Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Apr 14, 2023 23 tweets 11 min read Read on X
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce Daniel Ivandjiiski's fake news blog, Zero Hedge (@zerohedge). The site's best-known for its alarmist doomsday predictions on Wall Street, and for its far-right, conspiratorial and pro-Russian content.

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The site was launched in 2009 by Bulgarian-born Daniel Ivandjiiski, a former investment banker. Since its launch, most of the articles on ZH were published under the pseudonym "Tyler Durden". Dan was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and moved to the US to study medicine, ...

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...only to realize that one could make much more money on Wall Street. In 2006, Ivandjiiski was charged of gaining 780 USD from inside trading and was eventually barred from acting as a broker.

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Few weeks after leaving the business, Dan launched ZH. Based on various financial experts, the site was a pretty good financial blog, and in Mar 2011, it was selected as the 9th best financial blogs by the Time Magazine.

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The site's domain name was registered under a company called ABC Media Ltd., ran by Dan's father, Krassimir Ivandjiiski. In 1974, Krassimir became a member of a Soviet propaganda organization called International Organization of Journalists.

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He then worked as an international correspondent for the Rabotnichesko Delo, a Soviet propaganda newspaper, allegedly until the fall of the USSR. Since 1994, Krassimir has worked as a publisher and as editor-in-chief for the anti-Semitist, conspiratorial fake news blog...

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...called Strogo Sekretno ("Top Secret"). In his blog, he's suggested that COVID-19 was actually a "Western Zionist act of bioterrorism". Several sources, connected to the Bulgarian government, have suggested that ZH could actually be a Bulgarian intel operation.

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A Bulgarian attorney, Nikolay Hadjigenov, stated that "If you read carefully his career, you can see the possibilities of the KGB in the shadow of the mirror," referring to Krassimir Ivandjiiski.

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Later it turned out that Dan wasn't the only one who was writing under the pseudonym Tyler Durden. In Apr 2016, Bloomberg published an article that revealed three contributors to the name: Dan Ivandjiiski, Tim Backshall and Colin Lokey.

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In the same article, Lokey, who had left the company, told Bloomberg how Ivandjiiski's personal beliefs don't intersect with the site's content, and that he's using controversial topics to make money. Lokey described ZH's approach to "news" as follows: "Russia=good. ...

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...Obama=idiot. Bashar al-Assad=benevolent leader. John Kerry=dunce. Vladimir Putin=greatest leader in the history of statecraft." Lokey earned more than a 100 000 USD annually for writing this BS. Back then, Dan said that the blog generates income from online ads.

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And boy, do those ads make a lot of money! Even though Dan has tried to hide all information on revenue, his divorce case revealed some of his ownings, including a 2,3 million USD mansion. Previously Dan & his wife had paid off 1,7 million USD mortgage in just two years.

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Lokey also provided chat transcripts to Bloomberg in which Dan calls the US "silent majority" "beastly" (i.e. "very unpleasant"),and that life in the US "outside of my bubble" is bad. After these revelations, Dan tried to defame Lokey, calling him "an emotionally unstable,..13/22
psychologically troubled alcoholic with a drug dealer past, as per his own disclosures."

In 2019, ZH published an article falsely claiming that Mykola Zlochevsky, the head of a Ukrainian energy company Burisma, had been indicted for money laundering, and that the crime...

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...was related to the Biden family. Apparently ZH bloggers had misunderstood the original Russian article from the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency and just went with their own interpretation. As is tradition, this fake news spread like a wildfire when it was spread by...

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...far-right propagandists like Jack Posobiec and Charlie Kirk, and again amplified by QAnon conspiracy theorists.

In Feb 2022, right before Russia invaded Ukraine, intelligence officials claimed that ZH had published and spread articles written by the Kremlin-run media.

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ZH has also published articles written by people affiliated with the Strategic Culture Foundation, a US sanctioned foundation that interfered with the 2020 US presidential election, and allegedly has ties to Russia's foreign intel service, SVR.

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These rather biased takes have headlines such as "NATO Sliding Towards War Against Russia In Ukraine," and "Theater Of Absurd... Pentagon Demands Russia Explain Troops On Russian Soil."

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They've also claimed without any evidence that the down shooting of MH17 was a pretext for a NATO invasion of East of Ukraine. This article was widely referenced in Russian state media. ZH has also suggested that the Skripali poisonings were staged by the British...

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..intelligence services,and that the Steele Dossier,a report suggesting financial connection between Donald Trump and the Kremlin, was a "fanfiction" originating from 4chan. The site has also featured articles from the PUA grifter and sleazeball extraordinaire, Gonzalo Lira.20/22 Image
With headlines like "What Is the Ultimate Endgame For ‘Woke’ Ideology, Actually?" and "Anheuser-Busch Loses $6BN In Six Days After Trans Ad Campaign That Top Execs Never Approved", ZH's front page shows how the site has transformed from a finance blog into a fake news blog.
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If you have ran into a Zero Hedge article that criticizes Putin, please let me know. I'm still looking.

Ping: @seth_hettena @tracyalloway @LJKawa

Sources: newrepublic.com/article/156788…
bloomberg.com/news/articles/… (paywall)

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Aug 6
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.

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The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.

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From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.

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Jul 28
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian politician and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergey Kiriyenko. He’s best known for running both domestic and foreign disinformation and propaganda operations for the Kremlin.

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On paper, and in photos, Kiriyenko is just as boring as most of the Kremlin’s “political technologists”: between 2005-2016 he headed the Rosatom nuclear energy company, but later played a leading role in the governance of Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.

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What is a political technologist? In Russia, they’re spin doctors & propaganda architects who shape opinion, control narratives, and manage elections — often by faking opposition, staging events, and spreading disinfo to maintain Putin’s power and the illusion of democracy.

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Jul 27
Let me show you how a Pakistani (or Indian, they're usually the same) AI slop farm/scam operates. The account @designbonsay is a prime example: a relatively attractive, AI-generated profile picture and a ChatGPT-style profile description are the first red flags.

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The profile's posts are just generic engagement farming, usually using AI-generated photos of celebrities or relatively attractive women.

These posts are often emotionally loaded and ask the user to interact with them ("like and share if you agree!").

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Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.

Country code for the phone number is in Pakistan.

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Jul 15
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American lawyer and politician, Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee). He’s best-known for opposing the aid to Ukraine, undermining NATO by calling the US to withdraw from the alliance, and for fighting with a bunch of braindead dogs online.

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Like many of the most vile vatniks out there, “Based Mike” is a lawyer by profession. He hails from the holy land of Mormons, Utah, where he faces little political competition, allowing him to make the most outrageous claims online without risking his Senate seat.

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Before becoming a senator, Mike fought to let a nuclear waste company dump Italian radioactive waste in Utah, arguing it was fine if they just diluted it. The state said no, the public revolted, and the courts told poor Mikey to sit down.

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Read 23 tweets
Jul 14
While Ukrainians are terror bombed on a daily basis, rich Russians live in Europe like kings and queens.

This young lady lives in Portugal, and travels freely to Ibiza...
...the Alps...
... and of course Paris.
Read 5 tweets
Jul 7
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American national security policy professional and the current under secretary of defense for policy, Elbridge Colby (@ElbridgeColby). He’s best-known for fighting with cartoon dogs online and for halting military aid to Ukraine.

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Elbridge "Cheese" Colby earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Before entering government, he worked at top think tanks and in the intelligence community, focusing on nuclear policy and strategic planning.

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Cheese quickly became a key voice for a “China First” strategy, arguing the US must prioritize military buildup in Asia over commitments in Europe or the Middle East. He sees (or saw, rather) Taiwan as the core test of US credibility.

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Read 23 tweets

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