Dear friends,
A little less than one month ago, I published a small announcement here entitled "This has been a really amazing week for me - many thanks to you all!!" in which I mentioned that my article about Russia and the USA had been picked up and even translated by several websites and that I would now write an occasional column for the Asia Times. To my absolute amazement the "tsunami of support" has not stopped since and an amazing week has now turned into an amazing month and letters of support have continued coming in each day. The size of my mailing list has now more than doubled. But the most amazing thing has been the number of translations of my articles which have been made. Here is what has been happening over the past couple of weeks:
In French:
The website Axe de la Resistance will translate into French and publish the full seven part series "Russia and Islam" (you can already find the first three installments of this series in French here, here and here). Axe de la Resistance has also published my recent article about France which you can now find in French here. To my greatest joy, the website of Alain Soral and his movement Egalite et Reconciliation have also made their own translation of my piece about France and published it here.
The website AlterInfo also published my article about the USA and Russia.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to a wonderful person in France - "S" - who has made great efforts to circulate my articles. Thanks, my friend, Fi amanillah!
In Portuguese:
The website Tlaxcala not only published my article about Russia and the USA, they also translated it into Portuguese. Likewise, they published my article about Bandar going insane and also translated it into Portuguese.
In Russian:
A group of people in Russia whom I do not know, but to whom I am immensely grateful translated my article about Russia and the USA and published it in Russian on their website which generated a lively discussion.
In English:
Well yes, my writing is so messy and full of typos that at least one person in India has corrected my article about Russia and the USA and turned it into proper English before circulating it in India (I have no further details). Finally, the Asia Times has confirmed to me that they will also publish the full series on Russia and Islam as a write-off posted on the front with a link to the original.
Needless to say, I am deeply honored and absolutely delighted by all these developments. I have been writing this blog since May 2007 and I have gone through some difficult times. I want to specially thank those of you who have been contributing your comments and stayed with me since many years already, including through the times when I felt rather lonely and isolated.
Finally, the big lesson of all this for me is that there is a real thirst out there for a different kind of thought. That the old categories Left vs Right, East vs West or Progressive vs Conservative are dying off and that many people are fed up with them. Many people are also fed-up with the strict rules of political correctness imposed by *all* establishments. I say that because even though I have published many highly politically incorrect opinions and even though I categorically refuse to get stuck in the Left vs Right categories, I have received comparatively little hate mail. There is definitely something new brewing here. In Russia this "something new" is incarnated by Putin, in France by Soral and Dieudo, in Latin America probably by Morales, in the Middle-East by Nasrallah. The beginnings of a "post-capitalist consensus" maybe?
In what concerns me, I do not feel quite as alone anymore. Instead I am feeling that I am a tiny part of a much bigger "something new" which I find very interesting and immensely inspiring. I hope that a lot of you will also feel that sense of hope and direction.
Many thanks and kind regards,
The Saker
PS: I am taking all of next week off: my wife and I will spend a few days on a Florida Key celebrating my upcoming 50th birthday. Yup, I am not getting any younger, but I am enjoying life more than ever before! I will spend a few days sea kayaking, cross country mountain biking, exploring small islands and generally relaxing. I will resume blogging around the 25th of November. Please use the comments sections to stay in touch with me (I will have my smartphone and tablet with me) and with each other, post whatever you want, and I will do my best to moderate comments as fast as possible and reply to comments (probably in the evenings). I should be able to reply to emails at least one a day. "See you" all soon, The Saker.
UPDATE1: I have just been informed that translations my articles are also being circulated in Brazil:
O longo (20 anos!) “pas de deux” de Rússia e EUA está chegando ao fim?
http://redecastorphoto.blogspot.com.br/2013/10/o-longo-20-anos-pas-de-deux-de-russia-e.html
http://redecastorphoto.blogspot.com.br/2013/10/o-longo-20-anos-pas-de-deux-de-russia-e_17.html
Greenpeace “versus” Rússia – o que interessa e as questões reais
http://redecastorphoto.blogspot.com.br/2013/11/greenpeace-versus-russia-o-que.html
UPDATE2: I just have received the news that my article on Russia and the USA has been translated into Italian:
Italian translation available (2 parts):
www.comedonchisciotte.org/site/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12604
www.comedonchisciotte.org/site/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12615
UPDATE3: just got the news that my article about France was translated into Spanish:
¿Se está gestando una revolución en Francia?
http://investigar11s.blogspot.com.es/2013/11/se-esta-gestionando-una-revolucion-en.html
UPDATE4: Jiwan Kshetry has just informed me that my articles have been piked up in Kathmandu Nepal and that he will continue to publish them in the future:
http://jiwankshetri.blogspot.com/2013/10/saudi-reposte-to-us-calculated-move-or.html
UPDATE5: Cert has just informed me that my article on Russia and the USA has now been translated and published into Czech:
1993 – 2013: Končí dvacetiletí „pas de deux“ Ruska a USA?
http://www.zvedavec.org/komentare/2013/11/5756-1993-2013-konci-dvacetileti-pas-de-deux-ruska-a-usa.htm
UPDATE6: My recent series of articles about the Ukraine (first, second and third) has been translated into French and published by the Le Courrier de Syrie blog:
http://pourlasyrie.blogspot.com/2013/12/ukraine-un-choix-de-civilisation-et-une.html
http://pourlasyrie.blogspot.com/2013/12/lukraine-aux-portes-de-lenfer.html
http://pourlasyrie.blogspot.com/2013/12/pourquoi-la-russie-ne-doit-pas.html
UPDATE7: My article "Saker's "man of the year 2013": the Syrian soldier" was translated into French and has been published by Axe de la Resistance, the French news service of the Iranian Radio, Palestine Solidarité and the blog of Philippe Delbauvre.
UPDATE8: My article on the Volgograd bombings has been translated into Portuguese and is now available on redecastorphoto, the blog of Castor Filho in Brazil.
UPDATE9: My article on the Volgograd bombings has been translated into French and is now available on the Axe de la Resistance website.
UPDATE10: The French text of my article about the Volgograd bombings has been published by the Iranian Radio, the Cercle des Volontaires, Palestine Solidarity, Libertes d'Informer, Ce Que Les Medias Ne Nous Disent Pas, the Italian Osservatorio Internatzionale Per I Diritti, and Cameroon Voice. My article on the Saker 2013 man of the year has been published by al-Moqawama. Finally, the French website Interet General Info has published my articles about Russian non-intervention in the Ukraine, Russia-USA relations and about the Volgograd bombings.