I consider myself a neutral party when it comes to Scott Ritter and Gonzalo Lira. I know they had a dust up last year that ruptured whatever relationship they had previously. I have known Scott a lot longer than Gonzalo and consider him a friend. Being a friend does not mean you never disagree. Some will recall that Scott and I had different views on the importance of the U.S. supplying Himars to Ukraine in the summer of 2022. Scott insisted it was a “game changer” and I said it was not. I think that subsequent events support my side of that dispute.
So now Gonzalo Lira is missing and Scott is accusing Gonzalo Lira of being an intelligence asset (or agent) of Ukraine’s intelligence service, the SBU. I decided to weigh in on this contrived controversy after receiving the following email from one of Scott’s followers (a gent named Bruno):
Scott explains that all of those who responded or participated with Liras Roundtables would have had been compromised by the GRU. When Lira was released on bail he was clearly 100% under the watchful eye of the GRU. I may be misunderstanding your point, but do you seriously believe the GRU weren’t closely monitoring him? Patrick Lancaster also casts doubt on Lira’s torture story. Lira has no military training, smokes multiple packs of cigarettes a day, appears woefully out of shape and yet magically he can survive being tortured with no visible effects? No way. The GRU owns him.
Regards
Bruno
Well, I appeared on several of Gonzalo’s Roundtables and am not, to my knowledge, compromised by the GRU. Sort of tough to be compromised by the GRU when I am in Florida rather than Ukraine. I would note that there are at least a dozen folks, like Brian Berletic, Alexander Mercouris and Ray McGovern, who also were frequent guests on the Roundtables and none of them have been compromised. When I am interviewed I say what I believe. I am not beholden to any intelligence service or person. Just myself.
You can read Scott’s allegation against Gonzalo here. Scott has no evidence — e.g., documentation, eye-witness, foreign intelligence report, etc. — to support his claim that Gonzalo is a SBU asset. All Scott offers is guilt by association and speculation. He writes:
Gonzalo Lira was arrested by the SBU, or Ukrainian intelligence service, on April 15, 2022, and released five days later. Lira has been circumspect about both the arrest and the conditions of his release—he blithely calls it his “missing week.” Lira does acknowledge that his computers and phone were seized by Ukrainian authorities, and that he was released under conditions of “house arrest,” implying some sort of continued monitoring and control of his activities by the SBU. Nonetheless, he was able to gain access to a computer, set up a new email account, and immediately begin posting information critical of the Ukrainian government.
There is only one logical explanation for this chain of events. Gonzalo Lira was arrested by the SBU for crimes he himself admits gets people arrested, tortured, and murdered. He is released five days later—unharmed—and immediately allowed to resume the exact same activity that led to arrest in the first place, only this time on a computer and email account controlled by the SBU.
This is a classic “catch and release” scenario, with Gonzalo Lira playing the role of “police confidential informant”—someone who provides information in exchange for lenient treatment. There literally is no other plausible explanation for what happened other than this.
I am really shocked by Scott falling into so many logical fallacies. He is a highly intelligent person. But his claim that, “There is only one logical explanation for this chain of events,” is ridiculous. Gonzalo Lira has never admitted that his actions got people arrested, tortured or murdered. His podcasts before his first arrest concentrated on debunking much of the Western and Ukrainian propaganda being circulated about Ukraine’s fantastic “successes” in defeating the Russians. Remember the Ghost of Kiev? How in the world does Gonzalo “serve SBU” interests by repeatedly exposing Zelensky and his military chiefs as liars? If that is really the “plan” of the SBU, it helps explain Ukraine’s failures on so many fronts.
I have an alternative explanation for Gonzalo’s first arrest — he pissed off the Ukrainians and they wanted to shut him up. Only one little problem — Gonzalo is a U.S. citizen and a Chilean by birth. The SBU could beat him, torture him and shake him down for cash, but his profile in the West was sufficient to give them pause in executing him. So they let him out.
I challenge Scott and anyone else to explain how Gonzalo was operating as a “police confidential informant?” Who was he ratting out? All of the Round Table discussions were public. Nothing in secret. I have no knowledge that Gonzalo, when he was not doing a Round Table, was galavanting about in Kharkiv trying to identify Ukrainians who favored Russia. If that was his mission (assuming he was a SBU “agent”) then why in the hell would the SBU arrest him again and send him away for 9 weeks? If you have an active, effective confidential informant you do not pull the plug on them like this.
While I never recruited or managed an intelligence asset while at the CIA, I did have several confidential informants working for my consulting business as we investigated money laundering by major tobacco and liquor companies and product counterfeiting. This included members of drug cartels. So I do have a good understanding of what you look for when you are recruiting someone who is either going to filch secret information for you or who is going to introduce you to guys operating under a cloak of secrecy. Gonzalo Lira does not fit any of those categories.
So here is my recommendation. If you have some actual evidence that Gonzalo is an SBU asset, then bring it forward. Otherwise, keep you opinions to yourself. If it turns out you are wrong then you are guilty of unfairly and unjustly smearing an innocent man.
Scott Ritter should know this better than anyone, given his history of being targeted by the FBI and entrapped. I know that he wants folks to give him the benefit of the doubt regarding his past run-ins with Federal Law Enforcement. I think he should extend the same courtesy to Gonzalo Lira.
My reply to Scott Ritter’s latest attack on Gonzalo Lira.
Mr. Ritter, your pedantic’s reek of the Donbas’ GH Eliason’s fearporn hit piece just three days rior, “Gonzalo Lira Why I Stand with Scott Ritter and Eva Barlett.” His clickbait title is misleading and he misrepresented Eva Barrett’s public statements concerning Lira. You then proceed to assert that Ukraine’s CCD “Info Terrorism” pronouncement’s are legit and Val did basis for his arrest, when in fact they violates international law, and Lira, as a reporter, broke no criminal laws. Attached below is Lira’s 5/22 response to your outrageous and uncorroborated allegations which was the basis for His termination of the relationship with You! I am ever more convinced that you are controlled opposition and a gatekeeper seeking favor. By the way, given that. You have historically referred to Gonzalo Lira with the slander “Gonzo” and a former “Lifesyle Coach”; would it be fair to attribute you to being a former convicted sex offender that’s served time and susceptible to blackmail in order to gain favor and tow the line?
https://youtu.be/OkMOc4jydOg
2 points
1. His own Spanish Wiki exposes in an interview for his book Acrobat he told the newspaper in 2002 that he’d “worked for the CIA for 10 years.”
2. GL wrote finacial anlysis up to w2014 then stopped – the same year Crimea was reunifed ith russia & the US0inspired coup in Kiev. He refers to himself as [quote] Red Coach Pill . He’s a confidence trickster. See Wilshire Boulevard a book he crowdfunded for attracting 155 backers & realizing 143% iof his goal that he never wrote – but did not REFUND any of the money!!!
(Forgive the cuss words, the presenter of this vid is extremely angry at being conned as it was a book he wanted to read)
PPP – MIRROR – Willshire Boulevard Gonzalo Lira’s Scam 7th October 2020
https://youtu.be/xR3tuUE-qY0
Gonzalo has said many things I disagree with. However, there is no evidence he is a SBU agent. Scott’s baseless conspiracy theory is delusional.
Ritter has been scrubbed from YouTube… and who controls YouTube… ?
Need any more proof the US/ZATO NeoCon Cabal wants Lira to remain in the alt-media-verse and Ritter to disappear?
Ignore what is said, judge by what they DO.
Is it possible that the Ukraine’s got wind of Gonzalo’s scar removal the book and shut him down?
I listened to scott ritter last year on an interview. When he stated that he was disapointed that after the war the allies did not fully implement the morgenthau plan which herbert hoover said would starve 25 million germans to death i quit listening to him. will leave it at that.
regards,
ralph
I heard Scott Ritter’s rant last night about GL, Larry, and Brian B. He sounded unhinged, like Prigozhin. I lost respect for him. His emotions were out of proportion for the topic under discussion.
I think perhaps he is what he accuses GL of being, part of the Western psyops. A sleeper activated. I no longer trust him. What he did was very damaging.
My personal feelings.
my opinion and we all have them is that ritter is a classic grifter. Unless I am wrong; during his recent tour of russia this year he never went to the donbass where all the action is.
the grifters (1990)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099703/
Cut it out. Scott may be wrong in his assessment of Gonzalo Lira (or not), but he has been superb on so many other issues, and whether or not he traveled to the Donbass, he has interviewed a number of Russian fighters in the Donbass and given Eva Bartlett, who is there, a supportive platform.
His trip to Russia was to promote his book.
Furthermore his years of experience and service have been superb.
@ed
Scott is competent (not superb) is few things, and incompetent in everything else (like most of us). In some things he is a mere baboon, and that got him arrested, twice (unlike most of us).
He should stick to what he knows, and not initiate shitshow by attacking someone that can not defend himself.
You need to use “superb” few more times, to make everyone aware of his greateness. You should also let him perform a surgery on you, because he has been superb on so many other issues.
Delusions of grandeur strike again. He didn’t even become proper celebrity. Maybe he wants more attention.
Agree with observation of emotionally driven hyperbolic rhetoric. I also quit listening to Scott Ritter due to multiple self aggrandizing statements within otherwise insightful commentary. His earlier arrest and conviction is public record. At this point I am not so sure if he is helping or polarizing.
Scott Ritter wrote:
This is a classic “catch and release” scenario, with Gonzalo Lira playing the role of “confidential informant”—someone who provides information in exchange for lenient treatment. There literally is no other plausible explanation for what has happened”.
My comment:
Scott Ritter has a point.
However he overlooks that Gonzalo is a US citizen and that the US authorities are informed about his arrest.
It would look very bad if a US Citizen were tortured or killed in the hand s of the Ukrainian SBU.
I believe that is the reason why he was “only” beaten up by ”fellow prisoners” and then released by the SBU, after 2 months of imprisonment.
It is a way to intimidate Gonzalo to stop uploading videos which are unacceptable to the Ukrainian Junta.
After he has been re-capture at the Ukrainian border the same process will repeat, until he folds.
When he gets a second chance to escape (and he will) he should check his luggage and motorcycle for GPS transmitters, and get rid of his Mobile phone.
Since 2014 all cars and Motorcycles produces for the EU Market must contain GPS positioning embedded within the vehicles ECU.
You can’t remove it without canceling the Ignition system.
The built-in GPS positioning transmitters are accessible by both the Producer of the vehicle and intelligence agencies. Thus the SBU can track him wherever he goes.
Gonzalo should sell his expensive German BMW motorcycle and buy an older East European motorcycle.
Does anyone here think the US gov’t (more likely the Nuland NeoCons) give a rat’s behind what happens to Gonzalo Lira? As long as the SBU doesn’t decapitate him on YouTube, the NeoCons would be happy another alleged pro-Russian agitator was quietly disappeared in the fog of war, US citizenship be damned. They allowed (encouraged?) various US-backed dictatorships outright kill less effective, yet annoying US citizens without as much as a peep, so why is GL so special?
Answer: He isn’t, except perhaps as a wedge to break a growing, strong alliance of investigative commentators revealing the truth behind the NeoCon lies.
Did Ritter over-react? I would say yes. As my (heck EVERYONE’S) Mom used to say, “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar”.
Time will tell if GL is as he claims, or compromised at some level. But the destruction of a cohesive truth-machine is underway.
Kiss and make up boys, Lira is not worth the disruption. If he’s as much a media-hog as it seems, I’d be looking well beyond the surface.
Exceptional claims require exceptional proof. Lira is selling a narrative, an image, how true is it? Ritter thinks the SBU plays for keeps, and several dead Russian commentators show that hit list is real. Lira is on the list, they had him in custody, how did he “escape” with his passport in hand?
Lira a personal friend of Nuland? I think not… unless…
Do you have any proof of this embedded GPS tracking system mandated in EU-sold motorcycles? Having ridden for over 40 years and keeping an eye for such things this is the first I have heard of it.
If true, sobering indeed, but I don’t see the manufacturers taking on such a massive data-hog task, for what purpose? Not like smart phones where they can monitor all your data, the bike system would only tell them where you went and when. Which your cell phone already tells the powers that be… all they need is your phone number.
Many European Automotive producers has been installing GPS devices in high end cars for more than a decade.
I know of cars from 2012 which came with GPS tracking installed.
However since 2022 all vehicles sold within the EU must have location tracking devices.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7376227/EU-plans-fit-new-cars-location-tracking-devices-black-boxes-2022-amid-privacy-row.html
So I you want to escape while in Europe, buy an old vehicle.
Here it is from the horses ass (sorry, mouth).
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:L:2021:409:FULL&from=EN
Not at all the scenario you presented. Thin edge of the wedge to be sure, but not 100% reported or even reportable to gov’t or spy agencies. GPS is passive technology, does not report any data to the satellites, so mobile phone or other satellite connect would be required… who’s gonna pay for that for every new car or truck in the EU?
And BTW, the classes mentioned in that regulation, M and N, are passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles respectively. Motorcycles (any vehicle with less than 4 wheels, not including light 4 wheelers) are Class L.
“GPS is passive technology, does not report any data to the satellites, so mobile phone or other satellite connect would be required… who’s gonna pay for that for every new car or truck in the EU?”
Yep, a SIM card is required. I knew a truck driver that would mess with tracking device his bosses installed. He would pour something in it, and pretend that he has no idea why it malfunctioned.
A P says
Does anyone here think the US gov’t gives a rat’s behind what happens to Gonzalo Lira?
My comment:
Gonzalo Lira´s case is already a hot potato for the US Government.
If Gonzalo received any harm, it may raise political calls for ending US funding to the NAZIs in Kiev.
AP says
Why is GL so special?
My comment:
Because he is a US citizens with free speech.
He is connected to influential media People in America.
He is working as a Journalist, as has a large segment of internet followers.
There is already a major Alternative media interest about his fate.
If he is killed, his death will go viral on Main stream media.
He is a (dual) Citizens of Chile. So if The US Government will not take action to free Gonzalo, the Chilean Government could raise the case before the UN Human rights commission.
As if “citizenship” and “free speech” rights amount to anything with the US gov’t or any of their other vassal states. The UN Human Rights Commission? You REALLY believe that… like when Saudi Arabia was given the chair right after chopping a US journalist to pieces? That UN HRC?
Ask Assange about all that.
OF COURSE Lira’s death “would go viral”… who controls the MAINSTREAM media? The US gov’t has proven it will get the MSM to bury ANYTHING they don’t want the public to know… like Hunter’s laptop. Or falsely claim things they want the public to know, like Russiagate against Trump.
Try searching Gonzalo Lira and any major MSM outlet (MSNBC, CNN, FOXnews) I did and it found NADA. There’s no there, there.
Lira was a minor player in a relatively small alternative media pond, him being “disappeared” by the SBU would be a non-event in the MSM UNLESS the US wanted it not to be. And WHY would the US make an MSM fuss about someone who spent his time revealing info the US didn’t want revealed?
Ask any of your “I support the Ukraine” acquaintances if they ever heard of Lira. For even more blank stares, ask any US citizen who only follows the MSM narrative if they heard of Lira… I bet crickets.
Only time will tell if Ritter or those who believe Lira is an innocent victim are correct. My spidey senses say Ritter may be on to something here.
True that it might look bad if Gonzalo being a US were to be tortured or even killed but lets not forget that countless of American citizens have been killed by the Israeli Defense Force and nothing has ever happened to the government of Israel. As far as I know this trend of Israel killing American citizens began with the attack on the USS Liberty which killed over 36 Navy sailors during the 1967 War, Rachel Corrie in 2003, Furkan Dogan in 2010 on the Mavi Marmaraa and just last year with the American Al-Jazeera reporter Shareen Abu-Akleh. And what happened to Israel in these killings of US citizens and others that I didn’t mention? Nothing. It was business as usual after a talk with whatever Israeli government official. What that tells me is that if it’s a client state that is crucial to US interests, there will be a small fuss but that’s it.
So long as the SBU or whoever is sending big money to his wife and children who cares he is a grown experienced man of the world obviously doing things and happy with it leave him alone I personally think that the SBU has succeeded in getting you all to cancel each other out well done SBU unfortunately.
@ Jesus Aguilar
I agree with your point of view regarding the Bandit state of Israel.
However the Gonzalo Lira case is different, as I explained above.
Stephen Kelly says
So long as the SBU or whoever is sending big money to his wife and children who cares.
My comment:
First, you don’t know whether anybody is sending money to his wife and Children.
Second, most People in the west care if humans are Tortured and killed by government agencies.
Third, they will demand that their government stops supporting a Junta operating outside international laws.
Stephen Kelly says
I personally think that the SBU has succeeded in getting you all to cancel each other out, well done SBU.
My comment:
The SBU haven’t succeeded in anything but terrorizing the Ukrainian and western Population, while exposing themselves and the Zelensky Government in Kiev as the worst Nazis since WWII.
“… as the worst Nazis since WWII.”
Ustashe managed to get away with crimes of 1990s, and get complete whitewashing. I’m not shure if that counts as being better or worse Nazis. Donbass ethnical cleaning operation plan was based on what those Nazis (and NATO) did in Krajina and Slavonija.
Ustashe were expelled 1945, right with their Nazi comrades – Chetniks. Those are also in serve of – UK colonialists.
However: 1990s – Chetniks descendants burned alive more then hundreds of civilian people in Višegrad, Bosnia. as a part of system ethnic cleansing. It could be direct inspiration for Odessa Nazi massacre 2014.
And I didn’t even mention Srebrenica… so please buzz of with your Serb-nazi Goebbels agit-prop.
Chetniks served UK colonialists, and their king was in the UK. That puts them on the side of Allies, aka anti-Nazis side. Ustashe served Hitler, just like Banderites, and Bosnian Muslims, and Albanians. Just like Banderites, they were never expelled, and were supported by USA since 1945 (ratlines, and terrorist attacks, and the whole shebang). All of them got fully reactivated in the 90s to recreate their Nazi states, and do their Nazi stuff again (which they did with glee). Modern day Nazis serve NATO and USA. You are one of them. Denying that sounds ridiculous.
You are even using the same script, and talking points. The thing is, people are getting awake to CNN lies. No one here is falling for them. You got in bed with the devil again, and got too much blood on your hands again. You can’t wash it off by talking nonsense. There could even be slight probability that Putin just might be comming to denazify your sorry ass. Chechens could come too. Guess what they’ll do to Naser Oric (the real butcher of Srebrenica, that recently bragged about presenting thousands of his dead combatants as civillians, as NATO does all the time).
You can mention any CNN fantasy story you want (Bucha, Merkale, Srebrenica, Allepo, …). It doesn’t matter any more. The whole narrative is breaking down. How long would it take until USA throws you under the bus, just like all its servants? Will you try to switch to Russian side, and pretend nothing happened, like in 1945?
I agree with almost all parts of your comment but I must clarify that my wish is that this poor woman and her children need a breadwinner and since I don’t know anything about how much Mr Lira was spending on them and if it’s true that he was robbed of a large amount of money by the SBU his wife and children no longer have a breadwinner so the SBU should turn over all of his money to his wife so that she can look after his children.
Now I used to traipse around the world for my father doing what was asked of me and my biggest worry was always how my wife and children were getting on as communication then wasn’t as easy as now luckily being Irish I had a large extended family to look after them if anything went wrong I hope Mr lira left them well provided for like I did. You seem to have some spare misplaced anger to visit on me I apologise if that is so anyway That’s all she wrote.
Can we just move on? 400,000 Ukrainians are KIA and 60,000 have lost a Limb. 10% of that are Russians or 40,000 KIA and 6,000 without a Limb. Julian Assange is still in prison and our own country has become a FASCIST STATE! Joe Biden is a CRIMINAL and the Butcher of Ukraine is now threatening Niger! We’re bombing Civilians again in Syria and threating War with China. Poland is on the Border of Belarus. American Mercenaries are DEAD. G.L. is a Chilian citizen too and put himself in Ukraine just like our American Mercenaries. Why isn’t this Chile’s problem? Law punishes Crime, (or it used to) life punishes Stupid. I have no patience for STUPID or anyone sacrificing their lives for Joe Biden. Just like my Dad told me about Crooked Joe in 1977. Rude, Crude, and Corrupt who calls his own mother a BITCH!! Which means I DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ONE GUY!! Shut up!!
Speaking of one guy/gal…….I just wish someone would explain to me what that Nuland character stands for.
Is she FOR or AGAINST coup d’etats in foreign lands?
Nuland is for anything that will allow her to sate her violent psychopathic urges on the pretext of diplomacy. That obnoxious skank has produced nothing of worth, and our diplomatic corps will take years on end ( if at all ) to recover from her destructive behavior. She must have the AV goods on all of them because she slaps them around at will and they are too cowardly to tell her to calm down. Her foreign counterparts will have to step up to the plate at some point soon and ask DC for someone else with minimal diplomatic skills or simply forego her malodorous presence and get on with negotiations themselves without her and her sidekicks.
Yes, I’m much the same with “I love Pinochet” and “I hate Bandera” on the same page. There has to some fancy mental juggling going on, but it’s beyond my pay grade. It is either total shallowness, or something far worse.
The fraud Triangle is a concept that explains why workers/management commit fraud at a workplace. Nuland’s workplace is all over the cookie-place. This triangle consists of three elements responsible for fraud – pressure, rationalization, and opportunity.
It is the “self rationalization” capacity that intrigues me — and why a professional audit perspective helps. Too bad there are not more good people working on the geo-politics of it. We might get less organized crime and more public peace. I guess, like not so bright Madeleine Albright, they think it is somehow worth it.
It’s neither logical nor practical to say that 440,000 killed soldiers means we can ignore the fate of 1 valuable man. It’s people like Gonzalo Lira who are working to end the slaughter. And you ? It’s good you bring up Julian Assange. Yes, we have to do whatever we can to protect Julian Assange and other truth-tellers like him. It’s an absolute necessity for sooo many reasons. . Your rant isn’t coherent. It doesn’t lead anywhere and has a mix of grievances . Looks like you will just sit and seethe, which certainly isn’t good for you, and doesn’t help fix the world. Too much anger can paralyze. Your anger is justified of course, but maybe a little less emotion and more thinking could get better results.
This essay is Larry Johnson at his finest. Gonzalo Lira needs defended right now by as large a crowd as possible. Larry was very cool-headed and laid out everything clearly, trying to clear the waters, and saying only what’s necessary and with compassion. I hope I can keep to his high standard.
How insightful. I do, in fact, sit and seethe. One can’t do anything else when they’re paralyzed. And I lost my humanity and “cool-headed” mind when the USA lost theirs. USA willing causing genocide to my family kinda does that to someone. All I can do is look at the inhumanity of the USA gov’t using 400,000 lives to push their hatred. Everyone one of them matter. Yeah, it’s personal because no one did anything before and does nothing again except proclaim, “we’re all humans here”. No, we not. We haven’t been for a long time. I lost my sense of reason watching my 9 year old nephew live an excruciating life from the consequence of Agent Orange only to die unexpectedly the same week I lost my 33 year brother to another American bioweapon. Yes, that caused me to lose my mind and realize my own gov’t ceased to have any sense of Humanity quite a long time ago. They grant none to us, yet we grant endless portions to them. I’ve been in plenty of psychiatric units attempting to end my life from the enormous pain I can’t get rid of. I’ve seen plenty of wackos and homeless vets. They’re were plenty a lot saner than G.L. with a better haircut and cleaner teeth! Nice you have less emotion. Perhaps a privilege unaffected life. Lucky you. I use every cent I have to give to those fighting the good fight on my behalf because I can’t. Perhaps its better that way. But I am sure doing something other than proclaim “The Pale Horse” has any “humanity”!
“Resentment is like taking poison and expecting your enemy to die.” Nelson Mandela
That’s never going to happen.
“Prostate cancer, like a lot of other cancers is caused by resentment.” Dr. Norman Walker
Yes I saw your name handle so I’ll repeat, “like a lot of other cancers.”
Hey, I like You. Chill though. As much as you can afford…
There is a saying, that only two kindz of peeps understand the ebb and flow of history: jews and those, that grok what the jews are trying to accomplish. The rest is pretty much flotsam.
…and I am not a jew.
There is NOTHING surprising here. Upsetting – sure.
Look at it this way: there is nothing much you can do about the abundance of mosquitoes, the industrial “solutions” are pretty much counterproductive. You can invest in some screens for your house though, wear protective clothing and use other such local tricks. Isolate.
…and chill…😉
Deep Thanks to WWDaughter7
Yes, Mindfulness for our needs and yes, thoughts and feelings without judging them as good or bad…
You have touched us deep in our mind, thoughtfulness words that help heal pain that is currently repeated in history…
Thanks again for your kindness !
I am sorry for your brother’s death and for your nephew having to live with the horrific consequences of Agent Orange, probably the carcinogenic dioxins.
I have a little less emotion than you, it seems, but that’s because I have been at this anti-war business for many decades, starting with the Vietnam War. I started out angry, having Vietnamese friends and knowing some of the horrific details of how America did brutal genocide on the first peoples. I’ve lived through decades of asking myself “What’cha gonna do?” and I’ve tried a variety of things. Alongside my main business of stopping wars, sometimes I tried and succeeded in having a normal life with a family and a couple of careers. I have always been damn lucky in life, and the only difference between me and most people like me, is that I am fully aware of my good fortune and how the razor-thin edge between an easy ride and a very hard life can come randomly and sometimes unexpectedly. Some of my tuition came at a high price, while other lessons were free for me – but not for the people who provided those lessons. I suppose my foundation is stoicism and compassion. Over the decades, I’ve found a long list of things that don’t stop wars, and why those things don’t work. It’s priceless to know about the snares and the dead-ends. I have a much shorter list of things that might work and which I/we need to try. That’s all beyond the scope of this page.
I hope for the best for you. It sounds like your family is your community of support, and I hope you build strong two-way roads with them and with like-minded people outside your family. It’s a trivial but still very true statement that most of us are all in this together. It’s just that most people don’t realize it. So that’s one task in front of us.
One last item. It really helps to recognize that the world is in a moral battle. So it helps to distinguish friends from enemies, and, when possible, to not create new enemies. This perspective gives you goals and ideas about what to do. A small personal example: At demonstrations in 2006 protesting the invasion of Lebanon, a few activists were burning the US flag in their anger. I had a cool head and asked myself, “What would Israelis hate the most ? US flags being burned, or US flags which show American solidarity with the victims of Zionism ?” With a little nudging from the Zios, the MSM easily dismisses a few angry “crazies”, but American solidarity with Arabs is taboo, taking a path the Zios can’t afford. So I brought several stars and stripes to the demo, and people Americans and Arabs alike – were thrilled to carry a flag. I know two Arabs who carried the US flag and had suffered greatly, unlike most Arabs who are economic migrants. You have to understand that the stars and stripes flag are like the “Tommy Hilfiger” logo on clothes: As a marketer said about the clothes logo, it’s aspirational. It’s not about where we are, but about where we want to get to. If the stars and stripes are not on your menu, that’s fine, but my point is you need goals and at least a rudimentary roadmap of how to reach your goals.
FAR MORE than 60.000 UKR lost their limb(s) , many are quad amputee and many more WIA left in battlefield listed as MIA.
The 60.000 are the number ADMITTED by UKR media.. the reality is FAR FAR worse
It is pretty hard to “move on” when someone, anyone has been subjected to the fascist whip. Like all those people you mentioned. It isn’t time to lose our humanity quite yet.
I’m pretty sure I saw in Wiki that Gonzalo was born in Burbank, CA. I was listening to Gonzalo’roundtables and I understand that he’s in Ukraine to be close to 2 young kids after a divorce from a Ukrainian woman. Ukraine is a peculiar place and for all I know, Gonzalo paid a bribe to be released the first time around and Ukrainians can be in awe to hold up an American while begging the US for money. What I find puzzling is Gonzalo broadcasting his border crossing to 2 million views on Twitter, that’s darn crazy but a broadcast is a safety net against of ending up an undocumented corpse in the nobody’s land. Scott should not attack like that, it’s inappropriate on so many levels.
He is not attacking GL. He is trying to save Yaall some grief.
By your logic, your gov’t should be able to just kill someone because a lot of people are dying somewhere on the planet. I have news for you – lots of people are always dying, and gov’ts are always wanting to shut people up. Who do you work for?
God.
so (your) God preaches to ignore the injustice of one because of the injustice of the many? I prefer a god with unlimited compassion and love for justice.
I granted you free will to choose light for yourself and gave you the Holy Spirit to guide you. I gave you a template and an example to follow in my humility. You failed. Now I have to send my Angels to intervene. I tend to the inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world, until the fall of The Beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its Destruction. And they cry with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And I will send an Angel down from heaven. He has great authority, and the earth will be illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he will shout: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!”
Nope.
Well said Ma’am!
We should never lose our perspective by focusing on a single tree in the vast forest. There are far more complicated factors influencing this Ukrainian situation than are plainly visible.
Pray for Peace, remember those who have died. 🙏
Agreed, this issue is defecting away from many more important things, and dividing the community that does not support the “official narrative”.
Perhaps that is the entire point of this saga…
“Can we just move on?”
No. Scott Ritter has to feed his ego, and beat someone that is down. That’s what being a marine is all about.
Gonzalo is US born. Letting down one of your own is what being Murican is all about.
Assange is a foreigner in a foreign land. Terrorizing him because of “US laws” is also Murican way.
“… and our own country has become a FASCIST STATE!”
Sorry to burst your bubble, but it was always one. You didn’t notice it because you were in the “top” part. Welcome to the bottom, there are no welcome cookies.
@WWDaughter 7
Gonzalo Lira married a Ukrainian woman, with whom he has children so he was not a war tourist. Sometimes with out there ideas, nonetheless he created a forum of bringing together independent analysts to exchange facts and thoughts trying to make sense of the war. I did not particularly liked him, but I respected his effort to contribute and he asked for help if he disappears – now he disappeared and it is imperative to help him to get out – Ukraine war runs on the narrative and PR of innocence and democracy. Do you really comfort others by telling them …well he/she was just one person, it is nothing to 400,000 others that died. [ you sound like certain liberals who care about welfare of anonymous strangers more than they care of their own family]
Thank you Larry. I was planning to reply to Ritter for this post: https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/gonzalo-lira-the-sbu-and-information?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=6892&post_id=135834405&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
I will.
First as he wrote it is “An Investigation of the Probable”…So no evidence.
Than he wrote: “The CCD defines “information terrorism” as “a Crime against Humanity committed by means of instruments affecting the consciousness.” In short, anyone who exercises his or her right to free speech can be prosecuted as a “terrorist” in the full meaning of that term… In short, anyone who is involved in the production of any information that runs counter to the Ukrainian narrative regarding the war with Russia is an “infoterrorist…If the many people who interacted with Gonzalo Lira, both before and after his April 2022 arrest, do not recognize this reality, then they are playing directly into the hands of the Ukrainian security services, because Gonzalo Lira is a Ukrainian weapon being used as part of a larger information operation being waged against everyone in the alternative media universe who produces content Ukraine might consider running counter to its goals and objectives in its conflict with Russia.” and “A critical aspect of employing “Hofstede Dimensions” to their full effect is the ability to develop a detailed behavioral model of the targeted groups and individuals. One of the most effective ways of achieving this is to have an operative insert an alias into a targeted group and/or community, HSOC has demonstrated the ability to carry out the following intelligence collection objectives:
1) Count the number and/or location of views (e.g., for YouTube video) or hits to a website to see if people have accessed the message;
2) Check online and/or collect SIGINT to see if a message has been attended to, understood, accepted, remembered, and changed behavior (e.g., people have spread the message and communicate support for it, people lack trust in the discredited individual/group/regime, people are delayed or deterred from an activity or interaction);
3) Count the number and significance of friends that an alias has, people who have joined the Facebook group, Telegram channel, people who have responded to a blog or post;
4) Analyze the content of communication between a potential source of online human intelligence and the alias to see if he/she is providing useful intelligence;
5) Count the number of times a potential source of online HUMINT initiates communication with the alias;
6) Check online and/or collect SIGINT to see if people have accessed uncensored material that has been made available to them;
7) Check online to see if hosts who have been asked to delete material have done so;
8) Count the number of websites taken down;
9) Check if an individual or group does allow their site to be hosted (unknowingly) by HSOC or Ukrainian intelligence.
Of course, another way of achieving the same objective would be to have someone on the inside operating in a similar role. This would be the ideal operational purpose behind the SBU using Gonzalo Lira as a controlled asset.” So… What’s about Ritter? Is he immune of this… I do not get it… Ritter have more followers than Gonzalo and many comment freely…The CDD and the CIA might have a lot to do and check…Ahahah! Actually, it is not funny… I am really upset by Ritter, by his opportunism…I feel quite disgusted… There is much more to say but I will stop here. It is two days that I think, read, read again his article… In a certain way, I consider that he is putting Gonzalo life at risk. Few will come and support his rescue… I am sad… Should Gonzalo Lira come out I really hope he will sue him…This “Investigation of the Probable” is simply atroce.
Sheesh, if we’ve gone full 1984 as you posit, then I’m following that Austrian gal Knesl to Russia on the first plane out of here.
I am too much of a neophyte to render any judgement , and a big Gonzalo Lira fan, which would probably color any opinion I have, but that “Hofstede Dimensions” stuff reminds me of this:
You Know Who Else Collected Metadata? The Stasi.
“Files obtained from the archives of the East German secret police show how the Stasi mapped social networks.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-stasi-spied-on-social-networks
It is sad to think that the US and/or it allies are now doing the same thing. (sigh)
Can you wait until the Fat Lady Sings! Meriem
Apple Watch records our farts. Samsung had secret cameras watch us watch TV.
IF THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT BENEFIT FROM SPYING AND TRAITORS it don’t happen.
For it all to work, the BANKS /Financial rats preselect the low IQ or compromised candidates for high/ low office. It that simple !
That’s why they hate Trump… all he needs is pussy squeezing and Real Estate deals. But …..he would never betray America.
It going to be lonely for him in the slammer if he wants to talk about rigged elections.
One thing is certain, there is now a controversy where there was none before.
I hope Gonzalo is okay. What Ritter has said on the matter makes some sense.
I am keeping an open mind.
What Mr. Johnson might do is to hash it out live with Mr. Ritter mano a mano. Just burry the hatchet for an hour. Then you dig it right back up if ya feel the need…
They are big boys, used to some colorful language, I am sure none of this is any new to either of them. Fuckin` Marines – right?
As to who am I betting on?
Well, the truth of course. Relevance and the big picture.
You said it!
Whatever the intentions, both thinking vectors are plausible AND the alternative media is now divided.
I tend to think it is obvious the SBU would grab the chance of fishing from the bucket, as we say, for data.
Larry is pretty much spot-on with Gonzalo Lira. Who would recruit him and why? More importantly, what information would he possess and what contacts does Lira have to make him useful in intelligence? There is simply more downside in disappearing Lira than letting him go. Torturing and killing a US Passport holder could be viewed as one of those unforced errors that could cost Ukraine the match with the American public. And if they did torture him, it was probably psychological: manipulation, sleep deprivation, bright lights to darkness, and loud noise or music.
“If they did torture him” ???
Gonzalo Lira said on his 3 Youtubes that he was tortured. I find it harder to believe that he was still alive, that that he was tortured. If you know anything about the Banderas, you would know that incredible torture has always been what they do. During WW2, German Wehrmacht officers were appalled at how the Ukro-Nazis tortured their victims before killing them. A bullet in the head yes, but chopping people with axes for hours on end ? It would ruin your day to hear the testimonies of how people were killed during WW2. Ukro-Nazis have tortured some Russian POW’s before executing them.
Gonzalo Lira says he was punched so hard on the sternum that it left a big bruise, which could kill some with a heart condition, which he has. And the white of one eye was scratched with a toothpick.
Read Lira’s statement describing the torture, it was physical.
Then why not deport him after first arrest? Why keep him in country?
I was puzzled by Lira’s actions. Not necessarily agree with Scott’s assessment, because I watched him on The Duran, too.
First, he was released early July: If he were terrified, why not try to flee asap.
He was release early July. If I’d been fortunate enough to be released a horrific place where I’d been tortured, arrested for a different point of view I’d have gone dark and tried to flee ASAP.
Would not contact anyone unless went to their residence ensuring not followed. Take subways or busses–not sure if Ukr has subways, etc.
Gonzalo didn’t even change his appearance, ie. for Gonzalo gone clean shaven; got a buzz cut, dyed or bought a wig; ditch the glasses or at least get a different style, and the motorcycle–my life isn’t worth calling attention to myself or a thing; tried at least to get to a Russian controlled area first. They’re all over.
I sure wouldn’t wait until the last minute, taking a lot of precious time to post on every social media platform announcing plans telling exactly where I was going, bragging about bank account fund amounts–his story how the SBU obtained his account info made no sense and if it doesn’t make sense it isn’t true.
I absolutely wish him no harm, just find the whole story puzzling.
A favorite tactic of indian police when they catch someone who is notorious ( low public sympathy, but high public sympathy in certain quaters eg. The minority ethnic group the person belongs to).
They catch a person let him escape while transporting him to court Or while transferring his custody to another jurisdiction.
As he’s running on his own volition or because you told him you will be executing him soon. He runs ( preferably with some public witness or witness which appear to be public but in reality are plants) the police shoots him, kills or injuries him seriously all in the back to prove that he was escaping.
That’s the easy way to dispose problematic people you don’t want to appear in courts.
I totally agree with you. There is more there than it meets the eye. I always thought that he was an attention seeker, his round tables a bit strange even though the guests like Larry were superb. Not sure what to make of everything, his latest posts betrayed a bit of sinister side and certainly insincere. To have tens of thousands dollars in the Ukrainian bank and make those noises- sorry next to impossible.
I was very skeptical about Gonzalo Lira after his arrest in April of 2022. But I watched all the videos and there is no doubt that this man knows stuff in detail and has instant responses. He is always too spontaneous and too well put-together for any agent, even the best of them, to do that. A real agent has to think twice before saying anything, and that’s not Lira. The man is genuine.
Having had the pleasure of meeting you once on one of the Roundtables I do have to agree.
The only type of agent that Gonzalo could have been would be an Agent Garbo type fabulist making up spies around the world.
I think the Ukrainians should have done what the Russians did to Bald and Bankrupt a popular travel video guy. Deport him. I suspect his being married and having kids might have made that harder. But thats really the proper solution.
Gonzalos value came from his being in Kharkov, as soon as hes back in Chile hes just another blowhard on the internet like the rest of us.
Now I do know that Gonzalo had shared his initial legal records with the Duran for Alexanders advice. Also the SBU took away his Telegram channel, which apparently was way more of a problem than his long form youtubing.
I suspect his criticism of various people in the USA is why he got arrested the second time. His specific allegations of the torture were to intense to be made up I think.
He should have not tried to cross into Europe but should have gone to Kiev and sought amnesty from the Chilean government. He would likely be back in his native country if he had.
Hi Larry,
I don’t think Scott is alleging, that Lira was ratting anyone out, rather by virtue of connecting with his guests via sending email links to them to join the Stream, it gave Intelligence Services a way in. You may say, they could do that anyway. Maybe. What Scott is really alleging is, that Lira was used to divide the Anti-War commentary community and by all accounts, it has worked.
Personally, there are far too many holes in Lira’s story to take events at face value, despite the fact that I enjoyed his commentary and Roundtables immensely.
All the best,
Rose
Well, if this divides the “anti-war community”, then it would be Scott’s work.
But more importantly, facing problems like this are a challenge with either helps build a community or else helps to destroy it. Larry is acting to build something.
“divide the Anti-War commentary community”
I really got a lot out of Gonzalo too. However, if you remember your World War II history, it could be cruder and more sinister than that. Back then they would let POWs escape, then follow them, to detect “RESISTANCE CELLS” within the Third Reich. Maybe they were hoping Gonzalo would do something similar?
I hope none of this is true and that Ritter is not correct, but who really knows???
I have to say I agree with you Rose. Does anyone remember when he said he crashed his bike? He said he cracked some ribs. Has anyone here ever cracked or bruised their ribs? I have and it’s one of the worst injuries to recover from. It takes a long time. It’s hard to sleep. It’s hard to breathe. Moving around becomes a science so as not to be in a position that aggrevates the pain.
But in his videos he seemed untroubled by it. Most recently he said he got a cracked rib while being tortured. Interesting. Now maybe he had enough time to heal but riding a motorcycle is the last thing you could do if you really had a cracked rib. I would know because I used to ride myself. Did anyone notice how pristine his bike looked in his last video?
Can someone clarify where his kids are. If memory serves I believe early on he said his family went to Russia. If so, hanging around Kharkov for family doesn’t make sense.
Anyway, if Ritter is correct and part of the plan is to fracture the alt word it was a smashing success. But Ritter is complicit in this with his rant. It only made it worse.
So we have Ritter, Barlett, Martyanov and Lancaster on one side and Johnson, Berletic and The Duran on the other. How much collaboration will be lost because of this? We’ll never know.
I learned from this comment the two different sides of this controversy…. Barlett and Martyanov being on the Ritter side and Mecouris on the Johnson side. Don’t know all the details of the arguments but am quite familiar with all of the protagonists. All are formidable in their own right with the London man being terribly cumbersome to me rambling at times.
I have not read Ritter’s hit piece but he also likes to hear himself talk. Something he posted in the past turned me very much off.
Although Johnson’s above piece is compelling, both Martyanov and Bartlett are not to be at all underrated, although I also have not read what they have said.
My take after seeing Lira around on several occasions was that he also liked very much to hear himself talk and often turned me off.
Lastly, I also cracked 2 ribs in a bicycle fall on the tram tracks in Sultanamet in Istanbul two years ago.
It was an excruciating hit to my body and I had to stay in a hotel for two weeks doing nothing in order to recover enough to get up and around.
Took months to get back to normality. Just breathing was terrible, an entire ordeal to get out of bed or try to move at night…. don’t wish it on anyone.
Whatever this guy is, he certainly pumps up the hype on himself.
My husband cracked 3 ribs in an auto accident AND his SACRUM was cracked from left to right. He had to be careful, but he moved around. Sacrum caused problems for awhile after it got healed up. but it is ok now. Gonzalo was laying down in weird positions when that happened.
People that get expert rhinoplasty often have chunks of rib REMOVED to use in the nose. They get around alright, but it hurts worse than the nose surgery.
How much collaboration will be lost because of this? We’ll never know.
Actually, I think we will know approximately, and as I said, this will be a test of character for all of us.
It is Ritter and Eliason that have “divided” the alt-media/anti-war community. It isn’t really divided, Ritter and Eliason have through their extreme position given an excellent reason that they should be ejected and shunned. Their actions have been ethically and morally repugnant.
AGREE. Not just that, but Scott is a computer illiterate.
I will tell a true story, but gotta be vague. Once, long ago. I was a spy, or watcher, but yeah spy :). Not on any gov. I had the occasion to sit across from and eat an amicable dinner with Fred Verduin or Verdiun (I forgot). He was a friend of my close friend, who had no idea I was spying. Odd encounter. I got no “vibes” from Fred. Years later, we found out he was CIA. Now, I don’t have to wonder if he knew I was spying. He probably did. SO WHAT? What chit chat was said over the dinner would have been said if I knew he was CIA. Who cares? My friend,however, finding out that his friend Fred was CIA – FREAKED OUT. Why?
FACT is that NOTHING GL did with Roundtable would inform anyone of what they already know since ALL these people were out in the open. And yeah, Scotty is a computer illiterate. HE IS BLOVIATING.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, whether you agree or not doesn’t matter. Free speech!
You’re doing exactly what the Dems do, trying to silence & cancel voices.
Couldn’t agree more; the money quote:
> I know that he wants folks to give him the benefit of the doubt regarding his past run-ins with Federal Law Enforcement. I think he should extend the same courtesy to Gonzalo Lira.
Scott Ritter claims Gonzalo Lira is a Ukrainian SBU asset, it’s the “only reason” they’d catch/release him…
By his own logic, Scott Ritter is also an intel “asset.” According to him, why else would they fabricate charges/release him? (This refers to the FIRST (2 times!) time Scott got caught looking for sex with a minor. He claimed it was a frame up. OH? How? But this first time they did let him go. WHY? NOT SO the second time he jerked off in front of a computer to a person claiming to be 15. These stings against pedos were on primetime TV. Yet the BIG intel expert got caught twice. That is the nature of that perversion: it is compulsive!) (NOT FABRICATED AT ALL)
Scott Ritter sex offender
Ritter was the subject of two law enforcement sting operations in 2001. He was arrested twice in 2001 after showing up for what he thought were meetings with 14- and 15-year-old girls. HE SHOWED UP! NOT FABRICATED.
He blamed his arrest on his criticism of the Iraq war. The charges were dropped. (!!! so he was an asset and was let go on THIS KIND OF CRIME?) HOW MANY TIMES DID HE DO THIS AND NOT GET CAUGHT?
Ritter was arrested again (3rd time) in November 2009 over communications with a police decoy he met on an Internet chat site. Police said that he exposed himself, via a web camera, after the officer repeatedly identified himself as a 15-year-old girl. He told the “girl” he wanted to have sex with her before sending her a link to his webcam and performing sex acts on camera. Ritter rejected a plea bargain and was in prison from Mar, 2012 until Sep, 2014. HOW MANY TIMES HAS HE DONE THIS AND NOT GET CAUGHT? THIS KIND OF PERVERSION IS COMPULSIVE.
Ritter was in an adults only chat room. Not where pedo’s hang out. Classic entrapment.
Have been following Gonzalo Lira’s troubles since they started. Nobody seems capable of jiving with each other do they? Suppose Gonzalo Lira is murdered? Then what Scott Ritter?
On a side note:
This is British war propaganda in case anyone else has seen this diatribe:
https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63903
See GH Eliason’s last two video posts on YouTube, also.
Yes, they are pretty convincing
Hi Larry,
Scott’s statement, “There is only one logical explanation for this chain of events. Gonzalo Lira was arrested by the SBU for crimes he himself admits gets people arrested, tortured, and murdered.”
I interpret this as Lira was arrested for “crimes” that would result in others being arrested, tortured, and murdered for committing the same offense. Not punishment for what Lira personally did.
You make a valid point about the SBU being hesitant to severely punish Gonzalo since he is a US citizen and is well known.
Best Regards,
Bill Osborne Jr
Come on, they don’t need to kill him or torture, just kick him out. What’s wrong with you people. Even a guy like Larry should know that that is a common practice with governments dealing with troublesome foreigners.
https://www.youtube.com/@LarryJohnsonFanChannel/videos
Is this your site, Larry?
https://sonar21.com/flaws-in-scott-ritters-speculation-about-gonzalo-lira/#comment-147184
I wonder how he explains Lira’s latest disappearance while trying to get out of the country.
As far as I know, nobody’s heard from him since.
I guess if Lira is never seen or heard from again, Ritter would be proven wrong. The latest disappearance is the most disturbing so far. I’d say it doesn’t look good for Lira. I hope I’m wrong. He was detained trying to cross the border to Hungary, I believe, and not heard from since. If he really was an “asset” they would have let him “escape.”
I also don’t think they have any reservations about making him go away for good either. Like anything else, it depends on who he pisses off. And if he might be useful as trade bait. If not, he’s likely toast already.
When Lira dissapeared for the first time, Ritter pronounced him dead. Ritter has as much info as we (meaning nothing), and is just making up stuff, again.
GL had said if he was missing for a few days, to expect the worst. Ritter thought it would bring pressure on the Kiev junta to either produce his dead body, or admit he was still alive by highlighting that Lira had claimed he could/would be murdered.
Lira has stated in his latest video that if he didn’t get into Hungary, to expect the worst, once again.
A boy can cry wolf once or twice before people treat their claims as meaningless. Gonzalo has form with the boy who cry wolf but who gets upset when Ritter claims he was killed. GL’s torture claims are ridiculous, broken ribs, bruised sternums and scratched corneas are not the recipe for driving around the largest country in Europe on a bike in summer sunshine. I’ve just had another operation yesterday morning, my 10th in 20 years after having my cornea scratched by a trained doctor who didn’t know exactly what he was doing. Imagine the damage what a dumb schmuck prison inmate with a tooth pick would cause.
As for GL being an asset, totally possible, but to what purpose, everyone on this site is known to the security sites, same as any other online activity. It’s no secret the majority of Western citizens absolutely hate the regimes that are always in power, making each nation poorer and dearer just for living there. Name one Western politician with a positive support, outside of Victor Orban? I had a good rant at the hospital yesterday about the shite service and complete lack or cohesion and co-ordination todays college boys can attain. I’ve been telling my government civil servants and senior politicians that we need Pol Pot to clear away the useless college boys right after the politicians and their sponsors.
The security forces are those useless college boys ffs.
I’m not sure if you are trying to deny or confirm what I wrote.
I wouldn’t agree that Ritter is making stuff up again, it’s more the case that Lira is making stuff up, again. I hope GL is safe and gets out, but he does ask people to make enquiries of him if he is not seen for a few days, and when people make enquiries about him, GL condemns them. He’s a prisoner of NATO intel services, he’ll do whatever they tell him, say whatever they tell him, and they are responsible for his actions and personal safety.
The amount of holes in GL’s stories of arrest and re-arrest and torture is BS, it’s an embarrassingly poor construct that has red flags from start to so far, and Ritter had nothing to do with any of it.
Hi Larry. I’d be interested in asking your opinion on the following point which has never been addressed by any of the popular truth publishers;
Lira has posted, multiple times, screenshots from Mirotvorets’ website that contained both his name and photo. For those unfamiliar with this website, it is a CIA funded (and probably administered) website with the words “Langley” on the top right corner of the homepage, listing persons that the CIA has approved for the SBU to assassinate.
Doesn’t Lira live in Ukraine? Hasn’t Lira been on this list for at least one year?
Uncomfortable? I think basic common sense wraps up this mystery fairly quick.
Have a good day.
This is exactly what I’ve been focused on in my appraisal of this character, Lira. So many red flags, the biggest being on the ‘list.’
Strange how no one dares to comment on this most significant evidence. To me, it’s blatantly obvious.
The fact this is a conversation means the Ukies won this battle.
Well played.
Funny how criticism is now condemned and nobody is supposed to say anything criticizing Mr Gonzo. It looks like this whole thread has become woke-woke. Everybody jumps in unision not questioning this man’s story and anyone that does is divisive. Freedom of speech applies to all of those that disagree. I am beginning to think the so called libertarians are just as screwed up as liberals and conservatives.
I totally agree. Of course nobody knows the absolute truth about GL, but we’d be mad not to question the situation. It’s very concerning that this totalitarian attitude is becoming so widespread.
@ Anna Zimmerman,
Agree 100%. Some readers here really need to work on their concept of other people.
SCOTT STARTED IT. THINK ABOUT THAT!
Exactly!
I agree with Scott Ritter. Even if Lira was not a SBU asset to begin with, I assume he is one now – and he possibly does not even know it. The Stalinist-type SBU is known to mess with peoples’ heads in ways that the western public would have trouble trying to understand.
Personally speaking, there was something about Lira which I did not like from the first time I saw him, and after hearing his stuff two or three times, I stopped watching him. Nothing he said was really incisive or meaningful. He seemed artificial to me. He may well have been an agent provocateur from the start. Some int on his Ukrainian girlfriend might help in understanding the situation.
That said, by the time Lira resumed his roundtable broadcasts (which I did not watch), I think that he was likely being used be the SBU – whether he himself knew it or not. In his video (which I saw featured on somebody else’s program) in which he was play-acting his escape to Hungary, his lack of genuineness is telling. Nobody acts like that if one is seriously trying to leave Ukraine, which is essentially a Stalinist-type dictatorship. He looked way too fat and well-coiffed for having spent weeks in an SBU jail (his jail-house stories were a crock of shit, too, as if the SBU does not itself abuse prisoners!).
That said, unfortunately there are a lot of alternative media types who mean well but do not have the necessary background to understand that we are in a war, as Scott Ritter rightly says. Blindly trusting Lira would be a serious mistake, in my opinion.
I hope that some people start waking up to the fact that they are allowing themselves to be manipulated by the SBU. The shit-storm against Scott Ritter, the most experienced and most accurate commentator on this war, is clearly in the interest of the SBU!
Perfect! Thanks Larry.
No evidence? No talky.
Lurking in our midst are the beast-men, whether XY or not, now plainly evident with US un-trained
https://twitter.com/SarahAshtonLV?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
declaring Russians are not human. It looks like this beast has clutched Gonzalo Lira, and announced it as official Ukraine spokes-beast.
As the SBU is a CIA cut-out, this is the kind of beast they operate, never mind old-fashioned covert what-nots. One possibility is Gonzalo Lira simply does not understand what evil he got into. That US un-trained beast is likely right now reminding him!
So how can someone actually help him? Opinions here have absolutely nothing to do with US un-trained Ukraine beasts.
So check :
WARNING – 18+ :
https://myrotvorets.center/
https://cpd.gov.ua/reports/
These are the lists Scott Ritter referred to, strangely never ONCE mentioned here.
That beast was announcing the first time when he dissapeared. It knew nothing about what happened, but was just collecting Internet fame.
Who is not mentioned there?
Have a look at the fictional 2018 film “Donbass” by the pro-Ukrainian director Sergey Loznitsa. In it people continually get shaken down by Ukrainian officials with guns, albeit in the breakaway republics. It’s not a huge stretch to imagine a similar state of affairs in Kharkov, with the SBU acting much like a mob extortion outfit, ostensibly secret police but willing and able to take hostages for payoffs. In a country as notoriously corrupt as Ukraine, bribes paid to kidnappers may better explain Lira’s releases from custody. Why he stuck around and drew unfriendly attention to himself after such narrow escapes may be a topic more for a psychologist than for an intelligence analyst. But since his so-called crimes amount to expressing opinions as a journalist, and a foreign national at that, expulsion seems the proper course for a lawful government to take, not detention and whatever goes with it for political prisoners in Ukraine.
I completely agree with you Larry, and Scott Ritter should be ashamed. I have listened to every minute of Gonzalo Lira’s youtube broadcasts for more than a year. We are all smart enough to judge someone by the body of their work and the character they demonstrate. The thought that Gonzalo was anything but courageous, truthful and sincere never crossed my mind. The is a hero, in terrible trouble, and deserves all the support we can give him. The questions I now have are about Scott Ritter, not Gonzalo Lira.
Courageous, truthful and sincere Lira may have been, as no-one is in a position to say definitively whether the speculation about him is true. But Lira was not a wholly nice person. He obviously got a real kick out of being deeply unpleasant to/about people, in a way that I could never imagine of, say, Larry, or either of the Alex’s. So the eulogies should be tempered with realism.
He’s a human being, which means he has flaws.
Naturally, but it is incumbent on sensible humans to note that some flaws are on the benign side, whilst others are indicative of something more concerning.
Sensible humans that can’t wait to join in stone throwing.
Hello Larry, and greeting from Germany.
Thank you, Sir. I find my self checking in at your site, with increasing frequency, and concur more often than not, with your take on “worldly things.”
Noting, up front, however, that there is nothing new under the sun.
Simply put, man’s law system is at war with God’s Law system.
Without going into a religious discourse here on your site, as I, thank the Lord, view the world through Him, Lord Jesus, and His Holy Word, you may find it appropriate and helpful to post a comment that I wrote, on another site (not to be named) a couple of days ago for your viewers.
In short addition to my comment below, I would like to add, Sinner’s sin, and without God’s Grace and Mercy in our lives, all that unsaved man can create, is a society of death, consider:
Romans 3:12
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Psalm 53:3
Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Psalm 53:1
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14:3
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Psalm 14:1
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
I leave it up to you, Sir, and it is in God’s hands:
Hello Greg, thank you, great job and greetings from Germany, brother James…
I am writing this, equally, for myself, as for you, your listeners and guests.
Also, while understanding, that there are no perfect Christians, and I am maybe the second-greatest heavyweight champion sinner of the world.
So, with that being said, here is my input, some thoughts:
The issues of life and death belong to the Lord, consider the first Adam, the fall of man, God’s judgement, His cursing or blessings upon us.
Unsaved sinners are not in darkness, they are darkness. Selah.
God does not love everyone. Consider:
Romans 9:13
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Malachi 1:2
I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,
Malachi 1:3
And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Greg, only God can turn the light on, and if He, God doesnot turn it on, it will not be, and/or can not be turned on. Selah.
We need to keep our spirit Greg, have patientce and be gentle.
Romans 8:7
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
God is love, and, among other things, Holy, Rightous, Just, Soveriegn, King of kings, Lord of lords, Lord of Hosts and none can stay His hand and say, what doeth thou? Selah
He, God is longsuffering:
1 Samuel 15:2
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
Psa 86:15
But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
Daniel 4:35
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
Thou shalt not kill, also means, thou shalt preserve life.
If any of us get healed in any way, shape or form, the Lord of Glory, Christ Jesus does it, as only He, God can do it, sometimes immediately, or through others, such as doctors, by giving them all their abilities.
Rom 2:4
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
2Pe 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Psa 80:19
Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Without going into a religious discourse here on your site, I will put a wall of a religious discourse.
Apparently you never heard of the Apostle Paul? Now, he was blessed, and could preach for hours. I love the Lord, His Holy Word, and each letter. I seem to recall a study that was done, involving unsaved sinner’s, which concluded, that such “humans” have an attention span of less than a goldfish, meaning, nine seconds!
Zephaniah 2:3
Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.
Does not matter if Larry or Scott is correct, SBU-Ukraine must be celebrating their huge win, taking focus away from all the importent stuff, the alternativ media, is attacking eachother over a this stupid case, HUGE WIN FOR MSM
You bouth call yourself intelligent officers or somthing like that, all you and Scott have done is play right into the hands of MSM, this with your stupid arguinging of what should be a tiny case.
Yes this is a information war, our fighters in this war, is Larry, Scott, McGregor, The Duran and channels like that, they are heavy outgunned bye the MSM, the Globalist. Sure Gonzo started this war, Scott took the bait, following up, taking the bait is Larry.
When both Scott and Larry act like children arguing in a sandbox, how the hell does our Fighters stand a chance against the Globalist MSM.
Im pissed at you both for not stopping this BS, that is splitting us that is supporting the truth. But when your outgunned in any war, picking evry darn littel fight , does not seem like a good strategy. I consider Gonzo a nobody in this war, but Scott and Larry bouth should stop this shit.
The question I have is, “Why did he turn himself into Ukraine authorities at the Hungarian border.” Gonazalo knew he would be immediately flagged and detained at Ukrainian passport control at the Hungarian border as his information surely is in their system. Why? He knew then he’d be returned to SBU custody and would to trial with additional charges. Not understanding why he did what he did.
Have you ever crossed a border? You have to present your passport and your name may be run thru the nation’s database. You need to get out more.
I call BS on your assertion that “Lira … obviously got a real kick out of being deeply unpleasant to/about people,”
Name one or two, (since you say it’s “obviously”) of his Youtubes where he gets a kick out of being deeply unpleasant to people who don’t deserve it. If you name people who deserve it, like cookie monster Nuland or anyone else from the Washington swamp, you will have outed yourself as just another troll.
Well, one of them was Ritter himself. Lira really went for him in a completely unnecessary fashion last year – it was totally uncalled for when Ritter had actually been trying to help. But apart from that, I remember that on Lira’s Roundtable he had a short spate of inviting vloggers who disagreed with him on the issue of Ukraine to debate him. I can’t say that I agreed with the opinions of these people – and they were unknowns, so I cannot remember their names – but Lira behaved dreadfully towards them, and showed himself up more than the opposite. I remember being very disconcerted at the time by how cruel he was, and how much of a kick he seemed to get out of bullying them. It was not an edifying spectacle, and it certainly lodged in my mind. The videos are probably still up, I’m sure. I watched him rather less after that.
You are correct and I felt the same way.
You are incorrect and I feel completly different.
going after Scott Ritter, or are you willing to ignore that?
Lira has a history, of being a CIA asset in Chile, of Scamming people with his unwritten books, frankly his red pill coach persona is wierd. His foray into commentary on economics
That his personality of being a hustler with occasional scamming forays. It’s made him relatively wealthy.
I have only been aware of him since the start of the SMO.
That’s all part of his personality.
That said I wouldn’t say his commentary on the situation in Ukraine and the SMO was not genuine.
I don’t see what use he will be to the SBU. People around the world just follow these blogs for an understanding of what’s happening in Ukraine and of the general US vs Russia contest.
None is vested in this except to understand and perhaps cheer whom they think is right.
What does SBU gain with this? It’s a pipsqueak in influence and action beyond Ukrainian borders except for some nasty work on Russians in donbass Or in Russia itself . It’s only able to carry out those acts only because of Ukraine and Russian can pass off as each other. Nothing more nothing less.
No one is a wholly nice person. No one should be arrested for being unpleasant.
You are not wholly nice person, and I find you unpleasant. Should I celebrate when something bad happens to you? If people approve you being tortured or killed, would that count as tempering eulogies with realism?
It may be that both you and Ritter are correct.
I agree with Ritter that his story didn’t add up. It’s plausible that Gonzalo was turned. But I also agree with you that there’s no evidence GL was turned by the SBU.
Speculative theory that no one seems to have considered – GL may have been turned not by Kiev, but by Washington DC.
After all, GL’s plan was apparently to seek exile in Hungary. Two options : #1- Orban refuses exile – what better way to embarrass Orban than to cast him as an evil pro-Putin agent, refusing exile to a US citizen? #2 – Orban grants exile – DC uses GL as a pawn inside Hungary to embarrass Orban.
Again, speculative – but assuming he was turned, as I see it the only crowd who would benefit from sending GL to Hungary is DC.
Anyway, something seems to have gone wrong. Something ALWAYS goes wrong with these DC imbeciles. Perhaps his handlers didn’t think GL was getting the traction he needed and threw him under the bus.
Another thing – if GL was turned, his handlers would LOVE seeing everyone fighting and divided over what happened to him.
Either way, what happened to GL in the first place is a travesty that brings further shame on the Biden and Zelensky regimes. I pray for his safety.
Does adding speculation to speculation have a cancelling effect?
I further speculate his coffee maker was made in China and was being used to spy on the Roundtable.
Obviously china couldn’t follow the YouTube channel because YouTube is banned in China.
I have Chinese students, in China, who can easily access YouTube. I teach them via an education company, who don’t feel the need to hide that they recommend that their students watch YouTube videos as part of their homework.
To my mind yours is the best comment.
Agree. Think Scott Ritter sometimes would be better served by dropping a topic when there is no reason to continue.
Ritter and Lira had a public falling out after Lira was snatched the first time. The way that Lira, upon release, went after Ritter, who seemed to be exporessing concern for Lira’s whereabouts, seems to indicate that there may have been more history between the two. Don’t care, that’s there business. Odd that Ritter won’t let it go and re-ignites it.
Declan Hayes gave his take on Lira at Strategic Culture yesterday and the article has much more that is worth a look.
Saw a number of Lira’s Roundtables. Think they were an useful forum. Don’t see any benefit the ukronazi banderastapo, or MI6/CIA would have using him as an asset. Want to find out who he gives air time to? Check with youtube for his history. Wonder who views it? How much supercomputer time do you want to burn thru traicing IP adresses? Am I missing something?
Think Lira was foolish remaining in 404. But he did. Wish Lira and his family the best.
The first time, Ritter said Gonzalo was killed. Gonzalo was pissed because of that.
Declan Hayes : Lira is simply a middle–aged Chilean Ukraine will try to trade at a premium, just like they have done with previous civilians they kidnapped.
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/08/08/ukraines-grifter-wars-through-gonzalo-lira-eyes/
From someone with Syria, Northern Ireland IRA, MI5 experience.
Dare anyone here to read about Ukrainian chicks with ….
You dishonestly cut an pasted from three non-contiguous paragraphs in your post presentnting a misleading uinpression of the whole article. At least you didn’t use “s.
I find in ONE paragraph without cuts, Declan’s summation of Lira to be both interesting and posibly accurate: “I believe he”(Lira) is one of those well-meaning fools I have come across who have paid either with their lives or by serving very long prison sentences for their folly in the killing fields of Ireland and Syria.”
Still recommend the whole article. The world is a hard place and serious activities far beyond the musing of ‘keyboard’ komenters take place.
Honestly, that article has so much info, it takes hours to digest.
Hayes says Gonzalo Lira should have got a kick up the transom and be booted across the Hungarian border. After revealing the sheer evil of how MI5 operated,
“Schooled by such experiences, my own prognosis is quite simple and to the point. The main vectors in the Ukrainian shemozzle are the Armed Forces of Russia and their military allies on the one hand, and NATO and their lemmings on the other. All else is tinsel.”
With Gonzalo Lira’s Dad appearing with the Judge, is the SBU raising the ransom?
Neither that article, nor this blog ever mentions the 2 Ukrainian kill lists linked here early and often. Gonzalo Lira ma be a nice guy, his handlers most certainly are not.
Anyone on these lists is in great danger. I do not know if Gonzalo Lira is on the lists, but Scott Ritter is.
I see, you don’t understand Declan’s article. It is very complex ranging from his own research and experience in the ‘Troubles’in N. Ireland, which in the period he writes about, go back 50, 60 years, as well as the more recent subversion of Syria, on going. It ieasy to get lost in the examples, especially if unfamiliar with the details or either.
When he speaks of MI5, that is in Ireland, not 404 and nothing to do with Lira. MI5 is internal UK, MI6 is external UK, comparable to CIA or SVR. To forestall pointless arguement, yes, the line can be fluid at times, but the distinction holds.
Same when he speaks of Syria. Those are examples he is familiar with that he uses to illustrate parellels he sees in 404. Sort of a ‘MO.’ This is good background and broadening of the context of events in 404, but not directly applicable, nor necessary to look at 404 today.
The key quote, his summation of Lira is interesting and posibly accurate: “I believe he”(Lira) is one of those well-meaning fools I have come across who have paid either with their lives or by serving very long prison sentences for their folly in the killing fields of Ireland and Syria.”
Larry,
I do not even like Gonzo. I am glad that you pointed out the obvious, anybody who thinks Scott is not taking a shot at Gonzo because of whatever happened in their past is naive.
Wonderful Article Larry, I watched Scott Ritter on the USTOD YouTube channel & their latest Video on this very subject & I was disgusted by Scott Ritters, emotional, angry, unhinged & disgusting rant, not only about Gonzalo Lira but also denigrating you Larry using the most foul mouthed language ever heard? It was absolutely ridiculous & ludicrous, as you rightly said, we can respectfully disagree with each other but when you start with the personal insults & character assassination, which Ritter was doing, he’s lost the argument right there & then as far as I’m concerned! And you are quite correct in your assessment Larry, Scott Ritter presented no factual evidence, nothing to back up his mad ravings, just unfounded assertions based on nonsense & hearsay? At that point, I stopped watching when he started attacking your character, that did it for me, I was so disgusted & disappointed that I tuned out! I used to enjoy Scott & his opinions but now I’ve lost all respect for Ritter & his views, the Man’s become a joke! I think he’s beginning to lose his mind, Scott has market saturated YouTube with his presence & brand, he’s on so many YouTube channels that it’s becoming sickening, I’ve lost count of how many places he’s guest starred on, does Scott love seeing himself on YouTube 24/7 & on as many Platforms as possible, what a narcissist! Thank you Larry for everything you do, your a Man of Integrity & Honesty, unlike Scott Ritter!
Hypothesis: Lira has functional value — or call it susceptibility — to a certain kind of controller. A single low level SBU officer, who is tasked not with intel gathering, or propaganda dissemination, but with sowing acrimony and division among individual critics and commenters and reporters, like Ritter, Johnson, Berletic, Lancaster, Bartlett, The Duran, iEarlGrey and others. Ritter is right and it’s a fact, not a critique, that Lira creates no original content.
Ritter has a high profile, maybe the biggest reach of all named, and so he is a gateway to larger audience for the others. His temper is an obvious weakness.
So Ritter runs a little hot, gets righteous on mic, calls people out. It doesn’t take a subtly skilled manipulator to bait him into spouting off. Lira, in point of fact, did exactly this.
The effect of that baiting — and of Ritter’s continuing vehement denunciations of Lira — is division among allies, which is demoralizing. It saps their potential combined strengths.
Or so it could be argued by a low-level SBU sh*t-stirrer to his masters. And the metrics gathering of those roundtables is not nothing.
But it’s a tempest in a teapot, ultimately. I don’t think Lira really matters all that much to anyone but say a low-level controller. But the Ukrainians lack direction, leadership, and imagination, so small potatoes get amplified.
And, sadly, Lira is very likely a disposable asset, whatever he knows or believes. He looks like a weak, susceptible character. It cannot be seriously argued that his incarceration, torture or even worse eventualities will carry a political cost for anyone in power west of Kharkov.
None of this is good news, but we’re dealing with some very bad, very desperate actors.
So, with all the speculation, I have to ask: Who is in control of the facts? In intel, in security and criminal investigations, the one who is in control of the facts (and of informants, provacateurs, etc.) runs the show. None of Lira’s story really makes sense. I take it for granted that neither he, nor anyone now arguing about him, knows what’s really going on.
I doubt Gonzalo Lira will be heard from again. Be that as it may, I just hope you guys can put the acrimony aside, and try to work together.
I should add, if Lira winds up dead, or simply disappeared, maximum damage will have been done not only to Ritter, but also to the cohesion of a large group of visible and vocal critics of the Ukr regime, some of whom I named. It isn’t about the plausibility of this or that angle of speculative inquiry, in other words, but about damaging an allied group’s cohesion.
Scott Ritter is not the best exponent of his own theory. George Eliason, Eva Bartlett and Vanessa Beeley are infinitely more credible, and incisive critics of Lira’s story. Eliason is a distinguished journalist with an intimate knowledge of Ukraine and a far more credible source than Lira or Ritter could ever hope to be. He has stated that he personally knows of two journalists that Lira contacted after his supposed recent ‘release’. Apparently Lira tried very hard to get them to reveal their whereabouts, something which was quite unforgivable, and deeply suspicious, in the circumstance. Actions like that cannot be so easily explained away.
The idea that Ukrainian SBU thugs would fear the consequences of disappearing a US citizen is simply naive, given the world we live in and the nature of the US government. Does no-one remember Shireen Abu Aqla, the American journalist deliberately targeted and murdered by IDF thugs last year? And what about Rachel Corrie, an American journalist deliberately run over by a IDF armed bulldozer, in 2003? Those deaths occurred with absolute impunity. There are many more similar cases of American citizens whose welfare was of zero interest to their governments, because of their political allegiances. Let no-one be under any illusions that an American passport would protect anyone, anywhere in the world, if their death was convenient. The notion that the SBU would bother arresting someone, supposedly torture them, and then release them for fear of reprisals makes no sense whatsoever.
I should add that Lira is hardly an important figure. We shouldn’t flatter ourselves that our tiny community of foreign policy sceptics amounts to anything likely to give pause to the SBU. If they wanted to kill Lira, he would sink without trace and the State Department could easily make sure that 99.999% of Americans would neither know nor care. So again, it makes no sense to argue that that was the reason for his ‘release’.
I have already said to another commenter that his comment is the best but yours, with more detail and arguments, leaves me no option but to say that yours us… bester.
Can you please provide links to Eliason and Bartlett?
Thanks
And the CIA man cannot figure that out? Amazing. I think you are spot on. I put in my two cents. I lived under Salazar dictatorship for 16 years and i know they do not give a rat’s ass about whether you american or chinese. The only thing is if you are a well know personality they might be more careful and just kick you out, no need to kill. But if necessary they will. I think most of the commentaries on this post are either very naive and gullible or just want to believe. I never cared for GL but i found his attitude to be very dismissive and pedantic. He sounded like a grifter. Anyway, thank you for the references to the journalists. I was not aware of them so now i can check it out.
Is there some me-too hashtag treding? I want to tell the world that
Gonzalo raped may dog, and put drugs in my heroin.
English it’s not my primary language but… Ritter doesn’t say “Gonzalo Lira has admitted that his actions got people arrested, tortured or murdered.”
He means the same sort of crimes or “crimes”.
If I escaped with my life after being tortured in a Ukraine prison I wouldn’t give them a reason or opportunity to grab me again. But this guy, being 30 miles from the border with Russia, decides to ride a motorcycle 800 miles across Ukraine and present himself to the Ukraine border police to “escape”??? “Sure, Jan”
Yes! Having posted his intended itinerary and photo of his motorcycle…
I like Mr Ritters observations. But I do not find them useful. Usually a bit late and obtuse. Same catagory as Mr Escobar.
I agree with Larry.
1) Scott is speculating. No evidence is presented
2) If the allegations are true, it is not clear what harm was done by Lira (under duress) and to whom
3) If the allegations are false great harm is being done. Gonzalo Lira needs our vocal support and his disappearance needs to be given high visibility to keep him alive (if he hasn’t been murdered) and to secure his release.
What exactly is the point of Scott’s allegations? What is achieved?
Personally, I am like Scott. I do recall, however, that the great truth teller, the Saker, held a better opinion of Lira than he did of Scott.
Correction: I like Scott
“What exactly is the point of Scott’s allegations? What is achieved?”
Some personal vendetta probably. They had problems earlier. I guess a marine can’t help himself kicking a man while he’s down.
There is definitely some bad blood between Scott Ritter and Gonzalo Lira.
It might be a clash of egos, or the topic (war), or the actual territory (Ukraine).
Or they might just hate each others guts.
Also notice how their personalities are opposites:
Scott-the-chilli-pepper vs Gonzalo-the-whipped-cream!
Ok, now I am getting hungry…
I remember when Gonzalo disappeard for the first time, Scott said that he was dead. Others assumed he has some insider info, and spread the news. After reappearence, Gonzalo was pissed abot that, and said some bad things about Scott (that he is CIA asset, or something like that). Scott did not punch back, until now.
None of that would matter much, if someone’s life was not on the line. Instead of gathering support for the release of Gonzalo, and then dealing with personal problems, Scott decided to help the enemy, and blame the victim. He is the one acting like SBU/CIA asset (without even gettting paid).
I think they are using both lira and ritter at this point.
Best thing Ritter could/should have done is simply ignore/not speak to GL. All Ritter did is damage his previous credibility. Not to smart a move for someone whom I formerly considered to be both not only smart, but very well informed/experienced.
Absolutely agree, for all Ritters rants, he jumped on the Lira Train as well so he can’t be as smart as he wants us to believe he is? I personally don’t like Gonzalo Lira, his slothful appearance, the chain smoking & know it all arrogant attitude, Lira is just a layperson not a Geopolitical expert, but I don’t want him hurt, injured or his life put in danger for speaking his mind, but there is a time & place for that & that’s not from Kharkov? I always thought he was irresponsible & stupid to run his big mouth off by critiquing & badmouthing Ukraine while living in that corrupt cesspool of a Country, he was playing with fire & he should have known better & got out sooner? But Scotty boy calling him a SBU Asset & Spy, that’s a stretch too far, that’s leering into Austin Powers Territory that Scott is wanting us to believe?
Ritter, one must admit, has outstanding credentials. Not only is he an accomplished military specialist, he is also a scholar of Russian culture who has recently visited Russia and published books. His knowledge of the Russian “soul” is priceless and, perhaps, unique, among American commentators about the Ukraine tragedy.
But errare humanum est. Time will tell, though, who is right and who is wrong. I am sure Ritter will apologize if he is found wrong. All these well known commentators– Ritter, Johnson, Mercouris, Christophorous, Berletic, MacGregor, etc.– should coordinate their policy and continue to work together. They are absolutely critical to salvage whatever democracy and common sense still remain in the US.
He can’t can’t control his urges. That’s how he got arrested earlier.
“Gonzalo Lira has never admitted that his actions got people arrested, tortured or murdered”
VS
“Gonzalo Lira was arrested by the SBU for crimes he himself admits gets people arrested, tortured, and murdered.”
Is it just me or these are two different things..? It seems one should be very mindful of not mistaking things less we would waste more time arguing then actually finding the Truth.
Eli: I also noticed that immediately — good catch!
The two are not all the same thing, Larry’s re-rendering presenting something of a strawman (assuming he was attempting to directly refute Scott’s own assertion).
One thing’s for sure: Ritter definitely didn’t claim in that instance that ‘Gonzalo Lira’s actions got people arrested, tortured or murdered’.
One thing I found extremely valuable in Scott’s piece is the notion that dividium et imperium, as manifested here and elsewhere in the alternative media, may be the whole point of this “operation”.
Indeed!
Also pls note, now we see that in actuality this site has seen some “unexpected problems”; therefore it’s pretty much safe to say that some tempering, aside from “the division”, has taken place. We’re yet to discover the full depth… I pray that LJ and the rest get safely past it!
I agreed with LJ that we all should be neutral in this as WE HAVE DO EVIDENCE OR DATA FOR OR AGAINST that gonzalo is SBU agent.
i would never JUDGE a person like gonzalo , even if he got turned into SBU asset .. have anyone here ever visit the inside of SBU gaol and torture chambers ? have you any inkling of what methods being pushed to subdude mr lira’s will ?
i find ppl who attack gonzalo lira as cowards who are mostly trolls and pro ukrop shills , and even the real people who criticize mr lira seem like they talking due to personal hatred..
as usual , whether it is Saker , Bernard of MOA , LJ , Matryanov and all good people on the internet .. EVERYONE should always listen and be objective and never lost your firewall/analytical mindset.
IT IS BEYOND SILLY THAT PPL WHO NEVER MET SBU AND ENTER THEIR TORTURE CHAMBERS NOW CLAIMED LIRA IS SBU ASSET..
This post by Larry is why sonar21.com is unquestionably one of the best and most accurate information sources on the internet — maybe the planet. (The work he does, in my opinion, far exceeds in value anything coming from Fox News — a billion dollar corporation.)
Larry Johnson is always in hard per suit of the Truth, and he bases his arguments on both hard facts and logic — not emotions or liberal ideology — a form of insanity.
He is also willing to take on any and all liars and liberal propagandists.
I am most grateful for Larry’s hard work, integrity, and always insightful analysis. He epitomizes “Old School”.
I agree with everything you say, but I’d like to add a correction; “The work he (Larry) does, in my opinion, far exceeds in value anything coming from Fox News — a billion dollar corporation.”
But of course! FOX and the other Fake News Peddlers are spending their billions on spreading lies, while Larry tries to spread the truth! Therefore there is no value of any kind is coming from them!
Jeff, I couldn’t agree more with what you said.
Fox News truly is contemptible — for so many reasons, not least of which was their surrendering without putting up a vicious fight against Dominion Voting Systems. (A prominent liberal law professor from Harvard — Alan Dershowitz — publicly stated that Fox News would have won their case — easily. Champions of Free Speech and Truth Fox News most definitely is not. Fox News is now woke, and I hope they go broke.)
I truly hope that President Trump sets up an alternative show on the night Fox hosts the first Republican primary debate. Anything he can do to hurt Fox’s revenue flow will only be their just desserts.
I come here for the comment section. Articles have their fair share of errors, but there is always someone in the comments that knows a bit more (in addition to expected nonsense).
Ritter writes, “Gonzalo Lira was arrested by the SBU for crimes he himself admits gets people arrested, tortured, and murdered.” Oh yeah? What crimes Ritter? So Ritter believes speaking on a YT video is a crime. Wow, Ritter is an idiot IMHO.
I find both Larry and Scott to be sincere and knowledgeable and worth listening to, regardless of their differences of opinion. Same goes for Eva, Brian Berletic, the Duran and everyone else caught up in this debate. But when they differ, I prefer to take refuge in my own judgment. It is true that Gonzalo Lira used to be someone I listened to, not for any particular area of expertise, but he did have some skill as a debate moderator and his Roundtables were useful to get perspectives. Not that they were better or worse than other forums, whether the Duran, the Gaggle, or similar. So here’s my 0.02. GL is a showman, and loves attention. Doing what he did from the depths of Ukraine did take some courage, given the SBU’s reputation. HOWEVER. GL’s explanations and stories about his first detention last year, everything that has followed since then, and his latest adventures, all have holes I could drive a Leopard tank through. If the SBU was truly pissed off with his criticisms and his platforming other critics of the Ukie regime (none of whom are within their reach, mind) they could easily deny him communication ability. For a whole year, the one thing on my mind has been, “They caught him, let him go, and they let him keep doing what they don’t want him to do?” For a whole year? Whatever Scott thinks is the reason is irrelevant. I don’t know why they would do that. All the other minor holes in his stories, I don’t care about. Such as the SBU warning him to stay in Kharkov, BUT returning his passport to him…and so on. As long as I do not have an answer to this question, I have my doubts. Again, end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Hope he gets out safely and makes it back home.
Cheers!
Best to keep in mind what we know and what we don’t know. (ala Rumsfield). But I think we can enumerate a relational framework where reality might be pointed to by one or a combination of the following hypothetical types:
1. GL witting SBU asset = Conspiracy Theory
2. GL naive SBU incompetent = Incompetence Theory
3. GL unwitting (naive) managed SBU asset = Bad Jacketed Theory
I mention a combination above because we are not dealing with static timeless relationships. At any time the target (GL) and Operators (SBU) could move from one of these states to the other. Do bureaucracies act rationally or competent at all times? Do people?
Did GL use poor judgement at times within this story line? Sure. Did the SBU? We dont know.
If GL SBU operation was number three above, I would say its working very well. Bad jacketing is contagious. Just look at the counter charges against Scott Ritter.
It’s been use in the JFK research group, the 911 Truth Movement, war against the Black Panthers and most famously in the AIM. See:
https://realpeoples.media/the-basics-on-cointelpro-and-how-to-counter-it/
Dear Larry,
Here is my 2 cents:
===================
I saw 3 of Scott Ritter’s videos today regarding Gonzalo Lira.
Ritter runs very hot with his first 2 videos with Jeff Norman but his 3rd video with Judge Napolitano was more calm and professional.
Scott Ritter has a bad temper. And since he was unfairly set-up and persecuted by the US Govt in the past, it likely made him very angry and bitter.
But Ritter’s instincts about Gonzalo Lira being forced to work for SBU as an informant is very astute and likely correct. Poor Gonzalo will likely end up dead in the near future once he is of no use.
Still, Ritter should have toned down his angry accusations in his videos. The personal attacks against his contemporaries were totally uncalled for and beneath him; especially his cheap shots against fellow US Marine Brian Berletic. That was inexcusable.
Scott Ritter really needs to take blood pressure pills (or even smoke some weed) to calm himself or he will have an aneuyrism.
I was so disappointed at him today but we must keep in mind that even our heros are human.
Anyways, “God bless Scott Ritter”. He is a flawed man but he is still a great American.
=======================
Here endeth my 2 cent rant.
Thanks Larry.
How about some evidence for his claim?
“I would note that there are at least a dozen folks, like Brian Berletic, Alexander Mercouris and Ray McGovern, who also were frequent guests on the Roundtables and none of them have been compromised.”
So you’re saying you can *prove* that statement then..?
I greatly respect your expertise and work, don’t get me wrong, but it seems that by having this “division” amongst all of you now – I’d say SBU did pretty nicely, considering the state of things…
Would you consider compromising is just getting a keylogger or whatever on someones pc OR there is a more broader perception of this as pointed by Scott – like “getting into your heads”..???
Hi Larry,
===================
LJ: How about some evidence for his claim?
Answer:
Solid evidence is definitely lacking, unfortunately.
Cannot make a court case for “beyond a reasonable doubt”.
But there is a high likelihood of Gonzalo Lira acting as a confidential informant.
Circumstantial evidence strongly points to control by SBU after his release.
The way he said many things after his release was highly suspicious.
Scott Ritter just pointed them out in his angry and blunt way.
Scott could have said it better but he is like a bull (or Abrams tank) in a china shop.
Is Gonzalo Lira doing this willingly or under coercion? I have no idea.
But he should have run for the border (Russian or European) after his release last year. This mistake is likely going to cost Gonzalo his life.
=================
Thank you Larry.
“… especially his cheap shots against fellow US Marine Brian Berletic.”
Really? I guess Berletic was never his “fellow marine”. Brian left service before its end, because he was ashamed of what he was doing. Scott is still a “proud marine”.
“Scott Ritter has a bad temper. And since he was unfairly set-up and persecuted by the US Govt in the past, it likely made him very angry and bitter.”
I guess Ritter really has problems controlling his urges. Now that I think of it, I am inclinded to think that he was guilty of that stuff he got arrested for.
“Anyways, “God bless Scott Ritter”. He is a flawed man but he is still a great American.”
He should get a medal or two.
Let’s give Scott 2 medals and 2 Aspirins.
That will save him! 😀
All jokes aside, I love that guy.
Scott Ritter told the truth about Iraq in 2003 and paid too high a price.
Sadly, the world does not like truth tellers. They make martyrs of them.
All Hail Scott Ritter – Our Blessed Guardian Saint of Nuclear ICBMs!
(I’m going to ask Putin for a Soviet mural of Saint Scott Ritter!! HAHAHA)
Larry, there’s an important correction of a misreading.
Ritter said: “Gonzalo Lira was arrested by the SBU for crimes he himself admits gets people arrested, tortured, and murdered.”
That does not mean what you said Ritter meant, that “Lira has never admitted that his actions got people arrested, tortured or murdered.”
Other people who have spoken against the war, and who do not know Lira, have suffered at the hands of the Ukrainian authorities.
What saddens me the most is that two people whose opinions I value have gotten into what looks like a heated argument. I see no need for that.
Scott is the more fiery one – that is for sure.
I will continue to follow both of them and keep an open mind on Gonzalo.
I can think of a couple of other scenarios about how the Lira events played out.
I’m not in a fiery debate. I just disagree with Scott. Does not mean I don’t like Scott.
Youtube recommended me video from “unofficial” Larry Johnson channel, that looks like
former “unofficial” Douglas Macgregor channel. In case Larry is interested her it is:
https://www.youtube.com/@LarryJohnsonFanChannel/videos
Not my channel but imitation is the greatest form of flattery.
People are discussing this article “with you” there:
https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxCDsGMMYIcatwjuxo0B_c8-pFzwXyTyqK
Maybe you should go there, say hi, and explain it’s not you.
P.S. I have watched you “grow” over the last year and half, and consider us commenters as passenger on that journey, and contributors in our own way.
Maybe this is the perfect opportunity for Te protagonist to get a new mug shot for his site… One of the most unflattering I have ever seen.
Although a gifted pro he is certainly not a beauty to look at.
The live videos are more tolerable but the mug, get a photo shop app guy….
(Have no care what’s so ever to whatever smug response I get for this. I’m a fan, a son of the south 40 years outside the USA and on 3 continents in 4 languages. And if anyone wants to talk about bullshit, I don’t know another place in the world that is more prolific at it than the good Ole USA….. Masters, great masters. Hype is the religion of the USA.
They have hyped themselves into the coming oblivion.
Good riddance.
Larry,
Having lived in Chile during the dirty wars and after it would be fair to say like so many Latin Americans that I despise Chilean culture. Not only did they break the Rio treaty by helping the UK go to war with Argentina, but they also stole by force the wealth of Peru & Bolivia in the Guano wars, not to mention having a lot of supporters of Nazi ideology. But back to Lira, Gonzalo appears to be very much more an American by culture than he is a Chilean. Still, I love his broadcasts and can’t understand why Ritter & Company smears him. Actually, I can understand. It has to do with arrogance; the war in Ukraine has elevated men like Ritter, and Mercouris, Andrei M, inter alia into superstars. I won’t mention the financial gain this brings. But according to Lira, it seems a lot.
Once the arrogance sets people mentioned above cannot bring themselves to be wrong. Case in point the Progozin fiasco. Of course, it was a Psyche Operation, which a few like you Larry, me, and others what it was. Yet to this day, Ritter and Andre, Mercouris cannot and will NOT ever say they were wrong! That’s what happens when arrogance due to fame and fortune sets in. Clinton: “I did not have sex with that Polish woman Monica” is a perfect example…Of course, he did not have sex with that woman, nor did he ever meet Jeffrey Epstein. Yes, of course, Progozin was going to overthrow Putin hahaha.
Could you explain the “Treaty of Rio”?, because it does not fit me with the war for Las Malvinas. And, for the same reason, why was Chile going to defend Argentina, when the explicit declaration of the Argentine military junta was that after Las Malvinas (where they were sure winners) they would go through Chile (for the lands of the southern end that claimed for them)? And, also, the War of the Pacific or of guano and saltpeter began with the violation of the boundary treaty of 1874 by Bolivia and, as Chile reacted to defend their interests, they ran to ask the Peruvians for help, but with the consequences known endings.
Between Larry and Scott, I find Scott a lot more convincing on the “Lira affair.” I discount the opinions of the Durans who strike me as naive and vulnerable to flattery by masterful schmoozer Gonzalo. Larry is neither naive nor illiterate in intelligence issues as the Durans are and I find it hard to believe he really buys Lira’s shmeer of his release and planned escape to Hungary and that he took no interest in what Eliason revealed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIogOyg6Vc4
so I am at a loss to understand his stance on this.
I believe the correct stance is that both Scott AND Larry know that Gonzalo is an Ukranian SBU asset. Scott brashly stated it openly, while Larry has chosen not to admit it because that would immediately compromise Gonzalo’s life and result in his death. The intelligence gathering that Gonzalo has done for the SBU is minor and non-impactful, at least for the commentators on his roundtables. So there was no point in admitting it. I also believe that Gonzalo is now probably dead, since he ran and has outlived his usefulness. I also believe that he ran because he knew his ability to generate new useful intelligence for the SBU was dwindling and that he probably was going to be killed shortly anyways. Scott’s a marine with no tact and Larry understood and decided to let Gonzalo live for a little longer.
Michael56: “What Ritter has said on the matter makes some sense. I am keeping an open mind.”
Me too. I must say that both Larry and Scott sound very persuasive and very convincing. I just wish I knew the truth, the whole truth. I also wish that both Scott and Ritter do not drift apart and that they both continue to do their excellent work, regardless of their differences about what really happened to Gonzalo.
They are both needed, now more than ever.
Sorry: I obviously meant “Scott and Larry.”
Gonzalo Lira stroke as theatrical in his videos. As if he wanted to be admited for his cool performances in a war situation..smoking his endless cigarettes he would make declaration that could send him to jail or at least been censored.
I think the Ukraine intelligence saw him as a clown showing off useless inside information and that he was totally harmless, and probably not believable. I think that he will reappear shortly as nothing happened.
Nothing that Gonzalo has said or done suggests he is controlled opposition. However, many people online create a fantasy life that will appeal to a large enough group of people for them to become an online star. Now that could apply to Gonzalo a lot more logically than his being somehow used by the Ukrainians.
I don’t particularly like Scott Ritter, but he has common sense on his side. Lira has operated freely in an increasingly totalitarian state. He arrived in Kiev the day before the SMO got underway and was in Kharkiv within 24 hours. He was arrested by this totalitarian regime last year for – well, we don’t really know, do we – released and left unmolested for another year. He was arrested again just as the Russians completed operations in Bahkmut.
His apologists cry “facism!” and when it doesn’t seem to have been effectively directed toward Lira then cry “incompetence!” The same MO as happens here in America. Which is not surprising, as the Ukrainians are completely funded by the U.S. A more plausible explanation is the one Ritter has come up with.
All of Lira’s apologists have one thing a common – a personal relationship with the man. Take aways the veneer of emotionalism, and any objective observer can tell what he is: a good storyteller who is operating at the sufference of the Ukrainians.
I wouldn’t get too far out front on this, Larry.
There is ZERO evidence for Scott’s claim. Please provide me something other than opinion. You have no experience with intelligence operations. I do.
I am clueless as to what Lira can offer to ANY intelligence service. What can Lira offer? How can he be a useless idiot to special services? I fail to see that Gonzalo can offer anything but entertainment and perhaps some knowledge to the unknowledgeable. Although, I consider him more worldly than Mercouris. That’s not saying much!
Real geopolitical intellects are people like Pepe Escobar, Alastair Crooke, you and Martin Jay…all of whom are humble.
You do but and that is why i find it rather incredible that you are sticking your neck out for GL. I could say the same thing about you with regard to the behavior of dictatorships, having lived under one for 16 years while you have not so you cannot really speak about what a totalitarian authoritarian system would do. I think the claim to authority is a logical fallacy that one should avoid. We are all speculating here. And the way GL went after Scott was despicable. Why are we ignoring the inconsistencies in GL’s story? I mean the guy looks better after being tortured than before getting arrested. And who knows if he even was arrested? For all we know he could have just gone silent to create speculation and then show up as a released man who still points the middle finger at the big bad wolf.
Really? And what do you base that assumption on? And is that the same methodology you used to come to your conclusions about Lira? That’s ok, we still enjoy your website.
I know what intelligence officers look for when they recruit assets. You must ask the question, what benefit will the asset bring? You continue to ignore my question? How did Lira serve SBU interests?
Huff, he served SBU interest by attacking Scott, causing division among all of you that tries to get the truth up, he attack Scott in may 2022, for not beeing trustworthy, because Scott called the aid from the vest a Gamechanger.
He on a roudtabel with Mark (he in Moscow) , said he dispised Scott, called Scott a 2 time convited Peddo.
Scott is one among the biggest critics with a voice that is heard, so would i not be in SBUs interest of discrediting Scott and other truthtelles.
Because willingly or forced, Gonzalo has done a darn good job, in doing just that.
Huff, he served SBU interest by attacking Scott, causing division among all of you that tries to get the truth up, he attack Scott in may 2022, for not beeing trustworthy, because Scott called the aid from the vest a Gamechanger.
He on a roundtabel with Mark (he in Moscow) , said he dispised Scott, called Scott a 2 time convited Pedo.
Scott is one among the biggest critics with a voice that is heard, so would i not be in SBUs interest of discrediting Scott and other truthtelles.
Because willingly or forced, Gonzalo has done a darn good job, in doing just that.
Oh for God’s sake. Don’t be ridiculous. The SBU did not need Gonzalo or anyone else to raise Scott’s past. Scott’s own actions created that vulnerability.
And one more thing Larry, even on Locals on the Duran forum, there are people, now posting Scotts sex case, they dont wont to talk abaut the facts or Ukraine, or the lies MSM tells us.
And who lit that fire, Gonzo did, and just so you know, i have yelled at Scott for falling into the Gonzo trap, temporary i stopped my paid subscription to hes substack, then you comes along puts gasoline on the fire.
SEEMS like stupidety runs wild in USA !!!
“for gods sake”
You, Scott, The Duran and channels like that are our fighters against the MSM, you and Scott are intelligence officers, still you act like children with , arghhhhhhhhh, im so pissed at you both, but sadly we still need people like you and Scott to beat the Globalist MSM, both of you, still act like fools, PERIOD.
PS -All my typing errors comes from its over 40 yrs since i had english writing on school.
Sure Scott has 100s of NAFO trolls reminding us abaut the sex case on a daily bases on hes twitter. But Gonzo is imbedded with all the truthtellers agaisnt the war and what is happening in Ukraine.
Are you really telling me, that an attack on Scott from the inside, is not in SBU-Ukraines interest ????, Are you telling me that SBU-Ukriane does not have an interest in silencing its biggest critic, wish is Scott Ritter, he has by far the biggest audience of you all, all the shows he is on is among the most viewed.
Larry are you seriously telling that SBU-Ukraine, does not need an insider to discredit Scott Ritter.
Scott Ritter was the only military analyst that called the help from Nato country to Ukraine a gamechanger, and right after that Gonzo start attacking Scott as not trustworty, Gonzo even got a lot of you other analyst turning against Scott.
So you are telling me, that getting that information questioned was not a goal of the SBU-Ukraine.
To quote your words “For heavens sake”
Buy the way, it was totally wrong of Scott to do all this shows abaut Gonzo, does not matter if he is right, if Scott is right, all Scott did, and that is proven, there is infighting among all of us that follow the channels that tell the truth, not the MSM narrativ.
And YOU Larry, has done the same thing, and you are supposed to be an CIA analyst.
This you and Ritter should have done on the backroom. For heavens sake you bouth should have seen this would backfire on the alternativ media.
You both have egos like an elephant, and you are supposed to know how to shape oppinions well with the help of Gonzo, you sure have given MSA and SBU Ukraine a BIG WIN.
STUPID. And yes im pissed at you both, seeing the audience of the alternativ media getting pro Scott or pro the fool Gonzo, instead of focusing of all the lies MSM tells us.
So once again willingly, unwillingly or just stupetly , Gonzo with the help of you and Scott done the SBU-Ukraines work, and that is just a fact.
“Lira’s apologists”
Apologists for what crimes? Namecalling is something that is used when real arguments are lacking, and so is crystal ball psychoanalysis.
From what I see, Scott Ritter’s speculation can’t be ignored. I was happy when Gonzalo Lira released last year, because Ukraine (especially it’s Bandera ideology) is very dangerous to anyone whos are criticizing them and instead of releasing Gonzalo Lira, he could’ve tortured to death and blamed on Russian airstrikes. After released instead of getting out of Ukraine, Gonzalo Lira decided to stay there and then again started to criticize Ukraine under the very watchful eyes of SBU, which was the very reason he got arrested in the first place. At that time I was like “Dude, are you tired of living?”. Then continued to do his roundtable and his selfie videos and continued to criticize Ukraine, but SBU ignored him. Ukraine Banderas were sending Western journalist to minefield just to get article “Russians are shooting at Western journalists” on Western media, and actively adding anyone who criticized them to hitlist and carried out/tried assassination attempts on people on hitlist regardless of who they are and where they were and Gonzalo Lira was spitting on them. “Dude they can make you disappear and blame it Russian airstrikes”. On what level he compromised I don’t know, but he has definitely compromised. In the end, how many people would choose death between compromise or death.
Dear Larry and your followers!! Using Gonzalo Lira the secret services(SBU) or CIA achieved a very important goal to grow a vedge between the alternative media commentators and war opponents .What I can say , they fouled and manipulated everyone in this controversy while nobody pays attention to what its about to happen , same as the Russian did with the Wagner mutiny. You guys are now arguing with each other ,everyone is in a different team now , they achieved to divide you guys , while they are still able to keep the original narrative alive (not sure for how long) while they continue their business as usual and murder Ukrainians by thousands . Now the anti war alternative community is divided .Divide and conquer as always.
No we’re not. Just a difference of opinion.
That is good to hear/read.
I hope you right Larry. A fire starts with a spark and there was at least a spark between you guys , nobody can deny that . I listened to some of your videos ,Scotts videos and other videos regarding Lira controversy and some of you guys(not you in this case ) are not so diplomatic and the conversation started to escalate . Larry , I have tremendous respect for you , you are an intelligent ,rational individual but I need to add something: the West never understood Russia and the Russian people and that is one of the reason they never were able to defeat it and it will be no different this time around either . Russians are hard to impossible to figure out . Best regards and love.
Nothing to divide and conquer here. We simply express our opinions, some polar, on this topic. Scott went overboard and it’s not the first time he does it for Gonzalo, and he shouldn’t be tarnishing a person to get more “clicks” or ” views.” Do I have questions about Gonzalo’s strange behavior? – yes, I do. Am I ready to jump on Scott’s wagon and roll Gonzalo in tar? No, I am not. I am originally from Ukraine, and everything is for sale there, including one’s freedom. Gonzalo could have bought his way out last year, but won’t be able to say it out loud to not set up a person who let him out. He could have bought his way out now with more money this time – he was talking about “having the money.” It does no good trying to apply logic or normal rules in Ukraine. But for Scott to tarnish Gonzalo’s reputation like that with no hard facts on hand, it’s unacceptable. Thanks Larry for trying to set the record straight.
How you would like me to answer your input to make sure nobody gets offended ? A CIA officer is always a CIA officer , retired or not . I did not say that some of them have no good intentions or are “trying” to speak the truth . Think about that.
Lira is master showman online, knows how to draw people , especially when his views are down. I quit watching him last year, he is buffoone, clown. I doubt he is asu asset, maybe not unknowingly. I think he exaggerates a lot. Most so called Ukrainian-Russian war experts are clowns, none of you truly know what is going on, you read and repost online rumors . But it is still better to watch you than listen to fox or msnbc,cnn.
I would like to remind everyone that Lira is from a very well connected family and he is a scion of such a family. His great grandfather was Jose Carrera and I believe his grandfather was a very senior officer in the Chilean military. By reason of the foregoing, that is why the Chilean Embassy moved heaven and earth to get him released from the second detention which he alluded to in one of his last 3 video posts i.e. Chileans did a lot but the Yanks did nothing. Ritter did not take his background into account.
I spent some time listening to what Ritter had said regarding his theory and the fella has changed his premise a couple of times and what he has said was incongruent with the objective facts. To use some American parlance, he has taken liberty with some facts.
Whether Lira is an SBU agent or not, one may never know but my objection is the language used by Ritter and how he jumps to conclusions based on the assertion that he was an intelligence officer and he knows it all so no one should argue otherwise. Frankly, he must have been a very bad intelligence officer because he was nabbed twice by the FBI for taking an unhealthy interest in a certain age group of the female population to which he pleaded guilty twice.
Insofar as Lira is concerned, I find some things he says distasteful but it doesn’t mean we should act like Ritter and be judge, jury and executioner based on surmise and Micawberism.
I think there is a big difference between being an agent and being an asset…. Scott talks about Lira as an asset, which means that, if true, Gonzalo not necessarily did it voluntarily.
I watched The Gaggle on YouTube sometime today where the 2 fellas from RT interviewed Ritter. After this interview with Ritter and what the 2 hosts had to say, I am more persuaded by Ritter’s arguments. There is some substance to what he says.
Thank you for pointing out the difference. I meant to say “asset” but I was too careless to use the correct nomenclature.
For what’s it’s worth, even Andrei Martyanov agrees with Ritter but he declined to comment any further on another show.
yep… and is sad that (at least as I understand it) Larry’s arguments are in the line of “is the CIA, of course they wouldn’t do that because is illegal…”, “… Lira and I are bros…. Lira is a hero for asking questions, that got killed many others, but not Lira, he is for real”) nothing of substance, and something that is clear for almost all the world (victims of USA/CIA sponsored interventions) that they clearly always find ways around… maybe individuals as Larry would never break the law, but the organization…. well, another story.
and also, didn’t Larry and others also changed/adapted their “premise/posture” about Jack Texeira and Prigozhin sagas??
Only idiots and fanatics don’t change/adapt their premise/posture. Smart men know that their knowlege is limited, and are willing to learn if proven wrong.
exactly my point… thanks
Puzzling: 1) Lira describes right before his attempted escape to Hungary that that is what he planned to do. Why not wait until after his escape to tell this story? 2) Why Hungary which is a NATO country? Why not Belarus (I think GL would say it was because its border was too dangerous and too carefully watched, but still). 3) Lira was released on the 6th of July but was invisible and silent for nearly a month while other worried about his fate. 4) Why does he tell us about his financial standing (being well off) right before his attempted escape from Ukraine? It seemed odd and shocking that he would do so. And it opens other questions about what he was doing in Ukraine during wartime.
It seems possible to me that Lira set the stage for his disappearance and then did. It sort of felt like a “look over there” tactic for him to say I’m escaping to Hungary while perhaps escaping elsewhere. It also raises the question of faking one’s own death to disappear into oblivion.
I hope Gonzalo is alive and well somewhere. But I don’t trust his story.
I forgot to mention that it was very disturbing that Lira mentioned the names of his two children (and their ages too, I believe) during his last video. But maybe the names were fake. But I found those particular details about his children not only odd but disturbing. The whole video seemed cavalier in a weird way.
Regarding Scott’s accusation, I agree with Larry. Scott is stating a theory as if it was fact.
Fuck Scott Ritter. And fuck every one of the idiot commenters on his echo chamber substack. You have to pay to post a comment there, or I’d go on there and tell him what I really think of him.
But I’m sure he’d delete the comment anyway.
.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_jerk
I just always found Gonzalo very boring and too much of a takeover merchant in conversations so stopped watching him ages ago. Interesting speculation about him and hardly surprising. Plus you do gotta wonder why he didn’t just get the hell outa there ages ago.
Citizens and nationals charged with criminal offenses are never released from detention before trial without surrendering passport and giving financial sureties, either property title or cash against fleeing from court date.
Foreign nationals only get this opportunity of conditional release when they have entered into an agreement with the government to cooperate with it.
Lawyers and attorneys will explain this in more detail.
If the objective is to split part of the alternative media community, then it worked.
Not only did Berletic start posting the criminal case of Ritter out of revenge to discredit him, he also argued lengthily with Vanessa Beeley, Eva Bartlett, and others, finally blocking contact with Vanessa Beeley who he interviewed about Syria and white hats, regarding her trips there and experiences.
Finally many call Lira their “friend”. Did anyone meet with him? Did they meet his family, Ukrainian wife and children? Did they offer help to them? How much do they know about him to be called a “friend”.
Anyone can be friendly with me, and vise versa but we will not be “friends”.
I hope he is safe, I am sure he will be of course.
I learn from everyone who discusses this horrible war. I’m on the outside looking in but I do wish Gonzalo would have tried to get to Russia, Belarus or even the front, especially after he said, “F the EU,” hates him. If they hid an Apple Airtag or something in his bike, it probably wouldn’t have mattered. I fear for his life because I don’t see anyone except Chile trying to get him released. Maybe Putin could see the humanity in getting him included in the next prisoner swap if Washington won’t do anything.
I remember when Gonzalo were really unfair with Scott last year. He accused Scott of being CIA or similar asset and didn’t want to have anything with him. Scott was really upset when Gonzalo were taken and he wrote articles and shoot videos trying to spread the word and help Gonzalo. I suppose Gonzalo newer apologize to him and Scott probably wanted revenge this way. They are both so much above such teenage “hate” and it is pity to watch such people thinking by emotions and hurt feelings when they are both very well known as honest, brave and strong reasoning man…
Bingo!
It just occurred to me that I don’t remember anyone taking Lira to task for his hate filled rant against Ritter. Interesting.
Maybe because Riter was not arrested on bogus charges, and could defend himself. Attacking someone defensless is indeed interesting, for psychopats. They all like to join in.
Gonzalo is very likely alive and well, but quiet for a very plausible reason that nobody considers: he chose to go to Hungary, which is both an EU and NATO member, presently in bad rapport with both, especially the Biden admin and European commission, and on top of it with the ukie regime.
If a US citizen running away from ukie authorities being accused of thought crimes and such seeks political asylum publically by the Hungarian authorities that becomes a major diplomatic problem. But did Gonzalo think of this tidbit?
Gonzalo got his papers back in the hopes that he will ride into the sunset, and write himself off the sbu’s chore list. Let’s face it, the sbu is a practical bunch of thugs… They know a few things, and Gonzalo is not worth the fuss for them. They tried teaching him some lessons in their own way, then basically cut him loose.
So I conjecture that he made it to Hungary, is being sheltered, enjoys hospitality on the condition that he lays low for a while. The last thing the Orbán government needs is this type of melodrama right now. So he must oblige, which is a big torture for such an extroverted man.
Gonzalo said he has a severe heart problem. Well, if the cigarettes did not kill him, the rich Hungarian cuisine may do it… Suggest moderation if he reads this.
As far as Scott Ritter’s tirade is concerned, this is not looking good on him. I respect much of his work, but not his handling of Gonzalo. He should show more class and no pettiness with this positively spirited man. Agree with Larry’s points!
I wish Gonzalo well, stay out of trouble, and keep a low profile. Maybe learn from Brian Berletic alias Cartalucci… Just a hint.
i tend to agree with Scott. I had never heard of Gonzalo until recently. When this smo started i stumbled upon him. At first i liked what he said but then questions popped up. One of his claims was that Ukraine was run by Fascists who were thugs and yet they were allowing him to claim that Russia was going make Ukraine a rump state among other claims. I found odd that a guy who seems to be so pro Russia would be allowed to stay in the country. They don’t have to arrest him or kill him, just kick him out. Yet the guy is prancing around laughing.
The other thing was how he seem to be so dismissive of everything, at one podcast he claim that NATO was not going to confront Russia because they were scared. I thought that was nonsense. When he makes some historical reference it is usually very vague and he just throws his hands up like it is no big deal.
So i decided to do a google search and what i found was a guy that did not seem to hold on to a job and that was about it. Some guy on YouTube claims he was on the Skeptic YouTube and that he was a grifter, i don’t know. But in any case his whole demeanor in his channel just smelled of grifter. Then the way he started accusing Major Ritter of essentially being a sell out and totally dismissive of Ritter just made me throw up. Here is a guy that has not made one minimum contribution to the world criticizing a man who has a long history of serving his country, which army has Gonzo served, and being an objective critic of the war in Iraq, where was Gonzo then.
I lived under a dictatorship for 16 years under Salazar and one thing i know is that they would never tolerate a guy like that make those kinds of comments, if he was Portuguese they would send him to some prison in Africa or even kill him if he was a real pest and if was a foreigner they would kick him out. So Gonzalo smells like a rat to me.
I think on this one you are wrong and maybe Scott Ritter is not right either but he is onto something. Like Judge Judy used to say, if something does not sound right it probably it is not true. And finally Gonzalo looks better since he left jail than before he went in. His face looks younger and once again there he is in public laughing, making jokes and publicly stating he is going leave for Hungary. That is 1500 kilometers from where he is, so why not go to a place closer? Also why announce it. The whole thing stinks and it is sad because it discredits the people are truly serious and have actual knowledge of events.
There are a few other podcasts i do not listen anymore. One is Alexander Mercouris who was disbarred because he ripped off a client. Now he reinvented himself as an expert on international affairs. His podcasts are full of political gossip not information, moreover he spends way too much time with tidbit pieces of non information and then says they are not verified but pushes them out anyway. His podcast could be reduced by half if he did not hum and haw constantly. I do listen to him just because he sometimes provides some sources that are actually interesting.
The other guy that i used to listen to is Alex Christoforou. At first i thought he appeared interesting then i realized that he is just speculating much like his fellow Alexander. But what did it for me was his statement that the euro had at one reached $2 which is totally false. i have been following the dollar/euro since the euro became a common currency in europe and never has the euro reached $2. So i figured his information is not reliable. And what is his experience in IA anyway? But at least he offers nice views of the places he visits for his walking podcasts and sometimes does have some interesting stuff, but not worth the time.
I like Brian Berletic because he seems to provide some real analysis, provides us with the sources for his information and has shown to be reliable, accurate and overall informative.
Of course i like to hear what Mr Larry Johnson has to say and trust his comments, not on this one though. I listen to most of the guests on Judge Napolitano, except for Devine who comes off as rabid anti Soviet who has forgotten the Soviet Union stopped existing since 1990s. Are they always right? Probably not but i find that i can rely on them for a serious discussion and analysis not some pretend to be serious BS.
Alexander Mercouris was disbarred after an episode of serious mental illness: a psychotic break, and depression. He was delusional and accused the Lord Chief Justice of plotting to have him kidnapped for 50,000 pounds. He suffered quite a bit.
In this age of unfettered information the most significant struggle is not the pursuit of truth but the discernment of deception.
Larry your argument is so sound why did you decline for the chance to appear in Scott’s show and debate your logic and you refused. All people know there is no freedom of speech in Ukraine for those who did some tortured,some imprisoned, and some even killed.somehow Gonzalo expressed his free speech without any trouble inside Ukraine. Why is that…
If we can put sentiments aside and take a clear look at Gonzalo Lira’s case, it is not hard to see that something is totally out of place with the whole narrative. I was very sad at his first disappearance, and was really glad when he was released on bail. But I became disillusioned when he went back to do the same thing he was arrested for. Many journalists have been murdered by the Ukrainian goons for saying less than he was saying.
And again after his second arrest and subsequent bail, he went on twitter to announce his plan escape from Ukraine.
Frankly, I don’t know if Scott Ritter’s wrote what he wrote about Gonzalo as a payback for the nasty things Gonzalo said about him in the past, but I contend that any objective observer would see that Gonzalo Lira’s story is full of holes.
In the end it comes down to the old adage: would you buy a second car from this fellow? I certainly wouldn’t, nor would I believe a word Lira says or any claims without strong corroborating evidence. His use to the SBU and their western handlers is obvious – a link to those like Larry who are causing them so much angst. Anything they can glean about what them is worthwhile.
Would you buy a car from Ritter? How about from Larry?
“Pro-Russian blogger and misogynist dating coach Gonzalo Lira, also known as “Coach Red Pill” online, has been arrested by Ukrainian authorities on charges of wartime propaganda.” — by Eva Rosen, New York Daily News, May 6, 2023.
I don’t know Gonzalo Lira. And I don’t care. I have found his transformation from “Coach Red Pill” to “Gonzalo Lira, Hero of the Revolution” a bit suspect. Snake Oil Salesman extraordinaire like. Tongue and in my cheek kind of deal. As “Hero of the Revolution” Lira was a bit more entertaining than as a one-man assault on the merits (according to Lira there weren’t any) of dating a single divorced mothers.
Where does all this take you? Where do you end up?
I first came across Gonzalo Lira when he was doing his “Coach Red Pill” schtick. A smug, cocky, self-important nobody. I heard he came from money so could pretty much do as he pleased, so good for him.
Alexander Mercouris falls into this same category. A former English barrister found guilty of extreme misconduct and subsequently disbarred. With some embarrassing nervous ticks (at least embarrassing to those having to painfully watch Mercouris in action). If you are Mercouris, where do you go next? Why you become another “Hero of the Revolution.”
We have gone from “there are no second acts in American society,” to there are nothing but second, third, fourth, and even fifth acts. At least until the overdoes from Fentanyl kicks in.
Whatever happened to conducting your life responsibly, being a serious person? Here we are, possibly four (4) years into another World War that started at the same time the last one ended with no credible wartime correspondents. Just a clown world mix of I don’t really know what. This includes everybody.
How bad must things really be if all we have is a fully owned, fully manipulated, fully controlled, fully propagandized mainstream media?
Much of what passes for the alternative media looks just like Gonzalo Lira. Where are the Edward R. Murrows, the Walter Cronkites, the Ernie Pyles, Bill Maudins?
Lira? I don’t care. Maybe he will turn up dead. Maybe in Moscow. Another guest of Vladimir Putin. Doubt he will show his face back in the United States. But who knows. Maybe he is finally dead. Dead is better than having to switch the channel all the time.
I have no idea what happened here, but I hope Gonzalo is ok and gets his freedom.
To be honest he went down in my estimation when he started calling Scott the P word last year. A totally inappropriate and unnecessary slur that divided the community that we all rely on for an alternative to the MSM garbage.
I do think Scott is prone to excitability, and making grand predictions that often turn out to be wrong, but it was GL who started this fight In my view.
I would say that Scott Ritters analysis is on the money because look at the ill feeling this Lira affair has caused. People who previously were on the ‘same team’ are now arguing and the credibility of some commentators is being questioned. A wedge is being driven into the alternative news community who are telling the truth about Ukraine and if this was the intention of the SBU then they’ve succeeded and the tool used to do it was Gonzalo Lira.
The way they did it was by using Lira to very publicly attack Scott Ritter which he did by repeating sleazy and debunked accusations against Ritters character. Ritters response was rightfully very angry. This happened after Lira reappeared after his first arrest by the SBU in April 2022. I watched Liras video at the time he made it and l remember thinking that it was quite odd the way he did it. I just felt that he was faking it, that he wasn’t genuine in the way he said it, almost like there was an ulterior motive to what he was saying. It makes more sense to me now in light of the current fall out.
Personally I don’t think Lira is a bad actor in this but rather he has been coerced by the SBU under threats to his safety or those close to him. Something else l found odd was the sound of Liras voice in his recent video. He spoke in Spanish accented English when to my ears he used to always sound like a regular American. I may be wrong but what l heard was in a short Jimmy Dore video from 3 days ago entitled’Ukraine DISAPPEARS U.S. Journalist For Criticizing Zelensky!’
well, Larry, fair play to you; you always reminded us that Lira was out there and probably in need of a shout out. Being nabbed by a bunch of brutes whom the Russian Army is in the process of dismantling limb by limb– literally– is not a place where any sane person would wanna end up, after all; no matter what one thinks of Lira.
I hope Lira turns up safe and well again, even if still under the control of those losers in country 404. But whatever it was you said that triggered that potty mouth Ritter, fair play to you for holding your ground. He’s been popping at you relentlessly to anyone who’ll listen these past few days, so you’re over the target, clearly. He’s rather aggressive, eh? Once a grunt always a grunt, I guess.
I quit listening to Ritter when he said 911 was done by muslims in hijacked airplanes, and recently he went as far as to say the Beirut blast a few years ago was a nitrate explosion, 😂. I wouldn’t trust him for a New York Minute– and seems to be a nasty piece of work behind the ‘dumb marine who can’t count’ shpiel; rather he’s quite the calculating sleazeball, imho.
Keep up the good work, and keep the pressure on Scotty Boy; likely he’ll give him self a hernia or a heart attack if people keep calling him out on his b.s.
“I quit listening to Ritter when he said 911 was done by muslims in hijacked airplanes”
It may have escaped your notice that Larry thinks (or at least said) the same in response to some comments.
I will only say that stating “all Lira’s round tables were public and nothing was secret” is silly. You can’t prove a negative. Other than that the whole discussion is a worthless distraction.
Why don’t you both please stop this thing about GL. You are both denigrating yourselves and GL isn’t worth it. He is not a Julian Assange. Please continue your analyses about world affairs and stop this useless war of words.
Assange have higer life expectancy.
Someone here mentioned Pinochet , and sure enough here is Gonzalo Lira : https://t.me/realCRP/1701
. “As a Chilean, I can say unequivocally that Gen. Augusto Pinochet is the best president our country ever had. He broke the communists, who were heavily armed and trying to start a civil war; he rebuilt an economy destroyed by the Leninist-Maoist Salvador Allende; he grew the middle class until it became the majority of the country, and eradicated extreme poverty; he built a health care system that was affordable, efficient, and available to all; he created a private retirement account system that gave individuals free choice while at the same time amassing a huge pool of capital that could be invested in the growth of the country; expunged corruption at all levels, most especially among the oligarchs, whom he broke on in 1980-82; and created a legal and constitutional framework that gave Chile peace, order and prosperity for 30 years AFTER he had peacefully left power. He was a great man, and it’s only obvious in retrospect—now that Chile is once again sliding into communism and chaos. ¡Viva Chile Pinochet!”
Pinochet put in by a CIA coup, see Sir Henry Kissinger’s KCMG “dear Bill letter”, supported Britain’s war on the Falklands, ran murder Operation Condor, hosted for tea at Thatcher’s Society. In other words exactly the type that Zelensky has moved to change the Kiev economy to a complete neo-con version of Chile under the fog of war.
Except this is not Chile, BlackRock and Monsanto are loosing it.
Basically we simply do not know what the hell is going on and then are asked like a kindergarten to have feelz.
I have met well off Chileans who share that view of Pinochet. He is considered a hero who saved the country by quite a lot of folk. It’s not an uncommon view to hold among the class that GL comes from. And GL has always been open about his right leaning political stance.
I know a lot about Chile because of business connection and frequent visits. So here is the tally regarding Lira’s assertions:
“He broke the communists, who were heavily armed and trying to start a civil war”
Partly TRUE.
“he rebuilt an economy destroyed by the Leninist-Maoist Salvador Allende”
FALSE. In 9 years (1973 to 1982) his military administration destroyed the Chilean economy leading to the greatest ever crisis in 1982, with the taxpayer saving the national banking sector. After that disaster he outsourced the Chilean economy to Chilean graduates from Chicago.
“he grew the middle class until it became the majority of the country, and eradicated extreme poverty”
FALSE. This happened in Chile but it happened in the late 90s, long after Pinochet had been driven out of power by civilian politicians.
“he built a health care system that was affordable, efficient, and available to all”.
FALSE. To this day, the majority of Chileans are covered by a national health service because the private health service is not affordable for most Chileans.
“he created a private retirement account system that gave individuals free choice while at the same time amassing a huge pool of capital that could be invested in the growth of the country”.
TRUE. This has been a great engine of Chilean economic growth BUT the system was created by the civilians that took over economic policy after the 1982 debacle.
“expunged corruption at all levels, most especially among the oligarchs, whom he broke on in 1980-82”.
FALSE. Pinochet himself was found guilty of corruption by simply stealing funds entrusted to him for national defence, but could not be prosecuted.
“created a legal and constitutional framework that gave Chile peace, order and prosperity for 30 years AFTER he had peacefully left power”
FALSE. The legal and economic system has been changed thoroughly after he was booted out and the subsequent civil governments are to be credited with any stability and prosperity attribute.
“He was a great man …”
My well-placed connections in Chile told me that Pinochet hesitated to the last minute out of fear and then jumped on the coup bandwagon and started to worm his way up to the top. They say he was a banal, mediocre man with great ambitions and a profound modesty of intellect.
(another political tourist)
“My well-placed connections in Chile told me that Pinochet vacillated until the last minute out of fear and then jumped on the coup bandwagon and began working his way to the top. They say that he was a banal, mediocre man, with great ambitions and a profound modesty of intellect.”
His connections are either misplaced or malicious. General Pinochet resisted to the last to go against the constitution out of his loyalty to it, not out of fear. But after the ultimatum given by the other forces, especially the Navy, and the evidence, as far as I could attest, that all the militant forces were armed and, therefore, that the outbreak of a civil war would take place from one moment to the next, was what decided him to take action to avoid it.
What came after can be explained, in part, because the intelligence services, security forces and the armed forces themselves were totally infiltrated by the CIA and the Chilean Nazis, just like in the Ukraine (in fact, even the leftist movements radical were infiltrated) and he, obviously, depended on the information that they gave him.
Hey Alonso, have you heard of ‘copy and paste’? You quoted my text but you changed two of my words. So I guess you wrote my entire paragraph anew, in your keyboard. That’d be cute, lol!
And btw you didn’t deny any of my take-downs of Lira’s misleading or outright false assertions.
Maybe Lira is not an SBU asset as Ritter claims without evidence but most certainly the guy is an unreliable character.
I guess he is alive and detained for trying to cross the border when having an on-going case against him. His passport most certainly raised a red flag when swiped at passport control.
With regard to Lira, Ritter’s arguments are entirely plausible. He has written a comprehensive article concerning the matter and there isn’t much to object to in it.
Just consider the following, what other blogger inside Ukraine has been able to speak out against the nazi regime with such freedom and for such a long time? There was no hiding anywhere in Ukraine, if you were online; to asume otherwise is ridiculous and/or malicious.
Ritter’s contention that the security services use fake opposition to smoke out real opposition is an old trick, and Lira fits the profile. HIS SURVIVAL for well over a year – online – in the belly of the beast has no other explanation.
(Apparently he was very fond of Pinochet; apparently he is a direct descendant of security service agents in Chile)
Wasn’t it Gonzalo who told us shortly before he disappeared that the Poles secretly wanted western Ukraine to be denazified before taking it over? Kind of suggests a secret pact between Poland and Ukraine, and possibly Russia as well – Putin has said from the beginning that Poland has plans for western Ukraine. Perhaps this is what Gonzalo was told by the SBU when they detained him earlier, and which he was not allowed to talk about. So then he talks about it (if my memory is correct) and they disappear him.
So the guys on “The Gagle” pretty much agreed with Scott. There is something really stinky going on with Gonzalo. I’ve have never trusted him from the beginning and even less after he was arrested and released 5 days later.
.
I have not experience on anything about Intelligence… but I know about Artificial Intelligence, Computer Security, and Big Data (data analysis)… if GL lira got back his devices after being arrested (and knowing that 404 has great hackers), is very easy just to “change” the links GL sent for/to the “round tables” and get a lot of information from the guests that click on it… Then the SBU can run analysis to find connections, subgroups, networks (something similar to what Facebook and LinkedIn do to find who might be your friends/connections, or even Amazon to make you buy something that you didn’t know you “need”… just SBU must be “military grade” hacking/data collection and analisys). And is the same principle on how terrorist networks can be identified, just by looking the connections by who clicks a link, where they live, and their friends, friends of friends…. Maybe GL was aware, maybe he voluntarily did it, maybe he was forced, or maybe he didn’t even know, but whaterever it was, it was easy for SBU (and NATO/US behind) just to get all the info from the audience, map it, and make better plans on how to target someone…. I consider Scott R., Larry J, Ray M, the experts on intelligence… guys like “the duran” or Berletic, they have their own field of expertise, but about Intelligence, they seem just to share what is they wish/desire and not an educated guess, nor objective analysis.
I hope and wish that Larry is also making a serious analysis of the situation, and not just a wishful thinking (it could be hard to be an expert on intelligence and caught with the guard low by some blogger that became an “expert” on geopolitics such as GL)… As I share with Alex from the Duran, they probably are not the target of SBU, but they are a great platform to collect data and map connections and find weak points to target someone that could not even know about the existence of “the duran” (unfortunately, seems that the Duran will do what they criticize from MSM, just avoid mention it and let it fade out until people forgets about it)
By the way… Lira himself said he worked for the CIA for 10 years while in Chile, here is the link to the National Library of Chile with the newspaper where Gonzalo stated it. https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/visor/BND:248677
The link doesn’t work, here is the correct one: http://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/628/w3-article-248677.html
So… my guess, Lira is a liar, and an SBU asset
The link doesn’t work, here is the correct one: http://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/628/w3-article-248677.html
My guess, he is a manipulator liar that does anything for fame and money
False, it reads
“For a decade I was an agent of the CIA secretly in Chile… No, the whole
the information of my books is public and there are some things that are not true, but that they are plausible.”
There’s a No after the ellipsis. Do you see it?
This is false, he never said he worked for the CIA.
“By the way… Lira himself said he worked for the CIA for 10 years while in Chile”
“What he said was “For a decade I was an agent of the CIA secretly in Chile… No, the whole the information of my books is public and there are some things that are not true, but that they are plausible.”
There’s a “no” after the ellipsis.
I would assume you know Spanish, Spanish grammar, and text comprehension… As read it in Spanish, the “no” could be referring to the “secretly”, in particular because he clarifies that the info is public even when not all is true…
Now, is that true? I do not believe so, Clownzalo is someone who is willing to do anything just for fame and money, and by his own words and videos, he states he has done “pretty nasty things” because he is “a son of a b…” (by his own words)
and by the way, there are no question marks on Liras statement, so, it is not clarifying that he was not working with CIA… we can argue if the newspaper wrote it properly, but for the read of the text, there is an admission of working with CIA, just not clear if secretly or not
I think it was poorly written/punctuated and there should have been a question mark rather than ellipses. Yes, ellipses give a sense of suspense but the no is an answer to what was a suppressed question. It can’t IMHO be construed as an admission he worked for the CIA. If the sentence was “For a decade I was an agent of the CIA secretly in Chile BUT, no, the whole the information of my books is public and there are some things that are not true, but that they are plausible.” then that would be a clear admission.
You’re right. In that sentence at the start of the piece Lira is denying he worked for the CIA.
This comment section isn’t functioning for me.
“As read it in Spanish, the “no” could be referring to the “secretly”, in particular because he clarifies that the info is public even when not all is true…”
No.
“For a decade I was an agent of the CIA secretly in Chile… No, the whole
the information of my books is public and there are some things that are not true, but that they are plausible.”
What it means is that the part before the ellipses is a proposition and the no is the negation of the proposition.
I see your point, and in some scenario you might be right, nevertheless, in this case, the No is not a negation of the “I was an agent…..” sentence, the “No” has an explanation of the information being public, and not an explanation such as “I’ve always a writer, never an spy”…. We can raise the point about what was the question of the journalist/reporter, did he ask:
Did you work for the CIA?: then doesn’t explain why the use of the word “secretly”.
Is your information from your CIA work?: It fits the answer, he work secretly, but no, the information in his book is public and not all true but plausible.
Is it true you worked secretly for the CIA and that’s why you have this information in your book? Also fits the answer, nevertheless, not a very common way of interviewing in Spanish from a reporter of a newspaper.
In any case, as I stated before, based on Lira’s own videos and comments (about himself) he portrays himself as a corrupt, sob, who does whatever it takes to get what he wants. This could be all “theater”, but is his own words, expressed as if that’s the reality… And what I said, I do not believe he worked for the CIA, (as Larry Says, the CIA wouldn’t recruit him, I agree with Larry) but, well SBU is not the CIA, and Lira clearly has no regard for a moral value (I mean, staying in Ukraine during war and not leaving at the beginning with his kids/wife. tells what are his priorities)
btw, the use of ellipses (puntos suspensivos) in Spanish, I’m not sure about English, is also used to avoid writing the whole text/quote, to add suspense (that’s why are called “suspense dots”), if the phrase is completed, then after the dots/ellipses should start with capital letter (as in this case), if not, then lowercase, also are used for transition to express fear or doubt, to voluntarily end a sentence where the reader knows the conclusion…. so… that’s why I said that your point might be valid in some case, but I think not in this one.
https://www.rae.es/dpd/puntos%20suspensivos
Gonzalo Lira is psychologically hooked on the Ukraine War. He is in the middle of it, and knows it is it dangerous, but will ride it out to the end. Intellectually he knew it was dangerous, but he sort of felt he had some kind of protection. I think though that he now feels it is just too dangerous. I think he thought he would be out before his videos were seen. Videos are his thing. That’s the only way we even know him. They caught him at the border just as they catch everyone, or he was under constant surveillance. Just his dumb luck.
I only listen to Lira because of his reportage on what’s going on inside of Kharkov. Otherwise, his opinions are no different from others who know the truth about the SMO.
Hey Larry, I think you should keep your opinion about your long time friend, Scott, to yourself. If it turns out that he is correct, then you have publicly smeared your own friend to your audience.
This sort of thing is really unpleasant/ awkward to read.
Agree… I think it exposes for whom this is an “emotional/personal” matter, I read/hear Scott, and the way to refer to his “colleagues” tends to be very professional (I guess that’s why he was also part as the UN in some form) except when he gets personally attack, then he replies with unpleasant truths (like about Berletic)
You came to a blog, to tell the blog owner that he should not write his thoughts on his blog, because you don’t like his opinion. You should demand to talk to the manager right away.
I sometimes found Lira personally annoying, but he did a great service to all of us, to the world, with his Roundtables. With them, he introduced us to a lot of people worth following, and the discussions were among the best anywhere. Whatever his foibles, those discussions were a great offering. We should all be praying for his safe release. If you want to call him an asshole, you can do that after his safe release.
Regarding the lunatic Nuland. I grew up in NY in a largely Jewish world. Nuland is the quintessential J.A.P…. a Jewish American Princess. I dated a few, so I can tell you that are a nightmare beyond your wildest dreams. Sociopath, or even psychopath doesn’t do them justice. Everyone else in the world is just a tool to accomplish what they want. Combine that with sitting around Grandma’s kitchen, listening over and over again how the bad Russians, or how the Tsar was mean, and Great Grandma had to flee, suffering, to America, where the Nuland/Kagans now run the country. Destroying Russia is her lie’s dream.
Also this:
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/04/20/once-a-mean-girl-always-a-mean-girl/
“sitting around Grandma’s kitchen, listening over and over again how the bad Russians, or how the Tsar was mean, and Great Grandma had to flee, suffering, to America-”
This is what all of this is about. Nuland couldn’t care less how many Ukrainians, Russians, Americans, or anybody else, die. She has an ax to grind with Russia, cost others what it may. Blinken, and all of the rest, are the same way. We don’t have a foreign policy. They do.
How can one have a foreign policy, without even having a country of his own. 😉
I actually listened to Gonzalo on YouTube about Nuland a long time ago. I don’t know where his info comes from, but it was interesting. According to him, Nuland’s grandfather, who was a tailor in Bessarabia (current Moldova), which belonged to Russian Empire and who was probably a well-to-do man by the local standards, but had to flee to America after the pogroms, but couldn’t find himself in NY, and took his frustrations on his son (Nuland’s father), a successful doctor and author, whom Nuland adored, but her father had a broken spirit from parental abuse in his youth. So, for whatever it’s worth-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzR—YDDIQ
Scott never said you guys were compromised. He said the situation was. Roundtables were used to direct conversations not to gather Intel on the guests. It’s possible that they may have wanted him to turn on a guest, explains the run for the border. But after gonzolo first arrest he was a different person. As someone who lived on the otherside of the law for a long time. His whole first arrest screamed some type of “informant” deal. That’s how it always works, directing conversations on a roundtable. There would be no feeling of guilt by gonzolo to his peers because there is no “harm” being done to them. Just conversations being had. The 2nd arrest is where the sbu wanted to “turn up the heat”. Whether actually informing on someone personally or setting one of his peers up whose local. Whatever it was, it was something so nefarious. That it made him want to run for the border. He obviously agreed to do it just to get out of jail. The whole running for Hungary border confirmed it for me. He was much closer to Russia and Belarus, it would’ve been easier to get across those borders, mike jones, war gonzo, patrick landcaster etc all could’ve got him out. Then he wanted to go to Hungary a EU/NATO country, apply for asylum and hope they will fight for him. Why not go to Hungary and apply for asylum at the Russian/Belarus embassies? As much as an outspoken critic on Ukraine as he was they would love to have him. Unless he cut a deal, which they would know about.
Do you remember if he started chain smoking before or after his initial arrest. I believe (not sure) it was after. I know he wasn’t smoking when he started doing videos in Kharkov. If it was after it indicates he was under immense pressure.
I appreciate the cottage industry vis-a-vis Ukraine that’s emerged since February 2022. Some commentators are more consistent compared to others; some occasionally let their emotions run amok. But all are head & shoulders above the garbage spewed by the MSM and their handlers at the CIA and No. 10 Downing St.
Naturally, Larry is among my favorites, followed by Macgregor. And I want to give a shout out to Patrick Lancaster. He’s raw & unpolished but his videos and interviews will help sort out what really happened in Donbas when the war is over (which I hope is soon).
Christ All-Mighty…Ritter did a hell of an assassination piece on Lira for sure. He went well out of his way, with “data and specs” to prove Lira is an SBU asset. A lot of what Ritter wrote looked to me as if Ritter was “puffing out his chest”, and a lot of “egotistical look at me and how smart I am” style of writing, all to prove his point about Lira. Maybe Ritter is correct to some degree as Ritter’s initial and basic explanation of Lira will to the average layman, make Lira look like he is working both sides of the table. Frankly, Lira looks extremely compromised when looking at just the chain of events.
Lira to many, is a victim of his own doing, as the saying goes. Living in one of the most corrupt countries of the world and working as a Youtube lifestyle coach, who then switches to political commentary…does not give him a lot of credibility. I stopped watching Lira as it was obvious to me he was spewing out the stuff people wanted to hear. As the lead of round tables I found him to be essentially behind the curve, knowledge wise, as compared to his guests. Regardless, I have no idea if Lira is an SBU asset or not but, I do want him to return home safely and unharmed.
Ritter strikes me as an egotist who is always correct and will go to lengths to prove that point, his article pointed out by Larry Johnson indicates that. I gave up on him after one too many emotional rants during interviews. Anyone that rants emotionally that much, I simply can not trust their opinion. Ranting people, I have found, tend to be quite biased in their views and beliefs. I generally avoid those individuals.
I wonder why he was released on bail and given his passports back. That wouldn’t be normal. Maybe he isn’t a GRU agent maybe he is an actor!
False, it reads
“For a decade I was an agent of the CIA secretly in Chile… No, the whole
the information of my books is public and there are some things that are not true, but that they are plausible.”
There is a “No” after the ellipsis.
Hi, Lira was not arrested in April.
He was busy getti g his family out , messing with bank accounts and decided yo spin a tail of arrest and release for , presumably exposure and to put fsb off his trail .
Why would he stay in Ukraine when his family escapes?!? Because hes hungry for fame . Well hes famous now!! I was chatting with him during the dark week online.
I have the greatest respect for both Larry and Scott.
Something does not add up with the GL story. Releasing him the first time because he was an American citizen? Really? A guy railing against the Ukrainian regime – a US ally – and the Ukrainians would be concerned about US opinion? Sorry, not buying that.
A simple uncontroversial solution for the Ukrainians at the time? – Deport him, he is not Ukrainian.
Instead they just release him and he immediately returns to doing exactly what they locked him up for in the first place??
I cannot speak for other countries, but I am pretty sure that here in Ireland if released on bail you are required to surrender your passport – I do not think they return it to you to facilitate fleeing the jurisdiction!! The only possible explanation for handing him his papers -one that possibly exonerates GL – is that they wanted to make it easy for him to attempt to flee. That way they would have an internationally recognised crime to charge him with – jumping bail. Now they can lock him up for that, and not be accused of jailing someone for journalism.
I occasionally watched his shows and while his first hand accounts were interesting I personally seldom found his analysis to be very insightful, particularly on economic issues.
I hope he is ok and that things work out for him. We do not need discord in the alternative media community. It is too small as it is. We need Larry and Scott and The Colonel and The Judge and the Duran boys – and probably even GL.
Keep up the good work Larry!
My read of what Ritter said is that AFTER Lira was arrested the SBU had control over him. When they let him go and allowed him to continue holding round tables and post videos, that was by the permission or demand of the SBU, and that anything Lira did subject to the SBU’s permission or demand, was viewed by the SBU as serving its interests.
I found Ritter’s discussion of Western strategies for psy ops to be convincing.
As for Lira himself, I found him to be pedantic and boring, so I only listened to one or two of his productions. Plus, I have little if any reliable information on what the SBU’s goals would be or how Lira would fit into them. As such, I don’t really have a view on whether what Lira did redounded to the benefit of the SBU.
Ritter makes a compelling argument in favor of a “confidential informant” status for Lira. This is not the same thing as being an agent. The people most compromised by such activity are not those of us in the US who are critical of Ukraine’s “government,” but those who live and work in Ukraine.
As for the protection Lira might have received by virtue of his citizenship status, I remember well Ben Lindner an American citizen killed by the Contras. The Contras suffered no retribution from the CIA or any other part of the US government. Americans working to support the Sandanistas were fair game with a large slice of America’s security establishment happy to see them die.
A friend of our family, an 80 year old Quaker and retired English professor, was in the West Bank, standing with some Palestinians trying to protest the seizure of their olive groves by Israeli settlers. Standing right next to an IDF soldier, our friend was attacked by a settler who threw him to the ground and kicked him, breaking several ribs. Three was no reaction from the Israeli soldier.
Upon returning to the US, our friend contacted his senators and congressman to ask for their assistance. His representatives (as well as the US State Department) treated him like he had a loathsome disease.
Lira hit hard Ritter with his past and I didn`t like that as well. Ritter is a professional in military analysis, Lira isn`t.
Anyway, I have seen all kinds of videos about Lira, also before this situation began in Ukraine.
There is one issue here to remember. There is no rational way how Lira should behave in these situations as a private person. He is an author, a blogger and a person who has Youtube channels. He is into public debates.
1. He has been in Ukraine and travelling there, living there, years before this situation started.
2. He is not a military person, so military people don`t understand his logic, he simply has no military logic the way he behaves.
3. When he was there in a hotel, as the situation in Ukraine started, he really didn`t know what to do and where to go, maybe having a similar situation like many other people, stations were packed with Ukrainian refugees fleeing from the country.
4. After the first arrest his passport was taken, he described the situation as he would be “under a home/city arrest”. He was told not to leave and not to talk about the arrest.
5. I think he just kept on posting videos on Youtube as he could not trust what would happen to him, I don`t know if he was told not to post videos on Youtube. He thought these people would accuse him anyway and would get him killed if they wanted.
Maybe he was surprised he could not get out of the country.
6. He got arrested again. These people fed his mind with information that he was “bailed” out and should leave now that he can. I think they wanted to build more case against him, with a trap that he would get encouraged to try illegally across the border. I think he didn`t as he had his passport with him in case he would be stopped and he was not allowed to cross the border. He was not pretending to be someone else.
7. He hasn`t been allowed to contact his own lawyer. Why not, he is a US and Chilean citizen, he has the right to contact his own lawyer.
8. Torture doesn`t mean that you have always visible marks on your body. It can leave brain damage, trauma, also body can be permanently damaged in several different ways. Only those who know and can observe the person on a daily basis, can notice a difference. Please note the fact that Mr Lira has been also away from the prison a long period of time before releasing the videos on the border. He was not “freshly” there on the videos after the prison.
I just think its absurd how many people think its right to treat this man on the internet like he is a spy or something. Whatever he is, I would demand he has his rights. I despice people who would accept the media to be the judge, no way.
What struck me is that actually Mr Lira has been an American hardcore, his style to post videos and discuss is American. So, what is wrong with him? He is not treated as an American?
It seems to me, the government in Chile has a better understanding of human rights than US.
I’d like to apply a modified version of Pascal’s Wager to Scott’s actions and ask the question – What’s the cost either way?
If Scott is right (and I’m not sure exactly what his contention is since it seems to be evolving) then the SBU knows the IP address and possibly more about people who watch GL’s videos and exchanged email with him. If the SBU was monitoring GL’s communication before picking him up the first time, then they already have that but possibly just a bigger map now. Mapping out the opposition around the world doesn’t do much for them and there’s dozens of other people who could be tracked just as easily as GL. For instance, if it put people at risk, everyone knows where folks like Scott live already. Scott telling the story doesn’t change a single thing. It does benefit Scott though. He gets a lot of “I always thought GL was shifty” points with some people. GL has an irritating personality to be sure and that’s a lot of what people felt about him.
If Scott is wrong people that could/should be reaching out to the State Department, etc. are going to be discouraged from advocating for his release. It could even lead to GL’s “elimination” since the cost benefit of keeping GL alive vs ending his life has shifted. If we don’t care about GL then who will? The ones that benefit are the State Dept, etc who likely didn’t appreciate his advocacy against Ukr.
Scott has been careless with the facts of the matter. Ex: Scott claimed Gonzalo had an ankle bracelet that he removed. Gonzalo in the written and his YT account told how he was NOT given a bracelet. Small detail to be sure, but Scott is going off much less seeming inconsistencies in judging GL. Another noted inconsistency is what items Gonzalo got back after his first release. GL did not get back his computer so he had to create new YT and Twitter accounts.
The big question often asked is – Why did GL stay after his first release? I’ve watched GL for many years, back to his Coach Red Pill days. One thing has about GL always been the same. He thrives on controversy and likes to be the center of attention. As does Scott, I might add. Everybody wants to be the go-to guy.
GL’s explanation after his first arrest of why he felt he could keep making UT videos was that he believed if he was broadcasting in English it wouldn’t cause him problem in Ukraine. The fact that only 8 F-16 pilots were proficient enough in English to train shows to me that Ukrainians are not English proficient. Quite likely people like trans-Sarah did not like that and pushed inside Ukr to get his detained.
The other often missed detail was that after GL’s first arrest he said that the issue they SBU had with him was filming on the city streets. They feared it might jeopardize their control over coverage of military strikes on the city, etc. GL stated that this was going to limit him to broadcasting from his apartment, which he followed after that – no more filming on the streets. And, we do know what Ukrs do to people who broadcast bombing damages (“to the front for you.”).
Another one – Why was GL in Ukraine at all? It’s all 100% consistent with his Coach Red Pill content summarized as “if you want a wife, go to Eastern Europe to find one but don’t bring her back to the states to get westernized.”
I think a big part of the problem is people who are very active in the alternative media do a whole lot of interviews and often don’t spend as much time in thought/reflection as they should.
What I really don’t understand is Scott Ritter’s history (not the predatory part, that’s somewhat well known).
I do know what the legend is – “Scott singlehandedly stood up to the US claim there were WMDs in Iraq”. I’m not sure that’s what happened. Wikipedia (which I don’t trust) has an account but I’d like to know what Scott said at the time. I know he’s a peace advocate now.
While you guys are wasting your time arguing or having different opinions about a individual named Gonzalo Lira , who is not even so relevant for this war , none of you guys have any idea where this will end or which direction Russia will go ,everybody only speculates while Russia is calmly doing what is doing ,not getting distracted by any kind of Western provocations. Distraction and diversions do work very well so nobody can keep their eye on the ball. I salute everyone.
Who decides what is relevant? How do you know that no one has any idea?
From a friend, 9. august 2023
—————————–
To Scott Ritter
I am reading your blog about Gonzo Lira.
I agree that there is something fishy here.
Haven’t it occured to you that the target of all this may be YOU, Scott Ritter ?
Suppose the following are true:
Gozo Lira (GL) is arrested the first time.
Then he is threatened into collaboration in return for his freedom to live in peace.
The deal is that he sets you up as you are a publically known enemy that the US wants to take down.
When he is released he slanders you, as agreed.
They know that you are a temperamental guy that of cause will get very angry by this
and tell som unpleasant things to GL and about GL.
Others that GL have been nice to will then get upset and attack you.
It may even suit GL’s personality being in the center of attention
by stirring up a litte action and extra publicity without suspecting the real intention behind it.
Then they will arrest GL, do away with him and make sure that somebody find his body.
Guess who will partly get the blame for his death.
Your reputation will be ruined because you “framed” an “innocent” man, they hope.
I am only guessing about this and I hope it is not true.
I wish you the best, be careful, and keep on the good work.
———————————————————-
I post it here because I wasn’t allowed to do it on Scott Ritter’s blog
Interesting point and one worth posting, even though it is also speculative.
When the CIA flips a foreign national and converts them into a confidential informant asset, do they then try to conceal all evidence of same so as not to compromise the asset or put their life at risk? And if so, this suggests that it is very unlikely that “evidence” of this asset’s recruitment or covert operations would be readily available to the public. Hence, neither Scott Ritter nor Larry Johnson are likely to be aware of any hard “evidence” of Gonzalo Lira’s true status. My point is that holding Scott Ritter to the high standard of providing “hard evidence” is a bit optimistic. Almost all opinions expressed on the internet reflect an individual’s assessment of publicly available information and therefore criticizing someone for lack of concrete insider evidence is not a strong argument for invalidating an opinion.
In addition, there are individuals who have been in contact with Gonzalo during the past month and they have stated that he tried to get them to reveal their personal addresses in recent emails. Those emails are in fact evidence of suspicious behavior. No, this doesn’t prove that Gonzalo is an SBU asset, but it does beg the question of why he would ask for this information from internet associates. Everybody take a deep breath and stop infighting each other. The truth will likely surface soon enough.
Flaws ?
I’ll just post Vanessa Beeley from telegram:
“If I were to broadcast my reports from Idlib City, get arrested once and released to continue publicly criticising Al Qaeda, ISIS or Joulani, I would only be able to do that if I had converted or been incentivised or coerced into working for MI6 project in Idlib. Otherwise my head would no longer be on my shoulders. That seems obvious to me.”
Just think for 5 minutes Larry. About what SBU is and about the whole context of his two arrests.
And don’t get me wrong – I really like Gonzalo’s posts and I copypaste his ukraine primer to this day. I really wish Scott was wrong. But pragmatically I don’t see how (regardless as to what extent). Especially knowing how SB worked in Poland during USSR times.
Control of a media organ (a brand, platform, personality, etc) trusted
by your adversaries is valuable. Using it to disseminate content
obviously favorable to yourself is probably the best way to ruin your
investment.
I expect that a good number of popular contributors to (and platforms
disseminating) any stream of alternative narratives can be influenced
by parties whose interests may not coincide with that of the audience
they cultivate.
It seems to me that there is a lot of exaggeration, from all parties, regarding this matter, exposing things that do not correspond (as the saying goes: “dirty clothes are washed at home”).
I believe that Gonzalo Lira, beyond his story, has an exacerbated narcissism, and that he is capable of walking on the edge of the precipice as long as he is visible, without much awareness of the danger that he carries. In Syria or Libya, he does not last a day alive. (He is saved by his Chilean status with a US passport, and the fact that his story is not strategic but public knowledge, but ignored by the mass media, as well as youtubers and bloggers, that is, he is not a danger to the Ukrainian leadership )
Looks like Ritter is more than doubling-down:
https://rumble.com/v3655ez-the-gaggle-talks-to-scott-ritter.html
Based on Ritter’s comments (and Peter Lavelle’s silly whining), I’d say it’s now personal between Ritter and LJ. (In a different podcast, he slimed Brian Berletic by calling him a “car washer” in the Marines. . .)
Defintely with Mr. Johnson on this one. Although if the SBU goal was to use Lira to divide the reality-based YT community — success. 🙁
Isn’t all a bit of low-brow gossip? Lira is borderline histrionic, and should have left Ukraine long ago: instead he played hero. Typical western inspired chaos: bravado, alongside with critical but not overly significant content. What’s all that? Nothing! One way or another, not interesting. And certainly not at the usual level of the discussions here…
I really doubt that SBU or CIA give a damn about Lira. Sure the Canadians paid a visit to a few contributers to Strategic Culture, but that is just people on the side wanting to get involved. SBU are much too busy.
Can’t kill him so get rid seems about right.
But starting a quarrel amongst the pro-Russian and neutral alternative media – that sounds just like something MI6 or fellow travellers at Bellingcat or Canadian intelligence might want to get involved with.
I think the most important thing is that he was in Ukraine taking huge risks. Many participants still in Ukraine have suffered.
“But starting a quarrel amongst the pro-Russian and neutral alternative media – that sounds just like something MI6 or fellow travellers at Bellingcat or Canadian intelligence might want to get involved with.”
Someone should accuse Ritter of being CIA/MI6 asset.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkMOc4jydOg
Scott Ritter sex offender
Ritter was the subject of two law enforcement sting operations in 2001. He was arrested twice in 2001 after showing up for what he thought were meetings with 14- and 15-year-old girls. HE SHOWED UP!
He blamed his arrest on his criticism of the Iraq war. The charges were dropped. (!!! so he was an asset and was let go on THIS KIND OF CRIME?) HOW MANY TIMES DID HE DO THIS AND NOT GET CAUGHT?
Ritter was arrested again (3rd time) in November 2009 over communications with a police decoy he met on an Internet chat site. Police said that he exposed himself, via a web camera, after the officer repeatedly identified himself as a 15-year-old girl. He told the “girl” he wanted to have sex with her before sending her a link to his webcam and performing sex acts on camera. Ritter rejected a plea bargain and was in prison from Mar, 2012 until Sep, 2014. HOW MANY TIMES HAS HE DONE THIS AND NOT GET CAUGHT?
People with these kinds of issues have COMPULSIVE DESIRES. They don’t just stop. He got CAUGHT 3 times. CAUGHT. Hell yeah he might be compromised.
Scott Ritter on Twitter from his “Scott Ritter Extra Ep. 87: Ask the Inspector” post , response at 7:45 AM · Aug 3, 2023. Context discussion about GL’s first release:
“Explain why he would be arrested for online activity deemed anti-government, have his devices seized, only to be set free, his devices returned, and permitted to do the exact same thing he was arrested for.
In the intelligence business, that is known as a controlled release.”
The claim is just not true. GL did not have “his devices returned”. The evidence is two-fold:
1 – GL said the SBU kept his devices.
2 – GL had to make new YT and Twitter accounts.
Again, Ritter is just plain wrong on the details.
Ritter was also arrested for online activity, and then released. He must be an asset too, according to his own logic.
I totally agree with you Larry. In addition, accusing him of this can affect how pro-russian Ukrainians see him. Seeing him as a collaborator with the Kiev gov, and putting his life in more risk, if he try to escape.
my 2 cents for the sake of the debate:
1) Scott, Larry, You and me: no one of us has hard “evidences” of any kinda sort.
So: any “conclusion” by anyone, is at the moment just a “speculation”.
2) But, “speculations” do not come from thin air, they are based upon two kind of “informations”.
– informations-A:
some hard evidences (arrests, releases, appearings and disappearings, passport e-collars, seized and free internet accounts, strange videos, money, citizienship, etc.)
– informations-B:
history and patterns (of actions of all Agencies and the like)
Putting the datas of the two “sources” together and mixing ’em with some minimal “cold reasoning”:
IHMO do not allow to 100% stand with Larry, nor with Scott (and Bartlett, Beeley and Eliason).
But not taking a side: does not mean that, possible, risks or dangers or grimy tales have to be underestimate.
Informations-A, in this story are weird at least.
Informations-B, from many other stories, are black and sad.
So, remember:
there are not only two “plain and easy” solutions (GL asset/not-asset – Scott/Larry) in this case.
There are quite a bit more.
Shades of colours, ‘nuances’, ‘spigolature’.
Where the ‘cleanest and whiter’ one for GL, would means that his life is quite at danger.
Well, until now, he used to “re-appear” with non visible scratches or underweight: so we keep on hoping this time too the same.
In the end… well, sorry, I keep my personal realistic idea for myself for now (it aint the same the one of Scott, neither of Larry), with its whole bunch of sums that don’t add up and its whole bunch of hope for GL life and health.
“But, “speculations” do not come from thin air, …”
Often, they are pulled out of someones thick butt, so this is technically correct.
To Larry – Keep up the great work. Your blog is a daily read for me. Long time reader & 1st time commenter.
I have great respect for Scott Ritter, particularly his stated goal of putting millions on the streets protesting for Arms Control, both in Russia and the US. However, I was very saddened by his outbursts and insults on the below video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xFcbSFA6IY
Particularly his personal insults of Larry, The Duran, Brian Berletic and others. I thought his denigration of Brian in particular implying Ritter was better than him and that he should find something else to do for a living just because Ritter rose higher in the US Marines than Berletic did was very below the belt. I have to say my respect for Scott has taken a nosedive, I may unfollow him on Telegram as a result now.
I read Ritter’s article, and while I thought it plausible after having time to think, I lean more towards Larry’s explanation above. I think Scott is right to a point, that the SBU were obviously monitoring his activity and trying to glean whatever information is available about the alternative media people like Larry/Berletic etc. I think the idea of the RoundTables being a petri dish as Ritter puts it to be too far-fetched to be true.
However, I think I go along with other posters above – I don’t think Lira was of much concern to the Ukrainian authorities, given that he had a following, but not a huge one, and he broadcasted in English. People above have correctly pointed out the average Ukrainian is not proficient in English as the saga with the F16 pilot training shows. Also, even if he was an SBU asset, why would they arrest him again and pull the plug on him like Larry wrote above.
I think it is just personal between Ritter & Lira. Ritter has also made several claims which were just not true.
Lira’s YouTube Channel was Monetized, while everyone else’s channels were not – Lira often stated that his channel was demonitized. I believe his channel got taken down for a week because of a RoundTable focusing on the Vaccines.
Lira’s Devices & Accounts were controlled by the SBU – The SBU initially confiscated his devices, and shutdown his YouTube Channel & Telegram Channel. Lira had to look up new devices and start new YouTube/Twitter channels. I still think they would have been monitoring his activity.
Lira did launch a personal attack on Ritter back in the middle of last year which started all of this, which I also found distasteful, I think he should have privately reached out to Ritter to settle the dispute rather than taking it public.
Nonetheless, I hope Gonzalo doesn’t meet a bad fate. While I don’t fully accept his story, I think the work he did was valuable for the alternative media and he deserves proper humane treatment regardless.
The independent media community has one main goal – exposing the lies and dishonesty from the NeoCon Western Media War Propaganda machine. The last thing that’s needed is a divide and wedge driven between all of them.
I agree. Scott showed his ass. He showed his true self and it is not a pretty picture. Rather than deal with the substance of my arguments he resorts to ad hominem attacks. That is the sure sign he is losing.
“I thought his denigration of Brian in particular implying Ritter was better than him and that he should find something else to do for a living just because Ritter rose higher in the US Marines than Berletic did was very below the belt.”
Rising higher in US Marines is like rising higher in a drug cartel. Members are proud of it, those looking from outside may have a different view. I have lot of respect for Brian because of his leaving the service, after understanding that he was among the bad guys. Whatever respect I had for Scott is gone.
“Lira’s YouTube Channel was Monetized, while everyone else’s channels were not – Lira often stated that his channel was demonitized.”
Youtube can run ads on demonetized videos too, and keep all the money.
“The independent media community has one main goal – exposing the lies and dishonesty from the NeoCon Western Media War Propaganda machine. The last thing that’s needed is a divide and wedge driven between all of them.”
Divide and coquer, as usual.
Did anyone else receive an invitation to contact a phone number after making a supportive post to one of GL’s youtube videos?
I almost believed that it was Gonzalo himself reaching out to a fellow traveller but it frightened me and I did not call. (I am sorry but I would have to search out all of my postings to include it here.)
If it was the SBU on the other end (who else would it be?), it would support Ritter’s version.
O I have gotten that on MANY sites, even Lady Colon Campbell! Duran, you name it. Sometimes Duran mentions it and says it is NOT THEM.
It’s not Gonzalo, but Nigerian Prince. He need your help.
Ok, now I also want to join in and give my five cents:
1. Can we all agree that Gonzalo lira has some serious ego issues? His grandstanding and attitude are tasteless at best. No doubt many people can’t stand him. I actually believe that this kind of arrogance and self illusion has kept him alive more than once. Maybe the SBU told him through the grapevine what they wanted but he totally ignored them. Anyway that doesn’t make him a traitor, asset or anything else. I think I remember something along the lines: “Scotty Boy let me tell you how things really are …”
2. Scott Ritter has his own issues that’s also clear as day and night. But I think his come from another source. He is definitely a big ego but in his opinion he probably has a right to be one – hard to imagine a more meek Charakter to say no to the us warmachine etc. doesn’t excuse his behavior but I think we can at least understand.
3. Liras first meeting with the SBU was strange no doubt. My theory was actually that a local SBU authority played its own games. I don’t think he really was a major case for the Ukrainians. In all honesty he was in his bubble like all others. Nobody in Ukraine would even recognize him. Was he monitored? Yes! Was he willingly turned? I doubt it. He probably even disturbed the SBU with his attitude.
4. Could he be useful in uncovering information for the SBU? Possible. Could he be extorted and pay a local SBU officer for “protection”? Possible. And so on.
5. I think Scott Smells something with Lira and I do too. But I can’t prove anything and nobody gives a …
6. When Lira made his Border crossing video I was getting a suspicious feeling again. You just are steps away from crossing the border BUT you have nothing better to do than to announce a book you will be writing to talk about people your life depends on? I mean under logical conditions that’s insane BUT again we talk about Gonzalo lira. A certified egomaniac. Either he is smarter than everyone or his in-capability to read the room is just throwing everyone of balance. In other words. The guys is insanely brave or insanely stupid. Probably more close to reality than a spy movie.
7. All these things are irrelevant, I can’t stand him, I also have my problems with Scott Ritter but I will fight for their right to say what they believe in. This whole microcosm of egos, clicks, attention and influence is an interesting field of study though. The readers show way more maturity than these guys most of the time.
Anyway I hope GL is alive and well and we should keep on the heat.
Just shows you how fucked up the western media is when we have to rely on such people for information about the conflict.
Give it up Larry, ex-cia!
Just accept you got “red pilled” by a narcissist arsehole! I doubt his ex and children think about him much!
May the pinochet fanboy croak from his guilt driven nicotine addiction!
Take it easy on the soy, boy.
Let get this straight. The disagreement over Gonzalo Lira is not the major geopolitical issue the world is facing, and it should not be a source of division if Scott Ritter’s assessment differs from Larry’s.
We are blessed that Larry, Scott, Andrey Martyanov, Col. MacGregor, Alistair Crooke, Ray McGovern, Brian Berletic, Alexander Mercouris and others are reporting on the SMO in Ukraine, and/or the reasons for it, SITREPs, or impact and wider consequences, or that Scott has been such an advocate for nuclear disarmament. to best of their ability, given their huge experience, hard sources of information, and commitment to truth – and the costs to them of publishing articles that disagree with the official government narrative. All of this collectively is making an impact with the public here and in Europe in the face of a constant stream of disinformation from Western governments and Western mainstream media.
And we should not try to discredit any of these great people who have made the commitment to report the truth just because they may disagree at times.
Also, I’d like to note that when Gonzalo had been detained by the SBU and we were all worried about his safety, I posted a comment on report by Larry on Gonzalo’s detention, which listed the US Embassy contact information, so that those who were concerned could call the Embassy and urge Gonzalo’s release. A flood of calls could have made a difference, and maybe calls were made, yet there was silence from the Administration. Perhaps the Embassy was quietly negotiating for his release while remaining silent publicly for political reasons. Who knows? That would be purely speculative, whether or not it could also be counterintuitive.
But I ask, how many readers who are now trashing Scott Ritter in comments to this latest article took action and made a call or sent an email to the US Embassy in Ukraine? Talk is cheap.
BTW, to Larry- God bless you. I have the greatest respect for you, and have been following you since you were part of VIPS and later writing brilliant analysis on Libya. You also did a huge service when you and Bill Binney on Pat Lang’s site were putting to shame the anti-Assange Russiagate b…s…., and doing it with solid forensics. (I also give credit to Lang, may he rest in peace, even though on other issues, including the Ukraine War, he was, IMHO, wrong.)
Mea culpa for omitting another very important voice, namely, Judge Napolitano, who has done incredible job informing the public with his brilliant interviews, including of Col. Douglas MacGregor, Larry, Ray McGovern, Alistair Crooke, etc.
Let’s try this way (and be honest in your answers):
Let’s image that…
– Magically, in a few time, GL will reappear with one of his video telling us that ‘he crossed the border’, but he had to stay put and silent for some ‘good’ reason.
– Then he mail or video-tells : that he finished his book, that is going to have a public conference to present his work, in some eurpean City X, Day-hour Y, Location Z; and that he would be pleased by Your presence.
So, Question 1:
D’you go there?
Or…
D’you think of Tatarsky ?
So, Question 2:
Do you think it would be a pretty significant good thing if the Durans, Larry, Crooke, McGovern, Berletic and the other, all of them flock there to celebrate a common winning?
And so, Question 3
Can you make a bunch on ‘enemy-people’ ka-boom on line anyone in a different place?
Or…
Can you make a bunch on ‘enemy-people’ ka-boom in a public conference room ?
—-
Thit does not mean GL is an asset
Thit does not absolutely mean Tatarsky was an asset (absolutely not!)
…but anyway, something went ka-boom in the ‘right’ place at the ‘right’ time
(by order of the same people who ‘allegedly’ are taking GL prisoner)
You know the story:
Fish do not need to see and know the hook under the worm.
But the other people by the river, well, they see and know the fisherman put and putting the worm on it.
Translating from he fiishery tale:
– To make a bunch a famed persons to be gather together in the same spot same day same hour is a pretty good ‘Bingo’!!!
But to achive that, you need a very well raised ‘worm’; not an everyday ‘worm’.
And, see and think about it:
you can even get the culprit to the ‘other’ side after the ka-boom, simply by telling (true or not doesnt matter after a ka-boom in a restricted space) that ‘he’ was an asset of yours so the ka-boom was planted by the ‘evil-other-side’.
(ops! Doesnt this point at what discussions online like these are yet now!?)
step 1: find a ‘worm’
step 2: feed the ‘worm’
step 3: plant the hooks
step 4: wait for good moment to jump andd then raise the rod. [step 4 is still missing, the others, may be, are in the table]
But, but, but, hey dudes: dont be worry nor scared.
This is pure fantasy, in the real world such a thing never happens.
…What ????
…Nordstream2 ???
what is Nordstream2 ?? Ne dunno.
What is the net effect of Scott’s words?
– Less people calling for Gonzalo to be released.
– Higher likelihood Gonzalo will meet a very bad fate.
Even if Scott is 99% sure he is right is it worth the risk to Gonzalo?
The other thing about Scott’s claims is he’s pretty much a computer illiterate and certainly not an expert on cyber security.
Ritter, by tarring and feathering Lira as an SBU asset/“police confidential informant” publicly behind his back after he was arrested, denies Lira the opportunity to face his accusers and defend himself. Worse, is that Ritter is further endangering Liar because second to pedophiles, police/intelligence agency snitches are more likely to be killed in jail. Ritter has effectively suspended Lira’s right to presumption of innocence and his right to face his accusers in self-defence. Ritter knows what he is doing. This is ethically and morally repugnant. Ritter should be utterly ashamed of himself. Instead, he doubles down.
George Eliason is worse with his “throwing a rock at a drowning swimmer” line, supposedly to protect other journalists. However, this is belied by the fact that he, like Ritter, came out with his allegations after Lira was arrested and would not be a threat. That they chose to go after Lira rather than rally for his release disgusts me. Ritter and Eliason are effectively saying that Lira is the enemy and is a deserving victim. The blame shifting “I also recognize that my actions were probably incited by Lira, in collaboration with the SBU, to achieve this very result” is astonishingly cynical. I am very angry!
I am angry too and I KNOW Ritter is compromised JUST based on this:Scott Ritter sex offender
Ritter was the subject of two law enforcement sting operations in 2001. He was arrested twice in 2001 after showing up for what he thought were meetings with 14- and 15-year-old girls. HE SHOWED UP! That’s not just computer. HE SHOWED UP.
He blamed his arrest on his criticism of the Iraq war. The charges were dropped. (!!! so he was an asset and was let go on THIS KIND OF CRIME?) HOW MANY TIMES DID HE DO THIS AND NOT GET CAUGHT?
Heh, Scott Ritter claims Gonzalo Lira is a Ukrainian SBU asset, it’s the “only reason” they’d catch/release him…
By his own logic, Scott Ritter is also an intel “asset.” According to him, why else would they catch him when he showed up to meet 14 and 15 yr old girls, and then let him go? Heh.
Ritter was arrested again (3rd time) in November 2009 over communications with a police decoy he met on an Internet chat site. Police said that he exposed himself, via a web camera, after the officer repeatedly identified himself as a 15-year-old girl. He told the “girl” he wanted to have sex with her before sending her a link to his webcam and performing sex acts on camera. Ritter rejected a plea bargain and was in prison from Mar, 2012 until Sep, 2014. HOW MANY TIMES HAS HE DONE THIS AND NOT GET CAUGHT?
People with these kinds of issues have COMPULSIVE DESIRES. They don’t just stop. He got CAUGHT 3 times. CAUGHT. He might have been doing it for years. Might still be doing it. CAUGHT. Hell yeah he IS compromised.
The difficulty with Ritter’s defence about the webcam incident is that he said he believed who he thought was a woman on the other end by saying she was 15 years old was introducing a “fantasy element” so he joined in the fantasy. His lack of judgment is so profound that he does recognise that this isn’t a defence it is an admission. There is something wrong with Ritter’s capacity to reason. He repeatedly doubles down on stupid and can’t admit when he is wrong.
Maybe this Gonzalo thing is part of his fantasy too, except we don’t get to see the webcam view, luckily.
As a 79 year old female former elementary, junior high and high school teacher, employment law litigator and professional mediator, my perspective on the Ritter v Johnson (and supporters) Lira dispute is Testosterone rules. Each disputant asserts degrees of “evidence” to support respective positions – all of which leads solely to a speculative conclusion. Query: why bother?
Because someone’s life is on the line.
SCOTT RITTER in now BANNED on YOUTUBE and all his material has been DELETED.
WHERE WILL HE GO and WHERE CAN WE FIND HIM NOW ? Rumble, Odysee, Bitchute ?
I didn’t see this had already been posted. When I watched Ritter it was on Rumble using Ask the Inspector. I never even saw those on YouTube until very recently. So yes, Ritter is on Rumble—at least that show.
SR> arrested by the SBU for crimes he himself admits gets people arrested, tortured, and murdered
LJ> Gonzalo Lira has never admitted that his actions got people arrested
Hmm, sounds like you had some dust up with Scott 🙂
Really, such a misreading…
Scott, whether was factuwlly correct or not, pointed that other people were murdered after being accused of doing the same things, crimes for EuroMaidan regime, that Lira was accused off.
Those were not Lira’s actions that got them in crosshairs, but their own same as Lira’s ones. Yet they got six feet under and he got a wristslap.
And while Scott’s explanation is not the only possible, still some explanation is pending
They were not American citizens. Important fact.
Don’t kick a man when he is down, not unless you have 100% proof that he is guilty.
My gut feeling is that Lira is not any kind of agent. He is far too mercurial. The SBU might have released him to find any local associates, but that doesn’t make him complicit.
He annoyed a lot of women alternative media types with his Red Pill content (advising young men to avoid single mums and tattooed, viragos etc). Women take that sort of thing personally.
Kicking those that can’t fight back is what US military is all about. Scott is a proud marine attack dog, and has a Pavlovian reflex. He even started attacking everyone around not cheering for him.
Others joined in on some kind of discount me-too attack on a “misogynist”. It is personal. They all forgot that there is a war going on.
Ritter is erratic. He first became prominent, and a neocon darling in the late 90s as an inspector looking for WMD in Iraq. He was a vocal mouthpiece claiming that Saddam had WMDs ( he didn’t) and he even went and testified to Congress on the matter. He was probably most responsible for the bombings of Iraq in November of 1998.
To his credit and for reason unknown to me, he was one of the biggest opponents to the Iraq invasion in 2003. It was shortly thereafter he got lured into a honey trap, all coincidence I’m sure, and was convicted of a sex crime. Where he is now philosophically , I am not clear on. He was pro Uke at one point and anti-Uke at one time.
Ritter seems to be making a veiled threat on Twitter. Here’s his post (9:20 AM · Aug 11, 2023 –
“When it rains, it pours. The same day that YouTube deplatformed “The Scott Ritter Show”, they deplatformed “Ask The Inspector.” This is a targeted effort by YouTube to remove/minimize my voice, and those of my guests and the people who took the time to ask probing questions about the pressing issues of the day. Those who are behind this should know—you won’t succeed. There is a vast social media world out there beyond YouTube.
>>>> And for those voices who still use YouTube as the primary vector to your audience, understand this—conform or perish. If you’re doing a geopolitical show, and you’re still platformed by YouTube, ask yourself why. And be willing to live with the answer. More on this later. <<<<"
Funny, since he was platformed just yesterday.
He is givin’ away Prigozhin vibes. It’s me, me, and again me.
Well, the roundtables were full of comments, we never know if SBU would have not checked based on the Youtube information if any of those people commenting were Ukrainian and maybe get their IP addresses…
So, maybe the deal was simple – you get out of jail and continue to do vidoes
I agree that the line taken by Scott Ritter on this subject is problematic, but I do not doubt his good faith, however misguided on this matter. It is worth nothing this spat was started by Gonzo Lira, who sought to smear Scot Ritter in the most base ways possible suggesting he was controlled opposition due to Scott suggesting western intervention was a game changer, but this is no good reason for Scott Ritter to respond in kind.
Rather like Larry Johnson you would have to look at why would the SBU recruit Gonzo Lira and for what purpose? It cannot be to collect information about networks, as the SBU are agents working for US and UK intelligence, so would have open access to all these networks anyway to anyone using these electronic devices with backdoors built in by the NSA/CIA as Snowden, Assange and Bill Binney have proved.
This is a basic fallacy of the way intelligence, especially internal intelligence/secret police operate. Their main objective is not the gathering of information, but to destroy political opposition by sowing division in groups of political radicals. This was shown by the church committee investigation into cointelpro. See the Ward Churchil excellent book on the subject. Radical groups would be infiltrated by the FBI, who would reduce political groups to games of hunt the spy, and be denouncing each other as police informants. It is pointless to gather information about groups that have no idea what they are doing. MI6 had a similar internal problem after the Cambridge spy ring.
Using this Cointelpro model it is unlikely that any of the main protagonists are spy’s, it is far more likely an attempt to destabilise opposition to US involvement in the Ukraine with games of hunt the spy and denouements of being a intelligence asset using someone they have got close to both protagonists who are unwilling dupes in the matter. These close associates have inveigled themselves to Scott Ritter and Gonzo Lira and are blowing under both of them to discredit both of them. Why try and recruit Scott Ritter who has proven principled previously, when you can manipulate them with someone in the background with far less risk of discovery? The problem is that the game of denouncing (and even supporting) either Scott Ritter or Gonzo Lira is a distraction from the job of opposing US regime change operations and undermines Scott Ritter’s excellent work, and his message of disarmament and diplomacy.
“… but I do not doubt his good faith, …”
That’s what the cops said when they were arresting him.
I do however doubt the good faith of the cops who arrested him and the vexatious prosecution, given this came soon after his resignation due to CIA manipulation of the UN weapons inspections, and being threatened if he resigned. Particularly as this is a standard way for western intelligence to silence political opponents, such as Julian Assange and Craig Murray. I also doubt the good faith of anyone who raises this as an issue, given that the US does not have a credible criminal justice system, being as corrupt as the worst stereotype of a third world country.
I do doubt the good faith of the cops too. Many bad faith actors out there.
As always, a very good article which made me think.
I must say that I don’t find Gonzalo Lira honest.
Also, I believe in Scott when he says this:
«It was an event which began back in June 2022, when Gonzalo Lira published a video on YouTube in which he attacked me personally. It was an interesting video, one which seemed derived from the kind of behavioral science that drives the JTRIG and SBU methodologies regarding human network disruption. Lira pushed every button imaginable, clearly trying to trigger a response from me. While I was not immune to his attacks, I quickly recognized that Lira had fallen under the control of the SBU, and publicly called him out as such.»
I remember this video and I found it very odd and strange, because Gonzalo was trying to decrease Scott’s opinion, which I think is more valuable than Gonzalo’s.
There is also the question of Gonzalo’s ideology while he lived in Chile during the Pinochet’s tirany years. This is also important to have in mind, because we know that the SBU does not spare communists, but could spare Gonzalo because he is an anticommunist and he has also made that point in his videos.
I know that some people discredit Scott, but I still believe in his words and his work. His opinion is very valuable. So valuable, that he is in the blacklist of the SBU.
All the best
Everything boils down to communism.
Scott Ritter has been banned from YouTube now.
that didnt happened to GL… neither by the SBU
just another ‘fact’ to ponder upon it
It didn’t happen to Larry too.
Sorry mate,
I didn’t know Larry been arrested, twice, by the SBU.
Neither I knew Larry was living in Ukraine.
Thanks for these very important news You shared with us.
But you do know that Scott was arrested, twice, for a real crime.
Thanks for your very important support for a guy that needs it.
Playng the victim card always work. Next one is dressing as female.
Exactly. So who was right then? I choose Scott.
No one was right. That’s the whole point.
Larry, Scott never said GL actions got people tortured or killed. He said GL was doing things that had got other people tortured or killed previously, If your gonna bad mouth him get it right. How the hell did you work for the CIA and not know how useful GL has been for the SBU since his first release. Did you work under Jack Devine or something? Sorry for being rude Larry but Scott is good at what he does, and the money and weapons from the U.S.A. was a gamechanger. Russia had to change their game plan.
Again, total bullshit with no evidence to support his specious claims.
Philippine Resident’s Opinion — Scott has many good ideas, some a bit off the wall — Gonzalo is missing a few marbles to carry on with his biased broadcasts after the first time they grabbed him. — I cannot see how he could be an SBU asset. What could he give the Ukrainians while living in Ukraine. I doubt he speaks Russian and why would any Russian intelligence be passed to him. Scott constantly needs content, right or wrong is not important. — Graham
Content. True. Everything on Internet revolves around clicks, and views, and comments, and likes. Drama attracts attention.
The problem is, that fame gets into people’s heads. It made Prigozhin drive onto Moscow. What was he thinking? What was Gonzalo thinking? What is Scott thinking? Not much probably, but going on an instinct.
Larry
I worry how many Ukrainian civilians have been picked up because they felt it was safe to like or comment on something Gonzalo had said. He was in Kharkov and allowed to publish without harm, and can be quite engaging for some. Even taking part in the chat, where you could think it safe as it’s not a permanent message, is a risk.
We are all speculating I suppose and will find out eventually. I do hope he is returned home unharmed. But to call Scotts claims ‘specious’ is not very nice. Your damn close to calling him a liar.
After all that, I have to say I do enjoy your work and thank you for all you do to challenge the MSM.
Scott is good at what he does, and still got arrested for it.
I actually listened to Gonzalo on YouTube about Nuland a long time ago. I don’t know where his info comes from, but it was interesting. According to him, Nuland’s grandfather, who was a tailor in Bessarabia (current Moldova), which belonged to Russian Empire and who was probably a well-to-do man by the local standards, but had to flee to America after the pogroms, but couldn’t find himself in NY, and took his frustrations on his son (Nuland’s father), a successful doctor and author, whom Nuland adored, but her father had a broken spirit from parental abuse in his youth. So, for whatever it’s worth-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzR—YDDIQ
At great risk of bringing down your, Larry’s, readers on my head, wish to point out a few things. Lira’s schtick has been suss all along. Scott’s suspicions are reasonable. So is Larry’s faith in Lira’s innocence. Point is, no-one really KNOWS. Neither Scott, nor Larry. There is one thing that IS crystal clear: the SBU are extremely nasty people. They imprison, entrap, bash, rape, torture and kill without the slightest hesitation. So, when dealing with such as Lira, BE VERY CAREFUL. That does not mean, do not help him. My own reason for thinking Lira is unlikely to be a tool of SBU is, he’s way too stupid. He is also a narcissist with an ego the size odf a house, guaranteed to impair his judgement. SBU are quite capable of using Lira to damage others, without his slightest cooperation.
How come scott ritters not on you tube no more but someone arrested by the sbu wasn’t kinda telling larry
You are correct Gonzalo would never be anyone’s human asset, let me explain simply why. When you run an asset you need to maintain control over them, Gonzalo is not the sort of man that anyone can control. He is in some ways stereotypically Latin, he can be overly emotional and can do things that actually hurt him. If you want an example go and watch the stream with him, Destiny and LazerPig. Has Ritter ever run human assets?
Gonzalo was released to house arrest was because of two factors, one large public pressure spearheaded by George Galloway and two because one of his ancestors was a founder of Chile and his family still carries weight within the Chilean government.
Now I cannot say for certain why Ritter is saying what he is saying, however there are some facts to consider.
On the 20/04/22 Ritter wrote this on his Telegram channel
“When Belorussian authorities pulled Roman Protasevich, a blogger who had served a combat tour in the neo-Nazi Azov battalion before working for Radio Free Europe’s Belarus channel out of Prague, off an airplane in May, 2021, on charges of inciting a political opposition (roughly the equivalent of sedition), the world went crazy, accusing Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of trampling on free speech. Protasevich is alive and well, living under house arrest while awaiting trial.
When reports emerged that Gonzo Lira, a Chilean social media “influencer” who resided in Kharkov, Ukraine, and who published online content critical of the Ukrainian government, was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by the Kraken Unit, part of the Azov battalion affiliated with the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), the West is silent.
Free speech isn’t a one way street. To remain silent in the murder of Gonzo Lira is to be complicit in his death, and the deaths of all journalists who pursue the truth, even if it runs counter to the mainstream narrative. Critical thinking should not be a death sentence. Unfortunately for Gonzo Lira, it seems it was.”
Gonzalo’s daughter read this and began grieving her father who was still very much alive. This has severely traumatised his daughter, all for some Internet clicks.
Does anyone disagree?
Ritter may have been driven by hatred towards Gonzalo Lira. By accusing Gonzalo Lira, a fellow US citizen who was bravely speaking out from Ukraine, of being a probable SBU collaborator or “police confidential informant” without any substantial evidence, Ritter has put Lira in danger. This is especially concerning since Lira was arrested and unable to defend himself. In jail, police informants are often hated and even murdered by other inmates, second only to pedophiles. Ritter, who has had his own experience in jail, should have known this. He needs to be called out for his malicious and dangerous defamation and should publicly apologize. However, he probably won’t do so due to his demonstrated lack of sound ethical and moral judgment. Ritter’s peers, experienced CIA analysts Ray McGovern and Larry Johnson, do not believe his speculations about Gonzalo Lira being an SBU asset. Ritter ought to listen to their wise counsel rather than attack them.
Ritter has shifted the focus away from the main issue, which is to put pressure on the US government to secure Lira’s release or deportation. Lira is not safe in Ukraine, and it is important to prioritize his safety and well-being. Instead of deflecting attention, Ritter should be using his energy to help bring about a positive resolution for Lira. That he chose to do the opposite is reprehensible and is another stain on Ritter’s character that should weigh on his conscience.
If it was the videos in which Ritter potentially endangered Lira that led to his ban from YouTube, the platform should have only deleted those specific videos and provided a more detailed explanation and warning.
I think you got it wrong here. Listen carefully to what Scott has declared in one of his last videos. The SBU is real. It is not fantasy.
Tell me about the communist party of Ukraine and how from 32 members of parlamient, they turn to zero in 2014 and are denied of any representation in Ukraine after 2015? Their assets are banned in 2022. Its representatives and members are persecuted, arrested, tortured and disappeared, as happened in Chile in 1973.
The SBU acts crazy and in a criminal manner. They are a sort of Gestapo of the new age. That’s why Ukrainians don’t react or revolt, because an oppressive system like the one that exists in Ukraine does not allow any form of revolt. It is almost equal to the one that existed in Germany at the end of the second world war.
In my opinion, the first time Gonzalo Lira was arrested, he showed his anti-communist card, in order to gain some sympathy among the SBU members. Gonzalo Lira himself had already expressed his sympathy for the Pinochet regime. For me, this is the line that separates me from Lira, because I know how brutal the Pinochet regime was against the opposition. Also, I think that the SBU are brutal, horrid and they have yet to answer for all the people they have made disappear throughout Ukraine.
You aren’t addressing what I wrote. Do you agree that Ritter painting Lira as an SBU collaborator or “police confidential informant” has put Lira in potential danger because, as with pedophiles, police snitches are despised by other inmates and are attacked in jail?
Do you see that Ritter has now said it is only “probable” that Lira was flipped and that is an admission he doesn’t KNOW for a fact that Lira was flipped?
Ritter has provided speculation rather than facts. The fact is Lira under Ukrainian law could not talk about his investigation and that includes Ritter wanting to know what happened after his first arrest and release. Lira’s legal counsel also advised Lira not to talk about the details of his interrogation and the investigation. Ritter is reversing the burden of proof and is demanding Lira prove his innocence. That is absurd and unethical. Ritter is making an argument from the ABSENCE of evidence. If by Ritter’s speculation why would Lira saying “no I was not flipped” be accepted by Ritter? Ritter would reply your denial is evidence you were flipped because only a flipped person would say they weren’t flipped. It is absurd.
Lira was free to publish his videos provided he didn’t break Ukrainian law. He is a US citizen and the only US citizen in Ukraine who is doing what he is doing. He has the advice of legal counsel. To my knowledge, Lira is the only US citizen in Ukraine publishing material who is on the Myrotvorets hit list. So drawing comparisons to other SBU cases where the people are not US citizens residing in Ukraine is a false equivalence. Ukraine is creating a scandal by drawing attention to it’s own human rights abuse in persecution Lira.
Lira needs a campaign to be freed, not insinuations that he deserves what he got for his bravely standing up for his free speech rights in Ukraine.
You are just refering to Lira. What about the other cases that exist and are also abhorrent?
For example, what about the case of the spanish journalist, Pablo González? What about the brothers Kononovich who are still awaiting trial? Aren’t they also important?
What about the politician Vasyl Volha?
There are many cases that show that the SBU is not tolerant.
I have also explained you the case of the communists in Ukraine who are being persecuted, arrested, tortured and killed, like they were in Chile, during the Pinochet dictatorship. This shows how Scott is correct when he says that the SBU is not playing here. They are brutal and criminal.
Speaking of the Pinochet dictatorship, I remind you that Gonzalo Lira was a defender of this regime that imprisoned and killed many people. He confessed being an anticommunist. For that very reason, my suspicion about the collaboration between the SBU and Gonzalo Lira comes from there.
On this case, you should perhaps revisit the interview that Gonzalo made to Scott Ritter just before he went missing im March, last year.
Through this interview, you will see that there was a lot of leverage on Gonzalo’s part to learn information from Scott. What I found strange was Gonzalo’s ingratitude towards Scott after he was shown up and released by the SBU. Their bad relationship started here. In any case, Gonzalo’s reputation went downhill. There are many who believed in him before and no longer hear him.
Again, you didn’t answer my question. “Do you agree that Ritter painting Lira as an SBU collaborator or “police confidential informant” has put Lira in potential danger because, as with pedophiles, police snitches are despised by other inmates and are attacked in jail?” Yes or no?
You are arguing that the violation of Lira’s human rights is acceptable because you don’t like his politics. His politics is irrelevant to his rights. Why can’t you see that?
You are arguing that it is acceptable that Ritter has endangered Lira’s life based on Ritter’s opinion and speculation. Chilean communists are supporting Lira’s release. How do you account for that? They have enough principles to distinguish between principles and rights, and the principle-free tribalism you are engaging in.
Lira’s comparison to other dissidents is irrelevant. He is the only US citizen being persecuted in Ukraine under 436-2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code which criminalises speech.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” Hall wrote as an illustration of Voltaire’s beliefs. The implication of what you say is that only people whose politics you agree with should have rights.
If you think Lira’s anti-communist views are relevant, how do you account for Eduardo Artés, General Secretary of the Chilean Communist Party, calling for Lira’s release?
You misinterpreted my words. It doesn’t seem that with you any understanding can be reached.
About your question “Do you agree that Ritter painting Lira as an SBU collaborator or “police confidential informant” has put Lira in potential danger?
No I don’t. Lira has been a collaborator to the SBU since April last year. He only has to respond to the SBU. Not to Scott. That is why Lira was so aggressive after Scott thought he had been murdered by the SBU. You don’t get this as other people do. It has to do with security measures that are runned by the SBU which does not play games here.
I will not respond further to your last message, as it shows that you are being too biased on a historical issue. You don’t even know what Pinochet’s dictatorship was and, therefore, you cannot establish a relationship between two brutal dictatorships that existed in Chile and today in Ukraine.
Also in Chile, an American journalist disappeared, but compared to the suffering of so many Chileans, I realized that it doesn’t concern you. Therefore, my concern goes with all the disappeared and not just with an American journalist.
when people come out of the woodwork to shit on folks saying not nice things about empire I suspect an online campaign to discredit.
Ritter has always aroused my suspicion as an honest broker and this thread has attracted too much dirt to be anything but an attempt to bury Lira.
Thank you Larry for this article.
I posted a comment on this site and was published. Why has it disapeard from the comments
It was in the topic about G Lira. I said that i was suppressed from google when operating à site in Québec Canada. It was Meteopolitique and i talked about the news laws creating the ministry of thinking (like in the book 1984)
I saw that it was posted in the afternoon. This morning i wanted to show it to my wife, and the poast is not there anymore! Can you explaine. Thank you
Ritter crossed the line by condemning Gonzalo Lira, another US citizen, to death in a Ukrainian jail by tarring and feathering him on YouTube as an SBU snitch without *any* factual evidence AFTER Lira was jailed and unable to defend himself against the defamation. Ritter is an unethical and immoral degenerate and if Lira gets out of jail I hope he sues Ritter. Russia doesn’t need supporters like Ritter.
Honestly he probably saved GL if he is still alive. Nobody in the prison will listen to this discussion. Your angle doesn’t hold water. The only thing that can save GL is any form of discussion and controversy. In this regard Ritter might have done more than anybody so far. Again I don’t know but GL doesent deserve to die for stupidity or arrogance.
I would like Larry to address Scott’s Claim that he asked Larry to debate that topic around Gonzalo Lira and although Larry said yes first, never answered his phone ever again after that. Is there any truth in his statement? I for ones would like to see these two gents to sit down and talk it out. Because this back and forth with everyone writing an articles on another slowly but surely ridiculous..
Ask the question “Why would GL NOT be flipped by the SBU?”
They had no problem with other western journalists being killed in the past. I don’t see GL being a US/Chilean citizen would afford him any protection, they could have just disappeared him and claim no knowledge of him or his whereabouts.
For a CIA guy, you seem to have limited awareness of the reality security services of all nations, for countless thousands of years, have ‘flipped’ people they have arrested.
I recall my dad going to jail for a major burglary in the 60’s, He was grassed up by people that the police gained control over. And although his threats of violence and intimidation had kept free from the clutches of the police for years, they got him in the end in the way they always get people. Others are coereced into testifying.
An old friend was a police officer for decades in robbery and drugs squads. When I asked him about people being flipped and coerced to cooperate, he assured me that it was done on every occasion and that they almost always went along with it.
GL’s arrests were pure Hollywood. The second one even had high production value camera movements and angles. No one is arrested the way GL was. You don’t get to get changed and pack a bag. You are not free to wander unbounded and wave at the camera on the way out.
Even his dramatic motorbike ride is all part of the future narrative you will read in a book he produces or perhaps a film. If he gets crowd funding for it, he may well then do another vanishing trick.
One thing is sure, we have not heard the last of GL.
For anyone requiring an SSL certificate, you don’t have to shell out to get one. This is not an advert but I have had good success using Letsencrypt(dot)org. Cost is zero!
USA citizen and all that is fine for the first arrest but the silence of the USA administration after the second arrest and the return of passports, no monitoring etc stinks to high heaven.
As I’ve said ever since Lira first “disappeared”… if you know you were picked up for voicing uncomfortable truths then why in the hell would you go right back to doing the same thing? Huh? Am I missing something? The SBU is well known to have disappeared people they dislike. Videos from other sympathetic parties have even shown bloggers murdered and bodies dumped down hills into a pit. These rat bastards are not to be trifled with! So Lira does exactly the opposite of any rational family loving man and we are to believe, yet again, that he’s not only jumped bail, whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean over there, but he’s also videod to the world his intentions and what he has just done! That’s just nuts! I’m not saying he’s an agent but sweet Jesus he has to take the academy award for stupidity if he isn’t.
I respect Larry Johnson a lot but I think he’s wrong on this entirely and believe that Scott Ritter is right. It is telling that two journalists on the ground in places like Donbass, Palestine, Syria — who risk their lives nearly every day and have multiple journalist and other contacts (Eva Bartlett & Vanessa Beeley) have not trusted Lira from day one, long before Ritter ever said anything at all about Gonzalo. Peter Lavell of RT, who lives in Russia, speaks of multiple people in Russia who’ve told him for months not to speak to Lira, not to trust him. Ritter says the same about people he knows in Russia (intel, military, journalists) who say the same. No one who defends, incl Johnson, can explain why Lira was allowed to post videos & commentaries to a global audience *in Ukraine* after having been arrested by the SBU (which is akin to the Gestapo) content that was highly critical of the Kiev regime and favorable to Russia. AND he did so while monetizing his content, profiting from it. Lira himself said he was released under certain conditions — in other words, he was being monitored by the SBU. He returned from his 1st arrest totally unharmed, which instantly signaled a red flag even to me, who spent a lot of time posting demands to release him, tweeting and emailing Chilean & US consulates and embassy authorities. No one can explain why Lira reacted with such hostility toward Ritter when he returned unharmed from his first arrest after Ritter had posted videos and commentaries demanding that Lira be released, that the US govt act to exert its influence to release him. I have never understood why smart analysts like Johnson, Berletic, the Duran guys took Lira seriously. He never contributed anything of any substance, he only pontificated. Those roundtables always seemed strange. Frankly, I think you guys were played.
Just brainstorming . Here’s a hypothetical: Corruption is commonplace in Ukraine. Gonzalo makes no secret that he has the means to post bail. The SBU allows Gonzalo released on his own recognisance knowing he’s a flight risk. . Gonzalo he posts bail with a promise to appear at his scheduled court date. The authorities let Gonzalo get close to the border then apprehend and re-arrest him. Gonzalo’s bail is forfeited. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Regarding Ritter’s allegation that Gonzalo is an asset or an agent and he was released last April in order to continue his online persona so the SBU could harvest intel from his podcasts . The SBU, the CIA, the NSA, the 5 eyes don’t need turned agents or assets. Snowden revealed they have been recording all our emails, phone calls, texts, social media posts, comments, tweets, etc, for decades.
Ouch. You went there. But it’s a fair and strong point. Benefit of the doubt.
Having said that…WTF was Gonzalo thinking staying there in the first place.
Scott was going thru a tough time. He failed to understand that he was a target.
I can’t help but think that what Scott Ritter does is actually in the best interest of the SBU: split up the alternative media community instead of having them cooperate. Classic “Divide and conquer”.
Why is it splitting up the community? He has made an error of judgment based on irrational reasoning.
I have watched only a few videos featuring Gonzalo Lira, and my impressions were that h was intelligent, articulate, and likeable/engaging – it was easy to see how he could attract followers. He could speak at length, with any easy confidence, about the Ukraine war, geopolitics, etc.
Naturally, I did not trust him – because I don’t trust very many people at all (and that includes my friends and folks I have known for decades).
My first question is always, “who is this guy?”
It seemed strange to me that a U.S. citizen with an undergraduate degree from an Ivy League university (Dartmouth – as claimed by GL himself) would move to Ukraine to become a blogger. Since he is also a dual Chilean citizen and Spanish speaker, it would be easier for me to understand his presence in some Spanish-speaking country.
Reading a recent recent article regarding his arrest, I noticed something his father said that was interesting:
“Lira, Sr. said that his son “has a very high IQ as detected when he was 10 years old. He enjoys putting people on the spot, playing with them; a bit sadistic.””
People with these kinds of personality traits are attractive to intelligence agencies (in official, semi-official, and unofficial capacities – there is a broad spectrum), not to mention criminal enterprises, especially when they happen to be based, for whatever original reason, in non-permissive environments like Kharkiv, speak fluent English, carry a US passport, and most of all, are a little “dirty” or compromised (so can be easily discredited, should the need arise). Let’s face it – “online dating coach for men” is not considered the most savory or prestigious of professions for Ivy League college graduates.
Let me be clear: I don’t have any evidence to suggest that Mr. Lira either currently or anytime in the past had any associations of any kind (formal or informal) with any intelligence agency/service or “outfit” (proprietary/front) associated with any agency/service.
But as a Type, he fits the profile of an individual in whom such agencies, services and other entities would have an interest.
> It seemed strange to me that a U.S. citizen with an undergraduate degree from an Ivy League university (Dartmouth – as claimed by GL himself) would move to Ukraine to become a blogger.
Well the fact that he has a (ex?) wife and kids there might have something to do it…
> But as a Type, he fits the profile of an individual in whom such agencies, services and other entities would have an interest.
Interestingly, Larry makes the opposite point. But accusing people base on type and profile, ….. isn’t that what woke and MSM does? Correct to not trusting him, but also don’t accuse him like SR and his followers are doing.
Thanks, I did not know he has an ex-wife and kids from (and/or in Ukraine). That makes his presence there much more logical.
Now, regarding Types and profiling – in general I agree with you, we should avoid doing this.
But the murky world of intelligence, counter-intelligence, clandestine and covert operations (spanning the spectrum from barely deniable to “zero footprint”) is not your ordinary world. The history of this world demonstrates my point – I have no special knowledge, just read a lot (book, real books, paper) about it.
Yes, there will always be exceptions, wherein folks completely (or apparently completely) contrary to “Type” will be revealed to be “shadow dwellers” of one form or another. One book that led me to think more about this angle is “A Life of Lies and Spies” by Alan Traube, who spent decades with the CIA in the *very* niche role of a Polygraph Interrogator. Some truly fascinating stories in there.
Again, for the record, I wish Mr. Lira no harm nor do I wish to do him an injustice. Online dating coach might not be the noblest of professions, but it does not mean the man should be subject to any form of physical or mental threat or harm.
I hope US Consular Services in Ukraine is keeping tabs on his situation and working to at least get him legal representation.
First of all, sorry for the blunder at replying to your message. That was actually my first comment here, although following for more than a year, and it started by not correctly clicking in the reply button!
I would not put “my hands on fire” for Lira being a SBU or not SBU agent. I simply don’t have any evidence.
Maybe its just me, but I am thinking more of terms of process: If I am disapointed with MSM and how things are in society, I can’t do exactly the same process in Alt Media and claim to be different.
How is blaming Lira without any evidence, any difference from the accusations of “everyone is a right wing extremist” or “white supremicist”? Oh, the guy/man is white male, so its the “Type”. ( I hope you understand the point I am making ).
Example: there are already “not truth’s” flying around, like all his videos were monetized, when he clearly said in practically every video that they werent, so people could say nasty words as they pleased. -> How is this different from MSM???.
About the “Online dating coach”, I must admit, I only knew Lira from the Ukraine war perspective. So, and maybe I was just lucky in the selected videos, but I just went into the CRP achive, watched 2 videos and it didnt seem “Online dating coach” to me at all. Seemed more a “Stop Being a Stupid SIMP”, which honestly … it is really needed in society currently.
> Again, for the record, I wish Mr. Lira no harm nor do I wish to do him an injustice.
Neither do I, nor to, for example, to Ritter for doing what I think it is incorrect.
But for example, I follow Larry because I have the expectation of him being honest, about people he likes and about people he hates. maybe a bit biased against someone he doesnt like, but nothing like inventing things that he either does not know, or know to not be the truth. In short, I expect him to keep his emotional side in check and present things as he sees it, even if he is seeing it wrong one time or another (which is normal, people are just human beings).
Ritter lost a follower that day ( lost me, but probably gained thousands others, so … i guess he shouldnt care less )
– Dughina? bombed and killed (in Russia)
– Tatarsky ? bombed and Killed (in Russia)
– Prilepin ? bombed to kill, but survided. (in Russia)
– GL (in Ukraine) ?
Arrested + released + his internet activity not blocked;
Then:
arrested II° + relased II° + passport given back + not monitred + etc;
And then:
MAY BE arrested III°
First time
almost noboby knew him, so no need of making a TV-show out of his arrest, ok. understandable.
Second time
the arrest has been a truly weird live-show (no handscuffs, no pressures, no violence, no restricions in moving in his home, no harrasments …wine and roses, yes, they didn’t brought with’em, but… but that’s all the ‘bad’.
Then:
he escape (???) on his motorbike (no one steal nor confiscated it while he was behind the bars??? It does not looks that chep!)
And then:
the third arrest (???), the one of a ‘real guilty’ (???) fugitive… an arrest, at the border, that would have been a truly nice propagandistic tv shot spot for the SBU…
OPS!
No clips at all.
Official silence (Sarah’s words do not matters at all).
Silence even from the Court of the trial he was especting in a very few days at the times before his escape(???).
There is not a single spot/drop/inch in this messy story that looks as it had some sense, UNLESS…
unless one does not want to see for his own sake of not-seeing.
(dont worry: anyone who likes it, can keep on playing again and again the old jolly card of the GL ‘american citizenship’ and the ‘exeptionalism’ that, that passport, would have given him …mhmmm.. as if JFK and many many others did not had the same citizenship but… r.i.p. anyway)
Yurii is being prosecuted under the same law as Gonzalo Lira
Why Is Ukraine Prosecuting Pacifist Yurii Sheliazhenko for “Justifying Russian Aggression”?
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/8/10/yurii_sheliazhenko_charges
Any feelings for Alexander Matiushenko who was tortured and is still in the dungeons in Kiev? Any feelings for others who are also trapped and who wait impatiently for their release? Any message for the relatives of those who don’t know the whereabouts of their relatives and who disappeared at the mercy of the criminal SBU?
Don’t be cynical and hypocritical than what you are being now.
Your true feeling only goes out to two people. The others can rot at will in your pure American memory.
Gonzalo Lira is the only US citizen being prosecuted, and the only US citizen ever prosecuted (to my knowledge) under Article 436-2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code for speech crimes. Of course there are also Ukrainians who have been and are being prosecuted, that is not the issue. Lira is setting a *precedent* because of his nationality and his notoriety. Yes it is sad that westerners who have only recently found Ukraine on the map don’t know about Zelenskyy’s fascist regime and its oppression of many dissidents. This makes Lira’s case valuable as it bring westerners attention to the issue in general. Lira is a US dissident who has been arrested for speech crimes and the US Department of State is obliged to ensure his safety. This is one reason why the speculation about Lira being an SBU collaborator is a red herring as it is deflecting from the main issue, as you are. The focus of energy ought to be bringing attention to Lira’s case which may also have the benefit of bringing attention to the human rights abuses of the regime in general.
You are *begging the question* (a fallacy in reasoning) about Lira’s being an SBU asset/”police confidential informant” as there is no *proof beyond reasonable doubt*, there is only speculation and insinuation. There is no *fact* that Lira has the relationship with the SBU that Ritter alleges. Should Lira win his case and is freed he will have the opportunity to sue Ritter for defamation and Ritter will have the opportunity to present his fact free claim in court for judgment.
In the meantime, Lira should be afforded the presumption of innocence and people ought to be campaigning for his release/deportation. Only then will he be free to face the accusations made against him. These are elementary principles of justice. It has nothing to do with Lira’s character or right wing politics. He has rights, human rights. Even the leader of the Chilean communist party has called for Lira’s release.
Ritter has done the wrong thing by not giving Lira the presumption of innocence and recognising that Lira will only be free to answer any allegations once he is free and safe to speak, which he isn’t in Ukraine. Rather than using his online influence Ritter went of on a personal vendetta, fueled by hatred, and a conspiracy theory. Given his psychological meltdown on Scott Ritter Extra Ep. 89: Ask the Inspector, it is clear to me that Ritter could benefit from more professional help, in the least it appears, as others have noted, that he has a nasty personality disorder.
Thank you. Spot on!!
Maybe that comment could be featured in a future blog post. It will go unnoticed here, and more people should read it.
The way your bad comment was treated gloriously demonstrates the way democracy is managed in this blog. I believe you are still wrong and, even more so, you continue to forget all those who are victims of the SBU’s cruelty.
You also continue not to draw a comparison between what happened in Chile in 1973, during Pinochet’s coup d’état, and how your dear Gonzalo Lira supported this same dictator. This is the big problem.
In any case, I will not comment on this blog again, as I believe I have been not well interpreted and completely set apart..
Democracy? Are there elections here?
Having read all the comments here and listened to GL in the past, here’s my take: I don’t trust the narrative on GL and Ritter (who I also listened to at times) lacks social graces but is passionate about his truth.
Back in the day GL was in Chile giving financial warnings about the collapse of the USD warning Americans to put their money into hard assets. He was very high on Chilies retirement accounts etc.
I was really surprised to find this same guy in Ukraine cozying up to the Durand. Both Alex and Alexander were happy to invite GL on since he was there in Ukraine at the time Russia invaded. It was a symbiotic relationship. I disliked how GL loved taking over the chat to pontificate. GL was promoted by the Durand and made his way onto the podcast venue. I think he’s an opportunist who saw a way to promote himself and get a piece of the action.
Early on GL was doing outside walk and talks like Alex C but that didn’t last. Someone apparently denied GL was even in Ukraine and he did an angry walk and talk proving he was indeed there but here’s my conjecture. What if after his first arrest he left Ukraine for safer grounds? He could set up shop some place and play the role. Someone pointed out that the second arrest looked staged with camera angles etc. And after the first arrest garnered all that support perhaps it was time for another gambit? Seems like somebody writing a soap opera here.
I don’t buy that the SBU did anything but shake him down for money and kicked him over the border the first time. So all this drama is he or isn’t he SBU seems silly. They would have ducked taped him to a light pole etc.
I think it’s fictional and I bet GL makes a miraculous reappearance someday soon.
I agree with Scott Ritter. Even if Lira was not a SBU asset to begin with, I assume he is one now – and he possibly does not even know it. The Stalinist-type SBU is known to mess with peoples’ heads in ways that the western public would have trouble trying to understand.
Personally speaking, there was something about Lira which I did not like from the first time I saw him, and after hearing his stuff two or three times, I stopped watching him. Nothing he said was really incisive or meaningful. He seemed artificial to me. He may well have been an agent provocateur from the start. Some int on his Ukrainian girlfriend might help in understanding the situation.
That said, by the time Lira resumed his roundtable broadcasts (which I did not watch), I think that he was likely being used be the SBU – whether he himself knew it or not. In his video (which I saw featured on somebody else’s program) in which he was play-acting his escape to Hungary, his lack of genuineness is telling. Nobody acts like that if one is seriously trying to leave Ukraine, which is essentially a Stalinist-type dictatorship. He looked way too fat and well-coiffed for having spent weeks in an SBU jail (his jail-house stories were a crock of shit, too, as if the SBU does not itself abuse prisoners!).
That said, unfortunately there are a lot of alternative media types who mean well but do not have the necessary background to understand that we are in a war, as Scott Ritter rightly says. Blindly trusting Lira would be a serious mistake, in my opinion.
I hope that some people start waking up to the fact that they are allowing themselves to be manipulated by the SBU. The shit-storm against Scott Ritter, the most experienced and most accurate commentator on this war, is clearly in the interest of the SBU!
I agree with Scott Ritter. Even if Lira was not a SBU asset to begin with, I assume he is one now – and he possibly does not even know it. The Stalinist-type SBU is known to mess with peoples’ heads in ways that the western public would have trouble trying to understand.
Personally speaking, there was something about Lira which I did not like from the first time I saw him, and after hearing his stuff two or three times, I stopped watching him. Nothing he said was really incisive or meaningful. He seemed artificial to me. He may well have been an agent provocateur from the start. Some int on his Ukrainian girlfriend might help in understanding the situation.
That said, by the time Lira resumed his roundtable broadcasts (which I did not watch), I think that he was likely being used be the SBU – whether he himself knew it or not. In his video (which I saw featured on somebody else’s program) in which he was play-acting his escape to Hungary, his lack of genuineness is telling. Nobody acts like that if one is seriously trying to leave Ukraine, which is essentially a Stalinist-type dictatorship. He looked way too fat and well-coiffed for having spent weeks in an SBU jail (his jail-house stories were a crock of shit, too, as if the SBU does not itself abuse prisoners!).
That said, unfortunately there are a lot of alternative media types who mean well but do not have the necessary background to understand that we are in a war, as Scott Ritter rightly says. Blindly trusting Lira would be a serious mistake, in my opinion.
I hope that some people start waking up to the fact that they are allowing themselves to be manipulated by the SBU. The shit-storm against Scott Ritter, the most experienced and most accurate commentator on this war, is clearly in the interest of the SBU!
“Sort of tough to be compromised by the GRU when I am in Florida rather than Ukraine. “
Yeah. OK.
Btw… you didn’t “disagree” with your “friend”… you publicly called him “crazy”. You drew first blood. Take responsibility. You don’t believe Lira is an “asset”… no problem, but you smeared others that “disagreed”.
At least when Scott was wrong about “game changing HIMARS” he publicly admitted & retracted. You should do the same with respecting “friends” that “disagree” with you.
I personally don’t care if Lira was an “asset” or not. He was a parasitic grifter leech that used other people’s expertise, research, experience, education and validation to host his “opinion” shows where he personally did no research, had zero experience or education to build a “talk show” of experts to gain clicks. Like those “reaction” videos where other peoples talents and successes are given “opinions” about by YouTube grifters.
At least you, Brian, the Alex’s had something to contribute and not sucking on the success of others.
You are more salty than the ground beneath Soledar.
Same ‘faults’ and ‘cimes’, different treatments…
– Daria Dughina:
bombed and killed for her words
– Tatarsky:
bombed and killed for his words and reportages
– Prilepin:
bombed to kill (but survided) for his words
– Georgi Boiko,
76 y.o., secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, former deputy and head of the Ukrainian Anti-Fascist Committee, arresed yesterday.
Accused of participating in “anti-Ukrainian activities” and having communist and “pro-Russian” publications in his home.
He will be tried and his assets confiscated
– Yurii Sheliazhenko,
a pacifist who isn’t even pro-russian but just call for negotiations to end the war.
– the two Kononovichs brothers, arrested as soon as the war began simply because they belonged to a then outlawed party
– two women arrested yesterday in Nikolaev, allegedly for planning to go to Russia and private discussions about it. Both of them were employed in a division of Nikolaev-Voblenergo JSC.
They are charged on Part 1, Article 110 and Part 3, Article 436-2: so they could face up to (8eight) years in prison, along with property confiscation.
– many many many others: similiar fate (arrested and losing their property for a simple social media post).
And then…
– and then, there is GL
*busted once, once released in weeks (with no confiscations and the possibility to keep on his talking on Internet).
*busted a 2° time, released a second time in months (with no confiscations not even of his motorbike, and his passport given back, etc)
*MAY BE, but no one knows for sure, busted again a 3° time while crossing a border on his motorbike
So, well…
…let’s smear a bit Scott’s call for prudence, ain’t it ?
More salt forScott’s fanclub.
Yuri Pokrass, 62 years old from Kiev,
recently arrested for posting the coat of arms of USSR and a portrait of Lenin on Facebook.
Immediately detained and sentenced to two years of jail and confiscation of all his property.
Today he started a hunger strike in the Lukyanovskaya prision where he is detained
protesting against torture and lack of medical care.
Don’t worry Yuri:
in a few times they will send you home, free to keep on postining on Internet whatever you like or even riding motorbikes.
It happened before, so: have trust dude.
You should go to Ukraine and torture Gonzalo in prison. Masturbating on the Internet is not enough for you.