Post

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
Click again on or Share Via icon
Click on Copy Link to Tweet
Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
More info at Twitter Help

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

Apr 14, 2023 • 23 tweets • 11 min read • Read on X

Scrolly

@zerohedge

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.

1/22

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, ...

2/22

...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.

3/22

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.

4/22

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.

5/22

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...

6/22

...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.

7/22

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.

8/22

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.

9/22

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. ...

10/22

...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.

11/22

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.

12/22

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...

14/22

...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...

15/22

...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.

16/22

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.

17/22

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."

18/22

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...

19/22

..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

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.
21/22

@seth_hettena

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)

22/22

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1609560497384308736

Support my work: buymeacoffee.com/PKallioniemi
Past soups: vatniksoup.com

Related soups:
The Grayzone:

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1609560497384308736

Mintpress News:

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1639196978805456896

Gonzalo Lira:

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1642130636466008067

• • •

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

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

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

More from @P_Kallioniemi

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

Jul 11

In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a French far-left politician. He’s best known for founding the party La France Insoumise (“Unsubmissive France”), demanding submission from his own movement and advocating global submission to authoritarian dictators.

1/23

Mélenchon received his early political education in the Organisation communiste internationaliste, a Trotskyist-Lambertist communist group known for secrecy, rigid discipline and entryism. Lionel Jospin was also a member, and both later joined the Socialist Party.

2/23

Mélenchon was elected to the Senate and was a junior minister in Jospin’s government. He left the Socialist Party in 2008, co-founded the Left Party, then the Left Front alliance with the Communists & ran as its presidential candidate. He was also an MEP from 2009 to 2017.

3/23

Read 25 tweets

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

Jun 28

In today’s Vatnik Soup and our “Degenerate Russia” series, we’ll discuss what kind of lowlifes sink low enough to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, lie on Russia’s behalf, promote Russian BS, and even gather in Moscow or St. Petersburg to help the Kremlin wage its war.

1/21

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1902351629258547584

For over a decade now and as part of their “firehose of falsehood” propaganda strategy, Russia has been spreading false narratives targeting right-wing/conservative audiences, portraying Russia as a bastion of Christian, traditional, family values.

Of course, it’s all BS.

2/21

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1902351629258547584

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/2009956574534742311

Russia is also normalizing relations with the Taliban, doesn’t recognize Hamas or Hezbollah as terrorist groups, and deepens its military partnership with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the regime that legalized pedophilia through child marriage.

3/21

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/2009956574534742311

Read 21 tweets

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

Jun 6

In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce Vincent Bolloré, a French billionaire and media tycoon. He’s best known for building a powerful media empire and for reshaping editorial lines across French media and publishing, pushing them toward far-right and pro-Kremlin positions.

1/25

Born in 1952 in Boulogne-Billancourt to a family of industrialists, Vincent studied law at Paris Nanterre University. He took over the family business and turned it into a sprawling conglomerate spanning logistics, port infrastructure in Africa, advertising, and media.

2/25

Bolloré’s African logistics empire also became the subject of a long-running corruption investigation in France. Legal proceedings against Vincent Bolloré personally are still ongoing, with a trial planned in December, after a judge refused to approve a plea deal.

3/25

Read 25 tweets

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

Jun 4

In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll introduce an American conspiracy theorist, podcaster & antisemite, Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO). She’s best known for spreading conspiracy theories, attacking Ukraine, promoting pro-Kremlin BS, and becoming a favorite of Russian state media.

1/21

Candace started her career as an intern at Vogue magazine but later moved into political commentary. Her early career focused on criticizing Republicans, calling their antics “bat-shit crazy.” In 2016, her blog even published an article about Trump’s penis size.

2/21

That same year, she launched a doxxing website called SocialAutopsy. In response, people began posting Owens’s personal information online. During the controversy, she gained support from figures such as @Nero and @Cernovich. And just like that, she became a conservative.

3/21

Read 23 tweets

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

May 27

In today’s Wumao Soup, we’ll talk about Taiwan, the sovereign country the Chinese Communist Party insists is not a country, but constantly threatens to invade just like a country, while the “antiwar” crowd is eagerly encouraging them to start that war, endangering millions.

1/20

Taiwan is a country, a state. It has its own territory, government, army, police, courts, taxes, passports and elections, just like any other country.

The only difference? Its neighbor, imperialist China, wants to invade it, and other countries try to please the big bully.

2/20

Taiwan’s official name is the Republic of China, or ROC. The ROC was founded in 1912, after the fall of the Qing dynasty. The People’s Republic of China, or PRC, was founded by democidal dictator Mao Zedong and his communist party, in 1949, after fighting against the ROC.

3/20

Read 20 tweets

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

May 25

In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll introduce Russian propaganda operations around military targets like Starobilsk. For over a decade, the Kremlin has used similar strategies, combining crisis actors, “independent journalists” and fabricated evidence.

1/13

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1611980244252258304

First, let’s go back to 2014. Russia funded separatist groups and sent its mercenaries to Donbas, which led to the creation of two puppet states, Donetsk and Luhansk, governed by Russian propagandists and soldiers like Igor Girkin.

2/13

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1611980244252258304

The fake genocide was touted as one of the main reasons for Russia’s war during the early stages of the full-scale invasion, and the claim was made even by Putin himself. Before his mutiny, late Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said that all this was fabricated bullshit.

3/13