Narrative Warfare: The Failed Flight Of Gonzolo Lira

This past week, internet personality Gonzolo Lira emerged from his blackout after his second arrest by Ukraine's SBU.

This video is a stitched-together version of the three-parter he did prior to his attempt to leave Ukraine this past week.

If you prefer to read it, there is a Twitter thread starting here.

As the title says, this did not work out for Gonzolo. He is back in SBU hands as of this post and is unlikely to leave the country now unless he's deported- and that, at this time, is the best outcome he can hope for.

But, while I would rather that he not had been in this situation at all, I am not surprised that it failed.

A Tale Of Hubris

Gonzolo has not been a humble man. Regardless of how you came to know of the man, or think of his past or present pursuits, soon you will see that he has a thirst for attention that would do him credit were he a shock jock on the radio trolling audiences to keep them engaged.

It is this need for attention, coupled with a complete disregard for operational security, that has bitten him in the ass time and again and is now looking to get him sent to either a defacto or dejure death sentance- barring a possibility that I will address below.

A former Intelligence analysis that has appeared with Black Pigeon Speaks in livestreams related to Ukraine (and is no fan of his) went on the Working Brother channel a while back to explain the SIGNIT capabilities that are the most likely explanation for how Gonzolo screwed himself.

Now, let us presume for the moment that everything Gonzolo said was true. (Why I doubt this is, again, below.)

Does it not strike you as monumentally stupid to (a) be a foreigner living a country whose government is as clean as a sewer drain, (b) to shit-talk that same government while within its reach to a growing audience, link up with an entire sphere of Western dissidents friendly to that government's enemies, and then do this while at that state is at war and making the enemy party look good in the process?

We acknowledge that this is not allowed in Russia. We already know that China doesn't allow this. Why are we surprised that a former Soviet state, now aligned with Globohomo, still has former Soviet practices in its governance style?

Principles aside, as a matter of pragmatic concern, you do not openly antagonize a state openly at war while within that state's territory unless you've thrown up enough barriers to conceal both your identity and your movements--literal and otherwise, including financial and communications--to avoid reprisals. That, folks, means knowing Tradecraft and good ol' Gonzolo here doesn't know shit about Tradecraft.

Even if he is above-board and clean as a fresh pack of tighty-whiteys, he was going to fail this flight because he couldn't keep his mouth shut long enough to get away. If he had any clue, he would have ditched his snitchbricks--the phone, the lappy, and likely his cards also--and used only cash for transactions (building that cashroll up slowly with small withdrawals on a daily basis, enough to get him over the line when he ran). Then, instead of going through a checkpoint, he would have slipped over open ground.

Don't tell me that's not an option. Anons geolocated where he shot that video. You can find it here.

I'll get back to that location in a moment, but for now just look at the wide open field RIGHT FUCKING THERE that he could have rode, run, or walked across instead of using an armed checkpoint.

Remember his stated goal: asylum. He need only get over the line and into the hands of someone with a badge (so to speak) on the other side. His bike is expendable if that can't get him over the line- and he just needs to get over the line. Crossing illegally, while a crime, would be forgivable in an asylum run.

Instead, he is back in SBU hands and we may never hear from him again.

But No, It's Never That Simple

I don't buy the story. Scott Ritter explains it best.

Given what Gonzolo has said and done, and comparing that against what is known to be possible to both the Ukrainian government by itself as well as with Globohomo intelligence support, I think that Ritter's got the right of it and Gonzolo's been turned by the SBU into a Judas Goat and he's meant to map out the Dissident support against Ukraine to take it apart one way or another- and one of the tools is the very financial tools likely used to tap Gonzolo's accounts.

What pushed me over the line to this position is that geolocated postion data. That's nowhere near Hungary; that's the Ukraine/Slovakia border.

One can be charitable and say that he attempted to dissuade pursuit by leaving a false lead on where he aimed to go, but he knows about Shia LaBuff's entire "He Will Not Divide Us" stunt that kept being found and trolled by the Chans. Gonzolo knows that Anons will geolocate LOLcows for shits and giggles, and he knows that KiwiFarms exists AND that he has a thread there, so he knows that the odds are good that where he shoots anywhere will be geolocated right quick by people who do it for the lulz.

He's a vainglorious man, and his acumen has holes you can sail a carrier through, but he is not stupid.

That's why I find the entire thing to be a work, down to his rearrest and the taunts of the troon speaking for the SBU included, and I think Ritter's got it right here.

Don't cry for Gonzolo Lira. He did this to himself, and now he's compromised. Do not give him money; it goes to your enemies. Cut him off, cut him out, and learn from his fall into the hands of the Thralls.

As a takeaway, this is the BPS stream George did after Gonzolo's second arrest that goes into some the details behind how Goznolo screwed himself.

You may want to review your own security and make changes, especially if you're serious about dissident movements or politics, and remember that all three Imperial powers have such capabilities. Don't proof yourself against Globohomo only to fall into the hands of a rival power.