In today's #vatnik soup I'm going to introduce a Finnish cosmologist, human rights activist and a board member of @amnestyfinland, Syksy Räsänen (@SyksyRasanen). His stance - at least on Twitter - so far on the Russo-Ukrainian War has been heavily anti-Ukrainian.
1/15
Räsänen is a internationally recognized cosmologist. He received his PhD from theoretical physics in 2002, and has worked in several prominent universities and organizations, such as Oxford University, CERN and University of Geneva.
2/15
Syksy was also writing for "Searching for Cosmos" blog ("Maailmankaikkeutta etsimässä" in Finnish) that appeared in a Finnish magazine Science ("Tiede" in Finnish), but stopped because he didn't want to share the platform with Marko Hamilo, whose writings he thought to ...
3/15
... be right-wing populism. Based on Syksy, he didn't want his fact-based writings to deceive people to think that Hamilo's political views presented in the blog were also scientific.
Like so many others, Räsänen says that he was "awakened" by the writings of Noam Chomsky.
4/15
Räsänen is the chair ICAHD Finland, a "Finnish branch of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, spreading info about the current situation in Israel/Palestine and Finland's role in it".
5/15
Based on his retweets, Syksy's views seem to be siding with, for example, the Grayzone bloggers and Michael Tracey - their main focus is on US imperialism and at the same time they ignore the imperialistic endeavors of Russia (or Syria, for that matter).
6/15
Syksy has joined Aaron Maté and Caitlin Johnstone in their efforts to downplay the crimes of the al-Assad regiment in Syria. He has criticized the White Helmets, a volunteer organization that do medical evacuation and urban search and rescue missions, and ...
7/15
... referred to them being a "US gov't co-founded/funded organization pushing for US military escalation".
He retweeted and promoted a story written by Max Blumenthal on the Grayzone blog about how parts of the 86-page report "If the Dead Could Speak: Mass Deaths and ...
8/15
... Torture in Syria’s Detention Facilities" and the following sanctions were actually "a highly deceptive intelligence operation orchestrated by the US and Qatari governments".
9/15
In his article, Blumenthal also called the report's origins "dubious". Amnesty International called for the arrest of top Syrian regime for these crimes and they were condemned worldwide, also by the Human Rights Watch.
10/15
Räsänen has suggested that there was a "civil war in Ukraine during 2014-2022". He's also focused on criticizing the Azov Battalion/Regiment as neo-nazis, shared The Grayzone's article about downplaying Putin's/Russia's influence, downplayed Russiagate and other ...
11/15
... Russian information operations and spread Maté's version of the OPCW inspections about chemical weapon attacks in Douma.
I wanted to add a little personal rant at the end, so here goes:
12/15
Russia staged a separatist movement in East of Ukraine already back in 2014, and they were the force behind the initial hostilities. Russia invaded Ukraine illegally and have committed atrocities such as murders, torture, rape, abduction of children, castrations ...
13/15
... and bombing of civilian targets. In Kherson, they founded a children's torture chamber. Azov Battalion, now called Azov Regiment, has far-right roots which have been allegedly eradicated. Also, there are several prominent neo-nazi figures like ...
14/15
... Aleksei Milchakov fighting in the Russian/Wagner ranks. Yet, for some reason, well-known Amnesty board members like Syksy do not talk about these issues, war crimes and human rights violations. Isn't that what Amnesty's should be about?
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss two events, Rescue the Republic and Rage Against the War Machine, that are being held during the last weekend of September 2024 in Washington DC. Both of these events promote pro-Kremlin viewpoints and platform many prominent vatniks.
1/11
Rage Against the War Machine is being organized for the 3rd time, although the 2nd installment, “Defeat the Deep State”, was cancelled, probably due to low interest. The event was organized by the Libertarian Party, a US political party that was recently hijacked by vatniks.
2/11
Both events are co-organized by craniosacral therapist/chair of the Libertarian National Committee, Angela McArdle, who was leading the Libertarian Party takeover in 2022 and turning it into an extension of Trump’s MAGA Republicans:
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American social media personality, Tim Pool (@Timcast). He’s best-known for being funded by the Kremlin, his right-wing media empire, his connections to several American conspiracy theorists, and for his cool beanie.
1/23
Tim Pool rose to fame during the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests, which he livestreamed together with a former realtor, Henry Ferry. He was one of the pioneers of doing livestreams where he also interacted with the audience and even let them direct him on the ground.
2/23
Pool’s footage was aired on NBC and other mainstream networks, and Time dubbed him as “the eyes of the movement”. In 2011, Pool described himself as “an activist 100%”, stating that he doesn’t consider himself a journalist. A year later things had changed…
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American politician, Jill Stein (@DrJillStein). She’s best-known for her visits to Moscow, bids for the US presidency, blaming of NATO for the war in Ukraine, and for her inability to condemn Vladimir Putin as a war criminal.
1/23
Stein’s background is in medicine, and she graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1979. During the 90s Stein turned to activism and subsequently received various environmental awards for her work. Stein began her political career by running for governor of Massachusetts...
2/23
...in 2002, but only got 3,5% of the total vote. Her following campaigns were also massive failures, and the only election in which she managed to secure a seat was the local legislative body in Lexington. But that didn’t stop Jill, as in 2012 she decided to run for...
In today’s #vatniksoup I’ll introduce a Russian filmmaker, Anastasia Trofimova. She’s best-known for her latest controversial documentary “Russians at War”, and for working as a producer for Russian state-funded media outlet RT.
1/19
Soft power has been part of the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare for a long time. It refers to the “ability to get what you want through attraction rather than through coercion” and which can “be cultivated through relations with allies, economic assistance, and cultural exchanges.”
2/19
Russia has been using soft power to sow division and distrust in the West for decades. Documentaries like Ukraine on Fire offer a revisionist and pro-Kremlin view on what happened in Kyiv and in Ukraine in 2014. It was directed by the Russian master…
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss why I think it’s important for Ukraine & for Europe that Donald Trump does not become the next president of the US. I’ll share my insights on how Trump has been undermining democracy and supporting authoritarian leaders around the world.
1/19
First of all, I think Trump supports Russia more than Ukraine. Trump has a long history of doing business with the Russians, and he’s even held private meetings with Putin and other high-ranking Russian officials while sharing highly classified information with them.
2/19
In addition, Trump withheld a 400 million aid to Ukraine because Zelenskyy wouldn’t help him dig dirt on the Biden family. He also “watered down” the toughest penalties the U.S. had imposed on Russian entities after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014.
As there's clearly not much to say about the debate other than Trump was deranged and he'd clearly abandon Ukraine and appease Russia, I'm just gonna post the best memes and posts about the whole thing.