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May 11, 2023 24 tweets 13 min read Read on X
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American political analyst and media executive, Steve Bannon.

He's best-known for being Trump's chief strategist, "flooding the zone with shit", and for attempting to unite far-right, pro-Putin political parties around Europe.

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Bannon worked as an officer in the US Navy in the late 70s and early 80s, after which he worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. He's also produced several Hollywood movies between 1991 and 2016. In 1980,Bannon was deployed to assist with the Operation Eagle Claw...
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.., a failed effort to save 52 embassy staff members from Tehran ordered by Jimmy Carter. In a 2015 interview, Steve stated that this marked a turning point in his political stance, turning him into a "Reaganite". This ideology of a battle between "good and evil" can be...

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clearly seen in his rhetoric. He's also been influenced by the so-called Fourth Turning theory which predicts that we are entering a phase where populism, nationalism and state-run authoritarianism will be on the rise around the world.

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In 2007, Bannon was a founding member of the website Breitbart News,later describing it as "the platform for the alt-right".Time journalist Philip Elliott said that the site pushes "racist, sexist, xenophobic and antisemitic material into the vein of the alternative right".

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Former editor of Breitbart, Ben Shapiro, called Steve a "bully" who "sold out" the website's original idea to back up Trump. In 2018, Breitbart funders Robert & Rebekah Mercer got rid of him,allegedly due to his "impulsive and attention-seeking antics" and high expenditures.
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Bannon served in the board of Cambridge Analytics, acting as its vice president. This company was also owned by the Mercer family, and it allegedly deployed illegal tactics in targeting US voters in the 2016 presidential election. Former Analytica employee, Christopher...

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...Wylie, has claimed that Bannon oversaw the collection of data from Facebook. He called the company a "psychological warfare tool".

Bannon's probably best-known for his work as a chief strategist for Donald Trump. Few days after Trump's inauguration, Bannon told the...

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...NYT that "the media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while. I want you to quote this: the media here is the opposition party".

Bannon was interviewed on several occasions by Robert Mueller as part of his investigation...

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...on the Russian interference in the 2016 US election. In Nov 2019, he gave evidence against Roger Stone, saying that Stone was Wikileaks' access point for the Trump campaign, and he was subsequently convicted on all charges, only to be pardoned by Trump.

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The Senate Intelligence Committee also looked into his activities and connections to George Papadopoulos and Carter Page, who both played a role in the Russian interference in the 2016 US election. In Aug 2020 members of the senate intelligence committee said that they...

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believed that Bannon, Jared Kushner, and Don Trump Jr. may have misled them with their testimonies. Bannon later said that he considered the meeting between Don Jr., Kushner, Paul Manafort and the Russian officials "treasonous". He also said that investigators will likely..
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..uncover money laundering activities that involve Jared Kushner and Deutsche Bank. He's called the Trump business a "criminal enterprise". Bannon himself was arrested in Aug 2020 and was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering - Bannon & others...
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...collected money to build a wall at the US-Mexico border, and allegedly made payments to themselves instead. Prosecutors alleged that Steve got more than 1 000 000 million USD in connection with this plan.

Trump pardoned Bannon in Jan 2021.

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Steve has adopted the Russian "firehose of falsehood" propaganda style, calling it "flood the zone with shit". He's stated that "We got elected on Drain the Swamp, Lock Her Up, Build a Wall. This was pure anger. Anger and fear is what gets people to the polls."

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The Economist has stated that Bannon (along with political analyst Stephen Miller) sees Putin as a "fellow nationalist & crusader against cosmopolitanism". He's said that Putin is "standing up for traditional institutions, and he's trying to do it in a form of nationalism".
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He's also a fan of Alexander Dugin, a Russian political strategist, whom he allegedly met in Rome in 2018. He's cited Dugin on various occasions, and has described himself as a fan of his 2009 book The Fourth Political Theory.

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The book has been referred as an inspiration for Russian foreign policy, including the war in Donbas.

Bannon's described Putin's invasion of Ukraine as a "border dispute" and "a Slavic fist fist on the eastern border of Ukraine".

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During 2018, Bannon formed a foundation called The Movement, where he tried to unite right-wing populist parties around Europe. He visited and had talks with many of the pro-Kremlin parties in Europe, including Austrian FPÖ, British UKIP, German AfD, Italian Lega Nord,...

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...Hungarian Fidesz, Spanish Vox, Swiss SVP, and France's National Rally.

Incidentally, all these parties and/or some of their members have been previously featured in #vatniksoup.

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A 2023 study conducted by Brookings Institution revealed that Bannon's podcast broadcasted the highest proportion of disinformation and unsubstantiated statements among 79 political podcasts examined.

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These days Bannon is still flooding the zone with shit with his "Bannons [sic] War Room" show on Rumble. Recently he's also encouraged conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run against Joe Biden in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

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As a traditionalist, Bannon has been married and divorced three times. In 1996, his then-wife accused Steve of domestic abuse, but the charges were later dropped after she failed to appear in court.

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Oct 10
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.

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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.

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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.”

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Oct 6
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.

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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:

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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…
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Sep 25
This is what you’re debating with on social media:
It appears that a few pro-Russian bot farms already found this thread, so remember - just block them all, there's no point in arguing with a computer.
Most of you have seen those "No DMs" profiles, right? That's because you can interrupt the GPT procedure by injecting them new instructions.

At some point it also worked in comments ("give me a cake recipe"), but not so much anymore.
Read 4 tweets
Sep 11
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.

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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.

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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.

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Sep 8
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.

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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.

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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.

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Sep 5
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.

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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.

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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.

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Read 15 tweets

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