Silicon Curtain

Today I am speaking with "Two Grumpy Old Men”, Michael Andersen and Brian Bonner who seasoned Ukraine watchers and have teamed up to create a video and Substack blog "Two Grumpy Old Men On Ukraine." They focus on Ukraine, and issues in related parts of the world since both have lived and worked in many countries. They write, run Q&As, create videos, report on the unfolding war, and resurface c...

Russia’s Shadow Tankers Threaten an Environmental Catastrophe in the Baltic. And now a Maltese-flagged cargo ship filled with 20,000 tonnes of Russian sourced ammonium nitrate in drifting towards the UK coast. This is the same potentially explosive fertiliser that caused a massive explosion in Beirut in 2020, and this ship is carrying 7 times more of this dangerous cargo. Understandably it has bee...

Darth Putin (KGB). An account on Twitter / X that may or may not be authored by the Bunker Tsar himself. Darth Putin - Czar for life of all Russians. Master Strategist. Thought leader. Wellness coach. Tea connoisseur. Author. Wanted in 123 countries. Parody, apparently. ---------- LINKS: https://x.com/darthputinkgb https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darth-Putin-Guide-Master-Strategist-ebook/dp/B0CVYFPZ5N ht...

GUESTS: Anna Danylchuk, Operator Starsky and Cormac Smith ---------- Anna Danylchuk has been creating a war diary since the early days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Anna Danylchuk aims to tell the truth about Ukraine and Russia’s war and cut through the noise and propaganda. Anna is passionate about the beauty and independence of her country, and communicates this powerf...

For years, one group of Americans has worked as foot-soldiers for the most authoritarian regimes around the planet. In the process, they've not only entrenched dictatorships and spread kleptocratic networks, but they've secretly guided U.S. policy without the rest of America even being aware. And now, journalist Casey Michel contends some of them have begun turning their sights on American...

This is a conversation with the three esteemed authors of a paper entitled “The autocrat’s intelligence paradox: Vladimir Putin’s (mis)management of Russian strategic assessment in the Ukraine War. Huw Dylan, David V. Gioe and Elena Grossfeld ---------- This article argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 is illustrative of this broader, though understudied, pattern of autocratic...

Christopher 'Swede' Forsbäck is Swedish volunteer and was wounded in the line of duty serving with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.co...

Vatnik soup is a Twitter thread series where Pekka Kallioniemi introduces pro-Russian actors and propagandists from around the world. This includes so-called “independent journalists”, politicians, military personnel and of course just regular grifters looking to make money. The series has introductions and deeper insights on how online propaganda and disinformation works and is spread. There are...

David Satter is a journalist and historian with unique insights into how the deformation and repression of the past, is having terrible consequences for present day Russia. David has written extensively about Russia and the Soviet Union, especially the decline and fall of the USSR and rise of post-Soviet Russia. David Satter became the first American journalist to be expelled from Russia since the...

Whatever mistakes he has made in the war Vladimir Putin has retained the Escalation Initiative, always proving he can push the war to a new level of brutality, with the Western allies constantly playing catch-up, and in many ways placing restrictions and delays on Ukraine in terms of how it fights back. What are the implications of this dynamic for the war and a potential Ukrainian victory? ------...

GUEST: Anna from Ukraine - Anna Danylchuk ---------- Anna Danylchuk has been creating a war diary since the early days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Anna Danylchuk aims to tell the truth about Ukraine and Russia’s war and cut through the noise and propaganda. Anna is passionate about the beauty and independence of her country, and communicates this powerfully in her vide...

2024-09-19 | Z-patriots are having a meltdown, because, once more things are going boom in Russia. And this time, it’s big. It’s huge in fact. Not only do we find out what it looks like to ignite roughly 30,000 tons of munitions, we get to see so-called Russian patriots lose their minds over how their government fails to protect strategically significant military sites over and over. ---------- Th...

Phil Ittner is a veteran broadcast journalist now working independently in Ukraine. Currently he's based in Kyiv and produces a weekly interview podcast "On the Edge". Disillusioned with how mainstream media was covering the historic war in Ukraine, Phil decided he had to step in and bring a professional and credible perspective to reporting from Ukraine. ---------- LINKS: @PhilipItt...

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. ----...

Katsiaryna Shmatsina - Dissident and collaborator on the 'Darth Putin' satirical project on X. https://x.com/DarthPutinKGB ---------- In 2020, mass anti-government protests erupted across Belarus. The brutal crackdown that followed shocked the international community: the authorities arrested tens of thousands of citizens, shut down independent media and NGOs, and fomented a migrant crisis...

2024-09-16 | Russia has received new ballistic projectiles from Iran, prompting the US and Europe to impose new sanctions. The supply of weapons by Iran to its ally Russia has major implications and ought to place a greater burden on allies to protect Ukraine, but are they doing anything meaningful, apart from the usual condemnations and reiterations of ‘unenforced’ red lines. ---------- Russia ha...

Cormac Smith has worked in Public Relations and Corporate Communications for over three decades. In 2016 he travelled to Ukraine to take up a special appointment as the ‘Strategic Communication Advisor’ to Pavlo Klimkin, then the Foreign Minister of Ukraine. He was attached to the British Embassy in Kyiv but was embedded in Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first foreigner to hold such a...

Marta Trotsiuk – Ukrainian art ambassador. Gallery 101 founder. Expert in international art projects and cultural diplomacy. She is also a leading expert on art consulting and curating and has been highly active in the effort to promote Ukrainian identity and art as part of the fight back against Russian aggression and cultural imperialism. LINKS: https://www.instagram.com/marta_trotsiuk https://w...

What a week – Russian media manipulation networks uncovered in the US – conservative influencers seem to be more influence by hard Russian cash than principles, however. Vance leaks the Trump plan to ‘stop Ukraine war in 24 hours’, and it turns out to be an appalling plan to appease Putin. Putin threatens WWIII, but with what army does he plan to fight it. And the big focus for this episode, despi...

With the blocking of YouTube in Russia, and pressure on other platforms, are we seeing the emergence of a Digital Gulag? The more efficient way to entrap and control a population than the real-world Gulag of watch towers and razor wire? ---------- Ian Garner is an historian and analyst of Russian culture and war propaganda. He is motivated by two questions: what drives Russia’s obsession with war,...

2024-09-13 | According to Putin and his minions, NATO countries are on the brink of war with Russia. Is this more hollow bluffing and bluster from the diminutive tyrant in the Kremlin, or are we about to cross the first genuine Russian red line of this war? Evidence points to it being another empty threat, if we ignore the threatening words and look at Russia’s actions and capabilities. ----------...

Today I’m speaking with Operator Starsky, a 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! -----...

Michael Sheridan is the Author of a new history of Hong Kong and China, and has a new book out called “The Red Emperor – Xi Jinping and his China”. He is a long-time foreign correspondent in Asia, Middle East, and Europe. He was the Far East Correspondent for the Sunday Times for 20 years, based in Hong Kong, and later Bangkok. He covered the rise of China and the handover of Hong Kong, upheaval i...

2024-09-11 | Outrage has erupted over a film created by Russian Director and propagandist Anastasia Trofimova, called ‘Russians at War’. Calls for its screening to be pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival have intensified; surely festival organizers should have reacted when the film was showcased at the Venice International Film Festival, despite the public uproar it caused. --------...

Susan Grunewald is an Assistant Professor of History at Louisiana State University. She was the Digital History Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh World History Centre from 2019 to 2022. Susan earned her Ph. D. in History at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, US). She specializes in Soviet and German WWII and post-war history, digital humanities, and GIS. We’ll discuss her en...