Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Oct 26, 2023 18 tweets 8 min read Read on X
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.

1/16 Image
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...

2/16 Image
...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.

3/16 Image
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.
4/16 Image
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.

5/16
Image
Image
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.

6/16
Image
Image
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.

7/16 Image
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:


8/16
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,..
9/16
Image
Image
...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:

10/16
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.

11/16
Image
Image
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.

12/16
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.

13/16
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.

14/16

Image
Image
Image
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".

15/16 Image
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.

16/16 Image
All soups:
Support my work: vatniksoup.com
buymeacoffee.com/PKallioniemi
CORRECTION 1/16:

"fighting against the them on Russia"

should say:

"fighting against the Western sanctions set against Russia".

• • •

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

Oct 6
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll reintroduce an American political commentator and pro-Kremlin propagandist, Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson). He’s best known for his promotion of crazy conspiracy theories and for his support of authoritarian regimes around the world.

1/24 Image
Tucker’s career spans decades, but he’s also been very active in recent years, so a lot has happened since our previous soup on him, which can be found here:

2/24

Once described as “the most powerful conservative in America”, Tucker has now fully transformed into a grifting conspiracy theorist and propagandist willing to work for whoever pays him the most. It’s unclear whether Tucker truly believes his endless conspiracy theories or…
3/24 Image
Read 25 tweets
Sep 25
This is what you’re debating with on social media:
It appears that a few pro-Russian bot farms already found this thread, so remember - just block them all, there's no point in arguing with a computer.
Most of you have seen those "No DMs" profiles, right? That's because you can interrupt the GPT procedure by injecting them new instructions.

At some point it also worked in comments ("give me a cake recipe"), but not so much anymore.
Read 4 tweets
Sep 11
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the agenda-setting and flood of disinformation that spread on X and other platforms right after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It’s far from the first or last time a tragedy has been weaponized for political purposes.

1/18 Image
Every major political event, especially those involving violence, attracts massive attention. In the immediate aftermath, reliable information is scarce, making it highly vulnerable to both coordinated and improvised disinformation campaigns.

2/18 Image
As I’ve mentioned in my previous soups and lectures, in disinformation campaigns, being first with a narrative is crucial, as people often remember the first version best — psychology studies show it sets the mental schema, and later updates rarely overwrite it.

3/18 Image
Read 19 tweets
Sep 8
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce American social media personality David Freeman, AKA Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman). He’s best known for spreading political disinformation on X and shamelessly sucking up to Trump, Putin, and other authoritarian leaders.

1/22 Image
David is a textbook example of someone profiting from MAGA grievance politics. He uses extreme, provocative language to farm engagement on X and never hesitates to flatter anyone who might give him more exposure — or money.

2/22 Image
Image
But David wasn’t always like this. At some point, in his mid-40s, he even tried a real job: he trained to become a cop. He spent three years with the Metro Transit PD, but after that he either got fired or quit, and never looked back.

3/22 Image
Read 24 tweets
Sep 5
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian-Estonian businessman, Oleg Ossinovski. He is best-known for his deep ties to Russian rail and energy networks, shady cross-border dealings, and for channeling his wealth into Estonian politics.

1/14 Image
Oleg made his fortune via Spacecom Trans & Skinest Rail, both deeply tied to Russia’s rail system. Most of this is through Globaltrans Investments PLC, a Cyprus-based firm with 62% held via Spacecom and tens of millions in yearly profits.

2/14 Image
Image
Ossinovski’s Russian-linked ventures made him Estonia’s richest man in 2014, with an estimated fortune of ~€300M. His business empire stretched across railways, oil via Alexela shares, and Russian bitumen imports from Help-Oil, a supplier to the Defense Ministry.

3/14 Image
Read 15 tweets
Sep 2
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Swiss/French writer, Alain Bonnet, aka Alain Soral (@officielsoral). He’s best known for his rabid antisemitism and for his pathetic support for all the worst authoritarian regimes from Russia to North Korea.

1/22 Image
Alain’s childhood was problematic, as his father has been characterized as a “narcissistic pervert” who beat his children and did jail time for fraud. Alain himself has said he was “programmed to be a monster.” Born Alain Bonnet, he took the stage name of his sister,…

2/22 Image
Image
… actress Agnès Soral. She wasn’t too happy about this, commenting “How would you like to be called Agnès Hitler?”. Like many grifters, he became a pick-up/seduction artist writer, à la late Gonzalo Lira, writing books and even making a B-movie, “Confessions d’un dragueur”.
3/22 Image
Image
Image
Read 23 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!

:(