Mark Dice's "Nuke Russia" Petition

Overview

Mark Dice’s “Nuke Russia” Petition is a prank video published on YouTube in early June 2015 by author and conspiracy theorist Mark Dice,^[1] who was filmed asking random California pedestrians to sign a bogus petition supporting United States President Barack Obama in ordering a nuclear strike against Russia.

Background

On June 8th, 2015, Dice uploaded a new installment in his “crazy petitions”^[8] video series titled “Obama Supporters Sign Petition to Nuke Russia so American will Stay World’s Super Power” to YouTube, in which he asks random beach-goers in San Diego, California to sign a petition supporting President Obama in launching a preemptive nuclear strike against Russia to maintain “American superiority” (shown below).

Notable Developments

Russian News Media Coverage

On June 10th, the Russian federal television channel Ren.tv^[2] published an article titled “In the U.S., they’ve started collecting signatures for a nuclear attack on Russia" and the state-run publication RIA Novosti^[4] released an article titled “They silently signed. In the U.S. a blogger collected signatures for a nuclear attack on Russia," which included a Russian political cartoon alluding to the ramifications of an American nuclear strike on the country (shown below).

“Save the wrapper when you’re done, you’ll need it later.” – translation by KYM user the the nyx

Additionally, the government-owned publication RT published similar articles on both their Russian^[3] and English-language^[7] websites. Both articles have since been edited to note that the video was a prank.

Dice encouraged people to sign the petition, saying that by signing it they are going to “support a nuclear strike against Russia.”
“This is the one way we can maintain our superiority,” Dice says.
“You know how Russia has been threatening United States lately,” he tells an apparent anti-Russian American patriot, who replies: “Yeah!”

Russian Social Media

Following initial media reports, users on Russia’s leading social network VK began circulating the video and criticizing those who signed the petition.^[9]

“I’m in shock, did these people stop for a minute to think about the consequences? Do they think about anything except the status of their country? I’d like to believe that Russia wouldn’t have a petition like this…”

Petition to Nuke USA

On June 10th, 2015, Russian YouTuber Комсомольская Правда^[5] uploaded a video in which he asks Russian pedestrians to sign a petition supporting a nuclear strike against the United States (shown below). The majority of people asked refused to sign the petition.