Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Mar 17, 2023 18 tweets 8 min read Read on X
In today's #vatniksoup I'll introduce an American academic, political scientist and Quincy Institute author, Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms). He's best-known for his pro-Russian and pro-Syrian views, and especially for trying to fit them into an academic framework.

1/15 Image
On 7 Mar, 2023, @TheAtlantic published an op-ed titled "I Teach International Relations. I Think We’re Making a Mistake in Ukraine" written by Abrahms. You rarely see op-ed titles with this much of self-satisfaction,but we'll let that slide - let's take a look at the content.2/15 Image
His article clearly is an attempt to create a "scholarly perspective" on the war in Ukraine. He's suggesting that if the West wants to help Ukraine, it should actually STOP the military & weapons aid, and that the US is provoking Russian aggression by sending weapons to 🇺🇦.

3/15
First of all, Abrahms builds his arguments around Mearsheimer's view on NATO expansion to being the main culprit of the Russo-Ukrainian War. This silly accusation has been de-bunked several times, and you can read mine here:

4/15 Image
Professor Branislav Slantchev, a professor of Political Science at the University of California San Diego, has written an excellent academic analysis on the article & if you decided to read Max's article on The Atlantic, you should follow with this: slantchev.wordpress.com/2023/03/08/how…

5/15
But Abrahms has done much more than this op-ed he's now pushing on every media channel - Previously he has aligned with Max Blumenthal's fake news blog The Grayzone by denying the al-Assad regime's involvement in Douma chemical attack.

6/15 Image
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) recently published their third report on Douma and conluded that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Syrian Arab Air Forces were the perpetrators of the chemical weapons attack".

7/15 Image
Abrahms has occasionally commented on the Russiagate, calling it a "ruse". I started writing an op-ed this morning titled: "I teach information operations & disinformation. I think Max Abrahms shouldn't talk about Russiagate".

8/15 Image
Abrahms' academic career so far has been quite impressive, but he's also had his fair share of hardships. He had to resign from the board of the journal of Terrorism and Political Violence following an investigation on serial plagiarism, after Dr. Or Honig and ...
9/15 Image
...Jake Shapiro accused him of using their work without referencing it. Shapiro even wrote to the publisher of Abrahms' book "Rules for Rebels", pointing out various instances where Max stole Shapiro's texts without referencing them.

10/15 ImageImage
Some have even suggested that Abrahms shouldn't have gotten his tenure at the Northeastern University since he is seen as fundamentally unserious researcher by his peers. But then he threatened to sue the Dean for anti-Semitism if he wasn't accepted. Bam, he got his tenure.
11/15 Image
On Twitter, Abrahms has routinely suggested that the "US escalation" in 🇺🇦will eventually lead to nuclear war. The problem with this is that if Ukraine concedes, Putin most probably starts looking for the next target, which could be Moldova, Georgia the Baltic countries.

12/15 Image
As you found out from the title of his op-ed, Max claims to be an expert in international relations, and especially in the areas of terrorism. Considering his expertise, and the fact that he seems to have an opinion on pretty much any topic on Twitter, it is rather ...

13/15 Image
...surprising that he hasn't made any comments on Bucha massacre, Izium mass graves, Mariupol theater bombing or Kherson children's torture chambers and other FSB operations.

Similarly to Mark Ames, Katrina vanden Heuvel and Glenn Greenwald, Abrahms seems to be...

14/15 ImageImageImageImage
....utilizing an anti-US and anti-NATO stance on the conflict - these people blame the West for "aggressive" NATO expansion towards Russia, but the expansion only happens voluntarily and because these countries are afraid of Russia's invasion - for a reason.

15/15 ImageImage
Support my work (and get some AI art!): buymeacoffee.com/PKallioniemi

Past soups: vatniksoup.com
Max, it's very rude to ask me questions and then block me right after. And maybe contact the Quincy Institute's webmaster and tell them to remove you from their website. Image
CORRECTION TO 1/15;

"Pro-Syrian" should be "pro-Assad".

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Pekka Kallioniemi

Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @P_Kallioniemi

Apr 28
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll introduce a bank that is well-known in both Austria and Russia: Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) and its Russian subsidiary, AO Raiffeisen. It is one of the few foreign banks that still does business in Russia.

1/21 Image
Raiffeisen’s Russian branch was founded in 1996 and expanded dramatically after the acquisition of Russia’s Impexbank in 2006. A year later, it was the largest bank trading in foreign capital (seventh in size) in Russia.

2/21 Image
In the early 2000s, Raiffeisen opened new branches in Russia, including in Saint Petersburg, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Krasnodar. After 2018, it focused on digital expansion and by 2021 it had a digital presence in more than 300 cities.

3/21 Image
Read 22 tweets
Apr 24
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an Estonian lawyer, social activist, politician, and useful idiot for the Kremlin, Varro Vooglaid (@varrovooglaid). He’s best-known for promoting pro-Kremlin viewpoints under the guise of “traditional family values.”

1/20 Image
Vooglaid has an academic background, which usually gives people plenty of credibility in the eyes of the Kremlin. Most of his academic career was spent at the University of Tartu, but he was also a researcher between 2007 and 2011 at the University of Helsinki.

2/20 Image
Varro is likely the most influential vatnik in Estonia. His academic credentials provide him credibility, while his religious image appeals to “traditionalists” - many of whom oddly admire Russia and its imperialistic nature.

3/20 Image
Read 21 tweets
Apr 4
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll introduce a Russian ultra-nationalist propagandist and “philosopher”, Aleksandr Dugin. He’s best-known for his blueprint on Russia’s geopolitical strategy and for his genocidal rhetoric towards Ukrainians.

1/17 Image
In my first Dugin Soup, I covered the man’s 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics — a manual for dismantling the West, breaking up NATO, and building a Russian-led empire. In it, he makes eerie “predictions” that seem to be playing out today.

2/17 Image
Image
Image
Dugin called for destabilizing the US by exacerbating internal divisions. Fast forward to today: culture wars, conspiracy theories, far-right lunatics, and social media algorithms doing half the work for him.

3/17 Image
Image
Image
Read 18 tweets
Apr 3
Tariffs memes are the hottest thing right now, so post your favorites👇🏻 Image
Image
Image
Read 5 tweets
Apr 1
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Russian propagandist Sergei Tsaulin. He’s best-known for spreading pro-Kremlin narratives in Estonia, fleeing to Russia after breaking several laws in Estonia, and almost getting blown up by a bomb in St. Petersburg.

1/17 Image
For years, Tsaulin was known for organizing marches and events glorifying the Soviet Union. Under the excuse of “remembering history,” these events were nothing more than Kremlin propaganda, wrapped in a red flag with a hammer and sickle.

2/17 Image
One of his most infamous events was the “Immortal Regiment” march, held every 9th of May, where people carried portraits of Soviet soldiers. These marches are used by Russia to push the idea that the Baltics owe their existence to the Soviets.

3/17 Image
Read 18 tweets
Mar 28
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Joe Rogan (@joerogan). He’s best-known for launching the biggest podcast in the world, promoting various conspiracy theories, his support for Donald Trump and his anti-Ukraine rhetoric.

1/22 Image
Joe Rogan started as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s, found fame on NewsRadio, and became a household name with Fear Factor. But his biggest impact came in 2009 when he launched The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), one of the first major podcasts.

2/22 Image
Image
Image
JRE started as casual but deep conversations, often covering countercultural topics like psychedelics, MMA & hunting. Joe’s podcasting style is largely non-confrontational, often allowing his guests to share their views without significant pushback or critical questioning.

3/22 Image
Image
Image
Image
Read 23 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(