Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Aug 2, 2023 21 tweets 11 min read Read on X
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an Italian sociologist, academic and talk show host, Alessandro Orsini (@orsiniufficiale). He's best-known for his pro-Kremlin & anti-NATO/Ukraine comments on the Russo-Ukrainian War on Italy's public broadcasting TV channel, @raitre.

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Orsini hails from the academic world, and his currently working as the director and founder of the LUISS Observatory on International Security. His work has focused on the sociology of terrorism, an important topic that has absolute nothing to do with the war in Ukraine.

2/18
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Embarrassed by the Orsini's comments, LUISS University initially issued a statement on Mar 2022, reiterating its "full solidarity with the Ukrainian people" and distance itself from Orsini.

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Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb 2022, Alex was a minor character in the media world - you know, one of those experts that gets called on talk shows whenever his "expertise" is needed on a topic. But after the attack, his controversial, pro-Kremlin...

4/18
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...polemic became extremely popular. The narrative was the same as every other vatnik expert: appeal to pacifism, antiwar attitude, denounce of NATO and calling them an aggressor, and criticism of Zelensky and Ukrainian politics.

5/18

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The goal of Orsini's rhetoric is of course to sway the public opinion on Ukraine and the military and humanitarian aid they're receiving. They also heavily criticize NATO. This strategy has been simply copied to every Western country, and Italy is no exception.

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In one episode of a show called "Cartabianca", Orsini stated that if Putin were to use nuclear bomb due to the war going badly for Russia, Europe would be "morally co-responsible". He then continued, that in order to avoid nuclear war, we should "let Putin win the war".

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Some days later, he declared that "This is a losing war. Either we give Putin what he wants, or he takes it anyway," after which he continued that Russia will continue to advance & that instead of sending weapons,Italy should build "two huge hospitals" for Ukrainian children.8/18 Image
He's also stated that he prefers to "children live in a dictatorship than die under bombs in the name of democracy". Basically his argument justifies the use of nuclear blackmail, making it a viable strategy for countries like North Korea and China.

9/18
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Alex has spread the "genocide in Donbas" BS and on one occasion stated that "anyone who says that Russia should withdraw is an imbecile, an idiot," and that if they do, Ukraine will continue "slaughtering civilians in Donbas."



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He even lied about being in contact with "the mothers from Mariupol", who allegedly told him they want Ukraine to surrender.

Orsini's called the conflict "a local confrontation" caused by NATO expansion.

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When Russians fled Kherson, Alex was injecting vast amounts of copium, suggesting that Russia was actually "conducting a high-level organizational and logistical operation." "It was the Russian army itself that left the city without a fight," he then concluded.

12/18
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He portrays Russia as the party that's constantly offering an olive branch, suggesting that they're the ones offering peace negotiations. Which is technically true, as Putin and most vatniks started talking about peace after Russia annexed the four Ukrainian oblasts.

13/18
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Like so many others, Orsini was forecasting a "terrible Christmas" for Europeans as Russia turned off their gas pipes and stopped their oil deliveries. He blamed Zelensky for all this, stating that he's making "very serious mistakes" by not giving Putin what he wants.

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Alessandro's main channel for propaganda is his YouTube channel. He spreads his BS to his 74 000 followers, posting his analysis around once a week. For some reason, he doesn't condemn Russia's genocidal invasion, but only talks about the "mistakes" made by the West.

15/18
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Alessandro, wouldn't it be time condemn Putin and Russia for their illegal war? Why aren't you talking about Bucha massacre? Or the mass graves in Izium? Kramatorsk railway bombing? Torture chambers in Kherson? And why do you claim to be a Russia expert?

16/18


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Finally, let's pay out a scenario: a man comes to your house, kills your wife and daughter, claims that he now owns your living room and kitchen, and suggests that you should "negotiate" over all this.

How would you respond?

17/18


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Orsini has been doing all this on a publicly funded TV channel called @RaiTre, meaning that this Russian propaganda is currently being funded by Italian citizens.

Fortunately, Italy's PM Giorgia Meloni has shown her strong support to Ukraine.

18/18
Thank you to sous-Chef @PunishedRazzi for helping me to deliver this soup.

Past soups:

Support my work: https://t.co/R5xLjQf2Fhvatniksoup.com
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APPENDIX: Apparently Orsini is no longer in charge of the department of Observatory on International Security at LUISS.

As of today, his profile on LUISS's website has also been removed.
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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Jul 15
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American lawyer and politician, Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee). He’s best-known for opposing the aid to Ukraine, undermining NATO by calling the US to withdraw from the alliance, and for fighting with a bunch of braindead dogs online.

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Like many of the most vile vatniks out there, “Based Mike” is a lawyer by profession. He hails from the holy land of Mormons, Utah, where he faces little political competition, allowing him to make the most outrageous claims online without risking his Senate seat.

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Before becoming a senator, Mike fought to let a nuclear waste company dump Italian radioactive waste in Utah, arguing it was fine if they just diluted it. The state said no, the public revolted, and the courts told poor Mikey to sit down.

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While Ukrainians are terror bombed on a daily basis, rich Russians live in Europe like kings and queens.

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Elbridge "Cheese" Colby earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Before entering government, he worked at top think tanks and in the intelligence community, focusing on nuclear policy and strategic planning.

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Cheese quickly became a key voice for a “China First” strategy, arguing the US must prioritize military buildup in Asia over commitments in Europe or the Middle East. He sees (or saw, rather) Taiwan as the core test of US credibility.

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In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’m going to talk about… Vatnik Soup! As some of you know, we also have a website where you can find every soup ever published. The site also has other useful resources, making it the most comprehensive resource on Russian disinformation & vatniks.

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Unfortunately, Elon has flagged the website as malware, as he might not be very happy about the soups I wrote about him - so far, they have garnered over 60 million views on X/Twitter.

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The heart & soul of the website is of course the soups page. There you can find all 360+ soups, which can be sorted chronologically, by popularity, etc. You can also search for soups by title or even in the soup text:

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vatniksoup.com/en/soups/
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In today’s Wumao Soup, I’ll introduce how and where the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) online propaganda and influence operations work. Due to China’s massive population and advances in AI, CCP-aligned online content has become increasingly visible.

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Like Russia’s troll farms, China has its own troll army: the “50 Cent Party” or “Wumao” refers to state-linked online commentators who are reportedly paid ¥0.50 per post to steer discussions away from criticism and amplify CCP narratives on social media.

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Back in 2017, a research paper estimated that the Wumao produced almost 500 million fabricated comments annually to distract readers and shift topics. In that sense, Wumao operates very similarly to the Russian “Firehose of Falsehood” model:

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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.

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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:

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