One of the reasons why I initially started an anonymous blog was to focus on ideas, values, not personalities. And now that my identity is widely known, I still think that this is a sound approach. However, others feel differently and some feel the need to pen pieces denouncing me for reasons X Y or Z. What I want to do here is to explain why I don’t have any interest in reacting to such pieces.
- First, they are mostly based on misrepresentations, strawman arguments, pseudo-psychoanalyses and even deliberate lies. Most of it are total fabrications with no basis in facts or logic. I simply don’t have the time to engage in “what they said I said is not what I really said” kind of arguments. I aim my blog at smart readers – they can easily figure that our for themselves.To those of you who are new to this blog, let me make it simple for you.
Here is a “kinda bio” of me: http://10.16.86.131/submarines-in-the-desert-as-my-deepest-gratitude-to-you/
Here are my values: http://10.16.86.131/blogs-philosophy/
Here is why I reside in the USA: http://10.16.86.131/why-do-i-live-in-the-usa - The truth is that all of these attacks come from people and groups who want a monopoly on what they see as “their” segment of the blogosphere. To them everybody else is not an ally, but a competitor. They think that by trashing others they will gain a bigger segment. It’s really all about pleasing sponsors and their ideological agenda (I explain the first case in detail here and Ron Unz explained the second one here). I am not interested in competition, ratings, ideologies and all the rest. My only interest are honest, non-ideological, critical analyses. Let the readers decide what they like.
- Then there are those who would like to get noticed but don’t. For them to bark up a successful “competitor” is simply a crude way to market their own sadly unsuccessful websites. What they don’t realize is that by calling somebody else names, they just display their own lack of talents, originality, brains or, ironically, relevance.
- Finally, I find all that nastiness masquerading as some form of intellectual debate is rather nauseating and dishonorable. This is why I wrote the following words when there was a fallout between Russia-Insider and The Duran: “I am saddened by the outright nastiness of some comments and the eager willingness of some people to join a virtual lynch mob against Charles Bausman. Even if he is truly guilty of all the accusation made against him, this is worthy of tears and not of vitriolic glee. The way some “smelled blood” and joined in this “virtual public stoning” is disgusting. I am also aware of ugly personal attacks against Peter Lavelle, whom I hold in the highest esteem, and I categorically condemn these attacks as dishonorable and unworthy of being acknowledged in any way“. “Sharks in the water” come with the territory, especially if you are successful (just compare their Alexa rankings with ours!), but they don’t deserve to be treated with any respect or recognition. We can’t stop them from doing what they are doing, but we don’t have engage in the same behavior: as Jay Carter once wrote, “their biggest motivation is that they actually feel inferior to you, so they’ll slash you down to their level“.
Frankly, the Internet can be a nasty place and I don’t want our community to contribute to that. In fact, I believe that with every ugly accusation something very beneficial happens: those who enjoy that kind of stuff will leave our community, and those who don’t will join it. So, in a way, all that nastiness is beneficial to all of us, to our entire community (it is also a fantastic and surefire way to unmask the hypocrisy those who call themselves “Christians” yet engage in profoundly un-Christian behavior). The bottom line is that I profoundly believe that participating in all that nastiness is both dishonorable and self-defeating. We should therefore never oppose it when done by others and neither should we pay any attention to it. All we need to do is stay out of it.
I want to conclude by asking you, my friends, not to worry about this. Since I started this blog I have been called all sorts of things, including a racist, an anti-Semite, a Nazi, a Jew-lover, a Marxist, a Communist, a White Russian, a Muslim, a traitor to the White race, a CIA agent, a Putin apologist and a Putin hater. I was also accused of being both anti-American and pro-American. Fingers were pointed at me for living in Florida and for not understanding Europe. Clearly some people can’t deal with complexity and nuance :-) they need a simple label to be able to cope with them.
I ask you all not to “defend” me or this blog, not to waste any of your time and energy in vain, and simply stay above it all. Let them do what they are the best at and and let us do what we do best too. But, if you really do feel the need to engage in these debates, then please don’t do that on this blog: don’t reply here to stuff said elsewhere in our comments section and don’t post links to it. I also ask you not to call out or criticize any website or individual by name. Think of it as a form of mental hygiene: let’s not pollute our community with this nastiness.
Our real enemy is the Empire, imperialism, violence and wars, the loss of true values and spirituality, injustice, lies, deception, the full-spectrum crackdown on our freedoms and the persecution of the weak and innocent. If we want to struggle against that enemy, against these phenomena, we first and foremost must strive towards being different ourselves “for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Cor 3:19) and “such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic” (James 3:15). Let’s stay away from it :-)
Hugs and cheers,
The Saker
Wisdom, well-said, Saker.
The Vineyard is a very special place, very representative of multi-polarity and four great civilizations. Sort of a Eurasian salon of hope and high expectations.
As the SCO launched with a spectacular Zhang Yimou-created lights, dance and fireworks pageant in Qingdao today, the meeting of eight nations + Iran representing 43% of mankind, we can look to creative solutions not bitter dialectics from the shrunken world of Marxist-Leninists clinging to failed syllogisms.
There’s a world of Marxist-Lenninists out there somewhere? Can you supply GPS coordinates as to where its located? I’d love to go visit. Its got to be better than being a corporate-slave.
Anon, yes there is and it’s the West. All those pseudo Libs, Neo-cons, etc, etc, are just rebranded trotskites and “escapees” from the “Ex-Socialist” countries aka Eastern Europe.
Everyone in the alternative media/blogesphere should be building each other up not tearing people/sites down. By doing this all they are doing is helping the MSM and those Governments who want to shut down free speech.
Lets take a leaf out of Russia and China’s book with the SCO.
As you say Saker – the real enemy is the Empire, imperilism etc. Their ammunition is divide and rule.
Let us not be adversaries in these times of adversity.
@Larchmonter445
As for your last sentence, China and Iran are actually very successful. So was Stalin’s USSR. One of the reasons the Empire of slavery set up the monstrous Hitler Project. See e.g. “mtwsfh” about that.
You and Ron Unz might want to read Gearóid Ó Colmáin’s [as The Saker, he really knows what he’s talking about] latest article about French workers; http://www.gearoidocolmain.org
I like very much what you wrote, Larch. You know, what Bentley and crew did isn’t just wrong, it’s logically unfathomable. It’s a real shame, because there’s simply no reason for there to be any emnity from B and crew… hell, I learned of Bentley from here, and Bentley plugged this site in an interview w/ Inessa S that was viewed by stadiums full of people! I hope Russell can see the light — there’s no reason to bicker over — what else? — ideology. I mean, come on, that’s (in polemical terms, on the internet, are you kidding me?) kid’s stuff…
What’s important to see is that attacks frequently come from within your own “community”… The American Left was destroyed in this fashion a long time ago. In rock bands, the people who will f you up are most frequently your own bandmates and “close friends.” It doesn’t have to be a conspiracy — this is just the way it usually goes down. Tant pis! Your enemies don’t plan the betrayal, but revel in it over and over…
What the editors of that site were thinking is simply beyond me. Insanity… Cutting off your nose to spite your face…
True………..LOL. The traitors and backstabbers are usually ones own pals. Yr enemies can usually be dealt with.
Texas is in the trenches, so he looks from different prospective. It should be understood. He can’t challenge Commander-in-Chief. Of course the Saker is right, but we shouldn’t forget different perspectives.
Cheers to taking the high road. The argument of “that opinion is detrimental to moral” is the handmaiden of censorship. Opinions, right, wrong, or otherwise should never be a priori banished. If they are wrong, refute them on merits or simply bite your tongue.
I saw the post that was the seed for this post, I also saw a heavy and obvious comment stream trying to nail home the message of that hit piece, i had no problem seeing the reason and no problem in walking around the dung therein contained… I scan that site, I READ yours… Good, Smart, Rational reading…. i hope many have the same view as me.
This day and age is filled with fake, sexed up commentary…. It’s a VOLUME business seeing it in vast and unusual quantities well out of line with a post is very telling to one having to dance the dung piles of this landscape…
Keep up the good work, I will be reading….
I love the little oasis that you have created here Andrei.
It’s like fresh air.
The other fact-respectful, intelligent reviewers and commenters know the value of this space, I am convinced.
Я уважаю все ваши посты, но честно полагаю, что у вас нет веских оснований отвечать на шилл и идеологических зомби; братья и сестры добросовестности здесь, все знают, что силы империи против вас и непременно будут атаковать всеми возможными способами.
Я посылаю уважение и добрую волю.
Salutations to all the usual suspects; keep up the good work, you are helping by enabling the liberation of our friends, neighbours and fellow human beings from the mental slavery of the empire.
dear Saker,
you’re absolutely right, I don’t waste my time reading such a useless crap…
“Since I started this blog I have been called all sorts of things, including a racist, an anti-Semite, a Nazi, a Jew-lover, a Marxist, a Communist, a White Russian, a Muslim, a traitor to the White race, a CIA agent, a Putin apologist and a Putin hater”
This says it all. I have met Saker personally and in my opinion Saker is a good man who does the best he can and believes in what he does. Is he correct 100% of the time? No. Do I agree with him 100% of the time? No. Our beliefs are close enough to make a good relationship and different enough to make it interesting. It don’t get much better than that.
I have never met Mr. Bentley nor have I met anyone who works for or contributes to Fort Russ so I can not and will not pass judgement on what they say or insinuate.
Auslander
Author
Never The Last One https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGCY8KK A Deep Look In To Russia, Her Culture And Her Armed Forces
And other tomes.
Now today Poroshenko initiated a phone call to Putin directly, what does this mean? Apparently it was about Donbass situation and making peade, he wants terms to surrender to Russia? . Poroshenko could fear a coup by Banderist militants (supported by USA) and ironically wants Putin to save his skin, like what happened to Erdogan when Russian security warned him of a coup and saved him from the Gülen pro westerners. Azov mililtants flooded with money from Ukranian diaspora in Canada and USA are more powerful and willing to fight than the regular Ukranian army which consist of underfed conscripts. Russia and Ukraine cannot remein enemies for ever, they are so close culturally that can only be considered one nation, only Fascists see the Ukranian race as seperate from Russian.
Κ. Σακερ είχα τήν τύχη να φτάσω στο ιστολόγιο σας από τα άρθρα του κ. Craig Roberts στον οποίο τρέφω μεγάλο σεβασμό. Δεν ομιλώ την Αγγλική γλώσσα και σας δυσκολευω. Λυπάμαι για αυτό. Νιώθω ότι ζούμε σε πονηρους καιρούς. Κάθε στρατευμένος άνθρωπος οφείλει να αγωνίζεται εναντίον του κακού και της αδικίας. Πιστεύω στο Θεό και Του είμαι ευγνώμων που σας ανακάλυψα.
Ο Θεός να σας χαρίζει υγεία και φώτιση πνευματική.
Με εκτίμηση.
Angelos Giouvanoglou.
Άγγελε, συμφωνώ με αυτά που γράφεις ελπίζοντας να μην μας κοροϊδεύεις για τα Αγγλικά σου παρόλο που γράφεις το όνομα σου με λατινικά γράμματα.
Χαιρετώ
Saker, you are doing a great job. Just ignore the attacks from those useless idiots.
Thank you for this air clearing post, Saker. The vast expanse of cyberspace contains much that is beautiful, and also much that is ugly. It takes constant efforts to keep a little garden like this blog free of the most noxious weeds. Intelligent and respectful conversation such as takes place here is a precious resource for a world drowning in lies and all kinds of conivance.
It’s great, following a site where there’s respect for others, even when in disagreement. We obviously live in different countries, different cultures, have been educated differently and so on. It’s no wonder we don’t always see things the same way. But different points of view can lead to greater insight.
Vladimir Putin exhibits a degree of forbearance that I’ve never seen before in a world leader (or anyone else, for that matter). Assuming what is portrayed in the many speeches and interviews translated to English is accurate, it appears that he lives on a somewhat different plane of consciousness than most of us, and that the outrageous accusations made against him simply don’t connect.
Perhaps we should seek to model our response to unjust criticism after Mr. Putin’s example…
Saker, all very affirmative comments that I agree with. Thank you. Reminds me of Noam Chomsky being asked about the American war on terror. He said the best thing the Americans could do about terror is ‘stop participating in it.’
Bless you for taking this attitude.
Having been around leftist magazines and websites for way longer than I should admit, I have developed a firm habit to reading any article that has a title of along the lines of “A response to Phil N Blank’s article”
They are almost always boring and useless. Especially if I had never read the original article. And since I tend to avoid mass media in general and especially the sort of media that does such ‘hit pieces’, the odds of me having read said hit piece about The Saker are definitely on the none side of slim.
If someone writes an article that inspires a response, I greatly prefer the response to be an independent piece to an independent espousal of ideas, and not just a Reply to another article, as those tend to devolve into a tat for tit, they-say, I say sort of extreme boredom.
To take what is hopefully a non-controversial example, there was a book about baseball called “Money ball” that was popular for awhile. I read a book that was a response from someone who knew the Atlanta Braves organization who’s scout-centric approach was the opposite. That was a very enjoyable book, at least to me. In large part because it only mentioned the Money Ball book in the introduction and then went off and explained a different approach to baseball without all the tat for tit stuff.
LOL … I of course typo’d my main point. That is that I do not read such ‘reply’ articles. :)
OK now whatever you do, don’t think of a pink elephant. And whatever you do, don’t pick that apple on yonder tree. It is a bit disingenuous to ask that we just ignore something that you are bringing up for us to ignore.
I remember a previous kerfuffle with Bentley when Saker published a mild exhortation to better protect leaders after Motorola was blown up in his apartment’s elevator. The response was rhetorical and defensively, well, accusatory in tone. Next year Givi was blown away by a mortar launched from a nearby building (supposedly).
Now, let us see how Putin’s six year great leap forward proceeds—to not see potential problems and Not to speak of them is the height of irresponsibility and disloyalty in my view. One can hope that should there be problems that the source of these be laid at the proper doorstep so that corrections can be made in the right way and right spirit.
Saker’s post is about other independent alternative sites trashing other sites or people/this site and Saker and his view of why and how to handle these hit pieces. Your comment is a bit confusing?? Mod
I don’t know — I think the title “Is Putin really ready to ditch Iran” introduces an idea no one had. Did anyone seriously argue that Putin would ditch anyone? Well, the title of the article suggested someone did. Who?
It’d be useful to provide examples of people making these suggestions. To that end, you have to name names.
Actually, I provided *both* a screenshot of the article in Ha’aretz saying that Putin was “ready to ditch Iran” AND a link to it. Don’t blame me if you don’t even bother reading what I wrote.
The Saker
My point of view towards the intenet these days is that I’m less interested in an individual wave that I might see, but I am more interested in who’s making the waves.
These days, anyone with even a little money (little on the scale of the Adelsons, Kochs, Soross of the world) can afford to pay a bunch of people to slap the water in unison with oars to make some waves. Trying to spot when this is going on and in what direction the waves are coming from is more interesting than admiring any specific wave.
And, I’m pretty sure that I’d seen exactly this wave mentioned by The Saker. If my life was really uninteresting right now, I could probably go back through the comments on this website and find some examples. And of course the general source of who’s got a large number of people slapping the water to make this particular wave is rather obvious.
“Frankly, the Internet can be a nasty place and I don’t want our community to contribute to that”
My own personal rule is that I try very hard not to respond in response to my own comments. If I see something that my fingers find worthy of a comment, I’ll write it up. But I don’t like to come back and read what others have said in response, and if I do I then try really, really, really hard not to respond back again.
I’ve seen way too many flame wars on the internet to want to contribute to more. Thus, I say my piece and I leave it alone after that.
Besides, such flame wars are a way that outsiders have of disrupting a community. I saw that when the Green Party was trying to organize in the US. For what should be a bunch of peaceful types, the mailing lists were such that one needed flame-retardant clothing to peruse them. I later learned that there were a group of Democrats who were of the ‘your-vote-belongs-to-us’ viewpoint who wanted to make dang sure that nothing substantial grew out of the Nader 2000 campaign. With their internet flamethrowers, they were rather successful at that, as illustrated by friggin Hillary being the only real choice against Trump. Or by the next election where a bunch of deep-state, ex-CIA types are who the Democrats are running as the only choice against Trump’s backers.
If you stand for _anything_ these days, some jerk on the net will call you nasty names for doing so. And the jerk will be applauded by other jerks. If you put two mirrors together, you get an infinity spectrum. That is the internet, boon to mankind, this thing that helps us to replace water heaters via youtube videos and at the same time destroyed common dialogue and civilized debate.
One of your best articles… a further joke or irony is that AFAIK the site that published this crap is one that I never would have heard of if it weren’t for the Saker. So it goes. Ingrates are the name of the game these days. As if you don’t go out of your way to label speculations as just that and call your pieces analyses. What a joke. Thank God you and your site are here.Ignore? I will… it’s the easiest thing to do. Ever onward!
Indeed, often the worthless and inconsequential seek relevance by trolling serious commentators hoping to draw fire from them as a way of getting the attention they crave but can’t generate independently. Envy of the intelligent, capable and creative, more often than not, is the only motivation of legions of detractors who try to hijack the recognition some have earned for their honest and well-thought arguments and opinions, for no other reason than their own impotent self-gratification. The best answer is to simply ignore them and let them stew in their own juices.
Support from downunder.
Stay above the provocations and the tall poppy syndrome.
This is the Sakers blog and he makes the rules. I didn’t like the attack on him. Why this infighting among Western friends of Russia?
Now I will try to speak as generally as possible. Saker has been tolerant and allowed different opinions. When we had mass immigration, he was critized for writing from Florida. That was about distance, not about the US. He was also accused of writing from Neptune or the Moon. Women in my country have finally decided to vote for a populist party to get protection because of the rapes.
There was also a debate about guns. Saker met some resistance. Criticism can help us learn.
I have been here for years, but seldom comment. I want the site to function. Problems are to be shaken off.
Very decent space of liberty, to say the least.
As the saying goes- You get flak when you are above the target.
The Saker must be on target if he is getting so much flak.
Keep at it. The more they scream the more you are hitting the target.
We are at a critical time. It is now or never for the Empire and a nuclear war is the only way that the empire can maintain its hegemony.
And thank the mods for keeping the trash out. Just look at RT comment section, some great people posting and they are surronded by trools there to wreck the place.
This site must be giving the empire gas.
I didn’t read the piece so am not sure what this is all about—except, it seems to turn on The Saker’s worries concerning Putin’s appointment of Medvedev as . . . I think economic minister or some such. The only reason I bother to say anything here is that there was a useful and informative debate right here at the Saker blog concerning the foolishness/wisdom of the Medvedev appointment. Not that that should exclude debate anywhere else, but my point is that I can’t quite see why some other blog community should get their knickers in a twist about a point of view that was already extensively debated at the blog that they are attacking for an “incorrect” point of view . . .
Katherine
The infighting and name-calling is exactly what our enemy wants us to do, splinter and weaken ourselves against them. This is why the Saker Community is different, we tend to be intellectuals that strive for truth and justice. No matter what the odds, we are making changes in the world – even if it feels insignificant. Here we can at least have people from all different backgrounds and ideologies come together to make our voices heard. Nobody should stoop down to the level of those hyenas, we are better than that. Building a peaceful future starts with us and our behavior.
Firstly, a personal note to The Saker…..If someone wants to attack you personally because of your views, they will attack your nome de plume (anonymous name), your website, your “anonymous” mother lol, etc., even if they don’t know your real identity.
It took about 10 seconds to find one of the latest articles that The Saker I believe is refering too. I do not need to mention it here.
But what I do want to mention is this:
why do people who differ or disagree with a view point need to bash or personally attack the person having this certain view? why do they see it necessary to discredit the person and basically all the work he has done?
Going down to this level is very unprofessional (from a scholarly point of view) and uncivilized, and is a disservice to the point of view they are trying to make even if there was any truth to their views or analysis.
There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with someone and even commenting on this disagreement, but to personally attack someone, with all due respect, makes you look:
– unobjective
– emotionally charged
– unprofessional
– uncivilized
That said, there is one issue that seems peculiar to me….the article I refered to seems to have zero comments (commenting seems to be allowed), which makes me wonder if there is an active readership or community. I mention this not out of competition or something like that, but out of curiosity whether their website is reaching enough of their intended audience.
– Correction, the article does have a comment section through the Disque system. On the phone, the site looks pretty chaotic also due to advertisements. –
I don’t understand the concerns because Saker never promoted anything, He talked about values and how “Russians” think that he should have replaced Medved (pun intended). I guess they had too much vodka.
No, no, no, no! It is an English name, so not Vodka, but Gin and Tonic.
Dear Saker,
I started visiting your site for one specific reason only. I wished to know what was happening in Syria and in the Ukraine. These things were, and still are denied to us both by our governments and by the MSM.
You must realise that what you are doing is, as far as our opposition believe rather naughty. Something akin to what my ancestors did to earn an apt name: “A wart on the arsehole of a Campbell’, when the Campbells were made the ‘constabulary of the hielands of Scotland’.
I guess that for all the damage you have created by searching for and telling the ‘truth’, that some of your opposition would consider you a ‘wart’.
And then there are ‘your trusty Lieutenants’, and many others who also add insight and body to the debate. For this reason I cannot be bothered to read any attacks on those who give us a ‘freedom’ not only in choice but in knowledge and understanding.
It’s something much like Shakespeare’s little pearl; ‘Whether tis nobler of the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of most outrageous fortunes, or to arm thyself against a sea of trouble and by opposing end them.’
Ohh, and to answer Anonymous’ question; There’s a world of Marxist-Lenninists out there somewhere? Can you supply GPS coordinates as to where its located? Try Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra in Australia, but no it’s even worse than a corporate-slave!
Australia is the last surviving communist country in South East Asia.
“I started visiting your site for one specific reason only. I wished to know what was happening in Syria and in the Ukraine. ”
Interesting memory prod!
I, too, originally started visiting this blog to get a better understanding of events in Ukraine. I had just edited a book on Gazprom, so I had a fair amount of background info on Ukraine-Russia relations seen through the gas prism.
At first I was kind of confused as to why Syria—even more under the MSM radar than the true state of affairs in Ukraine— was popping up here, and what was the connection?
This blog provided the main possibility for me to start to get an overview of how these seemingly unconnected developments—and others—actually were connected. To “get” these relationships (hate that overused cliche expression, but it can be handy) one needs to start modifying one’s world-view. Which really should be one upshot of any learning process.
Katherine
Katherine
Great response Dear Sir
As for further co-ords to ‘Commie Country’ try 45.42 degrees North by -75.69 degrees East.
aka Ottawa, Canuckistan
I am cheering for you, Saker. I note Putin, too, never stoops to his naysayers’ tactics, but treats them politely. Lots of decent, quiet people appreciate that. (It is one thing that makes Japan a joy for me to live in.)
Two do not fight if one does not want to.
I choose my enemies, not my enemies to me.
The when, how, why, for what, with whom, and where, of a confrontation, I decide.
Never quote my enemies.
Etc, etc, etc.
I very much agree with the vast majority of The Saker’s human values, and his right to live in any country that offers him long term legal residence. I feel particularly lucky to have found his blog, and become an avid reader, about a year before the events in The Ukraine. The reason for this, is that I could follow the events, almost live whilst they were happenning, and trust the source that was reporting them.
I have bought the Saker’s first book, which I highly recommend, and so I already understand a great deal about him. I simply have one question, which of course, he may not want to answer from a link he posted here. What he wrote was this
“In my case, it was really simple: I was blacklisted in my own country and I could not find work.”
What on earth did you do, to get blacklisted in the country you were born, Switzerland, such that you could not find work?
I can’t imagine that happening to anyone born in England, even if they have committed the most grievous crime, once they have served their time. There may well be areas, that they would not be able to work in, if their offence was in anyway connected. Otherwise, they would be positively helped to find employment, and would find such employment easily, particularly if they were anywhere nearly as intelligent, and compassionate as The Saker.
He has just put me off Switzerland, and I have never had a problem with the Swiss before. I first went there, before The Saker was born.
Tony
He was not blacklisted from Switzerland! He lost his job and was blacklisted from an NGO/ UN organisation in Geneva when he was too outspoken about an event in Bosnia. It appears he was deemed too “pro-Serb ” and therefore removed.
Regardless of what one may think, the ugly truth is that there is little diversity of thought at the UN and other such agencies. The US finances most of their budget and ensures that key positions remain pro US. Any anti-empire moves are largely symbolic and most often occur at the general assembly level such as the vote on Jerusalem or Kosovo.
During the campaign against Serbia, the UN secretary general Boutros Ghali was also considered “too pro Serb” and was prevented from seeking a second term. He was replaced by Washington’s yes-man Kofi Annan.
Well, the sad reality is that it was more than that: let just say that I was blacklisted by some very influential circles in the Swiss authorities. Now all the people involved are long retired or dead, but I still don’t want to comment on this. But I was blacklisted in my area of expertise, but I could still get a job in other sectors of the economy. I retrained has a software engineer, started to work as one, but a few months later, on 9/11 the company I was working for (and which was already about 2M in debt) was told that our investors had lost all their money. In fact, all my friends in IT lost their jobs within a couple of months (except one, actually!) so I ended up unemployed again! That is when my wife and I decided to leave the country and switch roles: I would homeschool our three kids and be a stay at home dad, she would go back to work and feed the family. Now are kids are all grown, so we work together :-)
I hope that completes the picture!
Hugs and cheers,
The Saker
The Saker,
Thank you so much for your reply, and your honesty.
Tony
Thanks Saker. Yes the picture is much clearer now, and it is a beautiful one! I have nothing but great appreciation for you and your work. Hugs!!!
Since my previous comment went MIA, I would like to, once again, express my great appreciation for the Saker and his work, and am sending lots of hugs!!
Hi Serbian girl!
Your comment did not go MIA – I was sleeping and then working.
Remember, the mods only flag comments, but I take the final decision.
So sometimes this takes time.
Can’t do it any other way, sorry.
Hugs and thanks for your kind words
The Saker
Serbian Girl,
We nearly got married, nearly 40 years ago. She was born in England, but all her family were just so welcoming to me.
We parted for silly reasons, and had no contact with each other during all this time, except once about 15 years ago, and again about 5 years ago at Cambridge Rock Festival.
It was just so nice to see her again.
We had lived very similar parallel lives.
We both had two children – boy and girl
She got on with my wife, like a house on fire.
They had never met before, but they had one thing in common. They had both put up with me.
All her family, came from Serbia. We are still in occasional contact, but I simply can not tell her, about all the things that went on in Serbia. It would break her heart, and she is a lovely girl. She does not need to know about such evil.
I found it incredibly hard to deal with too.
Love & Peace,
Tony
Zdravo Tony, welcome to the Srbija-do-Tokia movement!
Tony, What a moving story. Do not shield your Serbian friend from the truth. She will need that knowledge about the great evil in this world to protect herself and her children. “Be as wise as serpents and innocent as lambs”
In the UK they run blacklists & do so notoriously in fact, anyone on an MI5 or NCA security risk data base can say goodbye to leading a normal life, normal in the sense of job, mortgage, privacy etc. I personally lost my job in the criminal justice sector for personal reasons, I was told officially that I am not black listed but found that I have not been able to get any work in any remotely related area, with no explanation, despite a wealth of professional experience, expertise, & an impeccable work record despite the one issue that got me sacked, which was of a personal nature & not related to anything I did at work. That’s England, the fair & just land – I don’t think. I even had the experience of being offered a job formally, only to have the offer retracted the day before I was due to turn up at the office for my first day – again without explanation. Anyone who loses their job under acrimonious circumstances anywhere in the world pretty much, is looking at a terrible up hill struggle to get back into some kind of professional occupation, even in unrelated areas. And I am not talking about criminal offences or criminal records. A misconduct dismissal can mean that a person is professionally written off for life – like I said, it can be impossible to get back on your feet. I have kind of managed, but it has not been easy.
Saker, you can never escape the nasty “criticism”. The reasons vary, but they exist. Just this morning I commented on a critical article pointed at you, which I read yesterday. I have two comments about that:
1. This is your blog and you can say whatever you feel like saying.
2. I can see the “commie – fall in line” pressure from them. I wasn’t going to say it but I can think of a famous saying in Communist Poland, which fits into this situation perfectly and they said “Nie wychylaj się” which can be translated to “do not stick your head out”.
We, the readers of your blog do not have to agree with all your posts, but we can say our thoughts and that is how it works.
Keep up the good work.
This is completely fascinating. I suggest you read it as is. No explanations are necessary. Draw your own conclusions.
“The ‘West’ Is Past
G-7 summits are supposed to symbolize “the west”, its unity and its power. The summits pretended to set policy directions for the world.
We are happy to see that they are dead.”
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/06/the-west-is-over.html
Tony
@Tony
True, it was really a pathetic and ashaming event for the Westen bloc, puhhhh. A G7 statement filled with same old lies and same EU fake campaigns.
Trump showed his backbone. Denied to put his signature among “the weak and unreliable”.
One of the most valuable lessons for me gained on this blog is not information. It is a template for a certain way of thinking that is applicable in many areas of my life, not just geopolitical. It is also a toolbox of technics of how to identify hidden motives of those who cover themselves in the cloths of patriots and anti-globalists warriors while sticking knifes in the back of those who really matter in this straggle. I used to bite on some of those hooks offered by the “well wishes”.
Now, I see through a bit better. Studying the enemy is a long process because the masters of lies are also evolving. However, like with some animals, you know what their natural footprints look like. They pretend to fight for your rights while taking them away. They pretend to care for children while separating them from parents and abusing them in horrific ways. They always have a “noble” cause to destroy innocent lives. They’re spiritless, zionized, child molesting bankers, politicians, judges, doctors, lawyers and all sorts of other parasitic entities that are incapable of working for the benefit of humanity. Once again, I come here not as a gatherer of information but as a perpetual student of different ways of thinking. I’m very grateful that places like this one exist.
Saker
“I also ask you not to call out or criticize any website or individual by name.”
Often erroneous material is posted here in the comments linked to an article, a writer or another website. This also happens in topic articles posted here. Are you saying you no longer want comments here debunking said articles and individuals?
I understand the need to prevent personal feud’s coopting conversations and undermining the website, but the section I quoted above isn’t so clear, to me, and wondered if you could clarify what you meant there further?
Are you saying you no longer want comments here debunking said articles and individuals?
Correct. Debunk their *ideas* when appropriate, but there is no need to call them out by name. That’s the general rule. As for crude hit pieces, don’t even debunk their ideas – since they have no real “ideas” just slogans hurled in a lame attempt at ad hominem. You know the principle “don’t feed the trolls”? The same applies here. By writing such pieces the authors just show their own sense of intellectual inferiority, they place themselves in that inferior position – don’t pull them up. Trust me, in the long run they always hurt themselves and their reputation becomes roadkill. Every time. I have seen that happen many times since I began blogging.
So let’s not discuss that kind of nasty petty nonsense. We have *so much* more interesting things to discuss and we all, collectively, have a struggle to wage against the big evils of our times. Just leave the petty shit to karma :-)
Hugs and cheers,
The Saker
I had to go look up what was said, haven’t followed his writing for a while now. Thought I might share a little bit about how I arrived at reading the Vineyard …
Was frequenting another online forum, trying to figure out where the economy is going, and how I am going to have enough money to retire … the topic of the Ukraine came up in that forum, from someone who had married a woman from Donetsk, I can’t recall right now who it was. So I went to looking for information from Donetsk, and started following some Twitter users, just in time to see Graham Phillips document the bombardment of Lugansk and Donetsk by the Kiev coup government.
Twitter was interesting for a time. I would read what Strelkov had to say in English or via translation. And others. But it had to be in English, unfortunately. The machine translations are all pretty poor, and I only recognize a handful of words in Russian. One evening, while watching the BBC news, I saw some of Phillips’ video, but the soundtrack had been stripped, and the voiceover was going on about ‘Russian aggression’. Not that the Beeb was all that credible before, but really…
So I have gone in search of more information, in English. Blogs in English, and I have followed what he has to say. But Strelkov, Phillips, etc. have all been sort of small-picture guys, and some of them no longer write much in English, or never did. Oh, and another one who has been on Twitter is Val Lisitsa. What an amazing lady she is!
So there was a battle here or there, and one side or another ‘won’, etc. and Poroshenko never followed the Minsk accord, and it was local information. Nice to see that Russia has completed the Kerch bridge, by the way. And Aleppo came along..
For more of a world view, there has been Pepe, and Thierry. And the Vineyard. It’s the difference between tactics and strategy. Or weather vs climate.
Thank you for the global perspective.
A couple items to add —
Also informative are the analysts at RT-Crosstalk, The Duran, Sputnik, etc. I don’t read Twitter much any more. And Strelkov/Gerkin disappeared quite a while ago, as no one loves a losing general. I used to know a guy named Gerkin here in the USA .. apparently not a close relation, however.
A couple items to add —
Also informative are the analysts at RT-Crosstalk, The Duran, Sputnik, etc. I don’t read Twitter much any more. And Strelkov/Gerkin disappeared quite a while ago, as no one loves a losing general. I used to know a guy named Gerkin here in the USA .. apparently not a close relation, however.
Signing this message in case I forgot to sign the previous one.
Colonel actually, but something happened in Moscow and he was ordered to return to Moscow. I think it was the winds of Minsk that changed everything and forced him back. Zacharchenko replaced him, and I still remember Strelkov calling him a personal traitor. Well, water under the bridge now. Strelkov is covered in dust of history now and at least for now will stay there.
To cure these ills, try DR. DADE’s medicinal compound. Works wonders with the endless dross-babble of low-lifes on the internet: Don’t Read. Don’t Answer. Don’t Engage.
That’s to say: once you’ve seen enough of the output of a previously-unknown netizen to get their measure – and to realise that it’s hopelessly lacking – just dade out all further contact with them. Nothing of crucial substance is lost. There’s never a shortage of sufficiently savvy and cogent commentators who DO know how to behave intelligently and with basic civilised decorum. Here on this website, for example. Just stick with them. Having operated this practical rule for several years, I can vouch that it works wonders in energy-saving, mind-focussing, spirit-calming, and staying on course.
I read the saker and I also read the other. I appreciate both. The enemy is the Anglo-Zionist Empire.
We may differ, but we must be united against evil.
If you can use my advise, the anonymous discussion you started with is the one and only who makes fruits.
When it starts to get personal and cult, we get into a political game without productive outcome.
The method and medicine to cure a disease are important to discuss, not gossip about the doctor.
So true. Thank you. I love all the folks here who share a wide range of views and insight. It helps me understand.
Saker – when is somebodies decision to disagree with you a “hit piece”?
nope. and you do know better than to ask that.
The Saker
Surely you have to realise, that when you go public with very clearly explicated stances, there are going to be those who will disagree.
Why is it a “hit piece” to disagree??
It is not. But when you make up motivation, make personal attacks on a person’s character it is. And you are intelligent enough to understand that. Which, sadly, makes me doubt the sincerity of you words.
I am reminded of a night, some years back now – after hard days caving in South Australia with our Uni caving club, and a typical argumentative Uni students “debate” around issues of individualism, social contract – you know the sort of thing – and in a cooler, quieter moment, a friend turning to me [I was alone in my defence of the right to own your life] and saying “you know, you have to realise and accept that when you pick up a flag, you are going to get shot at.”
Well, I dont know I think it has to be like that – there can be reasonable detabte, there can be soft words and quiet places, but it does come to this, I think.
I have always mentally thanked her for reminding me of this. It helped to “toughen” me up.
So, I offer it to you, if it helps.
You have picked up a flag – and you are sometimes going to get shot at.
Deal with it, I guess is my offer, as did I.
I have :-)
My words were 100% sincere Saker. They always are. I built my principles from my childhood. I never lie. I never play games. I never “perception manage”. I’m as straight and “telling it like it is ” now as I was at 10 yrs old. It’s the only way I know I how to be.
But that’s OK. I wont assume you are attacking me – it’s just your perception.
Unfortunately, because some bits were deleted, I can’t remember exactly which bit you are referring to there – and I didn’t keep a copy.
Isabella
You’re not alone. Wanted you to know that.
Well said, Andrei. I admire you greatly. Never have I found you faulty.
Sometimes, we unwittingly ‘push buttons’., People have all sorts of insecurities rooted in past events, events we know nothing about, much less their effects on individual psychologies.
This is compounded by lack of conscious awareness in the individual themselves. Hence, the’ over – reactions ‘that can result from apparently’ innocuous ‘ incidents.
If I’m not mistaken, the individual concerned has a huge dog in the hunt that is the ongoing situation in the Donbass.
Anything that might feed his fears – including less-than – total’ faith’ or obeisance to the decisions of the ‘commander-in-cheif’ – would likely meet such a reaction.
And it was essentially a ‘reaction’, rather than a critique of the views/opinions expressed by ‘The Saker’ (and only one writer at that.)
Your ‘crime’ was to express doubts/fears the individual likely has compartmentalized himself, due his particular investment in the Novorussia project.
As a human being, I doubt you wouldn’t have been at least slightly ‘hurt’ by such blatant targeting from those on the ‘same side’.
But you are wise enough to know a sting will pass and so you ‘rise above it’. Especially since such ‘stings’ are so many and varied…
That’s the problem with complexity – you’ll annoy everyone eventually…. (even your friends – *especially* your friends! Lol)
It is precisely the broad range of views and opinions expressed in this Vineyard that keeps me coming back, and why, in comparison to the ‘competitors’, it goes from strength to strength.
Although I read the competitors too, I have to say the quality of commentary is generally abysmal,in marked contrast to the Vineyard. (Very marked – shout out to mods too!).
And that alone speaks volumes.
Now, off with you and enjoy a shot of your favourite poison (Glenlivet, is it?)
:-)
Classy piece of writing. I like your style
Cheers