In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce a British euroskeptic, pro-Russian and anti-American author, John Laughland. He's best-known for his work for the Russia-funded Institute of Democracy and Cooperation and for Thierry Baudet's political party, Forum voor Democratie.
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He worked at the French Institute of Democracy and Cooperation from 2008 until 2018. It is an association founded by a Russian attorney Anatoly Kucherena. Kucherena is probably best-known for acting as a lawyer for both Viktor Yanukovych and Edward Snowden.
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The think tank aims to provide a"symmetrical response" to the human rights violation allegations that organizations like Freedom House introduce,meaning that they'll explain these scenarios from the Russian point of view.The institute is funded by Russian Presidential grants.3/16
Laughland has written articles and publications on The American Conservative (known for "trustworthy" authors such as Douglas Macgregor and Scott Ritter) and Antiwar.com (with pro-Russian Scott Horton, among others).
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Already back in 1997, John published a critique on the EU, suggesting that it shares ideological affinity with fascism, Nazism and communism. He's also a stout critic of the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, stating that it was established illegitimately.
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Laughland's criticized the trial of Slobodan Milošević and condemned the West's support of his opposition.
At the wake of the Orange Revolution in 2004, Laughland wrote a column in The Guardian, claiming that Viktor Yuschenko's coalition was linked to "neo-Nazis", ...
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...and based on him, Yuschenko was mostly supported by "druggy skinheads from Lviv". In reality, most of this "neo-Nazi" movement was a false flag operation funded by pro-Russian actors such as Putin's oligarch buddy Viktor Medvedchuk:
Laughland currently works as the director of the international department of conspiracy theorist Thierry Baudet's political party, Forum voor Democratie. Since then Baudet has organized several events with Laughland as a guest, for example the "China Symposium" in Aug, 2022.
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Baudet also visited John's YouTube show "The Laughland Report" and they discussed the matter of the "COVID conspiracy". Baudet seems to think highly of Laughland's academic work, as he referred Laughland's work several times on his doctoral thesis. He even invited John to...
9/16
...address the Dutch Parliament about judicial independence. In addition to his work for Baudet, Laughland was a visiting Research Fellow at the Orbán-connected Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest between Sep 2022 and Feb 2023.
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John's also been listed as an "expert" for the Russian propaganda channel Valdai Discussion Club, and he's participated in the academic board of the Ron Paul Institute.
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In an interview by Sky News Arabia, in Sep, 2022, Laughland stated that Ukraine allegedly broke the Minsk agreement, that there "absolute is a Nazi element in Ukraine", that the war is between Russia and NATO & the US, that the sanctions are hurting the West more than ...
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... they are hurting Russia, and that they are actually helping Russia. When asked about Kosovo, Bosnia and Ukraine,he claimed that they aren't sovereign states and they wouldn't exist without Western military presence. You can see his overview on the war in the video below.13/16
In his upcoming book, "Endgame Ukraine", he argues that the "current war in Ukraine is the 'endgame' of American hegemonic aspirations", and that it'll eventually end being their "imperial overstretch" and "the brink of its downfall - as it was for Napoleon and Hitler."
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Laughland could be described as an academic with strong pro-Russian and anti-American views. He represents the intellectual section of the pro-Russian actors, working through think tanks, universities and associations, providing him the extra layer of credibility.
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But in the end, he's just another paid Kremlin actor, parroting the same narratives than all the other pro-Russian propagandists. What separates him from most other pro-Russian agents is that he's been playing this game at least since the late 90's.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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: