On March 18, 2025, US President Donald Trump had an extended telephone call with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, regarding how to end the US proxy war in Ukraine.
You are an excellent journalist/writer. I wish that you would publish more often, and in outlets like ScheerPost, which offer even more exposure (in addition to your own site). I used to see your articles in CounterPunch but I have stopped following C-P as closely since they did away with the comment sections to their articles (awful decision on their part), and instead started requiring anyone who wants to comment on their articles to have membership in some form of social media, like facebook, etc (something I will not do). Comment sections are often the most vibrant and informative/educational features of the article (sometimes even far more than the article itself). Thanks for this highly informative, excellent piece.
For much of the time that I’ve posted here, I’ve also been published in other journals at the same time. But you hit on a problem for independent writers.
Most potential publishers in the US are small businesses, meaning one or two people who control what gets published and what doesn’t at their respective shops.
With publisher livelihoods tied to garnering contributions, what gets published ties quite closely to what a few rich contributors want published.
Add in state control—- I’ve watched the US surveillance state grow as my once widely read political writing was erased from the internet, and you are left with CNN and the New York Times.
And rising state control makes the internet a dead end. Just last week my email was involuntarily converted to Google email at two unrelated sources. Even though I have friends who there work, Google email is intended to end public discourse, not to facilitate it.
The problems are greater than just finding the right publisher.
The link for Naftali Bennet on how Minsk was a deception is not on Minsk, but on the Istanbul accord. I think you are confusing Bennett with former Ukraine president Mykhailo Podolyak. It was Podolyak (along with Merkel and Holland) who admitted Minsk was a trick.
[edit: it was actually Petro Poroshenko, not Podolyak… credit to Chris G, below, for spotting my mix-up]
Thank you for the comment. Part of the problem with writing on politics is that politically inconvenient stories get disappeared quite quick;y.
My memory is of the trio announcing around the same time with respect to Minsk. If Bennett was commenting on the Istanbul accord, that is different from what I recall. Even though I wrote about it in real time, I don’t recall much discussion of the Istanbul accord until quite recently.
I accept your point and thank you for adding nuance to my broad brush.
When Urie states "Speculating freely, Mr. Trump’s agreement to re-launch the Biden administration’s genocide in the Middle East likely represents a trade-off with the CIA for ending the war in Ukraine, which the US has lost..." all speculation concerning Trump's motives in the Middle East (West Asia) are clear. Good job Rob!
You are an excellent journalist/writer. I wish that you would publish more often, and in outlets like ScheerPost, which offer even more exposure (in addition to your own site). I used to see your articles in CounterPunch but I have stopped following C-P as closely since they did away with the comment sections to their articles (awful decision on their part), and instead started requiring anyone who wants to comment on their articles to have membership in some form of social media, like facebook, etc (something I will not do). Comment sections are often the most vibrant and informative/educational features of the article (sometimes even far more than the article itself). Thanks for this highly informative, excellent piece.
Thank you for the kind words musicbob.
For much of the time that I’ve posted here, I’ve also been published in other journals at the same time. But you hit on a problem for independent writers.
Most potential publishers in the US are small businesses, meaning one or two people who control what gets published and what doesn’t at their respective shops.
With publisher livelihoods tied to garnering contributions, what gets published ties quite closely to what a few rich contributors want published.
Add in state control—- I’ve watched the US surveillance state grow as my once widely read political writing was erased from the internet, and you are left with CNN and the New York Times.
And rising state control makes the internet a dead end. Just last week my email was involuntarily converted to Google email at two unrelated sources. Even though I have friends who there work, Google email is intended to end public discourse, not to facilitate it.
The problems are greater than just finding the right publisher.
Thanks for the comment.
Cheers,
Rob
The link for Naftali Bennet on how Minsk was a deception is not on Minsk, but on the Istanbul accord. I think you are confusing Bennett with former Ukraine president Mykhailo Podolyak. It was Podolyak (along with Merkel and Holland) who admitted Minsk was a trick.
[edit: it was actually Petro Poroshenko, not Podolyak… credit to Chris G, below, for spotting my mix-up]
Thank you for the comment. Part of the problem with writing on politics is that politically inconvenient stories get disappeared quite quick;y.
My memory is of the trio announcing around the same time with respect to Minsk. If Bennett was commenting on the Istanbul accord, that is different from what I recall. Even though I wrote about it in real time, I don’t recall much discussion of the Istanbul accord until quite recently.
I accept your point and thank you for adding nuance to my broad brush.
Thsnks for your wor, for everything you do.
Re nuance, as another commenter noticed below, I also got it wrong. It was Poroshenko, not Podolyak.
Actually it was Petro Poroshenko, although maybe Podolyak as well. They were all in on it. https://internationalleagueofnations.com/poroshenko-admits-ukraine-was-never-going-to-implement-the-minsk-agreement/
Good catch! Thanks. I was micing them up.
When Urie states "Speculating freely, Mr. Trump’s agreement to re-launch the Biden administration’s genocide in the Middle East likely represents a trade-off with the CIA for ending the war in Ukraine, which the US has lost..." all speculation concerning Trump's motives in the Middle East (West Asia) are clear. Good job Rob!
Brilliant summary of the abject state of the Western world. We'd all be better off someplace safe in the east.