In today's #vatnik soup and the edition of "You pronounced this nonsense, not me", I'll discuss the rather novel "Edelweiss neo-Nazi unit" narrative that was also repeated in Putin's speech of 21 Feb, 2023.
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It's worth noting that this part of the speech was borrowed from one of Putin's propagandist, Dmitry Kiselyov, who claimed on state TV that Ukraine is "legalizing the fascist Edelweiss [unit]". He's a propagandist that deserves his own soup entry in the near future.
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But let's review what Putin said in his speech:
"Recently, one of the brigades of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, I'm ashamed to say, was named Edelweiss, same as a Hitler's division that participated in the deportation of Jews, executions of prisoners of war, and punitive...
3/11
... operations against partisans in Yugoslavia, Italy, Czechoslovakia, and Greece. Neo-Nazis do not hide whose heirs they consider themselves to be. It is strange that no one in the West notices this."
4/11
Here Putin refers to the Ukrainian 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade unit specialized in mountain warfare. They have a long history of defending Ukraine: already in 2016 they were defending Donbas, and later they helped the Ukrainian war effort in Marinka, ...
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Popasna, Mariupol and Bakhmut. On 14 Feb 2023, president Zelenskyy awarded the unit with a honorary title "Edelweiss". This immediately got the attention of Russia's propagandists, trying desperately to connect it to Nazi Germany.
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There was a unit in the Wehrmacht (the armed forces of Nazi Germany), 1st Mountain Division, that really used the Edelweiss, a mountain flower, as their insignia. But the unit itself was never named that, unlike many other units around Europe. Some examples include the ...
7/11
...Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, Swiss Army generals and the 21st Rifles Brigade of Poland. Edelweiss was first adapted in Germany as an emblem already in 1907 and yet again in 1915. Incidentally, Edelweiss Group is also the name of an (evil neo-Nazi?) Indian company.
8/11
And here comes the funny part: Russia's 17th special purpose detachment of Rosgvardia was named the Edelweiss (later changed to Avanguard) until 2018. Another Russian Edelweiss unit was the special forces of the Altai Republic in Southern Siberia, which also changed its name.9/11
Yet again, Russian propaganda doesn't hold up against scrutiny. Of course their target audience resides in Russia, where this type of rhetoric will be very effective, as it is yet another "evidence" that they are fighting the "evil Nazis" again, ...
10/11
...like they did during the "The Great Patriotic War". So, now that Putin has materialized this trope, one can expect more of "Edelweiss neo-Nazis" BS in the future, too.
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.
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.
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.
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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:
In today’s Wumao Soup, I’ll introduce how and where the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) online propaganda and influence operations work. Due to China’s massive population and advances in AI, CCP-aligned online content has become increasingly visible.
1/20
Like Russia’s troll farms, China has its own troll army: the “50 Cent Party” or “Wumao” refers to state-linked online commentators who are reportedly paid ¥0.50 per post to steer discussions away from criticism and amplify CCP narratives on social media.
2/20
Back in 2017, a research paper estimated that the Wumao produced almost 500 million fabricated comments annually to distract readers and shift topics. In that sense, Wumao operates very similarly to the Russian “Firehose of Falsehood” model: