Experts say Observations Group’s connections to the Base and Rinaldo Nazzaro present ‘urgent danger’
In the underworld of accelerationist neo-Nazis, where talk of attacks against western governments are commonplace, the spread of illegal weapons manuals and tradecraft on drone warfare are proliferating. Experts say, in some cases, that classes are being taught online with the input of leadership from proscribed terrorist groups with links to Russian intelligence.
Authorities have been warning, on both sides of the Atlantic, about the accessibility of drone technologies and military veterans on the far right with the know-how to use them, presenting a grave national security threat.
“Offering military-style training materials, including drone tradecraft, to the extreme right indicates that this is for prepping purposes,” said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a terrorism analyst with close to a decade of experience tracking militant movements. “[To] improve the capacity of extremist networks to commit violence, or to encourage acts of violence specifically.”
A popular grift for ex-military guys is to take you out into the wilderness and scream at you while waving a gun for a week or three, then bill you thousands of dollars for the privilege.
Where this gets really ugly is the “Scared Straight” teen boot camps. One of the more notable instances of this was Monarch School, Montana which effectively used the status of its students - kids with criminal records, history of drug abuse, or other behavioral issues - as cover to effectively get paid to inflict physical, mental, and sexual abuse on them for the duration of their stay.
I would be worried about it from a “this is how white nationalists can sucker their conservative/libertarian neighbors out of their meager savings” angle. Great way to turn a profit off the troop worship and profit from the mythological popular understanding of military academies. But if you think these wash-outs and blowhards are turning their even-less-experienced Republican wanna-be warrior neighbors into the next Vietcong, I would check your expectations a tad.