In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an opportunist, grifter and YouTuber Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968). He's best-known for appearing as an expert and making money from controversial topics, such as the "Red Pill" movement, economics and of course the war in Ukraine.
1/21
Gonzalo has tried all sorts of careers to make an easy buck. In the 90's, he wrote corny spy-action books with characters such as "Duncan Idaho, the Langley roadrunner who skirts the line between brilliantly daring and foolishly reckless" in his hardly-a-bestseller, Acrobat.
2/21
He's also co-written,produced & directed a campy action film Secuestro in 2005.After his failure as both an author & as a filmmaker,Lira disappeared from the public sphere,only to re-appear in 2010 as an "economic expert", forecasting hyperinflation threatening the US dollar.3/21
His predictions were published on a prestigious "He Wall Street" website. He was also contributing to Business Insider, a website known for publishing fake news and for allowing the use of anonymous sources "at any time for any reason".
4/21
He's also written articles for the far-right, libertarian blog ZeroHedge. Steve Keen, an Australian economist, described Gonzalo as an "over-promiser" and as an "under-deliverer". He also described him as a "sleaze" who refashions himself as an expert on any chosen topic.
5/21
Then around 2017, during the peak of the so called "Red Pill Movement" on Reddit, Lira found a new opportunity in "guiding" young men in life and became known as the "CoachRedPill". At this point he was almost 50-year-old geezer spreading ideas such as "women over...
6/21
...30 are ruined", "all women only truly desire money", and "the degenerate Western culture pushes them to chase only the hottest 15 % guys for meaningless sex".
At the same time he's selling digital seminars with topics ranging from dating to relationship advice.
7/21
He was relatively popular in the "manosphere", and his Patreon still has almost 800 patrons, making him anything between 4000 and 8000 USD a month. His other Patreon makes him another 5500 USD a month.
8/21
The idea of the "decadent West" of course comes from Russian-spread propaganda, and at some point had made its way into the Red Pill community. Due to its contrarian views, the "manosphere" was also great breeding ground for conspiratorial and pro-Russian sentiment.
9/21
Lira was spreading COVID-19 conspiracy theories, while calling himself a "PureBlood" - someone who hasn't taken the COVID-19 jabs. He's also suggested that trying to start a family with anyone who's had the vaccine is pointless since they are already infertile.
10/21
Around 2021 Reddit and other social media sites started censoring all "manosphere" related content, which naturally made Lira to move on to other things. He became a doomsayer, preaching about a "great war against China", telling people to move to "poor and ...
11/21
... under-developed countries" since they "can't afford to impose any totalitarian policies". He'd allegedly been living in Kharkiv, Ukraine for some years before the war started. Lira's wife is allegedly Ukrainian/Russian.
12/21
Around mid-February 2022, he was still confident that Russia wasn't going to invade Ukraine and that it's all just Western propaganda. He later insisted that he saw the invasion coming way before it happened.
13/21
When the full-scale invasion in Feb 2022 started, Gonzalo immediately became a professional analyst on the matter. During the first days, he said that "the commentary and analysis I post is without picking sides," right after he'd picked the side of a genocidal maniac.
14/21
On 27 Feb 2022, he published a video defending Russia's actions and plans for a regime change, and blaming the US for any destruction in Ukraine. His motivations for praising Russia are unknown, but it could be due to his need to feed his big ego and due to his need ...
15/21
..to be in the spotlight. Since the full-scale invasion, he's basically just parroted the Russian propaganda on the war, for example saying that the Russians are "careful in not hitting civilian targets", "Zelenskyy is a cokehead" and that the Bucha massacre was actually...
16/21
..conducted by the Ukrainian State Secret Service, SBU. He's also blamed Victoria Nuland for having "orchestrated the Euromaidan". Lira was eventually detained by the SBU after he was taking pictures around Kharkiv. He allegedly gave up five other pro-Russian collaborators..17/21
...in exchange for house arrest or deportation. He eventually chose deportation, was escorted to Poland,and allegedly moved to the Netherlands.There were also some rumors that he was decapitated by the SBU, which made his fellow propagandist, iEarlGrey, very upset.
18/21
Gonzalo is also a big fan of the worst combat analyst, Douglas Macgregor, whose out-of-this-world predictions he shares on almost daily basis. He's also been interviewed by another pro-Kremlin propagandist, George Galloway.
19/21
To conclude: Lira is a grifter and an opportunist who's always looking for a new ways to earn more money. He has an enormous and fragile ego, he's extremely thin-skinned and gets upset when his shitty takes on Ukraine (or on anything) are challenged.
20/21
Like Jackson "Z" Hinkle, Lira's a "Merchant of Rage", making money from outrage and from contrarian views, which is why people should just ignore him.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll explain the context of the upcoming Budapest Blunder, and how it follows the infamous Alaska Fiasco from two months ago and Trump’s absurd delaying of serious aid to Ukraine and effective sanctions on Russia for the past nine months.
1/20
Two months ago, Trump embarrassed the United States by rolling out the red carpet for war criminal dictator Putin and overall acting like a pathetic servant eager to meet his master. Of course, the Alaska Fiasco didn’t bring peace any closer.
Worse, the main outcome of the humiliation was to delay serious sanctions, which the US Congress, in rare bipartisan unity against Russia, was on the verge of passing. Two weeks by two weeks, Trump Always Chickens Out, postponing any real pressure on Putin for 9 months now.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce American propagandist Alexandra Jost, aka “Sasha” (@sashameetsrus). She’s best known for being paid by the Russian state to spread pro-Kremlin propaganda — and for doing it with a big smile.
1/23
Alexandra, now 26, was born in Hong Kong. Her father is from Texas, and her mother is from Siberia. According to her, she has “dreamed of living in Russia since childhood.” Sasha's mother runs a dance studio in Moscow and her younger brother is avoiding mobilization.
2/23
Since the beginning of her creator career, Sasha has been adamant about one thing: that she’s “never had to be paid” to speak of her “love” for Russia. But, as always with Russia, this turned out to be nothing but vranyo — a Russian “tactical lie.”
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll reintroduce an American political commentator and pro-Kremlin propagandist, Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson). He’s best known for his promotion of crazy conspiracy theories and for his support of authoritarian regimes around the world.
1/24
Tucker’s career spans decades, but he’s also been very active in recent years, so a lot has happened since our previous soup on him, which can be found here:
Once described as “the most powerful conservative in America”, Tucker has now fully transformed into a grifting conspiracy theorist and propagandist willing to work for whoever pays him the most. It’s unclear whether Tucker truly believes his endless conspiracy theories or…
3/24
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the agenda-setting and flood of disinformation that spread on X and other platforms right after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It’s far from the first or last time a tragedy has been weaponized for political purposes.
1/18
Every major political event, especially those involving violence, attracts massive attention. In the immediate aftermath, reliable information is scarce, making it highly vulnerable to both coordinated and improvised disinformation campaigns.
2/18
As I’ve mentioned in my previous soups and lectures, in disinformation campaigns, being first with a narrative is crucial, as people often remember the first version best — psychology studies show it sets the mental schema, and later updates rarely overwrite it.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce American social media personality David Freeman, AKA Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman). He’s best known for spreading political disinformation on X and shamelessly sucking up to Trump, Putin, and other authoritarian leaders.
1/22
David is a textbook example of someone profiting from MAGA grievance politics. He uses extreme, provocative language to farm engagement on X and never hesitates to flatter anyone who might give him more exposure — or money.
2/22
But David wasn’t always like this. At some point, in his mid-40s, he even tried a real job: he trained to become a cop. He spent three years with the Metro Transit PD, but after that he either got fired or quit, and never looked back.