Steve Speece with the Modern War Institute at West Point argues "Meme content shared in NAFO channels…is almost exclusively English language and presumably not intended for Russian audiences…These fora exist to generate content for the entertainment and status of their own members. Īccording to one analysis, "The largely English-language memes have kept Western attention on Ukraine's war-attention that is vital given the importance of Western arms to Ukrainian forces." American Lt. British-Lebanese journalist Oz Katerji asserts that NAFO "has hampered Russia's propagandists and made them look absurd and ridiculous in the process." Ukraine's Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand Vasyl Myroshnychenko noted that the grassroots, decentralized nature of NAFO is an important part of its strength. According to Politico, "To delve into NAFO is to get a crash course in how online communities from the Islamic State to the far-right boogaloo movement to this rag-tag band of online warriors have weaponized internet culture." Īmerican media studies professor Jaime Cohen argues that the NAFO movement "is an actual tactical event against a nation state". It is part of a larger "battle for sovereignty of interpretation" on shared online spaces. NAFO was described as a "Western civil society response to Russian campaigns" by Tobias Fella, a political scientist training Bundeswehr soldiers in dealing with social media. Central Intelligence Agency "the fact that 'Nafo' is financed by the CIA is just a self-deprecating joke among Twitterers." Reception German broadcaster ZDF rejects the notion that NAFO is an operation of the U.S. Per The Economist, "Another popular slogan-'What air defence doing?'-pokes fun at the failure of Russian air defences to prevent an attack on Saky air base in Crimea on August 9th." The origin of the meme was a quote tweet in “dubious English” by (with airdefense idiosyncratically combined into one word) reacting to photos of smoke billowing up from the distant airfield. Task & Purpose described the result, a 2S7 Pion cannon with the inscription "Super Bonker 9000" and a sticker of a baseball bat on the barrel with the inscription "NAFO-Article 69" as “self-propelled artillery that is bringing internet memes into terrestrial form." In August 2022, NAFO raised money for, a website where people pay to have custom messages written on Ukrainian artillery shells and equipment. Per the Wall Street Journal, the group’s pro-Ukrainian fundraising and merchandise sales are believed to total “over $1 million…but no official tally is kept” so the claim cannot be independently verified. The phrase "you pronounced this nonsense," or simply "pronouncing nonsense," came to be used by NAFO as a quick and dismissive way to mock pro-Russian accounts. This response was seized upon by other NAFO members. Mikhail Ulyanov pronounced this nonsense. After Ulyanov claimed that the 2022 Russian invasion was justified by Ukraine allegedly shelling civilians in the Donbas since 2014, the following exchange ensued between Ulyanov and fella In June, the group rose to mainstream prominence after an interaction on Twitter between Russian diplomat Mikhail Ulyanov and a number of NAFO accounts with cartoon dogs as avatars. Some NAFO members reportedly have an “especial focus” on defusing the " whataboutism" defense of the Russian invasion. The Fellas make appearances in various edited still images and " TikTok-style videos of Ukrainian troops set to dance music soundtracks," and are "spliced into war footage to mock Russia's military and praise Ukraine's soldiers." NAFO terms its opponents (online and on the battlefield) vatniks. The German paper Berliner Kurier estimates that the group includes “tens of thousands” of associates as of September 2022. Current and retired service members from Ukrainian and NATO militaries, as well as Eastern Europeans and Eastern European diaspora, are heavily represented among those participating in the group's activities. "Fellas" is considered by NAFO to be a gender-neutral term. Īfter some time, Kama began creating custom "Fellas" for others who donated to the Georgian Legion. The Shiba Inu breed has had a significant presence in online culture since at least 2010 under the ' doge' meme. NAFO, such as it is, was founded on with a tweet. The meme was created in May 2022, when Twitter artist started adding modified pictures of a Shiba Inu dog (the "Fella") to photographs from Ukraine.
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