Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Jan 26, 2024 16 tweets 10 min read Read on X
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American-born Russian mixed martial artist turned politician and propagandist, Jeff Monson (@JeffMonson). He's best-known for his career as a MMA fighter, and for his propaganda work for the Russian Federation.

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Monson calls himself an anarcho-communist, and he's described himself as "someone who would like to do away with all class hierarchy in society and the institutions that promote this inequality". His worldview leans strongly towards radical left.

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Monson's career in mixed martial arts was relatively successful - he's considered to be one of the world's top submission grapplers, and he has even fought in UFC and PRIDE. He also worked as a mental health professional as well as a child and family counselor.

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In 2011, Jeff got to fight the Russian MMA legend, Fedor Emilianenko in Moscow, Russia. Jeff lost the match, after which Putin surprisingly decided to come up to the stage for a speech,but got unexpectedly boo'd by the crowd. The Kremlin later claimed the crowd boo'd Monson.
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After the fight, Jeff met Vladimir, who at this point was desperate at finding celebrities who could promote the Russian cause. Putin later called Monson and told him that he'd be "always welcome" in Russia, after calling Jeff a "real man".

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This must've been a turning point in Jeff's life - in 2015, he stated that he had a "Russian soul" and that he felt solidarity with the Russian people, after which he applied for a Russian citizenship. Finally in 2018, Putin granted Monson a Russian passport.

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Interestingly, the made-up republics of Abkhazia and Luhansk granted Jeff citizenships already in 2016 and in 2017, so by 2018 he had accumulated a total of four passports. In May 2023, Monson officially renounced his American citizenship.

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Monson initially sided with Gennady Zyuganov's CCCP in 2016. Soon disappointment set in over the the lack of ideology "There are no communists in the communist party in Russia". He later ran as an independent representative and was elected to the city duma of Krasnogorsk.

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Monson has strongly supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine since 2014, and he's made many propaganda trips to Eastern Ukraine since then. He supports the Kremlin false narrative Ukraine being run by "fascists".

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The Kremlin saw a valuable asset in Monson, and he was even given his own TV show on RT. Additionally he was handed the means to make a documentary "8 years before" to spread the false narrative that Ukraine and The West were responsible for the Donbass war since 2014.

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He would later become the face of several charities connected with the new regions, like opening "fighting schools" in Donbass and handing out medicines to soldiers in Luhansk. These "humanitarian missions" done by Westerners are staple of Kremlin propaganda.

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Monson's reasoning for the war follows closely the one of the Kremlin's - according to him, Russian didn't want to kill their "Ukrainian brothers and sisters" and "Russia had no desire to conquer the whole of Ukraine but was fighting Ukrainian Nazis in Donbass".

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In 2023, Monson made yet another political turn by joining Putin's United Russia, a party on the opposite spectrum of his communist believes. He solidified his support for Putin and the war by taking a big Z tattoo and stating Russia has more democracy than the US.

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While being a clear advocate of the war in Ukraine, the idea of being sent to the front scares Jeff: "I hope I don't get drafted." He probably knows how well the Russian soldiers are treated and would rather stay in Russia as a propagandist.

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To conclude, Jeff Monson represents the far-left "tankie" group of Kremlin apologists whose view on Russia is not based on any reality. His "strongman" ego helped him gain attention of Putin's, and he's been heavily utilized as an anti-Western propagandist in Russia.

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This soup was done in collaboration with NAFO activist SLAVAUA2022.

I have paused personal donations for now, please support @U24_gov_ua by donating to the #HopakChallenge and sending me the receipt:

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Aug 18
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.

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Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.

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Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

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Read 25 tweets
Aug 11
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.

1/23 Photo by JULIE OLIVER /Postmedia
Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.

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One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.

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Read 24 tweets
Aug 6
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.

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The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.

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From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.

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Read 21 tweets
Jul 28
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.

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Read 21 tweets
Jul 27
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.

Country code for the phone number is in Pakistan.

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Read 5 tweets
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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Read 23 tweets

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