Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Jan 17, 2023 19 tweets 8 min read Read on X
In today's #vatnik soup I'll be introducing a British reality TV star and a propagandist, George Galloway (@georgegalloway). He's best known for his appearance on Big Brother, affiliation with Russia state-media & his love for various authoritarian regimes around the globe.

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Galloway has been a MP in 1987-2010 and in 2012-2015. He's currently leading the Workers Party of Britain, a party which has never held any elected presentation at any level of government.

George also doesn't like it when he's connected to Russia-state affiliated medias.

2/15
George has been a fan boy of several totalitarian leaders since the 90's. In 1994, during his unauthorized trip to Iraq, he met with Saddam Hussein and ended up his speech with a famous statement: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability."

3/15
After Saddam's demise, Galloway defended Iraqi suicide bombers who targeted Western forces, calling them "martyrs". His political views are on the left & in 2002 interview he said that the collapse of the USSR was "the biggest catastrophe of my life". He's also stated that.. 4/15
... "I am a Socialist who doesn't like Capitalism and who likes Imperialism less. I am a revolutionary and I support the armed struggle where there is no alternative."

For being a socialist, Georgie sure loves money and luxury.

5/15
In 1986 he was claimed to have spent 20 000£ while "enjoying a life of luxury". He was later cleared of these accusations, but he did end up repaying 1720£ in contested expenses. While working for Press TV, Al-Mayadeen & RT, he had spent 70 000£ in flights and hotels.

6/15
Galloway was also a founder of the Mariam Appeal, a political campaign that provided medical assistance to the people of Iraq. Galloway faced several investigations related to the campaign, for example using the donation money for his personal travel expenses.

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The campaign raised significant funds but was never registered as a charity organization. A 2017 claim stated that George's then wife Abu-Zayyad had received 84 000£ in salary and expenses without a contract of employment.

8/15
The Yorkhill NHS Trust received 54 000£ that was allegedly supposed to be spent on the leukemia treatment for Mariam Hamza. Galloway and his then wife, the trustees of the organization, claimed 3000£ in travel expenses.

9/15
Galloway has worked for several state-affiliated medias, including the Iran-state controlled Press TV, the Al Mayadeen TV station that's connected to both Iran and Assad's Syria, and of course the Kremlin-controlled RT. He's shown support for Putin, al-Assad and Hussein.

10/15
During 2014, Galloway had earned at least 293 450£ from his TV appearances, and between 2013 and 2015 George was paid 100 000£ for his appearances on RT - the highest salary to any British politician working for this Russia-affiliated media.

11/15
He presented his "The Mother of All Talk Shows" on RT UK, until it was shut down following the Russia's genocidal invasion of Ukraine in Feb, 2022.

George is strongly in the "NATO started the war in Ukraine" corner, and basically blames the US for the whole conflict.

12/15
This view lines him up with the Grayzone bloggers, Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, and they're organizing a "NO2NATONO2WAR" event in London in Feb, 2023. Their first venue, St Pancras New Church cancelled their booking because of the overwhelming criticism.

13/15
On the 14th of Feb, 2022, he tweeted that Russia is not about to invade Ukraine, and ridiculed people who claimed this. He's also called Zelenskyy a "cross-dressing coke-sniffing porn-actor" that's been turned into "Spartacus".

14/15
He's shared the idea that the Zelenskyy "government has given weapons to criminals who are robbing and raping".In his latest talk show, he interviewed pro-Russian blogger Max Blumenthal, a "political analyst" and a propagandist Garland Nixon, and propagandist Gonzalo Lira.

15/15
Afterword: I wanted to add some extra spice to today's soup, and share a little story about George and a program called Oil-For-Food. This program allowed economically sanctioned Iraq to sell limited amounts of oil in exchange for vital goods for the Iraqis. 1/4
The program was heavily abused, and these abuses included smuggling of oil and use of surcharges. Galloway was interviewed in the US Senate for his involvement. Several pro-Russian and Syrian accounts spread a video of George's testimony from this hearing, praising it,...

2/4
... and for example @sahouraxo called it "one of the greatest speeches in history". The Senate's report disagreed with this statement, and they concluded that Galloway "knowingly made false or misleading statements under oath".

3/4
Bank statements also showed that his wife Abu-Zayyad had received a payment of 150 000USD from the proceeds of the program. The report also stated that Galloway's Mariam Appeal had received 446 000 USD via the program. For some reason these vatniks always leave this part out. 4/4

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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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