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.

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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 ...

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... 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.

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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.

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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".

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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 ...

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... 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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…

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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.

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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.

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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

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Jul 7
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American national security policy professional and the current under secretary of defense for policy, Elbridge Colby (@ElbridgeColby). He’s best-known for fighting with cartoon dogs online and for halting military aid to Ukraine.

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Elbridge "Cheese" Colby earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Before entering government, he worked at top think tanks and in the intelligence community, focusing on nuclear policy and strategic planning.

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Cheese quickly became a key voice for a “China First” strategy, arguing the US must prioritize military buildup in Asia over commitments in Europe or the Middle East. He sees (or saw, rather) Taiwan as the core test of US credibility.

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Read 23 tweets
Jul 6
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’m going to talk about… Vatnik Soup! As some of you know, we also have a website where you can find every soup ever published. The site also has other useful resources, making it the most comprehensive resource on Russian disinformation & vatniks.

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Unfortunately, Elon has flagged the website as malware, as he might not be very happy about the soups I wrote about him - so far, they have garnered over 60 million views on X/Twitter.

The “freedom of speech” spokesperson doesn’t seem too keen on free speech, after all.

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The heart & soul of the website is of course the soups page. There you can find all 360+ soups, which can be sorted chronologically, by popularity, etc. You can also search for soups by title or even in the soup text:

3/15

vatniksoup.com/en/soups/
Read 15 tweets
Jul 1
In today’s Wumao Soup, I’ll introduce how and where the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) online propaganda and influence operations work. Due to China’s massive population and advances in AI, CCP-aligned online content has become increasingly visible.

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Like Russia’s troll farms, China has its own troll army: the “50 Cent Party” or “Wumao” refers to state-linked online commentators who are reportedly paid ¥0.50 per post to steer discussions away from criticism and amplify CCP narratives on social media.

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Back in 2017, a research paper estimated that the Wumao produced almost 500 million fabricated comments annually to distract readers and shift topics. In that sense, Wumao operates very similarly to the Russian “Firehose of Falsehood” model:

3/20

Read 21 tweets
Jun 26
In today’s Vatnik Soup and the “Degenerate Russia” series, I’ll show you the brutal reality of Russian war crimes, in particular the horrific tortures and sexual abuses of children, women and men.

Buckle up, this one is not for the faint-hearted.

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For over a decade now and as part of their “firehose of falsehood” propaganda strategy, Russia has been spreading false narratives targeted at right-wing/conservative audiences, portraying russia as a bastion of Christian, traditional,family values.

2/24

In the previous “degenerate Russia” series we discussed Russia’s insanely high divorce rates, rampant domestic violence, high murder rates, thriving neo-Nazi culture, corruption of the Orthodox Church, and their massive demographic problem:

3/24

Read 26 tweets
Jun 24
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explore how Russia is working with Iran, and how the recent Israel–US strikes on Iran could affect the war in Ukraine. Iran has been one of Russia’s key allies in their genocidal war, but in reality the partnership is deeply one-sided.

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Historically, Russia/USSR has been involved in numerous wars in the Middle East, invading Afghanistan for nearly a decade and desperately trying to keep Syria’s authoritarian leader, al-Assad, in power before his eventual downfall.

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While initially supportive of Israel, the Soviet Union quickly pivoted to backing its enemies, fueling antisemitism, terrorism, and chaos in an already tense region. At times, this meant near-open war, like when Soviet Air Force MiG-21s were shot down by Israel over Egypt.

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Read 22 tweets
Jun 20
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll re-introduce a Latvian politician and former MEP, Tatjana Ždanoka. She’s best-known for her history in the Communist Party of Latvia, for her pro-Russian politics in the country, and her connections to Russian intelligence.

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Based on Ždanoka’s speeches and social media posts, she has a deep hatred towards the people of Latvia. The reason for this can only be speculated, but part of it could be due to her paternal family being killed by the Latvian Auxiliary Police,…

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…a paramilitary force supported by the Nazis, during the early 1940s. Ždanoka became politically active in the late 80s. She was one of the leaders of Interfront, a political party that supported Latvia remaining part of the USSR.

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Read 23 tweets

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