Where is Gonzalo Lira? Fears for YouTuber missing in Ukraine's Kharkov article

Jono said:
I am not sure I agree with Scott Ritter, or believe Lira 100% either. Lira seems to make a living from his bold theatrics and dangerous posts online. Maybe he was influenced to go across the border so he could be disappeared?
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Gonzalo Lira in the past attacked Scott Ritter by pointing out and giving credit to some charge of SR seeking sex with an underage, or something along those lines. Scott Ritter has been defending himself against such accusations. Naturally, he doesn't sympathize with GL.

Personally, I suspect that SR is not guilty but was somehow caught in a web of difamation. Perhaps he was entrapped into thinking a girl was and adult when she was not, or perhaps it's all just made up - I don't know cause I don't know the details. But he strikes me as basically a decent man. They were also slinging similar accusations against Assange and Trump (rape, they said, I don't believe it for neither of them), for obvious reasons.

I also think that GL is a bit of a show-off. Also, his 'red pill coach' personality is obnoxious. But that doesn't mean he's wrong about what's going on in Ukraine or what he's gone through, nor that he's lying now about being in prison, etc. I really don't think he's some kind of agent and I'm glad he's out of dodge for now.
 
Windmill knight said:
Personally, I suspect that SR is not guilty but was somehow caught in a web of difamation. Perhaps he was entrapped into thinking a girl was and adult when she was not, or perhaps it's all just made up - I don't know cause I don't know the details. But he strikes me as basically a decent man.
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FWIW, but it doesn't look to me like defamation or Ritter not knowing what he was doing:

en.wikipedia.org

Scott Ritter - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
I would bet that the reason Gonzalo gave for not going or attempting to go to Russia which was only 20km away (namely because the way there „is mined“ and it would be stupid) was a lie he might even told himself in order to continue his escape drama. I wouldn’t be surprised that he has such a inflated ego that he thinks he is so smart that he can bullshit and play everyone, including the SBU/CIA. Basically pushing his luck beyond any normal bounds because of it. Further I think his main motivation might really be fame and glory for being such a smart ass. As for Scott Ritter: I watched his assessment, and I think, as usual, he is VERY convinced about his conclusions/thinking, with about zero room left for other possibilities. I personally think Ritter has a real problem separating his emotions from his analysis, on any given matter. He is prone to quite extreme black and white thinking IMO.
 
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The main issue that stands out for me is what Joe and Cosmos pointed out about him not seeking to be close to his tender aged children. You would think with his resources and ability to bribe and so forth he could have gotten out of the country much earlier. Apparently after his first detainment he was forbidden to leave the country, but if he really cared about his children I think he would have found a way out. He could have continued to make videos from a new undisclosed location outside of Ukraine and be a proper and present child-raising father. This says it all, me thinks.
 
Approaching Infinity said:
Yep, in the video he says he was about 5 km from the border crossing. So my understanding based on what he said in the videos (maybe extrapolating a bit, don't remember all the details) is that he stopped close to the border, recorded the videos, wrote his tweets, scheduled them to go live in x minutes, at which point he planned to be either across the border if successful or arrested if not. Doing it this way ensured that he could get the message out without alerting the authorities. And in case he was arrested and his phone confiscated, it would be published.
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Yeah, not sure about the scheduling thing. He didn't mention that as far as I know. Also, I think that point is probably moot given that his phone would have been easily tracked by the SBU. They probably knew where he was, tweets or not.
 
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BHelmet said:
I’m thinking of the meta data in these videos as well as his arrest video. Time stamps and even actual GPS data. I’m Not sure if that’s in the meta data of a phone video but it would be very interesting to look under the hood and see if there is anything there.
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I am sure that all the platforms are stripping all of the metadata from the media. It's considered a big privacy breach if one doesn't do so, and it was the case with Parler.

As with Lira, I can only echo what others posted. Being a father, the wellbeing of my child is my most important task, and this includes being there whenever she needs me. His approach in that regard and his "coaching" past was two yellow cards for me. Listening to MacGregor is a time much better spent if one feels to be up to date with the situation in Ukraine (IMO).
 
Joe said:
I have to say though, it's a bit much to have this kind of person gloating over your arrest. We really do live in bizarro world.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1686740693341872133
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Well let’s see… Ukraine defense Forces written in English for American consumption. A desk a book and a flag are the props. A total weenie saying things in a manner that real official spokespersons don’t use. Car noise in the background? Strikes me as just so much more BS.

And a park ranger shirt with added patches sewn on?
 
Possibility of Being said:
Two possible reasons:
1/ No more fame and easy money
2/ An arrest warrant awaiting him



But majority of his followers just don't think. They would keep worshipping him for his heroism.
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The possibility occurred to me that Gonzo recorded those videos publicly announcing his location and intention to cross into Hungary because he WANTED to get caught. Being arrested and taken into custody by the SBU could have been part of a deliberate plan to martyr himself on social media for clicks, likes and followers. These seem like the actions of a narcissist who values internet fame and attention over his own safety and well being and protection of his family, like a low rent version of Julian Assange.

Unfortunately for Gonzo, he seems completely unaware of the nature of the "beast" he is wrestling with. And if he is operating under the delusion that because he is an American citizen with a large internet following that the US government will pressure the Ukrainians to release him, he may be in for a rude awakening indeed.
 
BHelmet said:
Well let’s see… Ukraine defense Forces written in English for American consumption. A desk a book and a flag are the props. A total weenie saying things in a manner that real official spokespersons don’t use. Car noise in the background? Strikes me as just so much more BS.

And a park ranger shirt with added patches sewn on?
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1687038757583622144
 
Timótheos said:
The possibility occurred to me that Gonzo recorded those videos publicly announcing his location and intention to cross into Hungary because he WANTED to get caught. Being arrested and taken into custody by the SBU could have been part of a deliberate plan to martyr himself on social media for clicks, likes and followers. These seem like the actions of a narcissist who values internet fame and attention over his own safety and well being and protection of his family, like a low rent version of Julian Assange.

Unfortunately for Gonzo, he seems completely unaware of the nature of the "beast" he is wrestling with. And if he is operating under the delusion that because he is an American citizen with a large internet following that the US government will pressure the Ukrainians to release him, he may be in for a rude awakening indeed.
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I certainly think that scenario is a possibility as well.
 
Evan said:
In case this hasn’t already been mentioned (I have quite a bit to catching up to do on this thread). But Ritter makes some excellent points, with which I’m inclined to agree.
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Maybe there's some plans to try to control Lira as an asset in the future (e.g to feed false information), but I find it more likely that there's just no logic behind Lira's actions that Ritter is trying to analyze.

At least propaganda-wise it would be difficult to see Lira starting to give pro-Ukraine talking points and keep his audience. He also doesn't make original content or speak Russian language, so he is unlikely to have any valuable contacts in the field or information of that nature, and they don't need him to track dissidents in social media.

So if Lira isn't in cahoots with SBU/CIA then it's more of his narcissistic personality creating drama and attention for himself (occuring theme in his social media career). And him being US citizen with western social media presence Ukraine perhaps saw that the best option to get rid of him (for now) is for him to leave the country.

But then Gonzalo apparently self-sabotaged these plans by publishing those tweets/videos making it impossible for allowing him to leave.

If this is the case, it's somewhat tragicomical. As mentioned, he mostly reiterates content made by others, where the same information is available in better form without profanities and his drama seeking personality traits. Probably many of his viewers have long time ago switched to other sources due to these reasons.

So there hasn't been any logical reason for him to stay in Ukraine in the first place, and instead he should have just kept low profile, leave the country and join his family long time ago. But he rather enjoys the drama and the thrills, and the possible fame that his grandiose fantasies keep fueling, increasing the odds of his martyrdom becoming reality. It looks like Gonzalo Lira's worst enemy is Gonzalo Lira.
 
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