I’ve worked hard to regain Indians’ trust after I lost it whereas Karolina betrayed the trust that she earned from nearly 1.2 million of them by what she just did.
Super popular Polish YouTuber Karolina Goswami, whose “India In Details” channel has nearly 1.2 million subscribers, unveiled a kooky Russian-Khalistan conspiracy theory to toxify the run-up to this week’s BRICS Summit. From 5:40-7:05 of this video here, she implies that the Kremlin has double standards towards this issue because RT sometimes platforms me despite me previously writing positively about Khalistan for Geopolitica, which is a think tank connected with Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin.
Karolina then defames me as “an important ‘pro-Russia’ asset for Russians” before suggesting that Indian media is ignoring what I wrote years ago for that site on this issue because I now say “’sweet’ and ‘wonderful’ things about India”. She ends her attacks against my reputation by demanding that Russia “take appropriate action against these rubbish articles and check the source of this man’s funding and his true intentions.” She also suggests that Indian authorities ask Russia to remove those old articles.
Let me address everything point-by-point. For starters, I was admittedly very critical of India from 2015-2021 because I was under the impression that it was pivoting towards the US at Russia’s expense and also risking a catastrophic war with China that would enable America to more easily divide-and-rule Asia. This paradigm shaped my analyses of that country during that period, but my views evolved as India recalibrated its geopolitical balancing act (“multi-alignment” policy), which I explained at length here:
* 16 December 2021: “The Neo-NAM: From Vision to Reality”
* 1 February 2022: “The Twists & Turns Of Russian-Indian Ties Over The Past Few Years”
* 6 June 2022: “India Is Irreplaceable Balancing Force in Global Systemic Transition”
* 20 June 2022: “Towards Dual-Tripolarity: An Indian Grand Strategy for the Age of Complexity”
* 18 March 2024: “Tri-Multipolarity Should Become The Next ‘Big Idea’ In Russian-Indian Relations”
All five analyses are for the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), which is one of Russia’s most prestigious think tanks, so much so that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. They also came after my Khalistan series from several years prior. About that, consonant with the outdated paradigm which I employed during that period when analyzing India, I aligned myself with what can be described as extreme leftist views towards that country.
I was a leftist in my youth but evolved to become the conservative-nationalist that I proudly am today, yet there remained some lingering tendencies that continued to manifest themselves in my work, particularly with regards to internal conflicts inside of India. I accordingly embraced the Khalistani cause but distanced myself from it by 2021 when I realized that there was much more to it than I thought. Likewise, I also did the same with regards to Kashmir, and nowadays my views on both have shifted.
Whereas I used to be in favor of Kashmiri and Khalistani independence, I’m now a firm advocate for preserving India’s territorial integrity, which aligns with my new paradigm of analysis. I won’t ever apologize for my former advocacy since I was sincere with my intentions, but like all honest analysts, I accounted for this with follow-up analyses reflecting my new understanding of these issues. Since Khalistan is at the center of Karolina’s kooky conspiracy, here’s my updated library of work on that topic:
* 19 September 2023: “There’s A Lot More To The Indian-Canadian Dispute Than An Alleged Assassination”
* 22 September 2023: “Western Leaders Would Do Well To Not Get Dragged Into The Indian-Canadian Dispute”
* 23 September 2023: “Interpreting Blinken’s Remarks On The Indian-Canadian Dispute”
* 24 September 2023: “The US’ Double-Dealing In The Indian-Canadian Dispute Risks Ruining Ties With Delhi”
* 26 September 2023: “Korybko To Pankaj Mishra: The West Has Neo-Imperial Hubris, Not A So-Called ‘India Problem’”
* 1 October 2023: “India’s Top Diplomat Shared Some Dark Truths About Canada”
* 11 October 2023: “Trudeau Has Thus Far Failed To Internationalize The Indian-Canadian Dispute”
* 23 October 2023: “The Anglo-American Axis Gave India A Crash Course On The Hypocritical ‘Rules-Based Order’”
* 26 October 2023: “New Zealand’s Dishonest Framing Of The Indian-Canadian Dispute Impugns Delhi”
* 23 November 2023: “India’s Honeymoon With The West Might Finally Be Over”
* 30 November 2023: “Korybko To Mihir Sharma: The Anglosphere, Not India, Is To Blame For Troubled Bilateral Ties”
* 7 December 2023: “Reuters Doesn’t Really Understand Why India Is Opposed To Sikh Separatism”
* 17 December 2023: “The ‘Samosa Caucus’ Shouldn’t Tell India What To Do Amidst Its Dispute With The US”
* 19 December 2023: “A US Commission Dishonestly Put A Religious Spin On The Spiraling Indo-US Dispute”
* 8 April 2024: “American Experts Won’t Admit That Their Country Is Responsible For Fragile Indo-US Ties”
* 2 May 2024: “WaPo’s Indian Assassination Article Is A Shot Across The Bow By American Intelligence Agencies”
* 13 August 2024: “The Top Five Challenges To Indo-US Ties”
* 23 September 2024: “The US Is Playing A Game Of Good Cop, Bad Cop Against India”
* 19 October 2024: “The De Facto Rupturing Of Indian-Canadian Ties Has The US’ Fingerprints All Over It”
As can be seen by these nearly two dozen analyses, many more of which mention this subject and hyperlink to some of those pieces despite not being dedicated to it, I’ve done my best to set the record straight and correct the perceptions of those who might have been influenced by my outdated work. It’s therefore very dishonest of Karolina to describe me over the weekend as “a ‘pro-Khalistani’ element” when I very clearly no longer support that cause and have dedicated myself to fighting against it.
Moving along to addressing her other attacks after having debunked that one, RT never hosted me to discuss that issue and their invitations for me to join their programs aren’t endorsements of every single thing that I’ve ever written or said, nor is that the case with any outlet that invites anyone on. Karolina is once again being dishonest by suggesting that my rare appearances on their programs equate to them endorsing my outdated work that I’ve since disowned.
As for why Geopolitica published it, they’re an independent think tank that sometimes tries to generate discussions about sensitive issues, and there was never any indication that they endorse my views. Dugin’s relationship to them also doesn’t mean that he read those articles, nor that he agrees with them even if he did. Karolina then referenced false claims about him being “Putin’s philosopher” in order to imply that my articles for his site somehow indirectly influence Putin via Dugin. That’s super kooky.
It’s also equally absurd for her to demand that the Russian authorities “check the source of [my] funding”, which suggests that I’m in violation of the country’s strict foreign agents legislation. That’s absolutely untrue and is made all the more ridiculous by the fact that I, a proud American-Pole with dual Polish citizenship, am still living in Moscow without any legal problems whatsoever despite the ongoing two-and-a-half-year-long nationwide counterintelligence campaign coinciding with the special operation.
If there was even the remotest chance that I might be breaking the law, then I would have already been detained or even deported, especially since I’m the dual national of two officially designated “unfriendly countries” which Russia considers to be waging a proxy war against it. That obviously hasn’t happened, and it’s precisely because there’s no truth to what she implied, which she maliciously expected would manipulate the security services into causing me legal trouble. That’s extremely immoral of her.
Karolina is also critical of Russia in some of her videos like these ones here, here, here, here, and here and tries to pit Indians against it, plus she’s also the citizen of an officially designated “unfriendly country” (Poland), so her demands of the Russian authorities will inevitably fall on deaf ears. Not only that, but that they even might ask their decades-long strategic partners in India “to check the source of [her] funding and [her] true intentions” after her infowar provocation right before the BRICS Summit.
From the speculative perspective of Russia’s security agencies, it can’t be ruled out that the “usual suspects” might be behind her digging up my outdated work and misportraying it as representing the Kremlin’s views on this sensitive issue at this particular time so as to spoil the spirit of this week’s BRICS Summit. It’s no secret that the West is pressuring India to distance itself from Russia and trying to manipulate Indians’ perceptions of it, hence why Russia might ask India to look into her connections.
Having explained why I’m not violating Russia’s strict foreign agents legislation like she suggested, which is an insult to the professionalism of the country’s security services given their ongoing nationwide counterintelligence campaign, I’ll now debunk her defamation that I’m “a ‘pro-Russia’ asset”. To be clear, I proudly consider myself to be a Russian-friendly member of the Alt-Media Community, but I’m not an “asset” of the state like she hints, and it’s dangerous for her as a super popular Pole to imply that I am.
I’m fiercely independent and constructively critique Russia whenever I feel that it’s warranted, including with regards to the special operation, since I strongly support the country’s multipolar grand strategy. My associated works aim to inform anyone of influence here who might read them of the ways in which they can improve policy implementation towards this end. I’m therefore sometimes very candid and correspondingly express myself in ways that no “’pro-Russia’ asset” ever would as anyone can see below:
* 30 March 2019: “It’s Time To Talk About The S-300s, ‘Status Symbols’, And The ‘Savior Complex’”
* 24 September 2019: “Russia’s Middle East Strategy: ‘Balance’ vs. ‘Betrayal’?”
* 24 August 2020: “Constructive Criticisms of Russian Strategy, and in Particular Towards Belarus”
* 14 July 2022: “Korybko To Azerbaijani Media: All Sides Of The Ukrainian Conflict Underestimated Each Other”
* 10 September 2022: “Constructive Critiques Connected To Russia’s Tactical Pullback From Kharkov”
* 10 November 2022: “The End Of The Nagorno-Karabakh War: Retrospection, Clarification, And Forecast”
* 13 November 2022: “Analytical Reflections: Learning From The Nagorno-Karabakh Fiasco”
* 11 September 2022: “Interpreting Russia’s Intelligence Shortcomings Ahead Of The Kharkov Counteroffensive”
* 17 September 2022: “10 Politically Tough Takeaways From The Latest Kyrgyz-Tajik Clashes”
* 12 November 2022: “20 Constructive Critiques Of Russia’s Special Operation”
* 27 July 2023: “Alt-Media Is In Shock After The BRICS Bank Confirmed That It Complies With Western Sanctions”
* 29 August 2023: “Constructively Critiquing The Clumsy Way That The Kremlin Choreographed Putin’s G20 Decision”
* 13 April 2024: “Analyzing The Kremlin’s Newly Declassified Archival Evidence About The Katyn Massacre”
* 23 May 2024: “Medvedev’s Tweet About The Upcoming Swiss ‘Peace Talks’ Risks Offending Close Russian Partners”
* 8 June 2024: “Don’t Take Domestic Russian Pundits Seriously: Russia Isn’t Preparing To Nuke Poland”
* 16 June 2024: “Russia’s Proposed Eurasian Security System Must Respect India’s National Interests”
* 1 August 2024: “Medvedev’s Hawkish Tweet After Haniyeh’s Assassination Doesn’t Reflect Russian Policy”
* 8 August 2024: “Five Lessons For Russia To Learn From Ukraine’s Sneak Attack Against Kursk Region”
* 7 September 2024: “Russia & China’s US-Provoked Payment Problems Caught Most BRICS Enthusiasts By Surprise”
* 29 September 2024: “Five Lessons That Russia Can Learn From The Latest Israeli-Lebanese War”
* 19 October 2024: “Why Do False Perceptions About Russian Policy Towards Israel Continue To Proliferate?”
I also politely called Medvedev out on X here and here for using the “Polack” slur twice in one of his posts earlier this year to refer to us Poles, which I did in principled defense of my ethnic group due to the pride that I have in being a Pole but would be unacceptable for any “’pro-Russia’ asset” to do. I explained in early May 2022 that “What’s Dishonestly Smeared As ‘Russian Propaganda’ Is Just The Multipolar Worldview”, which is what I espouse: a multipolar worldview and not “Russian propaganda”.
By defaming me as a “’pro-Russia’ asset” to her nearly 1.2 million subscribers, Karolina is lending false credence to the conspiracy theory that others have previously pushed about me, which could manipulate the Polish security services into causing me legal trouble. She’s therefore playing a double game by implying that I’m in violation of Russia’s strict foreign agents laws in order to cause legal trouble for me in Russia but then defaming me as a “pro-Russia’ asset” to cause trouble for me in Poland.
I’m already suing a Polish journalist with a much smaller social media reach than Karolina for defaming me as a “FSB agent” in January and will therefore explore whether I can sue her too even though she’s no longer within our shared homeland’s jurisdiction. My dream is to one day take my baby son (to whom I gave a traditional Polish name) to Poland when he grows up to show him our glorious heritage. I’m now worried, however, that Karolina’s defamatory smear might cause me some trouble there if I do.
I love Poland even though I also constructively critique its policies just like I do Russia’s, but I also know that our government is in the midst of anti-Russian hysteria, which is why I’m concerned that this super popular YouTuber’s defamation might be exploited as the pretext to ruin my life if I return to Poland. What Karolina did is therefore extremely immoral, very dangerous, and even downright despicable when it comes to her trying to manipulate the Russian security services against me, her fellow compatriot.
I have no fear living in Russia Federation as a Pole, which isn’t the Russian Empire nor the Soviet Union and thus never implemented any state policies aimed against our ethnic group, but she as a born-and-raised Pole is well aware of what its predecessor states had done to us over the centuries. For her to try to manipulate the Russian security services against me on the false implied pretext that I’m violating its strict foreign agents law is something that no truly patriotic Pole would ever to do one of their own.
What she’s expecting is something worse than legal troubles due to the historical precedents that I alluded to, none of which will happen for the reasons that I already explained, and that makes her intentions the embodiment of evil. The same goes for what she explicitly said about me being “a ‘pro-Russia’ asset” since I might no longer be able to live my dream of taking my traditionally Polish-named baby son to Poland to show him our glorious heritage when he grows up if the authorities believe her lie.
Karolina maliciously wanted to ruin my life here in Russia and back in Poland, to say nothing of the US where I was proudly born-and-raised, through her dual but contradictory defamations of me as “a ‘pro-Russia’ asset” and also a possible violator of Russia’s strict foreign agents legislation. That’s why I’ll be exploring whether I can sue her for defamation. Even if it’s not possible, I’ll still always strenuously object to her false descriptions of me as well as the way in which she deliberately misportrayed by work.
Circling back to what triggered her into doing all of this, I’m personally convinced that she wanted to spoil the spirit of this week’s BRICS Summit by concocting her kooky Russian-Khalistani conspiracy theory that she ridiculously placed me in the center of through her dishonest innuendo about my ties to the state. She dug up outdated works from years ago that I since disowned through my nearly two-dozen-long analytical series on this subject over the past year to push that false narrative at this particular time.
It's she, not me, who’s no true friend of India. As they say, “the zeal of a convert is stronger than a born believer’s”, and my political conversation from what some can describe as an “anti-Indian” or at least “Indian-critical” worldview to an Indophilic one that I proudly elaborated on in five analyses for Russia’s prestigious RIAC (where Lavrov serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees) proves it. By contrast, she’s trying to manipulate the Indian government and its people against me and Russia on dishonest pretexts.
My evolution as an analyst is a model for others to follow. Every one of my peers should publicly account for whenever their works turn out to be inaccurate like was the case with me mine about Khalistan and Indian grand strategy more broadly. We have a professional obligation to set the record straight by correcting the perceptions of those who might have been influenced by what we earlier wrote. Most rarely do so though since ego and ulterior motives, whether ideological and/or financial, get in the way.
Unlike most of my peers, I’m not ashamed to correct myself when I’m wrong like I was about Khalistan or my worldview changes like it did with India, ergo why I write approvingly about that country on a weekly basis and have been doing so since late 2021 when I had my epiphany. I’ve worked hard to regain Indians’ trust after I lost it whereas Karolina betrayed the trust that she earned from nearly 1.2 million of them by what she just did. Hopefully they’ll call her out for this just like they called me out over the years.
A good thinker who pursues truth will be willing to acknowledge changes and even to confess past mistakes. This is a sign of maturity although under-rated virtue. I am not sure about others, but similar changes did happen in my thoughts. I once thought India had given up its self-appointed role as the leader of the non-aligned countries and fell squarely into the US camp. I am not sure when my evaluation started to change, maybe also right around 2021/2022 when the storms in Ukraine was clearly on the course to flare up again. The national sentiment, the platforms of political parties, and the personal political vision of national leaders all can change. It is not so much that they were wrong, but quite often it is due to situation changes.
As for local independence movement, I have always had my doubt since I first learned the concept of self-determination in the textbooks when I was young, but I was not able to clearly express why I did not like the idea. It was only many years later when I started to comprehend the impact of geography, weather, agriculture, mineral deposits, etc. (really all facets of geography) onto tribal histories and the formation of nations with organized governments and agriculture-centric economies. The more modern forms of economy and technology development essentially dictates that small nations are difficult to survive in the modern world. It does not matter whether the nation is multi or mono-ethnic, multi or mono-lingusitic. As long as the land mass is small, the population count is small, natural resource amount is small, then the nation has little chance of surviving well. Punjab and Kashmere were independent and prosperous a thousand years ago. But if they were totally independent today, they would have a hard time to survive in the modern world, let alone to compete and win. As for Israel, it has a big tube to suck from all around the world and parties willingly provide transfusions from the outside It is never a realistic model in the modern world, although operable as small kingdoms in the 8th to 10th centuries or so. But once the Arabian world prospered (per trade and agriculture) and somewhat united, the existence of the little Jewish states was quickly subject to challenges. Actually if the Ottoman Empire did not deteriorate, there would still be no room for modern day Israel in 1947.
The same can be said about Taiwan. When the people there claimed they were the righteous owners of the whole China and Americans were willing to support, Taiwan had a chance to prosper to an outstanding extent. But once people of Taiwan gave up on that claim, when people in mainland China no longer believed their salvation would come from Taiwan, when USA coveted the market potential of China, and when China decided to relax central control on the economy, Taiwan quickly lost its advantages. Eventually Taiwanese got rich more by exploiting cheap Chinese labor (got order from USA but manufactured in China) and people thought all these were due to their own hard work and TSMC. The truth is people in Taiwan do work hard, at least for a very long time frame, but the bulk of the prosperity came from exploiting Chinese labor, IMHO. Once American businesses started to deal with Chinese factories directly, and Chinese factories went out to find buyers on their own, the relative advantages of Taiwan were cut down further. However, manufacturing had been hollowed out, people have become lazy (compared to the 1960s through 1980s, or more generously, to early 1990s). Consumption is up, social welfare is up, travel and leisure activity is up, working hours are reduced, politicians become more popular but less competent. Actually today's Taiwan could be predicted more or less around 1986-1987. Noted that China's economic reforms started in 1979. 1989 Tiananmen was but a blip, thanks to the Americans (or perhaps to Chinese sparrows having intimate photos with the Bush family members.)
That was a long read. It prooves the point that for an ounce of bullshit smear one needs to use a tonne of cleaning and explaining...