In today's #vatnik soup I'll discuss the power of photography & portraits. Using specific photos, propagandists can create powerful image of a person. Putin's marketing crew has been exceptionally good at this by often using old photographs of Vlad that reek of testosterone. 1/6
For example, this video of Putin is used in many occasions, even on the Western media. It is from 2015, and it's the image of Putin Kremlin wants to present. It's been used in news excerpts and propaganda clips throughout the years.
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Another image that is spread around a lot is the one where Putin is horseback riding shirtless. This particular image is from 2009.
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This way Kremlin has been trying to set up a standard imagery that is used when Putin is presented in the media, but after Russia's invasion in Ukraine started, all this changed.
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Most Western venues started using more recent images of Putin where he's holding the table with his
hands or looking like a babushka who's had too much plastic surgery.
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Use of specific imagery, outlets can set the tone of the article and create a powerful image of a person. By the way, here's an image of Finnish PM Sanna Marin from 2009. Do you think that constant use of this image would benefit or hinder Marin's public image?
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After the unfortunate divorce of two main actors of Fennotravels, Janus Putkonen decided to do one final trip with "Finnish patriots" to Russian Murmansk. The trip is taking place during 2.-4. Dec, 2022.
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Janus has previously been at Murmansk creating casus belli against Finland by "criticizing Finland's treatment of indigenous people". Mr. Putkonen even "talked" with an imaginary UN official, Rashid Aluashi, about the situation.
In today's #vatnik soup and in the 2nd edition of "You pronounced this nonsense, not me", I'll introduce some of the outlandish lies and disinformation regarding Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and how he has managed to counter these smear campaigns.
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Since day one of the invasion he's been the #1 target for Russian propaganda - why? Because Russia lost their own man, Viktor Yanukovych, during the Euromaidan uprising. Yanukovych fled Kyiv and is now living in exile in Russia.
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At the beginning of the war, 🇷🇺 assumed that Zelenskyy, a man mostly known for his acting career, would quickly fold and leave Ukraine. Immediately after 🇷🇺's full-scale invasion begun, Kreml started spreading disinfo that Zelenskyy had already fled from Ukraine to Poland.
In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce a politician who loves EU money but also 🇷🇺 energy.His name
is Viktor Orbán and he's been 🇭🇺's PM since 2010.Orbán is the ultimate opportunist,begging for gas from Russia & at the same time hoarding all the money he can get from the EU. 1/11
Because of his limitations on press freedom, judicial system, and multiparty democracy, and attacks against immigrants and marginal groups, Hungary's democracy has been described as being in deep decline. 2/11
Due to this 🇭🇺dropped 11 places in the EIU's Democracy Index and Freedom House downgraded their rating from "Free" to "Partly free". The Economist went as far as calling Orbán's Hungary an "authoritarian kleptocracy". 3/11
In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce one of the main architects of 🇷🇺 geopolitics,Alexander Dugin.He's a far-right political philosopher,analyst & of course a
fascist.His influence over Putin is disputed,but his books seem to be a blueprint for 🇷🇺's geopolitical strategy. 1/10
In the early 80's,Dugin joined a dissident group called Yuzhinsky circle that dabbled with Satanism and esoteric Nazism.During that time,he even got a nickname,Hans Sievers,referencing a Nazi researcher of the paranormal.He also got interested in the writings of Julius Evola 2/10
In his 1997 essay, Dugin described serial killer and a pedophile Andrei Chikatilo as a mystic and as a practitioner of Dionysian sacraments. Chikatilo killed and raped over 50 women and children during the 70s and the 80s: thebulwark.com/aleksandr-dugi…
In today's #vatnik soup I'll discuss nazis. I'll introduce some famous 🇷🇺 neo-nazi movements and figures and also discuss why the "de-nazification" project of Ukraine is simply absurd.
First, let's discuss the similarities between Russian regime and Hitler's nazi Germany. 1/12
Both of these countries share attributes that are commonly seen in totalitarian regimes: full state control of media, murdering and jailing of dissidents and opposition and powerful propaganda machinery that demonizes the enemy.
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Like Hitler's regime did with Jews, Putin's gang has been trying to wipe out the Ukrainian identity and culture. This rhretoric has been visible in many of Putin's speeches but also in op-eds and articles such as Timofey Sergeytsev's ...
In today's #vatnik soup I'll discuss the "decadent West" and how the USSR and Russian policies has affected their culture and society. One of the most persistent narratives that the Kremlin has touted is the collapse of Western civilization. 1/12
Based on their propaganda, this is due to straying from "traditional values" and promotion of gender equality, human rights and multiculturalism. This is by no means a new thing - "the decaying west" was already portrayed in Russia in the 19th century. 2/12
This trope evokes weakly defined concepts such as "tradition", "family values" and "spirituality". Russia considers itself as a counterweight to Western decadence and this is one of their key narratives in disinformation campaigns conducted in the West. 3/12