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 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!").
2/5
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: