In today's #dailysoup, I'll introduce a Singaporean geopolitics x defence blog, Defense Politics Asia and its managing editor, Wyatt Mingji Lim.
They are known for excelling in mental gymnastics and anti-West x pro-Russia peepotalking.
1/27
Defense Politics Asia, based in Singapore, is founded by Wyatt Mingji Lim and an unspecified "partner" in 2017. He is serving as its "managing editor" since then.
Before I discuss about Defense Politics Asia, let's briefly tackle Wyatt's background.
2/27
During much of the 2000s, Wyatt served in the Singaporean Armed Forces, with his last military rank being a "First Sergeant".
Hence, he said in an interview that he is "just interested in geopolitics and military stuff".
3/27
Wyatt runs multiple things at once. Besides blogging, he runs a gaming design x modding firm and co-owns the SingaCup, a Singaporean football organisation.
Moreover, he runs a "hamster-lover online community", a strategy design firm, and even a printing firm.
4/27
Wyatt is also known for running a blog called "The Common Bad" in association with "Walking Problem", the gaming design x modding firm run by him.
I noticed blatant mental gymnastics in this blog, especially its Rumble, Medium, and Brighteon platforms.
5/27
Although Wyatt wrote a Medium article on "how to fight fake news" and "responsible journalism", disinformation and conspiratorial peepotalking are present in his "Common Bad" blog, especially those related to COVID-19 disinfo and Trump-related rhetoric.
6/27
In one "Common Bad" Rumble video, Wyatt peepotalked about the "Big Pharma conspiracy theory", as well as the claim that "a bit of smallpox is found in a Pennsylvania lab".
Contrary to his claims, the CDC debunked this claim, stating that there is no smallpox found.
7/27
Wyatt is also known for his anti-vax peepotalking remarks, including claims that "vaccines cause diseases" and "natural immunity is better than vaccination".
He scolded the Singaporean government for "secretly going for herd immunity" and "mandating vaccinations".
8/27
Wyatt is known for being a Trump supporter, engaging in pro-Trump stints like praising Trump for "fighting back against Hillary Clinton and those accusing Russia for interfering the 2016 US elections" and claiming that "Trump was just trying to fight the system".
9/27
During the 2016 US elections, Wyatt predicted that Trump would win. He claimed something like "Singapore is benefiting from a resurgent US under Trump" and "the anti-Trump media don't represent the realities of the USA", calling Trump a "great president".
10/27
What I noticed is that Wyatt's "The Common Bad" platforms like Rumble and Brighteon have a very low amount of subscribers and viewers.
Looks like people are getting repelled by his disinfo stints and conspiratorial peepotalking remarks.
11/27
During an interview, Wyatt claimed something like "he was motivated to establish Defense Politics Asia (DPA) as a response to growing amounts of disinfo", adding that "he doesn't trust mainstream media to report on the war in Ukraine".
In reality, it is a different story.
12/27
Defense Politics Asia bases its situational reports on the war in Ukraine on the map used by Rybar's Telegram channel, notorious for being flooded with pro-Russia perspectives and peepotalking remarks on the war.
13/27
Wyatt's DPA accused Ukraine for "causing the crisis in 2014 by subverting democracy and exercising military suppression".
While he called the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an "aggression", he bought into the "NATO expansion" peepotalk,...
14/27
...while claiming that "Ukraine is the same as Russia", "the war in the Donbass is a civil war", and "Half of the Ukrainians before 2014 supported Russia".
This is an episode of mental gymnastics from someone calling himself as "neutral".
15/27
Although Wyatt's Defense Politics Asia calls the Russian atrocities in Bucha as a "massacre", he peepotalked about something like "Bucha was not that bad".
This was followed by apathy and denial of Bucha, whataboutisms, and crazy excuses.
16/27
Wyatt's DPA showed denial of Bucha when he said that "Bucha is not convincing to me as a Russian massacre", claiming that "this was based on daily coverage of the war".
I noticed a sense of apathy from him about Bucha when he said "Who cares right?". Moreover,...
17/27
...Wyatt's DPA said that "I largely ignore the entire Bucha nonsense", adding that "I don't cover such events". He came up with an excuse for his apathy x denial on Bucha by saying "It's a war. There won't be proper investigations". He also added a dose of whataboutism...
18/27
...when he claimed something like "Ukrainian forces also committed atrocities". He peepotalked about "seeing an OSCE report about Ukrainian atrocities on Donbass civilians", scolding Ukraine for "failing to evacuate its civilians from Kyiv when Russia invaded".
19/27
Wyatt called Ukrainian forces as "inferior to Russian forces", accusing Ukrainian forces for "fighting to get NATO to join the war".
This was followed by typical "NATO-blaming" peepotalks from him, including accusing NATO for "using the Przewodów Incident as a cover up".
20/27
Although Wyatt's DPA claims to be "neutral and supporting both sides", his sitreps contain pro-Russia peepotalking.
DPA claimed that Ukraine has no chance to win against Russia, adding that "Russia has technically won". Contrary to his claims,...
21/27
...Ukraine liberated huge chunks of territory, including Kharkiv Oblast.
During that time, Wyatt's DPA predicted that Ukrainian forces would lose when they clashed with Russian forces in Lyman.
Contrary to his claims, the Ukrainian forces did well and liberated Lyman.
22/27
Notice that in Wyatt's DPA sitreps, he uses the word "Ukraine offensive" to make it sound like that "Ukraine is the aggressor while Russia is the victim".
When Ukrainian forces were approaching Kreminna x Svatove, Wyatt claimed that "Kreminna feels threatened".
23/27
Wyatt's DPA called Ukraine liberating Kherson as a "Kherson Offensive", accusing Ukraine for planning to "blow up the Kakhovka dam and cause a crisis", while suggesting that "Russia retake all of Kherson".
He called Ukraine's liberation of Kharkiv x Kherson as "nothing".
24/27
Wyatt's DPA supported figures souped by @P_Kallioniemi's #vatniksoup, including Scott Ritter and the infamous Donbass Devushka (DD), a typical Jersey woman disguising herself as "someone from Donbass".
He even got featured in the infamous Donbass Devushka podcast.
25/27
When Singapore imposed sanctions on Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Wyatt called it as a "dangerous precedent". Moreover, he claimed that "most Singaporeans don't care about the Ukraine war".
26/27
Mr. Wyatt, if you call yourself as a "neutral political analyst", then why did you get featured in the Donbass Devushka podcast? Aren't you aware that DD is just some Jersey woman spreading pro-Russia peepotalking?
In today's #dailysoup, let's go back to the SCS dispute as I'll introduce a disputed oil-abundant reef complex, the Luconia Shoal.
It is known for being a hotspot of maritime disputes between Malaysia, China, and Vietnam.
1/20
Malaysia's maritime EEZ, just located beside the western shores of Sarawak and Sabah, is overlapped by the EEZs of the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, and China.
This houses precious oil fields, as well as the Luconia and the James Shoals.
2/20
The Luconia Shoal is located near the Kasawari Gas Field, which was discovered in November 2011. It appears to contain three trillion cubic feet of gas resrouces, now being operated by Malaysian oil company, Petronas.
In today's #dailysoup, I'll introduce Indonesian writer, academic, and political analyst, Simon Saragih.
He's best known for being one of the so-called Indonesian "academics" tagged by @RadityoDharmaP as "those showing pro-Russia views".
1/19
During the 1990s and the 2000s, Saragih served in various positions, including field journalist, international desk editor, and as a member of the research and development department of notable Indonesian media outlet Kompas.
He is now serving as a senior journalist.
2/19
Saragih is also an author of biographies of a Dutch seminary teacher, a Dutch missionary, an Indonesian composer, as well as the biographies of Putin and Obama.
Meanwhile, he is also known for articles containing pro-CCP and pro-Russia peepotalking.
In today's #dailysoup, I'll introduce an Indonesia-based Chinese-American podcaster, soc-med influencer, and historical revisionist, Carl Zha (@CarlZha).
He's known for his "Silk and Steel" podcast, as well as his anti-West, pro-CCP, and pro-Russia peepotalking remarks.
1/27
Zha was born in Chongqing, China, which he labelled as his hometown. Sometime during his adulthood, he spent some time in the United States, especially to study engineering at Caltech, but he eventually returned to China afterwards.
2/27
After spending some time in China, Zha married an Indonesian woman from Bali named Anindita (@BaliEarthSoul) in October 2020. Since then, Zha became a Chinese-American based in Bali, Indonesia.
In today's #dailysoup, I'll introduce Indonesian journalist and academic, Smith Alhadar.
He's best known for being a so-called "expert academic" spreading anti-West and pro-Russia peepotalking remarks.
1/19
Alhadar serves as a journalist x professional at an NGO named "Indonesian Society for Middle East Studies".
Moreover, the profiles of Alhadar claim that he is also an executive director of a think-tank called "Institute of Democracy and Education Indonesia".
2/19
Despite claims in Alhadar's profiles pointing to his position as "executive director of IDE Indonesia", I didn't see his name in the list of executive board members in IDE Indonesia's website.
In today's #dailysoup, I'll introduce Malaysian political analyst, activist, and NGO head, Chandra Muzaffar.
He's best known for heading Just International (@justworldtweets), which is flooded with blatant anti-West, pro-Russia, and pro-China peepotalking remarks.
1/23
Chandra's daughter, Samirah Muzaffar, was charged in 2019 for the "murder of Nazrin Hassan, the CEO of a Malaysian company, Cradle Fund". Three years later, in 2022, Samirah was acquitted of the murder charges.
2/23
Before his career in handling Just International, Chandra became one of the founders of "Aliran Kesedaran Negara", a multiethnic reform group in Malaysia established in 1977 aiming to address ethnic and democratic issues among Malaysians.
In today's #dailysoup, I'll introduce a former Philippine president and current deputy speaker, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
She's known for being involved in a couple of blatant corruption scandals, political instability, and China-shilling deals.
1/28
Arroyo is the daughter of another former Philippine president, Diosdado Macapagal.
Before entering politics, she took an economics degree at Georgetown University, where she was classmates with Bill Clinton. She also served as an economics prof at the Ateneo.
2/28
In the 1990s, Arroyo ran as a senator. She became a vice president under the administration of Joseph Estrada, which was cut short cuz of a revolution in the early 2000s caused by a gambling-related corruption scandal.