Summer 2016 fundraiser:
I really hate doing this, but since so many of you have suggested it, and since, frankly, my “informational ammo stores”, in the sense of Cicero’s “Pecunia est nervus belli” (“money is the sinews of war” – that very much also applies to the informational war), are empty, I want to appeal to the Saker Community once again to provide me with the means to continue the struggle.
Right now, this struggle is more important than ever. Not only is the risk of nuclear war more real than ever in human history (we are already way beyond the Cuban Missile Crisis!), but the Empire is clearly trying preserve itself by supporting Nazis in the Ukraine, Takfiris in the Middle-East, Zionists in Palestine and in the USA and neo-Ottomans in Turkey. All these movements enjoy the full informational support of the immense multi-billion dollar imperial propaganda machine (aka the mainstream media).
Your turn to help now!
Trite as this may sound – I need you to help me. Help me set aside the 4-6 hours each day to work not only on my analyses, but on all the other blog related issues (vetting authors, negotiating agreements, maintain contacts with crucial partners, work on community-wide projects or projects with our “brother in arms”, etc. etc. etc.). And I do that on my so-called “free time” next to my family obligations and full-time job.
On my end I offer this: everything with no pay-walls, no advertisements, no pop-ups, no constant fundraisers and no “special contents” for paying members. I also offer one more thing: the courage to break out of the confines of the politically correct discourse without endorsing or supporting any one ideological line. How often do you see that elsewhere?
Did you notice?
Did you notice that unlike the many news aggregator or news translator websites out there, the Saker blog is offering a very large amount of original contents. I have a special agreement with Pepe Escobar and Alexander Mercouris to repost their articles already posted elsewhere, but almost all of the other articles posted here are original analyses, not just translations or re-posts. The same goes for the translation which I post here: they are always original translations. While under the “war news” and “watch list” sections I do post videos made outside the community (by my friends at SouthFront or by Peter Lavelle’s excellent “CrossTalk”), almost all the articles in the “Analyses” and “Guest Post” sections have been written specially for the Saker Blog.
How much is that worth for you?
Give me the “ammo” and I will fight the battle. If you don’t – I will still fight. But it will be much, much harder.
*******
“State of the Community” Summer 2016 report
All in all, we are doing well. Our audience is steadily growing and between August 2015 and February 2016 the audience of the original (this) Saker blog has grown from 1.1 million page hits month to 1.6 million/month. I don’t really care about raw numbers that much, so I don’t have more recent figures, nor do I have the stats for the other seven blogs (French, German, Italian, LatinAmerican, Oceanian, Russian and Serbian) are doing, but I expect that they all are slowly but surely growing. As far as I can tell, all the blogs are doing well.
One excellent piece of news is that the LatinAmerican Saker blog will now be bi-lingual and will include not only documents in Spanish, but also in Portuguese. Frankly, I think that this was an oversight and I am delighted that our friends in Portugal and Brazil will now have access to texts in their own language (even of Portuguese and Spanish speakers usually can easily read the other language).
The big news I want to announce is that the Saker Community will have a new member: a Romanian Saker Blog! We are still in the very early phases of this project, but we hope to get this new member of our community online in the near future. Considering the unique importance of Romania on what has now become the “eastern front” of NATO and the “western front” of Russia – this is an absolutely fantastic development.
==>>We need new volunteers!!<<==
Scott, my Director of Research, as asked me to share the following with you:
I need new research assistants to produce regular SITREPs. They should be familiar with our editorial philosophy and format.
They have to know at least one language of the region they cover, so they would be able to read locals Media.
We need research assistants for the Eastern Europe, Middle East, China, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and different parts of the former Soviet Union, or the “Russian sphere of interest” if you wish.
Our new research assistants don’t have to live in these regions, but they have to be well informed in local affairs, and know local languages.
SITREPs could be monthly, bi-weekly or weekly, depending on researchers.
Doing research for SITREPs is a tedious, and time consuming undertaking. Plus, it’s anonymous. Please, make sure you really have time and patience to invest in this. We have over 1.5 million people reading our articles. Research and production of SITREPs is a service to the entire international community
I will train our new research assistants in methodology of research, prioritization, comprehension, and interpretation of information.
I also want potential research assistants to promise that they will dedicate minimum 6 months of their time, and won’t quit before, no matter how hard it gets.
You can post my email for contacts. vmr6kk [at] gmail.com
So, please, if you have the desire to help us fight the informational war against the Empire, please contact Scott!!
One final note
One of the side-effects of using up 100% my “free time” on the blog is that I have completely neglected to write my thesis. After a lot of anguish and soul searching I have decided to take a rather dramatic step: for one full week, from Tuesday June 21st to Tuesday June 28th I will *completely* stop working on the blog. Scott, my Director of Research and Herb, my Webmaster, will continue posting SITREPs and keep the Café “open”, but I will not write any analyses or, for that matter, anything else. I will not be doing any moderation during this period, so all the decisions of the moderators will be final. Nor will I reply to emails, by the way (so please don’t email me!). I will work 10 hours each day for 7 days, with all phones “off” and no outside interaction whatsoever. Hopefully, at the end of this 70 hour long marathon something halfway decent will appear which I can then clean-up, fine tune, etc. Considering that I have been putting off writing this thesis for 2 years now, it is high time for me to finally get to it. I ask for your support and understanding.
So, that’s it for now.
Now it’s your turn. Please help me and DONATE!
Thanks a lot, hugs to all,
The Saker
PS: I leave you with some amazingly beautiful music sent to me by a Portuguese member of the LatinAmerican Saker blog. Thank you so much L. for that beautiful music!!
Good luck with the thesis, Saker.
Thank you for all your efforts, and for creating a much-needed community of (generally) polite free-thinkers.
Please add a bitcoin payment option
Unfortunately, the best I can offer at this moment is as follows:
Anyone donating money, any amount, can choose 1 picture from the gallery of the (very young) Saker Falcon on link below.
Photo will be in very high resolution (350 dpi) and can be anywhere from 10 to 30 mb. in size.
Photos, as you see them on screen appears to be high res. They are not, in fact they are extremely compressed, and not suitable for print.
Any one of you can use the photos “as is” on the internet only (no print) on a strict non commercial basis with credit to Kent,(me), and preferably this blog and the Saker Community.
This is just a suggestion for my part, and has not been discussed with web master on the site, or the Saker.
Practical implementation of this idea, would have to go through the web master of this site.
Gallery:
http://telemarksporten.no/SakerFalcon01/
Regards
Kent
Thanks for the music post… donation is on its way through cyberspace. Hopefully you will have an easy flow with your dissertation. Thank you also for providing the initial spark and guiding light for this blog space. It is a position of high service to hold and a blessing for me to be able to contribute to its functioning.
Your choice Saker to increase world coverage, but I think your site – which is the reason why I originally came here – is too poor now regarding the Donbass/Ukraine.
Do a poll, ask your readers where they want you to concentrate.
Your choice Saker to increase world coverage
That is not factually true. In reality this blog was mostly centered on the Middle-East, especially the war between Israel and Hezbollah. During the first 5 years or so I never EVER mentioned the Ukraine because I did not feel that what was happening there was important. This all changed in 2014 when all hell broke lose there and I began neglecting the Middle-East until the war in Syria happened. So, really, I am “running after the events”. My core focus is resistance to Empire anywhere where it happens, not just one reason. True, the fact that I am Russian gives me an advantage in the area of the former Soviet Union, that is why my blog was really noticed after the Maidan, but this has never been an Ukraine-centered blog. However, I take your point about wanting more Ukraine coverage. Though I would add that most of what is taking place there is really of the “more of the same, but only worse” kind. Still, my next analytical article (which I will write over the next 24 hours and then post here somewhere in mid-week) will be centered on the Ukraine.
Thanks a lot!
Cheers,
The Saker
OK Saker, thanks for the explanation.
If you could fit in some info on the new conscripts who in March were supposed to have replaced those still in the Donbass, but apparently haven’t done so (yet?).
I don’t/can’t read Ukrainian and many times google makes a complete mess of the translations, so I don’t know if the following is true either, that the volunteer battalions incl wrong sector are being deliberately targetted by (some) army units (and blamed on the Donbass defenders).
Also, is it true that the fascists are running out of ammo, in particular the larger artillery calibers, and are therefore using more mortars.
And finally, is the mood turning ever uglier due to the many – and high – increases in energy bills?
Many thanks.
very much hope so-check out anna news today 21 June when you can -article of man being buried alive by ukrops, a ukr doctor in Donbass deliberately killed his patients, 60m dollars collected by charity for a “hospital of the future’ in ukr, money has disappeared to wife of Yushenko??only basement built=ukr “health service”………….plus the usual stuff…….Rumanians in ukr want their own separatist state???? decentralisation is a joke, Rasmussen is advising Poro on complying with Minsk????
USA arms found in Donbass etc etc?
Savchenko re PACE…………..etc etc
I think I just donated, but had a lot of trouble with the PayPal credit card page; might have gone through on third try, but got no confirmation from PayPal or by email, yet. If I don’t see it on my visa statement at he end of the month, will send a check to Delaware address. I had a pp account, but cancelled when they wouldn’t allow donations to Bradley Manning defense, but I was able to send you a donation previously. Maybe, I’m just incompetent and paranoid. PP was a good idea; they should have stayed non-political, IMO.
You are the man, saker!
I terminated my Pay Pal account over their sleazy actions freezing the South Front deposits so I used my Visa which then lead to a Pay Pal option so there was no hassle whatsoever. People don’t mess with their cronies.
I see no need to ever use Pay Pal again. Evidently like Google their CEO and upper management have illusions of grandeur.
Personally, I can’t stand Paypal and I make every effort to avoid using it. Am I paranoid? As someone who has done IT security audits, I am not paranoid, just sensible.
Personally, I can’t stand Paypal and I make every effort to avoid using it. Am I paranoid? As someone who has done IT security audits, I am not paranoid, just sensible.
Your question has been passed on to the Saker. Mod
Dear Saker, a few Cafe’s ago, JJ had a good proposal and I agreed with him. He said, that maybe you will have a new book about this blog and you may put in that book some of the verses I wrote – in case you find them so – giving my full authorization in this regard. This would be my contribution. My present situation with my mom does not allow me to send money, please understand. Thanks
Thanks a lot ioan!!
I will think about that the next time I release a book.
Hugs and cheers,
The Saker
Done.
Just to say thanks, Saker, for a brilliant site. Well worth supporting.
Dear Saker,
I’m happy and proud to give you some financial help and my best wishes and hugs, along with my deepest thanks for you awesome, ‘humanizing’ work.
Love to you all, precious friends on planet Earth!
m.
Done
Howdi everybody!
Tomorrow I am going into my week-long “academic marathon” and, frankly, I will miss you all. It is going to be tough for me to stay away from the blog, but I have to do that. I just wanted to drop by to thank you all for being here and for your patience and support with me.
Hugs to all,
The Saker
Will donate but only if you take bitcoin.
Hi there the Saker,
In a way to support you and your work I just bought your book. Hope that also counts. If you think it does, consider stating that in your fundraiser requests.
Good luck with your thesis.
Regards, Hugo
Can we send you our contribution by mail-order?
Address: ?
Please check out the following information. Mod:
/contact/
I have kept you in my prayers during your sabbatical week. (God speed, and God bless, to our dearest Saker.)
I am planning to donate but can’t do it within the timeframe of the fundraiser. A couple surprises (flat tire on car, flea problem on cat) have left me short at this time. But a donation is coming from me. With gratitude. Can’t rave enough about this site.