In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce an Irish politician and a MEP from (South) Ireland: Mick Wallace. He aligns himself strongly with another Irish MEP, Clare Daly, and his love for both Russia and China has been evident in his recent comments and appearances.
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His political career started at the Irish 2011 general election, and he was elected as an MEP in the 2019 European Parliament election. Wallace falls to the general category of "anti-imperialists", basically meaning anti-US and NATO.
2/13
Wallace's views also line up perfectly with folk from the fake news blog The Grayzone: he's supported Venezuela, China, Russia, Belarus and Syria during his period as an MEP.
So if there's an authoritarian regime somewhere, it probably has Mick's support!
3/13
He's called the Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya a "pawn of Western neoliberalism", and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as an "unelected gobshite".
In 2021, he visited the HQ of "Popular Mobilization Forces" an Iraqi militia supported by Iran.4/13
He also blamed the Syrian volunteer organization "White Helmets" - who have revealed several atrocities by the al-Assad troops in Syria, including bombings of hospitals - being corrupt and "paid for by the US and UK to carry out regime change in Syria".
5/13
He was also one of the few MEPs who voted against condemning Nicagarua's Daniel Ortega for his human rights violations.
Wallace attempted to wipe out parts about the Russian involvement in the shooting down of MH17, which stirred up some emotions inside his MEP party.
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He's also criticized the sanctions imposed on Russian individuals by the US and EU as being illegal and not complying to the UN Charter. Mick has also attended protests supporting Algirdas Paleckis, a Lithuanian politician who was convicted of spying on behalf of Russia.
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He's also voted against Ukraine aid packages, demands of Putin to withdraw Russia's troops from Ukraine and against a resolution to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.
In Mick's defense, he's also called for peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
8/13
Incidentally, like so many other vatnik, this support started only after Russia's illegal annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhanks & Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Mick Wallace doesn't love just Russia - he also puts a lot time and effort to supporting China's geopolitical goals.
9/13
He has downplayed the Uyghur concentration camps and called the reports on them "grossly exaggerated". In 2021 he stated that there is no solid evidence of the existence of these camps. Overwhelming evidence about the existence of these camps have been presented since 2017.
10/13
In an interview by the Global Times,a Chinese state-run newspaper,he said that China "takes better care of its people" than the EU.Mick's also in the "Taiwan is part of CCP" gang. He's been featured the most in Chinese-language news articles than any other Irish person.
11/13
Wallace's company declared bankruptcy on Dec,2016 with debts over 30 million EUR. Mick seems to be very bad with money in general: in 2012 it emerged that his company forgot to pay 2,1 million EUR in taxes.Later on he admitted "fiddling" his company's VAT returns on purpose.12/13
Bad financing seems to be almost an epidemic among pro-Russian actors...
Mick was going speak at the NO2NATONO2WAR event in Feb, 2023 with The Grayzone gang and other vatniks, but the venue cancelled their booking.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the agenda-setting and flood of disinformation that spread on X and other platforms right after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It’s far from the first or last time a tragedy has been weaponized for political purposes.
1/18
Every major political event, especially those involving violence, attracts massive attention. In the immediate aftermath, reliable information is scarce, making it highly vulnerable to both coordinated and improvised disinformation campaigns.
2/18
As I’ve mentioned in my previous soups and lectures, in disinformation campaigns, being first with a narrative is crucial, as people often remember the first version best — psychology studies show it sets the mental schema, and later updates rarely overwrite it.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce American social media personality David Freeman, AKA Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman). He’s best known for spreading political disinformation on X and shamelessly sucking up to Trump, Putin, and other authoritarian leaders.
1/22
David is a textbook example of someone profiting from MAGA grievance politics. He uses extreme, provocative language to farm engagement on X and never hesitates to flatter anyone who might give him more exposure — or money.
2/22
But David wasn’t always like this. At some point, in his mid-40s, he even tried a real job: he trained to become a cop. He spent three years with the Metro Transit PD, but after that he either got fired or quit, and never looked back.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian-Estonian businessman, Oleg Ossinovski. He is best-known for his deep ties to Russian rail and energy networks, shady cross-border dealings, and for channeling his wealth into Estonian politics.
1/14
Oleg made his fortune via Spacecom Trans & Skinest Rail, both deeply tied to Russia’s rail system. Most of this is through Globaltrans Investments PLC, a Cyprus-based firm with 62% held via Spacecom and tens of millions in yearly profits.
2/14
Ossinovski’s Russian-linked ventures made him Estonia’s richest man in 2014, with an estimated fortune of ~€300M. His business empire stretched across railways, oil via Alexela shares, and Russian bitumen imports from Help-Oil, a supplier to the Defense Ministry.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Swiss/French writer, Alain Bonnet, aka Alain Soral (@officielsoral). He’s best known for his rabid antisemitism and for his pathetic support for all the worst authoritarian regimes from Russia to North Korea.
1/22
Alain’s childhood was problematic, as his father has been characterized as a “narcissistic pervert” who beat his children and did jail time for fraud. Alain himself has said he was “programmed to be a monster.” Born Alain Bonnet, he took the stage name of his sister,…
2/22
… actress Agnès Soral. She wasn’t too happy about this, commenting “How would you like to be called Agnès Hitler?”. Like many grifters, he became a pick-up/seduction artist writer, à la late Gonzalo Lira, writing books and even making a B-movie, “Confessions d’un dragueur”.
3/22
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.