Thread by @ZarinaZabrisky

💣 💥💥💥⚡Thread and article: How the #Kremlin used biker clubs as a #hybridwar tool to influence #Midterms2018. #bikersfortrump #Putin's bikers, #SunnyIsles
medium.com/@ZarinaZabrisk…

Spetsnaz bikers & professional politicians & security services behind them. Bonus: #Trump at a calligraphy museum, a chainsaw, Cristian Zionists, Russian Orthodox bikers, Chekh German shepherds, Miami birthtourism, a plane on the North Pole, and a bar called Suck Bang Blow...👇.

1. The Kremlin uses Russian Orthodox bikers also known as “Putin’s bikers” as para-military pro-Putin forces domestically and internationally since at least 2012.

2. The leader of this biker group, #Zaldostanov, is close to #Putin and other government officials and has received grants, awards and honors from the #Kremlin.

3. #Zaldostanov is also connected with former and functioning Russian military special forces officers, secret service agents and Russian government officials who own or owned Trump-branded luxury condominiums in Florida.

4. These Russian state employees/Miami real estate investors teamed up with a Russian-American police officer and founded and ran a Russian-American biker club in Miami.

5. The club bore a Russian special forces (KGB/FSB) name and logo, had a branch in Moscow and communicated with “Putin bikers” and their leader. Their members had a right to carry firearms.

6. The Russian-American biker club founders were/are connected to the real estate agents working for Trump and his family in the US and Russia, participated in soft power projects run by the Russian Consulate in Washington D.C. in 2015 and 2016.

7. Family members worked as real estate managers for Elena Baranoff who was closely connected to Trump and his family, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Mikail Babel who worked for Deripaska and Kalmanovich, the KGB spy turned oligarch close to Putin and NY OC.

8. 💥 In June 2017, the club was dissolved a few days before an expose in a US publication came out and caused a scandal in Russia and the US. miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

9. In 2015, a former Washington D.C. employee registered a biker group Bikers for Trump as a Delaware limited liability company with undisclosed members.

10. The founder had the experience of working for the election campaigns of a former Vice President, Secretary of State and a presidential candidate whose family members lobbied for Putin’s ally.

11. He was also closely related and worked together with a prominent long-time Evangelical Christian active in the coalition that ushered Trump to power.

12. The Bikers for Trump group has an agenda that directly mirrors that of Putin’s bikers club and appeared at events sponsored by Putin’s supporters like Alex Jones of Infowars and attended by Russian-loving neo-Nazis.

13. In August 2018, this club announced that its members were to “step up rallies across America in time for midterm elections.” They are promoting a strong pro-Trump and anti-Democrat campaign for midterm and the 2020 elections, pushed by the Russian bots on the social media.

14. On August 11, 2018, the anniversary of Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Trump hosted Bikers for Trump at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

15. Many publications reported on the Russian government officials and organized crime members purchasing the Trump-branded real estate. reuters.com/investigates/s…

16. I wrote a detailed report on Trump’s history in Florida. medium.com/@ZarinaZabrisk…

17. Outstanding independent researchers covered Spetsnaz in detail: Wendy Siegelman @WendySiegelman, DW @dark_wisdom, Jay McKenzie @JamesFourM, Venture Capital @kelly2277. I might be missing some research and it is not on purpose: a lot of great work is done by great people.🙏🙏

18. The focus of the article ☝️ is not money-laundering or organized crime but the #hybridwar, in particular, the #Kremlin’s weaponization of money, religion and culture (or, in this case, subculture) and the establishment of complex networks of agents of influence.

19. According to the Atlantic Council, para-military groups “carry the markings of Kremlin-oriented special operations:

creation of localized networks;
organization of loyal agents of influence within a targeted state.”

20. Nationalistic, ultra-patriotic and orthodox religious ideas are combined with the Law and Order concept and packaged in gang-style attire and props, often complemented by hard rock music.

21. The narratives of a national hero, a savior, a strongman, Robin Hood — a just criminal — justify the behavior of the tyrant and enables him to break the law and commit crimes in the name of the people. The appeal of slick uniform, power, speed is used to glamorize the power.

22. The religious sentiment is added to sanctify the power and add the exciting feeling of crusade to the movement. The underground culture is weaponized without being physically suppressed. This is one of a signature KGB tactic.

23. "During the later stages of the hybrid war, these units can be mobilized for combat. In Crimea, similar networks were used to facilitate the illegal annexation of the peninsula." Biker for Trump told Fox & Friends that the intention was to create a “wall of meat.”

24. The Kremlin often experiments on the Russian people before exporting the hybrid war method to the international arena. The Night Wolves is a precursor to the failed Spetsnaz, a more successful Bikers for Trump, and other groups that mushroom in abundance in today’s America.

25. It is critical to remember that the hybrid war takes place in the minds of people. When the behavioral patterns of individuals and masses are changed, the whole society is changed — and can be usurped. byline.com/column/83/arti…

26. As #MollyMcKew states in a program article #GerasimovDoctrine, “the shadowy puppeteering at the heart of the [Kremlin’s hybrid war strategy] also makes it inherently fragile. Its tactics begin to fail when light is thrown onto how they work and what they aim to achieve."

27. It is up to each citizen to take time to get educated on the hybrid war situation by reading and fact-checking, and, once the information and the sources are verified, share it widely via social media and in person.
In other words, read, check sources, think, share. ☝️☝️

28: Bonus pictures. What do Trump and calligraphy have in common? What is a Chainsaw Gang and how is it related to Evangelical leaders? What do George W.Bush, Bob Dole, Elizabeth Dole, Dan Quayle and Colin Powell have in common? Read the article...