In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce a Chinese ultra-nationalistic tabloid & "China's Fox News", The Global Times (GT). It's a daily newspaper published by CCP's People's Daily. The newspaper has fabricated stories, spread conspiracy theories and published disinformation.
1/12
The Chinese version was established in 1993 and it is one of the most read newspapers in China. Its popularity rose after the paper reported on Western incidents such as the accidental bombing of Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999, 9/11 and the Iraq War.
2/12
After the launch of a propaganda mill Russia Today in 2005, the Chinese government wanted to extend their overseas media reach, too. For this purpose, they launched an English version of the site in 2009, the US edition in 2013 and the South African version in 2014.
3/12
GT launched their "social media monitoring" program with "comprehensive response plans" in 2019. GT's ex-Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin adopted the combative & confrontational "wolf warrior" strategy that loudly denounces criticism towards the CCP & then focuses on counter-attack. 4/12
The term comes from the movie "Wolf Warrior 2" (really!) and can also be referred as the "No you" tactic. With this tactic, China has taken more active role in international debate, often aligning them against the "decadent West". The same tactic is applied by the Russians.
5/12
GT is best-known for its hawkish and insulting editorials and Hu Xijin has said that it shares the sentiments of CCP's politicians - meaning that it says the things that the politicians and diplomats themselves can't. Hu Xijin was fired from his position in 2021.
6/12
The paper has published several articles containing disinformation. In Jan, 2021 they urged Australia not to use the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19, while pushing their own Sinopharm vaccine. They've also spread the fake news that COVID-19 was created by Moderna.
7/12
In 2021, ProPublica and the NYT reported that GT was coordinating a state-wide campaign to deny the Uyghur human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Since then, GT has published several articles blaming the US of disinformation campaigning against China.
8/12
In Jun, 2022, GT tweeted a claim that thousands of angry protesters were marching against NATO's aid for Ukraine in Brussels. The rally had no connection to NATO, but was aimed at inflation and high prices.
9/12
GT is what in disinformation research is called an "information laundering machine". People tend to believe stories when they come from "prestigious" news sources. Propaganda producers have realized this and they've established online propaganda mills that produce biased...
10/12
... news that are then spread on social media platforms via troll farms and state actors such as diplomats and embassies to give them more credibility. These "newspapers" have little to no investigative journalism and they are heavily affected by an agenda,...
11/12
..., often copying rhetoric from fake news blogs and other propaganda mills. They also often publish aggressive editorials and op-eds, steering away the responsibility from state actors such as the CCP.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the Wagner Group, its founders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, and the mutiny they started on 23 Jun 2023. The event marked the climax of the Wagner Group–Russian MoD conflict, and finally led to the deaths of Prigozhin and Utkin.
1/22
Wagner has been used in many conflicts around the world, but they came to global prominence during the war in Donbas in 2014-2015. Wagnerites helped the Donbas separatists fight against the Ukrainians during the conflict, which helped Putin to “outsource” the insurrection.
2/22
The group doesn’t have any central ideology, but many of its members and leaders have ties to various neo—Nazi movements in Russia. For example, Wagner leader Dmitry Utkin had several Nazi symbols tattooed on his body. Neo—nazi group Rusich has also fights as part of Wagner.
3/22
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an Amsterdam-based propaganda channel, Bonanza Media (@bonanzamedia2). It’s best-known for producing & spreading online pro-Kremlin propaganda videos while closely coordinating & collaborating with the Russian intelligence agency GRU.
1/19
Russian intelligence has been extremely active in the Netherlands for a long time. For example in 2018, four GRU agents were caught while trying to hack into OPCW,an organization that monitors the use of chemical weapons. In addition, the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
2/19
…and the MH17 investigation have become targets for the Russian intelligence and propaganda operations. These operations are often complemented with “investigative journalism” media outlets, that often echo the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll talk about the recent EU elections and what are their implications for both the Kremlin and Ukraine. Right-wing political parties, some pro-Kremlin, won a lot of seats around Europe, and this result can also change the EU’s stance on Ukraine.
1/19
But before we start, I want to promote a truck fundraiser I'm doing together with the fantastic @ArturRehi and @69thSB.
Our goal is 20 000 USD, and you can contribute to this important fundraiser here:
EU’s support of Ukraine is essential for their survival against genocidal Russia. So far,this support has been delayed mostly by Orban’s Hungary (& to some degree, Fico’s Slovakia). Now, this support will probably be challenged by many new members of the European Parliament.
3/19
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss a specific propaganda/disinformation that the Kremlin likes to use – antisemitism. I also talk about how the Russian society itself has become riddled with antisemitism & how this has led to a decrease in Jewish population in the country.
1/19
Russian antisemitism works on many levels, and their narratives vary depending whether they’re targeting a local audience or people in Europe and the US. For example for the latter, Russia attempts to create a false narrative of Ukraine being an antisemitic “Nazi state”.
2/19
But before diving deeper, let’s look at a survey data of Russians in 2023: Nearly 30 million Russians harbour antisemitic attitudes, and 15% of those surveyed believed that “Jews were responsible for most of the world’s wars.” 38% think that the Jews have...
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Ukrainian media personality and propagandist, Diana Panchenko (@Panchenko_X). She’s best-known for betraying her own country by peddling anti-Zelenskyy and anti-Ukraine propaganda and disinformation for the Kremlin.
1/22
Panchenko was born in 1988 in the Mykolaev Oblast in Ukrainian SSR in 1988. She studied publishing and editing at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and later graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a degree in law.
2/22
After graduating, Diana worked briefly for the news site . Between 2010 and 2015, Panchenko was a presenter for KyivTV, but she found her true calling as a pro-Kremlin propagandist after she was hired by a national “news channel” called NewsOne.