In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a US& German political cultists, Lyndon LaRouche and Helga Zepp-LaRouche. They're best-known for running the far-right, cult-like LaRouche movement, and for promoting conspiracy theories as well as pro-Kremlin and pro-CCP narratives.
1/22
Most of the ideas of Helga come from her late husband, Lyndon LaRouche. Initially, LaRouche movement was inspired by Trotskyist/Marxist ideas, opposing private ownership and such, but in the late 1970s these ideas were abandoned. As often happens with radical, cult-like...
2/22
...movements, Lyndon started promoting the Leninist idea of the intellectuals (including himself, of course) being the "vanguard" that helps the working class to develop their consciousness as their leading role in the society.
3/22
LaRouche movement claims that the world has been under the rule of British Empire for the last 600 years, and this epoch is now ending and we are moving towards a "multipolar world".
At some point during the 70s the movement started flirting with the far-right, and the...
4/22
...long-time critics Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons wrote that the "LaRouchites combined populist antielitism with attacks on leftists, environmentalists, feminists, gay men and lesbians, and organized labor. They advocated a dictatorship in which a 'humanist' elite...
5/22
...would rule on behalf of industrial capitalists." They've also been described as staunch anti-Semites.
Lyndon ran for US president in every presidential election between 1976-2004. From 1989 until 1994, Lyndon spent behind bars for tax and mail fraud, and he ran one of..
6/22
...his presidential campaign from prison. So basically, the LaRouche cult is a horseshoe-shaped amalgamate of the far-left and far-right, combined with futurism like the high-speed maglev train that'll "re-invigorate industry and commerce", fusion power and the...
7/22
..."Verdi tuning", in which A=432 Hz, as opposed to the common practice today of tuning to A=440 Hz in classical music. According to Lyndon, this had a direct relation to the structure of the universe. I know, it's weird cultist stuff.
8/22
Lyndon's wife, Helga, established the Schiller Institute in 1984. The organization fights against "international financial institutions and other supranational bodies (without naming any)" and against their "tyranny".
9/22
The main idea behind the institute is to "unite left and right" to "fight a common enemy", and this rhetoric has been copied by other pro-Kremlin propaganda outlets, too. In 2003, Schiller came under scrutiny after one of their "students" died in a freak accident.
10/22
After Russia launched its full-scale invasion in Ukraine, Schiller Institute argued that the sanctions against Russia should be relieved, and that all other countries should stop their support for Ukraine. They also stated that Ukraine should accede to all Russian demands.
11/22
Few days after Russia's attack,she appeared on Chinese CGTN,where he touted that Russia is simply reacting to endless provocations by NATO & the West.She's also given interviews to TASS,in which she praises the "Global South" for their efforts to end the "US/UK imperialism".12/22
Schillerites are very active bunch, and they hold regular conferences around the world. They've hosted many prominent speakers, including Jeremy Corbyn in 2015. Trump's former campaign adviser Roger Stone has also been cooperating with the institute.
13/22
The group has other front organizations too, which are used to spread its core message. These include Executive Intelligence Review (EIR), LaRouchePAC, ICLC, LaRouche Youth Movement, and Fusion Energy Foundation.
14/22
After the war started, Zepp-LaRouche was interviewed by Mira Terada from the Prigozhin-ran sham organization called Foundation to Battle Injustice (FBI!). In this extremely biased propaganda show they discussed the "end of the Anglo-American hegemony", spread conspiracy...
15/22
..theories and lies, and of course defame Ukraine and praise Russia. Terada, whose real name is Oksana Vovk, was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2020 for money laundering in the US, and was later transformed into a propaganda weapon by Yevgeni Prigozhin.
16/22
In 2015, Zepp-LaRouhe wrote an article which described climate change as a "satanic swindle" attempting to establish "a global eco-dictatorship whose results, and whose declared intention is to eliminate six billion human beings."
17/22
She claimed that there's a plan to create "a fascist world government which would exceed Hitler’s most audacious dreams". Lyndon LaRouche has also claimed that the 9/11 was orchestrated by Queen Elizabeth II together with the Saudis.
18/22
In 2018, the LaRouche posse have advocated a theory that it was actually the UK that interfered with 2016 US election, not Russia. They also have good relations with many prominent Russian politicians, including Sergey Glazyev, who was funding the pro-Russia...
19/22
...movement in Ukraine since 2014, and some of its former members including William Engdahl, have migrated to Duginist circles. In Feb 2023, she was one of the unannounced speakers at the "antiwar" event Rage Against the War Machine. Schiller Institute was also sponsoring..
20/22
...the event, like it did with the UK event No2Nato. Especially the former event was the embodiment of the horseshoe theory, with people attending from the far corners of the left and right, including Jimmy Dore, Jackson "Z" Hinkle, The Oathkeepers and Caleb Maupin.
21/22
To conclude, LaRouche is a cult-like organization that tries to promote pro-Kremlin and pro-CCP worldviews around the world. A large part of the "multipolar world" narrative comes from this lot, and especially Helga has been staunch supporter of Russia.
Robert Amsterdam is also a registered (and well-paid!) agent of Maduro’s Venezuela, the socialist regime and ally of Russia which Tucker Carlson has recently defended for some reason, shocking many of his right-wing supporters.
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.