Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Jul 21, 2023 21 tweets 12 min read Read on X
In today's #vatniksoup I'll introduce an Indian political analyst, poet, singer, and patriot (all his words) Atul Mishra and his network, The Frustrated Indian (@TheAtulMishra & @FrustIndian). He's best-known for his awful pro-Russian takes on the Russo-Ukrainian War.

1/18 Image
As I have said before, Western analysts and disinformation researchers have a blind spot in the Global South, where pro-Kremlin propaganda thrives and Russia is somewhat popular. For example, in India, 57% of the population sees Russia as in somewhat/very favorable light.

2/18
Image
Image
The Frustrated Indian tries to profit from this particular niche by providing a false and made-up image of European politics and of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The whole scheme works on making pro-Russian, outrageous claims that works on lies and half-truths.

3/18
Image
Image
Mishra's network is actually a family of accounts, including @tfipost and @tfistore. This network seems to be artificially inflated, as most of them have a quite big following (the main channel has 226k followers) but most of the tweets have very low engagement (if any).

4/18 Image
The network also has a strong multi-channel approach. They have a YouTube channel with 429 000 followers, and they're on IG, Telegram and Facebook. They also have their own video streaming site, TFIGlobal, which seems to be just another ghost town.

5/18

Image
Image
Image
Mishra is pushing hard the for monetization of his propaganda network. He's selling brand partnership, "official TFI merchandise", and begs for subscribers on Patreon (he has currently 4). All this with whopping 15 employees and less monthly impressions than #vatniksoup!

6/18

Image
Image
Image
The whole network was almost closed down the network a year ago. This speaks for the artificial inflation of the network too, as YT channels with +300 000 followers should be able to monetize quite well already.

7/18 Image
He seems to be a huge fanboy of Putin's, and he's even written an article claiming that Putin is a "cult figure" in India. He thinks that Putin is some kind of "master strategist" who makes no mistakes, and that he's just playing the West with his 4-d chess, just like Trump.
8/18


Image
Image
Image
Image
When it comes to Ukraine, Mishra's predictions are quite grim: he thinks that its allies are fading and its changes are fleeting. He's also suggested that post-war Ukraine will be "politically controlled by Moscow and economically by Beijing."

9/18

Image
Image
Image
One day after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mishra made a wild prediction: Russia captures Kyiv, Zelensky flees the country, becomes a social media influencer. Ukraine welcomes Russia, group of women welcome Russian soldiers and tend to the wounded.

10/18 Image
TFI's political and military analysis are simply utter crap. Don't believe me? Here are some examples: their expert analyst Ansh Pandey suggested that the Prigozhin mutiny could've been a "premeditated move" which would allow Wagner to attack Kyiv from Belarus. Pretty wild.
11/18

Image
Image
Image
TFI loves to bash and defame Zelensky.For example, they suggest that Ukrainians are planning to overthrow him,and that his approval rate is "lowest in decades" - as of Feb 2023,91% of Ukrainians either somewhat or strongly approve of Zelensky's actions - higher than Putin's.12/18

Image
Image
Image
Atul and his pals also went with the "Zaluzhny dead" BS, but they took the whole thing to a new level - according to TFI, Zaluzhny was "probably assassinated" by Zelensky, and that the person we now see in media is actually his body double.

13/18
Image
Image
In Sep 2022, TFI speculated who would become the next Ukrainian president after "Kyiv falls". Their candidate was Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch universally hated by most Ukrainians. He was swapped to the Azovstal defenders in a prisoner swap in the same month.

14/18
Image
Image
As is tradition in India, TFI and Mishra also compare Ukraine to Pakistan, India's biggest geopolitical rival. I'm sure this rhetoric works extremely well in India, and it might garner some following.

15/18
Image
Image
And the nonsense doesn't stop there. There's "news" about Finland stopping aid to Ukraine (it didn't, we give more than ever), Putin potentially activating the "Kaliningrad module", Ukraine's plans to allow same-sex marriage and of course the sanctions not hurting Russia.

16/18


Image
Image
Image
Image
Now, @TheAtulMishra, maybe you can answer some questions: as a poet, singer and reciter, what are your qualifications for geopolitics? What about your employees? Why do you purposefully spread lies and disinformation? Is it for (low) profit or just for fun?

17/18
Image
Image
And why on earth do you have own YouTube channel for Canadian disinformation? Anything to make that extra buck? And when will you do a correction to your article stating that Finland and Sweden will never be NATO countries?

18/18
Image
Image
Support my work:

Subscribe to my YouTube: https://t.co/0OrK1YL9Pabuymeacoffee.com/PKallioniemi
youtube.com/@TheSoupCentral
Swift reply from @TheAtulMishra.

I repeat my questions: 1) what are your qualifications? 2) do you lie on purpose? 3) if not, why don't you correct your lies? Image
@Trinityaudiobot

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Pekka Kallioniemi

Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @P_Kallioniemi

Jun 26
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 Image
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.

2/24

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:

3/24

Read 26 tweets
Jun 24
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 Image
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 Image
Image
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.

3/21 Image
Image
Read 22 tweets
Jun 20
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 Image
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 Image
…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.

3/22 Image
Read 23 tweets
Jun 16
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.

3/10
Read 11 tweets
Jun 8
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 Image
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 Image
Image
Image
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.

3/16 Image
Image
Image
Read 17 tweets
Jun 2
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 Image
Image
Image
…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.

3/20 Image
Read 21 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(