I helped fact check this investigation over at the Southern Poverty Law Center (big shout out to Hannah Gais for being a terrific writer!) recently, and it got me thinking:
How much is the plan to attract conservative Americans to settle in Russia a ploy to get more American hostages for Russian officials to trade later?
The thing is, there is no smoking gun. No memo that says, “Yes, get some delusional Americans to relocate to the Russian Federation so we can trade them later.” And we’re not likely to find one either.
However, let’s look at some of the supporting evidence.
As I’ve written before, American citizens are not safe in Russia.
An American’s supposed loyalty to the Russian regime does not guarantee safety. Look at Michael Travis Leake:
This is what he was posting last year, after people who knew him expressed concern that Russia may no longer be safe for Americans.
Where is he now? Oh, that’s right. He’s in a Russian prison, being held in dismal conditions on (likely fabricated) charges of selling drugs, as described by his poor mother. And let’s be clear, though he made a terrible, stupid mistake in staying in Moscow, he is still a hostage.
“Oh, he’s a rock musician with tattoos, that’s different, they wouldn’t go after conservative Americans like this.” If you’re thinking that, you are a fool.
Russians know that gullible Americans are very easy to exploit. Take it from me, a formerly gullible American who worked as a journalist in Moscow when I was young (and was lucky to get out unscathed). We can see this in the case of Scott Ritter, a convicted sex offender who served time for preying on children and today enjoys red carpet treatment in Russia.
Look at Ritter’s history: He is a former UN weapons inspector. There was justified concern about spies in the UN around the same time that Ritter resigned.
Now let’s take a look at Robert Hanssen, a traitor within the FBI who worked for the Russians and was in fact rolled up in the same year that Ritter’s pedophilia was first exposed. And just coincidentally (lol), this is the same time that Ritter becomes a biiiiiig critic of the United States. If you don’t think the Russians have been working Ritter for years, I have an entire bridge made out of crypto that I want to sell you.
Now we have clowns like extremist anti-Semite Charles Bausman running around Russia, making TV and radio appearances, and begging conservative Americans to move to the Russian paradise. Of course, money is a motivating factor. Any “resettlement scheme” for Americans to come to Russia is going to come with a budget that is going to be looted, that’s how things work in that dismal, depressing country.
But another important factor here is that Russians could gain more assets. Or more hostages. Either way, they win. Americans in trouble with the law (such as, potentially, Bausman, who was present during the insurrection attempt at the Capitol on January 6, 2021) are a particular favorite of theirs. Think Edward Snowden too (I can’t believe I ever felt sorry for that loser, and I wholeheartedly apologize).
Now check out this sad little commercial the Russians produced last year, urging men in particular to move to their country:
You see how they’re talking about “beautiful women” while showing little girls playing? It’s almost like it’s tailored for pedophiles like Scott Ritter and other degenerates. Maybe whoever edited the video is just a dumbass — a distinct possibility — but the entire commercial is meant to appear to American men who feel marginalized. And why not? Angry people are easier to control and exploit.
Then we have losers like Jackson Hinkle (I am not linking to that troglodyte’s Twitter), showing off a good-looking Russian girlfriend who has totally not been appointed to him by the GRU and otherwise playing up connections that conservative extremists should establish with the Russian government. Admiral Ackbar said it best:
There are assets on the left who perform in a similar way as Hinkle, whether knowingly or not (the hideous Max Blumenthal is a good example).
The message is always the same: “You are not celebrated in the United States. Your fellow Americans think you’re a loser, because they’re sheep! But we, Russians, we don’t think you’re a loser, we think you’re a very good boy.”
A good boy must be useful, however. Political hostages are especially useful today.
If there are people in your life who are in danger of falling for this crap, be straight with them. Michael Travis Leake called Biden a “tool” for imposing sanctions on the Russian war machine. Now he’s worried about dying in a Russian prison.
There will likely be others. Extremists like Bausman are fighting for a budget to help useful idiots move to Russia, but once they do, they are at the mercy of a literal terrorist state. And God knows about the dirt that Russians have on Hinkle now. That man is a dancing monkey for a Kremlin that, by the way, does not respect Americans who do its bidding. No, it laughs at them, and will continue to do so.
So be smart. Be responsible. Remember: Friends don’t let friends move to Russia.
I heard a story yesterday about Ukrainian children being taken to Russia to replenish the population and create future soldiers--Perhaps these people being enticed to move there will also be conscripted.