty in Iran, under the Shia religious leadership.
This just for starters. Keep on reading and then read some more. Eventually you will develop a tremendous thirst for (and pleasure in) seeing the truth. Your next step then will be to actualise it.
Try to peddle Cuba best education and health care in the Western Hemisphere to the Cuban people living in Florida ..
National Socialism proved that in six years you could turn an economic basket case in to a world power.
Why do you think the Capitalists are so keen on demonising it?
I’m not talking about the Hollywood National Socialists but the actual economic policies that reduced employment to nil, gave everyone a place in society as well as a place to live in Germany.
Germany between 1933 and 1945 was the only FREE country in the entire world in the last 100 years…free of capitalism, usuary and currency speculation.
If National Socialism was the failure the west says it was they would not still be harping on about it.
If you asked the correct questions you wouldn’t need to wonder!
Merry Christmas.
Pirouette
“National Socialism proved that in six years you could turn an economic basket case into a world power.”
Well, yes and no. Germany was already an industrial powerhouse ruined by what seemed first to be a blessing: the strong US penetration of Germany’s economy throughout the 1920s. That’s precisely why Germany was hit sooner and harder by the collapse on Wall Street in 1929 compared to the rest of Europe. National socialism did provide a solution by militarisaton, popular mobilisation, and gangsterism/lawlessness at home and abroad — ironically a copy of the US model minus the laissez-faire, for good reasons.
“I’m not talking about the Hollywood National Socialists but the actual economic policies that reduced employment to nil, gave everyone a place in society as well as a place to live in Germany.”
Reduced unemployment, most likely :-) Yes, but it was conditioned on imperial conquest and enslavement to be sustainable in the long run. While not denying the accomplishments it brought the Germans, the fact remains that it was, at bottom, (highly tangible) sops and bribes to ensure public support for all-out war of rape and pillage.
“Germany between 1933 and 1945 was the only FREE country in the entire world in the last 100 years…free of capitalism, usury and currency speculation.
So not a single capitalist in German industry — or among Hitler’s financial backers — am I right?
“If National Socialism was the failure the West says it was, they would not still be harping on about it.”
Incorrect conclusion. Nazi Germany just happens to be the starting point for Anglo-American propaganda and ditto apologetics for perpetual war, the same modus vivendi as NazjhGermany.
Peace.
You are confusing capitalism by central banking and its power to print FIAT currency. Decentralized crypto currencies has the power to make capitalism fair and just. Let’s hope a I’m right.
Tinkering with peripheral matters cannot “cure” capitalism or, less so, ever make it “fair and just” because it is born of selfishness and injustice. No matter what yo do with coins, money, etc., no one can resolve—under capitalism—its inequality crisis, since it emanates from its very matrix, its DNA. As well, you can never, for the same reason, solve the eternal and worsening unemployment problem under capitalism, lately deepened and accelerated by automation, since while, on one hand, automation builds machines and technologies capable of making human labour more productive, on the other it makes (under capitalism) workers “redundant”, thereby forcing them off the employment rolls. Thus, while more wealth is created, it continues to be grotesquely distributed to the very upper sectors of society, while the majority suffer gradual but real impoverishment and eventually destitution.
Incidentally, the capitalist class is not the “1%”. That was merely a successful slogan born during the Occupy Wall Street movement. The actual bourgeoisie, the capitalist class dictating US/Western policy, the “anglozionist empire its tool of aggression, is comprised of about 000001% of the world population, perhaps even less, making the actual 1% almost paupers, and devoid of actual political clout.
In sum, given, by definition, the iron laws of capitalist accumulation and its equally non-negotiable social relations and production laws, prevent a cure of capitalism by mere adjustments here and there. It simply needs to be eliminated so humanity can finally move on.
Capitalism has reached the end of its useful life. It is now a huge impediment and a threat to everything living. Period.
It is a great pleasure to read your posts, moreover when you did not experienced the communism/socialism on your skin, thus, you described it as one who just lived there, I couldn’t tell better. As I said earlier, that “kid” – socialism – had been thrown out much too early, before it could grow up, all it’s positive achievments have been cut up, trown away in a demonic manner. Who counted the death toll which came as a direct consequence of this demise, the destroyed families and of an entire generation ? Nobody, they are forgotten.
Thanks again for your posts !
Dear Patrice
You put forth a strong, smart and impassioned position. I only ask if we do not need to realize that all the “isms” do corrupt due to a failing in mankind itself?
The good is in us but also the not so good. No system can change that, the change must come from within. Until that happens we can tinker with this system or that, but in the end it is mankind that has to grow into itself. In stead of laboring to transform systems, I suggest the transmutation must come from within.
I thank you and respect what you do
PTm
If I could agree. What is your better system?
There are other search engines out there that don’t base their results on Google or which aren’t owned by Microsoft or other western corporations. A wise person would learn about them and use them. I won’t try to promote any of them here, as I’m not sure if that violates a commenting policy here. And also because I feel that such information is more valuble if you find it by your own efforts. But anyone reading this site as a friend (instead as a part of their day-job as an internet troll for instance) should definitely be aware of that they exist and should find them and use them.
By this time, Google has so much money that they can continue on after their original sources of money (ie, spying on customers to sell the acquired information for profit) dry up, so this isn’t going to slay google. But still, at this point in time, I’d advise anyone to boycott all Google products and especially their search engine. As Julian Assange said in an article title sometime ago “Google is not what they seem”.
This comment deserves top billing.
Will repost with your permission Larch.
A very beautiful story. I enjoyed it tremendously,Since I live in Eastern Europe, I understood this article better than most people in Western Europe and the US. Russia had two tragedies in her history. The first was the Mongol invasion, and the second was the so-called Russian Revolution of 1917, which in fact should be called the Bankster Revolution of 1917, as it was financed by Western bankers. This “revolution” was probably more destructive than the Mongol invasion, as more lives were lost. In fact a horrendous number of lives were lost. I am pleased to see that Russia is standing up again and becoming a great nation. I am also looking forward to The Sakers opinion if the restoration of the monarchy in Russia is possible. I have read that some descendants of the Romanovs have arrived in Crimea, no doubt looking forward to the Russian crown. I presume Western intelligence agencies have grasped the fact that a return of the monarchy is possible. I suspect those arrivals in Crimea may well be connected with Western intelligence agencies, who are hoping of placing puppets on the Russian throne. The Sakers opinions on this matter are eagerly awaited.
Lol, “The banksters” would profit more if Russia stayed longer in the First World War. The main war would last longer, they could sell weapons to all states and watch for year how Europe is bleeding. They didn’t have to risk everything with the revolution.
The last Romanovs were responsible for the revolution, they made things so bad in Russia, that revolution was possible. From not completely abolishing feudalism, almost slavery in the few factories to inexperienced nobles leading the armies.
The German elite, which wanted to defeat the French&UK elites, just provided the funding for the revolution.
The “western elites” aren’t a dragon with a single head, but more like a hydra with heads from Medusa. And those “big heads” sometimes fight over who will be in charge. The same goes for the snakes on Medusas and that is exactly what was/is happening now in the US, where different groups want do dictate the policy
What you have written is absolute nonsense. Both Lenin and Trotsky were high ranking freemasons. Lenin was sent to Russia from Switzerland, with Germany being instructed to allow him to pass in that famous train. Trotsky lived in New York City, living the high life and being driven in a Rolls Royce. When he was sent to Russia, he took with him 500 New York gangsters, who overnight became “Bolsheviks”. New York banksters financed Lenin and Trotsky with 20 million dollars in gold, something they openly ADMITTED. When Nicholas II petitioned the British Royal family for sanctuary, it was DENIED, no doubt under bankster instructions. When the Russian royal family was butchered in that cellar, it was NOT done by Orthodox Russians. The killers were Zionists. Then, as now, banksters have their eyes on Russia and the plunder of Siberia and the Caspian region, two of the richest regions in the world. The famous political economist Lyndon LaRouche has openly stated on his website that the only thing that can save the US dollar is the plunder of Russia, ie. Siberia and the Caspian region. Private banksters have had their eyes on Russia for centuries. Napoleon, Kaiser and Hitler all invaded Russia, achieving nothing, if you exclude death and destruction. Who financed them ? Private banksters. Can anybody really believe that Germany had the money and resources to fight two world wars on its own ? Ofcourse not. Why is Russia being surrounded by NATO bases ? NATO and the banksters are hoping to destabilize Russia and then have NATO pour into the country in the name of “human” rights and “democracy”, after which the country would be broken up in the name of “democracy” and subsequently plundered by banksters and private corporations. We are having presidential elections in Russia in 2018. The so-called NGO’s, controlled by Soros and Western intelligence agencies are, ofcourse, making preparations by putting forward their candidates. However, their performance so far has been pathetic and hilarious. They are applying the American mentality in Russia, by supporting some silly female clowns who are parroting silly nonsense, good enough for ridicule (so far they introduced a female TV personality and a pop singer, hoping to draw female votes). We also have Navalny, the “famous” fighter against “corruption”, who has his own NGO (big surprise), and some days ago they introduced a new male political face, who has stated that he will back the business class in Russia and hope to win the elections. That guy, a complete non entity, has even demanded that Putin step down. That was nice of him. I wonder who told him that. The point is that the Western elite are losing their nerve. Both the euro and the dollar are printed backed by nothing, while the US, and a heap of EU countries have huge foreign and internal debts. This cannot blast too long. On the other hand Russia and China are preparing to introduce gold backed rubles and yuans as well as the Eurasion Economic Union. Private banksters did not plan it this way. The are witnessing the exact opposite to what they planned. Tough luck.
“When Nicholas II petitioned the British Royal family for sanctuary, it was DENIED, no doubt under bankster instructions. When the Russian royal family was butchered in that cellar, it was NOT done by Orthodox Russians. The killers were Zionists. Then, as now, banksters have their eyes on Russia and the plunder of Siberia and the Caspian region, two of the richest regions in the world.”
Why would these “banksters” create a plunder plan that would nearly certainly not allow them to actually plunder for many decades (until 1991?). When the plunder occurred the initial beneficiaries where actually the Russian oligarch elite but we can see the international elite have benefited also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-owned_enterprises_of_Russia
“Since the first waves of privatization in the 1990s, the Russian government has sold stakes in several companies, often while continuing to hold a significant degree of ownership. In 2016 this included the sale 10.9% of Alrosa, and 19.5% of Rosneft. Privatization plans for the 2017-2019 period include selling stakes in VTB (10.9%), Sovcomflot (25% minus 1 share) and Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port.”
Wrt to Trotsky, this seems more likely:
“So when I read on the internet “Trotsky joined Lodge ____ in the year ____” and it points to a book without any more explanation, it makes me question whether it is true or if I am basically reading a tabloid.”
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=30ijs0st1u2cafbo2oeekr5450&topic=253073.msg1452125#msg1452125
You are playing with words and with facts. The bankers, ofcourse, financed many sides during World War One. However, as we all know, a war cannot last for ever. By 1917 it was perfectly clear that it was drawing to an end. So, what did the bankers do ? They decided to be clever. They instigated a “revolution” in Russia, using Lenin and Trotsky for a subsequent break up of Russia. Russia was out of the war. The Germans moved most of their troops from the Eastern Front to the Western Front, creating a catastrophic situation for the British and French. That problem was solved by bringing the US into the war. Most people think it was solely to defeat Germany. That was partially true. The intention was also to have US troops into Europe in order to subsequently move them into Russia for the breakup of the country. It did not come to that at that time. The situation became complicated with the Russian civil war, the fight between the “Reds” and the “Whites”. The civil war is over, and Lenin dies, due to syphilis. His place is taken over by Stalin, who was not under bankster control, no matter what disinformation artists have for years been trying to misrepresent (ie. that Stalin was ostensibly a freemason, when he was not). Stalin comes to power in 1924 and in 1925 an obscure character by the name of Adolph Hitler tries that coup d’etat in Germany, which fails. What we have here are preparations for World War Two. The players are being positioned. The Second World War begins in 1939. Hitler invades the USSR in 1941. And the banksters ? What are they doing ? They are watching developments. Winter is arriving, and Stalin brings more than one million men from Manchuria to the Moscow Front. It becomes apparent that Hitler will be defeated before Moscow. Everybody knows what happened to Napoleon in 1812, and the fact that in 1814 Tsar Alexander ended up in Paris. This needs to be prevented. Japan is provoked into attacking Hawaii in December of 1941, and America joins World War Two, continuing where it stopped in 1918. In June of 1944 the US & allies invade Normandy. That invasion is both a liberation from German occupation and a new invasion of Western Europe, this time by US troops, who are STILL in Europe. The US and Germany to this day have not signed a peace agreement, giving the US an excuse to stay in Germany, Russia being the chief target. After the Second World War, NATO is created. The USSR responds with the Warsaw Pact. In 1989 the Warsaw Pact disintegrates. NATO is still present. Worse, the EU is created, which is nothing more than a civilian component of NATO, its chief aim being an expansion towards Russian borders, as witnessed by that coup d’etat in Kiev. The US, through NATO, has taken the role of Napoleon, Kaiser and Hitler in preparing an invasion of Russia on behalf of the banksters, ofcourse. The US alone has 700 combat bases outside America and 300 supply bases, many of them encircling Russia and China. The aim, ofcourse, is the destabilization of both Russia and China and subsequent invasions of both, all in the name of “human rights” and “democracy”. The banksters and private corporations cannot achieve their global imperial policy without first destroying their two chief enemies, Russia and China. However, this imperial policy is not going too well. Its taking just too long and expenses have been huge. Look at the internal finances of both the US and EU. Both have huge problems, and both are printing currencies backed by nothing. And the Russians and Chinese ? Both have huge patience and both are sitting back and waiting for the US and EU to implode financially. At the same time both are indeed preparing for a “New World Order”, but NOT the one planned by the banksters, but one planned by Russia and China, based on economic unions of sovereign countries, which will certainly appeal to everyone in Asia and Europe. And the banksters ? By trying to destroy Russia (and China), they have financially destroyed themselves. They forgot the old rule that empires always collapse.
@B.F: “this imperial policy is not going too well. Its taking just too long and expenses have been huge.” Likewise in “The Climax of Rome” by Michael Grant. To subjugate such a huge Empire the Romans needed a huge Army which needed a huge Bureacracy which needed more money than could be extracted from the people by taxes. Eventually this led to forced labour for local strongmen (heads of private armies a la Blackwater) replacing wage labour; in short, the Citizens of the collapsing Empire morphed into the Serfs of the Feudal System.
You are playing with words and with facts. In addition, you fail to see that there is no difference between the ruling elite and the banksters:
Quote:
That war (WW1) was good for business was not the only lesson the ruling classes learned during this period – The Russian revolution of 1917 terrified rich people all over the world watching Lenin and Trotsky taking over such a vast area of the globe.
The Kings and Queens of Europe’s tiny sovereign states in particular became extremely nervous – the question on all their minds was “suppose the communist success in Russia should inspire their own working class to rise in revolt”. Many of the crown heads of Europe, like England’s King George V had been related to Nicholas and the brutal execution of the Tsar and his family sent a shockwave through the upper classes of every nation – did a similar fate lie in wait for the Royal families of Holland, Sweden, Spain and England?
This question was laying heavily on the minds of the elite when the 1st World War ended in 1918 and it had the effect of focusing the mind of the bankers and the industrialists on the question of what to do for best with the defeated and dilapidated Germany. The population were poor peniless and worn out yet the German economy still contained some of the most sophisticated industrial stock on the planet. The elite sensed an opportunity – supposing, as the Worlds first international business men, they could get their hands on Germany’s steel mills , coal mines, factories.
John Foster Dulles wrote the Treaty of Versailles . A lawyer of Sullivan and Cromwell and it was largely they who decided the German people must pay war reparations totalling DM135 Billion (today DM 250 Trillion). When this was announced the legendary UK economist John Maynard Keyne’s maintained it was a ludicrous sum and a swift calculation determined it would take 60 years hard labour to pay off – but it didn’t, so why?
Maynard sensed that they were quite deliberately trying to sabotage the German economy and they succeeded. As mass unemployment led to hyper-inflation with German investors on their knees the elite moved in and began buying up stock in German industry at a knock down price.
Now why would they do this? the cynical mind would say to make a buck but it wasn’t really that simple. What they wanted was to make Germany strong again so that she would become a bulwark against Soviet Communism.
It was around this same time that the newspapers that these same rich people owned made sure the word “Bolshy” entered the English language so that we would associate Bolshevism with aggression and it was with these subtle and not so subtle methods that the international elite started to shape our destiny for the remainder of the 20th Century.
Intellectuals of the period were furious and you get a very good feeling of the political atmosphere of the time from the diaries of Labour politician Harold Nicolson when he writes:
“We have lost our will power since our will power is divided
The people of the governing class think only of their own fortunes which means hatred of the Reds.
Our class interests cut across our national interests and I go to bed in gloom”
End Quote
As they say, the rest is history.
Organised opposition to the elite (Global, National, International etc) ended (before) 1991
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Qt6a-vaNM
Organised opposition to the elite (Global, National, International etc) ended (before) 1991
apologies, I meant:
Organised opposition to the parasitic elite (Global, National, International etc) ended (before) 1991
Germans would not have lost the war in two years 1941-43 and Paris having Red Army in 1943. Instead without US Eastern Front slaughter house would have continued to 1946, perhaps 1947. In reality majority on German munitions never went to east, more likely just 40% in 1942-43 and about 30% during period of 1944-45. Germany sent most backward troops and aircraft to east and their only weapon to shake allied was their U-boats at Atlantic in 1940-43.
Dear B F
Luck or love do not have anything to do with the international banking system. You B F seem smart and well read, perhaps I can reach you.
The world at the international banking system and interest is not the world we as most are aware of at obvious levels. Their goal is always more centralization and control. Your are spot on when you recognize who financed WWII, it was the banksters.
Today their immediate problem is the unmanageable trade imbalances brought about by the impact of decades of the “teffen effect.” I may spell that wrong, still the effect is the same and is well known to create imbalance in all histories reserve currency status. In centuries gone by the effect was always blunted by empire wars and greed corrupting the system before the imbalances became more than a switch from a failing to a rising empire could accommodate.
Would appreciate more information and/or a link to “teffen effect”. A web search spelled “teffen” turned up nothing. Thanks. Mod “J”
Seventy years of Bretton Woods and it’s jacking about has created almost unmanageable imbalances. Think of it this way, If I owed you a million dollars,do want my dollars to be worth ten cents due to complete collapse? Or better a slower roll down that sees the dollar depreciate by 30/40% over the next decade?
I personally believe P.Trump was brought in to facilitate this roll back under the guise of “nationalism.” The topic I approach is very complex and difficult to comprehend. Still I believe it plays a major part of all we see happening geo/real/all/ politics. It must, it is the “international banking system” and all it’s power.
PTM
possibly this….??
Triffin dilemma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triffin_dilemma
Not sure, but just a suggestion as to what the previous poster may have been referring to.
Greetings
My Dear areader
Absolutely correct, and I thank you so much. In my own primitive way I have been attempting to bring this aspect of politic at the international banking level into the sight of the Saker’s site for a couple of years now. However because I do not fully grasp what all of where I speak, I’ve correctly been ignored. Now however because I’ve given myself to study of the topic I’m beginning to get some notice. I’m starting to make a little sense now.
The “dilemma” not the effect and “Triffin” not Treffen is correct. The “Triffin dilemma.” My Dear areader, I thank you so much for finding and providing the link Mod “J” requested.
To further my point the, many on this site recognize the role that the “international banking interest” play in world affairs. However, I alarm, perhaps not all understand or perceive just exactly what their “interest” is, and how that all plays into the events we are witness to on a daily basis.
There are much better places to go in order to find intelligent information on this topic than what you can get from me. I ain’t all that smart. Still I am smart enough to realize that any analysis of current or for that matter past events, past to the beginning of time, is incomplete unless the “international banking interest” and what their interest really is, are not included in the equation.
I submit, P Trump and his “nationalist” program is part and parcel of a rolling back of the USA’s role and dominance of the uni and into a multi world system. Therefore his actions begin to alleviate the intolerable imbalances that due to the “Tiffin Dilemma.” and a very unhealthy overdose of greed and corruption has created.
It’s just business, nothing personal.
PTM
extend the war……not a problem. the anglozionists conned the weak minded wilson (worst effing president ever) and got the US into WW1 and extended it by a couple of years.
leading to the demise of just about all of europe and the complete depopulation of a generation of young white men.
I can state that european civilization peaked in 1913 and few can argue. since then we have been in a state of almost constant war. one would do well to ask why.
B.F., just a little quibble: I think that you should add a third tragedy in Russia’s history, and that is WWII. No nation could undergo the huge losses and disruptions and not be as affected as much or more than the other two that you mention.
And guess what ethnic group was behind the bankster Bolshevik revolution. Hint . . . the same group that has hijacked American finance, politics and media. The documented handwriting is on the wall.
Since many are into “alternative” things here, it is worth pointing out that a common alternative perspective is that the Romanovs were the coup that broke the earlier version of Russia (Great Tartary) and led to all kinds of terrible things, such as senseless wars with the Turkish part of their world. In other words, the Horde was an earlier Russia, just as a more modern horde was the Soviet Army at the end of WWII.
Too many people idolize the Romanovs in my view – certainly Peter the Great. If Western books call you great, it is time to reconsider the premise. They would call him Gorbachev the Great if there weren’t so many Russians still alive.
“If Western books call you great, it is time to reconsider the premise. They would call him Gorbachev the Great if there weren’t so many Russians still alive.”
Absobloodylutely! Gorbachev, like Hitler, is despised and hated in Russia since the Russian population survived the Liberal and Nazi onslaughts. Correspondingly, there is no “greatness” attributed to these two Gentlemen in the peculiar language of Westish.
Deeply regret to inform some commenters here that the Russian people do approve of Lenin and Stalin, however. It was the Red Army, after all, that defeated the Western übermenschen twice over. Not bad for a couple of Zionist bankster charlatans, if you ask me. Wonder if that was part of the “contract”.
Truth is I believed all I was told when I was young, Evil Soviet Union, Evil Empire, Godless Russians, etc etc etc. Biggest mistake my superiors ever made was to send me to these ‘Godless Russians’. It took me about two days to realize I’d been lied to for 40 years. Gawd what a mess Russia was in from the late 80’s through the ’90’s but I watched them, I was here often, and I saw things begin to change about the time VVP was put in office. I know he is not the Czar and never will be nor to I think he wants to be.
I have watched President Putin since he first came to office, I have seen how the drumbeat of lies and half truths from The West has steadily increased and President Putin has tied them in knots as often as he could. Russia is back, the real Russia, and with VVP as leader and premier statesman of the world and with the team he has assembled to assist him and further his views, I think Russia will do well both now and in future.
We here are in a way the truth seekers, we are the ones who guide those who are beginning to see that the crock they have been fed from for the last 7 decades is s//t and full of lies. It is up to us on this blog and other similar venues to help those who question, guide those who ask, and spread the word that almost nothing in West News concerning Russia is true. So be it. It will be a life time struggle for me, I ain’t young, but well worth the effort.
In essence, another Putin Troll reporting in. As an aside, wish I could buy the book but I can’t.
Auslander
Bravo ! Cher Saker, je voudrais bien acheter ce livre, mais apparemment il n’en existe pas de traduction française ! Est-ce prévu ?
une version russe est, je crois, prévue mais une éventuelle version française dépendra probablement des ventes, d’où mon appel aujourd’hui :-)
amitiés,
Le Saker
Moi aussi, je voudrais bien l’acheter (en français), ce livre. Peut-être en deux exemplaires quand même, comme j’ai pensé à BHL aussi :-)
Got the book, will write a review when read. Thanks for the heads up, Saker
We bought the book just now. (My wife did while I was in the bath tub).
Kent
I bought the kindle version and will post a review soon.
So, this is how I became a Kremlin troll and a Putin fanboy
Saker, Did you realized that your previous work was directed not only against Soviets but against Russia as a whole. Working with foreign military establishments against own country is a treason. You are not a traitor ‘cos you were not Russian citizen, however your deeds will have a permanent stains regardless.
Irrespective of the accusatory and self-righteous tone (you are probably still very young) you raise an interesting point. I will reply three things to that:
1) First, since I was born in Switzerland I was bound by the same obligations as any Swiss citizen, including serving in the armed forces; furthermore, I *sincerely* perceived a very *real* Soviet threat (most European did during the Cold War) to my country of birth – why would I not help defend it?! I did not “spy” on anybody, I never misrepresented myself or lied to anybody. All I did was offer my analytical capabilities to my country of birth as a way to contributing to its safety and preparedness. I still think that this was the morally correct thing to do and I have no regrets about that.
2) Second, let’s say I had done something wrong. It seems to me that doing something wrong when you are mislead, to do something wrong in full sincerity, is not condemnable. My spiritual father always told me “always follow your conscience no matter what” and that is what I did. Even Saint Paul persecuted Christians: You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it . Gal 1:13 (NRSV). Yet that was never held against him after his conversion.
3) Third: you are assuming that in my work I did something to harm Russia. Not only did I never do that, I actually so much to explain the real Russia (and Serbia) to my colleagues that I ended up sacrificing my career over that.
As I said, you must be very young to have that kind of primitive black-and-white certitudes about life and about other people. And you clearly are not European. Hence your prosecutorial grandstanding on a situation you know nothing about and are not equipped to understand.
Cheers,
The Saker
This is where Identity Politics goes completely bizarre. I already refer to Identity Politics as “Who’s Your Daddy?” Politics because little things like the content of one’s character do not define a person, but only the answer to the question of “Who’s Your Daddy?”. The answer of “Who’s Your Daddy?” defines a person as Black or Indian or as a hated and despised ‘White’ who’s obviously responsible for all of the world’s sins.
The above commenter takes it even further by somehow stating that the country in which someone was born and was raised does not define their national identity, but the country of some ancestors one or more generations into the past does do so. A truly bizarre notion, it seems to me.
Of course, I’m an American, where it has been largely understood for a long time that the even the country of one’s birth is less important than whether you were loyal to this country. But then again, I’m from a family of German-Americans who fought against Germany in WW1 and WW2. I’m pretty sure my original ancestors were draft-dodgers who thought farming in Indiana was preferable to serving in Bismarck’s armies, but I guess all our generations are just natural-born traitors for violating the current “Who’s Your Daddy?” rules of Identity.
Apart from the book, I might drop just a tiny sidestep:
That picture of Alexander Solzhenitsyn (a monumental writer, I’ve read several works of him) and Vladimir Putin (good that his UN speeches are mentioned, they are monumental as well, just see them. Oh,btw on his 2007 Munich speech just look at the silent but hysterical face of John McInsane).
Two great Russians, with love of their nation, in human humbleness, and respect towards each other.
This picture is priceless.
Cheers, Rob
can u post the pic or link of his face?
always like to watch McInsane busting a blood vessel or ten LOL
thanks!
It’s a great book mate!
got it on kindle and really enjoyed it :)
thanks for taking the time to do it
Saker,
Yours is not an isolated case of conciliatory process, but the single expression of a massive, national, historic process of national reconciliation of Russia with its past to deal with the present and to face the future.
In my opinion under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, Russia has not only successfully faced and defeated the process of economic, political and military disintegration the Anglo Zionist Empire launched against it; but a kind of new national conscious has resulted from it.
Russians are making with ALL the ages of their past and now they have a better sense of national identity and pride.
Although, a majority of Russians are not religious or hardcore conservatives (or at least this is what I can see from Mexico), they have recognized themselves as a society where conservative or patriarchal institutions such as marriage, different roles for the sexes, family and the role of fathers is basic to have a healthy society; and reject completely the Western social engineering that is destroying the social fabric Western Europe and the USA to rubble. This way of thinking comes from the Orthodox foundations of Russia, and of course, from the increasing Muslim population, now around 25%.
However, and although Russians don’t want to live under the totalitarism of the USSR, they understand that Communism gave the Soviet Union and then Russia the status of global power and the respect it always begged to its European ‘cousins’ but they never get. The Soviet regime also provided an industrial powerhouse and a system which also resulted in a tremendous surge of industrialization, transforming an agrarian society where privileges were in heredity and class to an egalitarian society based on merit. Russians also understand that some of the old socialist institutions (refitted, of course) are necessary, so their country can survive the permanent war the West wages on Russia; i. e. a strong and powerful leader, a powerful Red Army, a large and powerful State (maybe sometimes a little intrusive).
Aside from the natural division every society has I guess a strong of national destiny has solidified in Russia, one that doesn’t deny one of his portentous, yet sometimes tragic foundations. One that would liberate from the Empire.
I can relate to the Saker’s epiphany. Now in my late seventies, I have been “right wing” all my conscious life. So anti-communist and ant-socialist was I in my youth that I was labeled a fascist, but I never had any sympathy for Nazis, having grown up in the rubble fields of a city that the Luftwaffe attempted to destroy.
My first visit to Russia, then the USSR, in the Brezhnev era, confirmed all my visceral feelings of contempt for the communist system. My last visit in 2006, gave me a severe case of cognitive dissonance, with the new church buildings, and a host of other changes from previous times, together with the thoughts of Russian acquaintances about H.E. V.V. Putin’s governance, notwithstanding his KGB past.
Now, in reading H.E’s., various addresses, I hear the echoes of Adam Smith and Edmund Burke. All that most people seem to know about Smith is a very distorted understanding of free enterprise and markets, by which Smith meant “free” from predatory finance, not free from reasonable government oversight. Smith wrote about the inevitably negative effects of predatory finance and of unregulated monopolies and oligopolies. Burke, was a supporter of the American Revolution, but in “Reflections on the French Revolution,” he spelled out the grave dangers of abrupt and violent revolutions, as has H.E.
In short, H.E. V.V. Putin has become in my mind the absolute epitome of the conservative Christian gentleman, whom I would wish to be governing in all our western lands. A person who thoroughly understands and applies the “Rule of Law,” and who understands the difference, between socialist tyranny and Christian conservative “noblesse oblige,” in setting aside shortsighted greed to care for the less fortunate of society, if only because allowing pockets of poverty and disease to exist within society will endanger us all.
Thank you, Saker! Got the book just now and will post a comment when I read it.
You said, “Right now the Kindle version of the book has 15 reviews on Amazon and only 1 review for the printed paper version.” I just now went to amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Putins-Praetorians-Confessions-Kremlin-Trolls/dp/3981891902/ and on my screen it’s only available in paperback and there are only two reviews. WTF? Bezos’ friends at the CIA don’t like it?
Thanks to you all, and to my superb comrade looking over this vineyard, the Kindle version of the book bounced back into the top ten of bestsellers in one day.
https://www.amazon.com/Putins-Praetorians-Confessions-Kremlin-Trolls-ebook/dp/B076SS88CP/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
The Saker, the other contributors to this book, and the dozens of other “trolls” who could not contribute, for fear for their own families or personal safety, salute all of you who endeavor against an evil empire that will not relent.
Always,
Phil
What you describe is true for amazon.com. I just ordered it using amazon.de. I live in Berlin. On amazon.de there is a print as well as a kindle vsn with > 10 reviews.
Cheers,
-marianne
Dave, a few hours ago I checked amazon.com, and then it had only 2 reviews as you stated. Now, re-checking it, it’s jumped to 16, but including reviews from prior to today. So, has it been manipulated by amazon, and it has now backed down for being exposed? Best to take screenshots as proof, then they can be compared for accuracy, meaning the likes of amazon – like google – cannot be trusted.
Reminds me of google, which had stated ‘approximately’ x number of views of a web page, which is clearly trash, since computers only record something or nothing, i.e. 0 or 1, so figures are always exact regarding this.
Don’t trust Amazon reviews. They’ve been caught manipulating those. A recent and notable example is that they were erasing any critical reviews of Hillary Clinton’s book. And, while in that case they can be said to be simply following their own self-interest by increasing sales through their portal, they’ve also been caught hindering sales of books with messages they don’t like, such as the one’s critical of Bill Browder and his Magniski Laws.
So, I would not pay any attention to what the reviews on Amazon say as a simple measure against being misled by a tech giant that seems to like misleading people either directly or more indirectly through the owneship of the Washington Post.
And I have become a Putin fangirl! I admire your work and never miss your chats with Catherine. I send you my best wishes to you and yours for the very best New Year 2018. I will be getting a copy of Phil Butler’s book.
Carol Crumlish
Well said. This commentary should be front page news. It wont because it shows Pres Putin in good light.
Awesome story…. it makes me smile. Thank you for sharing it , and I might add that a while back I saw a video of the mess that was Russia during Yeltsin’s tenure. It covered the industries, infrastructure, and the lack of daily necessities along with other issues. It was despair personified. That today the country is vibrant, functioning , and beautiful is wonderful. I am but one of thousands of admirers of V. Putin…and the Russian spirit. I am also pleased that the Russian Orthodox Church has been a cornerstone of it all. God bless all the Russian people !
The concept of Empire within US is not without it’s adherents, 200 million is not far from their #’s; While those in true opposition would be in low tens of millions.
Low 10′ is because, they unlike the vast majority of US people’s who have no conceptual understanding or even give a fly’n f of what an Empire is, those 10’s understand just how grinding down of individual and collective free will is under Empire Rule.
For a huge % of US people’s is the fact that they never lived under a police State nor suffered the ravages, even sacrifices of WWIi were but mear inconveniences, of what wars their Empire has unleashed upon other peoples.
The Soviet Empire failed for many reasons, as this author writes about here and elsewhere in ways I am not capable of. But it’s failure is mainly due to a major failure, the lack of control that common human failure of greed and lust for means to attain power.
American here. Veteran of the Vietnam atrocity, forcefully conscripted.
I know nothing about Russia but what I read from trolls like The Saker. I wish there were hundreds more.
My country has lost its soul, or should I say the soul we were sold on. Always vicious and corrupt, the youth of the 50’s were convinced of its goodness.
I’m over that. Our leaders are tools of a rapacious financial oligarchy unlike the world has ever seen. Their final feast is on the people of America, those that believed.
Best to Putin and the Russian people. We had it good. Now it’s over.
Peace.
JohnT
Long live Christian Russia!
Ich like your comments and Argumente very much.
Exzellent !
Putin is my HERO! The ONLY world LEADER of repute. Russia seems my spiritual home, I have the feeling!
Just bought the book and will gladly post a comment once I finish reading it.
Gift a copy of the book to Ron Paul – he will do a book review for you on air for sure. There’s got to be more independent free-thinkers…
Very good Saker, I am a fan of yours, together we are everywhere and will not be silent!
great artwork – I want to get the book for sure
First, I’m curious, have you heard of Vladimir shalomovitch by chance? I agree putin kicked jews out of russia but what about his actions abroad and why kordokovsky in Switzerland? Why so many problems with obama who also had problems with israel due to being pro Muslim. A little contradictory ? And so why problems now with Trump who is pro israel? More money, more problems ?
I consider myself a Putin troll too. I do not know the real reason, could it be just common sense? Its only a pity that Putin wont be around for.. lets say 200 hundred more years.
It is an honor to be a Russian Troll
I never had access to classified intelligence, but I could follow NATO:s war in almost real time with other means. It was a great turningpoint for me. I soon visited Russia och saw a culture I did not know existed. I live in a country which was not far from the USSR and many were afraid. Like the Saker I have turned around completely. The great thing with the Vineyard is that people come here from all around the globe. We are not Putin trolls, we are only concerned citizens. NATO does its best to turn people against it.
The Yeltsin years were an earlier turningpoint and of a different kind. I heard Western economists say the most stupíd things. Yeltsin cheated and won the elections and general Lebed, who challenged him, died mysteriously. And what did Yeltsin do to the parliament? One of my Russian friends cried when she saw what happened.
I put my hopes in VVP. If you are a believer, no matter what sort, pray for him and Russia.
“Truly, by this fateful month of August 1991, I was a perfect anti-Soviet activist and an anti-Communist hardliner. I even took a photo of myself standing next to the collapsed statue of Felix Derzhinsky (the founder of the ChK – the first Soviet Secret police) with my boot pressed on his iron throat. That day I felt that my victory was total. It was also short-lived.”
Just curious Saker, in August 1991 the baltic states and Ukraine were trying to break away from USSR. I was wondering what were your views towards those movements at the time?
@Bankotsu. Well, they succeeded, and just look at the state of those states — overrun by Natzo and Nazis.
“Be careful what you wish for — the Gods might grant your wish”.
Apart from the Baltic statelets, all other parts of the USSR voted overwhelmingly to remain as part of the USSR. Unfortunately the big fish in a little pond syndrome prevailed/
In fact, it is a honor to be a Putin troll, the more bashing comes out against him and against Russia, the more people will come in his yard. True, there are still a huge amounts of those who are still blinded by the negative propaganda originated from Empire but in same way, our side is becoming stronger, every snap on his face is a snap on our faces and that makes us more stronger. That alternative which he represents in this world which is in fact the rule of law, equality and justice for all, a balanced “modus vivendi” and this poses great danger for those on the other side who don’t want any change in their pursuit of world domination. This fight will not end very soon, fierce battles are ahead, so don’t let your minds and spirits to be asleep, be prepared all the time cause the people of darkness don’t fell asleep, they are steadily working on new traps and ambushes, the great chess is still in play. In just four months, there will be presidential elections in Russia, an intensification of badly moves by the other side is to be awaited.
Great stuff from a man who has clearly earned his right to comment authoritatively on these matters.
My own agreement with him in toto does not spring from such intimate involvement with the “Russian Question” or its various manifestations; I don’t even speak Russian.
But what I do speak is the Truth; and I can both see and hear that Vladimir Vladimirovich is a clear and unambiguous exponent of that almost-forgotten language.
Although British myself; I see myself rather, as a citizen of that Empire of Truth presided over by this great man, who is surely the brightest hope in a dark and despairing world.
Long live Vladimir Putin; and long live the Holy Russian Empire.
And thank you to the Saker for his own commitment to the eternal struggle between Good, and Evil.
The struggle is not between good and evil, it is between intelligence and foolishness. No political movement that does not recognize this will make the world a better place to live. It will only perpetuate more and more punishment, more and more violence.
From an outsider’s view, the most important thing about Putin is that he is SANE. He observes and understands REALITY, and knows how to solve REAL problems.
The US/UK/EU side is crazy beyond all previously known crazies. Given a choice between following sanity or obeying hyperlunatics, I’ll pick the sane dude every time.
What he said!
Of course it was Russia who saved us here in the West in WW2 by fighting and beating by far the largest number of German divisions on the Eastern Front, and at an immense cost in human lives of well over 20 million dying in the struggle to resist the Nazis. All we ever hear in the West is how the `mighty` USA came to our aid and helped us defeat the Nazi menace. I am a proud Brit and am in no way trying to diminish our brave soldiers contribution, they gave their lives willingly to preserve our freedom just like their American and Russian brothers did, but the warped rhetoric and endless propagandist descriptions of how the war was won as depicted by the Western elites ( who have always controlled the narrative and still do), is sickening. It seems as though the rising Russian bear, unfortunately for them, is our only hope for freedom once again. If one were to wish for a leader to lead us against the all embracing evil we face, Putin would appear to be heaven sent. Long live V Putin!
I’m a great fan of President Putin, but it’s important to understand that he has to keep up the image of the heroic war to save “Mother Russia”. The truth is that Stalin (with banksters’ support) had built the largest military organization in the world, and planned to attack Germany on July 10 1941. Hitler repeatedly urged Britain and France to help Germany overthrow the monstrous, undemocratic Stalin regime, which had already murdered tens of millions of educated Russians. But Churchill, who was not elected Prime Minister – and would not have been since he was a very unpopular warmonger – was paid to side with the unelected Stalin to destroy democratic Germany. Germany knew that a two-front war was deadly, but saved Europe by anyway attacking the Soviet Union preemptively on June 22, 1941. The German armies were warmly welcomed by Russians whom they liberated from the Soviet horror, millions of whom then fought with Germany to overthrow Stalin.
And still, Stalin remains very popular in Russia; Hitler not so much.
Seriously, your Nazi apologetics are just a German rendition of putrid Western victimology. Like: We were just peacefully minding our own business when that infinitely evil über-monster Stalin/Putin/Saddam tried to wreak havoc on our lives and our peace-loving societies ruled by law.
Bottom line: Fascism is the rallying call of militant parasites.
Perhaps you might like to read Poslednyaya Respublika (“The Last Republic”), by Viktor Suvorov (Vladimir Rezun).
Since history is written by the Victor, it is easy to control the narrative and hence popularity. Given the huge amount of demonizing of Hitler in both East and West and the minimal coverage of Stalin’s tens of millions of victims, your argument that Stalin’s popularity being greater than Hitler’s as proof of your argument strikes me as being inherently flawed.
Remember, the majority is usually wrong.
” /…/ and the minimal coverage of Stalin’s tens of millions of victims”
Congratulations for having successfully blocked out Western MSM totally for all these years then, LOL.
” /…/ your argument that Stalin’s popularity being greater than Hitler’s as proof of your argument strikes me as being inherently flawed.
Remember, the majority is usually wrong.”
In plain language: To hell with Russian public opinion. Another very uncommon Western verdict, supposedly.
Russia saved the West in WW2 and is our only hope to avoid THE LAST WORLD WAR that is being prepared. If they once again manage to defeat the evil tyranny that now infests Western culture and political discourse, I hope their sacrifice will not have to be as great and all we intelligent truth seekers have a duty to support the Russian people and Putin in their deadly fight to rid the world of this evil elitist, parasitic infestation.
The western media can not be trusted with the truth. In America, just 6 corporations own 95% of the media and what the mainstream media in America produces are only lies, distortions and propaganda.
None of it true.
The paid media whores and presstitutes are now in a panic as websites such as this and others, Veterans Today being one of them have exposed the truth and the liars behind the lies.
Unfortunately, there are many Americans who continue to believe what they are told by the CMMM/ Controlled Mass mainstream media, which is also a stenographer for Washington.
The events that take place in Russia have been so distorted by the western media and the hatred towards Putin as expressed by the zionists and their media whores make it very clear that Putin is obviously doing something right.
It is the west that is failing. The entire western society is being taken down by zionism. The destruction of moral behavior is celebrated in Hollywood movies and TV shows, in pop music showcased by women who have prostituted themselves for fame and money and by the never ending glorification of israel.
Russia is showing the way.
The war in Syria showed the world the true enemies of freedom: America, israel, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf States who supported ISIS/DAESH and lost big time. The defeat of DAESH in Syria has sent a staggering blow to the U.S and israel. Unfortunately the west is now probably going to attack Lebanon as per orders from israel.
The real enemy of the world is zionism and its puppet regimes in America and israel. It is israel however, that is behind all the carnage in the middle east and has now suffered its first major loss in Syria thanks to the aid of the Putin and the brave Russian army.
Th entire make up inside the middle east is shifting away from the west and now aligning itself with Russia and China.
The west will soon become not only irrelevant but unwanted.
I saw the break up of the USSR as not a positive event. The subsequent decline of Russia and renewed world wide aggression from the western oligarchy reinforced my view that all my worst apprehensions about the future were now happening. This resurgence of Russia in the last decade has been very welcome, to say the least. Again we have a powerful force blocking the oligarchy from taking the planet back to the 19th century. I don’t think of Putin as some sort of hero, but I’m sure glad he showed up.
lost your very last post in spam … mod-hs
Great article and hopefully more Americans like me are waking up to the fact the Russians and Putin are not the bad guys but Washington D.C. is. The real enemy here is the idiots who run Washington and guess what people when all hell breaks loose these same idiots will be hiding and cowering like the cowards they are they should be hunted down and like the war criminals they are should be extuinguished.
Islamic eschatology states that, Antichrist will stay on earth for 40 days, during his tenure, one day will be like a week” this event will start when Pax-Americana which replaced pax- Britannica will be destroyed, and, replaced by the final Pax-Judaica for very short while, after this event even the stones and trees will speak against the Zionist Jews, and will say that, Zionist Jew is hiding behind me” come and flush him out from here.
The Appearance of the Antichrist, called the Dajjal. Despite the importance of this individual, he is never mentioned in the Qu’ran, only in the Hadith. He will be a Jew born in Iran to parents who have been childless for 30 years. He will have only one eye. He will claim to be a prophet, and then he will claim to be divine. He will deceive many by his godliness and his miracles. He will go forth with an army of 70,000 Jews and 70,000 Tartars, and he will conquer all the world except Mecca and Medina. His reign will last for 40 days during a time when one day will be like a year. Some passages of the Hadith indicate that he will have the word “Infidel” written on his forehead. His reign is characterized by cruelty and deceit. He has a militaristic mentality. His purpose is to be deified, worshiped, and to reign. There are many parallels between the Islamic Dajjal and the Antichrist revealed in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.
The Return of Jesus will put an end to the reign of the Antichrist. (Keep in mind that the Qu’ran teaches that Jesus was not crucified or resurrected. Rather, he was simply lifted up to Heaven before His enemies could kill Him. One of the reasons He must return is so that He can experience death, like all other men.) Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives and then head to Damascus to confront the Antichrist. He will pursue the Antichrist south into Israel and will kill him “at the gate of Ludd.” That is modern day Lod, located near Tel Aviv. It is the site of Israel’s international airport. The defeat of the Antichrist will result in the eradication of the Jewish people.
Please take this conversation to the MFC as its off-topic. Mod
Islamic eschatology and Quran speak favorably against Christian Orthodox Church followers, Unlike Anglo Zionist oligarchy elite” it is said by God almighty that” Quran المائد82/83 : 5
The Table: that is because among them are priests and monks, and they are not arrogant. when they hear Lord God’s name” And when they hear what was revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears, as they recognize the truth in it. They say, “Our Lord, we have believed, so count us among the witnesses. In the end times they’ll be the closest in love and affection toward Muslims, and they’ll form an alliance against the Antichrist and the alliance will reconquer Constantinople, Muslims will hand back Hagia Sophia Back to the Orthodox Church.
True, we might disagree about the past, but surely agree about the future and about the present!
It seems that the US Power Elite is even planing Bio War against Russia:
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=5891545db8f955e347e3493a9575e7df&tab=core&tabmode=list&
like it is dreaming of “Bio Race War” against the Southern Hemisphere:
“A Reminder: Neocon Think Tanks and Fascism”: https://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2017/06/29/a-reminder-neocon-think-tanks-and-fascism-zur-erinnerung-neocon-think-tanks-und-faschismus/
Regards
Fascinating ! This insider’s insights, and his and richly descriptive account of Russia’s travails and triumph during the past 35 years, deserve a world-wide audience. Bravo, Saker !!!
…I remember vividly how I “discovered” Putin – I came across a mention that he had had a meeting with “students” that lasted 2 hours…He sat down to chit-chat with students for Two Hours..?? – That in itself was extraordinary…so I read the transcript, possibly on Global Research – this was more than 12, 13 years ago…
I took me TWO HOURS to simply read straight through!
…and I was impressed – it was clear that THIS man was no ordinary “politician” – no matter what questions were asked, what subject matters were dealt with, Putin had something insightful and intelligent to say about it…
What “western” politician could do something like that..? – ..no one…First of all, no one would want to be subjected to that kind of situation.
Reading that lengthy exchange was so impressive, I was shaken…
And since then we have all witnessed him performing similarly many times…and we can clearly see that he has no equal in the world…no one comes close. And as I sit here and type this in Los Angeles (I’m from Sweden originally), I feel such a strong sense of gratitude, or joy, that this man leads the Great Nation of Russia…and I hope that the Russian people understands and appreciates what they have in him…I think they do…
I cannot adequately express how thankful I am to have come upon The Saker — and this “tribe” (if I may?) of dedicated Truth-Seekers and Truth-Tellers. The full extents and sheer enormity of stuff (LIES!) that I have UNLEARNED (but long-questioned, since childhood) over the past few years has thoroughly shaken/completely up-ended my comprehension of “REALITY”. For this 62YO (and childless) SWM, it has been a journey less of cultural pain and intellectual dislocation (so to speak) than sheer LIBERATION in every conceivable respect! And thank you, Saker, for sharing your “roots”, here; (somewhat) like you, I have sought to separate fact from propaganda over my lifetime — and come to “accept” that what I have been taught to believe all-my-life DOES NOT hold me hostage to “TRUTH”. [Perhaps the greatest “fiction/fraud” known to ME is that The West is “Christian”.] Obviously I am not an “intellectual light” remotely equivalent to your Truth-Seekers and Truth-Tellers; I’m just attempting to bear witness that the efforts of ALL OF YOU to educate and enlighten those so-willing has had an all-powerful impact on this one particular human being. Again, THANK YOU ALL!
Well, you certainly make him more simpático than I ever thought him at first. And he does show marks of higher intelligence than most! As long as his nationalism does not interfere with the authentic internationalism we require to turn away from what has been called “globalization” in favor of what I prefer to term “planetarization” able to overcome false differences across false “national” frontiers while preserving authentic differences, such as those of linguistic –cultural identity that do not or should not rely on (false) “national” frontiers. We must cultivate respect for cultural frontiers which can be easily respected, anyway, and discriminate in terms of natural differences as spelled out by our shared biorregions across the planet. Planetarization means basic, real democracies at the local level, with the decission making process flowing from the bottom up, generally speaking,
This excellent writing bears out what I have come to believe about President Putin. What a leader, what a lucky nation to have such a man in charge.
I recall reading the full three volumes of Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag very clearly (I had learned in High School there was only one volume–imagine my surprise at seeing in Vol. 2 the non-Russian lineage of the creators and operators of the Gulag such as Frenkel, Solts, Berman, Yagoda, etc!) After being unofficially purged from the ranks of journalism in 1993 I was essentially homeless and without medical care along with my family for a prolonged period. During a severe gall bladder attack I was unable to stand due to the pain and actually tried to work on my knees. I finally decided on rest and, by the time I finished the three volumes I had managed to shake the infection.
I agree with Saker. Solzhenitsyn would not be a puppet for the Anglozionists…I still have his infamous Harvard commencement speech…and I think he saw in Putin the salvation of Russia. On the other hand, Putin himself has more or less said he is not our bitch and, hence, he is being pushed to a place where he may have to take actions perceived by the average American to be damaging.
Vladimir Putin’s memorable speeches
Munich Security Conference 2007 – “Wars not diminishing”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4MAsIh3zMA&t=50s
Valdai Discussion Club 2014 – “New rules or a game without rules”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXh6HgJIPHo&t=8s
UN General Assembly 2015 – “Do you realise what you’ve done'”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q13yzl6k6w0&t=41s
Got the book a few days after it was available – absolutely great read! A real page turner!
Thank you to all contributors. And what is most interesting is that Phil Butler will be doing a second book on the Kremlin trolls! The people behind websites like SouthFront should be included!
I got the book; anxious to read it
I have a feeling that Putin was also like the liberals, always wanting to be more European and more inclined to be integrated into west but it’s only when the color revolution was starting to get its roots in Russia and Putin own head was in line he was awakened to the true face of the Anglo Zionist’s.
I would always wonder why such a powerful country such as Russia would not counter the stupidities of Europe and America?
At last Syria and Ukraine woke up Russians I think too late when fire was right at their gates.
But so far the enemy has been pushed back, Bravo Putin!
Question to Saker why you call yourself White Russian is that because you are from possibly Belo(white)Russia?
Peace.
During the Russian Revolution the forces that fought the Bolsheviks were called “Whites” as the Bolsheviks were called “Reds”. The many Russians that fled Russia during the Revolution came to be called “White Russians”.What Saker was saying was his family was part of that immigration.
I had just written a comment about how words are redefined by political opponents. I had meant to mention the current Russian use of the word ‘liberal’, but instead for the sake of brevity restricted myself to the American redefinition of the word liberal. They are in fact similar, as people who want to give all power to the bankers are instead now defined as ‘liberals’, even though this is a very far cry from the definition of the word with which I grew up in America during the Vietnam war catastrophe.
And of course, if you asked most Americans about the phrase ‘white russian’, they’d tell you that it refers to a vodka drink made with milk. That’s another method by which words are redefined. Popular words or phrases are later reused in some other popular context, such as the name of this drink, or sometimes in the name of a song or movie, such that the original meaning of the word is forgotten in the confusion.
IIRC, the area now known as ‘Belorus’ was a strong hold of the White Russian movement. The areas of Russia that were still under German occupation at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution became the bases of the White Russian counter-revolution. Plus, they were adjacent to Poland which was a backer of the White Russians until that attempt at overthrowing a neighboring government failed and then the Poles went to a direct State of War against the ‘Red Russian’ government, which of course went about as well as most of the other wars that Poland has fought in the recent centuries.
Just curious, since this site is now publishing multiple articles promoting this book, and since The Saker has written one chapter in the book, does The Saker share in the proceeds of the book? Just seems fair to know whether or not a website that is promoting a book is also getting renumeration of the book’s sales.
No you money-obsessed dummy, I don’t make a penny from this book.
How stupid, petty and monothematic some our fellow human beings are enough to make you despair of mankind…
The Saker
One thing that’s interesting to watch is how the corporate propaganda machines re-use some words and change the meanings of those words.
For an older example, there is the word ‘liberal’. This word had a completely different meaning back when I was first following politics as a child in the 1960’s. It implied opposition to war, as well as a policy that can be summarised in the protest slogan of “People before Profits”. Then, in the 1990’s, the Clinton propaganda machine applied this to their policies of putting profits first (as long as the appropriate payoffs had been made) and using war as a political instrument to distract from a certain blue dress and other domestic political problems.
The word liberal was so redefined by the Clintons and their political and corporate media allies that what the late Sen Paul Wellstone referred to as the ‘Democratic wing of the Democratic Party’ stopped using the word liberal to identify themselves and instead revived the old term of ‘progressive’. By now of course, we’ve see the pro-war, Wall Street backed creatures like Obama and Hillary use the term ‘progressive’ to describe their more aggressive war policies and complete subservience to the Wall Street banks now as being ‘progressive’ politicians’ as they do everything that progressives opposed.
The reason for this comment to this article is the way the word ‘troll’ is being simarly redefined. No, not by the Saker and this book title, which simply plays on the new use of the word, but of course by the corporate propaganda machine that passes as ‘news’ (fake). As an older denizen of the nets, the word ‘troll’ used to refer to the sort of commenter who uses an open comment policy to attack a particular blog or writer. A use I’d imagine that the moderators of a site such like this are quite familiar with. But now, we see words like ‘troll’ often preceded by ‘Russian’ or ‘Kremlin’ to attack anyone who dares offer a different opinion from that in the corporate media. While older language might have referred to such people as ‘dissidents’, now everyone who opposes the idea of spending all of a countries money (and a maximum amount of debt) on weapons of death and destruction with the apparent aim of destroying human civilization in a nuclear holocaust, now they are smeared as ‘trolls’. This meaning of the word is different of course than the previously accepted meanings, ranging from the old mythological use of the word troll to the more modern internet of the word troll. Of course, the corporate press does not bother to tell people that they’ve redefined a particular word. Instead they rely on the impression of the older meanings of the word to try to smear those that are the new targets of what should be treated as an entirely new word.
I would add to your comment that the “masters” are pretty successful in their work because majority of people forgetting very fast what was written in the past, and of course, the main targets being the new generation who have not experienced that past at all. Another “plus” they have and use as well, is the perpetual influx of false information in large scale, the internet itself has a huge amount of information which, if somebody cannot “filter” is being cached in a trap very easily. To grow up the necessary filters is a factor which depends on every individual alone and that is not an easy task.
Well it’s a nice story and I hope it’s true. Putin seems to be an international type of guy [as with Gorbachev–remember him]. I have read some about the Bolsheviks with perhaps Luis Marshalko’s “The World Conquerors” the best depiction of the barbarity of the Bolsheviks and their international “ISIS” henchmen in Hungary. I strongly suggest your readers read the book to understand should bad things could get should the “ZioAnglo” cartel reach their objectives. I would also suggest that you and your readers have a listen to Brendan O’Connel who believes that the jewish oligarchy still have considerable influence in Russia and that Putin is securing US military technology from the many Zionists who work in the field here in America [Pollard, Slizard, etc.]. The Zionists virtually control the planet [India, China, Mexico, etc.]. I have been to many interactive jewish web sites–these highly indoctrinated people spew forth their hatred and fear of the goy. They it is an absolute necessity that they control the world [97% gentile] and will use the Sampson Option [Dr. Strangelove] if they cannot achieve this centuries old ambition. Most people have no idea how insidious the plans are [read the Protocols]–with the global communities spinning in madness which is carefully contrived and orchestrated by our masters. We have to contain the Zionist if we are to continue our stay here on planet earth. There is no other option–and this is the message that must begin to circulate. There to be a good reason that this group of people have been expelled from 109 geographical regions since 240 AD and 65 condemnations from the UN. It’s time for America to make that 110 regions.
Thank you, Saker, for this fascinating personal story. For myself, I took little notice of Putin until 2011, when I was disappointed by his abstention from vetoing the western attack on Libya. I think that failure taught him a lesson. Since then his stature as a statesman has continually grown. He is now the moral leader of the world.
The failure really taught “him” alright – to vote against north Korea and abstain against the Yemen Houthis.
All I can say is wow! Congratulations. I wish many others would know the truth the way you do.
“Putin inspired me to make a dramatic choice: will I stick to my lifelong prejudices or will I let reality prove my lifelong prejudices wrong. The first option was far more comfortable to me, and all my friends would approve. The second one was far trickier, and it would cost me the friendship of many people. But what was the better option for Russia? Could it be that it was the right thing for a “White Russian” to join forces with the ex-KGB officer?
I found the answer here in a photo of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Vladimir Putin:
Putin for book
If that old-generation anti-Communist hardliner who, unlike me, had spent time in the Gulag, could take Putin’s hand, then so could l”
And this is why you are trusted, Saker.
You are willing to grasp the nettle of truth, even when it stings like hell.
Thanks for this revealing description of how you came to where you are. Many thanks.
It’s also true that “White” and “Red” Russians have been diverse in character and principle and patriotism even prior to the February and October revolutions. China Mieville’s new text “October” does a fantastic job of putting the eyes, names and complexity into “the” revolution.
“In fact, the answer was obvious all along: while the “White” and the “Red” principles and ideologies were incompatible and mutually exclusive, there is also no doubt that nowadays true patriots of Russia can be found both in the former “Red” and “White” camps. To put it differently, I don’t think that “Whites” and “Reds” will ever agree on the past, but we can, and must, agree on the future. Besides, the Empire does not care whether we are “Red” or “White” – the Empire wants us all either enslaved or dead.”
Welcome to the real world Saker,
my illusions left me in the afternoon of the 20th of July 1974 of the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus.
As a mainlander Greek I was virulent anti-communist (My uncle, my mother’s brother, was killed in the Greek Civil war 2 months before the End).
And I strongly believed that the USA would help us in thwarting the calamity of the Greeks in Cyprus. Instead we experience ANOTHER ETHNIC CLEANSING.
The Yugoslav tragedy WAS THE CONFIRMATION. that we are going to face it in Greece next.
Well would you believe it but it arrived in 2009 with the Papandreou treachery.
From an apathetic spectator before, now I am doing my personal little bit to inform others.
It takes time to drop the blinkers and it isn’t easy.
Next Greece is going to be liberated from the the Western Occupation that it took hold immediately after the War of Independence of 1821.
The West asassinated Ioannis Kapodistrias, the former Foreign Minister of Imperial Russia, that set out to make another successful INDEPENDENT COUNTRY after Switcherland.
He built the First Central Bank of Greece with its OWN currency the Phoenix.
On assuming the King’s mantle the new King Otto the Bavarian in 1831 DESTROYED THE Printing machines of the new Currency.
The rest is a tragic Greek History.
To me as a Finn the rise of Putin was reason to say: “finally”. Finally they stopped that process of creeping. When i red Munich Speech i thought: “finally”. It’s very interesting to notice in Finland too how many former clear thinking historians and old school anti bolshevik military experts are seeing Putin’s Russia as stable and not so scary and horrific at all. Finns who have red our common history of 1700-1917 can understand it far better than western humanitarian imperialists. E.g that real independence of countries like Finland actually favors Putin’s Russia.
Let’s not forget that not even near all wars are based on economic aims. US never fought in Vietnam for rice and minerals. They planned to do it to warn other “too indipendent candidates”. US destiny to become leading state terrorist country was result because weakening British Empire (and Europe too) and because it’s so huge sea power. On the other hand Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Iran are more or even more land powers. Their geostrategic has always been different.
Perhaps the greatest revolution of human history: world trate moving from merchant vessels to more on roads and railway is looming behind the corner. First time in whole human history sea powers might lost their world trade dominance when land cargo transport will be competitive. Of corse not even near all traffic will go to continent but even 20% move from seas to land will decimate severely US, UK, Japanese etc hegemony in this vital sector of world trade.
Let us not forget that people making blind assertions cannot be taken seriously without convincing supporting evidence.
Born in ’74. Immigrated with parents to US in ’81. By 2011 I’d had enough. It is now December 2017 and for 6 years I have lived in Russia with my wonderful wife. Moved my mother back to Russia a year after I moved as well.
Great article. All true. In fact, if anything, i would say it barely scratches the surface. I have never been happier. Russia has its issues like any other place on the planet. That said, I’ll take whatever problems Russia has over those that either the US or the EU have, any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Never been happier! And yes, Putin, while most certainly human and thus imperfect by virtue, he is nevertheless the best living leader on Earth and I am proud to say that all of the brainwashing i went through in my life courtesy of the US school system has been removed from my system and I see things far more clearly.
I will take it even one step further and say that what I see most western countries becoming, America first and foremost, is a form of modernized, more clever fascism. And it sucks. I hate seeing it but it’s most certainly there. Never thought I’d say that, but there it is and it’s true. Everything that comes out of western politicians and the MSM is such gratuitous bullsh*t that I cannot even comprehend how aggressive the lies are, but more importantly, I can’t believe how many people believe it.
I guess the old adage about repeating a lie over and over again is most certainly true. The people of the western world in large part have become little more than easily manipulated cattle.
I’m glad some people such as yourself are speaking out and doing your best to open people’s eyes, and for that I want to say thank you.