Estonian PM Heaps Praises on NAFO Trolls
Who are these “Fellas”…? Scott Ritter dishes up the straight scoop on NATO’s flying monkeys
Speaking slowly and almost patronizingly, Estonia’s Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, Saturday released a new video on Twitter, in which she heaps saccharine-sweet praise upon the North Atlantic Fellas Organization.
“As a proud, honorary Fella,” Kallas says, “I want to send my greetings to you and wish you the most based [sic — perhaps she means “the most best”…?] NAFO Summit possible. As I’ve said before, the aggressor must be defeated on the battlefield, but Russia is also waging a war against our democracies — an energy war, a cyberwar and information war.”
The Estonian leader expresses regret that she is unable to attend the first ever NAFO “Summit” in Vilnius, but lauds the “Fellas” for defending “Democracy” against the dreadful Russian scourge. “Fighting Russian disinformation and bad takes [sic — “fakes” perhaps?] with good humour, intelligence and enthusiasm. Behind every Fella is a living person, you are volunteering your time and energy because you believe in Ukraine’s victory.”
“I thank you for all your support to Ukraine as well as the Baltic Sea region and Estonia,” she concludes, “And thank you for all your support to me personally” — here she puts her hand over her chest — “it really, really warms my heart.” An animated Shiba Inu dog — the symbol of NAFO — dressed in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, pops up behind her. “Keep fighting the good fight. Because NAFO expansion is non-negotiable and Ukraine will win.”
You can listen to her entire 1:30 address here:
NAFO — the North Atlantic Fellas Organization — is a group of volunteers around the globe who claim to be fighting “disinformation” but in reality, are aggressively silencing dissent and sabotaging communication and dialogue. NAFO trolls can be readily identified by the Shiba Inu image they include in their portraits. They troll anyone who speaks against mainstream narratives about Ukraine and Russia, but they especially like to gang up on those who have the biggest followings.
One of the people harassed by NAFO trolls, who was ultimately banned from Twitter, is Scott Ritter, a former UN Weapons Inspector and noted author who speaks about Russia and Ukraine. I caught up with him a couple weeks ago and we talked about NAFO and their favorite trolling tactics and strategies.
You can watch that interview here:
“It’s a loose affiliation of, and I’m just going to use the term they use — ‘shit-posters,’” Ritter said candidly. “I apologize for the language, but that’s what they use. These aren’t professionals. These aren’t anybody who cares about anything. They claim to care about Ukraine, but I think the vast majority of them are just internet trolls. Probably fat, middle-aged, you know, dudes living in the basement of either their ex-wife, their ex-girlfriend, or their mom. Some of them are rather senior. We know, for instance, the former congressman from Illinois, he claims to be a Fella, that would be Mr. Kinzinger [Adam Kinzinger], you know, active duty officer in the Air National Guard. So here we have a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force proudly proclaiming himself as a Fella, as a shit-poster, which means he has no professional standards.”
Indeed, as Alex Rubenstein tweeted Saturday, Marisa B., the wife of NAFO’s founder, Matt Moore, has quite the résumé.
Here is a close-up of that résumé. Another USMC veteran, apparently.
“The sole purpose of NAFO is harassment,” Ritter continues. “That’s it. They’re not here to further debate and discussion and dialogue. They’re not here to articulate in an intelligent fashion on anything. Shit-posting is not about that. Shit-posting is simply overwhelming somebody who has a different point of view, or point of view that you disagree with. Overwhelming them with literal digital shit, and that’s what they do.”
For example, here are screenshots of NAFO trolls piling onto a Tweet from “Black in the Empire.”
As you can see, these are perfect examples of the “good humour, intelligence and enthusiasm” that Estonia’s leader described…
“All they do is harass,” Ritter continues. “They contribute nothing positive. There is no intellectual value in their existence. Their goal is to harass people they disagree with and drive them off of the social media platform in question and then they chuckle about it because that’s what trolls do. Why they are permitted to continue to exist is beyond me. I am the strongest believer in free speech. I’m somebody who believes that if you have something to say, you should be allowed to say it. But that means you should be allowed to say it in a community where dissenting points of view must also be heard and respected. It should be done in a forum where it is possible to carry out civil disagreement. Again: debate, discussion, dialogue.”
But debate, discussion, and dialogue often become mired down in the fetid sludge of NAFO shitposts, and it quickly becomes clear that Estonia’s PM is either lying or completely naïve about what these “Fellas” actually are.
“You see,” Ritter observes, “to have informed people carrying out intellectual discourse about complicated and sometimes controversial subjects minimizes the controversy. Because it requires people to think, and thinking is a time-consuming process, it usually requires people to maybe turn off their computer, sit back, turn down the lights and reflect on what they have experienced. Absorb it. Think about it. Contemplate. Maybe come down, you know, find a way to articulate what it is you’ve learned in more than 288 characters. That’s not what shit-posting is about. Shitposting is the immediate attack, and preferably not about the subject, because you can’t shit-post about a subject. Shit-posting is to attack the person.”
“For instance, you Deborah,” he explains, pointing at me, “I will come up with a nickname for you. I will do a quick search of your résumé and find something about you that will distract people from the issue at hand. And then we will flood it. And what NAFO prides itself [on] is, once they initiate engagement, they encourage a flood of trolls to come in and seize control of the interaction. So, if you’re on Twitter, NAFO will take control of your feed so that anybody trying to come in and participate will be overwhelmed. And anybody who comes in and participates in a supportive or constructive way will themselves be swarmed by NAFO.”
The “Fellas” call this “information warfare.” A definition Ritter strongly objects to. “Anybody who’s a member of NAFO who’s been in the military understands that if this was true information warfare, that I would jam the shit out of their signals. I would carry out preemptive strikes against their bases of operation. I would kill them because if this is war, that’s what happens. But that’s not going to happen because this isn’t war. This is trolling. This is childish behavior by adults. This is the antithesis of what a democracy should be supporting. This is not free speech. These are the scum of the earth, and I hope to hell that Elon Musk and all the other people who control these online platforms shut them down.”
We talked a bit about Ritter’s personal experience with the “Fellas,” which culminated with him being banned from Twitter.
“What I went through,” he says, “I went through wishing that this coward was in front of me so that I can show him what a 61-year-old Marine can still do. Wishing they had the courage to challenge me in a debate. Anywhere, anytime. And resentful of the fact that, you know, I am dedicating part of my life to participate in an online activity designed to further discussion and they’re disruptive of that. They have zero respect for anybody’s time, anybody’s life, or experience. I mean, you know, wrestling with a NAFO person online is like wrestling with the pig. The pig’s just going to sit there and get muddy and enjoy it, and all you’re gonna do is get dirty.”
Ritter believes he was banned from Twitter at least in part due to NAFO trolls. “They apparently have figured out how Twitter works and…a NAFO strategy will be to flood people in to become a follower. And then immediately unfollow. And this massive surge of numbers triggers an automatic review or intervention by Twitter and if you accompany that with sufficient complaints… You know, this guy’s [doing] hate speech, hate speech, hate speech, and they just flood it. The algorithm automatically bans you. And that’s a tactic they use.”
It’s a tactic that has gotten many people banned from Twitter, but it can also take a financial toll on those who rely on the social media giant to market their work.
“I do a show called ‘Ask the Inspector with Jeff Norman,’” Ritter explains, “I have a Substack page where people can voluntarily do paid subscriptions. And to attract these people, Twitter is an invaluable platform. Twitter, you know, I never made a penny from it. But with Twitter, if I would write a Substack article I could take it to Twitter and get it out to 110,000, 115,000 people” — he snaps his fingers — “that quick. I could take an interview, and then put it on Twitter and it could go viral, get millions of views. I hope that turns into potential donations. That means an income. And in this day and age, you know, it’s a supplementary income, but it’s an income nonetheless…And when they kick you off of Twitter and you have sought to monetize your social media interaction, it’s a huge financial hit, a huge hit.”
Psychologists will tell you that the best way to deal with toxic individuals is to avoid them as much as possible. Block them out of your life or, if you are forced to contend with them, try to engage as little as possible. And whatever you do, don’t react when they provoke you. According to Ritter, it’s the same with the “Fellas,” who are about as toxic as it gets.
“One of the first things that I earned in the counter-NAFO strategy is to ignore them,” he recalls, “The second I see the little Shiba Inu symbol on somebody’s Twitter handle…or if I see ‘Fella,’ or if I see NAFO, these people are immediately banned. I will never engage with them. And what I encourage people to do is just ignore them. Don’t engage. It’s like feeding the wildlife at Yellowstone. Don’t do it. Don’t encourage it. Ignore it. And they’re easy to ignore because again, these guys pride themselves in their cartoon-like characters of dogs. They like to proudly proclaim their NAFO status. And so, in a feed, when they come in, ignore them. And what I’ve learned about NAFO is the following: They are spoiled children. If you ignore them, they go away. Because it’s not fun to be ignored. You see, they live off of the thrill of getting a response. So, when a NAFO piece of dirt attaches itself to my Twitter feed or any social media, I ignore them and I encourage everybody else to ignore them.”
Banning them is also a good idea, unless there are just too many and, like Ritter, you have more important things to do with your time. “If I’m spending an hour and a half clearing a feed of NAFO trolls,” he says, “that’s an hour and a half I’m not engaged productively in doing something else, and I don’t want to spend my life on Twitter, on Facebook, or on any social media platform. I go there, I will put an article out. I will respond when I can to constructive dialogue, and then I go away and I do other things. But NAFO will suck you into their game. Their game is the interaction, because remember, they aren’t there to have a responsible dialogue. They are there to tear you down and take up your time. To destroy your online experience. So, ignore them, ignore them and they disappear. And if everybody would just ignore them, do svedania, mama, they’re gone. You know? Yeah, they’re outa here, because they don’t matter. That’s the thing. Look at Kinzinger. Nobody’s using his name today because he is irrelevant. He’s no longer a congressman. He no longer has any relevance, nobody cares. And one of the reasons is that he’s identified himself as a Fella.”
Ritter is especially disgusted to see his comrades-in-arms sinking to the level of NAFO. “You disgrace everything you stand for,” he laments, “You took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. And now you’re discrediting that oath by violating people’s free speech. Because what you’re doing, the harassment you’re doing is the antithesis of free speech.”
The irony is that just seven years ago, in 2016, Americans were outraged at “Russian trolls” accused of influencing the election — a persistent narrative which has been disproven numerous times.
“I mean, this is the thing,” Ritter says, “these were once people of honor. They were one time people of honor who took an oath, who were willing to put their lives on the line for their country in defense of this Constitution. And now they’re out there doing things that are as anti-American as they get. I mean, they might as well just start working for the Ukrainian Government and go out and get that swastika tattoo that they apparently always wanted.”
We discussed NAFO’s use of the Sheba Inu as their mascot and, since this seems a cruel exploitation of an innocent animal, Ritter recommends an alternative icon which would be better-suited to NAFO’s true form. “They pride themselves in shit-posting,” he says, “So I understand that there is a poop icon out there now, and I just think that would be it. A poop icon is the perfect, you know, mascot for a shit-poster.”
But then NAFO would, of course, have to redesign the t-shirts, backpacks, thermoses and other kitschy items they sell on their website, purportedly to raise money for Ukraine.
But really, we think this logo would be so much more fitting!
About the author:
Deborah Armstrong currently writes about geopolitics with an emphasis on Russia. She previously worked in local TV news in the United States where she won two regional Emmy Awards. In the early 1990’s, Deborah lived in the Soviet Union during its final days and worked as a television consultant at Leningrad Television. You can support Deborah’s writing at Paypal or Patreon, or donate via Substack.
