This has been a really amazing week for me - many thanks to you all!!

Wow!  This has been quite a week for me.  It all began soon after I published my rather long analysis "1993-2013: is the twenty years long "pas de deux" of Russia and the USA coming to an end?" which I wrote last Friday and published on Saturday morning.  The funny thing is that I had originally only intended to deal with the issue of "Putin and public opinion at home and abroad" but before I realized what was going on I ended up spending an entire afternoon writing.

But what then truly astounded me was the response to the article:

Not only was the piece pick-up by Information Clearing House and Tlaxcala (which also translated it into Portuguese), it was also noticed and recommended by Pepe Escobar on his FB page and soon published in the Asia Times Online.  Even better, the kids folks at the Asia Times offered me to write an "occasional column" for them.  I immediately accepted their offer as I have a great deal of respect for the Asia Times Online (and, of course, Pepe really rocks!).

But most amazing of all, what the outpouring of support which I have receive in the past week from, literally, all over the world (one email from as far as Tasmania!).  I never expected that this piece would generate such interest or such enthusiasm.  Clearly, I had totally underestimated the amount of people which were interested in understanding the complex phenomena which occurred in Russia and the USA over the past two decades!

So, first and foremost, I want to give everybody a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU!! for all your expressions of support.  Though I think I have answered every email I got, I want to repeat here again that I am very touched and grateful for all your kind words and that this deluge of support is a huge encouragement for me.

Second, I have been inundated with requests to be included in my mailing list.  Here I want to explain something basic:  this is a *very* low volume mailing list which I use for only three purposes:

a) to draw the attention to a specific article/post which I think could elicit an interesting and lively conversation
b) to send out some article/document which I don't want to publish on the blog
c) to send out a personal announcement of some kind.

That's it.  Please do not expect much more from this really very humble and low key mailing list.

Lastly, I want to say that I am becoming cautiously optimistic about the future of the resistance to the Empire.  If anything, the past week has showed me that there are far more people who care than I had ever imagined.  I guess that the cracks in the Empire - be in it Syria or at the Fed - are becoming more and more apparent.  Equally apparent is the steady rise in power and coordination of the BRICS, SCO and CSTO countries.  Real and profound  changes will probably yet require another couple of decades, and the Empire still has a lot of power left in itself, but the general trend has now reached an irreversible momentum.  In that we can all rejoice and find hope.

Many thanks to you all, kind regards and peace,

The Saker