In today's #vatnik soup I'll be introducing an American journalist, author and a podcaster, Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled). Ames is best-known for being the editor of the eXile tabloid in Moscow between 1997 and 2008, and for co-hosting the Radio War Nerd podcast.
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Mark established the eXile in 1997 while living in Moscow. Shortly after starting it, he hired Matt Taibbi to work with him. The tabloid consisted of articles mainly on politics, organized crime, prostitution, sex and drug use.
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In 2000 Taibbi and Ames published a book about their adventures in Russia called "The eXile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia". Based on an Observer interview from 2000 Ames quickly delved into sexual escapades with Russian ladies, stating that getting attention...
3/16
...from Russian girls was something new, and he stated that "I didn’t even think of women anymore because they could just smell failure on me". Then, he continued that in Russia "It was pretty much just fuck whoever you wanted to". Based on Taibbi, Ames was...
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..."universally loathed in the Moscow foreign community".
"Tens of millions of people live in dire circumstances, stranded in the center of the world’s largest continent, with little hope of going anywhere," Mark claimed."Which means–sexual opportunity for me”, he continued.5/16
Then he claimed that "Russian women, especially on the first date, expect you to rape them", and that "it took me a while to learn you really have to force Russian girls, and that’s what they want, it’s like a mock rape."
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In their book, Ames described another scenario where he had sex with a pregnant 15-year old girl. He then wrote: "Right then my pervometer needle hit the red. I had to have her, even if she was homely." In the book, he also threatened to kill a pregnant Russian girl if ...
7/16
... she didn't do an abortion. Their book was described as "nonfiction" but both Taibbi and Ames later said, on many, many occasions, that the whole thing written as a satire. Incidentally, Mark's ex-girlfriend has called him a "fucking psychopath".
8/16
Why write about all this,if not to defame Mark? Because Russia has an age-old strategy that they've been using effectively for decades:kompromat.Spending 10 years in Russia,using drugs & having casual sex to me seems like a perfect scenario for becoming a target of blackmail.9/16
When it comes to his views on Russia, Ukraine and the war, we can clearly see where Mark stands. He masks his pro-Russian stance as anti-imperialism and hate for the CIA and the "neocons".
10/16
Ames blamed the US for most of Russia's problems, including the chaotic times during the 90's, Putin's election rigging and the rise of the far-right within Putin's government. Ames was also rejoicing over Russia's invasion of Georgia in 2008.
11/16
Like a good Putin's puppy, he likes to talk about the "Azon nationalists" and "Banderites". He's called the Yuschenko regime "hard-line, monocultural, nationalistic". He criticized Zelenskyy for publishing the arrest picture of Viktor Medvedchuk, ...
12/16
Putin's old pal who funded false flag operations and large media operations to help Yanukovych at the presidential election already back in 2004. In the eXile, Ames has often written about a Russian politician Eduard Limonov who founded the National Bolshevik Party...
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...together with Aleksandr Dugin and Yegor Letov in 1993.
John Dolan and Mark Ames have featured the pro-Russian Grayzone blogger Max Blumenthal in their War Nerd podcast. They were also the first people to interview Seymour Hersh after the publication of his fictitious...14/16
...story on the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. Ames has also attacked the Bellingcat multiple times, stating that they're funded by the CIA and blamed them smearing Seymour Hersh already back in 2017 after Hersh's article "Trump's Red Line".
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Ames' audience is of course the Americans. He's trying to convince people, that the US leadership (excluding Trump) has meddled with Russia & Ukraine for too long,and that the military aid should be stopped.He barely speaks of Russia's imperialism and their barbaric history.16/16
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American politician and disbarred lawyer, Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani). He’s best-known for meddling with the pro-Kremlin forces in Ukraine, and for organizing the infamous Four Seasons Landscaping press conference.
1/22
Giuliani rose to fame as the mayor of NYC between 1994 and 2001. He adopted an aggressive enforcement strategy and organized crackdowns on relatively minor offenses like graffiti and cannabis possession. His role in the 9/11 aftermath made him a global superstar.
2/22
This fame gave Rudy new opportunities, and in 2006 he was invited to the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group (ISG), a group that assessed the situation in Iraq. He was soon kicked out of the group due to being more interested in making money by public speaking gigs.
In today’s 300th #vatniksoup, I’ll go through some of the most heroic feats that Ukrainians have achieved since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
In the last 900 days, under-equipped underdog Ukraine has fared well against the imperialist and genocidal Russia.
1/23
As in most conflicts, Ukraine relies heavily on leadership. For this reason, the Kremlin first focused their main propaganda efforts on Zelenskyy, even claiming that he had already fled from Ukraine to Poland. Soon after these allegations, Zelenskyy and his cabinet…
2/23
… published a video from the streets of Kyiv to fight this propaganda campaign. This video quickly became one of the biggest morale boosters for Ukraine, and it has become one of the most legendary and symbolic videos of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a British far-right activist, Tommy Robinson (@TRobinsonNewEra). He’s best-known for his role in the far-right, Islamophobic organizations like the English Defence League (EDL) and his close connections to the Kremlin.
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Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was born in Luton and during his youth delved into a life of crime, serving four prison terms between 2005 and 2019. He used several pseudonyms to hide his criminal past, finally sticking to Tommy Robinson.
2/23
Tommy joined the fascist and far-right British National Party (BNP) in 2004 but left a year later. The party didn’t allow non-whites to join and was then led by Nick Griffin, who today is better known for sharing video game footage while claiming it’s real.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American politician and author, JD Vance (@JDVance). He’s best-known for his strong stance against US aid to Ukraine, and for being the Republican party’s nominee for vice president in the 2024 election.
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Vance hails from the small town of Middletown, Ohio. His parents divorced when he was a toddler, JD’s mother struggled with drug addiction, and he was raised primarily by his grandparents. Later he enlisted in the US Marine Corps, and spent 6 months as a PR guy in Iraq.
2/20
In 2016, Harper published JD’s book, Hillbilly Elegy, in which he described his life and hardships, and the socioeconomic problems of his hometown. The book was very successful, and it was even adapted into a shitty Netflix movie. It also made JD famous.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the Wagner Group, its founders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, and the mutiny they started on 23 Jun 2023. The event marked the climax of the Wagner Group–Russian MoD conflict, and finally led to the deaths of Prigozhin and Utkin.
1/22
Wagner has been used in many conflicts around the world, but they came to global prominence during the war in Donbas in 2014-2015. Wagnerites helped the Donbas separatists fight against the Ukrainians during the conflict, which helped Putin to “outsource” the insurrection.
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The group doesn’t have any central ideology, but many of its members and leaders have ties to various neo—Nazi movements in Russia. For example, Wagner leader Dmitry Utkin had several Nazi symbols tattooed on his body. Neo—nazi group Rusich has also fights as part of Wagner.
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