Silicon Curtain

In this episode, we explore how the “black box” of Chinese politics operates. How Xi Jinping seized power, and how he maintains control. We examine China's soft authoritarian power and the apparatus of the absolutist state. Does Xi's iron grip over the CCP and China come at a cost - is it stifling innovation and economic growth? ---------- ABOUT THE GUEST: Michael Sheridan is the Author of...

Elina Beketova is a Democracy Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). She has experience of working as a journalist, editor, and TV-anchor for news stations in Kharkiv and Kyiv. Elina is originally from Crimea. At CEPA, Elina Authored – Behind the Lines – a project about the latest developments in the temporarily occupied and recently liberated territories of Ukraine. For that st...

Dr Taras Kuzio is a British academic and Professor of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, and an expert on politics, crime and security in Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. Taras Kuzio is of Ukrainian descent and received a BA in economics from the University of Sussex, an MA in Soviet studies from the University of London and holds a doctorate in political science fro...

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. He was most recently a Senior Advisor to Human Rights First, until summer 2023, and serves as NATO Senior Mentor for Logistics. Until recently was the Pershing Chair in Strategic St...

Lesia Dubenko is a political scientist and an Alumna of Lund University, with an Msc in European Affairs. She has eight years of experience in political and social journalism and has been published in the Financial Times, Politico Europe, New Eastern Europe, Atlantic Council, KP. In August 2018 she entered the Ukrainian NGO sector, and has been cooperating with different Ukrainian NGOs, including...

Edition No22 | 31-10-2023 Russia opens Pandora's box - as a Pogrom unfolds in Dagestan. ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ Russia opens Pandora’s Box https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/10/30/it-felt-like-an-eternity https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/10/30/without-prevention-you-end-up-with-a-fire https://meduza.io/...

100 years ago, few in Western Europe cared about Ukraine – or its disappearance as an independent state – swallowed up as the newly born tyranny of the USSR flexed its imperial muscles; but that has now changed. Putin’s Russian World revanchism and violence have accelerated the evolution of Ukrainian identity and increased the pressure for social, political, and economic change. Perhaps the most p...

Edition No21 | 28-10-2023 The Hamas attacks on Israel seem to have divided Russian propagandists. Are some of them starting to realise the high price of siding with a genocidal regime, that sponsors terrorism? ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ NEWS LINKS: Russian Media Monitor https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews ~~~~~...

Sir Richard Shirreff is Co-founder and Managing Partner at Strategia Worldwide. After graduating from Oxford, he served in the British Army for 37 years commanding soldiers on operations or in combat at every level from platoon to division and rising to the highest rank before retiring from the Army as NATO’s Deputy Supreme Commander Europe. Richard is co-Founder and Managing Partner of Strategia...

In his extraordinary and unique, life Jack Barsky spent 10 years in the United States spying for the Russians. But his story began in his birthplace, East Germany, where he became a chemistry professor and was eventually recruited by the KGB. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- Jack Barsky was born Albrecht D...

Ukrainian CrisisCare Telehealth Service "It's infinitely easier to take a life, than save a life” --------- ABOUT GPNOW UKRAINE Today, we hear from Robert Hicken – President of the PII Foundation who will provide an update on their GPNow Ukrainian CrisisCare “hospital in the cloud” Telehealth Service which provides free medical advice, comfort and care for thousands of Ukrainian citizens...

Today I’m speaking to David Satter, 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 fr...

The Putin regime has been widely exploiting the vulnerabilities of global social media platforms, using bots and trolls to promote specific stories and narratives. But they are not alone once developed the same techniques can be used by other powers, international and local to subvert democratic institutions and to warp public perception of the news and politics in their countries. But hybrid digi...

Zakhar Protsiuk is Chief Operating Officer at The Kyiv Independent and co-founder at The Fix Media. Zakhar is an innovator in the media industry and is helping to shake up the technologies and practices of modern journalism. His role at The Kyiv Independent was pivotal for its success, and it’s become an important voice for democracy, transparency, civil society, and human right throughout Russia’...

Aliona Hlivco is Managing Director at The Henry Jackson Society and Advisory Council Member at Coalition for Global Prosperity. Aliona a Former Ukrainian MP. Regular contributor to The Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, as well as Monocle24, CapX and is a TEDx Speaker. She is also a Guest Lecturer and Senior Consultant at Atticus Partners. ---------- LINKS https://twitter.com/aliona_hl...

GUEST: Operator Starsky - Ukrainian National Guardian and blogger ----- 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...

0900, Thursday, July 25, 2019: President Trump called Ukraine's President Zelensky, supposedly to congratulate him on his recent victory. In the months that followed, the American public would only learn what happened on that call because Alexander Vindman felt duty-bound to report it up the chain of command: that the President of the United States had extorted a foreign ally to damage a polit...

Edition No20 | 16-10-2023 Day 600 of Putin's War in Ukraine has brought a flood of news, from delivery and deployment of ATACMS, to Ukraine's successes in the Black Sea, and Russia's floundering offensive in Avdiivka, using the same wasteful tactics that have failed time and again since the war began. ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.pa...

Ukraine really matters - why Ukraine must achieve complete victory in order to get justice for crimes committed against it by Russia Georgijs Ivanovs started the Ukraine Matters channel in 2007, and it has garners 11.5 m views. He started the channel to explain the situation surrounding the war in Ukraine in simple terms. Like myself, he is not Ukrainian, nor is he a military expert. But he has be...

Andrey Buzarov is a political advisor and expert on international relations. He has a PhD in Social philosophy and philosophy of history as well as a Master's degree in Ukrainian Foreign Policy. He is a researcher at the Department of Public Administration and Political Sciences at Klaipeda University (Lithuania). Andrey Buzarov has worked on various political projects and collaborates with in...

Historically, U.S. firms dominated the private security company market, in places like Afghanistan and Somalia. But in recent years they have been emerging in other countries. Warlords and militias have restyled themselves as private security companies, and in Russia we have seen the incredible consequences of PMC Wagner rising as a force to challenge the reputation of the regular military. Wagner...

Ukraine is Fighting for Universal Values, like the Rule of Law, committment to truth as a concept, and democracy; not only its survival, freedom and independence. ---------- SPEAKER: Nicolas Tenzer is a French civil servant, academic, writer, and editor. Tenzer is a graduate of the École normale supérieure (1980–1982), Sciences Po (1980–1982) and the École nationale d'administration (1984–1986...

Edition No19 | 10-10-2023 How degrading the rule of law around the world, and weakening the Western 'rules-based order' benefits Russia's business model. ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ RUSSIAN RECRUITMENT ADS: https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1703762022582612247 https://twitter.com/Biz_Ukraine_Mag/s...

GUEST: Tetyana Filevska - Art manager, curator, writer, and researcher. ---------- By Killing Modernist Artists and Appropriating their Works, Russia Tried to Control and Manipulate the Future. ---------- Today I’m speaking with Tetyana Filevska, art manager, curator, writer, and researcher of 20th century Ukrainian art. Her experience encompasses festivals, conferences, exhibitions, educational c...

Welcome to the third of our monthly conversations 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...