Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has

RI was started as a simple protest site 18 months ago which we thought would be read by a few hundred of our friends and relatives. We were a group of Americans who knew Russia well and were outraged at the obvious lies being pushed by the media about Russia, and the clear path to war which the American media seemed to be pursuing.

We were quickly bowled over by a tsunami of interest. The more articles we posted presenting a worldview which diverged radically from what is typically peddled in the mainstream media, the more readers flocked to us. We had obviously stumbled across a huge pool of those who felt undernourished by their usual media fare, many of them, it seemed, were gradually awakening from a kind of stupor.

There is a great awakening

We now get between 20,000 - 40,000 unique visitors per day, or about 1 million per month, and this seem to double in size every 6 months or so. More than that, readers have been applauding with their wallets, with thousands of them sending over $130,000, mostly in small amounts, in the last 12 months to our rolling crowdfundings and donation page. We are one of a small handful of genuinely reader-supported alternative news sites in the world, and we are benefiting from a Bernie Sanders like tide of small contributions from an energized citizenry.

I can’t tell you the number of emails we receive, with variations of the following: “Your site opened my eyes, changed my life, etc.”, “You are a desperately needed breath of fresh air”, “Thank you for telling the truth”, “Your site has become an indispensable daily news source for me”, “Keep up the good work”,etc, etc, There are so many, we are going to create a section of the site to publish them.

Before starting RI, I didn’t read the alternative media. But in short order our small team began scouring the web for insightful articles related to Russia and its standoff with the West, from across the web, and we discovered a treasure trove of excellent journalism, which taken together was far more informative and closer to the truth than what was available in the mainstream, which I came to understand is compromised by an aggressive neocon worldview which seems to have an insatiable appetite for war, chaos and conflict.

On the right; Breitbart and the American Conservative, The Libertarians: Lew Rockwell and the Ron Paul Institute, the center: Zerohedge, Consortium News, the Intercept. Interestingly the progressive left produces by far the most excellent alternative journalism, much of which I disagree with but can’t help respecting: Counterpunch, Truthdig, Democracy Now, The Nation, Antiwar.com, to name but a few. And even the “conspiracy” genre, of which Alex Jones is the undisputed king, is on a relentless march to the center, scooping up respectability and audiences at a blistering pace, making it the most dynamic new element on the media scene today. It is actually firmly anchored on the conservative side of the spectrum.

It is embarrassing to admit how naive I was in not realizing what was going on, but perhaps I am typical of a phenomenon sweeping through the center of Western opinion. It used to be the radicals who would yell and scream at their demonstrations, and be largely dismissed by people like me as somehow not believable. But this US election cycle is demonstrating that times truly are a-changin’. The Sanders / Trump phenomenon represents a huge central swathe of the electorate, with similar rumblings in Europe.

The average voter of the Western democracies is a complacent creature. Distracted by his relentless pursuit of material trappings and a mind and soul-deadening culture, things have to get on the far side of silly to nudge him into action, which is exactly what has happened.

But a complacent citizenry makes for a lazy and corrupt elite, and now that the voter is roused from his slumber, the elites find themselves hopelessly overextended, like some kind of invading army that has gotten too far from its supply lines. That the coming months are going to get interesting is something of an understatement.

When Russia Insider went viral, we ourselves were at a loss to explain what was driving our remarkable growth. The emergence of Sanders and Trump over the last months now explains what is going on.

The Trump / Sanders effect is evident elsewhere on the net. Breitbart.com, the upstart populist conservative news site which most closely mirrors the Trump view, has seen their traffic jump 120% over the last 12 months, to 14 million views. Zerohedge, which tends to run positive on Trump, received 500 million views in 2015, 30% more than in 2014, and is giving Bloomberg a run for their money. Many sites on the progressive left are booming too.

Russia insider is a healthy symptom of a much larger democratic upheaval which is working its way through the US and Europe.

10s of millions of Americans have sent small sums to Bernie Sanders, and as a result, he has raised more money than Hillary, and that translates into success at the polls - he has won 19 of the last 25 primaries. Despite the fact that I am conservative and favor Trump, I have sent Bernie money, because I can’t help admire what he has achieved, and I think what he is doing is good for America’s democracy. I haven’t sent much, like $20, 2 or 3 times. It feels good to click on that “confirm donation” button. More Americans should experience it. I think Trump should turn to the same methods - let people feel empowered. He would raise a ton of money.

I want to encourage any of you who understand the logic of this people power to please consider supporting Russia Insider. What we have achieved so far is just remarkable. We can all be justly proud of being an important part of an awakening which has headed off a catastrophe. I just returned from New York and Washington where several influential people told me that what we have published has found an audience with the people who are now driving the Trump and Sanders campaigns, and has influenced US media across the spectrum. Your dollars have had a huge effect.

Of all the neocon lies about what is going on in the world, the drive to war against Russia is the most dangerous. And make no mistake, the neocons who dominate our media and our foreign policy would like nothing more than a nice hot war with Russia. In fact they have done their best to start one in the Ukraine.

Their track record for creating misery, death, and destruction around the world is an outrage which we have to stop. We have already blunted that drive. Your $5 and $10 donations have blunted that drive. Your visits to this site have blunted that drive. Let’s keep up the pressure. We have them on the run.

Please visit our crowdfund campaign today.