From the editor

No, Dear Friend, Dear Peruser, Dear Absorber of Fact, you are not imagining things.

Yours Truly is finally back.

Sure, it’s been a while, but first, you fans of the legendary CEE Cheat Sheet & Crime Report, we did hear your call.

Second, I personally heard yet a wider, deeper, more primal call--this being that in this world of internet cuts, AI drivel, Tweets, Facebook wars and the like, the wider message of fact (and grime) was getting lost.

Again and again and again.

Which meant it was time not to revive the Cheat Sheet, but that instead the moment was right for a full-fledged, quarterly magazine.

Thus, I give you...

The Corners.

In glimmering and unadulterated Technicolor (albeit beta-version) glory.

But why now--as in this sunny Polish-summer-of-a-moment? And why the slightly (emphasis on "slightly") more formal tone of this publication. First, to paraphrase a truth, crime waits for no man. Second, the (only slightly) more formal take comes in part due to what even Yours Truly considers to a highly dangerous stage not only for our region, but in human history as a whole.

No, I'm not talking nukes. Or not just nukes. I'm talking widespread and equally unadulterated violence--and this fueled by dirty money. And narcotics. And more dirty money. And the arms industry. And still more dirty money. And politics and...

Still more dirty money.

In short, it is what it is. For all of the talk about ethics, KYC, AML and so many other acronyms, we have and are still reaping the consequences of hidden cash. Which can be described as theft, kidnapping, torture, murder and war.

But for all I know, you, Dear Reader, may find this easy to ignore. Hopefully not, taking into consideration world events. For anyone who has dealt with Ukrainian refugees has borne witness to literally unimaginable suffering. Now toss in a highly chaotic Russia, the movement of nukes to Belarus and reports from the Ukrainian secret services that the nuclear reactor in Zaporizhzhia has been mined and yes, I do believe that there is cause for  fear. If not for our own sake, then for that of our children.

Yet there is more, as the region is facing economic turmoil; challenges regarding the rule of law; challenges to media rights and shockingly there is even now an EU/Brussels-led push to allow governments to monitor journalists.

Read that again: A law. To allow the monitoring. Of journalists.

If you do not understand or want to understand the word "monitor," think: surveillance and bugging. Think: still more corruption. Still more lies and impossible-to-track money and graft. And  abuse.

And violence.

Then consider a scenario whereas if a corrupt politician dislikes a journo poking around his business, he may simply turn that journo's name into the secret services... to chilling effect.

Honestly, we've been here before. In fact, we are still here, as the murder of Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak and his partner, Martina Kusnirova, attests. And a few of us old dogs do also remember the old days. We remember despite "right to forget laws" and threats and frivolous lawsuits. Yep. Old dogs like me remember...

Everything.

But lest we forget, the Fourth Estate's primary mandate is to keep governments in check, which is accomplished primarily by highlighting abuses where the state, business (and even organized crime) just happen to meet.

Which leads me to my last point: this is a battle and battles are not won on the cheap. And this is also the beta version of The Corners, and beta-version magazines need support to develop. And fight. And reveal.

Which also means that if you like (or what you read), consider the Patreon link in your mail or on the soon-to-be website. Or consider buying an ad. Or consider the beta version of The Corners is in these pages as proof-of-concept. For even this beta edition represents a massive effort, and we'll need your help to move this from proof-of-concept to continued reality.

And old dog or not, I'm not too proud to ask.

Sincerely,

Yours Truly

a.k.a. Preston Smith