In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American podcaster, RT columnist and former political aide, Tara Reade (@ReadeAlexandra). She's best-known for her allegation about Joe Biden sexually assaulting her, and for supporting Putin and Russia's genocidal war in Ukraine.
1/22
Reade rose to popularity in Mar 2020, when she alleged that Joe Biden had sexually assaulted her in 1993 while she was working as his staff assistant. After a thorough investigation by various journalists, it was discovered that her story was full of holes and she even...
2/22
...lied under oath. In addition, according to Associated Press, "Over the years, Reade spoke favorably about working for Biden." CNN reported that Reade had "praised Biden on social media on numerous occasions". Incidentally, these allegations came out just before...
3/22
...the 2020 US presidential election. Russia has been really pushing these allegations."Foundation to Battle Injustice",a propaganda organization ran by Prigozhin,is featuring Reade on their front page with a quote from Tara saying "Joe Biden raped me and ruined my career".
4/22
Eventually the story died down, but it had apparently left a strong mark on Reade. After she became "unhirable" in the political sphere in DC, she gradually drifted towards the "anti-establishment" movement and eventually started promoting outright Russian propaganda.
5/22
But some, including @gregzhouse, have suggested that she'd been influenced by the Russians already back in 2018. In 2019 she tweeted about the new Russian "foreign agents" law, that requires foreign journalists to register as foreign agents or face fines.
6/22
In May 2020, she published an article on Medium titled "Why a Liberal Democrat Supports Vladimir Putin". In the article, she wrote that "President Putin brought a chaotic and failed nation to become a vibrant, creative, economic force within a decade,"...
7/22
...continuing "Putin has an alluring combination of strength with gentleness."
Few weeks before Russia launched its full-scale invasion in Ukraine, Tara was interviewed on RT where she claimed that she was "threatened" for her views on Russia. She also repeated her...
8/22
...allegations against Biden, saying that her case was "more serious" than the others reported. She referred to herself as a "whistleblower".
Reade hosts a podcast called "The Politics of Survival with Tara Reade", in which she discusses the war with "neutral voices"...
9/22
...like former spy Maria Butina, who was sent to the US as a sleeper agent, slept with bunch of men, got caught, and was booted back to Russia. She's also had a chat with "independent journalists" like Wyatt Reed, Johnny Miller, Alina Lipp, and documentarist/propagandist...
10/22
...Igor Lopatonok, the director of the Ukraine on Fire documentary:
Her narratives are the same as all the others: inflation and price hikes in the West, "NATO expansion launched the proxy war", calls for peace after Putin annexed the four...
11/22
...Ukrainian Oblasts, "Ukrainian Nazis" and the "Kiev regime", and of course "genocide in Donbas" with 14 000 "Russian casualties". There is absolutely nothing new or original in Reade's propaganda.
12/22
She was also one of the speakers at the "antiwar" Rage Against the War Machine event, in which she blamed Biden's administration, among other things, for organizing a "money laundering scheme" in Ukraine.
13/22
She's written several op-eds for RT. In Feb 2021, Reade published an article for RT titled "I believe AOC when she says she is a survivor of sexual assault. Why could she not say the same about me?"
14/22
In Aug 2022, she was awarded an award for... something by The Center for Political Innovation, a pro-Russian and communist association ran by Caleb Maupin.
15/22
In Oct 2022, she discussed about the loss of "Western hegemony" and its "failed states", praising Putin and the new multipolar world rising in the East. According to her, "China and Russia are flourishing," while forecasting a "cold Winter" (that never came) for the West.
16/22
In Dec 2022, Semafor reported that Russian diplomats had attempted to bring Ms. Reade to a UN meeting on "weapons diversion". She's not any kind of weapons expert and was refused the platform, and the plan was probably to bring him there to defame Biden, anyway.
17/22
In the US politics, she has promoted the pro-Kremlin MAGA gang, including @RepMattGaetz and @RepMTG, who both have called to end the US military aid to Ukraine. The two had interviewed Reade, and wanted her to testify against Biden in Congress.
18/22
Reade also appeared on Tucker Carlson, where she repeated the allegations against Joe Biden. According to Tara, Joe Biden took her "future", but I'm pretty sure it was Ms. Reade herself who took it by making things up.
19/22
On 30 May 2023, Reade gave an interview to the Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik. With the help of her friend, Maria Butina, she had defected to Russia. Apparently Butina is trying to fast track Tara's citizenship request, comparing her "whistleblowing" to Edward Snowden.
20/22
The propaganda event they referred to as "press conference" lasts only 9 and half hours, so I suggest you give it a listen.
Now that she's in "Snowden land" and out of reach from US authorities, we will probably see an uptick in "Joe Biden raped me" BS from Ms. Reade.
21/22
She might even do a collab with an actual convicted sex criminal, Scott Ritter! Meanwhile, she can have hot girl summer in Moscow with the failed spy Maria Butina and convicted drug trafficker Oksana "Mira Terada" Vovk:
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll explain the context of the upcoming Budapest Blunder, and how it follows the infamous Alaska Fiasco from two months ago and Trump’s absurd delaying of serious aid to Ukraine and effective sanctions on Russia for the past nine months.
1/20
Two months ago, Trump embarrassed the United States by rolling out the red carpet for war criminal dictator Putin and overall acting like a pathetic servant eager to meet his master. Of course, the Alaska Fiasco didn’t bring peace any closer.
Worse, the main outcome of the humiliation was to delay serious sanctions, which the US Congress, in rare bipartisan unity against Russia, was on the verge of passing. Two weeks by two weeks, Trump Always Chickens Out, postponing any real pressure on Putin for 9 months now.
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.