"Z-Anon"
 "Z-Anon"(Narrative control team)   | |
|---|---|
| Exposed by | Marko Marjanović, Riley Waggaman |
| Membership | •  Pepe Escobar•  Scott Ritter•  Judge Napolitano• Larry Johnson •  Douglas Macgregor• Andrei Martyanov •  The Saker• Gilbert Doctorow • Judge Napolitano• Peter Hanseler |
| A narrative control team promoting the official opposition narrative that world events are leading towards a multipolar world thanks to especially Russia. | |
Not to be confused with "Q-Anon", a hamster wheel of a much earlier vintage
"Z-Anon" is an narrative control team that promote an official opposition narrative that world events are leading towards a multipolar world thanks to especially Russia. By 2023 they were being exposed by bloggers such as 'Rurik Skywalker', Marko Marjanović and Riley Waggaman.
Contents
Origins
Many of the group members had established profiles as dissidents over many years. Some have an US intelligence background. The term is a play on the Q-Anon and "Z", which was the Russian field sign during the start of the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war.
Talking points
Examples of counterfactual claims include;
- Russia never implemented lockdowns or coerced people to take the Covid jab
- The Russian "vaccine" Sputnik V is much better than the Western ones, virtually without side effects.
- Russia will win the war in Ukraine or have major breakthroughs any time now.[1] This has been claimed regularly since the war began in 2022.[2]
- The two sides in the war US/NATO and Russia are morally different. Russia is fighting for noble principles.
- BRICS is anti-globalist
Propaganda
'Rurik Skywalker' described the method as
what happens is that Russian media will then take the statements of these guys and then they will translate it to Russian and say 'these top American experts say we're winning the war'. Or 'these top American experts say we got the West just where we want them'. And 'these top American experts say Putin is a super patriot'. And the funny thing is that the reason why these experts say it is because they were told to say it by the Kremlin in the first place. So it's like you're laundering the propaganda and you're adding authenticity and legitimacy to it. If it was just Russian sources saying it, it would be dismissed. But they bought or rented these propagandists. And so now it has this air of authenticity to it.
They don't do cryptic, quasi-prophetic religious type stuff like QAnon. But they do make crazy predictions all the time. I mean, every two months, Pepe Escobar says that the Russians are about to take Odessa. It would like clockwork. It's like Russia will win in the next two weeks. And they've been saying this for like the last four years.[3]
Breakaways
When Gilbert Doctorow in November 2025 somewhat criticized the popularity and progress of the "two-week SMO" 2022 war against Ukraine, by then soon going into its fourth year of trench warfare,[4] he was attacked immediately. For example, Andrei Martyanov immediately denounced Doctorow as a CIA asset[5] [6]
Exposure
By 2023 bloggers such as 'Rurik Skywalker'[7], Marko Marjanović and Riley Waggaman[8] had exposed the method.
Known members
6 of the 9 of the members already have pages here:
| Member | Description |
|---|---|
| Pepe Escobar | Highly recommended independent geopolitical journalist. |
| Larry Johnson | |
| Douglas Macgregor | |
| Andrew Napolitano | US judge and author, member of the Unz Review |
| Scott Ritter | UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, who exposed the lies about Saddam's WMDs. |
| 'The Saker' | Pseudonym of Andrei Raevsky, an ex-patriot Russian domiciled in Florida |
References
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFh81Q5rXJQ
- ↑ https://sonar21.com/understanding-the-tactical-situation-in-ukraine-based-on-the-russian-mod-daily-briefings/
- ↑ https://controlstudies.substack.com/p/interview-with-rurik-christwalker
- ↑ https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/11/07/judging-freedom-edition-of-7-november-are-russians-losing-patience-over-the-war/
- ↑ https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2025/11/russian-talk-shows-are-just-that.html?m=1
- ↑ https://slavlandchronicles.substack.com/p/dear-mr-gilbert-doctorow
- ↑ https://slavlandchronicles.substack.com/p/russians-support-wagner-actually 'Rurik Skywalker' mentioned several more that tended towards Z-Anon. "There is a huge deficit of people writing about Russia who can read and listen to original sources. Go down the list yourself: Hinckle, the Duran guys (Patrick Henningsen), Peter Lavelle, Colonel Macgregor, Scott Ritter, Gonzalo Lira, Larry Johnson, Eva Bartlett, Paul Craig Roberts, Mike Whitney, John Helmer, Pablo Escobar, Patrick Lancaster, Brian Berlectic, Andrew Korybko, Mark Sleboda, 'iEarlGrey', 'Simplicius', Moon of Alabama, most of the foreign employees at RT and Sputnik, the other regulars on Napolitano: Col. Daniel Davis, Col. Tony Shaffer, Alastair Crooke, Jack Devine, Phil Giraldi; There are only six who do or claim to: 'Big Serge', Russians with Attitude, Andrei Martyanov, Ray McGovern, Tim Kirby, and 'Aussie Cossack', but they make for a tiny percentage of the total traffic and views, and Kirby and McGovern each have reasons for why they aren't going to take a critical approach to the narratives being promoted now, and all the rest are Russians (sort of).
- ↑ https://edwardslavsquat.substack.com/p/i-dont-agree-with-scott-ritter
