Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Jan 4, 2023 17 tweets 7 min read Read on X
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 Image
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.

The full transcript of their conversations can be seen here: int.nyt.com/data/documenth…

13/17
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:
17/17

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Pekka Kallioniemi

Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @P_Kallioniemi

Jun 26
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the Wagner Group, its founders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, and the mutiny they started on 23 Jun 2023. The event marked the climax of the Wagner Group–Russian MoD conflict, and finally led to the deaths of Prigozhin and Utkin.

1/22 Image
Wagner has been used in many conflicts around the world, but they came to global prominence during the war in Donbas in 2014-2015. Wagnerites helped the Donbas separatists fight against the Ukrainians during the conflict, which helped Putin to “outsource” the insurrection.

2/22 Image
The group doesn’t have any central ideology, but many of its members and leaders have ties to various neo—Nazi movements in Russia. For example, Wagner leader Dmitry Utkin had several Nazi symbols tattooed on his body. Neo—nazi group Rusich has also fights as part of Wagner.
3/22

Image
Image
Image
Read 23 tweets
Jun 20
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an Amsterdam-based propaganda channel, Bonanza Media (@bonanzamedia2). It’s best-known for producing & spreading online pro-Kremlin propaganda videos while closely coordinating & collaborating with the Russian intelligence agency GRU.
1/19 Image
Russian intelligence has been extremely active in the Netherlands for a long time. For example in 2018, four GRU agents were caught while trying to hack into OPCW,an organization that monitors the use of chemical weapons. In addition, the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
2/19 Image
…and the MH17 investigation have become targets for the Russian intelligence and propaganda operations. These operations are often complemented with “investigative journalism” media outlets, that often echo the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation.

3/19 Image
Read 20 tweets
Jun 14
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll talk about the recent EU elections and what are their implications for both the Kremlin and Ukraine. Right-wing political parties, some pro-Kremlin, won a lot of seats around Europe, and this result can also change the EU’s stance on Ukraine.

1/19 Image
But before we start, I want to promote a truck fundraiser I'm doing together with the fantastic @ArturRehi and @69thSB.

Our goal is 20 000 USD, and you can contribute to this important fundraiser here:

2/19artursarmy.com/contribute/reh…
EU’s support of Ukraine is essential for their survival against genocidal Russia. So far,this support has been delayed mostly by Orban’s Hungary (& to some degree, Fico’s Slovakia). Now, this support will probably be challenged by many new members of the European Parliament.
3/19
Image
Image
Read 20 tweets
Jun 14
None of these clowns (Wallace, Zdanoka and Daly) were elected to the European Parliament.

It's a bad day for authoritarian regime apologists around the world.

1/4 Image
Read 4 tweets
Jun 12
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss a specific propaganda/disinformation that the Kremlin likes to use – antisemitism. I also talk about how the Russian society itself has become riddled with antisemitism & how this has led to a decrease in Jewish population in the country.
1/19 Image
Russian antisemitism works on many levels, and their narratives vary depending whether they’re targeting a local audience or people in Europe and the US. For example for the latter, Russia attempts to create a false narrative of Ukraine being an antisemitic “Nazi state”.

2/19 Image
But before diving deeper, let’s look at a survey data of Russians in 2023: Nearly 30 million Russians harbour antisemitic attitudes, and 15% of those surveyed believed that “Jews were responsible for most of the world’s wars.” 38% think that the Jews have...

3/19
Image
Image
Read 20 tweets
Jun 5
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Ukrainian media personality and propagandist, Diana Panchenko (@Panchenko_X). She’s best-known for betraying her own country by peddling anti-Zelenskyy and anti-Ukraine propaganda and disinformation for the Kremlin.

1/22 Image
Panchenko was born in 1988 in the Mykolaev Oblast in Ukrainian SSR in 1988. She studied publishing and editing at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and later graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a degree in law.

2/22 Image
After graduating, Diana worked briefly for the news site . Between 2010 and 2015, Panchenko was a presenter for KyivTV, but she found her true calling as a pro-Kremlin propagandist after she was hired by a national “news channel” called NewsOne.

3/22 Gazeta.ua

Image
Image
Read 22 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(