• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • TESTIMONIES
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
  • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / International / News Global

The “New Nostradamus”: Did He Tell Putin To Go On with the War?

12/20/2022Massimo Introvigne |

Russian propaganda claims that controversial mathematician and “prophet” Sediq Afghan told Putin “not to step back from the special operation.”

by Massimo Introvigne

Sediq Afghan. From Twitter.
Sediq Afghan. From Twitter.

It is not about the Orthodox Church only. Russian propaganda has used predictions allegedly made by Nostradamus and the Bulgarian seer Baba Vanga to argue that Putin’s victory has been described in metaphysical prophecies and is unavoidable.

Now, these prophecies are supplemented by one by Sediq Afghan, a mathematician from Afghanistan who claims to be “the Nostradamus of the 21st century.” Afghan allegedly predicted that “Putin should in no case step back from the special operation. Because otherwise, trouble awaits Russia.” These predictions are spread by Russian nationalist websites, Telegram channels, and other social media in waves that make it probable that an orchestrated propaganda is behind them.

Afghan is also reported as having predicted that in 2023 the whole East-West confrontation will be substantially changed by a new epidemic worse than the 2020 coronavirus, which would make the West largely forget about Ukraine. World War III will thus be avoided, although it is possible that it will start in 2055.

Sediq Afghan will turn 97 in 2055 and perhaps will not be there to help the world with new predictions. At 58, he is already controversial enough. By tracking him on social media, it seems that in recent years he has lectured more often in Russia than in Afghanistan, although he has also lamented that in the past he has been mistreated, poisoned, and beaten by the Afghan police.

Sediq Afghan after he was poisoned in Afghanistan, or so he claimed on Twitter.
Sediq Afghan after he was poisoned in Afghanistan, or so he claimed on Twitter.

Although one can find websites hailing Afghan as a great mathematician and his World Philosophical Mathematical Research Center as a real scientific institution, critics have also noted that for most of his biographic details we have his word only. He claims to have earned a doctorate in the Soviet Union and to have been expelled from the country because he had correctly predicted its collapse, but those who looked for them did not find any evidence of his academic achievements. Nor can it be proved that, based on what he claims are mathematical models rather than magic, he predicted what he calls the 2014 “coup” in Ukraine and COVID-19.

The “Man of the Year” 2012 award from the award mill International Biographical Centre.
The “Man of the Year” 2012 award from the award mill International Biographical Centre.

He boasts a 2012 award of “Man of the Year” by the International Biographical Centre of Ely, Cambridgeshire. However, the International Biographical Center is a notorious award mill, where you can buy awards for a fee. Other distinctions seem equally dubious.

Reporting the recent Russian tour of Afghan, December 2022. From Twitter.
Reporting the recent Russian tour of Afghan, December 2022. From Twitter.

Except perhaps one, announced on December 10 on social media: a first class medal by the office of President Putin, for his support to Russia and the special operation in Ukraine. This medal may even be genuine. After all, Afghan really contributes to another bizarre “special operation,” one that uses “prophecies” and “prophets” to support the aggression against Ukraine.

Tagged With: Russia, Ukraine

Massimo Introvigne
Massimo Introvigne

Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio.  From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.

www.cesnur.org/

Related articles

  • Novopashin confirme : « Les anti-sectes russes font toujours partie de la FECRIS »

    Novopashin confirme : « Les anti-sectes russes font toujours partie de la FECRIS »

  • 82 universitaires ukrainiens demandent à la France de cesser de soutenir la fédération anti-sectes FECRIS

    82 universitaires ukrainiens demandent à la France de cesser de soutenir la fédération anti-sectes FECRIS

  • 82 Ukrainian Academics Ask France to Stop Supporting the Anti-Cult Federation FECRIS

    82 Ukrainian Academics Ask France to Stop Supporting the Anti-Cult Federation FECRIS

  • In the Shadow of Russia: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Central Asia

    In the Shadow of Russia: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Central Asia

Keep Reading

  • Russian Orthodox Church: “Spreading Destructive Ideologies” Should Become a Crime in Russia
    Russian Orthodox Church: “Spreading Destructive Ideologies” Should Become a Crime in Russia

    The crime should cover cases, including of religious movements, where all efforts to declare a group “extremist” fail.

  • Anti-Cultists Blame “Ukraine-Funded Theosophical Cult” for Russian Protests Against the War
    Anti-Cultists Blame “Ukraine-Funded Theosophical Cult” for Russian Protests Against the War

    They claim that Svetlana Peunova’s Academy of Development and Way to the Sun organized the opposition to mobilization on behalf of Ukraine.

  • Top Russian Security Official Blames “Cults” for the War, Calls for “Desatanization” of Ukraine
    Top Russian Security Official Blames “Cults” for the War, Calls for “Desatanization” of Ukraine

    Assistant Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Alexei Pavlov points the finger at Scientology and Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan.

  • Russian Doukhobors in Canada. 2. The Sons of Freedom’s Protest and Violence
    Russian Doukhobors in Canada. 2. The Sons of Freedom’s Protest and Violence

    Arson and nudity made this branch of the movement notorious in Canada. But they had their reasons to protest.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Pro-Chinese Propaganda by The World Muslim Communities Council: Uyghurs Strike Back by Gulfiye Y
  • Zhanargul Zhumatai: “Help Me, I Just Want to Leave China” by Ruth Ingram
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 1. The Aesthetic Mind by Massimo Introvigne
  • Stricter Rules on Private Tutoring Protect Ideology Rather than Parents by Wang Zhipeng
  • Japan Religious Donations Law. 4. The Return of Brainwashing by Massimo Introvigne
  • Hong Kong: Christian Scholar Peng Manyuan Released but Not Rehabilitated by Gladys Kwok
  • The Weaponization of the CCP’s “Zero COVID” Against Tibet by Marco Respinti
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 3. Art as Communication by Massimo Introvigne
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 4. Art and Illustration by Massimo Introvigne
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 5. Professionals vs. Amateurs by Massimo Introvigne

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

Instant Exclusive News
Instant Exclusive News

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

Follow us

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY