This Street Prophets Coffee Hour is brought to you by Alexander Zaldostanov. Today’s article, on the Night Wolves Motorcycle Club, is part 6 of a 15 in a series about figuring out just what is going on in American politics. It will be about how we got to where we are now. And hopefully present a story of where we should be going. Along the way we will take a look at Russia, the U.S. 2016 Presidential election, Memes and Fiction, Network Propaganda, soft warfare, and cyberwarfare.
This is an Open Thread and all topics of conversation are welcome. What is for dinner? How are you doing? What is on your mind. If you are new to Street Prophets please introduce yourself below in a comment.
I must ask everyone to forgive me for the length of this series and expanding it on the run. The more I dug into it the more I found.
I updated the outline of articles to reflect the content needed to support the concluding article that closes this series. I think all these background articles starting in part 1 are critical to understanding the conclusions and proposed solutions that I will present at the end of the series.
The state controlled and financed religion called the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is a common thread that runs through all of Russia’s war efforts. The church dogma and ideology gives Russia’s army and operatives a narrative and dialog to further Russia’s goals.
Today jump the fold to take a look at one of Russia’s cleverest propaganda weapons, a motorcycle club, called the Night Wolves. The next installment on other forms of Russian propaganda will be presented the week after next on 12/31/2018.
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I must say I was “gobsmacked” when I first read about the Night Wolves in Timothy Snyder’s book The Road To Unfreedom. In his book Snyder describes the August 9, 2014 Sevastopol “bike show” as having brought fascist themes to millions of Russians watching on television.
In the video Alexander Zaldostanov, the charismatic leader of the Night Wolves, opens the show by paraphrasing a manifesto by Alexander Prokhanov called “Our New Victory Day.” From the video:
The victory. Fiery, saint, godlike. We were struggling for it for 4 years.Soviet Battalions were rushing through blood, fires and field full of bones, not paying attention to punishers. 10 Stalin’s strikes right to the body of fascism, when land hadn’t already settled on graves of 30 million brave heroes. When colals of burned villages were still smoking. Staling gave the command to plant gardens. Ad among these blooming gardens we restored our ruined cities. And we were thinking that this blooming will never end. But our enemies destroyed the Soviet Country. They cut, slashed our land. That time all remains of Russia were bleeding and experiencing horrible pain. When fascism like rotten, toxic dough started to stretch across all Ukraine. Their tanks acting in Kramatorsk now. Military facility hail is destroying Lugansk. Their APCs attacking Slavyansk. Their helicopters flying nearby Donetsk. It is impossible to avoid new battle against fascism. It is impossible to avoid 11 Stalin’s strike.
Just as he finishes the above rehabilitation of Stalinism and distortion of history, at 2:00 of the video, ominous music swells and the eye of providence rises from below the stage into view while recorded voice of then President Obama says, “I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American Story ...”
After a carefully choreographed dramatic visualization of the verbal narrative at 8:37 the rock band performs. During the band’s performance giant black hands with the American bald eagle emblem on what looks like a ring descends from the ceiling. The hands are making grabbing motions. Representing the American puppet master.
The band, in the song, asks who is behind this rape of virginal Russia and the images and drama surrounding the band make it clear it is the United States. The United States, personified by President Obama, is presented as threat to the innocence Russia.
Then Prokhanov (intoned by the biker Zaldostanov to a live audience of tens of thousands, and to a televised audience of millions) specified his fear of penetration. The enemy of the Russian idyll was the giant black penis of Satan. (Barack Obama was at this time the president of the United States.)
From: The Road To Unfreedom
It should be noted that where the drama required legitimacy religious icons and words were used to their full effect on viewers held in the sway of the Russian Orthodox Church. When the Night Wolves are not doing major shows they often tour with their bikes.
Contrary to mainstream media portrayals, the Night Wolves are not the Russian equivalent of the Hell’s Angels. Rather, the Night Wolves is a large network of patriotic businesses, non-profit organizations, and professional associations. Although originally an anti-establishment movement, the Night Wolves have gone through a series of transformative phases. In the early-1990s, they first demonstrated their patriotic inclinations when members defended the Kremlin from an attempted coup by hardline communists. In the 2000s, the relationship between the Night Wolves and the Russian government, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church deepened, and by 2010, the group was well on its way to being considered an apparatus of the state. On several occasions, Putin has publicly acknowledged the group’s patriotic activities, including support of military operations in Crimea and East Ukraine.
From Canadian Military Journal • Vol. 18, No. 3, Summer 2018: ‘Wolves of the Russian Spring’: An Examination of the Night Wolves as a Proxy for the Russian Government by Matthew A. Lauder. (PDF of Document)
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The early-2000s marked a period of spiritual transformation for the club. At least some of the impetus for the spiritual transformation has been attributed to Zaldostanov embracing Orthodox Christianity after he was involved in a motorcycle accident in 1999. However, Alexei Weitz, who joined the club in the mid-2000s and served as an official in the Right Cause, is also credited with nurturing the relationship between the Night Wolves and the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as formalising Zaldostanov’s religious worldview.
From Canadian Military Journal • Vol. 18, No. 3, Summer 2018: ‘Wolves of the Russian Spring’: An Examination of the Night Wolves as a Proxy for the Russian Government by Matthew A. Lauder. (PDF of Document)
The Night Wolves are no small operation. The Russian Federation has pumped tens of millions of dollars into the organization.
There is a ton of information online from religious organizations complaining about Russia’s new law: Russia's Newest Law: No Evangelizing Outside of Church. And the Night Wolves are prepared to enforce orthodoxy by having a large enterprise that has infiltrated the public. They form a large enforcement arm for Putin’s ideology.
Over the last decade, the relationship between the Night Wolves and the Russian Orthodox Church has strengthened significantly. For example, the Night Wolves sponsor motorcycle pilgrimages to holy sites, and Zaldostanov meets regularly with Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church and a former KGB agent, to discuss co-hosting patriotic events. Club members have also defended the church against protests.
From Canadian Military Journal • Vol. 18, No. 3, Summer 2018: ‘Wolves of the Russian Spring’: An Examination of the Night Wolves as a Proxy for the Russian Government by Matthew A. Lauder. (PDF of Document)
After watching the video above a few times and reading the Canadian Government Military Journal and a lot of other documents not mentioned I have run out of steam on this Russian threat vector. I feel used by cheep theatrics and symbolism. The above is just to much. Almost unbelievable, but there it is.