In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American social media personality, Samantha A. (@zukosmadre).
She's best-known for anti-Imperialism (but only when it comes to the US), and for her hot takes on the Russo-Ukrainian War and the conflict in the Middle East.
1/17
After reading the previous tweet, your first thought is probably "Who?"
Well, @zukosmadre is a relatively quickly growing social media account that focuses on commenting on geopolitical issues, occasionally posting seductive selfies and thus addressing her "fans".
2/17
I consider Samantha to be a part of the group of "relatively attractive, young women who promote pro-Kremlin narratives" along with people like Sarah Bils, Maria Butina, Alina Lipp and Liu Sivaya (@liusivaya).
Her activities also closely resemble how @Partisangirl started.
3/17
Like @PartisanGirl, Samantha probably discovered a long time ago that her looks and attractive selfies would bring her followers and reach on social media, which can then be beneficial once you start pushing your ridiculous and genocidal political agenda.
4/17
She's has been actively engaging in Russian war crime denialism and apologism, denial of Ukrainian sovereignty, "US/West/NATO bad" rhetoric, and general pro-Kremlin talking points ever since before the invasion of Ukraine began, ramping it way aggressively up afterward.
5/17
Sam's views seem to stem from the support of feminist communism and socialism, and she's heavily against "colonialism" - except if it's done by the Russians or Soviets in Ukraine.
For her, the US is the "imperial core & global hegemon," yet she chooses to live there.
6/17
She's called Holodomor "literally Nazi propaganda," and opposes any military or humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and according to her, NATO and Ukraine are full of Nazis. She's also stated that the West and Ukraine don't care about women, and anyone who thinks that is a fool.
7/17
Then there's of course the "8 years of shelling of Donbas" narrative,a story that's been debunked so many times that it's extremely difficult to find people who believe in that shit anymore. Well, here's one I guess.She also believes in Taibbi's & Maté's silly RussiaGate BS.
8/17
To Sam, Ukraine's a country full of Nazis and she proves this by sharing a UN voting map on Russia's UN resolution they've used both for propaganda and for justifying their genocidal attack on Ukraine.
Incidentally, she doesn't talk about Russia's massive neo-Nazi problem.
9/17
Sam's often called for people who support Ukraine to "take that energy and go fight for Ukraine". Now this is something that you see quite often, as some people don't realize that war efforts can be helped in many ways, including countering disinformation online.
10/17
Incidentally, Sam is doing what she's accusing other people of - she's arguing with Ukraine and Israel supporters online, often resorting to namecalling and ad hominems.
As of today, she hasn't allegedly done anything other than arguing online to "help" Palestinians.
11/17
After Hamas' terrorist attack against Israelis on 7 Oct 2023, Samantha ramped up her genocidal rhetoric going as far as to say that every single Israeli person, literal babies and toddlers included, are "all settlers", and that they all deserved it.
12/17
She hopes that everyone who "condemns Hamas" drowns in piss and claims that these people "helped manufacture consent for genocide". She also apparently doesn't like the claim that killing and kidnapping civilians are "Hamas methods" (which they of course are).
13/17
Sam's actually working as a bartender/server in a very popular, Jewish-owned bar in Connecticut. She's probably used to serving Jews and Ukrainians every time she is behind the counter.
But I suppose her boss is not part of the "evil Zionists" clan she so much despises.
14/17
Probably due to the lack of tipping culture, She also despises "Europeans" (probably calls them "Nazis") and her messages to work group chats reveal her hate and bigotry against them.
In fact she’s told her work group chat to tell Europeans "tell them to kill themselves".
15/17
She's allegedly studying to become a public defender, and she's paid big bucks for companies to erase her online history.
That's probably a good idea, if you want to become a prominent lawyer, as lately she has promoted threats against people like @drewpavlou.
16/17
To conclude: Sam is an edgy feminist/communist/far-left type that spews typical anti-Ukraine rhetoric and pro-Kremlin narratives. Lately she's been more focused on the conflict in the Middle East, supporting terrorist group Hamas and fighting against "evil Zionists".
17/17
This research was done in collaboration with The Unintelligence Agency (@UnintelAgency).
I have paused personal donations for now, please support @U24_gov_ua by donating to the #HopakChallenge and sending me the receipt:
In today’s Debunk of the Day (2), we’ll look at… nuclear blackmail. Vatniks love using Russia’s nuclear threats as a reason for surrendering or for not lifting a finger to help Ukraine: “see, they have nukes, we have to give them whatever they want”.
The argument is absurd: 1/5
Nuclear deterrence has been a reality for decades. Both the US and Russia have lost wars without resorting to nukes. We are not submitting to the whims of Pakistan or North Korea either. For vatniks, it’s just an insidious way of siding with Putin. 2/5
We can’t just give in to the Kremlin’s nuclear blackmail, to the threats their officials and propagandists make five times a day to scare us into letting them have something they know perfectly well is not theirs, with no limit to their appetite. 3/5 vatniksoup.com/en/nuclear-thr…
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce a Ukrainian “scholar” and social media activist, Marta Havryshko (@HavryshkoMarta). She’s best known for spreading anti-Ukraine and pro-Kremlin narratives online, along with a habit of spotting neo-Nazis everywhere in Ukraine.
1/20
Marta hails from Ukraine, where she studied history at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. She received her PhD in history in 2010. Her academic work focused on gender-based violence and wartime atrocities, including publications on sexual crimes in occupied Ukraine.
2/20
She is currently working as a visiting Assistant Professor at the Strassler Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Clark University in the US. According to the center’s website, Marta teaches courses on antisemitism, racism, and gender-based violence in armed conflicts.
In today’s (first) Debunk of the Day, we’ll talk about… “realistic expectations”.
Russia has the GDP of Italy. NATO — which Russia claims to be fighting — has 20 times their GDP, and a much stronger and more modern military. 1/5
Russia’s full scale invasion was supposed to take 2 days, but we’re nearing 4 years. They’ve lost a million men. Their economy is in shambles.
And yet we're letting them set their red lines instead of massive sanctions, strong support for Ukraine, and an immediate sky shield. 2/5
Russia thought their war was “realistic” because we’d let them get away with it. It wouldn’t be “realistic” to invade a European nation and redraw borders by force if the West had a strong and united response.
What’s “realistic” is what public opinion tolerates and accepts. 3/5
In this first (and maybe last?) Basiji Soup, we’ll look at… the Islamic Republic of Iran, its disinformation operations, its hypocrisy, how it sells its atrocities as virtue and its repression as morality, how it serves the Kremlin, and the current protests against it.
1/20
Basijis are members of the most fanatical part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In a broader sense: Iranian regime loyalists & propagandists. They may be fewer than vatniks or wumaos, but the goal is the same: destabilize the West to protect a brutal regime.
2/20
The regime oppressing Iran is a “theocratic” authoritarian state around a “Supreme Leader” hiding behind religion to justify its crimes: censorship, repression, executions, torture and terror — similar to Russia and its “holy war” against Ukraine.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce our first Czech vatnik, Tomio Okamura. He’s best known for building a political career on xenophobia while being of mixed origins himself, and for pushing Kremlin narratives in Czechia, a country otherwise very supportive of Ukraine.
1/19
Okamura was born in Tokyo in 1972 to a Japanese-Korean father and Czech mother. He spent part of his childhood in Japan, and part in a Czechoslovak foster home where he was heavily bullied. His mixed origins made it difficult for him to fit in either country.
2/19
Nonetheless, after working odd jobs in Japan, Tomio returned to Czechia and became a successful entrepreneur in Japanese tourism. He then rose in politics: Senator in 2012, MP in 2013, he founded two parties: Dawn of Direct Democracy and SPD (Freedom and Direct Democracy).
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll introduce an American billionaire, real estate developer, and wannabe diplomat, Steve Witkoff. He’s best known for trying to sell Ukraine to Putin and for helping Trump sell this treason and encouragement of genocidal war as “peace”.
1/20
Steve studied law and political science at Hofstra University in New York. After law school, he worked as a real estate attorney, which led him into property acquisitions and development. He first met Trump in the 1980s when Trump was a client of his real estate law firm.
2/20
In 1997, Witkoff founded the Witkoff Group, a New York–based real estate development and investment firm. The firm has owned and developed dozens of properties in New York and other major US cities, making Witkoff quite wealthy, with some interesting business connections.