Blog migration to new servers
First I would like to update you on the migration of this blog to dedicated servers in Iceland. The short version is this: it is happening, we have already backed up the data, the server is up, WordPress has been installed, and the very kind IT specialists who are helping me are working on a few more matters. It might take a little longer, but it is well worth the wait as everything will become both much easier and much better. Also, no need to worry about "missing" the move - I will double-post here and on the new blog for at least a month. Then I will "freeze" this blog with the last post indicating how to get to the new version. So please have a little more patience and you will get:
1) dramatically improved moderation (thanks to new rules and the assistance of volunteers).
2) no more CAPTCHA nonsense, no more ads.
3) a multi-page blog with special pages for specific items.
4) much improved security and counter-attack options.
5) several easy to remember domain names.
6) the possibility to add features as we go.
And, just to confirm: anonymous blogging will be allowed, but you will have the option to sign up to avoid trolls using your nickname/alias. You will not have to sign up, however. That will be your choice.
Donations
First, I want to thank the people who have sent me donations this month:
Via PayPal: JEM, MB, RF, DK, JMM, TD, AW, MF, ALP, VC, PN, NGG, GA, MT, LB, SK, JN, YF, JRL, AC, SF, JS, ET, SC, AT, ND, BB, AW, PB, MM, LH, CW, AA, RH, PM, HS, MB, SE, HRS.
Via Snail Mail: (all anonymous this month)
Thanks a lot to all of you - you are making this blog possible and you are helping me and my family to make ends meet at a time when this is not easy for us. To all of you an immense and heartfelt 'thank you!' not only for your generosity, but also for what is a very tangible sign of support.
Your support
I will be honest with you, this has been a very tough month for me for personal and blog related reasons. On the family front, my oldest daughter left for college while my oldest son is in trouble with the law - a taxing combination, I assure you. On the blog front, I have been shocked by the sharp rise of nasty, condescending and even outright rude comments and emails I got recently, so it was particularly heartwarming to also receive very kind expressions of support from so many of you. Let me immediately reassure you, the ratio of hatemail to kindmail is still overwhelmingly in favor of the latter, but even though I probably shouldn't say that, the hatred also gets to me. So even as I wrote many times one heartfelt "thank you" weighs more than 100 insults, I am immensely grateful for all the expressions of support I have received from all of you.
I will share another personal thing here: the war in Novorussia literally tears me up inside. I think about it 24/7 and it is gut-wrenching for me to follow it minute by the minute. Being emotionally so involved makes it very hard to keep up a more or less rational and fact-based blog. Over the past months I have been grinding my teeth (literally) at every news of atrocity committed by the junta in Novorussia and every day I daydream about a massive, brutal and decisive Russian military intervention to finally stop it all and give these Ukie Nazis the end they deserve (it would take less than 24 hours, believe me). But then I carefully think about it and I have to agree that making that US Neocon dream come true would pure folly and that the current solution (political and covert support) is the "least bad" one even if it often feels like a torture.
So while I love this blog, it is also very very hard for me psychologically and emotionally to fight that "information war" day after day after day and it takes all of my (so-called) "free" time (typically 80-100 emails each day, about 100 comments each morning only, 3-4 hours per day on getting the info, reading the sources, etc. Then dealing with organizational issues, personality conflicts amongst friends and collaborators, and, last but not least, doing analysis and writing articles). All this is to say that your support really means the world to me and gives me the energy and motivation to wake up every day and go right back to the"information war" which is no less important than the shooting war. To know that at least one other person out there really cares is immensely encouraging and motivating, much more than I can express in words. So thank you for all your expressions of support.
One more thing: Fulan Nasrullah has had a family member hospitalized so he cannot write his Nigeria SITREP for a while, but he will come back later.
That's it for this short blog news update. I will keep you posted with similar "blog housekeeping updates" on a regular basis. In the meantime, a huge thank you to all, for your kindness, trust, support and simply for being out there :-)
Kind regards,
The Saker