Voice from Russia has an additional author!

I am happy to announce that we have found an additional author who will strengthen Voice from Russia in the future. I got to know and appreciate René-Burkhard Zittlau in a very particular way.

Correspondence old school

In October last year I received an e-mail from a man whom I had not known before. His language impressed me and I realized already after reading the first lines that he was extremely well-read and knew a lot about history.

Now something happened that no longer fit into our time: We wrote very long letters to each other for months – several times a week. We never spoke to each other, but merely corresponded. An old-school pen pal relationship developed.

We exchanged views about the world and about what I wrote in Weltwoche and then on my blog. His criticism and his statements motivated me a lot and he always showed me aspects that I had not yet considered. Mostly these new points of view were based on history.

He revealed very little about himself; I knew that he lived in Germany near Berlin, that he had children and that he read a lot in Russian and that he loved Russia.

He knew a lot more about me, because I have always been very transparent about my life and activities and my resume can be read on the blog on the one hand and found on the net with a few more clicks. Since I write about very controversial topics, I always felt that this was and is an important building block of my credibility.

Two personal meetings seal the collaboration

On the occasion of my last trip to Switzerland, I made a stopover in Berlin and we agreed to go for a walk. It was very exciting for both of us, as we only knew each other through our correspondence, had never spoken on the phone and I didn’t even know what he looked like.

It was a tremendously interesting walk in beautiful Berlin, the sun was shining and we ended the day with a good dinner. We said goodbye like friends who had known each other for years, and agreed that our long conversation should settle for a few days before we would meet again.

After a few days it was clear to me that Mr. Zittlau would be the right man to support me with his broad and deep knowledge as an author.

A few days later we met again – this time in Zurich. Another walk and another dinner and the deal was sealed.

A German agent with a Russian flair

René Zittlau was born in 1960 and is a certified linguist. Linguist is more than a Western-style interpreter. His training is not limited to the language. A good part of the training is to study the culture and history of the language and countries in question. In Switzerland, this would be a combination of Slavic studies plus interpreting school.

He worked first for the secret service and then in the free economy.

After training as an SAP consultant, he was a managing director for companies in various industries, primarily in Central and Eastern Europe. 

Experience from many years of living in Central and Eastern European countries as well as the command of several Eastern European languages – Russian, Czech, Slovak – allow him an independent view on political and economic processes around the respective countries.

René Zittlau’s topics

René Zittlau is deeply concerned about the rapid deterioration of the geopolitical situation. He wants to use his expertise to help build bridges. 

His contributions very often are based on history. He will thus focus less on the geo-economic field and more on the geo-political aspects of our world, with an emphasis on Russia, the country he loves as much as I do.

Besides the geo-political topics, which are not always an easy fare, we will also share little anecdotes from Russia in the future.

Mr. Zittlau will publish his first article with the title on the topic of religious war in Ukraine in the next few days.

I warmly welcome René Zittlau to Voice from Russia!