In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a US non-profit organization CODEPINK (@codepink), and its founders Jodie Evans (@MsJodieEvans) and Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin). It's best-known for its anti-US stance & for its support of totalitarian regimes around the world.
1/23
In 2006, Benjamin said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela, hadn't eroded freedom of speech and civil rights in the country, calling it a "myth". Carlson blamed Medea for "the squelching of minority views", to which Medea...
2/23
..replied: "They [a local TV network] falsified information. They got people out on the street." Later, Chávez's regime seized control of the Supreme Court and undercut the ability of journalists,human rights defenders & other Venezuelans to exercise their fundamental rights.3/23
In 2014, Benjamin attended the New Horizon conference in Tehran, Iran. The event included a panel titled "Mossad’s Role in the 9/11 Coup d’Etat", and it hosted figures like Randy Short, who claims that "Boko Haram was created and funded by the CIA", and Wayne Madsen, ...
4/23
... who has declared that 9/11 attacks were carried out by Mossad together with CIA and Saudi intelligence. The event also hosted German neo-Nazis Manuel Ochsenreiter & Kevin Barrett, and in 2018 one of the keynote speakers at New Horizon was one Aleksander Dugin.
5/23
Benjamin later stated that she was "uncomfortable" but learned a lot.
In Mar 2019 while visiting Iran, CODEPINK, a "grassroots peace and social justice movement", voiced their support over Iran's developing missile technology because the US has military bases around Iran.
6/23
People's Support Foundation (PSF), an NGO co-founded by Evans, has invested heavily on companies that cooperate with the Israeli Defense Force, including Israel Chemicals Ltd., Caterpillar, and Atlas Copco. These investments seem strange, when we consider Evans' ...
7/23
..strong anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian stance. PSF has also funneled 700 000 USD into Tricontinental, which describes itself as an "Institute for Social Research". It's ran by Vijay Prashad, a gentleman seen here holding a sign that seems to support both China and Russia.
8/23
When there's an actual, well-documented genocide of the Uyghur population going on in China, CODEPINK falls silent. In Jodie's case, this could be due to her personal relations. Her current partner is Neville Roy Singham, a tech entrepreneur who's been connected to the...
9/23
...funneling of 65 million USD to "various entities connected with people who have defended the Chinese government and downplayed or denied documented human rights violations" of the Uyghurs. In Sep 2020, Evans was a speaker at far-left conference, calling for the US to...
10/23
..."de-escalate" relations with China. Imagine being a "peace activist" & completely disregarding a genocide involving 2 million people.The genocide denial of CODEPINK key figures has made them popular interviewees on CCP-controlled propaganda outlets like The Global Times.
11/23
Regarding Ukraine, both Evans and Benjamin cheer for Russia. By CODEPINK's logic, "If that money flow [to Ukraine] stops, the war will come to an end because both sides will sit down and negotiate." Their coordinator continued that "I don't think that the Russians...
12/23
are that interested in war either." Yet there they are, invading.
In Nov 2022, Medea joined RT journalist Chris Hedges for an interview. By Hedges' view, the invasion itself is a war crime conducted by Putin, but Medea focuses more on the NATO's involvement and "meddling"..
13/23
..in Ukraine. The interview is full of false and biased statements, including "Crimea is Russia", oppression against the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine,NATO expansion, calling the events in Donbas in 2014 a "civil war", and of course the "Ukrainian neo-Nazis" trope.
14/23
Benjamin also refers to the controversial CBS report that only 30% of military aid arrives to the front. The article has been partially retracted and updated with the actual data. To summarize the interview, there's only little mention or talk about Russia, and she mostly..
15/23
..focuses on the "far-right elements" and the coup-that-never-happened in Ukraine. Most of this stuff is also promoted in Benjamin's 2022 book "War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict", which again focuses on bashing NATO and the US, & even supports Russia's...
16/23
... intervention in Syria. She also casts doubt on Russian-Syrian chemical attacks on civilians. A common narrative these days is the one where pro-Kremlin propagandists compare the establishment of Russian bases in Canada or in Mexico. The problem with this speculative...
17/23
... scenario is that the US really hasn't had any major conflicts between its neighbors. These countries have had free trade agreements like NAFTA and USMCA since the 90s and there is a lot of immigration coming into the US from both Canada and Mexico.
18/23
Hell, there's even speculation that the fake news blogger @aaronjmate married a former NPR journalist, Starlee Kine (@StarleeKine), to be able to work in the US, a country that he seems to despise so much.
Why don't people flock to Russia the same way they do to the US?
19/23
In Feb 2023, Medea was planned to be one of the speakers at the "antiwar" event Rage Against the War Machine, but she stepped down after she was criticized by her CODEPINK fellows. This didn't stop her from attending the event & even joining the speaker's "VIP area".
20/23
In my mind, there's no doubt whose side in the world stage both CODEPINK founders have taken: they systematically support the anti-West totalitarian and authoritarian regimes around the world. Putin, Xi, Maduro and Chávez are/were the good guys, and US is the actual enemy.
21/23
We all know that you're not going to answer any questions, Jodie and Medea, but here's few anyway:
What are your thoughts on the Bucha massacre?
What about the mass graves in Izium?
Children's torture chambers in Kherson?
Why are you so afraid to talk about Putin?
22/23
And what about the Uyghur genocide in Xinjian, China?
When will PSF stop investing in companies that support the Israeli Defense Force?
I know you're busy bootlicking various dictators, but please try and find the time to respond!
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.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Swiss/French writer, Alain Bonnet, aka Alain Soral (@officielsoral). He’s best known for his rabid antisemitism and for his pathetic support for all the worst authoritarian regimes from Russia to North Korea.
1/22
Alain’s childhood was problematic, as his father has been characterized as a “narcissistic pervert” who beat his children and did jail time for fraud. Alain himself has said he was “programmed to be a monster.” Born Alain Bonnet, he took the stage name of his sister,…
2/22
… actress Agnès Soral. She wasn’t too happy about this, commenting “How would you like to be called Agnès Hitler?”. Like many grifters, he became a pick-up/seduction artist writer, à la late Gonzalo Lira, writing books and even making a B-movie, “Confessions d’un dragueur”.
3/22
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.
1/24
Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.
2/24
Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.
1/23
Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.
2/23
One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.