In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a South African-American(!) businessman and social media figure, Elon Musk (@elonmusk). He's best-known for being the wealthiest man in the world, running Tesla Inc., SpaceX & Twitter, and for parroting Kremlin's propaganda narratives.
1/24
Let's start with the obvious: Elon's tweets have enormous effect on Twitter & his tweets have a big audience. Every tweet he likes or comments gets a huge boost in the algorithm & is then shown to tens of millions of people.Some have called his replies a "stamp of approval".
2/24
He's promised to make Twitter the "most accurate source of information about the world," but strangely he's flirted with various conspiracy theories throughout the years. Among other things, he's denied the white supremacist background of a mass shooter, spread COVID-19...
3/24
...misinformation and parroted George Soros related conspiracy theories. A lot of Elon's views on various topics may actually come from other people. His ex-wife, @TalulahRiley called for unbanning of @TheBabylonBee, his friend @joerogan had previously called for a social...
4/24
..media platform that works like a "marketplace of ideas" - a philosophy where the "best" ideas from the likes of alleged human trafficker/rapist @cobratate & QAnon-affiliated @RepMTG rise to the top - & said that Musk should "liberate Twitter from the censorship happy mob".
5/24
When it comes to war,he seems to mostly listen to @davidsacks, among a few other disinformation peddlers. In Oct 2022, Musk tweeted about "Ukraine-Russia Peace", calling for UN-supervised elections in the annexed areas. He also stated that Crimea would remain part of Russia.
6/24
He then warned about escalation and the threat of nuclear war. A very similar peace plan was suggested by his "war room" buddy @davidsacks just week before Musk's tweet. He later backtracked, polling whether the people in Donbas & Crimea should "decide whether they want...
7/24
...to be part of Russia or Ukraine" - which they did already in 1991 as you can see from this Independence Referendum voting map.
In Jun 2023, @davidsacks blessed us with another long tweet, condemning the Ukrainian counteroffensive as a failure, while at the same time...
8/24
...praising Mearsheimer's realpolitik garbage. Musk commended his old friend's post, stating that it was "Well said."
Elon has also discredited @bellingcat, one of the biggest investigative groups fighting Russian disinformation, calling them a "psyop".
9/24
Bellingcat has exposed loads of Russian atrocities, including the down shooting of MH17, the identity of Russia's drone operators, and the Skripal poisonings.
For this, it has become number one target of defamation by the pro-Kremlin propagandists like @aaronjmate.
10/24
After Twitter introduced subscription service, one of Elon's first subscriptions on Twitter was @KanekoaTheGreat, a QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theorist known for pushing Kremlin narratives about Ukraine, especially about the country's ethnic "division".
11/24
He's also attended civil discussions on Twitter Spaces with pro-Kremlin propagandists like @KimDotcom and @stillgray. Incidentally, these Spaces rarely offer any real discussion, but are rather back-patting exercises of people who mostly agree with each other.
12/24
Musk has strongly promoted one of the biggest liars and Putin cheerleaders in the US media, Tucker Carlson. In the first episode of his new "show" on Twitter, Carlson implied that the Kakhovka Dam was destroyed by the Ukrainians without offering any solid proof.
13/24
These narratives are heavily promoted by Musk and his Twitter platform, promoting Russia's biggest adversaries as "psyops" and Ukraine as a corrupt nation ruled by far-right militias. As you know by now, they come directly from the Kremlin propaganda playbook.
14/24
Of course all this has been used for propaganda purposes by Russia, and these days Elon appears often on RT's headlines allegedly agreeing that the Ukrainian counterattack is failing and the 2014 Revolution of Dignity was a coup.
15/24
Elon has called himself a "politically moderate",but in 2022 clearly chose a side,saying that he could "no longer support" the Democrats due to their politics & encouraged people to vote Republicans in the midterms.DeSantis announced his run for presidency on Twitter Spaces.16/24
For some, Twitter has become more "free speech". But for others, not so much: On 13 Jun 2023, Musk-led Twitter suspended the Twitter account of Aaron Greenspan, a critic of both Tesla and Musk. His project, PlainSite, that shares court filings for free was also suspended.
17/24
Musk has removed plenty of barriers to slow down the spread of disinformation,including EU's voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation. At the same time, he's complied to censorship requests from Indian and Turkish ruling parties by removing and restricting content.
18/24
To conclude: Why is Musk pushing, among other things, the peace plan where Ukraine would lose a lot? My theory is that the war is bad for business. His businesses require a lot of raw materials, and both Russia & China are in the top 3 of the biggest raw material producers.
19/24
Tesla Inc.'s conflict mineral report from 2022 reveals that Russia (as well as China) is a country of origin for their gold, tantalum, tin and tungsten. Tesla has also been buying aluminum from Rusal since 2020. Rusal was founded by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and it...
20/24
...accounts for almost 9% of the world's aluminum output. He was sanctioned by the Trump administration in Apr 2018 for alleged illegal wiretapping, extortion and racketeering, and he also allegedly ordered a murder of a businessman. The sanctions were later watered down...
21/24
...Trump and co. as they would "disrupt the aluminum markets" and Deripaska intended to invest 200 million USD in a Kentucky aluminum mill, but this plan eventually failed.
But business is business, even when it comes from a Russian oligarch, and I'm sure Elon knows this.
22/24
It would probably be impossible or extremely expensive to produce cars, rockets and other technology without the raw materials from Russia or China, and the US sanctions imposed on the former have probably already made it more difficult.
23/24
Maybe Elon just doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds his companies?I'm sure his lobbying power in the US will keep his businesses going even after his "anti-establishment" hot takes,but we will probably never see him criticizing the likes of Russia, CCP or Saudi Arabia.
24/24
In today’s Vatnik Soup and the “Degenerate Russia” series, I’ll show you the brutal reality of Russian war crimes, in particular the horrific tortures and sexual abuses of children, women and men.
Buckle up, this one is not for the faint-hearted.
1/24
For over a decade now and as part of their “firehose of falsehood” propaganda strategy, Russia has been spreading false narratives targeted at right-wing/conservative audiences, portraying russia as a bastion of Christian, traditional,family values.
In the previous “degenerate Russia” series we discussed Russia’s insanely high divorce rates, rampant domestic violence, high murder rates, thriving neo-Nazi culture, corruption of the Orthodox Church, and their massive demographic problem:
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explore how Russia is working with Iran, and how the recent Israel–US strikes on Iran could affect the war in Ukraine. Iran has been one of Russia’s key allies in their genocidal war, but in reality the partnership is deeply one-sided.
1/21
Historically, Russia/USSR has been involved in numerous wars in the Middle East, invading Afghanistan for nearly a decade and desperately trying to keep Syria’s authoritarian leader, al-Assad, in power before his eventual downfall.
2/21
While initially supportive of Israel, the Soviet Union quickly pivoted to backing its enemies, fueling antisemitism, terrorism, and chaos in an already tense region. At times, this meant near-open war, like when Soviet Air Force MiG-21s were shot down by Israel over Egypt.
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll re-introduce a Latvian politician and former MEP, Tatjana Ždanoka. She’s best-known for her history in the Communist Party of Latvia, for her pro-Russian politics in the country, and her connections to Russian intelligence.
1/22
Based on Ždanoka’s speeches and social media posts, she has a deep hatred towards the people of Latvia. The reason for this can only be speculated, but part of it could be due to her paternal family being killed by the Latvian Auxiliary Police,…
2/22
…a paramilitary force supported by the Nazis, during the early 1940s. Ždanoka became politically active in the late 80s. She was one of the leaders of Interfront, a political party that supported Latvia remaining part of the USSR.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce the main themes of Russian disinformation on TikTok. Each day, there are thousands of new videos promoting pro-Kremlin narratives and propaganda.
It’s worth noting that Russians can only access European TikTok via VPN.
1/10
There is currently a massive TikTok campaign aimed at promoting a positive image of Russia. The videos typically feature relatively attractive young women and focus on themes of nationalism and cultural heritage.
2/10
Ironically, many of these videos from Moscow or St. Petersburg are deceptively edited to portray Ukraine in a false light — claiming there is no war and that international aid is being funneled to corrupt elites.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about Finland and how pro-Kremlin propagandists have become more active in the Finnish political space since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For the first time since 2022, they’ve gained some political power in Finland.
1/16
Russia’s political strategy in countries with Russian-speaking minorities (such as Finland and the Baltics) is typically quite similar: it seeks to rally these minorities around issues like language and minority rights, and then frames the situation as oppression.
2/16
At the same time, Russian speakers are extremely wary and skeptical of local media, and instead tend to follow Russian domestic outlets like Russia-1 and NTV, thereby reinforcing an almost impenetrable information bubble.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll discuss the Ukrainian SBU’s “Spiderweb” operation and the main disinformation narrative vatniks have been spreading during the afterfall. While domestic Russian media stays silent, the vatniks and Russian milbloggers have been extremely loud.
1/20
This operation was probably the most impactful strike since the drowning of the Moskva, massively reducing Russia’s capability to bomb Ukrainian cities (or anyone else’s). It involved smuggling 117 FPV drones hidden in trucks into Russia. Once near airbases,…
2/20
…the roofs opened remotely, launching drones in synchronized waves to strike targets up to 4,000 km away. The mission took 18 months to plan. The unsuspecting Russian truck drivers who transported them had no idea they were delivering weapons deep behind their own lines.