In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American political activist, attention-seeker and TV presenter, Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec). He's best-known for his tendency to lie and spread conspiracy theories, and for his pro-Kremlin views on the Russo-Ukrainian War.
1/24
Posobiec rose to popularity during the 2016 US presidential election, while working for Roger Stone's organization Citizens for Trump. Jack's style of promoting lies and making up stuff resembles Stone's "admit nothing, deny everything, and launch a counterattack"...
2/24
...style of propaganda, in which there isn't any kind of commitment to the truth. Jack has also described himself as "Roger Stone's man". He worked in the United States Navy Reserve from 2010 until 2018. A former active duty naval intelligence officer stated that Jack...
3/24
...was "unlikely in the extreme to have ever done any intelligence gathering of any national level importance". Later his security clearance was suspended without any disclosed reason. Some have speculated that this could be due to his involvement in politics, other that...
4/24
...it had something to do with his wife, a Belorussian MyPillow advocate, Tanya Gorbach.
At some point Jack's Twitter bio described him as being "fmr CBS News". CBS News has told that Posobiec never worked for them. During this time in 2016, he also live-streamed the...
5/24
...infamous "Pizzagate" video where he visited a pizzeria called Comet Ping Pong, and looked for signs of child-sex ring ran by Hillary Clinton. He was asked to leave the place after he tried to broadcast a child's birthday party to his live viewers.
6/24
A few weeks after this, a man walked into the restaurant, opening fire with a semi-automatic rifle. Posobiec later said that he was actually "debunking" the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, declaring it "stupid".
7/24
In Nov 2016, Jack snuck into a anti-Trump protests, planting a sign saying "Rape Melania". He denied his involvement to BuzzFeed News who reported on the issue even after BuzzFeed published the text messages with Jack allegedly planning these theatrics.
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Jack's also closely connected to various far-right and neo-Nazi actors, including Richard Spencer, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. He has also attended a march organized by far-right, fascist political movement called Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny.
9/24
In 2017, Posobiec hired the Clark brothers to help create a documentary about the murder of Seth Rich for Rebel News, an outlet he was working for. They're well-known neo-Nazis, and Jeffrey Clark was arrested by the FBI on gun charges after he declared that Jewish victims..
10/24
... of the October 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting "deserved exactly what happened to them and so much worse". He naturally denied any connection to them, even though HuffPost published photos of all three working together.
11/24
In Oct 2019, after Alexander Vindman testified in Congress - he stated that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine and asked Zelensky to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden - Posobiec tweeted, citing NYT, that Vindman had been advising the Ukrainian government on how...
12/24
...to counter Trump's foreign policy goals. The whole news was of course all made up. His crusade against Vindman has been going on ever since.
In the wake of George Floyd's murder in Jun 2020, Jack falsely claimed about pipe bombs planted at a veteran memorial in DC.
13/24
Throughout his career as a... whatever he is, Jack's lied so much that the Philadelphia magazine called him the "King of Fake News". SPLC reported that Posobiec had tweeted almost thirty articles from SouthFront, a Russian fake news blog connected to Russian intelligence...
14/24
services, and that SouthFront had promoted Posobiec as well. The US State Department has described SouthFront as part of Russia's "disinformation and propaganda ecosystem".
A 2017 investigation by HuffPost revealed that Internet Research Agency-controlled Twitter account, @TEN_GOP, retweeted Jack's content more than any other account. The account focused on disinformation and racist content, so his tweets were a perfect fit for the account.
16/24
Posobiec was one of the most prominent spreaders of the #MacronLeaks, a hack-and-leak operation which leaked 20 000 e-mails related to Macron's 2017 campaign:
. He's also promoted Alexander Dugin's 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics.
17/24
He also crowdfunded a comic called "Agent Poso". In this extremely sad project a character named Jack Posobiec was depicted as the leader of the TASK FORCE AEGIS. The comic was described as "a series about young conservatives that could be enjoyed from anyone from 2 to 92".
18/24
One of Posobiec's favorite narratives has been the bioweapons labs in Ukraine. This conspiracy theory originated from QAnon supporter Jacob Creech, and quickly became one of the biggest disinformation topics related to the Russo-Ukrainian War.
19/24
Naturally he's also promoted various other conspiracy theories,including The Great Reset & "white genocide". Lately he's put a lot of focus on defaming @MalcolmNance,a veteran who's actually gone to Ukraine to do shit (instead of just talking shit on social media like Jack).20/24
Jack and his pals seem to think that the West is somehow "forcing" various countries to join their defense and economic alliances, thus removing any kind of sovereignty or free will from these actors. Another popular claim is that these sovereign countries were somehow...
21/24
... "assimilated" by the "deep state" and intel organizations like the CIA or NGO's like NED. The focus is clear: criticize NATO and the Western leadership, question the aid to Ukraine and this way help Russia to achieve its goals.
22/24
Posobiec is a wannabe-Roger Stone who promotes post-truth conservative politics through lies & provocation. He doesn't care about the truth and is willing to spread any extreme views or conspiracy theories, so that he can stay relevant and make some money at the same time.
23/24
This tactic will be utilized as long as it has no consequences. These days you can say pretty much anything on social media without any real flashback. The flow of information and viral content is so fast, that all false claims are forgotten almost immediately.
I guess it's also worth mentioning that Jack clearly puts pedophiles in two distinct categories based on their political leaning: the good pedos, and the bad pedos.
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.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian-Estonian businessman, Oleg Ossinovski. He is best-known for his deep ties to Russian rail and energy networks, shady cross-border dealings, and for channeling his wealth into Estonian politics.
1/14
Oleg made his fortune via Spacecom Trans & Skinest Rail, both deeply tied to Russia’s rail system. Most of this is through Globaltrans Investments PLC, a Cyprus-based firm with 62% held via Spacecom and tens of millions in yearly profits.
2/14
Ossinovski’s Russian-linked ventures made him Estonia’s richest man in 2014, with an estimated fortune of ~€300M. His business empire stretched across railways, oil via Alexela shares, and Russian bitumen imports from Help-Oil, a supplier to the Defense Ministry.