In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a social media personality and TV presenter, Raisa Blommestijn (@rblommestijn). She’s best-known for her far-right rhetorics, spreading conspiracy theories, and spreading anti-Ukraine and pro-Kremlin narratives on Dutch television.
1/24
Raisa studied philosophy of law at Leiden University. The faculty is best-known for one of its professors, Paul Cliteur. He’s a member of the pro-Kremlin party Forum voor Democratie (FvD), where he is one of the leading figures.Cliteur is also known for supervising the FvD…
2/24
…founder Thierry Baudet’s doctoral thesis, and can be considered a central figure in this Dutch “anti-establishment” movement. While studying at Leiden, Raise also met her best friend forever, Eva Vlaardingerbroek:
Blommestijn obtained her PhD on “The Decline of the Weimar Republic”. In her work, she described “the downfall of democracy and its decay towards totalitarianism,” so you’d imagine she would be strongly against the totalitarian regimes like the ones in Russia.
4/24
But Raisa actually loves these kleptocracies, and she’s only outspoken against the Western “global elites”. For example, in 2023 she attended a “Science Summit – Uncensored” where she spoke about the conspiracy theory around the UN’s “Agenda 2030” project…
5/24
…focusing on sustainable development. Blommestijn has been steadily building her presence on other platforms that clearly steer towards conspiracy theories, such as Cafe Weltschmerz. On X, Raisa promotes herself as an opponent of “wokeness”, climate concerns…
6/24
…and COVID-19 mandates and vaccinations. This anti-establishment stance has made her a relatively popular voice opposing mainstream media, the government and the EU. While going through her tweets, it becomes evident that she blames EVERYTHING on the EU or the immigrants.
7/24
In late 2021, Raisa and Eva started working with Maes Law, bringing in legal cases connected to COVID-19. But Bart Maes, one of the partners, soon broke off their cooperation due to lack of results and massive backlash from both the pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine people.
8/24
And it was clear that Raisa had chosen her side, when she wrote on X that ‘The people with a Ukrainian flag in the bio, who boycott Russian products and send money to Ukraine. Virtuous people who do their “duty”. What an emptiness.’
9/24
On the conspiracy channel BlckBx, Blommestijn discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine on its 4th day, sharing typical Kremlin viewpoints. While there, she falsely claimed that “a large part of the population is Russian and wants to belong to Russia.”
10/24
According to her, due to the “Western interference” in the elections, Russia had a good reason to invade. To my knowledge, Raisa hasn’t discussed Russia’s meddling and funding of politicians and separatist movements in Ukraine, but maybe I haven’t looked close enough.
11/24
As is tradition, Ms. Blommestijn argues for “de-escalation” & naturally blames the West for warmongering. She seems to ignore the fact that at no point the Kremlin has been interested in actual peace negotiations and that Russia has a tendency to break any truce they make.
12/24
If there’s one person who’s been constantly wrong about the war in Ukraine, that’s Douglas Macgregor. As it happens, Macgregor is also extremely biased against Ukraine, which is probably why Raisa loves sharing Dougie’s analysis so much.
Following propagandist Tucker Carlson’s interview with Putin, Blommestijn praised the Russian dictator on her show: “He has a clear picture of history and self-identity, unlike our leaders.” This same rhetoric was parroted by her BFF, Mrs. Vlaardingerbroek.
14/24
Blommestijn is one of those Western pro-Kremlin propagandists who has been able to break into the mainstream - she works as a presenter for Ongehoord Nederland,a Dutch show that claims to give a voice to those “who do not feel represented in the current politics and media.”
15/24
Ongehoord (meaning “unheard”) was launched (among others) by Arnold Karskens and Joost Niemoller, and it started broadcasting just a few days before Russia launched their barbaric full-scale invasion against Ukraine. Raisa ended up fighting with Mr. Karskens…
16/24
…over her online behavior, and was told to leave X but refused. Raisa then had to leave Ongehoord in early 2024. Six months later, a new tribal battle ensued. Karskens lost this one, and Raisa returned to the screen.
17/24
Recently, Raisa was struck with a lawsuit for using the terms ‘toddler f*cker’ (defamation) and ‘n*groid primates’ (group defamation).
What a beautiful human being!
According to court journalist @chrisklomp, the case will be heard on 21 Nov 2024.
18/24
Despite Ongehoord paying Raisa an annual salary of 93,000 EUR, she has solicited personal donations from her supporters several times. She raised money for herself after being kicked out of Ongehoord and after she was being struck with a lawsuit.
19/24
Besties Raisa and Eva share a very similar far-right worldview. They see the Dutch right-centrist VVD party is the far-left. Both also rub shoulders with the right wing of the US Republicans, as well as parties like the Flemish Vlaams Belang & Órban’s Fidesz.
20/24
Both of them also fall into the category of “relatively attractive young women simping for Putin”, of which I have spoken about in previous soups. Raisa is sort of a “dollar store” version of Eva and has failed to garner as much international fame than her best friend.
21/24
Blommestijn uses the standard rhetoric of alarmism about the Russian war in Ukraine. Everyone is getting poorer because of it, nuclear escalation is imminent, and we have nothing to do with Ukraine anyway. Those who stand up for Ukrainian freedom are framed as “warmongers”.
22/24
Under the facade of defending freedom of speech and a fight against curbing freedoms, Blommestijn regularly promotes the ideas of authoritarian leaders. Pretty rich coming from someone who wrote her thesis on the “erosion of democracy” and “rise of totalitarianism”.
23/24
Raisa is a useful pawn for the Kremlin because she amplifies and legitimises ideas from the far-right, which are then seasoned with crazy conspiracy theories and populism. This is nothing new, but Raisa has managed to bring this type of BS to Dutch national television.
24/24
My book titled “Vatnik Soup - The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation” has been published, you can order it here:
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.
1/24
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.
2/24
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.
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
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.
2/23
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.
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.
1/20
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.
2/20
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.
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.
1/20
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.
2/20
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.
1/5
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!").
2/5
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.
1/21
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.