Dear friends
The time has come for me to pass the hat once again.
image credit: detail from an unattributed image @ //stereostickman.com/the-day-of-the-busker/ by Rebecca Cullen
As you know, I never use ads, pop-ups, paywalls, subscriptions or any other type of “money-squeezing” technologies on this blog. I also refuse to accept promotional articles (though I get offers for that almost every day). My policy has been to keep the blog laser-focused on information and analysis, free from monetizing clutter; and, to keep ALL the info available to everybody regardless of income. While this buys the blog freedom of thought/analysis, it does so at the cost of not generating revenue. To use an analogy, it puts me in the role of ‘busker’ vs. ‘concert musician.’ To those who value the scope of information and analysis this blog offers: please be generous in tossing some coins into my open (jazz) guitar case. To those whose past contributions have kept the blog alive and growing over the years, a warm and heart-felt thank-you!
I want to say a few words about what we do on this blog in the context of an increasingly polarized information environment…
This blog does not have any “pure ideological direction” other than a general rejection of imperialism, wars and oppression. Thus, I post truly excellent contributions by guest authors from totally different countries, nationalities, political points of view or religions. Guest authors include Marxists, monarchists, atheists, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Buddhists, libertarians, etc. The only folks I know (by personal experience) that I cannot work with are Nazis, Wahabis, Latins (aka “Roman Catholics”) and Jewish supremacists (secular Zionists and religious Judaics).
There is a very real price to be paid when you decide to do that. (Above and beyond the price that’s paid when choosing to go freelance.)
Simply put: an “ideologically pure” blog is much easier to “get”, to understand, especially for folks who like their perception of reality nice and simple: all the good guys (us!) on one side, and all the bad guys (them!) on the other. Alas, that is not how reality is. Not having a clear, “pure”, ideological line always alienates those individuals who mostly inhabit the left hand side of the Bell Curve. Even some folks in the center of that curve are very uncomfortable with ideological diversity. Yet I strongly believe that we all have to resist the trappings of ideological purity because, while ideological diversity can be dangerous, ideological purity is always dangerous!
[Sidebar for Christians!: The Holy Apostle, Evangelist and Theologian Saint John wrote the following in his Epistle (1 John 4:1): “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” while Saint Paul wrote (1 Thess 5:21): “Test all things; hold fast that which is good“.
Let me ask you this: how do you “test every spirit” in an “ideologically pure” environment?! How is it that some Christians came to believe that ignorance is a virtue when no Church Father ever advocated any such thing?! Christ promised us the Truth, not ignorance!
How is it that so many of our fellow Christians have been persuaded that ignorance is a spiritual virtue, or that by hating others we somehow become purer or better!?]
Needless to say, an ideologically “pure” blog will always get more financial support, especially from wealthy donors. In contrast to which, ideologically diverse blogs make MANY more enemies. I can assure you that if not for the superb work of our moderators, the comments section of this blog would turn overnight into a sewer inhabited by all kinds of trolls, paid and non-paid, who would hijack every article and analysis to impose their agenda.
Another thing I need to mention here. If you look at my submission guidelines, you will see the following words:
In terms of length, I prefer longer articles, no less than 1500-2000 words. One of the few advantages the blogosphere has over the corporate media is that it is not limited by space. We also like to believe that we address a non-TV-lobotomized public, people who like to take their time to read and think. I therefore encourage you to go on a tangent, list examples, detail your references, etc. Of course, there is no need to make a text artificially long, but do take all the space you need to make your point and make your argument. FYI – the current record for the longest piece ever published here is over 25,000 words (the Special Report on Srebrenica).
Please assume that the target audience has a graduate-level college education or equivalent. I am fairly sure that most of my readers are over 40 years old, most of them are well read and well-traveled.
This is also very important. From Day 1, this blog was addressed to an (initially *tiny*) audience of mature, intelligent, well-read folks who did not shy away from complexity, nuance and details. However, it was always clear to me that a lot of folks do NOT want long, detailed, analyses. They want short, 500 words or so, articles which simply reinforce their beliefs and, listen to this, give them pleasure. Literally!
I have recently spoken to an experienced psychologist who explained to me that, for a lot of people, to have their existing beliefs validated actually results in a release of endorphins making them feel good. In his opinion, when Dems watch CNN and Republicans watch Fox they are NOT trying to get information, they want two things: to be entertained and to be validated. In other words, a lot of our fellow human beings literally “consume” the news media just like others would use any street drug: to feel good.
The Saker Blog offers absolutely ZERO such chances to feel good by reading 500 or fewer validating words.
A secondary but important detail: I am sometimes asked to post a “financial thermometer” to show how much support is needed for some project or cause. I cannot do that for a very simple reason: there are those out there who truly hate my guts with a quasi demonic passion. If I post *ANY* kind of details they immediately pounce to accuse me of lying no matter what I say (and, frankly, there is nothing as easy as making claims about money, especially when you don’t have any kind of real, independent, audit to support your claims!).
I have always felt that I should simply tell my supporters the following: judge me by what I write and by what I post. If you trust me, then help me. If you don’t, then don’t. It’s that simple, really.
I would even advise any prospective blogger never to share info on two issues: computers and money. These are the two most important resources in our informational war against the Empire and these need therefore to be very carefully protected. Besides, in the age of Bernie Madoff and Kenneth Lay even official audits have become mostly symbolic or even ritualistic events, not evidence of honesty… And since the “Skripal rules of evidence” have now become the norm (even for attacks on sitting presidents!), we truly live in times in which reality really is optional, at least for some folks.
That’s it. I have tried to explain it all the best I can.
Now you need to take action.
Many thanks and kind regards.
The Saker
Saker, you are like that beautiful sunrise in the morning in Spring time…
You like 500 and more words with supportive links and quotations; sorry, you are sooo beyond words as far as I’m concerned.
I do understand that communication on this planet, for earthlings/human beings is words but there is other level of communication that earthlings can develop without words.
The awareness of our belief systems in our heads/brains would be a good beginning point as you so clearly explained about endorphins and finding support to re-enforce our beliefs.
It’s a sad affair when the media has overtaken journalism and pumps out propaganda rather than news and information.
Keep doing your hard, dedicated work, focused on the Truth. Hard to come by these days.
Here’s my $100,
with LOVE and JOY
the seagull
Please accept our $100 with our prayers for future peace and cooperation gained through the shared knowledge, wisdom and understanding that sites like this bring to its audience today. Thanks for your dedication and hard work!
As a Roman Catholic who follows this site religiously I have to say I am very ‘disappointed’ with your reference to “Roman Catholics”. Do you care to expand? Is your issue with the church leadership or just all ‘Roman Catholics’?
I was initially going to say ‘offended’ but in a world where people seem to relish being offended by anything and everything I’ll say ‘disappointed’.
Dear friend
I cannot write an full reply here, but I can point you to articles which explain my reasons:
https://thesaker.is/putin-the-pope-the-schism-franks-and-romans/
https://thesaker.is/a-negative-view-of-christianity-and-religion-in-general/
https://thesaker.is/the-ancient-spiritual-roots-of-russophobia/
https://thesaker.is/ukrainian-nationalism-its-roots-and-nature/
https://thesaker.is/non-political-interlude-reply-to-two-posts-religions-haters-please-skip-this-one/
https://thesaker.is/orthodox-faith-yvonne-lorenzo-interviews-the-saker/
Please read these, and then email me if you have any further questions, okay?
Kind regards
The Saker
I think The Saker was talking about other writers and not being able to work with them in the context of this blog. For example, E. Michael Jones is a great Roman Catholic writer, but you don’t see his articles here. I am (Roman) Catholic, and there certainly is an element of Latin supremism which seems to have a doctrinal basis — but this doctrine if it exists how is it rightly understood? In any case I never put much stock in it. If that makes me a ‘cafeteria Catholic” so be it. I say the Creed every Sunday, aware that the “with the Father and the Son” might not be 100% correct but it’s what we have and I am a sinner– not responsible for everything. I don’t think I am required to break my ties and join what in America is a minority religion (less than 2%).
Should have written “from the Father and the Son.” The two branches of Christianity are gulfed by a geographical and cultural divide and are in some sense rival twins locked in opposition. No matter what religion one espouses the key is to be a faithful steward of one’s own beatitude– but I come here for the excellent analysis of politics especially the nexus of politics and religion. Thanks
Saker did not say anything about Protestants but I think that they are also included in Saker’s unwanted list. Because the most anti-russian countries are Protestant ones, and protestantism is derived from Catholicism.
My family is Catholic but I personally do not care. I am not really atheist, I believe in Creator but I do not believe in priests from any religious denomination. I do not believe that Pope is half God who never make any mistakes.
But those institutional churches shaped certain and important segments of human civilization.
As far I realized, Saker is a sort of ultra-Orthodox and he reduces real Christianity only to Orthodox denomination.
And if you do that, than you reduce Christianity to just one relatively huge Church (Russian) and couple of small churches. So one big world religion of around 2.4 billion people, you reduce to just 260 million.
You exclude all positive historical achievements born in Catholic world, like Humanism and Renaissance, you exclude for example Michelangelo or Copernicus, Calendar reform, or humanitarian work in third world done by noble priests. Because catholic Church is not just Medieval Which hunt, Alexander Borgia or Crusaders or destruction of ancient Latin American Cultures.
But Catholic expansionism brought Christianity in all world. Orthodoxy was too often closed in on itself, refusing any contact with the outside world.
With Orthodoxy alone, Christianity would remain a marginal religion without much influence.
Nothing is black and white, neither Catholicism nor Protestantism. And Orthodoxy as well.
Today, there is more anti-Russian behavior in the Orthodox world than in the Catholic one. I do not count Belarus because its Church is part of the Russian Orthodox Church, the only Orthodox country in which there is no anti-Russian sentiment is Serbia. Georgia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and not to mention the Patriarchate of Constantinople, explanation not needed..
I understand that Saker has such an attitude and such a belief, but explaining such an attitude with Catholic-Orthodox problems in the distant past during the Franks and Carolingian dynasty and religious conflicts in the distant past is ridiculous. If you reject in advance the possibility of any dialogue with so many of the Catholic world and probably the Protestant, as well as with the Jews, then the question arises, and who can the Orthodox world talk to at all.
Maybe only with themselves. And as we see this dialogue among Orthodox Christians also does not work very well.
I think the Orthodox national churches that are the most anti-Russian are the ones with a large diaspora population in the US. You can probably thank Allen Dulles and Co. for that. And so the problems with religion is just another theater for wickedness.
I’d also like to mention, that if there is such a thing as a “deposit of the Faith” — something I happen to believe in– it would follow that not all who are attracted to it are attracted for the right reasons. The apostle Paul wrote something about Our Lord choosing to house in Glory in vessels of clay meaning with humanity with all our faults.
Actually, while I totally agree that Protestant countries were also involved in anti-Russian imperialism and propaganda, the Reformed denominations don’t have a theological imperative against Russia simply because the Refored don’t really have a concept of “the Church” (in a Patristic sense of the word) and thus the Orthodox are not a theological threat to the Reformed. That is in sharp contrast with the Papacy for whom Orthodoxy is the ultimate enemy to be either converted or eliminated.
Thus I do not include the reformed in my list of folks I cannot work with.
Kind regards
The Saker
Happy to help. May your open “jazz guitar case” glitter with coin. Man does not live by bread alone, but the occasional loaf certainly helps! Best, Dimitar.
Done
Sorry I can’t give more.
Thanks for the “thermometer” explanation.
I still think it is useful motivation if potential donors have some idea of how close to the goal one is, as opposed to “We’ll never get there, so my five bucks are meaningless anyhow . . .”
(“five bucks” is just an example . . .)
Cheers, Katherine
Actually, I don’t understand the argument concerning not using a “thermometer” to show the progress and still remaining need for funds. Or some kind of graphic indication of how things are going.
You don’t have to put an amount on it. Just use a percentage. The goal could be $1,000. It could be $10,000.
If you look at Information Clearing House today you see that the thermometer’s “mercury” looks a heck of a lot better than it did a few days ago. Which I believe is probably motivating to quite a few potential donors.
There are different types of donors. Some are more likely to be “guilt-tripped” by a pathetically low thermometer. Others are more likely to be motivated when they see that they are not “alone” in a crowd, but others are donating. So then they hop on board.
Cheers, Katherine
Katherine, I suffer from the same frustration and there is only a little piece of all of this that I actually look after.
All I can tell you, is that I have to go with The Saker on this, and it frustrates me tremendously because my nature is to run a big and fun fundraising campaign (oooh, the ones of us that had some marketing studies in the background and love to put this all to work with energetic flourish and gusto!). And if things work that we can ever do it like this, I will call you first for suggestions and we will use all the bells and whistles and love our creation :-)
So, more generally (and not specifically for Katherine), what I think I can say is that the income through Patreon has decreased significantly. So kindly consider a monthly donation as this really helps to keep the wheels rolling and is one of the easiest methods to deal with on our side. (We don’t have staff to deal with donations).
Despite all the past problems with Patreon and deplatforming, they have not again deplatformed. All the high flyers that left at the time, off to create their own solutions, censorship resistant, have not yet created those. (It is a little more difficult than what one would think and I think these high flyers are now realizing this). I’m watching Jordan Peterson to see if he comes through with his promised solution but I am telling you that the banks have closed down avenues and money flow like we have never seen before.
– So, those that donate to The Saker Blog via international bank transfer must please check their transaction from when it leaves to when it is received, or these days, easily just returned (happened to me twice over the past month – no reason – or disappeared into a black box for 7 months or so, which is what happened to a friend just recently – no reason.
(Uncle Sam and his banking cronies is hungry and through all the financial laws will consume whatever can be found and if not able to consume will not pass that transaction – a whole bunch of new glue has been pumped into the financial system that is SWIFT based – they want to sanction your or tariff you, just because you are you).
– I jumped through the hoops of setting up a Subscribestar account, and that one is very seldom used. They have limits for withdrawal and there is so little in there, that I cannot even withdraw for The Saker Blog account.
– My biggest sad frustration is with the honest and well-meaning people that donate via these channels, and their credit card bounces for some reason. Do you know we pay the cost for that transaction and besides that, what gets me, is that we both pay banks that we really do not want to pay. My heart breaks for your credit card and for The Saker Blog because we both pay the fees and in this way, feed ‘Uncle Sam’s banks’.
– So, my heartfelt request is do not let your credit card bounce if you use Patreon or Subscribestar. Simply access your account before the time and set your donation for that month to zero.
– The Saker also calls a fundraiser only when it is necessary and not regularly. This year I think this may be the 2nd one – the first one being http://thesaker.is/only-dust-left-in-the-bottom-of-the-ammo-box-fundraiser/
So, despite feeling your frustration Katherine and truly sharing it, we have to go the Way of The Saker and simply trust that the necessary funds will be collected. This is to absolutely avoid Nasty Games Nasty People Play and oh boy, do they play – I can give you a list of those without breaking a sweat :-)
So, generally, I won’t sugarcoat this at all :
all that use this space for discussion and education, it is now your turn to give a heartfelt donation for what you get, at an amount that is affordable to you.
On The Saker side, all the work has been done through the years to open up as many donation channels as possible to make it easy and possible. http://thesaker.is/contact-and-donations/
Most everything that people asked for is available.
And if you absolutely cannot, all and any small prayer or good thought or small mediation is absolutely welcome and probably even more valuable than a donation. (So, please do both – donation and prayers :-)
“do not let your credit card bounce ”
What does “credit card bounces” mean?
I have never heard that term.
Katherine
Offer a credit card with no balance, so that the transaction is declined.
I think you must mean a debit card.
You must have a balance in a bank account to use a debit card.
If you do not, it is the same as bouncing a check.
A credit card is just that: the credit card company extends credit (for one month without interest).
Then you pay your bill. A credit card payment should never bounce unless you were using a bogus or discontinued card. Which could get you into a lot of hot water!
Katherine
I did not intend to express frustration.
I am merely curious.
Katherine
!Órale hermano! … ahí va, con abrazo fuerte,
Daniel
Google translation,MOD:
¡Órale brother! … there goes, with a big hug,
Saker, I live in hope that I will be able to send you my donation via snail mail to reach you by Christmas…
Dear Saker, your blog is breath of fresh air for me, but I think you have been unfair with Catholic Church. I am Roman Catholic myself but strongly pro-Russia and pro-Syria where virtually all catholics support president Assad. Remember that in 1848 the Empire (mostly British at the time) plotted to destabilise Europe but the Holy Alliance between the Catholic Austria and Russia succeeded to make it fail. Look how the Empire forced Pope Benedict XVI to resign and to replace him with their own man. United States were founded by protestants, mostly follower of John Calvin, that in common with the zionist movement, they follow literary the Old Testament and both hate the Pope
I am sorry if what I write hurts your feeling. But history is what it is, and the Papacy was always the genocidal arch enemy of Russia and of the Orthodox world in general. As for “let bygones be bygones”, this is a beautiful feeling when expressed by the victim. It is not so nice when expressed by culprits.
Kind regards
The Saker
I am another Catholic who learns much about contemporary history (including, especially strategy and weaponry to implement it, from your blog and contributors and commentators.
But I think the issue (which you bought up) should not be so much the institution of the Papacy [seats of power always tend to attract those more interested in power than in religion or patriotism or….]. The inverse is not necessarily true; sometimes good people allow themselves to sit in a seat of power.
Now, on to theology and religion and especially Christianity: Roman and Orthodox.
I must admit I have had the opportunity to have discussions–sadly, only for 2 years– with a )Greek) Orthodox friend. And his position was that without theology or with minimized theology (not just a doctrine) the order of the day = fideism. Which brings us to the issue of the filioque: “The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
So I went on another bit of intensive thinking about the issue. Long story short: after a couple of years of failing to come to a satisfactory account I came to do such thinking in the vocabulary of “ONE;” God is perfectly One = Perfect One equals God but as Triune/Triunity. And One is perfectly self-same. But the concept of One and the concept of Same are 2 concepts. So we have just arrived (implicitly) at three concepts: Samness/Difference/Existence. What thence? Move to the higher level of mentation: the noetic (insightful/sort of mystical) level. Thence Sameness, Difference and Existence are (in the Absolute Being) One / are TrIune. I don’t find that in Orthodoxy.
I am certainly old enough to be one of your regular readers. As for well read and intelligent enough – I am along for the ride either way for years now. And wish I could send more. Thanks for all you do!
Tom in AZ