In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce an ex-Army man and conspiracy theorist Michael Flynn. His tenure as the National Security Advisor is the shortest in history, as he had misled VP Pence and lied to the FBI about his dealings with the Russians.
1/17
He served in Afghanistan and in Iraq and rose quickly in rank in the US Army. Throughout his career, he forgot an important idiom, "loose lips sink ships" and shared secret intel very openly: in one incident, he revealed sensitive US intel to Pakistani officials ...
2/17
... on the militant Haqqani network, but it turned out that Haqqani was actually a proxy ally of Pakistan. He was also investigated by the CIA for allegedly sharing highly classified intel with Australian and British forces.
3/17
In 2011, Flynn started working at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Flynn was criticized by his colleagues for his chaotic management style and his views on counter terrorism, and he was released from DIA in mid-2014.
4/17
A leaked e-mail revealed that he was let go because he was "abusive with staff, didn't listen, worked against policy, bad management, etc." He also tended to lie a lot, and his assertions were referred to as "Flynn facts".
5/17
For some reason, Flynn really liked dealing with the Russians. In 2013, while working at the DIA, he became the first US officer to visit Russian military intelligence's (GRU) headquarters in 2013. In 2014, Flynn had a close association with a Russian woman ...
6/17
... and the event was reported to the American authorities.
In Dec, 2015, Flynn attended RT's 10th anniversary gala in Moscow. At the event he was seated next to Putin and gave a talk on world affairs. For this gig, he was paid 45 000 USD.
7/17
His consulting firm Flynn Intel Group Inc. also got lucrative deals from Russian companies in 2015. He received a total of 65 000 USD from companies such as Kaspersky Lab and Volga-Dnepr Airlines.
8/17
But he didn't help just Russia - In Sep, 2016, he was consulting a company linked to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.This work paid him 530 000USD and was completed in 2016, but he only registered himself as a foreign agent in 2017. Incidentally, Flynn had condemned...9/17
..Erdogan's regime earlier,praising the ongoing coup d'état attempt against him,but apparently the money changed his mind later on. In 2017 he was discussing with Turkish officials about abducting a Turkish dissident to Turkey,thus bypassing the US extradition legal process.10/17
In 2016 Trump asked Flynn to serve as an advisor on his presidential campaign and was even considered being his running mate. During Trump's campaign, he posted anti-Semitic and conspiracy theory content, including the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.
11/17
Flynn was awarded a position as Trump's National Security Advisor. While there, he did several phone calls with Russian diplomat Sergey Kislyak.During these calls, the two discussed about the election interference, sanctions on Russian officials & UN Security Council vote.
12/17
These conversations were intercepted by the FBI as part of a routine surveillance and were later on published by the press.
In Feb, 2017, Flynn resigned as National Security Advisor and in Dec, 2017 Trump said that he had to fire Flynn because he lied to the VP Pence and the FBI.
In Dec, 2017, Flynn agreed to a plea bargain and pleaded guilty about lying to the FBI about the Kislyak phone calls.14/17
His sentencing was delayed several times, and he was eventually pardoned by president Trump in Nov, 2020. Just days after being pardoned, he tweeted that Trump should declare Martial Law and call for re-vote. He also took part in "Stop the Steal" rallies.
15/17
Flynn has been connected to the QAnon movement, and CNN published a video of Flynn doing a QAnon oath with his close family. In leaked text messages and phone calls between Flynn and a QAnon follower, he said that QAnon was a psyop by "the Left" or by the CIA.
16/17
These days he's participating in right wing,conservative events like ReAwaken America & Patriot Roundup,that consist of QAnon followers,Christian nationalists,election deniers, antivaxxers, insurrectionists and,well, you know the type.
Related soups:
In today´s #vatniksoup REBREW, I´ll introduce a Hungarian lawyer and politician, Viktor Orbán (@PM_ViktorOrban). He´s best-known for turning Hungary into an authoritarian state, and for cooperating with other authoritarian regimes like the Kremlin, the CCP and Iran.
1/24
Orbán has been Hungary´s Prime Minister since 2010, and under his leadership the country has basically become the first nondemocracy in the EU. Orbán himself has described Hungary as an "illiberal state", and he´s used the Kremlin playbook to create it.
2/24
He created a nationwide right-wing media network and interfering with independent media has plummeted Hungary´s Press Freedom Index into 67th place, one of the worst in the EU. The state has also spied on Hungarian journalists by using the infamous Pegasus spyware.
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Russian social media personality and vatnik archetype, Mr. G (@Wagnersfamily). He's best-known for sharing the most outrageous Kremlin lies, albeit previously being extremely anti-Putin and Kremlin, even coining the term "vatnik".
1/19
It's worth noting, that G is an extremely irrelevant account and person, but his almost comical descent from an anti-Putin, fully fledged Russian Liberal, to full blown vatnik, who doesn't hesitate to lie and naturally lives outside of Russia, is worth demonstrating.
2/19
In his liberal days G was dedicated to popularizing the vatnik meme. He ran the site together with his friend, and also the @trueVATNIK Twitter account, which went inactive in 2015, but was popular in circles opposed to Putin's imperialist ambitions.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll intoduce an Italian propagandist, Vittorio Nicola Rangeloni. He’s best-known for producing pro-Kremlin propaganda from Donbas for the Italian-speaking audience, and for breaking the Geneve conventions by interviewing prisoners of war.
1/19
Rango grew up in Lecco, Italy. His mother was Russian, and because of this young Vittorio was told about the virtues and wonders of Russkiy Mir and the superiority of the communist system.
2/19
In his early 20s, Rango was yet to discover his role in this world. He enjoyed traveling, and decided to take his humble savings of 3000 EUR to relocate to his dream destination in the newly formed and completely made-up Donetsk People’s Republic.
I've actually noticed this trend on TikTok with our videos - they do relatively well on YouTube, Instagram and X, but fail miserably on CCP's spying app. In the second photo you can see views for our videos, on other platforms these ranged from 500 to 120 000.
"TikTok is more focused on entertainment, dance videos and such" - Well, not really. According to a study, account registered as a 13 year old was quickly served with conflict-related content, and the account quickly delved deep into the conflict rabbit hole.
I decided to do a little non-scientific test: I created an account, used VPN to relocate myself to the US, and just watched what the TikTok algorithm offered me. I didn't like or comment any videos and finished every video that was shown. My age was set to 18.
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At first, the algorithm seemed to show me some of the most popular videos on the platform, mostly consisting of cute animals, comedy and babies.
Then, after 30 or so videos, I was shown this video demonstrating the "superiority" of Chinese kindergartens.
2/4
Then, a few more cute animals and a relatively attractive girl dancing. Then, again video about Chinese kindergartens. This time I wanted to see what happens if I interact with the post, and I liked the video.
In today´s #vatniksoup REBREW, I´ll introduce a Canadian propagandist & social media personality, Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate). He´s best-known for whitewashing al-Assad´s & Russia's war crimes in Syria & for denying Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections.
1/24
Maté´s biography reads an awful lot like his collaborator @MaxBlumenthal´s. Another failson of a well-to-do and famous father, in this case, of bestselling Canadian pop psychologist Gabor Maté, Aaron similarly fought a losing struggle to make a career in liberal journalism.
2/24
Maté´s personal life is also a bit weird. Records show he was married to a former NPR reporter named @StarleeKine, yet neither he nor Kine have ever publicly acknowledged their marriage on social media,even at the time it took place. Perhaps this is because it also...
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American propagandist and political commentator, Ben Swann (@BenSwann_). He's best-known for spreading conspiracy theories related to 9/11, vaccines & Pizzagate, and for running several Kremlin-funded disinformation channels.
1/20
Homeschooled with nine brothers and sisters, Benny turned out to be a talented young man, earning his Master's degree in history at the age of 16.
He was also working as a youth pastor at his local Baptist church at the age of 15.
2/20
Ben's family was heavily involved in TV, and he also started working for various channels, first as a cameraman and later as an investigative journalist. Eventually he launched his own news segment called Reality Check, in which he promoted libertarian views and Ron Paul.