Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Jan 12, 2023 12 tweets 5 min read Read on X
In today's #vatnik soup we'll travel to the land of tulips & get to know a Dutch politician & a conspiracy theorist, Thierry Baudet (@thierrybaudet). He's the founder and leader of Forum for Democracy (FvD) party and also a member of the House of representatives since 2017.

1/12
Thierry belongs to the group of Eurosceptics, and advocates for both the Netherlands' exit from EU and the dissolution of the whole institution. He has strongly opposed the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement that promotes the economic collaboration between the two.

2/12
This agreement was made in 2017 & during the campaign, he spread a ton of fake news, including false reported of crimes by the Ukrainian military: nytimes.com/2017/02/16/wor…

Baudet was strongly against the EU sanctions on Russian individuals after the occupation of Crimea.

3/12
In Nov, 2016, Baudet co-signed an open letter requesting for a new investigation on MH17. The letter also requested Trump to do another investigation on the incident. In FvD's 2017 election program, they stated that relations should be normalized between the EU and Russia.

4/12
In 2020 Dutch TV program Zembla published Whatsapp group messages with interaction between Baudet and Russian Vladimir Kornilov. Based on NYT, Kornilov has ties to the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin, and in his messages Baudet described him as "a Russian who works for Putin."

5/12
FvD's then-treasurer Henk Otten said that he wanted to stop working as a commentator on the the TV network Powned, and suggested that "Maybe Kornilov wants to pay some extra".

After the messages were published, Thierry switched immediately to damage control mode...

6/12
...declaring that the conversations about Kornilov were a "running gag" and "playful exaggeration".The leaked messages also revealed that he wanted Netherlands to leave NATO,despite the party's election program declaring that Dutch collaboration with NATO should be increased.7/12
The messages also revealed a racist-y side of Thierry, and in one chat he said that white people had an average IQ of 110, while Hispanics averaged at 90 and African-Americans at 75. The party members also discussed if they'd mind if their sister "came home with a negro". 8/12
In Apr, 2020 Whatsapp messages from FvD's youth wing revealed a lot of anti-Semitic and homophobic rhetoric. The group's members also glorified mass murderers Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant.

Besides his love for classical music, Baudet also enjoys conspiracy theories:...9/12
... he has promoted the idea that the world is controlled by evil lizard people, called the EU being "a Cultural Marxist project, with the aim of destroying European Civilization", and suggested that COVID-19 was introduced by George Soros in order to "steal freedom".

10/12
In addition, he has parroted the age old claim that the 2022 war in Ukraine is the fault of the West, called Putin "the hero we need" and that he is the only one who can take on the elite (possibly referring to WEF conspiracy theory).

11/12
He has said that Putin must win the war in Ukraine and that "we must do everything we can to support him".

"Useful idiots":
Conspiracy theories:

12/12

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Aug 18
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.

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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.

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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.

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Read 25 tweets
Aug 11
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 Photo by JULIE OLIVER /Postmedia
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.

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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.

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Read 24 tweets
Aug 6
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.

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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.

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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.

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Read 21 tweets
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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Read 23 tweets

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