May 2, 2018

PART FOUR: Assessing Russian propogandist Konstantin Rykov's pro-Trump "confession"

**PART ONE can be found here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210416264

**PART TWO can be found here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210416302

**PART THREE can be found here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210430029

“Trump will smash America as we know it, we’ve got nothing to lose."--Konstantin Rykov, as reported in The Economist, September 8, 2016.

https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21706541-kremlin-prefers-trump-victory-its-feelings-are-mixed-brazen-meddling



The dubious-minded question asked by the Washington Post's Avi Selk--regarding Seth Abramson having brought Konstantin Rykov's purported Facebook confession to light--is a fair one: "Would those involved in a Kremlin-orchestrated plot to put Trump in the White House really spill the beans unprompted on Facebook?"

A fair answer might be that people with only a casual familiarity with Rykov have a flawed understanding of who he is and what type of mindset consumes him. By all appearances, Rykov seems to be a denizen of the dark web, running brothels and orchestrating subversive influence campaigns over social media. In the West, such individuals are counter-cultural and steadfastly do all that they can to shield their privacy, deeds and their very identities from open scrutiny and legal liability.

Rykov, however, is not operating out of the West. Rykov is operating out of Russia for the express purposes of furthering Russian interests.

In sum, Rykov's mindset is more of Al Qaeda than it is Anonymous.

In the end, Rykov is a Russian Ultra-Nationalist, no more and no less. Looking over his social media postings, he professes a steadfast loyalty and enthusiasm towards the Russian state, both pre- and post-Soviet. The fact that his personal hero is Yuri Gagarin should not be ignored; Gagarin's historic first spaceflight--beating the Americans to the punch--arguably represented the pinnacle of scientific achievement during the Soviet years and was a huge matter of civic pride. And Rykov has been known to exhibit legitimate displays of Russian patriotic fervor; when the Russian ambassador to Turkey was gunned down in December 2016, he angrily proclaimed about those involved in the plot, "You are fucking dead!"

And when protests against Vladimir Putin erupted in Moscow in 2011 (which were openly praised by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), Rykov declared, "I've counted my cartridges. I have three clips. I'll take 30 or so liberals with me. I want to die for Russia tomorrow."

Konstantin Rykov is by nature an extremist, and while in the years following September 11th Americans have been trained to think of extremists as being stodgy, uptight religious fundamentalists , there is nothing that prohibits extremists of displaying the more casual, tech savvy "anything goes" attitude that young Silicon Valley tech gurus or internet hackers might display.

But most importantly, not only is Rykov an extremist, he is a state-sponsored extremist. He is a ally--and arguably a direct agent--of the Kremlin who is doing the express bidding of the Russian government. Accordingly, so long as he stays within his Russian safe space, he can act with full impunity and without any type of repercussions whatsoever. Given the kleptocracy that surrounds Russia, Putin's government is not going to suddenly crack down on the people who act to advance its interests.

So when one views Rykov as an extremist, one should consider that most extremist organizations thrive not on keeping their deeds secret, but boasting of their actions in furtherance of their agenda (e.g. ISIS claiming responsibility for a terrorist act).

One illustration of Rykov's zeal to punish perceived traitors to the Russian regime would be how in December 2015 he bragged over Facebook of having infiltrated the offices of the Echo of Moscow, a private media venture that has been critical of the Kremlin at times. Rykov claimed that people working on his behalf had gained access to emails and electronics of Echo staff and as a result numerous persons employed there would be subjected to further prosecution. While such violative actions in the United States might be considered unfathomable, in Vladimir Putin's Russia Rykov was given free rein to do his tricks.

The bottom line is that Konstantin Rykov has no incentive to conceal or hide his activities, and every incentive to brag about them in furtherance of his mission.

But what strikes one most about Konstantin Rykov is the paradox that surrounds him. Here we have someone who is not afraid to openly boast about his exploits for Mother Russia in full detail, but someone who keeps his own personal life a close, guarded secret. On his social media pages, you'll not find any pictures of his children, romantic partners, parents, or virtually any other significant individuals in his personal life apart from his work partners. One can find only tiny breadcrumbs of details of Rykov's personal life on the internet.

So who is Konstantin Rykov?



According to his Wikipedia page, he was born May 27, 1979. Naturally, this means he grew in the socially turbulent times where the Soviet Union collapsed and was replaced by the Russian Federation, and on Facebook he spoke fondly of his days as a member of the Soviet youth Pioneer program.

It's not clear who Rykov's parents were. Interestingly enough, there was an Oleg Rykov who worked for the KGB in the 1980s developing computer systems for the Soviet government and later butted heads with Mikhail Lesin (a Russian government official who died in the US in 2015 under suspicious circumstances). However, with Rykov presumably being a fairly common surname in Russia, it's impossible at this point to see if Konstantin is of any relation to Oleg.

Rykov claimed on Facebook his first job was at the age of 10, where he sold candy and cigarettes to people on the streets of Moscow. As the Daily Dot profile on Rykov's Dosug online prostitute service mentioned, Rykov visited the United States around 1995 and by 1998 he was already making a name for himself as being a key figure of the development of the internet community in Russia.

Based on his Facebook posts from 2012, Rykov has/had either a wife or romantic partner named Maria ("Masha" ), although it's unlikely that it's the same Maria as Maria Katasonova, his far younger partner-in-crime in social media activities in recent years. He has at least two children, a daughter named Katya and a son who was born in November 2012. He also has referenced having a younger brother in his social media posts.

One surprising fact about Rykov is that he claims to have authored a children's book titled The Invisible World. Related artwork on Rykov's Facebook page reveals the protagonist of the book to be a young girl with colorfully braided hair. Rykov also professes to be a fan of numerous western-produced television shows such as House of Cards and Game of Thrones.

But as humanizing as this all might seem for Konstantin Rykov, one cannot put aside his inherent extremist nature and unsavory aspects of his business. There is no better example of this than the volatile nature of his relationship with a former associate by the name of Anton Nossik.

***

On the surface, Anton Nossik was the exact opposite of everything Konstantin Rykov was. He was an observant Jew who spoke fluent English and fashioned himself as an intellectual and a liberal. He hardly seemed like someone who would pair up with a fervent Russian ultra-nationalist, but from the time they started working together in 1998 all the way through the following decade, the two were as thick as thieves.

Together, Rykov and Nossik helped develop the network of Russian bloggers who would weigh in on Russian news and policy. Nossik's personal blog on the Livejournal blogging website would soon become one of the most popular in Russia. He would become known as the "Godfather of the Russian internet."

As the 2007 Washington Post article on Rykov points out, Nossik helped arranged for funding of Rykov's projects via Putin's domestic policy advisor Vladislav Surkov.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/27/AR2007102701384_2.html

And both Nossik and Rykov were in attendance at the Kremlin for then President Dmitri Medvedev's 2011 forum of "Internet Community Representatives."

However, Nossik and Rykov's friendship suffered a rather dramatic schism by the time 2012 came around. According to a March 2012 article in Open Democracy magazine, in January 2012 Nossik accused Rykov of orchestrating a hack on the Livejournal wesbite and accused him of being used by the Kremlin in attacking Russian bloggers.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/node/65058/author/gerard-toal

Nossik subsequently became more and more openly critical of the Kremlin, alleging they were increasingly involved in a crackdown of internet speech and oppression. He came to the defense of the band Pussy Riot, who were imprisoned for their vocal protests against the Putin regime.

The Kremlin appeared to have taken note of Nossik's advocacy. In October 2015, Nossik authored a blog entry regarding Russian military actions in Syria which essentially advocated a scorched-earth strategy for the Russians, lives of civilians be damned. While undoubtedly a harsh position to take, it was still pretty much in line with the reality of what Russia was doing in Syria. Yet, it was supposedly that post by Nossik--and not the dozens of posts before taking the Kremlin to task for clamping down on online speech--that caused Nossik to be arrested for "extremism."

Nossik was convicted and in October 2016 was scheduled to be sentenced for his offenses. He faced a likely prison sentence of two years. But on October 2, 2016, something extraordinary happened. Nossik's old friend turned bitter rival Konstantin Rykov weighed in on Facebook.

Rykov visciously attacked Nossik as a "professional scoundrel and slanderer, " "Judas," an "envious and vile hypocrite" and said that he had "personally deceived me and betrayed me" numerous occasions in the past.



And then, amazingly enough, Rykov advocates that Nossik not be imprisoned, claiming Nossik "would have nothing to do" in prison. Such a sentiment echoed in the court; the judge in Nossik's case ultimately chose to fine Nossik for his offenses without any prison time.

While that might have been the end of the Nossik-Rykov saga, it wasn't. Soon after the US elections, it appeared there was a reconciliation of sorts between Rykov and his old friend. Rykov claimed he and Nossik had agreed to work on a "joint television project". And on May 8, 2017, Nossik showed up at a party hosted by Rykov and Maria Katasonova celebrating French candidate Marine La Pen as she faced off against Emmanuel Macron in that country's presidential elections.



Two months later, on July 9, 2017, Anton Nossik suddenly died while staying in a vacation house outside of Moscow with unspecified "friends." The stated cause of death for the 51 year old--who on all outward appearances looked to have been in good health--was a heart attack.

To be fair, sometimes a heart attack is just a heart attack. There has never been any sort of formal accusations of foul play in Nossik's death. But in a country where far too many government critics have turned up dead under suspicious circumstances, Nossik's unexpected death has raised more than a couple of eyebrows. And Rykov's bizarre behavior towards Nossik--brutally excoriating him and yet asking for leniency on his sentence, and then making sudden, unexplained overtures towards reconciliation--also makes one wonder how genuine and legitimate the level of Rykov's "forgiveness" towards his Putin-critic colleague really was.

**PART FIVE (CONCLUSION) can be found here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210567386

March 29, 2018

PART THREE: Assessing Russian propogandist Konstantin Rykov's pro-Trump "confession"

**PART ONE can be found here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210416264

**PART TWO can be found here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210416302

The real meat and potatoes of Konstantin Rykov's confession can be found in Part Two, which he posted on November 15, 2016, three days after Part One and one week after the U.S. Presidential elections. Here's the screen cap of the English translation of the confession:




Interestingly enough, Rykov doesn't tag Michael McFaul in this post like he usually does, but given the fact that McFaul was tagged in Part One, there's a good chance McFaul--and quite possibly US Intelligence--soon read this as well.

Rykov begins with a mission statement of sorts, saying "it was necessary to get everyone in the brain and grab all possible means of mass perception of reality", which pretty much sums up the Cambridge Analytica operations he goes on to describe. He also gives us an idea of his ultimate goal, which is to "create a political alliance between the United States, Russia, (and a number of other states) and establish a new world order." While I'll expound on Rykov's mindset later, for now I'll just say this is important because it shows that Konstantin Rykov wasn't just in this business to be a rabble rouser or internet prankster. He had a clear nationalistic agenda in his work.

So Rykov talks about how "it was necessary to 'digitize' all possible types of modern man" and claimed it was Trump himself who sought out "the special scientific department of Cambridge University."

When I first read this, I just assumed there was either a translation error or an error on Rykov's part and he meant Cambridge Analytica. While it had gone almost completely under the radar to that point, before Election Day there had been some reporting of the fact that the Trump campaign (and the Ted Cruz campaign before that) had enlisted Cambridge Analytica's services. However, none of the pre-election reporting went into any detailed reporting on Cambridge Analytica's actual methods in the 2016 campaign.

The first reporting on Cambridge Analytica's methods didn't come until early December 2016 when a German publication named Das published an expose, a month after the election and several weeks after Rykov posted his own confession about his alleged role in the 2016 elections. The Das article (which would remain fairly under the radar until the recent BBC report mirrored most of its contents) was subsequently republished by numerous sources, including by the Russian based Center for Strategic Assessment and Forecasts:

http://csef.ru/en/nauka-i-obshchestvo/499/rassledovanie-das-magazin-kak-big-data-i-para-uchenyh-obespechili-pobedu-trampu-i-brexit-7288

What Das (and later the BBC) reported on was that a professor from Cambridge University named Mikhal Kosinski had begun development of an Facebook App called "My Personality", which utilized "psychometrics" and supposedly was able to identify personal characteristics of a person based on their likes and dislikeson social media. Kosinski was then approached by another Cambridge University colleague, Aleksandr Kogan (a Russian national), who offered his assistance. Supposedly unbeknownst to Kosinski, Kogan was affiliated with SCL, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, and he used the app development from his work at Cambridge University for Cambridge Analytica to create their own programs.

Rykov then continues on to talk about how Trump paid $5 million to Cambridge Analytica for "targeted advertising." This fact--along with Cambridge Analytica psychometric focused work--had been reported prior to the election but had for the most part remained under the radar. Kosiniki and Kogan's roles were not reported on until the Das article came out in December 2016, suggesting at the very least that Rykov had some inside knowledge about the development of the system.

Rykov then talks about the initial actors involved in his campaign. Notably, he mentions both Wikileaks and what he calls "a pair of hacker groups." It's important to point out that it's still unclear what relationship--if any--Rykov had with the individuals involved in hacking the DNC's computers and subsequent leaking of selected material on Wikileaks. If we read his statement literally, however, he identifies a "pair" of groups, and two Russian hacking groups named Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear are believed to have been the culprits behind the hacking attack.

What's also interesting is that subsequent to the election, individuals associated with Rykov created a music video titled "Russian Hacker":



The video features news clips, footage from the presidential debate, and stars Konstantin Rykov's parter Maria Katasonova unveiling herself from a Guy Fawkes mask. The lyrics reference the Russian hacking of John Podesta's email as well as references to Bitcoin and dark money. A full translation can be found here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029892688

Other than Donald Trump, the one person Rykov mentions by name in Part 2 of his confession is an associate, Mikhail Kovalev (who he tags into the post.)



If you look over Kovalev's Facebook postings, you'll find that he's about as big a fan of Donald Trump as you can find. While Rykov's take on Trump could be considered winking and cynical at certain times, there's no doubt that Kovalev has long been true believer on the Trump Train.

What's most astonishing about Kovalev, however, is that he published on his Facebook page what could only be described as a long and detailed chronology of his involvement in Konstantin Rykov's operation. Even more amazing is the date he posted this narrative:

November 7, 2016. Five days before Rykov starts on his own Facebook confession. And one day before the U.S. presidential election.

Kovalev lacks some of the dramatic editing skills Rykov possesses--his own confession is rather long and rambling, with over 3,000 words in total. I could post the screen caps of the post, but for the purposes of brevity, I'll just post the Facebook link, which can be easily translated within:

https://www.facebook.com/kovalev2020/posts/1221546747931019

A few of the highlights:

* Kovalev says he was approached by Konstantin Rykov in July 2015 for what he calls a "secret conversation" about Donald Trump being elected president

* He launches into the up-and-down details of what he calls a "antisystem" underground campaign for Trump

*According to Kovalev, the first major coup of the "antisystem" came on October 17, 2015, when Donald Trump tweets a Washington Examiner article titled, "Putin Loves Donald Trump" along with the message, "Russia and the world has already started to respect us again." The Examiner article includes a lengthy profile on Konstantin Rykov, who it describes as being a "Kremlin mouthpiece." The tweet at issue is here:

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/655502231719006208

*Kovalav is quick to point out how opinion of Russia by U.S. Republicans skyrocketed during the course of the campaign, with 85% of Republicans viewing Vladimir Putin as a strong leader (compared to 18% for President Obama) and only 27% of Republicans having a negative opinion of Putin, down from 66% just two years before.

*He describes essentially a win-win scenario for Russia regardless of who wins the election--If Trump wins, he would be "doomed to an alliance with Russia for the rapid achievements of his presidency." But if Trump loses, it would still "destroy the system" and the "weakened system would be less dangerous " for Russian interests.

* Kovalev says he was assigned in the project to work on Facebook in order to "seriously hamper the pro-active political environment" while also claiming he was "recruiting supporters."

*Towards the end of the post, he brags that he, Rykov and Maria Katasonova were solely responsible for "creating a wave of sympathy for Trump" before ending his post with a resounding "Glory to Russia!"

* In his very next Facebook post, he claims that Rykov, Katasonova and his next projects would be Austria, France, Germany, Ukraine and the Baltic States. A screencap of the post is here:



Turning back to Rykov's own Facebook confession, Rykov talks about the development of his Russian language website, trump2016.ru (tagline: "Make America Great Again" ). What's odd about this is the length of time and effort Rykov claims is necessary to launch what appears to be a rather mundane website (on the surface, it appears to be little more than a news aggregator listing trending stories.)

Instrumental to the website, Rykov claims, is the development of "a system of transferring tasks and information" impervious to detection from the NSA and other intelligence agencies, "how to make it so that even people who do not speak each other's language could exchange information faster than anyone, understand each other from a half-word, feel the trends and influence their development?"

This part raises all sorts of red flags. Why on the surface would a simple Russian language Trump website/news aggregator need an encrypted means of communication, unless it was actually serving as a front for a far more nefarious and covert purpose?

What's perhaps most interesting is when you consider how the recent BBC investigative piece revealed that Cambridge Analytica had recommended all of its clients use ProtonMail, an encrypted email service that deletes messages shortly after they have been read.

If one looks up the history of the development of ProtonMail, a clear timeline is set:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProtonMail

The Protonmail prototype was launched on May 16, 2014. It then went into significant beta testing for over a year. Finally, on August 13, 2015, the new and improved Version 2.0 of Protonmail was launched.

What's fascinating here is how Rykov provides the timeline for his own website launch. He claims it took about a year for programming an encrypted communication system. If Rykov started conceiving the website in 2012 or 2013, that means the initial development phase lasted through sometime in the first half of 2014. He then says it took over another year for "tests and revision" of this system. Finally, he says the website itself was launched on August 18, 2015.

Which just so happened to be five days after Protonmail's Version 2.0 was launched. Was development of Rykov's Trump Russia website tied in with the development of the Protonmail system hawked by Cambridge Analytica? And again, why in the hell would anyone need an encrypted communication system for something that is supposed to be a simple website? Rykov remains coy to that extent.

Rykov ends with the teaser that a day after the website was launched, he received a message from "Vladimir Volfovich." Who "Vladimir Volfovich" exactly was remains a mystery. Could it have been Vladimir Volfovich Zhironovsky, the Russian firebrand politician? Perhaps that might be the most logical answer, although it's unclear what role he would have played. Or was it some other Vladimir? Unfortunately, the promised Part 3 of Rykov's confession never materialized, or if it did, it was subsequently deleted, and we are left guessing as to how events unfolded for Rykov from August 2015 through November 2016.

So how much stock can we put into Konstantin Rykov's confession? It could just be boasting, but from an individual who has noted Kremlin connections and whose longstanding reputation has been burnished in playing underhanded games on the internet, there would seem to be a purpose for it all beyond mere bragging.

For now, we can only affirmatively say that Konstantin Rykov's confession speaks for itself, for whatever it's worth. However, an excerpt from the recent David Corn/Michael Isakoff book Russian Roulette, published in Mother Jones magazine seems to suggest that either Rykov or someone along the lines of Rykov was on the radar for US intelligence:



So what can we affirmatively say that we definitely know about Konstantin Rykov? Here's the basic list:



That's the long and the short of what we know about Rykov, apart from all the speculation of what he might have done.

And that's the what. In Part 4 (probably my final part), I will be looking into the "why"--who Konstantin Rykov is, why he might have done what he did, what sort of other things he may have done (spoiler alert: there's at least one very suspiciously dead ex-friend), and why his overall motive seems to be a bit misunderstood.

**PART FOUR available here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210567354 **

March 26, 2018

PART TWO: Assessing Russian propogandist Konstantin Rykov's pro-Trump "confession"

**PART ONE can be found here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210416264


For reference, here is the pertinent part of Rykov's confession for this post:




So we can pretty much confirm that Konstantin Rykov is smarter than your average bear, and that by November 2012--when his confession begins--he had already made quite a name for himself over the internet and within the halls of the Kremlin itself.

With that in mind, we can turn to Part One of Rykov's confession, the seemingly off the wall, crazy story about how Rykov--bemoaning President Obama's re-election in 2012--drew inspiration from Donald J. Trump to change Russia's fortunes in the world. (Note that he tags Michael McFaul, the former US Ambassador to Russia, into the post. This is not by accident--Rykov and McFaul have a long history over social media, and I'll try to explain that later.)

The great news is that Rykov's confession references his activities on Twitter on November 6-7, 2012. And the even better news is that Rykov's Twitter activities during that period--at least on his own feed--are still on full public display (and a simple Google Translate away from an easy understanding of his mindset.)

And no doubt about it, for whatever reason, Donald Trump was very much on Konstantin Rykov's mind on November 6-7, 2012.
As Rykov explained in his confession, he was well aware of Mitt Romney (who he described as "weak willed" ) as having just conceded the election.

And while Rykov's own Twitter post didn't indicate any "angry tweets" or "curses", it does show what--and who--he was thinking about that evening.

Here's Rykov's complete Twitter post from November 6-7, 2012, as translated:





So Rykov begins by saying, "Romney (concedes). Congratulated Obama. I wonder what Trump will say? " After a back and forth with one of his followers apparently relating to a bet on the election, the next signficant response is from Julia (Yulya) Alferova, who promptly posts a screen cap of exactly what Donald Trump was tweeting .

Alferova is in and of herself extremely significant here. One year after this exchange with Rykov takes place, it was Alferova who personally met and greeted Donald Trump when he came to Moscow for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant.

A Daily Beast article (containing a denial from Alferova that she personally denied witnessing some of the hanky-panky suggested by the Steele Dossier) describes Alferova's encounter with Trump in detail:



Alferova--who was employed by the Crocus Group, owned by the Agalarovs who hosted Miss Universe in Moscow and later in 2016 pitched the infamous Trump Tower meeting to the Trump campaign--would be pictured close at Trump's side during the 2013 pagaent, along with her then husband, Artem Klyushin. (Klyushin--who's worth another thread on his own--was also friends with Rykov and the Agalarovs and has boasted on social media as well as to his own efforts in getting Trump elected.)

Here's Alferova with Klyushin living it up with Trump in 2013:


(There are several other photos of Trump with Alferova, some with Klyushin, some with both, etc.)
Alferova's Twitter postings also seem to confirm that politics and "the influence of social media" were very much a matter of discussion while Trump was in Moscow in 2013:



Notably, Alferova would soon take to Twitter--including on her English language account--and start heavily promoting Donald Trump as a Presidential candidate, long before Trump's official announcement.

https://twitter.com/alferovayulyae/status/426103699572678656

The next significant reply to Rykov comes from a follower, Alisia Gera, who promptly tags Trump's twitter handle to the conversation. This means that plausibly--although perhaps unlikely--Trump could have been keyed into Rykov's conversation, although him doing so would probably have required a translator since this was in Russian.

The next response from Andrey Shishkin is rather eyebrow-raising, where Shishkin suggests that Trump somehow engage in a ransomware scheme for "personal data" for $10 million dollars. This might be just a joke from Shishkin, but it might just also be perhaps the opening salvo into Russian hacking efforts into Trump's political opposition.

The final response of note comes from Alexey Petrukhin, who is actually a fairly well known filmmaker in Russia and has actually done work with some non-Russian actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan. Like Gera, Petrukhin retweets Trump's handle into the situation and quotes Trump as demanding a march on Washington, language that Rykov was sure to quote in his confession.

So, according to Rykov--and this is the part that stretches his credibility for most everyone--Donald Trump personally responds to Rykov via DM over Twitter and provides a simple picture of him smiling and giving a thumbs up, which Rykov took as a sign that Trump should be the center of his next great online campaign. He attaches the picture at issue at the bottom of Part One of the confession.

Now, as other people on the internet has pointed out, this picture does not appear to be originally intended for Rykov but was actually posted on Melania Trump's Instagram account shortly before the results of the 2012 election were announced.

Does that rule out the possibility that Trump, seeing his name being discussed by this group of Russians, sent the picture off to Rykov as a goodwill gesture? No. And as we have seen, Trump will sometimes respond to and retweet the most obscure and even most offensive corners of the internet. Case in point: He retweeted someone with the Twitter handle @WhiteGenocideTM.

Twice.

That being said, it still sounds a bit far-fetched for Rykov to claim a direct interaction with Trump on Election Night 2012. But at this point, it's beside the point. Because beyond Rykov's Twitter post from November 6-7, 2012, we also have his Instagram posts from the same exact time period. And guess what image pops up:



As you can see, the caption reads quite plainly, "Donald Trump, America will be free."

A second Instagram posts shows a screen cap of the election results and cryptically says, "Powerful screenshot. Save as a memory."



Remember, all of this is in November 2012. By November 2012, Trump's Birther-fueled flirtation with a presidential run a year and a half before had long been forgotten by most Americans. For most Americans, Trump was still considered a joke and a carnival barker. He was the host of The Apprentice, a heavily edited reality show full of B-list celebrities performing comical tasks in an effort to avoid being "fired" by Trump. He was the namesake behind a handful of casinos and golf properties and a long line of failed, fly-by-night products like steaks, vodka, and a sham "University."

So on November 6, 2012, Donald Trump was probably on the mind of very few Americans as they watched the election results. They had long sinced moved on.

However, as these posts show, Donald Trump was very much on the mind of Konstantin Rykov on November 6,-7, 2012.

And this incontrovertible evidence demands the question: Why was Donald Trump very much on the mind of Konstantin Rykov on November 6,-7, 2012?

**CLICK HERE TO GO TO PART THREE: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210430029

March 26, 2018

PART ONE: Assessing Russian propogandist Konstantin Rykov's pro-Trump "confession"

***NOTE: THIS IS A LONG READ (perhaps my longest post ever at DU) BUT ONE I THINK IS WELL WORTH IT***

Last July, in the midst of searching for some other interesting Trump connections, I stumbled across what could only be described as an astonishing piece on Facebook:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029322103

In short, it was a boastful confession just days after the November 2016 elections from a Russian named Konstantin Rykov, claiming that over the course of four years, he helped develop an online campaign from Russia with one goal in mind: to get Donald Trump elected as the US President.

Here are screencaps of the confession, translated into English from the original Russian:






The way Rykov describes it, it's almost literally too unbelievable and too crazy to be true. The claim that he supposedly received a Twitter message on Election Day 2012 encouraging him to engage in this massive effort to get Donald Trump stretches the limits of credibility.

However, as the Mueller investigation has progressed, and we have learned more and more about intelligence findings as to how Russia was working behind the scenes with entities such as Wikileaks and Cambridge Analytica to shift the electoral landscape in favor of Trump, there are portions of Rykov's confession which definitely seem to have been confirmed by the facts around us.

I wanted to take a little time to analyze Rykov's claims and see how they jive against the facts and what we know and have recently learned. Because Rykov's confession offers so much, I figured I would break up my analysis into at least three parts, with the first part focusing on who Rykov is, the second about his seemingly wild, fantastical tale about Election Day 2012, and the third part his description of the scheme itself in the face of what we now know.

In a December 2017 profile of attorney turned Twitter pundit Seth Abramson--who has picked up heavily on Rykov's confession--Washington Post writer Avi Selk took a rather skeptical take on the Rykov confession story:



However, what's important to recognize about Konstantin Rykov is that he's not just some completely random Russian guy who would have been in no position to run an operation like the one he claims he did. Konstantin Rykov isn't simply the town drunk who rambles on about all the things he claims to have invented and all the famous people he knows.

Rykov's resume reveals that he has some very serious credentials, long before the events he describes in 2012 took place. For example:

* He served as a member of the Russian Duma (the Russian parliament) for Putin's United Russia party from 2007 through 2011

* His presence on the internet had long been known at that point. He had run online PR for numerous political campaigns and candidates, and had also been involved in the creation of various "dark web" websites, most notably Dosug.ru, a sex ap that was once described as "Uber for prostitutes": https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/dosung-dark-net-russian-brothel/

*None less than the Washington Post back in 2007 had specifically identified Rykov as an instrumental player in pushing pro-Kremlin propoganda over social media, as they described in this article "Kremlin Seeks to Extend Its Reach to Cyberspace": http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/27/AR2007102701384.html

*As the 2007 Post article notes, Rykov was the creator of his own online newspaper, Vzglyad ("View" ) and on social media would frequently cite to Vzglyad pieces during the 2016 US Presidential Campaign.

*In 2011 Rykov was invited by the Kremlin to attend a conference for "Internet Community Representatives". The conference was personally hosted by then- Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. In a photo published on the official Kremlin website, Rykov is seen here pictured on the right:



*Also in 2011, Rykov made headlines when his Twitter post calling longtime Putin critic Alexey Navaly (at the time imprisoned) a "cocksucking sheep" was re-tweeted by Medvedev. The incident even caught DU's attention at the time: https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/http/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5082877

*As reported by independent journalist Scott Stedman, Rykov was deemed by Vladimir Putin himself a "trusted confidant" of the Kremlin: https://medium.com/@ScottMStedman/kremlin-propagandist-who-claimed-he-coordinated-with-trump-team-was-previously-appointed-as-putins-2dc5f83298e5

So the notion that Rykov was just some random Russian braggart with no significant connections to either the Kremlin or the workings of the Internet is something that should be immediately be put to bed.

**PLEASE GO TO PART TWO HERE: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210416302

March 6, 2018

The latest of bizarre and shady pro-Trump social media figures on parade: An0maly

If you've followed any of my postings here on DU over the past 2-3 years, you'll note that I seem to take a keen interest in certain individuals who, notwithstanding their lack of talent or intellectual prowess, have become "internet famous" social media personalities whose punditry is parroted by those on the right as if they are Confucius.

This begun before we really knew the full extent of Russian interference and meddling in the 2016 election. It harkens to the earliest days of Trump as a presidential candidate, back when we all assumed he'd fade away before the most recent season of The Apprentice.

The first such individual was "Gary Forbes", who popped up on my Facebook feed in 2015 when a slide of his laughably proclaimed that Donald Trump had an IQ in the 99.9905490555th percentile. His face subsequently showed up claiming that Trump had received the endorsement of aviation legend Chuck Yeager (he hadn't) and similarly bogus claims. Forbes claimed to be in charge of "The Forbes Group" and said he had an entire staff of volunteers at his disposal working to spread the word about Donald Trump over social media. When the Republican convention approached and some Republicans indicated they had some reservations about nominating Donald Trump as their presidential candidate, Forbes encouraged subscribers of his social media feed to threaten and harass GOP delegates who might get out of line.

Problem was, "Gary Forbes" didn't actually exist. His real name was Gary Pasquariello, and before hawking Donald Trump, he had unsuccessfully attempted careers in self-help book writing, inspirational speaking, and jazzy new age piano playing. "The Forbes Group" wasn't a real corporation, and there was no evidence that any of his supposed staff were real people. Someone was pumping up this guy to push out massive amounts of disinformation on social media about Donald Trump, but at the time I had no clue who it might be.

But "Gary Forbes" wasn't the only absurdly bizarre pro-Trump figure to pop up on social media. You had folks like Kim Dotcom, a fugitive convicted fraudster and shitty part-time EDM deejay, who Sean Hannity insisted held crucial information about the death of DNC staffer Seth Rich. (Predictably, Mr. Dotcom's bombshell evidence never actually materialized, and Hannity was left ranting like the crazy little weasel that he is). Even more sinister as the truth about Russian interference came to light I found out about people like Artem Klyushin and Konstantin Rykov. Klyushin is a wealthy Russian who escorted Donald Trump around Moscow during his 2013 Miss Universe pageant and then began to pimp Trump's presidential aspirations over Twitter long before Trump officially announced. Much like Beetlejuice, if you merely say his name over social media, he'll start following you, like it or not. His good buddy Rykov, a Kremlin-linked propagandist, made a boastful confession over Facebook just days after Trump's election in November 2016 claiming that he had spearheaded a social media campaign from Russia to get Trump elected. His confession included claims that he used Cambridge Analytica data in order to build up "pyschotypes" for gullible potential Trump voters over social media who could be fed information that would influence them to support Trump. You had his partner Maria Katasonova, the glamorous Jennifer Lawrence lookalike who once presented roses to Marine La Pen and starred in her own music video plainly titled, "Russian Hacker."

Lately, I've found that there's been a newcomer to the pro-Trump social media agiprop that's creeped its way onto my social media feeds. He goes by the name "An0maly" and by all indications unlike Dotcom, Klyushin, Rykov and Katasonova, he's a homegrown concern. He's probably most like "Gary Forbes" in that much like Pasquariello, he has an embarrassing awful pre-propaganda career on display. Whereas Pasquariello dabbled in smooth piano, An0maly's claim to fame is that before he was a social media darling whose mission was to spread the word of Donald Trump, he was a rapper.

Just not a very good one. Here, you can see for yourself:

Without saying much more, Chuggo would be done proud.

I first came across Mr. An0maly when it appears that whoever handled the social media account for a winery I liked on Facebook decided to slip in one of his propaganda videos, "Why I support Donald Trump" onto his employer's Facebook account for everyone to see. I'm not going to post that here, but it's all up on Youtube if you are so daring to watch.

My first impulse was to nickname An0maly "Douchebag Jesus" because physically he bore a strong resemblance to the classical European depiction of the bearded Jesus Christ. Except that whereas the actual Jesus was wise and sage, Douchebag Jesus is a annoying Trump loving douchebag whose whiny speaking delivery immediately makes you want to punch him in the face.



But nevermind that. He's a real hardcore genuine rapper, yo, and he's here to deliver a message about his main homeboy Donald J. Trump.

However, unlike "Gary Forbes"--who never personally appeared on any his social media postings beyond a couple of stock photos (thus only adding to his mystique)--An0maly's far from camera shy. And he seems to be coming from a particular angle aimed at what Rykov described as a certain "psychotype".

Basically, An0maly claims he is a former Bernie Sanders supporter and "Ex Democrat" who came to support Trump after the primaries. He'll insist that he doesn't agree with everything Donald Trump stands for, but then proceeds to support everything that Donald Trump stands for. Frequently he'll use his posts to attack the main whipping boy of the right, the "mainstream media." Other times, he'll attack the Russian investigation as a "hoax". He's even gone as far as to criticize military action against the Syrian government. (Are you suspicious yet?)

Interestingly enough, if you see his Facebook feed, peppered amongst all the musings about Donald Trump and attacks against his enemies, he'll put up little new age maxims and inspirational messages that are meaningless but I assume are intended to convey the idea that he has some sort of depth. In some of his video messages, he actually appears next to a statue of Buddha.

Needless to say, I'd be surprised if this guy wasn't receiving material support from underground sources backed by--ahem--certain Eastern European authoritarian regimes. While claiming that the Russians have their fingers over everything on the internet has become almost a cliché, a little known failed rapper hardly strikes mas having the sophistication to pull off this operation on his own.

It all goes back to Rykov's "psychotypes" and a certain targeted segment of the population that the Russian hacking community wants to exploit. You see, An0maly's no bible beating uptight conservative from the heartland. He's a rapper! And he supported Bernie Sanders! And he likes cool new aged stuff! He's hip! He's with it! And he's going to tell you all you need to know about Donald Trump and the Deep State that wants to bring him down!

Whether any of this actual works, I have no idea. But this guy's social media footprint shows that there are people out there still trying to screw with our heads out there.

If this guy An0maly was a nobody, I wouldn't be wasting anyone's time. But his whiny "woke" diatribes have appeared on my own social media feed on numerous occasions. He's got over 400,000 followers on Facebook, 12,000 followers on Twitter, and 13,000 subscribers on Youtube and he's constantly being shared and re-tweeted. If anything, Douchebag Jesus's existence shows that social media is still very much a battlefield where malicious elements and rogue states are still attempting to exploit the thoughts and trends of the American voters, and we should continue to remain vigilant.

February 13, 2018

The most mind-blowing thing about the Trump-Russia collusion was how blatantly obvious it was...

...as it was occurring.

Timothy Snyder is an internationally renown award winning Professor of History at Yale University, and the author of such books as Bloodlands and On Tyranny.

In his column "Trump's Putin Fantasy", Snyder wrote:

What's most astonishing about Synder's column is its date. It was published April 19, 2016, before Donald Trump was even officially the Republican nominee, let alone the American President.

It was an extraordinary prescient and perceptive piece, and it even picks up on Trump's choice of the now infamous--but then little known--Carter Page as a campaign foreign policy advisor:



Snyder also managed to point out numerous Russian individuals who were working to curry a relationship between Trump and Russia, including Konstantin Rykov, who would later go on to brag just days after the election that he was the architect behind a massive Russian led social media information campaign--complete with Cambridge Analytica gathered data--to get Donald Trump elected.

But you don't have to be an award-winning historian to have seen all of this unfold in real time. All you needed to have had were eyes that were open enough to see that Trump was brazenly and openly making overtures to the Russian government that were far, far beyond the pale of normal.

It was all done in the open, without any sort of apology.

And yet now in retrospect, Trump and his supporters are seeking to gaslight the nation, claiming that what we thought we saw back then we never saw at all. They have sought to frame the Russia story as a "nothing burger", "fake news" and to repeatedly insist time after time after time that there was "no collusion". They want us all to think that the Trump-Russia story was nothing more than a fever dream concocted sometime after November 8, 2016 by bitter Democrats and liberals in denial of their electoral loss.

And meanwhile, people like Timothy Synder or even Hillary Clinton herself are cast into the role of modern-day Cassandras, people speaking doomful prophecies that were destined to become true, even though no one wanted to believe them at the time.

But it was all going on before our very eyes in the weeks, months and even years before the election. Donald Trump had an active and engaged symbiotic relationship with the Russian government, one that each side was using to forward its own interests. This was not a secret, and many of us watched in horror as it unfolded in real time to the passive disinterest of the American people.

And now history is repeating itself once again, as just as we watched Trump collude with Russia in plain sight, we are now watching Trump attempting to obstruct justice into the investigation of such collusion in plain sight. And far, far too many people are likewise taking that for granted.

We can't afford to be gaslighted once again. The collusion is real. The obstruction is real. And none of this should ever, ever be considered normal.

January 5, 2018

Mueller is coming.

Found this graphic online.

I'm currently fantasizing about plastering copies of it all in front of the White House, Mar a Lago, Bedminister....just about anywhere Trump goes.