Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Jan 11, 2023 13 tweets 6 min read Read on X
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.

1/13
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.

6/13
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.

7/13
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.

The Grayzone:

13/13

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Jul 28
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 Image
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 Image
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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.

3/20 Image
Read 21 tweets
Jul 27
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 Image
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!").

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Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.

Country code for the phone number is in Pakistan.

3/5 Image
Read 5 tweets
Jul 15
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 Image
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.

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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.

3/21 Image
Read 23 tweets
Jul 14
While Ukrainians are terror bombed on a daily basis, rich Russians live in Europe like kings and queens.

This young lady lives in Portugal, and travels freely to Ibiza...
...the Alps...
... and of course Paris.
Read 5 tweets
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.

1/15 Image
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.

2/15 Image
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

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