Dear friends,
As some of you might have already heard from the social media, Peter Lavelle and Alexander Mercouris have decided to create a new media ressource: The Duran which can be found at http://theduran.com/
Since I consider both Peter and Alexander as friends and crucial brothers in arms, I am delighted to see them team up and create a new member of our “network of resistance”. As soon as I learned of this new project, I emailed Peter to ask him a few basic questions about it:
The Saker: What does the word “Duran” mean and how did you come up with that name
Peter Lavelle: Duran is the Latin word for “enduring.” Coming with the name was tough. Our current team split by generation. The older half settled on “Globspec” for “Globalist Spectator.” The younger half said absolutely “No.” They convinced us to use something simple and catchy. Duran is a beautiful word and I like its meaning. We plan to make a meaningful and lasting imprint in the world of news media.
The Saker: What is your view of what The Duran will be? What will be its goal?
Peter Lavelle: Our goal in the first place is to be thoughtful and engaging with a focus on analysis and commentary. We also want to be a place that encourages debate and critique of mainstream narratives. There is a raging media war out there and the forces of political intolerance aim to completely occupy the global media space. Like yourself we at The Duran will not allow the powers of the status quo such hegemony.
In terms of subject matter we have a global approach. Of course there will be a lot of material devoted to challenging the west’s propaganda war against Russia. I also think it is fair to say we will be “BRICS” originated and explore the school of thought described as “a world without the west.” Also expect top-notch criticism of lazy and low-octane western journalists who are stenographers in service of the Empire.
The Saker: How will you finance The Duran?
Peter Lavelle: We are PLC company registered in Cyprus with audited accounts. We have shareholders and an advisory board. Transparency is job number one for us. We do not intend to crowd fund. We will invite readers to invest in the project to become shareholders. At this point we do not have a single outside investor. Nonetheless, we are of course interested any “angel investor” who wants to support The Duran.
The Saker: Who are the people with whom you have created this project and how can people support your efforts?
Peter Lavelle: The primary movers of the project at this point are Alexander Mercouris (editor) and myself. We also have Vladimir Rodzianko and Alex Christoforou – two amazingly hard working people who put the site together, did all the legal work, and a whole lot more. Collectively we four are equal shareholders in The Duran. How can people help and support us? Give us as many clicks as possible! And contact us if you want to purchase a piece of the action!
I am delighted to welcome a new member into our network of resistance against the Empire, I wish Peter, Alexander and The Duran a long and successful future and I look forward to collaborating with them!
The Saker
Excellent news. Peter Lavelle’s Crosstalk is a great show. It is great to see he will be able to provide more indepth analysis through this new website. And of course, Alexander Mercouris always provides excellent insights with his analysis. Looking forward to viewing this site daily.
Yes great news. Wishing them all the best. Will visit the site as much as possible.
Glad the site has added the link to the Bro in Arms.
Thanks for the link
Contrary to Peter Lavelle’s assertion, the word “Duran” is not Latin. Although the Durian fruit is considered the world’s most evil-smelling foodstuff.
One Latin word for “enduring” is “durans”. Removing the final “s”, however, would make it meaningless to a Latin speaker – just as removing the final “g” from “enduring” yields “endurin”, which would give most English speakers pause.
Alternatives include “permanens” and “patiens”.
Yes, this is quite bad. I’m just going to call it The Durans and hope they change it fast.
It may interest you that that name “Google” was chosen because it was thought to be the little known label of a very large number (a 1 followed by 100 zeros)
In fact , as I pointed out at the time, they had mispelled the name which was in fact “googol”
It does not seem to have affected the company’s fortunes.
Hilarious satirical article on The Duran :
http://theduran.com/u-s-invades-canada-russian-backed-coup-ottawa/
Uncle Bob: lovely satire. thanks . As for Duran, there is a pop band called Duran Duran so the younger generation will be OK with the name, so relax all scholars and bibliophiles.
Am so delighted to have a site whose ads and cookies will not cause my humble, out of date computer to crash like Russia Insider does. Oh, the blessings of life come in small packages.
“Am so delighted to have a site whose ads and cookies will not cause my humble, out of date computer to crash like Russia Insider does. Oh, the blessings of life come in small packages.”
Old or not, your computer will have many years of good and snappy service in it when you abandon M$ bloatware and install a Unix-like operating system (GNU/Linux, PC-BSD, etc.). Mint Linux might be your best choice if you come from Windows. It is free for download, very well supported, easy to install and use, rock stable, and based on one of Saker’s favorites (iinm), Debian Linux…
Cheers!
You took the words out of my mouth! Lubuntu, perhaps, for a Windows XP machine. (I’m still using Ubuntu 10.04 on this 2005 HP desktop, because my printer won’t work with anything later!).
Love, Love, Love this satire, #smellOfIronyInMorning
Thank you. Now I know the meaning of a common Spanish name here in New Mexico (though I guess it should have been obvious). Also will of course check out the new site.
Great news, loved the site, except for the font is really hard to read, and they don’t have a comments section so one can ask them to consider to change it to something more eye friendly. Considering the fact that their content could be a lengthy read. I wonder if Saker could mention it..
I don’t find the font at The Duran hard to read.
I find the font on this blog harder to read than that on The Duran, because the font on this blog, The Saker, is too light. It is gray, not black.
What is the point behind a gray font?
Katherine
I wish them luck, with few reservations. First, a scandal around Russia Insider wasn’t nice, even though it did little harm. An idea to monetize predominantly volunteer effort is dubious; scandal around this is even more such. Second, I like Mr. Mercouris’ Russophilia, but any event in Russian economy, including opposite events, can’t possibly be great, beneficial, resulting from wisdom of Russia’s leadership. I wish Mr. Mercouris to strengthen objectivity and respect for the facts.
After some of the unpleasantness that has swept around a couple of “Alternative Media” sites lately, this is very welcome news.
I wish Duran well, and will be a regular visitor. Moreover, since I”m sure the kind of vicious trolling allowed at some sites will be prevented there, I will also be a commentator I’m sure.
Thanks Peter and Alexander – and good luck.
In Duran.com I liked the artucle about treachery by India of Brics solidarity.
I know India very well and as my country I can say that in present circumstances indua can not be trustedexceot as an anglosaxon spy and patsy nation. Russia must not give her advanced weaponary to India. India is out to spoil the alternative to anglosaxon evil empire. Beware of such people and nation.
i found this article from ‘duran’ on the situation in aleppo helpful,
http://theduran.com/why-it-is-the-rebels-who-have-been-undermining-the-ceasefire-around-aleppo/
btw, this is the concert in palmyra by gergiev, well worth watching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b0hFIf4Zaw
bachs chaconne played by pavel milyukov
schedrins quadrille played by roldugin
prokofievs classical symphony
roldugin and milyukov give excellent perfomances…
Great news, wish Peter and Alex all the best….delighted!!
Duran = devil union rule all nations
I recalled there was a pop group of similar name?
As a kid, I used to like Duran Duran a lot.
The Duran website is excellent; I like the name and, so far, enjoyed the content of this site very much.
The creators of Google decided on its name by using the little know term for a very large large number. (the number One followed by 100 zeros)
As I pointed out at the time, the term “Googol” had actually been mispelled.
This mispelling does not seemed to have harmed the overall fortunes of the company.
I agree, almost any name is better than one that starts with “glob”–unless it’s a B&W horror flick.
Drop one more letter and you have dura.
I love passing on and reading the Duran Global News! I have done this (and still do) with RT.com, Russian Insider, Russia Feed, The Saker.is. I find the news out of Russia more credible than from the West. I read all of them every day as long as my new Mac is working that day. The US has introduced a new way to monitor posters they hate by just automatically shutting them down indiscriminately.
Peter Lavelle, is ill mannered with his puffer on The Duran. Peter, is enjoyable on Crosstalk.