In today's #vatniksoup I'll introduce a British blogger and propagandist, Vanessa Beeley (@VanessaBeeley). She's best-known for spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation about both the Syrian civil war and about the Russo-Ukrainian War.
1/19
Beeley is a daughter of a former diplomat from the UK, Harold Beeley. Like so many other "independent journalist" who defends dictator-ruled regimes around the world, Vanessa started her blogging career writing about the Palestine-Israel conflict.
2/19
Then in 2015, she started focusing on the Syrian civil war. In 2016 she met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus as part of a US Peace Council. She later described the event as her "proudest moment". Beeley was also on the steering committee for the Syria...
3/19
...Solidarity Movement, an association that has received almost 2 million USD in support from undisclosed donors. This association supports he Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a fascist and "rabidly anti-Semitic" political party.
4/19
After Syria, Vanessa naturally moved on to Russia, where she met with Russia's deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Maria Zakharova. Bogdanov has been described as one of the main strategists for Syria in Russia.
5/19
Beeley's been appearing frequently on RT and Sputnik, providing a pro-al-Assad and pro-Russian point of view on the war.
Like so many like her, Vanessa has received the "Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism" from a pro-Assad lobby group the...
6/19
...Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees. Other prominent activists that have received this prestigious award are Jackson "Z" Hinkle, the "MAGA communist" grifter, and Max Blumenthal, the Grayzone blogger.
7/19
It was suggested that Beeley was a finalist for the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, however it was later revealed that there are no finalists for said award and only winners are published.
8/19
As a "journalist", Vanessa has published some weird takes on world events. Some examples include calling the Human Rights Watch a "fake" NGO, claiming that the Charlie Hebdo shooting was a false flag operation, and that Al-Qaeda had nothing to do with 9/11.
9/19
Beeley is part of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media, which is another pro-Assad group that tries to defame the White Helmets. White Helmets are a group of people who help Syrian civilians in war zones.
10/19
They have also documented bombings of hospitals and use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, and for this reason they have been a target of disinformation campaigning for years.
11/19
Beeley has suggested together with the Russian government that they are connected to Al-Qaeda and that they are involved, among other things, in organ harvesting. She has also suggested that the group is a "legitimate military target".
12/19
Hackers hacked and obtained Beeley's private Facebook conversations with the blogger Scott Gaulke, where she admitted that the Syrian government has tortured but that she would never say it publicly.
13/19
Vanessa was one of the "foreign observers" in the sham vote for the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. Russia accepted anyone who'd come to "observe the legality of the vote", and she was of course one of the volunteers.
14/19
James Delingpole interviewed Beeley on Rumble in Oct, 2022, and the whole thing was pure comedy. They showed the West as a main source of disinformation, whereas Russia was presented as a beacon of truth.
15/19
They also said that the Russian economy is thriving she even called herself an "independent delegate" for the annexation vote. She also claimed that Russia hasn't committed any war crimes and that many Ukrainian refugees she has interviewed have praised Russia.
16/19
Beeley is a big fan of the conspiracy theory "deep state", and often refers to this in her rambles. She's also shared several conspiracy theories about COVID-19. Vanessa's also claimed that she's on a "UK kill list" along with 300 children, but it is unclear if she...
17/19
...actually referred to Myrotvorets, a list of who the authors call to be "enemies of Ukraine". At some point pro-Russians started calling it a "official Ukrainian government kill list", which it of course isn't: disinfowatch.org/disinfo/russia…
18/19
Even though Beeley is mostly focusing on events in Syria, he's still a prominent figure in spreading Russian disinformation and propaganda, even participating in their hoax referendums.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American radio host and propagandist, Scott Horton (@scotthortonshow). He’s best known for blaming Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine on the US, and for publishing a 700-page book full of Kremlin propaganda.
1/23
Most of you probably remember Scotty from this recent episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, in which he was schooled for his revisionist propaganda by Ukrainian volunteer and activist Anastasiya Paraskevova (@UkrainianAna).
2/23
Let’s start with the obvious - Scott Horton is a hardcore Kremlin apologist who sees nothing wrong with what Putin does, but strongly condemns anything that Ukrainians do to defend themselves. For Horton,the enemy is the US and all of its allies. The way this works is that…
3/23
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the sad (but funny) state of Finnish vatniks. After Russia launched their full-scale invasion against Ukraine, the Finnish pro-Kremlin/conspiracy theorist scene experienced a dramatic devaluation and hasn’t been able to bounce back since.
1/20
I often get asked about the current state of the Finnish vatnik club, and there’s usually not much to report.
It’s not because these people have stopped, but because today their work has only comedic value.
So here’s the latest:
2/20
Master vatnik and traitor Johan Bäckman has relocated to Russia, and he was recently given a Russian citizenship. It’s obvious that Johan was recruited by Russia’s intelligence agencies a long time ago. He’s still producing videos on YouTube on his…
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Romanian politician and conspiracy theorist, Călin Georgescu (@calin_georgescu). He’s best-known for his pro-Kremlin and conspiratorial views, running for president of Romania, and doing it by only campaigning on TikTok.
1/25
Georgescu has a doctorate in pedology (a branch of soil science), and held various positions in Romania’s environment ministry during the 90s.
Between 1999-2012, he was a representative for Romania on the national committee of the United Nations Environment Program.
2/25
He was proposed as Romania’s prime minister in 2011, 2012 and 2016 by Romanian far-right parties, but he rose to international infamy in 2024, when he ran for president of Romania independently and obtained the most votes (22,95%) out of all candidates in the first round.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Canadian journalist and alleged Soviet/Russian spy, David Pugliese (@davidpugliese). He’s best-known for his articles about “Ukrainian Nazis”, and for allegedly being a spy for both the Soviet Union and later Russia.
1/21
Several months ago I was anonymously sent a pile of documents from the mid-80s originating from the KGB archives in Kyiv. These documents outlined a KGB recruitment into “Stuart”, or David Pugliese who “works in foreign mass media” and who is…
2/21
..“studied with the perspective of possible operative use”. Another document described “Stuart’s” contact “Ivan”, who allegedly became his handler.Some have speculated that “Ivan” is Fred Weir, a correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor.He’s lived in Moscow since 1986.
3/21