I would like to announce that I will be recording the next Saker Podcast #3 the coming week-end and, hopefully, make it available here by Monday morning on the (temporary) Saker Podcasts home page:
https://sites.google.com/site/sakerpodcast/home
Please note that thanks to the kind help of a wonderful lady "A" the Saker Podcast #1 transcript is now available for download from Mediafire (one zipped file containing the transcript in ODT, PDF and RTF formats). Just click on the link above and then click under the transcript download link under Saker Podcast #1.
"A" is now transcribing the 2nd podcast and will be providing transcripts in the future.
Now is the time to post your questions for the next podcast. Please do not email me your questions, but post there in the comments section under this post. Important: questions do not have to be about the Ukraine or any one specific topic: this podcast is for *you* so you ask whatever you want on any topic you want and I will try my best to reply to it. I will be accepting questions until Thursday December 4th at 1800 GMT.
As we have agreed upon, I am using the opportunity of this podcast to remind you to send in your donations to support my work and this blog. I have to report that the feared "donor fatigue" syndrome has apparently kicked in and that donations were very, very small this month (sorry! I had to tell you). Please don't let that happen and help me keep putting in the work-hours needed to do it all!
The following contributors have sent me donations in November via PayPal:
AN, MW, AB, RA, BG, MD, JT, AW, DS, GSH, PZ, HRS, PM, DK, PB, JDB, SF, RM, SD, ND, MM, KK, VF, DF, MM, MM, JMC, MD, RZ, RA, SM, GS, RH, HPO, SB, DK, GC, BS, KG, DK, BP, AV, TRH, DN, SE, BS, JC, HPO, JH, JL, AW, HMK, SC, VED, AA, JEM, KS, VA,
The following contributor has sent me a donation in November via Amazon:
MD
Speaking of donations,
A supporter of the Saker blog has offered me and the community a nice way of supporting my work. Here is what he offers:
Hello everyone. I am a small leatherworking business owner and when Saker reached out to the community a while ago I decided to show my support. In collaboration with Saker, my girlfriend and I introduced to our store our new line of promotional Vineyard of the Saker hand-crafted Leather Key-Chain and Coffee Coasters. Purchasing any of these items will see 30% of your purchase donated to Saker directly, and we also offer 20% discount coupon code on any item in the store (save promotional items) as further gratitude after purchasing one of these items – thanks for your support!
All I can add to this is that I have seen the finished product, and it is very very well done. So if you want to get a well made leather item while helping the Saker blog, this is, I think, I great way to do it. And just in case somebody gets the wrong idea that these folks are trying to make money off this blog, I can tell you that it took me a lot of emails to finally convince them to accept to donate 30% to my work as they wanted to give me almost every cent. So they are truly doing that only to help me and support my work.
To purchase, simply click on the links in "Key Chain" and/or "Coffee Coaster" here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/212498318/vineyard-of-the-saker-key-chain?ref=related-0
https://www.etsy.com/listing/212506505/vineyard-of-the-saker-coffee-coaster?ref=shop_home_active_1
One more good thing to report:
With the help of two very kind friends, I have begun working on an book to try to explain the *real* Russia to the western public, the one the MSM tries so hard to hide. It is too early for me to provide details about this major project yet, but I have been asked to completely block all my Wednesday mornings for this work. So on Wednesday mornings, starting tomorrow, there will be no posting and no moderation of comments. I apologize for that interruption, but I think that once you found out the details, which are still being finalized, you will completely approve of this decision.
Speaking of books, Pepe Escobar has recently released a book of his own, entitled Empire of Chaos and which you can now get as an ebook from Amazon for pennies ($3.99!!):
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Chaos-Roving-Eye-Collection-ebook/dp/B00OYVYD3G/
I have seen a draft version of this book and I can sincerely say that I recommend it with unqualified enthusiasm. Yes, sure, Pepe is a friend, but his book, a collection of essays is a fantastic compendium of all the crazy, vile and sometimes even comical stuff the Empire is busy doing world wide. And, of course, Pepe wrote it all in his direct, deliberately non-academic style, while producing analyses which very few academics, if any, could match. Pepe is really "Da man" right now, one of the best informed sharpest analyst out there, and this book is most definitely a "must read". The only bad thing is that it comes with Amazon's friggin DRM "defective by design" restrictions. Well, no big deal. Just get the book, pay the few pennies this costs - it is well worth it - then do a little research here and there (sorry, I legally cannot say where exactly) and this problem can easily be removed.
So, friends, please keep Pepe and myself in the business of informing you and thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
Kind regards,
The Saker
To purchase, simply click on the links in "Key Chain" and/or "Coffee Coaster" here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/212498318/vineyard-of-the-saker-key-chain?ref=related-0
https://www.etsy.com/listing/212506505/vineyard-of-the-saker-coffee-coaster?ref=shop_home_active_1
One more good thing to report:
With the help of two very kind friends, I have begun working on an book to try to explain the *real* Russia to the western public, the one the MSM tries so hard to hide. It is too early for me to provide details about this major project yet, but I have been asked to completely block all my Wednesday mornings for this work. So on Wednesday mornings, starting tomorrow, there will be no posting and no moderation of comments. I apologize for that interruption, but I think that once you found out the details, which are still being finalized, you will completely approve of this decision.
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Chaos-Roving-Eye-Collection-ebook/dp/B00OYVYD3G/
I have seen a draft version of this book and I can sincerely say that I recommend it with unqualified enthusiasm. Yes, sure, Pepe is a friend, but his book, a collection of essays is a fantastic compendium of all the crazy, vile and sometimes even comical stuff the Empire is busy doing world wide. And, of course, Pepe wrote it all in his direct, deliberately non-academic style, while producing analyses which very few academics, if any, could match. Pepe is really "Da man" right now, one of the best informed sharpest analyst out there, and this book is most definitely a "must read". The only bad thing is that it comes with Amazon's friggin DRM "defective by design" restrictions. Well, no big deal. Just get the book, pay the few pennies this costs - it is well worth it - then do a little research here and there (sorry, I legally cannot say where exactly) and this problem can easily be removed.
So, friends, please keep Pepe and myself in the business of informing you and thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
Kind regards,
The Saker