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 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!").
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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.
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.
1/21
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.
2/21
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.
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
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
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: