Immediately following the 9/11 attacks, several fake Nostradamus prophecies circulated on the internet claiming the 16th century seer had predicted the crisis. In addition to reflecting clear fabrications of Nostradamus prophecy, the 9/11 fakes also included apparent elements of Baba Vanga prophecy. Baba Vanga (d. 1996) was a Nostradamus-like Eastern European mystic who is “extremely popular in Russia”, and who according to Sputnik News, predicted the 2000 Kursk disaster, the 9/11 attacks, and even Vladimir Putin’s succession of Boris Yeltsin (Sputnik 2010). Continue reading “Faked False Prophecy: Clear Eastern European Influence on the 9/11 Hoax Prophecies”
“Nostradamus Ratios”: Why is Russia an Outlier?
I just presented on the attached paper (and a poster of my political model of Russian conspiracism) at the 13th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (ICCWS) which was held at National Defense University in Washington DC. The paper is based on a 2017 analysis of Google ‘hit count estimates’ (HCEs) for 38 news sites and 38 top level domains (TLDs) (two separate investigations) in order to test my theory that Russia employs the concept of Nostradamus and similar ‘prophets’ in a way that is different from the ‘West’. HCEs are a ‘webometric‘ which can potentially be used for conducting quantitative social science research on the internet.
(We are allowed and encouraged by the publisher to post these to personal web pages following the conference. )
Continue reading ““Nostradamus Ratios”: Why is Russia an Outlier?”
Marxist Dracula meets Vlad the Impaler and the Propaganda Men
I wrote this paper about the connections between Russia and Dracula a year ago and thought I would get it published. It was kind of just an interesting ‘spin off’ of my research on Nostradamus. Now I lost interest in revising and publishing it, so it is for the blog.
Since I have written this, I have made some advances in my theory and personal understanding of anti-Semitism and antifascism. You may find it somewhat ‘primitive’ compared to my more recent analyses. But the nuts and bolts hold true in my opinion.
Marxist Dracula meets Vlad the Impaler and the Propaganda Men:
Dracula as Strategic Communications about Russia
Abstract
Vlad Tepes, also known as ‘Vlad the Impaler’ and ‘Dracula’ was a 15th century Wallachian warlord whose brutality was immortalized in the stories of contemporary European publicists. These stories were brought to Russia and became the basis for Russia’s first belletristic text: “The Tale of Dracula”. The 16th century Russian Tsar Ivan IV (a.k.a. ‘Ivan the Terrible’) was a critical figure in implementing a cohesive Russian mythology, and he was equated with many stories formerly related to Dracula. The first English-language book which combined the concept of vampires and the historical figure of Vlad Tepes was Karl Marx’ “Das Kapital”. There is evidence that Marx influenced Bram Stoker’s conception of Dracula as a character. In the 20th century, film-makers have developed the concept of Dracula in ways which may undermine Stoker’s arguably Russophobic and anti-Semitic context while also introducing 16th century Russian mythology and modern geopolitics to the vampire story.
Keywords: Dracula, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Third Rome, Propaganda, Russian History
Continue reading “Marxist Dracula meets Vlad the Impaler and the Propaganda Men”
Fascism and Antifascism: Just Russia playing both sides?
There seems to be pretty good evidence that Russia exploits the extremes of our modern US political system in order to damage the establishment center (“playing both sides“) in ways which reciprocally advance Russian political and military interests. In a nutshell, this dialectic model of conspiracism forms the basis for my working theory of so called “active measures”.
I present to you that we should look to parallels in history to see this has quite likely happened before — specifically in the case of German fascism and Western antifascism.
Continue reading “Fascism and Antifascism: Just Russia playing both sides?”
It is pretty obvious that Charlton Heston was a Kremlin “Culture Warrior”
The late Charlton Heston has frequently been associated with “culture war”. Heston died in April 2008, but in the final years of his life, he was known principally as a staunch right wing gun rights activist, and former long term president of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
In 2013, appearing on Alex Jones’ Infowars in a segment devoted to ‘rebut[ting] the desecration of Charlton Heston’s memory‘, frequent guest Ted Nugent said:
“Charlton Heston knew the culture war was coming before any of us did, Alex”. (@6:40)
Continue reading “It is pretty obvious that Charlton Heston was a Kremlin “Culture Warrior””
Rebutting Russia Insider’s Take on Anti-Semitism: You Left out Russian Anti-Semitism
I read Lucien Wolf’s enlightening 1921 book: THE MYTH OF THE JEWISH MENACE IN WORLD AFFAIRS or THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FORGED PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION as part of my research into the correlation of eschatology with conspiracy theory and anti-Semitism. This is by far the most authoritative debunking of The Protocols which I have read. You should read it too (it’s free at Google Books and may take you only 30 minutes).
In the controversy which is surrounding the widely condemned recent Russia Insider article (cached version) : “It’s Time to Drop the Jew Taboo”, I feel that calling attention to the very nature of modern anti-Semitism as having been in large part engineered by Russia is important. In this same vein, it is also important to highlight how the article is just another rehashing of the idea that being conscious of anti-Semitism as a real thing is some kind of racism.
Orson Welles and Erika Cheetham as Kremlin Agents
In writing a revision of a paper, I am forced to cut a big section. However, I think it is good enough to post here. This is an expansion of sorts of the biography of Orson Welles and Erika Cheetham I did in the paper “Russian Active Measures and September 11 2001: Nostradamus Themed Disinformation”. There is quite a bit I could add to this, such as my recent blog on “F for Fake”, or that the huge 1982 anti-nuclear peace rally which Welles was a prominent guest at was clearly inspired by the pioneering 1930’s era peace rallies organized by his political mentor Louis Dolivet. Dolivet had been an inspiration of other prominent figures from the rally, such as Lord Philip Noel-Baker. 1983 FBI reports suggested the rally had been influenced by Soviet active measures at the “highest levels“.
To me, given the Soviet infiltration of the peace movement, and his proximity to multiple “cells” of Russian spies (including peace movement figures), this is all pretty compelling evidence of Orson Welles being a Russian influence asset over time (less so for Cheetham to be honest). But maybe you have a different idea?
Continue reading “Orson Welles and Erika Cheetham as Kremlin Agents”
F for Fake – Anti-Fascist Russian propaganda attacking Howard Hughes (and the post-Holocaust art community)
Noting a story about counterfeit Modigliani paintings in the news today, I recalled a bit of research I had done on the film F for Fake, which deals with forgery of Modigliani paintings as a superficial subject. It is time to blog it. In my ‘expert’ opinion, this film is a clever piece of Cold War-era, Russian-inspired, anti-fascist propaganda. Ultimately the film serves as a vehicle to launch ‘legal’ (and carefully worded) smears at the characters of Howard Hughes and the ‘art expert’ community at large. Perhaps I feel guilty to say it is a fantastic and entertaining art film. (See the below if you only watch a moment of it.)
The Politics of Russian Nationalisms
I just finished reading this declassified October 1991 CIA intelligence assessment about Russia which emphasizes the relationship between conservative nationalism and Russian Orthodox state ideals. The document highlights the close interplay between anti-Semitism and Russian nationalism. It even accurately (and presciently) describes the Russian rationale behind the Crimea invasion, framed in the context of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Eurasianism (p. 16/23). This perspective seems useful in describing what post-Communist Russia has become, as well as the generally reactionary stance of the Putin regime. It can also go a long way towards explaining the propaganda from the 9/11 (September 11, 2001) timeframe of anti-Semitism and Nostradamus as being revanchist-Russian in origin.
Orson Welles’ “The War of the Worlds” Radio Hoax was Inspired by Antifascist Foreign Propagandists in 1930’s Hollywood
Here’s a summary of a new research paper I am working on about the ‘mythical’ Orson Welles‘ “The War of the Worlds” Halloween broadcast of 1938 that I think a lot of people will find interesting. (Let me know if you have questions or would like a reference list.)
The book “The War of the Worlds” was published in late 1897 by H.G. Wells, a British author and political commentator. In the final months of World War I, H.G. Wells was was in charge of all British propaganda directed at Germany. Following the second World War (WWII), Sir William Stephenson, who headed up the British Security Coordination (BSC) which was a predecessor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and who was also a real life model for Ian Fleming’s James Bond said of Wells:
“H. G. Wells became a good friend and adviser. The public knew him as a historian and prophet in fiction. Few knew about his passionate belief that in the science-fiction wars to come, our first line of defense would be information, rapidly conveyed.”