Jackson Hinkle and Gunther Fehlinger are two sides of the same coin
How the war in Ukraine produced an opportunity for grifters - on both sides
The war in Ukraine and geopolitical tumult has given ample opportunity for grifters on both sides to promote “outrageous” content and market it to gullible or desperate people.
Take Jackson Hinkle. The contrarian “commentator” and conspiracy theorists comes from a radical Left background and tries to marry anti-Western talking points with “MAGA” talking points. He tries to appeal to American conservatives with his anti-Democrat/anti-Biden posture, but is pro-Russia, pro-China, pro-Islamic Republic and pro-North Korea. Furthermore, he’s claimed that Julius Malema is a “good man” who is “misunderstood” by the American Right. I hope anyone in conservative circles who ever fell for this guy retracts any and all support for him.
On the other side there’s Gunther Fehlinger from Austria, who is an advocate for NATO enlargement. Of course it’s his right to advocate such a thing even if you disagree with it. But it’s not that which causes most outrage and ridicule. It’s his belief that besides NATO and EU expansion, the answer to the geopolitical challenges of our time is more Balkanisation. Even many staunch critics of Russia have pilloried him for this.
But what gives such strange people an audience?
Hinkle has tried to capitalise on the not unjustified distrust of mainstream media narratives, political and cultural elites. The events of 2020 did little more than confirm such distrust among many on the Right. Hence he tries to advance the idea that the “bad guys” must actually be “good” because the western liberal establishment is bad.
Fehlinger on the other hand advocates the most absurd thesis that each nation he gets upset with must be Balkanised. My Iranian friends are rightly angry with him for it, but to advocate breaking up Brazil (he even got the basics of food and dance wrong!), Indonesia, Ethiopia and other nations strays into the realm of fantasy. His clownish antics also damage legitimate pro-independence movements such as those of nations currently occupied by Russia (e.g. Chechnya, Circassia, Tatarstan), which have recently gained traction in political discourse.
Both Jackson Hinkle and Gunther Fehlinger shot to prominence since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with their clownish behaviour. Both can be described as grifters, and they’re not the only ones. But for otherwise credible people to even indulge them is a lack of common sense.