In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Canadian social media personality and QA tester, Patrick JM (@vonClownsewitz). He's best-known for spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda & for creating a fake persona as an academic expert on international relations and strategic studies.
1/19
This investigation was put together by The Unintelligence Agency.
Patrick is a self-proclaimed expert on international relations, regularly pissing on people who comment on geopolitical issues but who have no background on the topic.
2/19
According to the man himself, he's a "published strategic analyst" who does "defense research" and who is also "speaking at panels." He also claims to be one of his institutions Russia experts, which is of course yet another lie.
3/19
Let's start with the obvious: Paddy is not an expert on anything, and his credentials are completely made up. In reality, he double-majored in studio arts and on political science, probably having a Bachelor's level degree in both.
4/19
By the way, the picture in the first tweet is his campaign poster for running to become a student representative at his university. Including the Soviet flag and the cat ears in the photo was a brave move, but unfortunately he lost the election.
At the time, he was 35.
5/19
Paddy's name is mentioned in exactly one technical paper that's basically a pamphlet, but not as an author but as a contributor to the technical analysis.
In reality, Paddy works as a video game tester at a local company that pays him around 2CAD/hour over the minimum wage.
6/19
The online fake persona he created has landed him some spotlights as a geopolitical analyst. He's appeared on Sarah Bils' Donbass Devushka podcast before Bils' fake persona was exposed and the channel was re-branded as @DD_Geopolitics:
DDG also promoted Paddy's hilariously bad analysis on Prigozhin's mutiny in Jun 2023. He's also spread false narratives on Holodomor, a Soviet policy that resulted in millions of dead Ukrainians in 1932–33 due to starvation.
8/19
He participated as an expert in @MarioNawfal's Twitter Space about the Prigozhin mutiny. The other top analysts that were commenting on this dire situation were @KimDotcom and DDG activist @Kahlissee, who will be introduced properly on #vatniksoup at a later date.
9/19
According to @elonmusk, this particular Space was the "best coverage of the situation I've seen so far," so Paddy's contributions in the Space must've been pretty good.
10/19
In Jul 2023, Patrick was a guest Riverwest Radio/WXRW, a community radio that provides "an outlet for marginalized and alternative voices", in which he was described as an "IR academic" and "social media superstar".
11/19
Paddy seems to be a big fan of communism and the USSR, often posing with the hammer and sickle flag in the background. I mean, the man even bought a brand new flag for Russia's Victory Day in 2020.
12/19
He also has a tendency to laugh at people who have been tortured and beat up, like he did in the case @cossackgundi. Imagine being a dweeb and laughing at people who are ready to defend innocent people from genocidal maniacs and are then tortured for that.
13/19
When discussing Ukraine, Patrick's all about them Nazis. Below you can see the man himself wearing a Marilyn Manson shirt depicting the Nazi eagle. As you can see, he's also wearing a red fedora with some leopard stripes - pretty cool, eh?
14/19
In addition, we have the same old boring stuff: Bucha denial, promotion of Mariupol's Potemkin village (and even comparing it to Grozny!), downplaying Ukraine's attack in Kherson, and claims that the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia wasn't planned in 2014.
15/19
Paddy seems to dislike NAFO, probably because of its effectiveness. He often refers to them as "furries", probably while still wearing the cat ears you can see in the first tweet. Incidentally, he likes to call NAFO activists "incels".
Could he just be projecting?
16/19
Mr. Clown was one of the many people who sneered over Merdan E doxxing the wrong Pekka Kallioniemi, possibly putting the man in real danger. I just want to tell you Paddy,that I don't hold any grudge over this but I also disagree with you over what's doxxing and what's not.
17/19
Now here's some kitchen sink psychology: Paddy's someone who's attempting to connect with a particular part of his identity and family history, and doing it in the most cringe, 13-year-old edgelord way possible, despite having been in his 30s and now his 40s.
18/19
I would like to close this soup with the tweet below and beg to differ with Paddy here: I'd argue that even funnier than a racecar driver turning geopol expert is the game tester making barely minimum wage at 41, promoting himself as a geopolitical expert.
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.
1/20
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.
2/20
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:
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.