Thank you for offering your thoughts this tragedy, and the puzzling fact that Gonzalo Lira was allowed to report freely so long in a hostile country. Last summer, after he posted his last videoes when trying to escape, there was some heated discussions about his activities among the influential anti-war activists, which unfortunately quickly became very emotional and personal in tone, where I don’t think the different sides – Scott Ritter accusing Lira of serving the SBU – and Larry Johnson, Brian Berletic etc. which defended Lira – addressed each other’s main points in a satisfying manner.
A previously unknown fact added to Gonzalo Lira’s situation added by Alexander Mercouris in his video yesterday was that his two children also where in Ukraine, which means that not only Lira’s but his children’s lives could be threatened. That he under such circumstances still continued reporting gives greater credence to the scenario that he was used. And in such a case, letting him get alive out of Ukraine to tell the story would be all the more impossible.
We shouldn't sweep away awkward facts because someone is dead. He would've been monitored, and everyone he contacted, like Dima, would've assumed that. This is a war. Too many people only see it as words on the internet. I fear many, especially USA citizens, are as detached from war as they are from dating.
Whether he was “allowed” to report or blog, or was surveilled or not is irrelevant from my point of view. In war, you have to assume everyone is surveilled. But that’s a separate conversation. The main conversation is the Ukraine gov is demonic and demonic entities do evil things.
To people reading this blog it’s obvious Ukraine gov is evil. But there have been masses of Ukrainians that still don’t get it and that’s a big problem.
Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, wrote following about Gonzalo in his Telegram (translated):
"Gonzalo Lira, who was tortured by the Kiev regime in SBU custody, contacted me on the eve of his trial last summer, asking me to help him get to Russia from Kharkiv. At that time he was already arrested and kept under house arrest and there was no way to help him… I offered him then to speak live at the UN Security Council and tell what was being done to him and ask the whole world for help. He hesitated for a few days and in the end never decided to do it. Too bad, maybe it would have saved his life…"
Poor Gonzalo! He paid a very high price for his romanticism. Because to me, he seemed a romantic. As I see it, perhaps predictably, given his politics and in a hostile country, he got embroiled in a sinister set of events that few of us would be able to deal with. And for that only he deserves our sympathy. I also fear that he would never have been allowed to speak at the UN Security Council. May God grant his rest from all the fear and suffering and perhaps, desperation
They kept him alive and let him blog for a while, then punished him to death just to show everyone what happens to whoever goes against the narrative/propaganda, even if you are an American citizen!
Lira lived in s bubble-of-his-own-prejudice. He was like a nerd in a Chicago jail cellblock,: ripe for exploitation. Netflix's documentary of world wide prisons included Ukraine prewar. Sadly, he wasn't that sophisticated in the culture he injected himself as-well-as the jail subculture he became stuck in. He should of (Never!!) thrown himself to the mercy of the Ukraine Customs authorities on the Hungarian border because he desired ease-and-simplicity. Tragic situations demand prudence. I am sad and msd.
People need to see that Ukraine and other insane regimes masquerading as gov’s are in total fear of the people. That’s why they kill them and propagate fear 24/7.
They are terrified of people like Lira. That’s why they tortured and killed him. If they weren’t in fear they wouldn’t have cared at all about him.
Lira was in service to humanity because his sacrifice will wake people up to the demonic gov’s running amok on the planet.
I agree with you that his activities online were at least surveilled and tracked, and being an uncomfortable reporter to the Ukrainian authorities at some point he would be disconnected.
I also think that he had some psychological issues because his life was in danger and he didn't try to escape. He may have had many contacts who could have smuggled him to the Russian side if he wanted to save his life, but for some reason (as of my very limited knowledge) he didn't attempted it. Moreover, he broadcasted his intention to cross the border, plainly to be seen by the SBU on real time. Briefly, I think that he exposed himself to be sacrificed, as tired to live anymore.
He was a strong critic of the C19 stuff, so the bioweaponlabbigpharmafia could have jumped in. He wouldn't be the first one to "die of Corona", e.g. John Magufuli. Even being experimented with
Dima, at Military Summary, was in contact with Gonzalo Lira repeatedly, and again when he was trying to find a way out of Ukraine. He explains in the first 10 minutes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg4-x6f8daY
I do not know if he tried this, but imo he should have gone to the US embassy on the day he was freed, and asked to be escorted out of the country.
This would at the very minimum have made the US embassy responsible for what happened to him afterwards and could have ensured an intervention when he was arrested again.
Free flow of information is anathema to a corrupt, evil, out of their minds administration like the Ukraine gov. I saw probably 10-20 of his short video clips and everything I saw him say was basic common sense as it pertains to the Ukrainian gov. and the war.
Corrupt, evil regimes can only stay in power through total control of their fake narrative. Ukraine gov is only one example. USA and the eu are more examples.
At the end of the day none of these regimes will last because they are breaking every rule there is for long lasting peace, harmony and longevity. A country cannot last when their #1 goal is total destruction of people’s lives and the economy. Anyone not seeing this is blind as a bat.
There is an assumption here that Gonzalo Lira would have been safer if delivered into US custody.
I don't believe that for a moment (consider not Assange, consider the J6 protesters and many other US political prisoners, Gitmo is still open with uncharged prisoners). I doubt Lira felt that, at least to the point where he tried to leave the country.
I have not heard of any of Lira's contacts being at risk from their acquaintance with him. (Not to say those based in Ukraine or Russia should not have taken great care). It appears just not to have happened.
I would make a distinction here. The people you mentioned were wrongfully accused by several Western states. There was no case against Gonzalo. I believe it would have been safe for him to travel to the United States. Of course, I could always be wrong.
The point of eavesdropping on someone is that they are unaware of it. So, yes, of course, they don't know. That is, if it happened at all. I considered several scenarios. The first one I described simply suggests that there were no underlying intentions and he was killed solely for what he wrote.
I didn't choose a specific scenario, nor did I suggest any probabilities.
Larry Johnson was right. Lira should've tried the American embassy, made a noise. No guarantee of success but better than his other options. If the Ukrainians grabbed him at the gate, then that may have been bigger in the news.
On the assumption that he was being monitored and that the US works hand in hand with Ukraine, planning such a move might be precisely the trigger for Ukrainian intervention in the first place. On a US request.
I understand the beast that the USA is. But to be on bail wondering why released, and to tell people you're going to escape, and then try escape whilst undoubtedly being monitored, was the lesser option.
They were not just wrongfully accused, they were falsely accused of acts that did not happen as charged. Many spent years before even getting their 5 mins in court.
In any case i doubt Lira considered that Europe would be safer until after the imprisonment and torture.
Of course he was also having a ball with a real audience. For someone with strong opinions that must be a terrific buzz. Leaving Ukraine would have cut that audience I feel sure. Reporting from the border before he intended to leave implies he was willing to take risks for drama.
On eavesdropping, yes I realise you made no firm statement. I'm just pushing my own view, that the risks to being in contact with him turn out not to be visible.
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” said Oscar Wilde. Gonzalo seeked to be provocative. I don't buy that the intelligent services used criminals to extort him while in custody. I think locked up criminals did it themselves. Gonzalo cracked. Trying to walk away through Ukrainian customs to Hungry was delusional. The best commentary I have seen is a black U.S. Navy vet named Tyrone on his YouTube channel 'Soldiers of Finance'. Lira was addicted to video posting. Lira was a pre-eldely/middle age nerd injected in a prison subculture in a culture he never fully understood. He was an easy mark who couldn't lobby an unsympathetic bureaucracy under an unsympathetic U.S.administration. The political left lobbied the U.S. administration to release woman's basketball player Brenner but the right & vestiges of the antiwar left never put-in-the-work to save Lira. Fact. You accept your disempowerment in the name of partisanship. Gonzalo got to pay-the-price
After that arrest I could tell from the few shows I saw that it wasn’t the same. I think he was a honeypot exactly as you described but he didn’t seem very useful to them so they cut him off. This time for good.
There is no way he didn’t know there will be a reaction and at the very least he would have been arrested and/or deported. If there was even the slightest chance that he would be killed - which he knew - he should have left right away, with his Ukrainian wife and kids. If she didn’t want to leave then she was fully ideologically aligned with the regime.
So why stay? And if so, why keep this up?
I think it was just in his nature to be rebellious. He was old enough to know better.
Thanks for your impartial analysis; it's a shame that this has generated so much infighting and shaming. I don't think it was unreasonable to suggest that a honeypot had been setup by the SBU, and I doubt that the was a willing participant if so. The competition for eyeballs and attention has had its own unfortunate consequences.
Thank you for offering your thoughts this tragedy, and the puzzling fact that Gonzalo Lira was allowed to report freely so long in a hostile country. Last summer, after he posted his last videoes when trying to escape, there was some heated discussions about his activities among the influential anti-war activists, which unfortunately quickly became very emotional and personal in tone, where I don’t think the different sides – Scott Ritter accusing Lira of serving the SBU – and Larry Johnson, Brian Berletic etc. which defended Lira – addressed each other’s main points in a satisfying manner.
A previously unknown fact added to Gonzalo Lira’s situation added by Alexander Mercouris in his video yesterday was that his two children also where in Ukraine, which means that not only Lira’s but his children’s lives could be threatened. That he under such circumstances still continued reporting gives greater credence to the scenario that he was used. And in such a case, letting him get alive out of Ukraine to tell the story would be all the more impossible.
I fully agree.
It’s all good info, but it does not justify the killing or torture of a person for speaking his mind.
We shouldn't sweep away awkward facts because someone is dead. He would've been monitored, and everyone he contacted, like Dima, would've assumed that. This is a war. Too many people only see it as words on the internet. I fear many, especially USA citizens, are as detached from war as they are from dating.
Whether he was “allowed” to report or blog, or was surveilled or not is irrelevant from my point of view. In war, you have to assume everyone is surveilled. But that’s a separate conversation. The main conversation is the Ukraine gov is demonic and demonic entities do evil things.
Sure, they're evil, which is why the safety of others is important.
To people reading this blog it’s obvious Ukraine gov is evil. But there have been masses of Ukrainians that still don’t get it and that’s a big problem.
People in war seldom do. Nationalism becomes a de facto survival belief.
Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, wrote following about Gonzalo in his Telegram (translated):
"Gonzalo Lira, who was tortured by the Kiev regime in SBU custody, contacted me on the eve of his trial last summer, asking me to help him get to Russia from Kharkiv. At that time he was already arrested and kept under house arrest and there was no way to help him… I offered him then to speak live at the UN Security Council and tell what was being done to him and ask the whole world for help. He hesitated for a few days and in the end never decided to do it. Too bad, maybe it would have saved his life…"
https://t.me/dpol_un/814
Yes, I suppose none of us really want to know the circumstances under which he was held or treated at that time. Awful!
Poor Gonzalo! He paid a very high price for his romanticism. Because to me, he seemed a romantic. As I see it, perhaps predictably, given his politics and in a hostile country, he got embroiled in a sinister set of events that few of us would be able to deal with. And for that only he deserves our sympathy. I also fear that he would never have been allowed to speak at the UN Security Council. May God grant his rest from all the fear and suffering and perhaps, desperation
Thanks. I never knew that.
I have another possible simple explanation:
They kept him alive and let him blog for a while, then punished him to death just to show everyone what happens to whoever goes against the narrative/propaganda, even if you are an American citizen!
That’s how evil tries to rule. Through fear. Same old same old.
Lira lived in s bubble-of-his-own-prejudice. He was like a nerd in a Chicago jail cellblock,: ripe for exploitation. Netflix's documentary of world wide prisons included Ukraine prewar. Sadly, he wasn't that sophisticated in the culture he injected himself as-well-as the jail subculture he became stuck in. He should of (Never!!) thrown himself to the mercy of the Ukraine Customs authorities on the Hungarian border because he desired ease-and-simplicity. Tragic situations demand prudence. I am sad and msd.
I am so pissed at the psychopath ghouls that I had to write two articles about Gonazalo's death. I feel like sharing it for I scream inside. https://trygvewighdal.substack.com/p/rip-gonzalo-lira
Thanks for sharing that article!
Yes, it is unbelievable what happened.
Thanks, I'll post this.
That’s the spirit and the truth.
People need to see that Ukraine and other insane regimes masquerading as gov’s are in total fear of the people. That’s why they kill them and propagate fear 24/7.
They are terrified of people like Lira. That’s why they tortured and killed him. If they weren’t in fear they wouldn’t have cared at all about him.
Lira was in service to humanity because his sacrifice will wake people up to the demonic gov’s running amok on the planet.
I saw that coming, too. I'm sad for him, we share many personal traits. It's as if it happened to me on a symbolic level.
Scott Ritter published a note on your line. Interesting how the complements with yours.
https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/gonzalo-lira-the-sbu-and-information
Hope he and his family find peace now.
Scott is more focused on one specific scenario.
Maybe because he has more insight than me.
I proposed several different scenarios of which I do not know which one is the real one.
And of course, all my scenarios could be wrong as well and there is another explanation as well.
Perhaps we will never find out.
What is your opinion?
I'm not sure if there is a single factor.
I agree with you that his activities online were at least surveilled and tracked, and being an uncomfortable reporter to the Ukrainian authorities at some point he would be disconnected.
I also think that he had some psychological issues because his life was in danger and he didn't try to escape. He may have had many contacts who could have smuggled him to the Russian side if he wanted to save his life, but for some reason (as of my very limited knowledge) he didn't attempted it. Moreover, he broadcasted his intention to cross the border, plainly to be seen by the SBU on real time. Briefly, I think that he exposed himself to be sacrificed, as tired to live anymore.
I agree that there is not a single factor. As always in live.
And I also agree that his psychological issues played a role. Especially, being in the situation in which he was.
Overall, it is a very sad story.
He was a strong critic of the C19 stuff, so the bioweaponlabbigpharmafia could have jumped in. He wouldn't be the first one to "die of Corona", e.g. John Magufuli. Even being experimented with
Considering there were multiple USA (Biden) funded bio labs in Ukraine, it wouldn’t be a surprise.
Dima, at Military Summary, was in contact with Gonzalo Lira repeatedly, and again when he was trying to find a way out of Ukraine. He explains in the first 10 minutes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg4-x6f8daY
Yes, I watched that.
Whatever the rules of politics are and whoever he unwittingly led into a death trap .
He was a inspired fool whom I liked.
No peace of mind with his death here.
I do not know if he tried this, but imo he should have gone to the US embassy on the day he was freed, and asked to be escorted out of the country.
This would at the very minimum have made the US embassy responsible for what happened to him afterwards and could have ensured an intervention when he was arrested again.
Free flow of information is anathema to a corrupt, evil, out of their minds administration like the Ukraine gov. I saw probably 10-20 of his short video clips and everything I saw him say was basic common sense as it pertains to the Ukrainian gov. and the war.
Corrupt, evil regimes can only stay in power through total control of their fake narrative. Ukraine gov is only one example. USA and the eu are more examples.
At the end of the day none of these regimes will last because they are breaking every rule there is for long lasting peace, harmony and longevity. A country cannot last when their #1 goal is total destruction of people’s lives and the economy. Anyone not seeing this is blind as a bat.
There is an assumption here that Gonzalo Lira would have been safer if delivered into US custody.
I don't believe that for a moment (consider not Assange, consider the J6 protesters and many other US political prisoners, Gitmo is still open with uncharged prisoners). I doubt Lira felt that, at least to the point where he tried to leave the country.
I have not heard of any of Lira's contacts being at risk from their acquaintance with him. (Not to say those based in Ukraine or Russia should not have taken great care). It appears just not to have happened.
I would make a distinction here. The people you mentioned were wrongfully accused by several Western states. There was no case against Gonzalo. I believe it would have been safe for him to travel to the United States. Of course, I could always be wrong.
The point of eavesdropping on someone is that they are unaware of it. So, yes, of course, they don't know. That is, if it happened at all. I considered several scenarios. The first one I described simply suggests that there were no underlying intentions and he was killed solely for what he wrote.
I didn't choose a specific scenario, nor did I suggest any probabilities.
Larry Johnson was right. Lira should've tried the American embassy, made a noise. No guarantee of success but better than his other options. If the Ukrainians grabbed him at the gate, then that may have been bigger in the news.
On the assumption that he was being monitored and that the US works hand in hand with Ukraine, planning such a move might be precisely the trigger for Ukrainian intervention in the first place. On a US request.
I understand the beast that the USA is. But to be on bail wondering why released, and to tell people you're going to escape, and then try escape whilst undoubtedly being monitored, was the lesser option.
They were not just wrongfully accused, they were falsely accused of acts that did not happen as charged. Many spent years before even getting their 5 mins in court.
In any case i doubt Lira considered that Europe would be safer until after the imprisonment and torture.
Of course he was also having a ball with a real audience. For someone with strong opinions that must be a terrific buzz. Leaving Ukraine would have cut that audience I feel sure. Reporting from the border before he intended to leave implies he was willing to take risks for drama.
On eavesdropping, yes I realise you made no firm statement. I'm just pushing my own view, that the risks to being in contact with him turn out not to be visible.
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” said Oscar Wilde. Gonzalo seeked to be provocative. I don't buy that the intelligent services used criminals to extort him while in custody. I think locked up criminals did it themselves. Gonzalo cracked. Trying to walk away through Ukrainian customs to Hungry was delusional. The best commentary I have seen is a black U.S. Navy vet named Tyrone on his YouTube channel 'Soldiers of Finance'. Lira was addicted to video posting. Lira was a pre-eldely/middle age nerd injected in a prison subculture in a culture he never fully understood. He was an easy mark who couldn't lobby an unsympathetic bureaucracy under an unsympathetic U.S.administration. The political left lobbied the U.S. administration to release woman's basketball player Brenner but the right & vestiges of the antiwar left never put-in-the-work to save Lira. Fact. You accept your disempowerment in the name of partisanship. Gonzalo got to pay-the-price
Edits. Nation of Hungary & player Britney Griener, basketball player in Russia arrested for cannabis in her Vape container
Up until his first arrest he was genuine.
After that arrest I could tell from the few shows I saw that it wasn’t the same. I think he was a honeypot exactly as you described but he didn’t seem very useful to them so they cut him off. This time for good.
There is no way he didn’t know there will be a reaction and at the very least he would have been arrested and/or deported. If there was even the slightest chance that he would be killed - which he knew - he should have left right away, with his Ukrainian wife and kids. If she didn’t want to leave then she was fully ideologically aligned with the regime.
So why stay? And if so, why keep this up?
I think it was just in his nature to be rebellious. He was old enough to know better.
RIP Gonzalo 🕯️
Gonzalo's children live in Kharkov, that's why he was in Ukraine
Thanks for your impartial analysis; it's a shame that this has generated so much infighting and shaming. I don't think it was unreasonable to suggest that a honeypot had been setup by the SBU, and I doubt that the was a willing participant if so. The competition for eyeballs and attention has had its own unfortunate consequences.
Yes, he should have at least anonymized his postings, going counter narrative within a war zone can be lethal.
Thank You Aleks👍🏼