In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce an American troll and opportunist, Jackson Hinkle (@jacksonhinklle). Hinkle is best-known for his pro-Russian and pro-Putin views, for his feeble attempts at getting attention and for his monetization of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
1/15
In 2019 he ran for the San Clemente City Council, but wasn't elected. His main campaign points were to stop the building of a toll road, and legalizing drugs and prostitution. After this election, Hinkle must've thought "This cute boy approach isn't working, I'll just go...
2/15
...full edgelord asshole - it worked for Trump, why not for me?" Or maybe he had a chat with Tulsi Gabbard, who had a quite similar transformation around that time, and who left the Democratic Party to fight the "elitist cabal of warmongers". Or maybe he noticed...
3/15
...that you don't have to be smart, honest or even have any competence at all to be elected - just look at people like Lauren Boebert, MTG and George Santos. Trump paved the way for this type of representatives a long time ago, and it seems to be working amazingly well.
4/15
Anyway, the Jackson we (unfortunately) see today is very different from the 2019 Jackson. Actually, I'd go as far to say that the current Jackson's persona is completely fabricated and he tries to gain both reputation and money from saying outrageous BS.
5/15
Regarding Ukraine, it's not even worth going through all the pro-Russian narratives that Hinkle has promoted - they're all there. He's actually trying to monetize with Z gear, a symbol for supporting Russia's invasion in Ukraine...
6/15
...and posts videos with titles like "Defund Ukraine" and "Ukraine lies" on his Youtube channel. Hinkle is also one of the few Americans who have been guests at Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyev's show.
7/15
He's also supported the "Stop the Steal" and the "Deep State" conspiracy theories by saying that Biden is controlled by a "Satanic cabal of DC deep state leadership". Not surprisingly, he's been interviewed by Tucker Carlson of FOX News.
8/15
Hinkle's been awarded the Serena Shim Award previously given to such "journalists" as Eva Bartlett & The Grayzone bloggers.The award was given by the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees who,based on Bellingcat's investigation, supports the al-Assad regime.9/15
Jackson has also recently reached the age when you get interested in girls - first he dated "Sarah" who allegedly left him for Jonah Hill, and later he tried to get a new girlfriend from OnlyFans, the platform he's been very critical of.
10/15
When all other things failed,the Kremlin masterminds came up with a fresh idea: they'll just make Miss Genocide,Anna Linnikova date Hinkle.They spent a week together at the Four Seasons Surfside in Miami. Read more about this dream couple from here: noturtlesoup17.substack.com/p/rage-against…
11/15
Jackson also has a tendency to criticize "wokeness", trans people, and obesity. Ironically, he didn't mind LGBT+ flags when he was running for City Council in 2019. One of the funniest Hinkle moments was when he was put in his place by both of his parents on Twitter.
12/15
He is what I call a "Merchant of Rage" - he posts extremely polarizing views on social media, lets the social media algorithms - that heavily prioritize enraging content - spread them far and wide, and then tries to somehow make money out of this process.
13/15
By spreading his hateful messages due to outrage, people are actually making him MORE money. There are many Americans doing this, one notable example being Putin's old friend Michael Flynn and his ReAwaken America Tour.
14/15
To conclude: Jackson Hinkle is an "edgelord" who will do anything for attention, so everyone stop giving him that attention. There's an easy solution for this: Block him and forget about him.
Russia uses Tucker Carlson as a vessel for its propaganda. Many of the most popular narratives originate from his misinformation-filled show, which is funded by Elon. Some of these lies include:
- Bioweapons labs
- Gonzalo Lira being a "journalist"
-Zelenskyy being a dictator
- The banning of the Russian Orthodox Church
- The banning of Viktor Medvedchuk's pro-Kremlin propaganda network
- Putin's interview and revisionism
- That ridiculous St. Petersburg propaganda piece
Bob Amsterdam, who Tucker has interviewed a few times is paid by a Russian oligarch, Vadym Novynskyi.
We now know from the Tenet Media case that Russian state media wants to spread Tucker's verbal diarrhea everywhere. These fake stories have finally made their way to Trump.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll take out my crystal ball and predict what the alliance between the US and Russia could mean for Ukraine, Europe and geopolitics in general. These recent changes could be a real risk for the whole of Europe, and need to be addressed quickly.
1/23
Some of us have been reporting on Trump’s pro-Kremlin tendencies for years now. His Moscow connections go back all the way to the late 80s, and the 2016 US presidential elections raised a lot of red flags about the close connections of his associates to Russian operatives.
2/23
The recent Rubio-Lavrov meeting in Saudi Arabia was an eye-opening event for many who were still optimistic about Trump and Ukraine – the outcome was that Putin got absolutely everything he’s ever wanted from the war, and at the same time it seems that the US got nothing.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce how the Elon’s Election Interference Machine™ (EIM) works. Since Musk & his broligarch allies won the presidency for Trump, they’ve now harnessed the machine to interfere in European elections, including the ones in Germany & Romania.
1/23
At this point it is clear why Elon bought Twitter – his grand plan was to promote “free speech absolutism” (which, of course, doesn’t even exist on the platform) and tweak the algorithms so that they allow him to promote political parties that align with his worldview.
2/23
First, let’s talk about “freedom of speech” that the Trump administration, especially Musk and VP Vance constantly rant about. Incidentally, they only blame the EU for “limiting free speech”, and there’s a good reason for this: they are driving for political change.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce the Russian disinformation network “Doppelgänger”. Doppelgänger is an influence and hybrid operation spreading Kremlin propaganda via AI-generated fake news websites and social media sites, especially X.
1/20
Doppelgänger is a massive influence operation that was initially exposed back in 2022. Their modus operandi is to create near-identical copies of large, legitimate Western news outlets to spread anti-Ukraine, anti-Western and anti-NATO narratives.
2/20
The operation, overseen by Putin’s top aide Sergei Kiriyenko (who’s reportedly communicated with Elon), uses Russian firms like Social Design Agency (SDA) to create fake news sites that mimick legitimate media like The Washington Post, The Guardian, Bild and Fox News.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’m going to talk about Europe’s information defense against foreign influence operations & disinformation.
The EU can’t rely anymore on America’s help in geopolitical struggles, and it’s time we created a united front against information threats.
1/24
Recent news coming from the US should be the final wake-up call for European decision-makers. Recently, Trump’s rhetoric has been openly pro-Kremlin and both anti-Ukraine & anti-EU, and at the same time the US is dismantling all institutions fighting against disinformation.
2/24
So far, the Trump administration has put staffers working on disinformation as well as a team of election security advisers at the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on administrative leave.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll discuss how Estonia deals with the Russian threat. Estonia’s Internal Security Service (KAPO) published their 2023-2024 annual review some time ago, and it’s packed with insights on Russian hybrid operations in the region.
1/17
Estonia is at the frontlines against Russia’s hybrid war, and they’ve been targeted by the Kremlin for decades. Russia’s main goal remains the same: undermine Estonia’s constitutional order. To do this, they use intimidation, propaganda & cyber warfare to stir unrest.
2/17
Like in all Baltic countries, one of their major tools is the manipulation of ethnic Russians in Estonia. The Kremlin pushes propaganda to create divisions, but recent surveys show integration is improving. The Kremlin is losing its grip.