Bannon's Links to Dugin: Cambridge Analytica Connections to the GRU Led Troll Farm

Some more background research for my epic poem about the key Russian connections during the EU Referendum and US Presidential elections in 2016

After a short summer break I’m back working on Book 3 of this epic, and perhaps formatting all three so far in one post (without illustrations but with proper verse headings). Meanwhile, on holidays, two books have opened my eyes to more detail. I’ll be writing about Andy Greenberg’s riveting book, Operation Sandworm, about GRU cyberwarfare later (though it has caused me to slightly rewrite my opening verses about information war).

It’s called the fifth battlespace. The rest,  
Land, Sea, Air, and Space, are always kinetic.  
Artillery, torpedoes, missiles, drones and kit  
That explodes in sudden violence. Digital warfare
Can be kinetic too, closing down grids,  
Cutting off water, power, light to pipelines,  
Hospitals, railways, post offices, and banks,  
Impacting critical infrastructure  
In real life; through trojan horses, logic bombs  
That harm lives and terrorise. So, while cyber  
Attacks, like bullets, can eviscerate,  
Our fragile bodies, what of our febrile minds?

The other book which has influenced me was Joshua Green’s updated bestseller, Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Nationalist Uprising . There’s so much in there about Trump’s insurgent politics and Bannon’s background, but some of it touches on the ideological connections between the Cambridge Analytica co-founder and Russian nationalism. A couple of quotes

The common themes of the collapse of Western civilization and the loss of the transcendent in books such as Guénon’s The Crisis of the Modern World (1927) and Evola’s Revolt Against the Modern World (1934) are what drew Bannon’s interest to Traditionalism (although he was also very much taken with its spiritual aspects).

Vladimir Putin’s chief ideologist, Alexander Dugin—whom Bannon has cited—translated Evola’s work into Russian and later developed a Russian-nationalist variant of Traditionalism known as Eurasianism.

There are fascinating details, mainly of the turmoil Trump caused in the US Republican Party and the media in 2016. But Farage and Brexit is lightly mentioned - and is obviously much more central to my story.

On his office wall hung an oil painting of Bannon dressed as Napoleon in his study at the Tuileries, done in the style of Jacques-Louis David’s famous Neoclassical painting—it was a gift from Nigel Farage, a nationalist-minded friend.

“Bannon’s a political entrepreneur and a remarkable bloke,” Farage said. “Without the supportive voice of Breitbart London, I’m not sure we would have had a Brexit.”

“If he was going to win this election, it was going to be because of a Brexit-style mentality and a different demographic trend than other people were seeing,” said Matt Oczkowski, a senior official at Cambridge Analytica working in Trump’s campaign.

Beyond philosophical sympathies, there is also the spectre of direct collusion between Bannon’s Cambridge Analytica and Russia online information warfare, which the rest of this post deals with at length.

Apologies for putting it mainly behind a paywall… But that’s because it’s fairly raw research..

🧩 Key Findings and Contextual Links: The Cambridge Analytica – Russian Intelligence Nexus

1. A Russian Insider’s Confession

A Washington Monthly article recounts the testimony of a former Russian troll factory worker, who described how data gleaned from social media was used to tailor divisive propaganda aimed at the U.S. electorate. This process included profiling Americans through detailed psychological and behavioural data—strikingly similar to what Cambridge Analytica claimed to offer.

2. Cambridge Analytica’s Role

Cambridge Analytica harvested vast amounts of Facebook data—without users’ consent—to build psychographic profiles of American voters. The company claimed it could model and target individuals with extreme precision, exploiting their psychological vulnerabilities.