In today's #vatnik soup I'll talk about the "fifth column": a group of people who undermine and sabotage a nation or a group from within, usually in favor of a another nation or a group. Their activities often include sabotage, disinfo & propaganda, espionage, and terrorism.
1/19
Maybe the most famous case of fifth column is Russia's illegals program. Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) trained several Russian agents to live indefinitely in the US. Their mission was to get involved in high position in the society, build contacts with ...
2/19
... executives, academics and policymakers, and gather and send intel for the SVR. These "illegals" were often given the identities of dead people and they were supposed to live a normal American life to not raise any suspicion among the common folk.
3/19
One of the best-known illegals is Anna Chapman, who became the "modern Mata Hari" that tried to seduce her way to state secrets. FBI caught up on the illegals at an early stage, and they were tracked and followed from the beginning of the program in Operation Ghost Stories.
4/19
In Jun, 2010, 11 people were arrested and the sleeper agents were charged of spying on behalf of Russia. They were later exchanged for four Russian nationals convicted on espionage on behalf of the US and UK.
5/19
The program was considered to be a failure because of its high costs and bad outcome in terms of intel gathered, but the illegals and those who spy for Russia are considered heroes, and many of them have been offered prominent positions after their return to the motherland.
6/19
Anna Chapman, the "Modern Mata Hari", has become a famous celebrity in Russia, modeling for various magazines, having her own TV show and advertising state-sponsored activities such as encouraging people to take the Sputnik-V COVID-19 jab.
7/19
Andrey Bezrukov and Yelena Vavilova are both working as authors and Andrey is also an adviser to president of Rosneft. Bezrukov & Vavilova also served as the inspiration for the main characters of the (fantastic) TV show The Americans.
8/19
Some time after this Russians started focusing more on online propaganda and cyber warfare. Russia already had a very strong hacker scene dating back to the 90s, but their new plan was something completely fresh in the propaganda sphere: ...
9/19
... they would utilize fictious "digital illegals" in hybrid warfare against the West. It provided both remoteness and implausible deniability for these digital actors, and technologies such as VPN allowed them to be geographically from any place on earth.
10/19
The most famous spawning point for digital illegals was Yegveny Prigozhin's Internet Research Agency (IRA), but the main script was written by a man named Vladislav Surkov. His idea was to polarize and confuse the West by funding various, opposing parties or organizations.
11/19
For example, IRA would fund both pro-BLM and anti-BLM movements and rally them against each other. Russian disinformation and propaganda machinery exploited the West's idea of free speech and free press, ...
12/19
... and they launched several websites and communities such as "Secured Borders" and "Blacktivists" with a sole purpose of spreading hate and confusion among the Western nations.
In 2016, a man named Matt Skiber became active in the US political sphere.
13/19
He was very active in politics and organized events such as "March for Trump" rally in NY. He arranged megaphones, designed posters, wrote press releases and communicated with other Trump supporters.
14/19
In reality, Matt Skiber wasn't a real person, but a digital illegal and a IRA employee depicting as a Trump supporter. On that particular day his job was to promote Trump and mock Hillary Clinton, but the next day it could be something completely else.
15/19
These digital illegals were extremely effective and very cheap assets, which is why Russia has been investing in them for over a decade. In this type of digital warfare, Russia was one step ahead and the West is now paying a hard price for their overlook of the phenomenon.
Many of the key figures work in both real and the digital world and they do it very effectively, and most of them are Russian immigrants with connections to Russian intelligence agencies and/or neo-nazis.
This is what a successful fifth column activity looks like.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.
1/24
Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.
2/24
Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.
1/23
Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.
2/23
One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.
1/20
The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.
2/20
From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian politician and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergey Kiriyenko. He’s best known for running both domestic and foreign disinformation and propaganda operations for the Kremlin.
1/20
On paper, and in photos, Kiriyenko is just as boring as most of the Kremlin’s “political technologists”: between 2005-2016 he headed the Rosatom nuclear energy company, but later played a leading role in the governance of Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.
2/20
What is a political technologist? In Russia, they’re spin doctors & propaganda architects who shape opinion, control narratives, and manage elections — often by faking opposition, staging events, and spreading disinfo to maintain Putin’s power and the illusion of democracy.
Let me show you how a Pakistani (or Indian, they're usually the same) AI slop farm/scam operates. The account @designbonsay is a prime example: a relatively attractive, AI-generated profile picture and a ChatGPT-style profile description are the first red flags.
1/5
The profile's posts are just generic engagement farming, usually using AI-generated photos of celebrities or relatively attractive women.
These posts are often emotionally loaded and ask the user to interact with them ("like and share if you agree!").
2/5
Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American lawyer and politician, Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee). He’s best-known for opposing the aid to Ukraine, undermining NATO by calling the US to withdraw from the alliance, and for fighting with a bunch of braindead dogs online.
1/21
Like many of the most vile vatniks out there, “Based Mike” is a lawyer by profession. He hails from the holy land of Mormons, Utah, where he faces little political competition, allowing him to make the most outrageous claims online without risking his Senate seat.
2/21
Before becoming a senator, Mike fought to let a nuclear waste company dump Italian radioactive waste in Utah, arguing it was fine if they just diluted it. The state said no, the public revolted, and the courts told poor Mikey to sit down.