Dear friends,
I think that it is time for me to share with you some of my thoughts and ask for your opinion.
This blog has been up since May 1st, 2007, a little over 2,5 years now. Frankly, when I started this blog I did it mainly for myself. I saw it as a place to do something which I could never have done before: to speak my mind in absolute freedom, without having to worry about anybody’s reaction. In my past life as a military analyst, speaking my mind freely had basically ended up costing me my career, so I figured that I might as well enjoy the fact that my services were no more required by my former bosses. I also decided to keep this blog ‘sort of anonymous’. What I mean by this is that any government entity with just a modicum of desire to find out who hides behind that somewhat silly handle of “The Saker” can do that with no effort. Blogspot and Google, and all the other major corporate IT companies, are really dependencies of Uncle Sam and, besides, the NSA log all the traffic (voice/email/fax/SMS/etc) anyway. I knew that, and I still connected to the Internet from my home, without using any proxy servers, no Tor “onion’ routing – no nothing. I was not hiding – I just wanted my former employers not to think about me any more, and I wanted my personality and past to be irrelevant to this blog. The fact is that I ended up sharing my name, and sometimes even my phone number, with quite a few of my readers. I am very happy with this decision. In a time when people just seem to be compelled to label everybody as “Left” or “Right”, conservative or liberal, Christian or Muslim – I wanted to make such labelling as useless as possible. My personal basic philosophy of life is summarized in the section “words to live by” and that is good enough, IMHO.
The one thing which this blog never had is a clearly defined profile. It was a mix of everything and anything: I “recycled” news from other sources, I wrote short commentaries and I wrote lengthy analytical pieces, I tried to open up the comments section as much as possible to have an exchange of views with my readers and to make it possible for them to talk to each other. I opened an IRC channel for the same purpose. I have to honestly admit that I am not so sure as to how to proceed.
Some of my ideas did not bring any useful results. Like the IRC channel in which almost nobody ever came to chat.
For all my efforts and pleas – the number of comments/reaction to most posts here is dismally low. Interestingly, the number of visitors is not in decline, so it appears that most of you like to read what is posted here, but don’t feel like commenting. Fair enough (though I am personally a little disappointed).
My big question to you all is: do you think that my re-posting articles from other sources which you could also find by yourself is of any use to you? Should I continue to regularly “recycle” news from other websites? I thought that this might save you some time, and that posting these articles here would be a way of generating a discussion, but the latter clearly did not happen.
I have been blessed with some terrific articles sent to me by Eric Walberg and Gilad Atzmon which I feel are definitely worth publishing here, but even those have generated few, if any, comments. Besides, every reader of my blog can go himself/herself to Eric’s or Gilad’s websites and read these articles there. Does it make sense for me to publish them here?
Since there is a total news blackout on Hezbollah, I made it a point of honor to publish almost every speech made by Hezbollah’s secretary general Hassan Nasrallah. It is my sincere belief that Hezbollah is the single most important political force in the Middle-East, more important than any country, and that Hassan Nasrallah is an absolutely crucial personality whose every word counts. There is, in my opinion, no way to understand anything in the Middle-East unless one keeps a close eye on what Hezbollah and its leader say and do. But again – these posts almost never generated a comment and this begs the question – shall I continue posting such translations here?
Another big issue for me is 9/11. I am convinced of two things now: first, there are a huge number of developments taking place right now and the 9/11 Truth movement is gaining amazing strength, not only in the USA, but also abroad. Second, uncovering the truth about what happened on 9/11 might well be the key to bringing down the entire “US Nomenklatura” and the Israel Lobby which has now completely taken over the USA. Simply put – they did 9/11 and if we can show this it will put an absolutely unbearable spotlight on them and they will have to let go. I strongly feel that 9/11 is “THE” issue, but I also suspect that most of you do not feel that way. Do you want me to continue covering it?
Would you prefer if I limited myself to publishing only and exclusively my own comments, articles or analytical pieces. That would mean that if I had nothing to say a couple of weeks nothing at all would be published here.
Another option would be to make this the blog of several people, to open it up to more than one author. Some of you clearly have the skills to contribute very interesting comments and, as far as I know, you do not have a blog of your own (Lysander, Ya_Baqiyatullah, Alibi, – this is a not so subtle hint here), would you be interested in me trying to get more people involved here or would you be interested in writing for me?
Dear friends, I now ask you to please, *PLEASE!!!!*, take the time and post a reply to my questions here. I know that this is a pain, but I need your feedback to know what you do value (or not) in this blog.
Please do not send me an email, as I would like others to see what you wrote. I always enjoy getting emails from you, but this time I need to hear some opinions to decide what I shall do next.
Barring some big event, I will leave this post up until January 1st to give you as much time as possible to express your views. Based on your replies, I will then take a decision as to where we go from here and let you know.
Many thanks in advance, a very Happy New Year and a Blessed Nativity to you all!
Kind regards,
The Saker
9-11 was the catalyzing event for the WHOLE world to send us spiraling first into a police state and now Global Governance. It is more than relevant – it is the key false flag event of major catastrophic events. If you stop covering it, you might as well give up on everything going on in the world.
Reposting articles is important too as they give your opinions and assessments more substantiation and variety.
Get only those involved who you trust and you are led to by your spirit. Trust no one and have mercy on all as the upheaval we are experiencing now is just the beginning.
The only thing I think you miss at times is the big picture of a world being taken into tyranny by the money barons. Identify the enemy and not just the symptoms. Eugenics should be a number one priority to expose as that will eliminate the critical thinkers from the planet.
I like what you do and like your site. I say – Stay the course.
Dear Mr. “Saker”,
I have never commented here before, although I have been reading your blog off and on (mostly on) for over a year. I feel compelled by your open letter to make a reply. I appreciate your cross-postings because they centralize the views from a number of sources that I don’t usually pay attention to, and sometimes these are of interest to me. For the same reason, I appreciate your translations of Hassan Nasrallah’s speeches. While I do not quite agree that Mr. Nasrallah is “the most important figure in the Middle East”, he is certainly very important and very under-reported, and when he is reported, he is often vilified. For the sake of being able to have a clear idea of his views, it is valuable to know where to get such translations. I also appreciate your own analytical comments, although I don’t always agree with them.
As to my own views, I am a Marxist-Leninist, native-born US citizen, retired, as you yourself seem to be, from a US defense-industry corporation. I do not have my own blog, because I feel that my attempts to write things should appear in other forms (leaflets, postings on other peoples’ blogs, etc.) I am not sure about 9/11 – I suspect that the US/Israeli alliance has the ability to do such a thing, but there is also powerful and justified rage at the US for its rampant imperialism, and such rage may have found expression in these acts. While I do not condone this sort of strategy, I recognize that it may exist. I think it is most important to unite the truly progressive and revolutionary forces in the US for a massive anti-imperialist movement, and difference of opinion over the perpetrators of 9/11 should not become a dividing factor in such a movement. The 9/11 Truth movement tends to get too sectarian on this score – they seem to treat belief in the 9/11 conspiracy story as an article of faith central to the effectiveness of an oppositional campaign, and I do not think this belief should occupy such a position. Certainly the Bush administration went to great lengths to cover up the evidence about the 9/11 events, and the Obama administration has done nothing to clarify this picture. That is of course very suspicious but not convincing, and it may have a number of explanations which should not be subject to rash speculation. So you may classify me as a “9/11 agnostic” if you wish. So please proceed with your blog, I find it most interesting and informative, and I hope to communicate to you again sometime.
Yours,
“The Wanderer”
Eric Walberg asked me to post this for him:
——-
hi,
you are a great blogger, energetic, posting thought-provoking original material. i think you’re right to revamp you work in the new year.
i think just reposting articles is less useful than a short commentary by you about something with the url
>Hezbollah, I made it a point of honor to publish almost every speech made by Hezbollah’s secretary general Hassan Nasrallah.
yes, you have a good, open political position and zero in on the key issues like hezbollah, the subversion behind US/ Israel public statements.
i don’t have time to spend at too many sites. i need to be looking for the interesting news items from all sources to write something new. i liked your response to the “nothing comes from nothing” about the terror incident. i think they are condensed as a letter to the editor this week. chekc it out on saturday.
maybe a short bulletin/ essay a few times a week with urls. like peter myers fine sight. did you check it out? his library? his focussed mailings a few times a week on different topics? maybe you could do this for russi/ east europe?
feel free to post this. my eye is killing me — it’s infected and i’m writing this with eyes closed. a lonely time for me here in cairo. sick and no christmas cheer. but then no christmas crap either!
glad to have such a good friend. your russian background speaks to me at an unconscious level. we do have past lives. i’m sure.
eric
http://ericwalberg.com/
Well, speaking only for myself: I am mostly interested in European and Russian affairs. The Middle East is an area which I don’t feel too interested and don’t know much. I never read Nasrallah’ speeches, they are too long and, as I said, not something that interests me. But I agree with your point, considering the lack of information and vilification of Hezbollah, this is something very interesting for a lot of people who visit this site and you surely should keep it.
Eric Wallberg’s articles are really interesting for me, and I also I’d like to continue reading them on the site, as I visit it almost every day. I also like Atzmon’s articles, I agree with his humanist philosophy completely. I usually don’t comment, but this is mostly because I don’t feel I have anything to add.
Apart from historical/political articles, wouldn’t you like to write more on military subjects? I enjoyed a lot, for example, your article on Russia’s new ICBM, the RS-24. I would like to read more on this, specially on Russian, NATO, Indian and Chinese armed forces. If you are still interested on these subjects, I would greatly aprreciate if you wrote more about this.
I wish you a merry Christmas and happy new year!
Saludos desde Argentina!
“maybe a short bulletin/ essay a few times a week with urls. like peter myers fine sight. did you check it out? his library? his focussed mailings a few times a week on different topics? maybe you could do this for russi/ east europe?”
Eric’s idea is really good. I also would like this a lot!
Dear Saker,
I don’t know where to start. I am so used to reading all the articles that you post and if you stop doing so then I wouldn’t know where to get some “real” news from. The amount of information that you put out – even recycled ones – is just awesome. I wouldn’t want you to change it.. though I think we could get some of your commentary on the happenings around the world. I am particularly pointing out to the Georgia – Russia “war” when you were your true self (if I may say so). Your indepth analysis during that time was phenomenal. I wish you could do that about various other parts of the world (I understand that your primary expertise is Russia and Europe).
I think half the time the reason I don’t comment on your posts is that I don’t understand the issues as clearly as you do. I dunno about the rest though.. but please continue the great work you are doing.
Thanks,
Dear Saker,
First of all, for me, your blog is absolutely excellent in that it contains a good mix of your original content and notable articles and Hassan Nasrallah’s speeches.
Personally I would be sad if you decided to limit yourself to only pointing to URLs with one or two comments of your own rather than your current practice of posting the whole article. This is purely because I come across a lot of articles on your site (via Google Reader) that I would otherwise not see. Your own comments on reposted articles would, for me, add value and may also lead to some more comments.
I don’t comment here a lot mainly because I rarely have time for an in-depth analysis of my own which would in any case fall far short of the quality of your own contributions and that of the company you keep. It is a dilemma because comments on one’s blog postings is very heartening.
One can try to increase the comment harvest via deliberate provocations (especially to other bloggers with lots of readers) and other gimmicks but one risks the comments section turning into a dog fight or a popularity contest where the number of comments becomes more important than the content of the post.
At any rate I hope you will continue with your good work for a very long time – it certainly enriches my life and I’m sure that of many others!
I don’t have any suggestions or preferences to offer, other than to encourage you to keep on keeping on. I think it’s best to just go with your gut and do what feels right to you. If your motivation is good, then the results will also be good, whatever mistakes we may make along the way. What you and many others do is attempt to be useful to others in the best way that you can. This is actually a kind of spiritual practice, and seems particularly appropriate in this season that is associated with expressions of goodwill. It is a good and necessary counterpoint to the actions of our adversaries that spring from the destructive emotions of greed, aggression and ignorance. Anyway, what else can we do? Season’s greetings to everyone!
Roger Tucker
http://onestate.info
The only things I would change about the blog and how you run it would be to:
1) Stop asking for people to comment. If they feel compelled to, they will on their own.
2) Drop 9/11. I don’t believe in the 9/11 “truth” movement’s version of events, in a vast American-Israeli conspiracy, etc. We are almost at the 10 year anniversary, then eventually we’ll be at 15, and 20. Writing about “what really happened” is a recipe for sterility and talking to the same people over and over again about the same issues. I for one don’t read any 9/11 conspiracy stuff.
3) Focus more on domestic policy. I know your specialty/predilection is foreign affairs, but Obama’s main focus is on the home front. The health care bill before Congress that he wholeheartedly supports is nothing but a gigantic bailout for the insurance industry, which will get 30 million new customers at taxpayers’ expense without any kind of regulation at all. Ditto for financial reform. Under Obama, we are seeing the transfer of wealth upward from the bottom to the top 1% that reached incredible proportions under Bush continue unabated. The last time we had a Democratic president push Wall Street’s line, it gave us the global justice movement in Seattle, the 2000 Nader campaign, and a lot of smaller struggles a decade ago.
The fact that the man who promised “change we can believe in” is delivering “the status quo like you wouldn’t believe” is going to be one of the most important things to dominate American politics until 2012.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Well. I found your blog in August 2008. It was the war time. Since then I check it practically every day. I don’t comment on the issues I’m not familiar with, it doesn’t mean that if I do I’m an expert, mostly not. Still I comment sometimes. I like your blog it’s good. It really is. I like your posters too, no matter if we don’t agree sometimes, they think. They really do. I can’t say how hard it is to keep it up, I mean your work. It must be exhausting. And it’s probably even more exhausting when there are no comments for a while. Well no comments doesn’t mean no readers, trust me. It’s just if we don’t comment then there is nothing we can contribute here, not that we don’t agree or not interested. If we don’t agree we would say so. I would anyway. Keep it up we like it. Do it the way you feel it is suppose to be done you’ve been doing it good so far. All the best to you my good friend. And Happy New Year to all.
Hi Saker,
I started following your website after your article on Russia-South Ossetia-Georgia. Someone posted your article on one of the millitary forums, I followed the link and never went back.
I used to follow millitary websites as I came from the war torn country (serbian refuge from Croatia)and millitary was under my skin. Being exposed to croatian agression with help of the US, in 1995 and with the loss of my father (captured and tortured in Lora, Split) I was so long under the influence of the war machine, us against them and hate towards anything croatian and muslim. Now after many years since that war is finished I am realising and learning more about the world events, main players and stupidity of the wars, Israel, Palestine, Balkans, Capitalism, Communism, christians, muslims, religion.
My point is that your website is for me a fountain of the news and through your website I discovered the other that I now regularly visit.
What I appreciate with your blogs mostly is your views and I would like in future for you to continue with share of your thoughts.
I like when you get staff from other sources and post your thoughts at the end.
I understand what you mean with the comments section as I find myself always checking the comments section and being excited when there is a nubmer of reply. I found it the best way to pick up a lot of informations.
Being a learner in most of this staff I personally find it hard to comment and from my personal experience I can only add thoughts to the balkans.
But I am not more ignorant and I got a lot of blank pages to fill, so thank you for your efforts and hope you continue and all the best to you and your readers and everyone else in new year!
Saker
I love your “Words to live by.”
Your detailed insights into the Georgia/Russian affair, your translations on Nasrallah speeches,your thoughts on Hezbollah and astute critical analysis of Israel/USA world views are outstanding.
The 9/11 Caravan will exhaust your talents.I agree with a previous comment that it is a sterile argument that will consume you.It has become a formidable conspiracy industry similar to the assassination of Jack Kennedy with questions about Lee Harvey Oswald/the Mob/Secret Services/Cuba and everything else.
There is no end to the confusion.
Your life experiences have made you realize that Western Democracies are sleepwalking into a black chasm.
Stay the course.
Expose the fraudulent timeservers and as they say here in Australia “Keep the Bastards honest.”
By all means continue with Gilad Atzmon and Eric Walberg pieces.
You offer sensible understanding to the causes of conflicts in the world.
I like you as you are. Don’t go for an exhaustive “makeover.
Regards
John
You have to follow your own heart. I always read your blog because you seem to be immune from the usual filters between world events and the press. You frankly are a lot more knowledgeable than me and most of the time I can’t add much so I don’t comment, but I am listening. Personally I am so politically confused now I don’t even know what to wish for. I am interested in reading somebody that will follow the truth no matter what toes get stepped on. That you. I am not optimistic about finding a political home. I had one for many years, but now I don’t. I want the red pill.
Hi Saker. I am quite happy with the current format, although the posting frequency may be a little bit higher. I always like to hear your opinion, but also like the articles that you pick. As for the comments, don’t worry about it too much. The expertise of most people is maybe not gooed enough to add anything to the articles. I will do my best, however. Thanks for the posts over the years. Albert
You have a lot of friends out here that read your blog every day. If world war III starts, you won’t read about it on Drudge until your house is falling down around your ears. If you want a heads up on history about to land on us, read Saker because he will be sniffing the wind even if it is not politically correct to sniff in that particular direction.
I’ve been a regular reader for about 18 months now.
I have my own blog but my posting schedule isn’t – a schedule that is. I simply cobble things together when the muse strikes with no particular purpose or audience in mind. I guess it might form a record of sorts one day for family/friends – whatever.
It’s clear to me that our respective world views have a lot in common. My latest (seasonal) analogy is that, as a matter of rigid orthodoxy, States communicate with their respective populations through an intellectual and emotional framework not unlike that of a parent and 5 year old child but absent any altruistic/parental bond – such that the official narratives of most events of importance are massaged to a level of factual accuracy resembling those of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. In other words – in the interests of an over-riding imperative to maintain ‘The System’ and protect its corrupt, self-serving interests, we are lied to systematically as matter of time-honoured and sanctified practice – PERIOD. In the immortal words of that venerable Irish muckraker Caud Cockburn “Never believe anything until it has been officially denied”
Personally I don’t think much has changed in that respect, other than that the means of deception, surveillance and especially monopoly/projection of violence have become ubiquitous in the service of the State.
I’m personally surprised to hear some saying that they are unsure about 9/11. To me 9/11 is as clear as the nose on anyone’s face – viz powerful State Sponsored Agencies were and remain deeply complicit – same goes for the London and Madrid bombings. I am far less sure that hammering away at it will have ANY beneficial effect though. For example, to anyone with the inclination to research it freed from its usual patriotic/jingoistic associations and the ‘official narrative’, it is also as clear as the nose on anyone’s face that The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 in which Guy Fawkes and his accomplices were caught red-handed in the act of attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament whilst in session, was actually planned, instigated, agent-provocateured and orchestrated by one Robert Cecil, Chief Spy-master and Minister to James 1. – But the official version stands and we celebrate it every 5th November. Robert Cecil isn’t even mentioned in the main Wikepedia pages on the matter – and who the hell care about such things now anyway?? – rhetorical question that.
Some thing it seems never change. I personally doubt that more than maybe 10% of ALL so-called terrorist outrages in the West occur without similar deep complicity on the part of the spy-masters and their ‘assets’ – its called ‘calibrating the level of violence and tension the better to secure compliance from a fearful population’. IMHO, it would take the collapse of the USA as a unified State for the truth about 9/11 – or JFK or the Oklahoma Bombing or a host of other outrages, EVER to be exposed to honest official scrutiny.
All that said – keep on blogging is my advice – water on a stone and all that. Personally I’m especially grateful to you for the Hezbollah stuff too – because sure as hell it ain’t available anywhere else.
Hello, Saker!
Please continue your blog!
Thank you!
I was first exposed to your blog when you were participating with Scott Horton’s Stress Blog. I continue to read your blog and think that it is superior in the fact you believe in God and have better understanding and wisdom than Scott and Angela (who I also like, btw). The 9-11 story has a number of unfinished chapters and needs to be covered. I think your hypothesis is right-on and it was my hypothesis from day-one. Merry Christmas
Saker I have found that there is a paradox for free speech: offered an opportunity most people prefer to remain silent. I have many theories on this but my experience from Cafe to Seminiar to On-Line is Political Silence. You may wish to create a forum using invision.
I also would like more high level analysis. Is it coincidence that Georgia and the Economic Collpase appear to arise together? If it is not co-incidence but part ofthe unfolding geo-political struggle over the spoils of Eurasia how do you see 9/11? That is, what military purpose is served for the (presumably) Zionist West with 9/11?
Do they seek to collapse the West into a simulacra of the USSR? Is this then to ease the transition to a global super state under the thumb of the Elites of the Zionist West?
I’ve enjoyed your blog since 2006 — and I think I found my way here through Palestinian Pundit, around the time of the war in Lebanon. I like the occasional ‘comment’ at the end of articles. I like the military analysis, which most “international relations” blogs do not include. The coverage of Nasrallah’s speeches is very unique. The commentary on Russia is interesting and accessible to me. I’m skeptical of Gilad’s writings for the same reason as Angry Arab. I like the eclecticism of the blog, but I think that much of these issues can be synthesized and understood through marxist theories of capitalism, class struggle and imperialism. I think you have to have a theory to explain why a pattern of behaviour exists and how to transcend it. In a “comradely way” I will start posting comments along these lines. I somewhat expect one quality article a day from you — it keeps me checking back, and a nice alternative to the typical blog of deluging readers with millions of links. I’m not convinced of 9/11 “conspiracy” theories, but I’d like to see the evidence summarized nicely. This would be useful for me. Given my background, I could see 9/11 not as an inside job but as something that the neocons and Israelis found out about in some detail and then let happen for obvious reasons. However, if you could clearly summarize your argument, that’d be useful. Keep up the good work.
Rachid asked me to post his comment below:
I always check your comments you post. If you decide to annull your blog, this would be – imho- a loss to many people who seek the truth on the events taking place around the world, especially in West Asia. As to the comments, be sure that the main reason behind the lack of comments is the fact that many don’t have anything more to contribute. As of myself, another reason is my english. It is for me sometmes hard to collect my thoughts and ideas and express them in english.
Pls, keep sending your comments. But if you feel like exhausted, a break might do well.
Thank you for your courage
@EVERYBODY – IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION:
First, I want to sincerely thank you all for posting your comments here. I really appreciate your doing this, and I thank you very much!
While I shall still wait to January 1st before reaching some conclusion as to where to go next, I want to already reassure you on one point:
I am *not* considering closing this blog. I am only trying to get a sense of what most of you like/dislike and how I could be most useful to, shall we say, the “Resistance” movement.
So keep the comments coming – every one of them is important to me – but do not worry about me terminating this blog.
Many thanks and kind regards and, for those of you who celebrate the new year on December 31st of the Western calendar, happy new year!
The Saker
hello saker , sorry im replying a little late (just got back from a trip to North Africa ) I think it is nice to keep us updated on the news you post , may be we are not aware of a topic you post (and there were many in the past i was glad i read here , especially the full speeches of Nasrallah ) so you are doing a fantastic job . keep up the excellent work and i hope you will continue .
Sorry forgot to say Hope you had a great Christmas . wish you a happy New Year . best wishes
Hello Saker,
I say leave things as they are. I usually end up reading an article I wouldn’t have run into otherwise or might have simply skipped.
And please don’t focus solely on domestic affairs, we have more than enough bloggers who do. And to be honest, what happens overseas directly controls what will happen domestically. This is more true when it comes to the middle-east considering the zionist occupation of America.
Great work mate, sorry I just don’t post often.
PS. please keep posting Hezbollah speech translations, the vast majority of websites simply never do.
Hello saker, this is a great bloc, and you always have great articles, however i only come here for the translated speech of Sayed hassan, if i come across any good articles or one that sounds interesting to me, then i read but i come on mainly for that. Still I think what your doing is great in collecting great articles from different sources and putting them here in one place. by the way I am waiting for the yawm Ashura speech of sayed hassan (today) so keep it coming.
keep up the good work
I regularly check your blog, it is my only site for news apart from mainstream media. Keep on going, you are doing a wonderful job.
anonymous 27/12/ 4:40
If you are a fan of Hassan Nasrallah like i am (im sure you are since you are interested in his speeches ) you will love the Ashura one . I heard it live on TV (al Alam ) it was one of his best , he made sense by saying it was not enough to cry over the misery of Gaza while watching tv and he denounced the Arab leaders for not doing enough , including the steel wall Egypt is building , etc.. I hope Saker will post it ASAP .
I wish we had more Arab leaders like him , and not puppets to the west .
Just want to say how much I appreciate this blog. I started reading it around the time of the Iranian election, when it seemed that everyone, even the genuine left in this country, had swallowed the Kool-Aid. It was very demoralizing seeing so many writers I otherwise respected carrying water for this media-driven farce, and it was encouraging to see that there were at least some people out there connecting the dots.
As a leftist, I have also come to believe the whole left-right divide as portrayed in our media is largely a fiction, and both genuine leftists and conservatives can find a lot of common ground on the critical issues of our day, and maybe compromise on others. I am not saying our political differences are imaginary and we can all hold hands and sing kumbaya, but we can and must unite to save our country from the scumbags in charge of it now. We can haggle over our differences later. To that end I find it gratifying that I have not been able to figure out your political orientation yet. Critical thinking should not be constrained by ideological barriers and we need to get past thinking in binary terms of “left” and “right.” You seem to be very good at that.
I like the format of the blog as it is and would prefer you keep on posting cross-posted articles in full, though perhaps with a comment or two if you have the time or inclination to do so. I also find your original pieces to be invariably top notch but realize it can take a lot to write articles of such high quality.
I wouldn’t get too hung up on the lack of comments. I know it can be frustrating when you are trying to stimulate discussion and get silence instead, but this seems to be the norm on many high caliber blog posts I have seen elsewhere. There usually isn’t much to add once you’ve tackled a topic and in many cases, I personally am not as informed on many of these issues as you are, but do appreciate the education.
Thanks Fatima, I also watched it on al-alam the complete speech, but my arabic is limited so yah but i read some of the english parts, I can’t wait to get the whole transcript though so i can do what i do best. By the way I am not just a fan of Sayed Hassan Nasrallah ( May Allah prolong his life) though i cannot say much, I will say that he is truly my leader and all arabs and muslim should learn from his wisdom.
unfortunately most most arab leaders are puppets, that’s what money and greed does to people. about egypt and the wall they are building it’s just a shame the zionist entity’s wall was just a brick but egypt is taking it one step further by making the wall out of steel, anyways i believe the rulers in egypt are jews so i am not surprised.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/books/review/Cockburn-t.html?_r=4
check out this book
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_says_at_l.html
Dear Saker,
Like so many others I very much appreciate your blog and especially it’s coverage of Russia and the Near East. It’s is an invaluable resource! Also like so many others I seldom have much to contribute – but I will so so when I can!
Best regards
FkDahl
I agree with the other commenters: stay the course. I appreciate your “take” on the complex Middle East issues, as well your fresh insights apart from the usual neo-con corporate noise.
I, too, discovered your site from a link posted on a military-type site. Navy stuff, as I recall, discussing the Georgia-Ossetia conflict.
Most definately keep up the 9/11 info/commentary. This is a HUGE sore that should never scab over.
I think you should continue to sprinkle your blog with guest essays and powerful articles.
I agree with the main suggestion, namely, Keep the line.
However, I wonder if you can make more comments (my favorite part of the blog), and track another issues related to your interests. For example, the effects of the unfortunate transference of wealth from middle & lower level amreicans to the top echelons, which in many cases is also a transference of wealth toward rabidly zionist actors. Just sayin..
Keeep the good work, happy NY
Saker, in your opinion, is there truth behind the Perestroika Deception? Is there a long range plan still in operation to impose a global communist dictatorship as a major defector from the KGB stated and as Petr Cibulka alleged? As an armchair analyst I recognize it is easy to be misled, but it is interesting to connect the dots from the Russian Revolution to the triumph of Savage Capitalism as an agenda being unfolded. Marxism can be used as a substitute for spiritual faith. At the same moment it can be used to advance a plutocratic agenda.
China may be an exemplar of this possibility.
Saker,
Your coverage of the resistance vs occupying Israel in the Middle East region is priceless. And since my own knowledge is limited more so to the Middle East region and the US/Israel involvement there, the rest of your coverage concerniong other parts of the world has been very informative. Also, I think your discussions concerning 9/11 have been balanced and necessary as most of us have not bought into the appointed by the government 9/11 commission’s findings and still have very many questions left unanswered…
Dear Saker,
I try to follow your blog as much as I can. I admit I haven’t done a great job of it because of being busy. I certainly have differing opinions than yours quite often.
1. You say that Hizbollah is the single most important political force in the Middle East and I disagree with that. To me it’s the Kurdish Freedom Movement and it’s forces. They are trying to solve a problem that is far older and more severe than the Palestinian issue. Not to mention it’s killing by “Muslim brothers”. One fact which I don’t think was ever mentioned on your blog that Kurdish fighters at one time fought to protect Palestinian people. I do believe reducing the Middle East politics to the Palestinian Question and ignoring everything else is over simplification.
2. I always commanded your ability to discuss things and accept different perspectives and ideas. I have engaged in a few comments with Baqiya and I must state that he doesn’t have as much of a tolerance for differing opinions. It’s all about Shia domination for him and “the rest can go to hell”. So, if he co-owns this blog, my feeling is that the “quality” will reduce.
3. You say that Israeli Lobby owning US completely now. Unfortunately I haven’t seen you make an attempt the intricate web the lobby has built by say building and managing the Turkish lobby. Rasti has some superb analyzes on the issue. Have you read any of those posts recently? For example, did you know that the Turkish Lobby is the top spending lobby in the US? Where does this money come from, really?
4. I would like to see more posts on the Caucasus politics. You and I both know a lot of games are going on there right now. Ukraine and Turkey are both playing their dirty games for the incoming elections using Kurds as bargaining chips. The Gulen movement, the US’ new intelligence apparatus (and execution!) in the Middle East and Caucasus was hardly mentioned in this blog. Gulen’s organization is spreading with great speed and I was surprised you ignored it for so long.
5. I read Nasrallah speeches as much as I can but he, like the leaders of the Kurdish movement, needs to learn to be short while making his point. Both movements give lengthy speeches as if they are write novels.
Happy new year to everyone and I will email you again soon :)
nymouse