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 REBREW, I’ll introduce a Russian ultra-nationalist propagandist and “philosopher”, Aleksandr Dugin. He’s best-known for his blueprint on Russia’s geopolitical strategy and for his genocidal rhetoric towards Ukrainians.
1/17
In my first Dugin Soup, I covered the man’s 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics — a manual for dismantling the West, breaking up NATO, and building a Russian-led empire. In it, he makes eerie “predictions” that seem to be playing out today.
2/17
Dugin called for destabilizing the US by exacerbating internal divisions. Fast forward to today: culture wars, conspiracy theories, far-right lunatics, and social media algorithms doing half the work for him.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Russian propagandist Sergei Tsaulin. He’s best-known for spreading pro-Kremlin narratives in Estonia, fleeing to Russia after breaking several laws in Estonia, and almost getting blown up by a bomb in St. Petersburg.
1/17
For years, Tsaulin was known for organizing marches and events glorifying the Soviet Union. Under the excuse of “remembering history,” these events were nothing more than Kremlin propaganda, wrapped in a red flag with a hammer and sickle.
2/17
One of his most infamous events was the “Immortal Regiment” march, held every 9th of May, where people carried portraits of Soviet soldiers. These marches are used by Russia to push the idea that the Baltics owe their existence to the Soviets.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Joe Rogan (@joerogan). He’s best-known for launching the biggest podcast in the world, promoting various conspiracy theories, his support for Donald Trump and his anti-Ukraine rhetoric.
1/22
Joe Rogan started as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s, found fame on NewsRadio, and became a household name with Fear Factor. But his biggest impact came in 2009 when he launched The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), one of the first major podcasts.
2/22
JRE started as casual but deep conversations, often covering countercultural topics like psychedelics, MMA & hunting. Joe’s podcasting style is largely non-confrontational, often allowing his guests to share their views without significant pushback or critical questioning.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce KOOS party leader and Estonian crypto businessman Oleg Ivanov. He’s best known for running shady businesses, spreading Russian false narratives in Estonia, and participating in the pro-Kremlin political party KOOS.
1/18
As a talented youngster, Oleg learned Estonian almost flawlessly, was a promising karate athlete, and landed a job at a law firm at just 20. He caught the eye of Estonian fuel entrepreneur Endel Siff, who quickly took him under his wing.
2/18
Oleg’s father, Vladimir Ivanov, was a longtime politician from the Russian-funded United People’s Party of Estonia. His career at the town hall ended abruptly when he was caught drunk at work. After that, he went into business with his son, Oleg.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about the takeover of social media by illiberal, populist influencers. For the last ten years, social media has been dominated by these voices and it is one of the main reasons for the political rise of people like Trump and Orban.
1/25
“Illiberal populists” like Trump reject democratic norms while claiming to speak for “the people.” They centralize power, attack institutions, and push nationalism over rights. Elections exist, but checks & balances erode. This is democracy in name, autocracy in action.
2/25
The media landscape has changed drastically over the past two decades. The Internet and social media have changed how we interact online & how we consume media,but it has also become our main source of news. In many ways,social media companies have control over information.