In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American journalist and former policy adviser, James Carden. He's best-known for his collaboration with Stephen Cohen and Katrina vanden Heuvel, and for his pro-Kremlin takes on the war in Ukraine.
1/24
Carden was a close associate of Stephen Cohen, an American scholar known for his strong support of Russia and Vladimir Putin. Carden was often defending any criticism Cohen's pro-Putin writings received, calling them "scurrilous" and "hysterical".
2/24
In 2017, Carden questioned the involvement of the al-Assad regime in the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack. In his article, he relied on a report by Theodore Postol, who worked together with Maram "Syrian Girl" Susli to debunk al-Assad's involvement in chemical attacks in...
3/24
...Ghouta, Douma and Khan Shaykhun. OPCW investigations concluded that a large majority of the attacks were in fact carried out by the al-Assad regime. Along with Carden, the Russians denied the allegations, calling the reports "one-sided" and "distorted".
4/24
In 2017, Carden appeared on RT as a commentator and suggested that Washington Post has started a "project of promoting a new Cold War with the Russian Federation". The concept of "new Cold War" is something that's been heavily pushed by pro-Kremlin intellectuals like...
5/24
Stephen Cohen and Katrina vanden Heuvel, and it basically stems down to the narrative that the US "neocons" are "sabotaging" the relations to Russia, which apparently should be treated with silk gloves, even though they've completely ditched democracy for...
6/24
...totalitarianism and at the same time plan to invade most of their neighbors. When @cjcmichel called him out on his BS, Carden took the high road and called him a "sniveling shit" in LinkedIn DM's. He also demanded to see if Casey was "brave as BATMAN [sic]".
7/24
Carden's version of 2014 Revolution of Dignity is pretty much the same as the Kremlin's. By his words, "the Ukrainian far right escalated the violence in the Maidan and drove then-President Yanukovych into exile," oversimplifying absolutely everything about the event.
8/24
He has also blamed pretty much everyone else but Putin for the conflict in Ukraine. He's written that former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko "ratcheted up the violence" against the "breakaway provinces" of Luhansk and Donetsk. None of his writings mention any Russian...
9/24
involvement among the "separatists", and James put a strong emphasis on Poroshenko's cabinet members with "far-right affiliations". He even went as far as blaming Obama for this, asking the question "What if Mr. Obama had not announced a new round of sanctions against...
10/24
Russia on July 16?" Now, it's worth mentioning that these sanctions were imposed after Russia annexed Crimea, but according to him they "blocked" the "off-ramp" for Putin. By his hypothesis,even the MH17 down shooting could've been avoided if Obama hadn't sanctioned Russia.
11/24
This maneuver would get pretty high score at the Mental Gymnastics World Championships.
In Jun 2022, Carden interviewed Irish MEP Clare Daly on Ukraine. It's a solid pro-Kremlin propaganda piece where both of them agree with each other and enforce each others points of...
12/24
...views. James describes Daly is a "courageous and outspoken" and a "stalwart opponent of the trans-Atlantic militarist consensus".
In Feb 2023, he published an article on The American Conservative, where he blames Ukraine being a "binational kleptocracy".
13/24
This of course was a legacy of the extreme corruption of the Soviet times, which the Ukrainians came to protest in both 2004 and in 2014. Yet, probably due to his pro-Kremlin stance, Carden completely fails to see why the Revolution of Dignity actually happened: ...
14/24
...it was not the "US neocons orchetrating a coup", but the Ukrainian people who were tired of this corruption of both Yanukovych and his party, and the Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs. After the war ends, it will be Ukraine's next big battle.
15/24
By Carden's view Victoria Nuland "helped orchestrate" the "overthrow" of Yanukovych, and this directly led to the 13 000 deaths in the East of Ukraine. By Carden's words, she went "so far as to hand out cookies to anti-government protesters".
16/24
Now that Stephen Cohen has passed away and Katrina vanden Heuvel has been ousted from her position at The Nation, Carden's lost his biggest megaphone. He's now looking for new outlets to publish on, and his latest hit piece...
17/24
on the famous Eurasia Review attacked Jeffrey Goldberg and Anne Applebaum of the Atlantic. His op-ed title "I Saved You Trouble Of Reading Latest Ukraine Propaganda By Two Of America’s Biggest Neocons" already tells you what the article is about, but here are some of the...
18/24
highlights: Carden criticizes Zelensky for closing down three TV channels heavily affiliated with Viktor Medvedchuk. Putin and Medvedchuk are close allies, and Putin is godfather to Viktor's daughter. After Medvedchuk was captured, Putin traded him for the Azovstal...
19/24
..defenders of the Azov Brigade. In the same article, Carden still exaggerates the influence of far-right elements in Ukraine, not-so-subtly blaming them, along with the US and Poroshenko, for the 2014 events in Donbas.He also demonstrates his lack of critical thinking by..
20/24
...claiming that the ratio for Ukraine-Russia casualties is 7:1. This information can only come from two false sources: the doctored leaks from Donbass Devushka, or from serial liar, Douglas Macgregor, who has been dead wrong since the war started.
21/24
James also likes to take all the agency away from Ukraine, suggesting that it's the US and the "neocons" who's forcing "terrified teenagers and young men" to fight in muddy trenches in "conditions along the Somme", again stripping Ukraine of its agency and free will.
22/24
In his latest article "What the 68-year-old Austria treaty could tell us about Ukraine today" from 15 May 2023, he defends Austria's "neutrality", naturally forgetting to mention that Austria is riddled with Russian spies and dirty money:
In addition to contributing to the Kremlin-funded Russia Direct, Carden used to be an editor of The National Interest, an American international relations magazine, but was booted for being, as one of their editors told, "too pro-Putin, even for us."
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll introduce a Russian ultra-nationalist propagandist and “philosopher”, Aleksandr Dugin. He’s best-known for his blueprint on Russia’s geopolitical strategy and for his genocidal rhetoric towards Ukrainians.
1/17
In my first Dugin Soup, I covered the man’s 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics — a manual for dismantling the West, breaking up NATO, and building a Russian-led empire. In it, he makes eerie “predictions” that seem to be playing out today.
2/17
Dugin called for destabilizing the US by exacerbating internal divisions. Fast forward to today: culture wars, conspiracy theories, far-right lunatics, and social media algorithms doing half the work for him.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Russian propagandist Sergei Tsaulin. He’s best-known for spreading pro-Kremlin narratives in Estonia, fleeing to Russia after breaking several laws in Estonia, and almost getting blown up by a bomb in St. Petersburg.
1/17
For years, Tsaulin was known for organizing marches and events glorifying the Soviet Union. Under the excuse of “remembering history,” these events were nothing more than Kremlin propaganda, wrapped in a red flag with a hammer and sickle.
2/17
One of his most infamous events was the “Immortal Regiment” march, held every 9th of May, where people carried portraits of Soviet soldiers. These marches are used by Russia to push the idea that the Baltics owe their existence to the Soviets.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Joe Rogan (@joerogan). He’s best-known for launching the biggest podcast in the world, promoting various conspiracy theories, his support for Donald Trump and his anti-Ukraine rhetoric.
1/22
Joe Rogan started as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s, found fame on NewsRadio, and became a household name with Fear Factor. But his biggest impact came in 2009 when he launched The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), one of the first major podcasts.
2/22
JRE started as casual but deep conversations, often covering countercultural topics like psychedelics, MMA & hunting. Joe’s podcasting style is largely non-confrontational, often allowing his guests to share their views without significant pushback or critical questioning.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce KOOS party leader and Estonian crypto businessman Oleg Ivanov. He’s best known for running shady businesses, spreading Russian false narratives in Estonia, and participating in the pro-Kremlin political party KOOS.
1/18
As a talented youngster, Oleg learned Estonian almost flawlessly, was a promising karate athlete, and landed a job at a law firm at just 20. He caught the eye of Estonian fuel entrepreneur Endel Siff, who quickly took him under his wing.
2/18
Oleg’s father, Vladimir Ivanov, was a longtime politician from the Russian-funded United People’s Party of Estonia. His career at the town hall ended abruptly when he was caught drunk at work. After that, he went into business with his son, Oleg.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about the takeover of social media by illiberal, populist influencers. For the last ten years, social media has been dominated by these voices and it is one of the main reasons for the political rise of people like Trump and Orban.
1/25
“Illiberal populists” like Trump reject democratic norms while claiming to speak for “the people.” They centralize power, attack institutions, and push nationalism over rights. Elections exist, but checks & balances erode. This is democracy in name, autocracy in action.
2/25
The media landscape has changed drastically over the past two decades. The Internet and social media have changed how we interact online & how we consume media,but it has also become our main source of news. In many ways,social media companies have control over information.