Good luck, Riley. And may God preserve and protect you, Katya, little Edward, his mother, and your whole endearing cast of characters. May the human drama you are playing out soon transition into the "And they all lived happily ever after" part.... Hugs and prayers.
Meanwhile every last Uzbek, Tajik, etc who don't speak any Russian, don't intend to learn any and I who genuinely hate Russia have no problem coming and going at will. Infuriating.
Seems to me you are a great addition to any community you join. Russia is dumb for banning either of you. It seems to be the way every time, governments end up eating their citizens, so to speak.
I have been reading you for three years now. I didn't sign up for Substack and subscribe to you until last year - I just had my browsers 'remember' your URL. I'd type "ed ..." in the address bar to get here - faster than searching in a list of bookmarks.
You, Rurik, and Marko Marjanović were my Big Three - my favorites on Substack. I will always be grateful for how you all made me see a very different perspective on the Ukraine war - one that made more sense to me than those I got elsewhere.
I wrote "were" not because I changed my mind about any of you but because I haven't seen Marko around in a while. anti-empire.org is down. I hope he's okay. The Big Three are down to two ... and for a while, only Rurik was left - along with his frequent collaborator Dr Livci.
Until your last post. I was happy to see you back - and was sad to learn that my fantasies of you being so happy at the Institute that you didn't need to Stack anymore were off base. So very off base. Now I just learned that you're not even at the Institute anymore! And neither is Ekaterina.
I had feared for Susan. For Edward, Jr. Seeing "FSB" in the title terrified me. What had they done to you?
Then I read past the title. I had no idea what they had done to Ekaterina. And neither she nor you know why. That seems to be the hardest part. “Threat to national security” isn't a reason - it's too vague.
I cannot get over how the Russian government (not Russia) betrayed someone who devoted her life to Russia.
I cannot imagine what she and you have endured these past two months.
I can only send you my thoughts from Hawaii, 14,000 km (8,800 miles) from Alexandria.
The work you two have put into the Institute is appreciated all the way from here.
And tell Ekaterina that the work she put into her life in Russia is much admired. She succeeded at what I could only dream of doing. I hope she and you can return to Russia, to your children, to your lives as you knew them.
In the meantime, I hope you continue to explore Egypt. Your newest video is the closest I've ever come to seeing it, and I loved the contrast with your footage from Russia.
"Ride, Captain, ride upon your mystery ship
Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip
Ride, Captain ride upon your mystery ship
On your way to a world that others might have missed"
What an utterly baffling situation, Riley, and rather Kafka-esque. Surely, it will all come OK in the end, because - why ever not? What an upheaval and worry, but hang on in there.
😔🥺😢🙏Everything will turn out ok. I just know it will. Praying for you, Katya, Edward Jr, our pet friends and the Institute. With Susan in charge, for now, our beloved Institute is in good paws, or pause, to say it another way. Please keep us updated on the situation. Sending positive and hopeful thoughts your way🤗
Clearly the Institute for Village Studies was verging on discovery that threatened the integrity of Russia and the BRICS states, which would be in the FSB's bailiwick, and the fact that your discovery was not yet made but was impending was something the FSB was aware of, and why they are recalcitrant in responding officially, perhaps desperately trying to prevent the discovery from shaking the political foundations of the world by conjuring or inventing some other reason they could tell you was why Ekaterina is banished from your beloved home.
Perhaps something to do with goats?
Regardless of the actual reason for the mysterious utter redirection of your lives, today you are availed of something Russia can't seem to attain: a warm water port close at hand and linking you to the world via sea 12 months a year. You have done what you can to rectify the sudden disruption of all your plans and lives' work. You have the people you trust most handling your affairs pending some resolution of the matter. Why not take a cruise? See Belize, or Mazatlan. Turn your frown upside down. You're forced to vacate, which the whims of the universe have imposed, so you must vacate. Might as well vacation for real, with feeling this time.
I empathize with your circumstances more than you might suspect, and having survived several times the loss of everything I had ever owned, I also came to the realization you seem to have yourself, that there is no point fretting over the covert operations of international spooks that have redesigned your life and replanted you in a tropical clime far from the miserable continental boreal forest steppe you yearn for. It's been done, and now you must move forward from where you are.
The best you can do is roll with the punches and use the momentum to launch you in the new direction you have no choice but to go. I wish you all the best of luck (which you seem to have, having been banished, as it were, from Siberia, you, for some unfathomable reason, have chosen to endure, to the freedom of the entire world, for which all your reasonable forebears and peers yearned, and yet yearn, with fervent prayer, Machiavellian scheming, and grinding labor durant and vile), and the blessings of joy and happiness together that exceed your wildest hopes and dreams.
So sorry to hear about Katya. I wonder (assuming she doesn't mind working for Satan to pay the bills) if she couldn't easily get a job in Washington somewhere in the intelligence community. BTW you are in what was, 2000 years ago, one of the most interesting cities in the world. Try wandering over to some excavation and see if you can't get them to let you nose around for some material for a blog post. Read a book about Alexander (if you haven't already), Cleopatra, etc. You might as well try to soak up a bit of the Ptolemaic atmosphere, if any whiffs remain.
Oooh... I thought you weren't posting anything because you were preoccupied with the village life... I am so, so sorry to hear about what happened. Wishing the best of luck to you and Katya, and please keep us posted. I hope you can return to the Institute soon.
Great video, shows what a huge change of scenery you and Katya are experiencing.
But that really sucks about her not being able to go back to the country she obviously loves. I hope you can get this resolved in a satisfactory way.
Maybe the misgendering of Susan was the trigger for all of this. I believe that would practically be a crime here in the Land of the Free, and maybe it is in Russia now too?
Riley and Katja, hang in there. You have a ton of people behind you. When one door closes, another opens. Been the story of my life!
An interview might be a good idea, Regis.
Yeah, good idea. You following this Riley?
I follow on his substack and Telegram where he has a chat channel but he also has a personal page but I’m reluctant to post that.
beautifully said! cannot agree more!
Good luck, Riley. And may God preserve and protect you, Katya, little Edward, his mother, and your whole endearing cast of characters. May the human drama you are playing out soon transition into the "And they all lived happily ever after" part.... Hugs and prayers.
Meanwhile every last Uzbek, Tajik, etc who don't speak any Russian, don't intend to learn any and I who genuinely hate Russia have no problem coming and going at will. Infuriating.
Seems to me you are a great addition to any community you join. Russia is dumb for banning either of you. It seems to be the way every time, governments end up eating their citizens, so to speak.
Dear Riley,
I have been reading you for three years now. I didn't sign up for Substack and subscribe to you until last year - I just had my browsers 'remember' your URL. I'd type "ed ..." in the address bar to get here - faster than searching in a list of bookmarks.
You, Rurik, and Marko Marjanović were my Big Three - my favorites on Substack. I will always be grateful for how you all made me see a very different perspective on the Ukraine war - one that made more sense to me than those I got elsewhere.
I wrote "were" not because I changed my mind about any of you but because I haven't seen Marko around in a while. anti-empire.org is down. I hope he's okay. The Big Three are down to two ... and for a while, only Rurik was left - along with his frequent collaborator Dr Livci.
Until your last post. I was happy to see you back - and was sad to learn that my fantasies of you being so happy at the Institute that you didn't need to Stack anymore were off base. So very off base. Now I just learned that you're not even at the Institute anymore! And neither is Ekaterina.
I had feared for Susan. For Edward, Jr. Seeing "FSB" in the title terrified me. What had they done to you?
Then I read past the title. I had no idea what they had done to Ekaterina. And neither she nor you know why. That seems to be the hardest part. “Threat to national security” isn't a reason - it's too vague.
I cannot get over how the Russian government (not Russia) betrayed someone who devoted her life to Russia.
I cannot imagine what she and you have endured these past two months.
I can only send you my thoughts from Hawaii, 14,000 km (8,800 miles) from Alexandria.
The work you two have put into the Institute is appreciated all the way from here.
And tell Ekaterina that the work she put into her life in Russia is much admired. She succeeded at what I could only dream of doing. I hope she and you can return to Russia, to your children, to your lives as you knew them.
In the meantime, I hope you continue to explore Egypt. Your newest video is the closest I've ever come to seeing it, and I loved the contrast with your footage from Russia.
"Ride, Captain, ride upon your mystery ship
Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip
Ride, Captain ride upon your mystery ship
On your way to a world that others might have missed"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOKaSr3B_II
What an utterly baffling situation, Riley, and rather Kafka-esque. Surely, it will all come OK in the end, because - why ever not? What an upheaval and worry, but hang on in there.
😔🥺😢🙏Everything will turn out ok. I just know it will. Praying for you, Katya, Edward Jr, our pet friends and the Institute. With Susan in charge, for now, our beloved Institute is in good paws, or pause, to say it another way. Please keep us updated on the situation. Sending positive and hopeful thoughts your way🤗
Wishing you all the very best of luck. I'm thankful to have followed the Institute as long as it lasted - it was a blast!
What a stressful situation, I hope things work out for you both !!
Dear friends,
Clearly the Institute for Village Studies was verging on discovery that threatened the integrity of Russia and the BRICS states, which would be in the FSB's bailiwick, and the fact that your discovery was not yet made but was impending was something the FSB was aware of, and why they are recalcitrant in responding officially, perhaps desperately trying to prevent the discovery from shaking the political foundations of the world by conjuring or inventing some other reason they could tell you was why Ekaterina is banished from your beloved home.
Perhaps something to do with goats?
Regardless of the actual reason for the mysterious utter redirection of your lives, today you are availed of something Russia can't seem to attain: a warm water port close at hand and linking you to the world via sea 12 months a year. You have done what you can to rectify the sudden disruption of all your plans and lives' work. You have the people you trust most handling your affairs pending some resolution of the matter. Why not take a cruise? See Belize, or Mazatlan. Turn your frown upside down. You're forced to vacate, which the whims of the universe have imposed, so you must vacate. Might as well vacation for real, with feeling this time.
I empathize with your circumstances more than you might suspect, and having survived several times the loss of everything I had ever owned, I also came to the realization you seem to have yourself, that there is no point fretting over the covert operations of international spooks that have redesigned your life and replanted you in a tropical clime far from the miserable continental boreal forest steppe you yearn for. It's been done, and now you must move forward from where you are.
The best you can do is roll with the punches and use the momentum to launch you in the new direction you have no choice but to go. I wish you all the best of luck (which you seem to have, having been banished, as it were, from Siberia, you, for some unfathomable reason, have chosen to endure, to the freedom of the entire world, for which all your reasonable forebears and peers yearned, and yet yearn, with fervent prayer, Machiavellian scheming, and grinding labor durant and vile), and the blessings of joy and happiness together that exceed your wildest hopes and dreams.
BPR,
Valued Customer
So sorry to hear about Katya. I wonder (assuming she doesn't mind working for Satan to pay the bills) if she couldn't easily get a job in Washington somewhere in the intelligence community. BTW you are in what was, 2000 years ago, one of the most interesting cities in the world. Try wandering over to some excavation and see if you can't get them to let you nose around for some material for a blog post. Read a book about Alexander (if you haven't already), Cleopatra, etc. You might as well try to soak up a bit of the Ptolemaic atmosphere, if any whiffs remain.
Very sorry to read that.
Although unable to do anything to help, I am anxious to read soon that the situation is unlocked.
Poor cows, poor cats, poo goats too.
All the best to you and all.
Catherine
Liège, Belgium.
Mysterious …. And heartbreaking… praying for your your return to the Village 💕💕💕We miss your village stories 😢
With Susan in charge, all will be well. Cats are more sane than any government will ever be. You guys are survivors.
Oooh... I thought you weren't posting anything because you were preoccupied with the village life... I am so, so sorry to hear about what happened. Wishing the best of luck to you and Katya, and please keep us posted. I hope you can return to the Institute soon.
Great video, shows what a huge change of scenery you and Katya are experiencing.
But that really sucks about her not being able to go back to the country she obviously loves. I hope you can get this resolved in a satisfactory way.
Maybe the misgendering of Susan was the trigger for all of this. I believe that would practically be a crime here in the Land of the Free, and maybe it is in Russia now too?
Yeah - misgendering a cat might be considered a threat to national security.
Might explain the reticence to be explicit about the shenanigans.