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, we introduce Vincent Bolloré, a French billionaire and media tycoon. He’s best known for building a powerful media empire and for reshaping editorial lines across French media and publishing, pushing them toward far-right and pro-Kremlin positions.
1/25
Born in 1952 in Boulogne-Billancourt to a family of industrialists, Vincent studied law at Paris Nanterre University. He took over the family business and turned it into a sprawling conglomerate spanning logistics, port infrastructure in Africa, advertising, and media.
2/25
Bolloré’s African logistics empire also became the subject of a long-running corruption investigation in France. Legal proceedings against Vincent Bolloré personally are still ongoing, with a trial planned in December, after a judge refused to approve a plea deal.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll introduce an American conspiracy theorist, podcaster & antisemite, Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO). She’s best known for spreading conspiracy theories, attacking Ukraine, promoting pro-Kremlin BS, and becoming a favorite of Russian state media.
1/21
Candace started her career as an intern at Vogue magazine but later moved into political commentary. Her early career focused on criticizing Republicans, calling their antics “bat-shit crazy.” In 2016, her blog even published an article about Trump’s penis size.
2/21
That same year, she launched a doxxing website called SocialAutopsy. In response, people began posting Owens’s personal information online. During the controversy, she gained support from figures such as @Nero and @Cernovich. And just like that, she became a conservative.
In today’s Wumao Soup, we’ll talk about Taiwan, the sovereign country the Chinese Communist Party insists is not a country, but constantly threatens to invade just like a country, while the “antiwar” crowd is eagerly encouraging them to start that war, endangering millions.
1/20
Taiwan is a country, a state. It has its own territory, government, army, police, courts, taxes, passports and elections, just like any other country.
The only difference? Its neighbor, imperialist China, wants to invade it, and other countries try to please the big bully.
2/20
Taiwan’s official name is the Republic of China, or ROC. The ROC was founded in 1912, after the fall of the Qing dynasty. The People’s Republic of China, or PRC, was founded by democidal dictator Mao Zedong and his communist party, in 1949, after fighting against the ROC.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll introduce Russian propaganda operations around military targets like Starobilsk. For over a decade, the Kremlin has used similar strategies, combining crisis actors, “independent journalists” and fabricated evidence.
1/13
First, let’s go back to 2014. Russia funded separatist groups and sent its mercenaries to Donbas, which led to the creation of two puppet states, Donetsk and Luhansk, governed by Russian propagandists and soldiers like Igor Girkin.
The fake genocide was touted as one of the main reasons for Russia’s war during the early stages of the full-scale invasion, and the claim was made even by Putin himself. Before his mutiny, late Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said that all this was fabricated bullshit.
In this 9th Debunk of the Day, we’ll discuss “legitimate military targets”. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine, with no declaration of war, hiding behind a “special military operation”. Yet vatniks & useful idiots pretend Russia has any legitimate or lawful targets in Ukraine.
1/8
Russia started the war in 2014 by seizing Crimea with unmarked soldiers, “little green men”. Russians have been waging an undeclared, illegal war with endless war crimes ever since, whether it’s kidnapping of Ukrainian children with genocidal intent…
… the concentration camps for Ukrainians under occupation, conscripting Ukrainians from occupied territories, or the terrorist, deliberate bombing of civilians, including their infamous “double tap” strikes.
So no, Russia does not have any “legitimate targets” in Ukraine.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce Hasan Piker, a Turkish-American streamer and millionaire. He’s best known for his champagne socialism, rabid criticism of the US and Israel, support for the Soviet Union and for Chinese and Russian invasions, and for mistreating his dog.
1/20
Born in 1991, Piker grew up in a privileged and well-connected environment. His father held senior roles at big corporations and his uncle, Cenk Uygur, is the founder of The Young Turks media network. He graduated cum laude from Rutgers, a top-tier university in New Jersey.
2/20
His main activity and primary source of income consists of hours-long livestreams on Twitch where he comments on news and yells at videos. He also keeps his dog in place the whole time with a shock collar.