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Around March of this year, I was sitting deep underground in a bunker
on Atlanta, GA as part of a planning session for the G-8 meeting. I was
sitting next to a friend of mine, listening to the regional head of a
federal agency spouting off the most “tinfoil hat” conspiracy theories
about when and where terrorists would next strike, and how the casualty
rate in Iraq was “not that bad, considering”, and I just thought to
myself, “I’ve got to get out of here”.

A few years ago I was broke and looking for a job and somehow I wound
up in law enforcement, which I thought was just going to be a
“temporary” career move for me. But as time went on it became more and
more permanent until one day I found myself in that command bunker. I
was working 60 to 80 hour weeks, making fairly good pay, handling and
processing important information, but it wasn’t satisfying. Although I
am proud of what I did in those days, the hours were too long, the
stress was killing me and I knew I didn’t want to wake up in 20 years
and realize I was still doing the same job.

Partly to relieve the stress, and partly because it had always been
something I’d wanted to do (in the back of my mind, where we all keep
our real dreams), I took to writing on the internet. At first I wrote
for other people’s websites (especially Daily Kos).
I wanted to get information out there that nobody else seemed to be
covering – particularly focusing on international issues.

It was fairly commonplace for most of my “customers” in law enforcement
to be ignorant of world affairs but I was surprised to see how
prevalent that level of miseducation was even among people who should
know more, such as those planning for an international summit of world
leaders. I was just a low level grunt in that organization, mostly
there for my information processing skills and yet these men (and a few
women) running the organizations seemed to know less than I did. How
could this be?

Years and years ago, I had a roommate who was a young woman who had
been born and partly raised in Singapore. One day as I was reading the
newspaper in the livingroom, she scoffed at me and told me how much she
hated that paper because it had so little coverage of international
events, even important issues like Chinese weapon system developments
or ongoing wars overseas. And I looked at the paper with new eyes,
realizing she was right. And when the internet became more common and
more accessible, and I could read newspapers from other cities across
the United States, I saw what she meant. And it wasn’t just American
news sources either, foreign ones only picked up bits and pieces of
what to me was vital information.

I found the only way to really educate myself was to read dozens and
dozens of newspapers every day, in every language I could speak, read
or understand.

I started my blog in November of 2003, covering the revolution in the
Republic of Georgia. Here was a tiny, impoverished state where a paltry
sum (”just” a few million dollars) from western sources created a spark
that soon grew into a bonfire of public discontent, and it swept away a
corrupt government in a revolution without bloodshed, called the “Rose
Revolution”. Suddenly an American-educated and English-speaking
Georgian with a Dutch wife was in power in a country right on Russia’s
most volatile border (Chechnya and Ingushetia) and the old Communist
stalwart Eduard Shevardnadze was no more.

I was pretty young when something similar happened here in Romania, yet
here it was happening again. I found the events not only enthralling
but also inspiring, because regardless of who financed whom, it was by
capitalizing on the population at large’s discontent that radical, peaceful
change was accomplished in a country ruled by strongmen, cronies and
dictators for centuries. If it happened in Georgia, could it happen
somewhere else?

After the revolution in Georgia was finished, my writing petered out
somewhat. It wasn’t until I came back from a trip here to Romania in
January (2004) that I began to write in earnest – to write full-time.
That might not sound like much to some of you, to write full-time, but
the more I did it the more I realized that this
was what I wanted to do. I didn’t have the college education, the
formal training or the financial backing of a “professional”
journalist. I couldn’t travel to places to report on things first hand,
but I could use the internet to read hundreds of articles and
analyze them for the very best parts, the most important ones. And
sometime around March, when I was deep in that bunker, I realized I
wanted to get out of my job and that life forever and try and follow my
dream. I knew if I couldn’t do it now, I might never do it.

In June of this year, I quit my job once and for all. Some people who
read my blog think I’m still secretly working for some government
agency but I promise you I’m not – I quit because I was tired of that
life. I had some money saved up in the bank and knew I had at least a
few months ahead of me where I could just write, just publish articles
on my blog and see what happened. And friends, sitting here writing to
you on December 31, I’m happy to say that I have no intention of doing
anything else but write for the foreseeable future.

For me this year has been one of the most successful of my life – but
how to measure it? I consider myself successful because I now (just
barely, but I do it) pay my bills and expenses from donations from my
readers. Without those of you who have been so generous, I literally
would not be here today.

My blog could also not be what it is today without all the information,
tips and emails from my readers. I really cannot thank all of you
enough, and while most of you prefer to remain anonymous, I’ll use some
initials to thank you personally.

My humble and eternal gratitude goes to: PB, BC, HH, SS, BL, RC, PF,
EF, SM, CT, GB, MB, SM, EB, KC, EA, JK-S, TH-J, JG, SH, DT, VR, RYP,
JT, BS, DM and last but not least, Debra Bennett. I sure hope I haven’t
forgotten anyone

I also consider it a success that this blog has made it into the “printed” press
four times this year: The Philadelphia Inquirer (May 19), Sydney City Hub (August 1), The Times-Standard (California – August 4) and Asia Times
(August 12). I’ve also had conversations and correspondence from a
variety of “professional” journalists, ranging from CBC (Canada), ARD
(Germany), Reuters, Maxim magazine, the Fayetteville Observer, the
Dallas Morning Post and the Columbia Journalism Review to name a few.

In September, I packed up my bags and moved to Romania, a country which
has provided me with strange and wonderful adventures, some of which
have been chronicled right here. Tonight I’m going out to celebrate in
“typical” Romanian fashion, which I believe means lots of good food to
eat as well as a few stiff drinks. Sometimes it seems like I got here
yesterday, you know?

In total, I’ve written about 800 articles this year – a statistic even
I find hard to believe. And I’ve been blessed with about 50,000
visitors this year (yes that means you!).
I distinctly remember writing my first few articles and seeing that
only 8 people had come to visit my site – who would ever guess it would
grow this big? I currently have 11 subscribers, who get an email
whenever I write a new story (add your address to the “Adauga email”
box on the right if you’re interested) and an unknown number of people
syndicating this site (the XML button at the bottom right).

So, what were the biggest or most important stories of this blog in 2004? Let’s
review!

Jack Idema – By far my biggest story and the reason I made it
into three print newspapers. We’re up to Part 26 now with two more to
come out the first week of January. The story started just by me
learning of Idema’s arrest in July and finding it curious, comparing it
with David Passaro. I did just a little research and wrote one or two
articles on what I found and somehow my blog shot up to #4 on Google.
Soon people who knew Idema in the past found my blog, many of them
writing to me and telling me things I never could’ve found out
otherwise. I wrote a few more articles and somehow it became my longest
running saga. Although I’ve never met the man (or any of his
associates), I’ve come to know his life story like the back of my hand.
The ultimate irony with Jack Idema is that he has tried (and failed)
several times to make a movie about his own life and yet he really has lived a life that sounds more fictional than a Hollywood movie.

Viktor Bout – This guy is finally getting a little attention
from the mainstream press (particularly NPR and Newsweek), yet I’ve
been tracking the guy since May when I saw the U.S. making behind the
scenes moves to get him off the UN ban list because he had done so much
to further the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Despite a
presidential order banning Americans from doing business with Viktor
Bout, the US military has been using his fleet of planes to deliver
supplies to the troops in Iraq. You can find my latest post about him here.

Nick Berg – A video was released in April showing the apparent
beheading of this man, causing a frenzy. Later events such as the
killing of four contract soldiers (Blackwater) in Fallujah and Abu
Ghraib soon overshadowed this story, but the conspiracy theories and
mainstream articles quickly multiplied. I wrote a total of 11 articles
on what was known, guessed or alleged about who this man was, how he
died, and who was behind it.  When the story broke, I kept finding
references to the fact that the video was released on “an Al-Qaeda
website” yet the website’s address was never given. I was determined to
find out what the original source was, and through a lot of hard work I
finally managed to find out. I also somehow managed to sign myself up
for a different Al-Qaeda friendly website (the original one was shut
down within hours of releasing the Berg video) where I later found the
gruesome beheading pictures of another American man, Robert C. Jacobs.
As for Nick Berg, through a lot of research and inquiry, I finally
managed to discover that a very prominent Saudi company (with offices
in London, UK and owned by a high-ranking member of the Saudi royal
family) was paying for and hosting these Al-Qaeda websites. I never saw
that reported in the mainstream media, however. You can read the last
post I did on Nick Berg here.

Robert C. Jacobs – The graphic video of his beheading,
unfortunately a lot more gruesome and explicit than Nick Berg’s, was
released on yet another website in June. As I was already a registered
member on an Al-Qaeda website (which had shut off new applicants), I
was able to download these photos directly at the same time as the
mainstream media. The pictures were horrific. Robert C. Johnson worked
for the Vinnell Corporation in Saudi Arabia (see below). It just so
happened that a family member of mine was going to Jacobs’ hometown
when he was buried, so I got a somewhat firsthound account of the
service. Jacobs’ body was found in Saudi Arabia under questionable
circumstances and the story of who abducted him, who dropped off his
body and what exactly happened has never been cleared up. Part 1 is here.

Saudi Civil War – Partly because of my investigation into Robert
Jacobs, I did a lengthy six-part series on the internal politics and
affairs of Saudi Arabia, one of the most closed countries on Earth.
This series went into detail on how the (American) Vinnell Corporation
has been working hand-in-glove for decades to keep the Saudi royal
family in power despite widespread discontent, not just from the Osama
bin Ladens. You can read part 4 of that series here. I firmly believe that there will be some kind of revolution or radical change
in this country within one year.

Charles Robert Jenkins – Served eight years in the military then
one day in 1965 slipped over the border into North Korea, where he
lived for 39 years. Married a kidnapped Japanese woman, fathered two
children, became elderly and ill and finally made his way to Japan
where he was court-martialed by the U.S. and thrown into a brig for 30
days. Now a free man, his story was quite interesting and still
mysterious. You can read the final installment here.

True Airport Stories – I haven’t written one of these in quite a
while, but I used to collect weird but true stories of people being
stopped, frisked, searched or otherwise detained while trying to
peacefully fly on commercial airline flights in the United States. You
can read one of these stories here.

Yemen Civil War – Barely even reported in the western press,
Yemen had a full-scale civil insurrection on its hands right on the
Saudi border. It seems to be over now but it revealed a deep discontent
for the (relatively) pro-Western policies of Yemen’s government and
just how fragile its grip on power really is. Worth noting here that
Yemen is where the USS Cole was berthed when it was attacked, the first
anti-American “blow” by Al-Qaeda. Part 9 of this series is here.

Haiti Coup – Only two nations in the world suffered a coup in
2004 – Haiti and the CAR. I remain firmly convinced that the US, in
conjunction with wealthy Haitian businessmen (with a powerful
Washington lobby) used trickery and force to remove Haitian president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. You can read one of my articles on
the subject here.

Yushchenko’s Poisoning – When one of the handsomest politicians
suddenly becomes hideously disfigured, that’s a story. When a trusted
reader tells me his doctor is a complete fake, then you know it’s time
for an investigation. The final installment is here.

Civil War In Israel – Nope it hasn’t happened yet, but it’s close to happening. Don’t believe me? Read this.

I have also covered a variety of other civil wars (India, Sri Lanka,
Georgia, Nepal, Cote D’Ivoire) as well as non-reported and
poorly-reported American military exercises, moves and actions
(including in El Salvador and Ecuador). I have also covered strategic issues, including the Straits of Malacca, the importance of Iran (part 1 and 2), oil and who is buying, selling and making moves to acquire it, elections around
the world (Part 14 of my Ukrainian coverage) as well as a host of other topics.

There’s so many that I cannot really even begin to list them all – if
you’re interested in something try going to Google and type “keyword
site:www.weblog.ro” in the search box, where “keyword” is what you’re
looking for.

I want to also thank my occasional co-bloggers: Pistonhips and Steve in Thailand
for their contributions to this site. Both of them live in Thailand,
hit by the recent tsunami, and I really hope that they post something
on what they’ve seen and done here soon.

Folks, it’s been a long, strange but wonderful year. Thank you to all
of you who have come this far with me and I look forward to seeing you
on the “other side” in 2005. There will be a few improvements to how
the website looks and I’ll be announcing a new companion to this blog
as well (stay tuned!).

As always, if you’d like to email me, my address is on the top
right-hand corner of your screen. If you’d like to donate money to keep
me blogging, click on the spinning dollar sign to your right as well.

Thank you to each and every one of you, my critics and fans alike. Un an nou fericit and a Happy New Year to you all!

This about sums it up, don’t you think?