In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Swiss conspiracy theorist and author, Daniele Ganser (@DanieleGanser). He's best-known for his CIA/NATO conspiracy theories, for his rabid anti-Americanism, and for his support for Kremlin in the Russo-Ukrainian War.
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Ganser's background is in academia, getting his doctorate from the University of Basel in 2001. His thesis focused on the secret armies in Europe after WW2. His previous topic on the global battle for oil wasn't accepted due to it being too "unscientific".
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In 2004 he turned his thesis topic into a book called NATO's Secret Armies. The book claimed that the clandestine "stay-behind" army called Gladio orchestrated false flag terrorist attacks in Italy against civilians, and that these attacks were supported by NATO and the CIA.
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The book generally fostered rabid anti-Americanism & presented the Kremlin in a very positive light. The book often refers to the US Army Field Manual 30-31B,a document explaining top secret CIA counterinsurgency tactics & that's widely considered to be a forgery by the KGB.
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The book was generally considered as a work of fiction, and for example Professor Philip H.J. Davies stated that the book is full of imagined conspiracies, exaggerated notions and misunderstandings of covert operations. Scholar Olav Riste said that Ganser "twisted"...
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...his research on the subject to fit his own agenda. Ganser was eventually ousted from academia after he started spreading conspiracy theories on the 9/11 attacks. Before the war he was actively spreading conspiracy theories about COVID-19. According to him, the pandemic...
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...was created by a small elite to kill, control and subjugate the society.
Daniele has also been building a cult around himself. You can join his "inner circle" for just a measly annual payment of 365 EUR. Journalist @marko_kovic (he's great, give him a follow!)...
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...joined the group and the content focused on esoteric topics like body-mind dualism and the perfect order of nature. Ganser is part of a collective called "The New Earth Manifest". The movement attempts to create a "better world" that would be ruled by the...
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"Council of the Wise Men", meaning that it's basically a totalitarian system and/or a cult ruled by Daniele and his buddies. This nonsense has already been endorsed over 24 000 people.
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As a pro-Kremlin propagandist, Ganser falls in the "Putin's invasion is illegal, BUT...," after which usually comes a litany of how it was actually the West that forced Putin to attack Ukraine. This approach is very common, and it basically stems from academic...
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...John Mearsheimer's views on the conflict. This myth of NATO expansion to old Warsaw Pact countries somehow threatens Putin's Russia, even though Putin himself has said that it has "no problem" with Finland joining NATO, adding some +1000km of NATO border with Russia.
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As is tradition, he refers to the non-existing promise of not expanding NATO eastward,a promise that was never made according to Gorbatchev himself. The phrase of NATO expanding "not one inch eastward" by the way referred to expanding NATO to East Germany,not Eastern Europe.12/24
Later in 1993, Yeltsin confirmed that "Any possible integration of east European countries into NATO will not automatically lead to the alliance somehow turning against Russia." More on NATO expansion here:
Here's Putin saying that Crimea is Ukraine.
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Danny blames the US for the events that took place in Ukraine in 2014 during the Revolution of Dignity. He claims that what happened was a "violent coup" orchestrated by the US. Daniele (and others), I suggest you read my thread on the topic:
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He's also opposed any military aid to Ukraine, saying that we need "negotiations and de-escalation" instead. I'm sure that the Russians will stop invading and killing civilians as soon as the West decides to stop the deliveries.
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Now, Ganser does not really discuss any of the events taking place in Ukraine. He focuses only on the reasons and his revisionist history of the conflict.
During one of his live Q&A's, he "researched" the Bucha massacre by reading stories from "both sides",...
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...including Der Spiegel, RT German and "Anti-Spiegel" (a pro-Kremlin propaganda outlet by Thomas Röper. Surprisingly, the arguments from the latter two convinced him, and he concluded that blaming Russia for Bucha is actually fake news.
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Scholar Michael Butter calls Daniele's method of conversing the "Ganser method". Ganser is the stereotypical conspiracy theorist who pretends to only ask questions and speculate, but who at the same time implicitly creates a conspiracy theory.
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This similar method is often used by the owner of this site. Concerning. In addition, Daniele asks leading questions and takes quotations and images out of context and at the same time conceals everything that don't fit his arguments, making them highly manipulative.
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Ganser is considered "a star of the German-speaking conspiracy scene", and he often fills large halls full of people, earning him easily over 10 000 EUR from ticket sales only. His also often appearing on alternative media platforms such as "Nachdenkseiten" and "KenFM".
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According to Daniele, he's also sold over 100 000 of his books. At least to Daniel, telling made-up stories is a lucrative business. The director of the Institute for defence policy of the Kiel University,Joachim Krause described Ganser as "a dumbing down entrepreneur who..
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...makes his living by contaminating the brains of people with conspiracy fantasies," which sounds pretty accurate to me.
Ganser likes to stage himself as the victim of the "mainstream media", and has compared himself to Hans and Sophie Scholl, siblings who handed out...
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...pamphlets criticizing the Nazi regime and were eventually executed by guillotine.
The comparison is of course ridiculous, since Ganser is probably living a luxurious life in Switzerland from all the money he's made by lying to people.
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Daniele is also a good example on how the anti-establishment position and conspiracy theories support and complement each other. Quite often, 9/11 truthers believe in COVID-19 conspiracies and bioweapons labs in Ukraine - and the Kremlin has effectively spread all of these.
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