Thread by @Justinhead1982

The grand tour of Vatnik Ireland part 1🧵

The two questions I get asked by NAFO dogs all the time are: “How did a country like Ireland elect propagandists like Mick and Clare as MEPs in the European Parliament?” and “What are you going to do about it in Ireland to fix it?”.

In this thread I’ll focus on answering these two questions from the perspective of your average Irish fella, a.k.a. Paddy McFella.

A number of excellent threads have already been written about Mick and Clare by others so I won’t rehash what you’ve probably already read.

I’ll just link the threads about Mick and Clare’s illustrious careers as MEPs at the end of this thread if you want to take a look.

First off, Mick and Clare did not get elected on the basis of the authoritarian propaganda that they spew on a weekly basis. Virtually no Irish person supports their views on Russia, China, Iran or Syria.

Mick and Clare’s strange views seem to have come much later. I only learned of their propaganda activity in July 2022 when I heard it announced on the local radio that Clare Daly had been added to a list of alleged Russia propagandists by Ukraine.

I was also surprised to hear that they were representing Ireland in the EU parliament. I paid very little attention to Irish politics prior to Russia invading Ukraine. I thought Mick and Clare had disappeared from politics in 2019.

I’d imagine that 2022 was the first time that a lot of the Irish public learned of Mick and Clare’s propaganda activity although...

...it does seem that a number of Irish politicians and journalists were warning about it for a long time. As far as I can see most of the Irish public, including I, were not listening.

The Irish also don’t seem to pay much attention to the EU parliament elections or the activity of elected politicians. At least not until recently.

Mick and Clare originally began their political careers in the Dail (Irish Parliament) in 2011 at a time when Ireland was at a very low point economically and politically. The Celtic Tiger economy had crashed in 2008-2010, the IMF was in town and Ireland relied on financial...

...bailouts to avoid bankruptcy. Irish politics was in crisis also. Independents and smaller parties with a social agenda gained in popularity. Mick and Clare gained seats. To the best of my knowledge they mainly established a reputation for fighting from the opposition...

...benches against the austerity and the increased taxes imposed by the IMF/EU as conditions of the financial bailouts. Mick and Clare also targeted the Irish police force (An Gardai) and were targeted by the Gardai. At least that is what I recall.

To some of the Irish public, it seemed that they acted in the national interest for many years. This was a big story back in the day for example.

They also played the part of Irish rebels. Mick would attend the Irish parliament wearing whatever the hell he felt like. He wore everything from blinding pink shirts to sleeveless vests. They gave two fingers to the political establishment and gained a level of support base...

...that kept them in the Dail for 8 years from 2011 to 2019. I would never have voted for them personally but I do remember thinking that they brought a lot of humor, drama and balance to Irish politics during a really dark period for Ireland economically and socially.

In 2019, Mick, Clare and a close ally, Luke “Ming” Flanagan (remember that name), ran for European elections and won seats representing Ireland in the EU. Ming won a seat in the EU elections previously in 2014 but prior to that he had won a seat in Dail Eireann in 2011.

I am speculating slightly here but I suspect that Ming winning a seat in the EU elections in 2014 planted the idea in Mick and Clare’s minds to run in 2019. Mick and Clare were not the only ones thinking up ideas it seems. Somewhere along the way, the Kremlin had ideas too.

Let's look at Mick’s tweets for example and see what they reveal. I ran an advanced search on Mick’s tweets from 2011 to 2017 with the key word “Russia”. Mick has a number of tweets from that period that indicate he had an interest in geopolitics while he was a representative...

in the Irish parliament but only a few tweets a year at most and they don’t reveal anything that would arouse suspicion that he was was siding with any party. Mick comes across as anti war and anti imperialist generally.

Importantly, he has no engagement on those tweets during that period. Nearly no likes and no comments.

Things start to change in 2018 though. It’s a hint of things to come but again it wouldn’t have been enough to arouse the suspicions of the Irish public or rival politicians as Russia tweets were very rare from Mick even in 2018.

In 2019, Mick was elected to the position in the European Parliament that he now holds. In 2019 and early 2020, Mick’s tweets begin to take on a familiar style that all NAFO dogs will recognize.

If NAFO was around in 2019-2020, I’m sure that major alarm bells would have been ringing. Some Irish politicians did sound alarm bells but again it was slightly too late. So, I think Mick’s tweet history speaks for itself. Read from them what you will.

Now onto the next question: “What are you going to do about it in Ireland?”. This question always stops me dead in my tracks when a NAFO dog angrily directs the question at me. I am never entirely sure what to say.

The only thing I can think of is to bonk the hell out of Mick and Clare, demand their resignations from the EU and failing that we may have to wait until the next EU elections and vote Mick and Clare out. Their reputations are destroyed now in Ireland.

Their tweets betray the fact that they don’t care about the Irish and European citizens they are supposed to represent.

Is there anything else we can do in the meantime though? I came across this tweet recently and I think it gives as good an answer as you’re going to find.

On the bright side I think NAFO is making an impact on Clare in particular as detailed in my recent thread. Mick is feeling the heat lately as well I sense.

Mick and Clare may be contained somewhat but they are not the only Irish propagandists. The last few months it’s been a major shock for me to discover that there is a network of Irish Vatniks with links to the Kremlin that are working away in plain sight.

There is also some politicians in Ireland who I believe and acting in a manner that benefits the Kremlin and represent a real threat to Ukraine’s future which I think NAFO needs to start going after right now. 🧵🧵s for another day though...

Mick and Clare thread 1:

Mick and Clare thread 2: