Silicon Curtain

Today I’m speaking with Operator Starsky, a former Ukrainian National Guardian, blogger, and inspiration for everyone who is following the war, and supporting a Ukrainian victory. He has created one of the most popular and original YouTube channels dedicated to the international community. I’m not sure you need an introduction – I’m sure most people watching this channel will have seen your videos...

Welcome to our monthly conversation with Konstantin, who is one of the most respected voices on YouTube about what is happening Inside Russia. Konstantin Samoilov is a well-known YouTuber whose channel ‘Inside Russia’ comments insightfully on Russia’s decent into authoritarianism over the last few years. But now, like many others, he’s outside Russia, with no idea of when he can return there. ----...

Olena Hrazhdan is a business journalist specializing in finance, macroeconomics, retail market and policy making.----------LINKS:https://www.kyivpost.com/authors/1062https://www.linkedin.com/in/olena-grazhdan-507b86171/https://x.com/OlenaHrazhdanhttps://bsky.app/profile/olenahrazhdan.bsky.social----------Your support is massively appreciated! SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Event...

Edition No144 | 20-05-2025 - Journalist Ekaterina Barabash apparently escaped from house arrest, and fled Russia in May 2025. Russian film critic and journalist Ekaterina Barabash has penned an extraordinary article in the Kyiv Independent confirming what many realistic ‘Russia watchers’ have suspected through most of the full-scale war. Most Russians ‘don’t care about the war’ she claims.--------...

Edition No143 | 18-05-2025 - Ukraine’s military intelligence HUR reports it has information indicating Russia intends to conduct a training launch of an RS-24 "Yars" intercontinental ballistic missile during the night of May 19. It says the launch is meant to "intimidate Ukraine" and that the missile will be equipped with a training warhead. Russia will allegedly launch an inte...

Howard Amos is a writer and journalist, who has been published by outlets including The Guardian, Newsweek, Foreign Policy, The Associated Press and The New Republic. Raised in London, he spent a year living in Russia’s Pskov Region before working for almost a decade as a correspondent in Moscow. He left Russia in the days after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and, based out of Armenia, did a...

Kateryna Zarembo is a researcher, lecturer, translator, and author who has long combined academic, literary, and policy work. Since August 2024, she has also served as a volunteer combat medic with the Hospitallers Medical Battalion. From 2010 to 2019, she worked at the New Europe Center, focusing on European integration, Ukraine’s security, and international advocacy. Her 2023 book, The Rise of U...

Edition No142 | 14-05-2025 - Why did Putin suddenly seem so desperate for direct peace talks with Ukraine, when he’s been avoiding the optics and consequences of such a meeting for more than three years? This is the question asked by the Moscow Times, ahead of the anticipated talks in Istanbul. Putin’s proposed meeting with Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul on Thursday, including Zelenskyy will po...

Alexandra Chyczij is President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and is a Ukrainian Canadian community leader and advocate for human and civil rights, the rule of law, and righting historical injustices. Organizer of legal conferences in Europe, USA, South America and the Caribbean. Promoter of Canadian values abroad as an international election observer, and advocate for Ukrainian culture, ident...

Edition No142 | 14-05-2025 - Why did Putin suddenly seem so desperate for direct peace talks with Ukraine, when he’s been avoiding the optics and consequences of such a meeting for more than three years? This is the question asked by the Moscow Times, ahead of the anticipated talks in Istanbul. Putin’s proposed meeting with Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul on Thursday, including Zelenskyy will po...

Aaron Gasch Burnett is a German Canadian political analyst, news journalist, communications strategist, and expert on German politics with over a decade of experience based in Berlin and over 15 years in journalism, research, and communications. ----------William Browder was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, as CEO of Hermitage Capital, when he was denied entry to the country and...

Yuri Rashkin is an educator, presenter, musician, court interpreter, news analyst, and host of the Rashkin Report on YouTube. He is becoming better known in the community and his content appreciated through his regular collaborations with influential Ukrainian journalist and commentator, Vitalii Portnikov. ----------LINKS:https://www.youtube.com/@UCNvafJsfd1YE0aQ36GbeNSQ https://x.com/yurirashkin?...

Hugh Eaton OBE, MA, VR, is a Defence, Security and Digital Transformation expert, with experience across strategy, organizational design and leadership. Hugh Eaton is an Expert Adviser to Boston Consulting Group, specializing in the UK and the Middle East. He was previously the Global Vice President for Government at Microsoft, before which he was the Head of Public Sector in Europe and Middle Eas...

Edition No141 | 10-05-2025 - World leaders attending the military parade in Moscow to mark the end of the second world war bring shame on themselves and their countries. This is what Donald Tusk of Poland said, and I completely concur. Shaking hands with, embracing, and even normalising a blood-thirsty tyrant and killer, and one that is actively engaged in a war with genocidal characteristics agai...

Your support is massively appreciated! SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon CurtainNEXT EVENTS - LVIV, KYIV AND ODESA THIS MAY.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur first live events this year in Lviv and Kyiv were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian vi...

Edition No140 | 09-05-2025 - Brace yourselves for an extraordinary piece of speculation. A friend alerted me to rumours swirling around Moscow of another potential threat to the life of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Perhaps that’s not a surprise, given that his senseless war has caused upwards of a million Russian to be grievously wounded or lose their lives and trashed the economy. What is a surp...

By subjugating Ukraine, he hopes to reassert Russia’s status as a great power, discourage other neighbours from pivoting west, and distract from domestic issues through nationalist fervour. Ultimately, Putin fears the erosion of Russia's imperial legacy and the contagion of democratic aspirations among his own people—making Ukraine not just a strategic interest, but an existential concern for...

Welcome to our monthly conversation with Konstantin, who is one of the most respected voices on YouTube about what is happening Inside Russia. Konstantin Samoilov is a well-known YouTuber whose channel ‘Inside Russia’ comments insightfully on Russia’s decent into authoritarianism over the last few years. But now, like many others, he’s outside Russia, with no idea of when he can return there. ----...

Edition No138 | 04-05-2025 - Russia was formally declared a national security threat to the UK last month. After Litvinenko, Skripal, the invasions of Georgia, Crimea, Donbas and then Ukraine full-scale, we could be forgiven for asking why this status as the ‘main adversary’ took so long to formalise? This is also against the backdrop of repeated threats by Russian propagandists to annihilate the...

Alexander Khara is CEO at CDS – The Centre for Defence Strategies. He is a Ukrainian / Greek native of Donetsk. A former diplomat/ proponent of Europe Whole and Free and at Peace with Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia as its integral part----------LINKS:https://x.com/alexanderkharahttps://icds.ee/en/autor/alexander-khara/https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-khara-b988b66a/https://www.thecipherbrief.co...

Ben Hodges is a retired United States Army officer, who became commander of United States Army Europe in November 2014, and held that position for three years until retiring from the United States Army in January 2018. Until recently he was the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies, at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, specialising in NATO, Transatlantic relationship and international securit...

Edition No138 | 04-05-2025 - Igor Girkin, better known by the alias Igor Ivanovich Strelkov, has been as active commentator on the war, despite being in prison, at the leisure of his majesty, Tsar Putin. Before we get into the episode, let’s not forget that Strelkov played a key role in the Russian annexation of Crimea, and then in the Donbas War as an organizer of militant groups in the so-called...

By subjugating Ukraine, Putin hopes to reassert Russia’s status as a great power, discourage other neighbours from pivoting west, and distract from domestic issues through nationalist fervour. Ultimately, Putin fears the erosion of Russia's imperial legacy and the contagion of democratic aspirations among his own people—making Ukraine not just a strategic interest, but an existential concern f...

Easter Pysanky: Silicon Curtain https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/easter-pysanky-silicon-curtainCar for Ukraine has joined forces with a group of influencers, creators, and news observers during this special Easter season. In peaceful times, we might gift a basket of pysanky (hand-painted eggs), but now, we aim to deliver a basket of trucks to our warriors. This time, our main focus is on the Sera...

Jesse Alexander is a public historian based in Vienna, Austria. He holds an MA in Modern History from the University of Vienna, where he focused on propaganda in World War One. Jesse has also researched, written, and hosted documentary films on 19th and 20th century conflict, including “The Great War” series.----------LINKS:https://x.com/jesse_historyhttps://www.jessealexanderhistory.net/https://w...