To read the full text, or sign it, click on this link: http://dearputin.com/
The Saker
Showing posts with label open letter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label open letter. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
10'000+ people have signed the "Dear Putin and Russian People" appeal
The "Dear Putin and Russian People" appeal has now passed the 10'000 signatures mark. See for yourself:
To read the full text, or sign it, click on this link: http://dearputin.com/
The Saker
To read the full text, or sign it, click on this link: http://dearputin.com/
The Saker
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Open letter to Alexei Mozgovoi from an American activist
Dear Alexey,
I deeply resonate with what you're saying. If yours is indeed the position of Novorussia's fighters and activists, largely shared by the people, if indeed you stand united behind it, then I will be cheering you on and speaking out in your defense. If you stumble and make mistakes, even terrible ones, I will be sharing your pain and rooting for you to survive, pick yourselves up and get back into the struggle.
However I am writing as an American activist, about patience and responsibility. Revolutionary patience, and revolutionary responsibility.
A revolutionary outlook transforms the color of everything. There is revolutionary anger and revolutionary love, revolutionary principles and revolutionary clarity. There is another vital distinction which those newly caught up in a revolutionary process may not yet know, understand or even see the need for: revolutionary patience.
Revolutionary patience. It has to do with knowing and living in the love of the people, believing in the power of an organized people, knowing that growth and change take time and organization takes work, knowing that processes unfold organically, and trusting that the arrow of history is on our side. Trusting that things are changing beneath a seemingly calm surface and when enough pieces are in place they will burst forth. Being ready to strike hard when the moment is right, but hold back and wait when it's not. The patience to refuse a gambit, and the humility to play for the team, not to be the star.
Please allow me to share some thoughts on the outcomes of two revolutionary situations from my childhood - Korea and Vietnam - that played out very differently for the countries involved and had very different consequences for the world as well. And the part that revolutionary patience and responsibility - or lack thereof - played in those dramas.
The situation in Ukraine reminds me of Korea in 1950. A people's government, with roots in the struggle for independence from Japan and protected from the US occupation by the Soviet Red Army, faced off against a brutal puppet government made up of former Japanese collaborators, rich landowners and industrialists and American-trained thugs, propped up by American arms and advisors. A government that ruled by intimidation and death squads, not unlike the one you face in Kiev, at a time of huge flux in world affairs.
On paper South Korea (ROK) had an overwhelming military advantage over the Democratic People's Republic (DPRK), and they threatened loudly and often to reunite Korea by the sword. The leaders of the DPRK well understood that the ROK's conscript army had no will to fight, but a small US force in Korea served as a tripwire, which made it the Soviet Union's business too.
The record shows that Stalin tried hard to talk Kim Il Sung, the DPRK leader and hero of the resistance to Japan, out of a military solution, despite each day's provocations, each day's bitter harvest of murdered leaders and activists in the South. Kim is reported to have requested Stalin's go-ahead some thirty times, with increasing urgency, before the Soviet leadership gave in, or perhaps just resigned themselves to being unable to stop him.
As predicted, the ROK army crumpled and fled in panic before the DPRK troops, who drove the remnants and the American force before them the length of the peninsula and almost into the sea. It was a complete rout - and a complete surprise to the Americans.
The larger result was a historic disaster for Korea. A full scale American invasion and massive bombing campaign utterly leveled North Korea and killed a huge proportion of its population. The DPRK armed forces were nearly wiped out and the DPRK only survived because the Chinese Red Army was provoked into intervening. The seemingly-doomed ROK was restored and lives on to this day under American occupation. 60 years later the DPRK remains under active threat of renewed war and destruction, impoverished by the costs of perpetual mobilization for war.
Geopolitically also, the war was an historic disaster, providing the pretext and narrative for the Cold War, for destroying the anti-imperialist and communist-led workers movements in the US and gravely weakening them in many other countries, for founding NATO, isolating the Socialist Bloc countries and setting in motion preparations for an assault on Russia and China using nuclear weapons - a war that the record shows very nearly happened.
If the leadership of the DPRK had trusted Stalin's advice, and - bitter and horrifying as the cost might be - patiently supported the struggle of their countrymen in the South without trying to finish it with a military blow, the Cold War might have been much harder to launch and the Korean people might have been spared the much worse nightmare that ensued.
By contrast, the much more patient strategy of North Vietnam, while unable to prevent a war in the South that saw several hundred thousand activists, leaders and former resistance fighters murdered, followed by a devastating American War that killed millions, was able to avert the kind of total destruction visited on North Korea - and "in the fullness of time" they won! Vietnam is one country now, and at peace. But the victory of the people's forces and liberation struggle in Vietnam was also a world-historic win over the Empire, one whose consequences helped shape what is possible today, nearly 40 years later.
This afternoon, I came upon a man, old before his time, begging for money on an American street corner. He told of being unable to live on his disability pension, and of being denied his veterans benefits because while serving in Vietnam he had been dishonorably discharged. When I asked him what for, he said it was because he tried to shoot his officer, a gung-ho young lieutenant who had gotten two of his buddies killed. He seemed still ashamed or regretful, 40 years later, about having missed.
Troops killing their officers, in the heat of battle or by a platoon agreeing on tossing a fragmentation grenade into their tent (known as "fragging"), was a huge and widespread problem for the US Army in Vietnam. Troops were often incapacitated or uncontrollable due to massive drug use. Refusal to obey orders to attack grew increasingly common. Huge numbers of servicemen's riots and demonstrations took place inside Vietnam and "Stateside".
The more patient Vietnamese strategy, though it took over 20 years to final victory, thus dealt a global strategic defeat to the US-led Empire. To this day our Masters of War don't dare try to raise and field another conscript army, and can only field such armed forces as they can afford to pay cash money for. Which is why, unless they can persuade the American people that their homes are in mortal danger from Russia and ISIS, the collapse of the dollar will be the Empire's death blow.
Coming back to the present, consider the need for Putin's Russia to win in it's challenge to the Empire, the race to collapse the Empire through building a global "de-dollarization alliance" before the Empire can gather the strength to launch a world war. A strategy which leans heavily on the battle of ideas and counts on the support and strivings of billions of people across the world, but also on exploiting and harnessing divisions and conflicts between and within ruling classes. If you see yourself as part of and responsible for the success of that global strategy, this poses a painful choice between taking your opportunities or declining them. As I'm certain it did for Putin in March and April. Decisions and actions taken over the next few weeks, months and years will profoundly shape the range of possible outcomes for the planet, and Ukraine is at the epicenter. There is a huge opportunities in the power vacuum, as the Junta's forces collapse, for the millions who long to break the hold of the kleptocrats and banksters and unleash a deeply necessary revolution, but of course the Ukraine struggle is, by design, also a potential flashpoint of global disaster.
There is no strong analogy with events and moments in the past that could dictate the right moves for today. But revolutionary patience is a way of being, not a strategy. It is what lets us refuse gambits and protects us from being ruled by our egos. It gives us freedom to be responsible for the larger consequences of what we do.
Trusting the people of Ukraine, continuing to organize and teach at what ever cost and risk, waiting for the time when the unity and force of millions can overwhelm any intervention, may get a better result for Ukraine, Russia and the world. Or maybe the time is now. Revolutionary patience gives us the freedom to look at that question objectively, balancing the promise of grasping "a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large," against the danger of "the common ruin of the contending classes."
Please forgive my arrogance in addressing you like this. I write from my heart, from my own very different experiences and without expectations.
Yours in struggle,
C
I deeply resonate with what you're saying. If yours is indeed the position of Novorussia's fighters and activists, largely shared by the people, if indeed you stand united behind it, then I will be cheering you on and speaking out in your defense. If you stumble and make mistakes, even terrible ones, I will be sharing your pain and rooting for you to survive, pick yourselves up and get back into the struggle.
However I am writing as an American activist, about patience and responsibility. Revolutionary patience, and revolutionary responsibility.
A revolutionary outlook transforms the color of everything. There is revolutionary anger and revolutionary love, revolutionary principles and revolutionary clarity. There is another vital distinction which those newly caught up in a revolutionary process may not yet know, understand or even see the need for: revolutionary patience.
Revolutionary patience. It has to do with knowing and living in the love of the people, believing in the power of an organized people, knowing that growth and change take time and organization takes work, knowing that processes unfold organically, and trusting that the arrow of history is on our side. Trusting that things are changing beneath a seemingly calm surface and when enough pieces are in place they will burst forth. Being ready to strike hard when the moment is right, but hold back and wait when it's not. The patience to refuse a gambit, and the humility to play for the team, not to be the star.
Please allow me to share some thoughts on the outcomes of two revolutionary situations from my childhood - Korea and Vietnam - that played out very differently for the countries involved and had very different consequences for the world as well. And the part that revolutionary patience and responsibility - or lack thereof - played in those dramas.
The situation in Ukraine reminds me of Korea in 1950. A people's government, with roots in the struggle for independence from Japan and protected from the US occupation by the Soviet Red Army, faced off against a brutal puppet government made up of former Japanese collaborators, rich landowners and industrialists and American-trained thugs, propped up by American arms and advisors. A government that ruled by intimidation and death squads, not unlike the one you face in Kiev, at a time of huge flux in world affairs.
On paper South Korea (ROK) had an overwhelming military advantage over the Democratic People's Republic (DPRK), and they threatened loudly and often to reunite Korea by the sword. The leaders of the DPRK well understood that the ROK's conscript army had no will to fight, but a small US force in Korea served as a tripwire, which made it the Soviet Union's business too.
The record shows that Stalin tried hard to talk Kim Il Sung, the DPRK leader and hero of the resistance to Japan, out of a military solution, despite each day's provocations, each day's bitter harvest of murdered leaders and activists in the South. Kim is reported to have requested Stalin's go-ahead some thirty times, with increasing urgency, before the Soviet leadership gave in, or perhaps just resigned themselves to being unable to stop him.
As predicted, the ROK army crumpled and fled in panic before the DPRK troops, who drove the remnants and the American force before them the length of the peninsula and almost into the sea. It was a complete rout - and a complete surprise to the Americans.
The larger result was a historic disaster for Korea. A full scale American invasion and massive bombing campaign utterly leveled North Korea and killed a huge proportion of its population. The DPRK armed forces were nearly wiped out and the DPRK only survived because the Chinese Red Army was provoked into intervening. The seemingly-doomed ROK was restored and lives on to this day under American occupation. 60 years later the DPRK remains under active threat of renewed war and destruction, impoverished by the costs of perpetual mobilization for war.
Geopolitically also, the war was an historic disaster, providing the pretext and narrative for the Cold War, for destroying the anti-imperialist and communist-led workers movements in the US and gravely weakening them in many other countries, for founding NATO, isolating the Socialist Bloc countries and setting in motion preparations for an assault on Russia and China using nuclear weapons - a war that the record shows very nearly happened.
If the leadership of the DPRK had trusted Stalin's advice, and - bitter and horrifying as the cost might be - patiently supported the struggle of their countrymen in the South without trying to finish it with a military blow, the Cold War might have been much harder to launch and the Korean people might have been spared the much worse nightmare that ensued.
By contrast, the much more patient strategy of North Vietnam, while unable to prevent a war in the South that saw several hundred thousand activists, leaders and former resistance fighters murdered, followed by a devastating American War that killed millions, was able to avert the kind of total destruction visited on North Korea - and "in the fullness of time" they won! Vietnam is one country now, and at peace. But the victory of the people's forces and liberation struggle in Vietnam was also a world-historic win over the Empire, one whose consequences helped shape what is possible today, nearly 40 years later.
This afternoon, I came upon a man, old before his time, begging for money on an American street corner. He told of being unable to live on his disability pension, and of being denied his veterans benefits because while serving in Vietnam he had been dishonorably discharged. When I asked him what for, he said it was because he tried to shoot his officer, a gung-ho young lieutenant who had gotten two of his buddies killed. He seemed still ashamed or regretful, 40 years later, about having missed.
Troops killing their officers, in the heat of battle or by a platoon agreeing on tossing a fragmentation grenade into their tent (known as "fragging"), was a huge and widespread problem for the US Army in Vietnam. Troops were often incapacitated or uncontrollable due to massive drug use. Refusal to obey orders to attack grew increasingly common. Huge numbers of servicemen's riots and demonstrations took place inside Vietnam and "Stateside".
The more patient Vietnamese strategy, though it took over 20 years to final victory, thus dealt a global strategic defeat to the US-led Empire. To this day our Masters of War don't dare try to raise and field another conscript army, and can only field such armed forces as they can afford to pay cash money for. Which is why, unless they can persuade the American people that their homes are in mortal danger from Russia and ISIS, the collapse of the dollar will be the Empire's death blow.
Coming back to the present, consider the need for Putin's Russia to win in it's challenge to the Empire, the race to collapse the Empire through building a global "de-dollarization alliance" before the Empire can gather the strength to launch a world war. A strategy which leans heavily on the battle of ideas and counts on the support and strivings of billions of people across the world, but also on exploiting and harnessing divisions and conflicts between and within ruling classes. If you see yourself as part of and responsible for the success of that global strategy, this poses a painful choice between taking your opportunities or declining them. As I'm certain it did for Putin in March and April. Decisions and actions taken over the next few weeks, months and years will profoundly shape the range of possible outcomes for the planet, and Ukraine is at the epicenter. There is a huge opportunities in the power vacuum, as the Junta's forces collapse, for the millions who long to break the hold of the kleptocrats and banksters and unleash a deeply necessary revolution, but of course the Ukraine struggle is, by design, also a potential flashpoint of global disaster.
There is no strong analogy with events and moments in the past that could dictate the right moves for today. But revolutionary patience is a way of being, not a strategy. It is what lets us refuse gambits and protects us from being ruled by our egos. It gives us freedom to be responsible for the larger consequences of what we do.
Trusting the people of Ukraine, continuing to organize and teach at what ever cost and risk, waiting for the time when the unity and force of millions can overwhelm any intervention, may get a better result for Ukraine, Russia and the world. Or maybe the time is now. Revolutionary patience gives us the freedom to look at that question objectively, balancing the promise of grasping "a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large," against the danger of "the common ruin of the contending classes."
Please forgive my arrogance in addressing you like this. I write from my heart, from my own very different experiences and without expectations.
Yours in struggle,
C
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Two open letters to President Putin (including possibly a fake one!)
Does it matter when private individuals sent a latter to a head of state? Don't their press services receive hundreds of letters every day? Yes, they do, but when somebody writes to a foreign head of state, one which is own rulers consider an enemy, this matters. It matters even more when the people writing express categorical disagreement with their own regime and support or understanding for the foreign ruler. It especially matters when they chose to do so publicly, because they know that they are exposing themselves to a chauvinistic backlash from all the doubleplusgoodthinking loyal TV-watching "true patriots" whose opinion happens to be best expressed by the MSM. In this case, the foreign head of state is, in my opinion, by far the most hated and vilified "Hitler of the moment" since the "new Hitlers parade" began with Saddam and Milosevic - Vladimir Putin - and that makes such open letter truly very significant.
To me, as Russian born in the West, it is very important to show that there is what I call "another West" which is both fully aware of what is going on and totally opposed to it. At the end of the day, we can hate the regimes in power, and we can feel disgusted by the zombies who support them, but we must always remember that the proportion of sober minded and honorable people is the same in any country and that we should always remember the "righteous men who save the city" (if even 10 is good enough for God, surely it should be good enough for us).
Today, I am posting two such letters. One sent to me by its author, one posted elsewhere on the Internet.
The Saker
UPDATE: I got a warning that the putative author of the 2nd letter now denies having written it. Okay, so it is either a fake, or he had cold feet. Either way, I will still leave it - it is better than removing it - but I will strikeout the full text. As for the first letter, I assure you that it is genuine, as I got it directly from its author.
-------
President Putin,
In this period of turmoil, I would like to express my shame and sorrow over the treatment, by the mass media in the West, of Russia in connection with events in Ukraine. Please be aware that not all Americans believe what is said by the likes of Barack Obama, a mere stuffed suit raised from obscurity to prove to Americans that the United States is a democracy, or John Kerry, a thoroughly corrupt career politician whose only priority is servile obedience to corporate power. I grew up in the Midwest, a typical American under the thrall of the empire’s doctrinal system, but during the Reagan Administration I was radicalised. There are many decent Americans who share my experience. I became a high school teacher, and have made a career out of opening students’ eyes to the dysfunctions of “the American Way”. I did not fall for the blandishments of Bill Clinton, whose Administration colluded in looting Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union; and during the G.W. Bush term in office I emigrated to New Zealand with my family, having come to the conclusion that no amount of social commitment or direct action could alter America’s destructive behaviour.
I write to you in hopes that my words, meagre as they are, will give you a little strength in your struggle to lead Russia’s people into the Twenty-first century and beyond. Please do not give up. A by-product of your efforts will be a better world for all of earth’s inhabitants. This is the second time that Russia has saved the world from what is essentially Nazism (I speak here not of the fascists in Kiev, but of their masters in Washington, D.C.). Yes, I understand very well that it was the Soviet Union that broke the back of the Wehrmacht in World War II; that America and Britain had little to do with Germany’s defeat. I also understand that the United States is fully committed to balkanising Russia and to eliminating, by whatever means (no matter how murderous or immoral), any threat to its control over the world. Full commitment, however, does not equate with ability, nor does it guarantee success. In the case of the United States, full commitment means simply the taking of increasingly insane risks. The destruction of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 seems a case in point. Whether the event was a false flag operation designed to isolate Russia and force you from office or an assassination attempt, the decision-making that lead to Washington’s giving Kiev a green light is insane, but this is the state of thinking in the United States at present. The empire is crumbling, and its masters are in a blind frenzy to reverse the disintegration.
The death-throes of any powerful entity are dangerous for everyone in its vicinity. This is just as true of the United States as it would be of a shark. The danger is real. Please be mindful, be safe, and continue to use whatever power you possess to end the threat that the United States poses to the world. I say this as a citizen not only of the former, but also of the latter.
Yours Sincerely,
David Lemire
-------
Dear Mr. President Putin
Please accept our apologies on behalf of a great many people here in the Netherlands for our Government and our Media.
The facts concerning MH17 are twisted to defame you and your country. We are powerless onlookers, as we witness how the Western Nations, led by the United States, accuse Russia of crimes they commit themselves more than anybody else.
We reject the double standards that are used for Russia and the West. In our societies, sufficient evidence is required for a conviction. The way you and your Nation are convicted for ‘crimes’ without evidence, is ruthless and despicable. You have saved us from a conflict in Syria that could have escalated into a World War. The mass killing of innocent Syrian civilians through gassing by ‘Al-Qaeda’ terrorists, trained and armed by the US and paid for by Saudi Arabia, was blamed on Assad. In doing so, the West hoped public opinion would turn against Assad, paving the way for an attack on Syria. Not long after this, Western forces have built up, trained and armed an ‘opposition’ in the Ukraine, to prepare a coup against the legitimate Government in Kiev. The putschists taking over were quickly recognized by Western Governments. They were provided with loans from our tax money to prop their new Government up. The people of the Crimea did not agree with this and showed this with peaceful demonstrations. Anonymous snipers and violence by Ukrainian troops turned these demonstrations into demands for independence from Kiev. Whether you support these separatist movements is immaterial, considering the blatant Imperialism of the West.Russia is wrongly accused, without evidence or investigation, of delivering the weapons systems that allegedly brought down MH17. For this reason Western Governments claim they have a right to economically pressure Russia.
We, awake citizens of the West, who see the lies and machinations of our Governments, wish to offer you our apologies for what is done in our name. It’s unfortunately true, that our media have lost all independence and are just mouthpieces for the Powers that Be. Because of this, Western people tend to have a warped view of reality and are unable to hold their politicians to account. Our hopes are focused on your wisdom. We want Peace. We see that Western Governments do not serve the people but are working towards a New World Order. The destruction of sovereign nations and the killing of millions of innocent people is, seemingly, a price worth paying for them, to achieve this goal. We, the people of the Netherlands, want Peace and Justice, also for and with Russia.
We hope to make clear that the Dutch Government speaks for itself only. We pray our efforts will help to diffuse the rising tensions between our Nations.
Sincerely, Professor Cees Hamelink
To me, as Russian born in the West, it is very important to show that there is what I call "another West" which is both fully aware of what is going on and totally opposed to it. At the end of the day, we can hate the regimes in power, and we can feel disgusted by the zombies who support them, but we must always remember that the proportion of sober minded and honorable people is the same in any country and that we should always remember the "righteous men who save the city" (if even 10 is good enough for God, surely it should be good enough for us).
Today, I am posting two such letters. One sent to me by its author, one posted elsewhere on the Internet.
The Saker
UPDATE: I got a warning that the putative author of the 2nd letter now denies having written it. Okay, so it is either a fake, or he had cold feet. Either way, I will still leave it - it is better than removing it - but I will strikeout the full text. As for the first letter, I assure you that it is genuine, as I got it directly from its author.
-------
President Putin,
In this period of turmoil, I would like to express my shame and sorrow over the treatment, by the mass media in the West, of Russia in connection with events in Ukraine. Please be aware that not all Americans believe what is said by the likes of Barack Obama, a mere stuffed suit raised from obscurity to prove to Americans that the United States is a democracy, or John Kerry, a thoroughly corrupt career politician whose only priority is servile obedience to corporate power. I grew up in the Midwest, a typical American under the thrall of the empire’s doctrinal system, but during the Reagan Administration I was radicalised. There are many decent Americans who share my experience. I became a high school teacher, and have made a career out of opening students’ eyes to the dysfunctions of “the American Way”. I did not fall for the blandishments of Bill Clinton, whose Administration colluded in looting Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union; and during the G.W. Bush term in office I emigrated to New Zealand with my family, having come to the conclusion that no amount of social commitment or direct action could alter America’s destructive behaviour.
I write to you in hopes that my words, meagre as they are, will give you a little strength in your struggle to lead Russia’s people into the Twenty-first century and beyond. Please do not give up. A by-product of your efforts will be a better world for all of earth’s inhabitants. This is the second time that Russia has saved the world from what is essentially Nazism (I speak here not of the fascists in Kiev, but of their masters in Washington, D.C.). Yes, I understand very well that it was the Soviet Union that broke the back of the Wehrmacht in World War II; that America and Britain had little to do with Germany’s defeat. I also understand that the United States is fully committed to balkanising Russia and to eliminating, by whatever means (no matter how murderous or immoral), any threat to its control over the world. Full commitment, however, does not equate with ability, nor does it guarantee success. In the case of the United States, full commitment means simply the taking of increasingly insane risks. The destruction of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 seems a case in point. Whether the event was a false flag operation designed to isolate Russia and force you from office or an assassination attempt, the decision-making that lead to Washington’s giving Kiev a green light is insane, but this is the state of thinking in the United States at present. The empire is crumbling, and its masters are in a blind frenzy to reverse the disintegration.
The death-throes of any powerful entity are dangerous for everyone in its vicinity. This is just as true of the United States as it would be of a shark. The danger is real. Please be mindful, be safe, and continue to use whatever power you possess to end the threat that the United States poses to the world. I say this as a citizen not only of the former, but also of the latter.
Yours Sincerely,
David Lemire
-------
Please accept our apologies on behalf of a great many people here in the Netherlands for our Government and our Media.
We hope to make clear that the Dutch Government speaks for itself only. We pray our efforts will help to diffuse the rising tensions between our Nations.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Open letter of The Collective of Vineyardsaker.fr and Vineyardsaker.ru Publishers to the Russian and Russian Speaking People
Russian and russian speaking friends, welcome to you all!
We, people who are living in the west, we salute you. And we are delighted, really delighted, to at last be able to say to you, "NO, NOT EVERYONE FROM US IS AGAINST YOU."
And it is very important to us that you get to know it, that you are convinced of it, that you understand that here, for example in France, but not only in France, there are many of us, and increasingly, that are in complete disagreement with what our "leaders" say and do "in our name." Which may sound but normal course to you, but think of it though, is for many around here quite a small feat, considering what has been the massive propaganda of our Western media – of all, absolutely all the mainstream media – for several decades. Considering that your president and other leaders of Russia we are presented only – and systematically, and repeatedly –as undemocratic monsters and calculating ones, as attackers only motivated by evil intentions towards us.
YES, THE CAUSE OF DONBASS AND UKRAINE WE CARE ABOUT. And much more than that: we tremble every day for Novorossia; oftentimes we are overcome with anger and sorrow when contemplating the atrocities committed there, when hearing such lies as our "politicians" utter to absolve them even if they do not encourage them. Another small feat actually, given that Novorossia does not exist, at least neither for our media nor for our leaders, but only the eastern Ukraine, a place where everything would be fine, we are explained, if it were not that some fierce separatists keep being rife there in a maliciously inclined way towards Europe. And given also that it happens almost nothing in that country (I say almost because, if we believe our newspapers, or our radios, or our TV channels, it reads and sounds like it is simply a matter of one single Putin, a new Hitler, who is deceitfully intriguing to impose on the poor Ukraine as on the entire world an unjustified aggression and a tyrannical Russian domination).
Did you say a war? In the Ukraine? That can’t be: our official media do not mention anything like that. A total blackout. Except a threat of a Russian military aggression (nothing new, indeed) and of course some measures being taken (nothing out of the ordinary) only to restore order threatened by virulent separatists in some provinces. That's how things are presented to us.
Many of us actually have no idea what is happening there. Word-of-mouth progresses though. And sites like the Saker’s one increasingly contribute to open the eyes and minds of those who seek, those who bother to go and have a look behind the official information, to get around such propaganda and brainwashing as are imposed on us.
This is primarily the reason why the mirror site in French language was wanted, and why we chose to contribute voluntarily: to provide information that is missing; to sound a different story; to refute the lies that our compatriots are showered with day after day.
And this is also why we welcome the birth of this Russian-speaking site. And the possibility that we are (finally!) given to assure you – despite the efforts of those who govern us (and the efforts of their masters, even more to the west), despite all those who are struggling to try to establish and consolidate between us and you a kind of enmity that has no reason to be - not only that we are not against Russia or against the Russians, but that we instead understand that your enemy is also our enemy. To this enemy we refuse to associate. And we do not accept the present situation by which it seeks to impose lie and antagonism.
Our institutions and many other things unfortunately are under its control. But our minds are not. And, most of all, our hearts are not either!
The collective of vineyardsaker.fr and vineyardsaker.ru publishers
We, people who are living in the west, we salute you. And we are delighted, really delighted, to at last be able to say to you, "NO, NOT EVERYONE FROM US IS AGAINST YOU."
And it is very important to us that you get to know it, that you are convinced of it, that you understand that here, for example in France, but not only in France, there are many of us, and increasingly, that are in complete disagreement with what our "leaders" say and do "in our name." Which may sound but normal course to you, but think of it though, is for many around here quite a small feat, considering what has been the massive propaganda of our Western media – of all, absolutely all the mainstream media – for several decades. Considering that your president and other leaders of Russia we are presented only – and systematically, and repeatedly –as undemocratic monsters and calculating ones, as attackers only motivated by evil intentions towards us.
YES, THE CAUSE OF DONBASS AND UKRAINE WE CARE ABOUT. And much more than that: we tremble every day for Novorossia; oftentimes we are overcome with anger and sorrow when contemplating the atrocities committed there, when hearing such lies as our "politicians" utter to absolve them even if they do not encourage them. Another small feat actually, given that Novorossia does not exist, at least neither for our media nor for our leaders, but only the eastern Ukraine, a place where everything would be fine, we are explained, if it were not that some fierce separatists keep being rife there in a maliciously inclined way towards Europe. And given also that it happens almost nothing in that country (I say almost because, if we believe our newspapers, or our radios, or our TV channels, it reads and sounds like it is simply a matter of one single Putin, a new Hitler, who is deceitfully intriguing to impose on the poor Ukraine as on the entire world an unjustified aggression and a tyrannical Russian domination).
Did you say a war? In the Ukraine? That can’t be: our official media do not mention anything like that. A total blackout. Except a threat of a Russian military aggression (nothing new, indeed) and of course some measures being taken (nothing out of the ordinary) only to restore order threatened by virulent separatists in some provinces. That's how things are presented to us.
Many of us actually have no idea what is happening there. Word-of-mouth progresses though. And sites like the Saker’s one increasingly contribute to open the eyes and minds of those who seek, those who bother to go and have a look behind the official information, to get around such propaganda and brainwashing as are imposed on us.
This is primarily the reason why the mirror site in French language was wanted, and why we chose to contribute voluntarily: to provide information that is missing; to sound a different story; to refute the lies that our compatriots are showered with day after day.
And this is also why we welcome the birth of this Russian-speaking site. And the possibility that we are (finally!) given to assure you – despite the efforts of those who govern us (and the efforts of their masters, even more to the west), despite all those who are struggling to try to establish and consolidate between us and you a kind of enmity that has no reason to be - not only that we are not against Russia or against the Russians, but that we instead understand that your enemy is also our enemy. To this enemy we refuse to associate. And we do not accept the present situation by which it seeks to impose lie and antagonism.
Our institutions and many other things unfortunately are under its control. But our minds are not. And, most of all, our hearts are not either!
The collective of vineyardsaker.fr and vineyardsaker.ru publishers
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
A chance for you to say "no, not in my name!"
After reading the open letter to President Putin signed by over 300 Germans, one of the readers of this blog decided to emulate their example and write his own open letter to President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov. Unlike the German letter, this letter is much more simple and very much to the point. This is its full text:
Many citizens of western countries greatly respect your measured responses to the recent and ongoing threats to Syria, Iran, and Ukraine.You and your government have several times averted dangerous conflicts. Irresponsible nations heavily armed with biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons ache for a war whose outcome they cannot comprehend.International diplomacy requires a grasp of history, as well as strength, courage, rectitude, grace, and common sense. Most western leaders today lack these essential qualities. We appreciate how challenging it must be to negotiate with such people.The above views are neither represented by our leaders nor explored by our corporate media commentators. Reaching over them to extend a hand of friendship and gratitude, we offer you our support and best wishes.
While many of us feel powerless and frustrated with our inability to stop the crazy policies of our 1% overlords, we all can do one thing: refuse to be passive bystanders. At the very least, we can say "not in my name". By doing that, we not only express our position, but we show to the people of Russia that there is "another West" just like there was "another Russia" during the Soviet era.
For some signing such a letter might present some risks. But for most of us, it is still pretty safe if only because our overlords don't care what we think or say, and have no time to waste the common folk like us which they see as irrelevant.
I therefore encourage you all to seize this possibility to take a stand and sign this completely non-ideological letter. Yes, this will be a symbolic act, but there are moments in history when symbolic acts are important (like refusing to sit in the back of a bus). Finally, by singing it you 'buy' yourself the option of looking in the mirror and knowing that you did not remain silent.
You can sign the letter here:
A big thank you to John for writing and posting this letter, and a big thank you to anyone who will sign it.
Kind regards,
The Saker
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