In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a German politician, Sahra Wagenknecht (@SWagenknecht). She's best-known for her praise of Russia, fighting against the them on Russia, and for her attempts to stop the military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
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Wagenknecht started her political career at a young age, and she eventually became a prominent member of the Party of Democratic Socialism during the early 90s. After the foundation of the far-left party Die Linke, she joined the party and became a leader of its...
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...Marxist-Leninist sub-faction called the Communist Platform. Sahra has been referred as the 3rd most popular politician in Germany, but throughout her career, she has also been a controversial figure due to her populist takes on DDR, immigration and Russia.
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Even though she's been spending most of her political career in leftist parties,her political views & statements don't really fit this shoe. As a matter of fact, her statements on immigration,comments on Russia & even her economical views fit better to the far-right mindset.
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One could even say, that with Wagenknecht we see the horseshoe theory in action. In Germany, there is even a term for this: querfront (cross-front).
It originates from the Weimar politics referring to the cooperation between the far-right and far-left.
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When it comes to NATO and Russia, Sahra has a clear stance. In 2017, she called for the dissolution of NATO. Throughout her career as a politician, she's called for closer relations with Russia, and in 1992 she published an essay praising Stalinist Russia.
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Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she argued that the US were trying to "conjure up" an invasion, "Russia has in fact no interest in marching into Ukraine". During the same speech, she also stated that NATO has forced Moscow into a corner with their expansion.
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She still opposed the sanctions imposed on Russia, stating that the German government had launched "an unprecedented economic war against our most important energy supplier."
After the speech, she was applauded by members of the far-right party AfD:
Back in Feb 2023, Wagenknecht, together with AfD, organized large rallies in many German cities. These protests called to end any military aid to Ukraine. Few months later, WaPo exposed that the Kremlin had been trying to create an "antiwar coalition" in Germany,..
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...and Russian officials had allegedly met with AfD members on the issue, suggesting that the rallies weren't as organic as they appeared. Unsurprisingly, similar protests like the "Rage Against the War Machine" were organized in the United States:
Few weeks before the rallies, Wagenknecht and Alice Schwarzer had collected signatures for "peace manifesto", calling for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and halting the arms deliveries to Ukraine. They manifesto has almost 900 000 signatures.
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According to her, weapon supplies to Ukraine are "highly dangerous" and they "escalate the conflict". Mrs Wagenknecht seems completely oblivious to the fact that Putin's Russia has been waging imperialistic wars since the start of the 2nd Chechen War in 1999.
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In one interview, Sahra claimed that the war isn't about "Putin's nationalism", rather than about the neutrality of Ukraine. We should of course remember that Russia started the war already back in 2014 by annexing Crimea and fueling pro-Russia protests all around Ukraine.
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In Oct 2023, Wagenknecht announced her intention to start a new political far-left party. One survey put the new party at 12% nationally, a pretty significant number in German politics. As a populist pro-Kremlin party, it will probably also steal some votes from AfD.
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In Jul 2022, Sahra's ex-husband Ralph T. Niemeyer founded a "shadow government" in Russia and adressed Putin directly about this. In Feb 2022 Niemeyer suggested that Sahra should become the "Präsidal-Kanzlerin" of Germany and called her "incorruptible".
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To conclude: Sahra has positioned herself as the Kremlin's friend since the beginning of her political career. She's always been supportive of Russo-German collaboration (and Russian imperialism) & she's ready to throw Ukraine under the bus for cheap Russian energy.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian politician and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergey Kiriyenko. He’s best known for running both domestic and foreign disinformation and propaganda operations for the Kremlin.
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On paper, and in photos, Kiriyenko is just as boring as most of the Kremlin’s “political technologists”: between 2005-2016 he headed the Rosatom nuclear energy company, but later played a leading role in the governance of Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.
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What is a political technologist? In Russia, they’re spin doctors & propaganda architects who shape opinion, control narratives, and manage elections — often by faking opposition, staging events, and spreading disinfo to maintain Putin’s power and the illusion of democracy.
Let me show you how a Pakistani (or Indian, they're usually the same) AI slop farm/scam operates. The account @designbonsay is a prime example: a relatively attractive, AI-generated profile picture and a ChatGPT-style profile description are the first red flags.
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The profile's posts are just generic engagement farming, usually using AI-generated photos of celebrities or relatively attractive women.
These posts are often emotionally loaded and ask the user to interact with them ("like and share if you agree!").
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Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.
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.
2/21
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.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American national security policy professional and the current under secretary of defense for policy, Elbridge Colby (@ElbridgeColby). He’s best-known for fighting with cartoon dogs online and for halting military aid to Ukraine.
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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.
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.
The “freedom of speech” spokesperson doesn’t seem too keen on free speech, after all.
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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: