In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll take out my crystal ball and predict what the alliance between the US and Russia could mean for Ukraine, Europe and geopolitics in general. These recent changes could be a real risk for the whole of Europe, and need to be addressed quickly.
1/23
Some of us have been reporting on Trump’s pro-Kremlin tendencies for years now. His Moscow connections go back all the way to the late 80s, and the 2016 US presidential elections raised a lot of red flags about the close connections of his associates to Russian operatives.
2/23
The recent Rubio-Lavrov meeting in Saudi Arabia was an eye-opening event for many who were still optimistic about Trump and Ukraine – the outcome was that Putin got absolutely everything he’s ever wanted from the war, and at the same time it seems that the US got nothing.
3/23
From the beginning of the war back in 2014, Moscow’s goals in Ukraine have been the same: install a pro-Kremlin puppet regime in Kyiv after the ousting of Yanukovych, capture vast areas of land from Ukraine, alienate Ukraine’s allies and undermine NATO.
4/23
In Feb 2022, their initial plan to capture Kyiv in 3 days & install a puppet regime failed, and the war quickly expanded. Eventually, Putin abandoned the idea of forming puppet states of LPR & DPR, and announced the annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk & Zaporizhzhia.
5/23
Ukrainians fought fiercely, and even managed to take away a big part of Russia’s Black Sea navy. Russia resorted to meatwave attacks, bombing civilians & critical infrastructure, and controlling the online information space through massive disinformation campaigns.
6/23
Then, after almost 3 years of brutal war, everything changed, as they had hoped: Trump won, and this time it was quickly obvious whose side he was standing on. We had already seen Trump capitulating to Putin in Helsinki in 2018, but this was something completely different.
7/23
First of all, Trump excluded the Europeans and even Ukrainians from the peace talks. Soon after the meeting, both sides agreed to “lay the groundwork for future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities.”
8/23
After the meeting, Rubio stated that they’d restore staffing to embassies, create a “high-level team” to support Ukraine-Russia peace talks, and to “explore closer relations and economic cooperation”.
Lavrov said that “Russia will not accept NATO troops in Ukraine.”
9/23
The US side also proposed a three-stage peace plan:
1) Ceasefire deal 2) Elections in Ukraine 3) Peace deal
Lavrov later claimed that he was “unaware” of such a plan, commenting that “I haven’t seen this information, I haven’t seen this news.”
10/23
Here’s how I see things going in the near future: first, Trump and Putin will come up with an extremely biased and unfair ceasefire plan for Ukraine. It will most probably include Russia keeping all the invaded regions, and Ukraine agreeing to not join NATO.
11/23
This will of course be rejected by both Ukraine and the EU, after which the two sides will eventually find some kind of middle ground and come up with a flimsy Minsk 3 type of deal. During all this time, both the US and Russia will defame Zelenskyy, blaming him for the war.
12/23
The goal there is to decrease Zelenskyy’s popularity, and try to promote a pro-Kremlin and pro-Trump leader in the country. This process was already started by Trump, who said that Zelenskyy’s approval rate is “down at 4%,” and that he shouldn’t have “started the war”.
13/23
The Kremlin candidate to lead Ukraine will probably be someone close to Viktor Medvedchuk. This candidate will be heavily promoted by Russian operations and pro-Kremlin Ukrainians like Diana Panchenko (who will also keep on criticizing Zelenskyy).
Before the eventual ceasefire and elections, Trump will continue criticizing NATO and Europe, blaming them for continuing the war in Ukraine. Some have even suggested that Trump might pull US troops from Europe, leaving it extremely vulnerable to a future Russian invasion.
15/23
The Trump admin will also continue spreading lies about the aid sent to Ukraine by his predecessor, claiming that the US has “given over double what Europe has” (it hasn’t) and that a large part of the aid has gone missing (it was actually spent elsewhere).
16/23
If the US and Russia manage to get their puppet regime in power, this will launch a massive operation of dividing Ukraine’s resources between the two. Chinese companies are already operating in the Donbas region, and the US probably wants Russia to kick them out.
17/23
Part of the deal would also be lifting sanctions against Russia. This would effectively help the Kremlin to bounce back economically and even supercharge their war economy so that they can continue producing weapons and equipment for future wars.
18/23
Meanwhile, Trump’s threats against Greenland and Canada will continue. Greenland is full of valuable resources, and Canada has some of the largest known reserves of rare earth minerals in the world. Many of these resources are necessary for building modern technology.
19/23
Even if there is a ceasefire, Putin will probably continue the invasion against Ukraine. Intelligence sources from the US and close allies show that Putin is “not interested in a real peace deal”, and wants to eventually control all of Ukraine.
20/23
This is also evident from Lavrov’s statements – the Russian Foreign Minister has stated that Ukraine is not a real country and should be divided among Russia, Romania, Poland and Hungary. In Romania, this claim could be even used to get Calin Georgescu elected.
21/23
Trump has been right about many things in the past, including the need for Europe to get rid of Russian energy & ramp up their defense budgets. But right now, it seems that Europe has become a target for both America & Russia, and the European leaders are in panic mode.
22/23
To conclude, Trump has offered Putin
1) Ukrainian territory, 2) no NATO membership for Ukraine, 3) no US soldiers in Ukraine, 4) withdrawal of US soldiers from Europe, and 5) sanctions relief
Whereas Trump gets back nothing. Art of the Deal.
23/23
The 2nd edition of “Vatnik Soup — The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation” is officially out!
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll introduce a Russian ultra-nationalist propagandist and “philosopher”, Aleksandr Dugin. He’s best-known for his blueprint on Russia’s geopolitical strategy and for his genocidal rhetoric towards Ukrainians.
1/17
In my first Dugin Soup, I covered the man’s 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics — a manual for dismantling the West, breaking up NATO, and building a Russian-led empire. In it, he makes eerie “predictions” that seem to be playing out today.
2/17
Dugin called for destabilizing the US by exacerbating internal divisions. Fast forward to today: culture wars, conspiracy theories, far-right lunatics, and social media algorithms doing half the work for him.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Russian propagandist Sergei Tsaulin. He’s best-known for spreading pro-Kremlin narratives in Estonia, fleeing to Russia after breaking several laws in Estonia, and almost getting blown up by a bomb in St. Petersburg.
1/17
For years, Tsaulin was known for organizing marches and events glorifying the Soviet Union. Under the excuse of “remembering history,” these events were nothing more than Kremlin propaganda, wrapped in a red flag with a hammer and sickle.
2/17
One of his most infamous events was the “Immortal Regiment” march, held every 9th of May, where people carried portraits of Soviet soldiers. These marches are used by Russia to push the idea that the Baltics owe their existence to the Soviets.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Joe Rogan (@joerogan). He’s best-known for launching the biggest podcast in the world, promoting various conspiracy theories, his support for Donald Trump and his anti-Ukraine rhetoric.
1/22
Joe Rogan started as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s, found fame on NewsRadio, and became a household name with Fear Factor. But his biggest impact came in 2009 when he launched The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), one of the first major podcasts.
2/22
JRE started as casual but deep conversations, often covering countercultural topics like psychedelics, MMA & hunting. Joe’s podcasting style is largely non-confrontational, often allowing his guests to share their views without significant pushback or critical questioning.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce KOOS party leader and Estonian crypto businessman Oleg Ivanov. He’s best known for running shady businesses, spreading Russian false narratives in Estonia, and participating in the pro-Kremlin political party KOOS.
1/18
As a talented youngster, Oleg learned Estonian almost flawlessly, was a promising karate athlete, and landed a job at a law firm at just 20. He caught the eye of Estonian fuel entrepreneur Endel Siff, who quickly took him under his wing.
2/18
Oleg’s father, Vladimir Ivanov, was a longtime politician from the Russian-funded United People’s Party of Estonia. His career at the town hall ended abruptly when he was caught drunk at work. After that, he went into business with his son, Oleg.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about the takeover of social media by illiberal, populist influencers. For the last ten years, social media has been dominated by these voices and it is one of the main reasons for the political rise of people like Trump and Orban.
1/25
“Illiberal populists” like Trump reject democratic norms while claiming to speak for “the people.” They centralize power, attack institutions, and push nationalism over rights. Elections exist, but checks & balances erode. This is democracy in name, autocracy in action.
2/25
The media landscape has changed drastically over the past two decades. The Internet and social media have changed how we interact online & how we consume media,but it has also become our main source of news. In many ways,social media companies have control over information.