In today's Finnish #vatnik's, I'll introduce you to a podcast called LEVELI. The main hosts of the show are two gentlemen: Nico Giansanti (.@ReaverTeknoGods) and Milad Dehghan.
Embrace yourselves, 'tis is a rather long one. 🧵1/11
LEVELI podcast was started on April in 2020. At the beginning, the show was hosting guests that ranged from minor celebrities to actual well-known celebs (e.g. Mikko Hyppönen (.@mikko) and even the Finland's biggest OSINT star, .@emilkastehelmi) in the Finnish media sphere. 2/11
From the beginning, LEVELI was very anti-establishment and countercultural with conspiracies, mysticism and numerology thrown in the mix. They also covered more lighthearted topics such as social media drama and e-celebs. 3/11
In 2021,both Nico and Milad decided to run in the 🇫🇮 municipal elections. They chose their party, True Finns, based on an online poll conducted during one of their podcasts. Milad was elected to Vantaa city council and Nico earned the seat of deputy city council in Helsinki. 4/11
They were eventually sacked from True Finns for criticising the party leadership. Party secretary Arto Luukkanen (.@ArtoLuukkanen) commented that "Anyone can look at their podcast and figure out the reason for this [the sacking]". 5/11
After this, the duo joined Ano Turtiainen's (.@TurtiainenAno) VKK party ("Power to the people"). This group is by far the most Russian leaning party in Finland, and their sole MP Ano has constantly stated the sanctions against Russia should be lifted. 6/11
LEVELI is divided into different segments. In one of them, they go through and discuss different news and counterculture news. Another key segment is the part where they ridicule people who they disagree with, for example politicians and journalists. 7/11
In one show they fried Finnish president Sauli Niinistö (.@niinisto) in an electric chair. In another one Milad praises 🇷🇺's mobilization celebrations.After 🇷🇺 attacked Ukraine in Feb 2021,their podcast has dedicated large segments to spreading Russian disinfo and propaganda.8/11
Generally their reporting and discussion is extremely biased,and they often make assumptions based on conspiracies, numerology and other pseudoscientific bs. Topics vary from COVID-19 conspiracies, alleged corruption in Finland/West, WEF/Great Reset, anti-NATO narratives,etc.9/11
LEVELI has been looking for various monetization channels throughout the years. Probably most of their income comes from individual benefactors on their stream, but they also have a subscription model with private channels, etc. 10/11
They also sell some merch through their website (including #jauhojengi shirts). Both Milad and Nico are also doing music and trying to start several sub-projects such as MMA and travel shows. 11/11
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In today’s Vatnik Soup, made together with chef invité @Martinlaineolen, we discuss the extensive links between pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and Russian officials and intelligence operatives, and how Western politicians reinforced these links.
1/23
While MAGA influencers remain silent on Epstein, pro-Kremlin propagandists and bot farms have expectedly launched an anti-Ukraine online operation, spreading fake narratives that connect Ukraine, its politicians, and the late sex trafficker.
2/23
But the emails paint a very different picture: in reality, Epstein had very close connections with Russian officials and intelligence operatives, and even built bridges and arranged meetings between MAGA figures and the Kremlin.
In this 5th Debunk of the Day, we’ll discuss something that sounds great in theory, but was completely turned upside-down by the tankie kind of vatnik: anti-imperialism. More consistent anti-imperialists call this the “anti-imperialism of idiots”. 1/5
“Anti-imperialism” was popularized by Lenin, who saw imperialism as the ultimate stage of capitalism. Ironically, the largest empire is now… Putin’s Russia, proud heir to both Lenin’s Soviet Union and to the Tsarist Empire. 2/5
Indeed, Russia is an empire that is still ruled by a de facto all-powerful Tsar, that still proudly flies its imperial flag, that still dreams of expanding its already huge territory through brutal conquest and colonization. 3/5
In this 4th Debunk of the Day, we’ll refute an absolute classic of vatnik BS, the crown jewel of peak dishonesty: whataboutism.
Now, not everything that looks like whataboutism is wrong. Seeking consistency or comparing actions or responses is normal. 1/5
But when someone pulls some completely unrelated event, that happened to completely different people, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, you know what you’re dealing with: a crass denial of the problem at hand, a bad-faith attempt to derail the topic. 2/5
Logic or chronology plays no role here, nor your opinion on these other topics. You could be the staunchest critic or supporter of these other actions thrown into the discussion, it doesn’t matter. It is irrelevant whether these other things are true or not, or bad or not. 3/5
In this 3rd Debunk of the Day, we’ll talk about… “ending” the war by surrendering or ceding territory.
Nearing four years of the 2-day “special military operation”, Russia is desperate to obtain through other means what they failed to conquer on the battlefield. 1/5
An endless army of vatniks therefore tries to demoralize both Ukrainians and supporters.
They sound noble: “anti-war” or concerned about the fate of Ukraine’s civilians, soldiers and cities. They claim that if we just stop fighting or helping, this horror would magically end. 2/5
What they never mention is… WHO started the war, WHO murders Ukrainians, WHO destroys Ukrainian cities: the same monsters they suggest Ukrainians be at the mercy of. Surrendering wouldn’t end the atrocities of the occupation, it would enable them. Surrendering wouldn’t even…3/5
In today’s Debunk of the Day (2), we’ll look at… nuclear blackmail. Vatniks love using Russia’s nuclear threats as a reason for surrendering or for not lifting a finger to help Ukraine: “see, they have nukes, we have to give them whatever they want”.
The argument is absurd: 1/5
Nuclear deterrence has been a reality for decades. Both the US and Russia have lost wars without resorting to nukes. We are not submitting to the whims of Pakistan or North Korea either. For vatniks, it’s just an insidious way of siding with Putin. 2/5
We can’t just give in to the Kremlin’s nuclear blackmail, to the threats their officials and propagandists make five times a day to scare us into letting them have something they know perfectly well is not theirs, with no limit to their appetite. 3/5 vatniksoup.com/en/nuclear-thr…
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce a Ukrainian “scholar” and social media activist, Marta Havryshko (@HavryshkoMarta). She’s best known for spreading anti-Ukraine and pro-Kremlin narratives online, along with a habit of spotting neo-Nazis everywhere in Ukraine.
1/20
Marta hails from Ukraine, where she studied history at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. She received her PhD in history in 2010. Her academic work focused on gender-based violence and wartime atrocities, including publications on sexual crimes in occupied Ukraine.
2/20
She is currently working as a visiting Assistant Professor at the Strassler Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Clark University in the US. According to the center’s website, Marta teaches courses on antisemitism, racism, and gender-based violence in armed conflicts.