‘Hot Russian Trash’
As Russian agents of influence in Europe are convicted and exposed, I’m revisiting my archives for a fact-based refresher on how Western traitors are doing the greatest damage and how we undo it
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In Europe, Russian agents of influence are finally facing consequences — it’s late, but it’s something.
On Friday, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, pleaded guilty to bribery charges relating to pro-Russian statements he made in European parliament. Gill admitted to eight counts of bribery between December 2018 and July 2019, taking money from pro-Russian agents.
He admitted to writing opinion pieces that benefited Russia, as well. Echoes of Mike Flynn taking money from Turkey cutouts and then writing an op-ed favorable to Erdogan, before registering as a foreign agent retroactively.
Gill had multiple meetings with pro-Russian leaders in 2018, organized by Kremlin agents. Gill has close ties to Nigel Farage — dating back more than a decade — from UKIP, Brexit Party, and Reform UK.
In addition to Gill, ex-MP George Galloway was detained on Saturday at Gatwick airport. Galloway, who Dave Troy referred to as “hot Russia trash,” was on his way back from Moscow when he was stopped, questioned, and detained under Schedule 3 of the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act to determine whether he was engaged in “hostile activity.” A former RT and Sputnik presenter and founder of the Worker’s Party of Great Britain, Galloway injects pro-Russian narratives, including support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, into the British political discourse under the guise of anti-imperialism.
In addition, Russian intelligence is being exposed for its recruitment of teenagers on Telegram across Europe to carry out acts of espionage and sabotage using financial and emotional manipulation. The latest arrests occurred in the Netherlands, as two Dutch teenagers were arrested on Friday on “suspicion of state interference” with ties to Russian spying.
The 17-year-olds were contacted by pro-Russian hackers on Telegram, and were caught using a “wi-fi sniffer” — in an attempt to hack wi-fi networks — in front of Europol, Eurojust, and the Canadian Embassy in the Hague.
As these stories break, I have been documenting the Department of Homeland Security’s twitter feed, which continuously promotes pro-Russian agents of influence — Americans who have taken money from cutouts linked to Russian military intelligence — whose narratives match Russian propaganda under the guise of “conservatism.”
So as Europe and the UK take action against Russian agents of influence, the US knits closer ties to Putin’s fascist mafia state.
But the overt pandering to traitors within also offers opportunity for greater awareness on how this works.
Take a look at my Hot Type column from December 22, 2024, where I remind people that America is just one of the countries being targeted with hybrid warfare:
I document 22 countries that have been targeted by Russia to manipulate election outcomes, in an interview with Dr. Michael MacKay, a geopolitical analyst who worked as an election observer in Ukraine.
He wrote the following list, documenting examples of Russian violence and active measures in what he describes as the first decade of World War III:
Chechnya: In two wars and invasions, Russia destroyed the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
Moldova: Russia invaded in 1992; Russia put its puppet Vlad Dodon in power in 2016; Maia Sandu defeated the Russia faction in 2020 and 2024; “Transnistria” remains occupied by Russia
Belarus: after a fraudulent election in 2020, Belarus under Alexander Lukashenka became a Russian puppet regime, part of the so-called “Union State of Russia and Belarus”
Georgia: Russia invaded in the early 1990s, grabbing Abkhazia; Russia invaded in 2008, grabbing Tskhinvali region (so-called “South Ossetia”); the pro-Russia Georgian Dream party seized power after fraudulent elections – it is the faction of the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, a prominent member of the Putin-Kremlin crime syndicate
Ukraine: Russia falsified the 2004 election to make Viktor Yanukovych appear to win – the Orange Revolutions forced a repeat run-off election; Yanukovych was finally put into power by Putin and Paul Manafort in 2010; the Revolution of Dignity of the Ukrainian people (November 2013-February 2014) led to Yanukovych fleeing Ukraine; on the same day Yanukovych fled – February 20th, 2014 – Russia invaded Ukraine
United Kingdom: Russia illegally financed the “Vote Leave” campaign and tipped the Brexit referendum so the UK crashed out of the EU in 2016
Netherlands: Russia sponsored the GeenPeil referendum against the EU and against Ukraine – the pro-Russian side won
Italy: Russia sponsors the Northern League political party, which has at times been part of the governing coalition
France: Russia sponsors Marine Le Pen and other far-right political parties
Germany: Russia sponsors Die Linke (far left) and AfD (far right) in Germany
Hungary: Russia sponsors the Orbán regime that is in power
Slovakia: Russia sponsors the Fico regime that is in power
Romania: Russia sponsors far-right/populist candidates that are doing well in presidential and parliamentary elections now
United States: the Soviet Union and Russia cultivated Trump as an asset since the 1980s; Russia completed elite capture of the Republican Party by 2016; Russia decisively manipulated elections in its favour in 2016 and 2024; Russia sponsored the insurrection of January 6, 2021; Russia exercises reflexive control of the richest oligarch in the United States, Elon Musk
Kazakhstan: Russia invaded in January 2022 after violent protests turned into an anti-authoritarian movement; Kazakhstan remains a country that has never enjoyed democracy but it cannot be considered a firm Russian ally
Armenia: Russia maintains a sovereign base at Gyumri; Armenia’s membership in the Russia-led CSTO turned out to be useless when Azerbaijan re-occupied/liberated Nagoro-Karabakh
Venezuela: the Russia-backed Nicolás Maduro regime has falsified elections and clung to power to prevent the re-establishment of democracy
Syria: Russia started a bombing campaign against the Syrian people in September 2015; Russia backs the Assad regime without limit in order to crush the Arab Spring
MacKay explained that the United States for Russia is just another campaign. And that to Russia, Trump is just another Yanukovych. They even had the same groomer in convicted felon Paul Manafort, who worked to install both men into power.
“Russia is always at war, but it’s clear when it comes to conventional warfare, they’re not very good at it,” MacKay said.
It’s important to see the patterns of Russian-sponsored trickery: referendums, malinformation campaigns, third party spoiler candidates, misogyny targeting women candidates, oligarchs funding politicians, narrative warfare driven on virtual battlefields, well-funded domestic propagandists delivering pro-Russian, anti-Ukraine narratives, while wrapped in the flag of their respective countries to obfuscate intent. Poisoning the democratic wells to disengage voters leading to low voter turnout, which makes its easier to manipulate extremist results. Poisoning and defenestrating opponents of the regime. Assassinations and hacking…
America is surrendering its future, by not looking toward other countries to see the pattern and perspective of Russia, I wrote at the time.
By capturing the executive branch, they capture the administration and installing someone like Trump loyalist Kash Patel to head the FBI means the FBI becomes NKVD, MacKay told me. He believes Americans are woefully unprepared for the decapitation strike that is coming. Reading reports like the new Spotlight on the Shadow War: Inside Russia’s Attacks on NATO Territory by the US Helsinki Commission could offer Americans clues, which documents how Russia’s sabotage campaigns have accelerated since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In understanding the global attacks on democracies and seeing how other countries are actually convicting agents of influence, it could embolden American lawmakers to take action against these agents.
As I have written many times, Moldova actually fought back against its Musk-like oligarch and Russian interference, which the small country is again facing today as Russia strikes on multiple levels to influence its election outcome.
Other countries know how to deal with treason, as Brazil, Ukraine, and South Korea have proven.
I have repeatedly evidenced in my work that Putin is waging war against the West.
And it may take some getting used to, but media in the US can no longer straight quote this administration. Kash Patel may have a title, but straight quoting anything he says is a dereliction of duty.
As we look further over the waves and see other countries admitting publicly that they are under attack by Russia, and convicting agents of influence, it should become easier for citizens of those countries to defend themselves against interference.
“It gets over that initial mindset of denial of ‘it’s not happening here,’ and government and media and institutions and businesses and ordinary people actually take those essential steps to protect themselves and to build up that societal resilience, which is the biggest tool in protecting yourself against Russia,” Russia watcher Keir Giles told me in 2023. “So the first step, anywhere, is just admitting and recognizing the problem.”
In an interview with the commander of the Georgian National Legion in Ukraine, Mamuka Mamulashvili, he told me that Americans have no inoculation against Russian disinformation and the English-speaking agents of influence delivering pro-Russian narratives.
Particularly, if they’re telegenic and use Jesus as a prop.
But for people like Mamulashvili, who spent time in a Russian prison camp when he was 14-years-old and has been fighting Russians for 32 years, it’s easy to spot the lies.
Today, they’re generally coming from the White House.
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