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Pekka Kallioniemi

@P_Kallioniemi

Mar 26, 2023 • 18 tweets • 8 min read • Read on X

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In today's #vatniksoup I'll introduce a French lawyer and politician, Marine Le Pen. She's best-known for her attempts at becoming the president of France and for her connections to the European far-right movement and to Vladimir Putin.

1/17

Le Pen's political career started as early as 1986, when she joined the National Front (later the National Rally, RN) party, a party found by his father Jean-Marie Le Pen. After becoming the party's leader in 2011, she started a "de-demonization campaign" to clean the...

2/17

...party's image of being anti-globalist, racist and anti-Semitic. The re-branded party was part of the European "far-right" bloc, led by Le Pen, Italian Matteo Salvini, and Dutch Geert Wilders.

3/17

Even though Le Pen has softened the party's views on same-sex marriage, abortion and the death sentence, it still supports strong stance on anti-immigration, nationalism and protectionism.

4/17

This resonates strongly with former president Trump's politics, and Trump actually endorsed Le Pen during her presidential campaign and vice versa. During the 2016 US election, Le Pen said that "For France, anything is better than Hillary Clinton".

5/17

In 2010 Le Pen compared the public Muslim prayers with the Nazi occupation of France during WW2, calling it an "occupation". Her statement was criticized by various political figures and human rights organizations, ...

6/17

..but as was tradition at the time,this only increased her popularity among the common folk. Before the 2017 presidential election, RN had difficulties in finding funding for Le Pen's presidential campaign in France - many French banks refused to provide the party any credit.7/17

Instead in 2014, the party took a 9 million EUR loan from Czech-Russian bank, despite the EU sanctions placed on Russia after the illegal annexation of Crimea. Later in 2016 they applied for another Russian loan of 27 million EUR, but they were refused.

8/17

@PaulSonne

Now the 2014 loan thing is a BIG mess and way too complicated to describe in a Twitter thread, but I suggest reading this fantastic WaPo article by Paul Sonne (@PaulSonne) from: washingtonpost.com/world/national…

9/17

In 2017 Le Pen met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and according to an aide of RN, Putin wished her "good luck" for the upcoming election. During the same year, she stated that the concerns that Putin was a threat to Europe were a "big scam".

10/17

In a 2017 interview she also claimed that if elected, she'd attempt to swiftly lift EU sanctions imposed on Russia over the annexation of Crimea. "It's now the world of Putin, the world of Donald Trump", she continued.

11/17

Naturally she went on and accused the US and NATO for threatening Russia by arming the countries along their borders. Then she continued with a Mearsheimer classic: "Ukraine is part of Russia's sphere of influence, it's a fact".

After the Russian interference in the 2016...12/17

... US election, she denied any wrongdoing by Russia, saying that "it hasn't led any campaigns against European counties, or against the US". In the same interview she claimed that Russia's intervention in Syria had been good thing and improved overall global security.

13/17

Le Pen was part of the big group who still in early Feb 2022, believed that Putin wouldn't invade Ukraine. After it happened, she condemned the full-scale invasion harshly, saying that the attack is "a clear violation of international law and absolutely indefensible".

14/17

She also said that the allegations about her being close to Putin are "unfair". Finally, she suggested that "the Vladimir Putin of five years ago is not exactly that of today", which is - pardon my French - a fucking lie.

15/17

Putin's been the same since he rose to power in 1999. He bombed his own people to start the 2nd Chechen War, invaded Georgia, bombed Syrian civilians and hospitals and has been invading and conducting genocide in Ukraine since 2014.

16/17

In addition, he's been trying to assassinate people with nerve agents and radioactive substances around Europe, sometimes successfully. So Le Pen was either gullible, uninformed or had an agenda to keep supporting Putin, and I don't know which of these options is the worst.
17/17

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1635953481268830210

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

Past soups: vatniksoup.com
Related soups:
Matteo Salvini:

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1635953481268830210

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Pekka Kallioniemi

@P_Kallioniemi

Mar 14

In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Serbian academic, Ratko Ristić. He’s best known for engaging in pro-Kremlin, ultranationalist politics and propaganda while undermining business ties between Serbia and the EU.

1/18

Serbia, along with Belarus, remains Russia’s staunchest European ally amid its aggression against Ukraine. Not only have they refused to impose sanctions, but Serbia has also become a regional disinformation hub, destabilizing the wider region.

2/18

Beyond foreign malign influence, Serbia’s nationalist-revisionist regime – rooted in the 1990s – has aligned with Russia’s aggressive, anti-liberal nationalist bloc. Serbian far-right groups are also well-known supporters of Russian imperialism.

3/18

Read 20 tweets

Pekka Kallioniemi

@P_Kallioniemi

Mar 8

In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Oleg Bessedin, a videoblogger and Russia’s favorite mouthpiece in Estonia. Through social media, online groups, and media networks, Bessedin has played an active role in pushing pro-Kremlin narratives to divide Estonian society.

1/13

Oleg is a content creator and businessman with strong ties to pro-Kremlin networks. He runs multiple Facebook groups and media platforms that regularly share Russian state propaganda. Estonia’s Internal Security Service (KAPO) has flagged his platforms as disinfo hubs.

2/13

Bessedin presents himself as an independent journalist, but his content is heavily biased in favor of Russian narratives. He portrays Estonia and the West as corrupt, aggressive, and anti-Russian while defending Russia’s actions on the world stage.

3/13

Read 14 tweets

Pekka Kallioniemi

@P_Kallioniemi

Mar 5

In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll discuss the Russian shadow fleet: a network of ships that operate in secret, dodge sanctions, smuggle oil, and undermine the security of Europe’s seas while keeping Putin’s war machine running.

1/15

To understand the shadow fleet, let’s rewind to 2022. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the West responded with economic shockwaves. Sanctions were imposed, Russian oil was banned, and a price cap was introduced. For Russia, this was a disaster.

2/15

But Putin is well-familiar with economic warfare. Russia quickly created a “shadow fleet” – an armada of rusting oil tankers with false identities and forged paperwork,and illegal trade routes designed to dodge Western sanctions and keep the rubles flowing.

3/15

Read 16 tweets

Pekka Kallioniemi

@P_Kallioniemi

Feb 28

In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll re-introduce the American-British social media personalities, Tristan and Andrew Tate (@tatethetalisman and @cobratate).

They’re best-known for their social media grifts and allegations of human trafficking and rape.

1/22

The history of the Tate brothers was introduced thoroughly in my original Vatnik Soup thread, but since then so much has happened that this pathetic duo needs another review. The soup will go through a lot of the evidence and videos in which the Tates incriminate themselves.
2/22

The Tates became (relatively) rich through their webcam (pimping?) businesses and self-help courses targeted at young, desperate (incel?) men. At some point, they had up to 75 women working for them, and the brothers later admitted that the business was a “total scam”.

3/22

Read 23 tweets

Pekka Kallioniemi

@P_Kallioniemi

Feb 24

In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Russia’s main narratives and explain how they are being spread online by Russian operatives and MAGA Republicans. After three years of war, Russia still relies on old narratives, now amplified by the Trump administration.

1/25

Throughout the years – or even decades – Russia’s narratives against the West have remained largely the same. Many of them date back to the Cold War era, when the KGB and CIA were bitter enemies. But since then, the media landscape has drastically changed.

2/25

Russian propaganda and disinformation revolves around four main themes:

1) Russia is the victim,
2) Historical revisionism,
3) The “decadent West” is collapsing,
4) The CIA and/or “evil Anglo-Saxons” are behind every revolution & anti-Kremlin activity.

3/25

Read 26 tweets

Pekka Kallioniemi

@P_Kallioniemi

Feb 22

In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a former Ukrainian politician and president, Viktor Yanukovych. He’s best known for selling his country to Russia, trying to turn it into an authoritarian state, and eventually fleeing to Moscow once his plan failed.

1/22

Now that Russia and the US are planning to replace president Zelenskyy with someone who’s more willing to sell the country to them (most probably Viktor Medvedchuk or one of his cronies), it’s a good time to remind people how Yanukovych and Putin almost took over Ukraine.

2/22

Yanukovych’s first attempt at power came in 2004, when he “won” the Ukrainian presidential election through massive fraud. The rigged vote sparked the Orange Revolution, a wave of protests that forced the election to be re-run. His opponent, pro-Western candidate…

3/22

Read 23 tweets

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