In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American propagandist, Florida Man and ex-cop, John "Badvolf" Mark Dougan (@RealBadVolf). He's best-known for his battle against the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, and for his propaganda work for the Kremlin.
1/21
Before he became a grifter for Moscow, Dougan worked as a cop. He actually wanted to be a super cop, and in his first job as a small town cop he wrote more traffic tickets than the 11 other officers combined.
2/21
But all this was too boring for an ex-marine wanting to get in on the real action, which is why he transferred Belle Glade, Florida, a hotspot of criminal activity and the HIV capital of the US of A.
3/21
But Dougan had anger management issues, and he constantly ran into trouble with his colleagues. In 2006, he pepper-sprayed an off-duty officer, costing the county a 275 000 US civil judgment. In 2009, while working at his new job, John was accused of sexual harassment by...
3/21
..a female officer. The accusations ranged from inappropriate comments of sexual nature to repeated unwanted touching. In 2013, the case was settled out of court.
At some point he also realized that his colleagues were brutal and ruthless (and they actually were) with...
4/21
...their police work, so he decided to publish dirt on them on FB. Years later in another job - again out of spite against his fellow officers - he launched several websites where he'd smear his old colleagues and where people could share dirt on local authorities.
5/21
One of them, PBSOtalk.com, became a popular forum for leaking damning information. But he also used his various websites to spread fake news and doctored documents. According to Dougan, "A fake-news site is nothing without real news", and he used this strategy...
6/21
..on his websites, mostly publishing factual news and the adding some BS in between - a tactic commonly used by fake news blogs such as Zero Hedge.
In 2015, Dougan lured a general contractor into sharing information against his enemies over recorded phone calls by faking..
7/21
..being a woman called Jessica. The problem was that he couldn't share these calls with anyone without breaking the law, which is why he created a fake Russian hacker persona, Badvolf. He then created a website where he published all the recordings under his new pseudonym.
8/21
After this Badvolf started publishing personal information on federal agents, prosecutors, cops and judges. He'd gathered and combined the information from open sources and databases. Eventually FBI confiscated his computer, after which Dougan fled to Toronto, from where...
9/21
..he flew to to Moscow, leaving behind an angry (now ex-)wife and two children.Few years prior,Dougan had started visiting Russia regularly & on one of the trips he met with Putin's confidant,Pavel Borodin.His collaboration with the Kremlin probably started around this time.10/21
The Kremlin has utilized Dougan's notoriety in the US in a very effective way. He's shown as an Edward Snowden-type of figure, who is persecuted by the FBI for his "whistleblowing activities". RT even made a documentary, "Breaking Bad Wolf", about Dougan.
It's shit.
11/21
John has been attempting to monetize his silly antics in various ways. In 2018, he published a book with the most ridiculous title which I just shorten to "Badvolf".
12/21
In the book he claimed, that it was actually him who received the "DC Leaks" from "whistleblower" Seth Rich, and put them up online. The leaks were actually an operation by Russian hacker group/GRU intel unit Fancy Bear.
13/21
In Mar 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, Dougan claimed that he'd go to Ukraine to "prove" the existence of bioweapons labs. The idea of these labs originated from a QAnon supporter, and was then picked up by trustworthy news sources such as RT, Sputnik,...
14/21
CCP-controlled Xinhua, and the Russian embassy in Sarajevo. And of course Tucker Carlson together with Glenn Greenwald.
In Jul 2022, Dougan interviewed a British-born prisoner of war, Aiden Aislin, a clear breach of the Geneve conventions.
15/21
In Mar 2023, Dougan, together with Mike "iEarlGrey" Jones, appeared on state-owned national TV channel, Zvezda, to talk about their humanitarian (read: propaganda) project in Donbas Oblast in Ukraine.
16/21
Twitter user @cossackgundi discovered, that John had also appeared in a propaganda video while wearing a mask. Cossack referred to it as a "pro-russian freakshow", and I agree with this statement:
Dougan has an active YouTube channel with around 50k subscribers. His videos propagate the Kremlin narratives and also usually blame the West for hypocrisy, war crimes, and probably Satan worshiping. He also visits other podcasts, probably just to earn a living.
18/21
My "Man in Moscow" had two comments about Badvolf: first, he said that "Everyone says Dougan can't go 5 minutes without bringing up his trips to donbas". His second comment was that "he'll say anything for a few rubles".
19/21
To conclude: Dougan is just one Kremlin mouthpiece & "RT correspondent" in the big swarm of paid shills. Most of these pathological liars are trapped by the propaganda factories like RT, since they're own channels have been demonetized and they can't get a job anywhere else.20/21
With charges of extortion and wiretapping hanging over his head, he probably won't ever be able to go back the US. Until then, he'll just have to publish videos on how great the supermarkets in Moscow are.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Swiss/French writer, Alain Bonnet, aka Alain Soral (@officielsoral). He’s best known for his rabid antisemitism and for his pathetic support for all the worst authoritarian regimes from Russia to North Korea.
1/22
Alain’s childhood was problematic, as his father has been characterized as a “narcissistic pervert” who beat his children and did jail time for fraud. Alain himself has said he was “programmed to be a monster.” Born Alain Bonnet, he took the stage name of his sister,…
2/22
… actress Agnès Soral. She wasn’t too happy about this, commenting “How would you like to be called Agnès Hitler?”. Like many grifters, he became a pick-up/seduction artist writer, à la late Gonzalo Lira, writing books and even making a B-movie, “Confessions d’un dragueur”.
3/22
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.
1/24
Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.
2/24
Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.
1/23
Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.
2/23
One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.
1/20
The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.
2/20
From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian politician and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergey Kiriyenko. He’s best known for running both domestic and foreign disinformation and propaganda operations for the Kremlin.
1/20
On paper, and in photos, Kiriyenko is just as boring as most of the Kremlin’s “political technologists”: between 2005-2016 he headed the Rosatom nuclear energy company, but later played a leading role in the governance of Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.
2/20
What is a political technologist? In Russia, they’re spin doctors & propaganda architects who shape opinion, control narratives, and manage elections — often by faking opposition, staging events, and spreading disinfo to maintain Putin’s power and the illusion of democracy.
Let me show you how a Pakistani (or Indian, they're usually the same) AI slop farm/scam operates. The account @designbonsay is a prime example: a relatively attractive, AI-generated profile picture and a ChatGPT-style profile description are the first red flags.
1/5
The profile's posts are just generic engagement farming, usually using AI-generated photos of celebrities or relatively attractive women.
These posts are often emotionally loaded and ask the user to interact with them ("like and share if you agree!").
2/5
Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.