Silicon Curtain

GUEST: Konstantin Samoilov - Well-known YouTuber and outspoken opponent of the war ---------- Russia has no borders. This was the expansive and imperialistic idea behind the Russian World philosophy. But Ukraine has turned the tables on this idea and shown that Russia’s vast border regions are undefended, and in some ways undefendable. From the ‘little blue men’ appearing in Belgorod, to the drone...

100 years ago, nobody 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 perverse Russian...

The July 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania was a chance to end the ambiguity and incrementalism that has left Ukraine vulnerable to Russian aggression and continues to feed Putin’s delusions that he can win the war and beat the Western alliance. The NATO summit, Ukraine's summer counter-offensive, and the recent instability between Russia and the Wagner Group have ensured that the Russo-U...

The July 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania was a chance to end the ambiguity and incrementalism that has left Ukraine vulnerable to Russian aggression and continues to feed Putin’s delusions that he can win the war and beat the Western alliance. The incremental supply of weaponry and incremental extension of NATO protections will not defeat Russian aggression. The US and NATO has forced Ukrai...

Gen. Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands as a general officer, five of which were in combat, including command of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and NATO/US Forces in Afghanistan. Following his military service, and after confirmation by the Senate by a vote of 94-0, Gen. Petraeus served as Director of the CIA during a pe...

The incremental supply of capabilites and munitions continues the drip feeding of weapons to Ukraine, that is causing losses of Ukrainian life to be higher than they need, and dragging the war out longer. Sir Richard Shirreff argues we should give Ukraine the tools it needs to do the job to eject Russia from all its territory. The latest prevarication about NATO entry for Ukraine at the Vilnius su...

Edition No13 | 07-07-2023 500 Days of Russian Criminality and Barbarism in its Imperial War Against Ukraine ~~~~~ NEWS LINKS: The Moscow Times https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/07/08/zelensky-hails-brave-ukraine-on-500th-day-of-war-a81776 Zelensky Hails 'Brave' Ukraine on 500th Day of War July 7, 2023 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/07/07/us-reporter-gershkovich-marks-100-days-in-rus...

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. Mercen...

“As the world watches two Russian thugs fight it out, it’s important to remember that both of them have been, and still are, implicated in Russia’s ongoing genocide in Ukraine.” This is taken from an article written by Alexander Motyl in The Hill, dated 28th June 2023. ------- Alexander Motyl is an American historian, political scientist, poet, writer, translator, and artist. He lives in New York...

Ian Bond is a former senior diplomat and British Ambassador to Latvia and was a member of the British diplomatic service for 28 years. Ian is director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform. His most recent appointment was as political counsellor and joint head of the foreign and security policy group in the British Embassy, Washington (2007-12), where he focused on US foreign policy...

Anna Ackermann is one of the co-founding members of Ukraine's key environmental NGO – the Centre for Environmental Initiatives “Ecoaction”, and a professional in the field of energy and the environment with experience in NGOs, as well as the energy design and research sectors in Eastern and Central Europe. Her main areas of expertise include energy efficiency in buildings, renewable energy, cl...

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...

Much of Russian history was shaped by the “imperial experience”. Alexander Etkind suggests the process was a simultaneous of internal colonization as well as the more obvious external one. The characteristic phenomena of colonialism, such as missionary work, exotic journeys, and ethnographic scholarship, were directed inwards toward the interior provinces of the Russian empire – villages and timel...

Nolan Peterson is a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Centre. He is an independent defence consultant, award-winning journalist, war correspondent, and author who has lived in Ukraine since 2014. As an international correspondent, Peterson has covered conflicts around the world. Apart from his work in Ukraine, he has been embedded with US armed forces in Iraq and Afg...

GUEST: Nicolas Tenzer - civil servant, academic, writer, and editor. ---------- 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. #nicolastenzer #ukraine #ukrainewar #russia #zelensky #putin #propaganda #war #disinformation #hybridwarfare #foreignpolicy #communism #sovietunion #postsovi...

GUEST: Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges - Retired United States Army officer ---------- After the incursion by Wagner mercenaries revealed how badly the war is going for Russia, Ben Hodges, former commanding general for the U.S. Army in Europe asks what the future for Vladimir Putin and the Russian Army is likely to be. ---------- SPEAKER: Ben Hodges is a retired United States Army officer, who became commande...

Edition No12 | 26-06-2023 Ukraine's Third Front - does Chaos and Insurgency on the Territory of Russia Hold the Key to Ukraine Achieving its Maximalism Aims for Victory in the War ~~~~~ NEWS LINKS: The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/author/anne-applebaum/ ~~~~~ USEFUL LINKS: Vatnik Soup https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi http://www.medbat.org.ua/en/ Real World News https://kyivindependent...

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 been to Ukraine many times and seen it almost fully (except for Odesa region). He has a lot of good friends in Ukraine, and in fact his...

Edition No11 | 20-06-2023 A bridge to nowhere - Ukraine targets supply routes into Crimea as part of its offensive ~~~~~ NEWS LINKS: The Moscow Times https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/06/22/russia-accuses-kyiv-of-attacking-bridge-linking-crimea-to-mainland-ukraine-a81586 Russia Accuses Kyiv of Striking Bridge Linking Crimea to Mainland Ukraine June 22, 2023 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/06...

Following eight years as a criminal barrister in his home city of Liverpool, Frank worked for a decade in the Balkans and throughout the former Soviet Union in international human rights protection, criminal law reform, and institution building at the highest levels of government. He developed particular expertise in missing persons, human trafficking, and torture prevention. He also served for a...

GUEST: Olia Hercules - Food writer, food stylist and chef. ---------- Today I’m talking to one of Ukraine’s leading cultural figures and most creative minds, about a very personal and difficult subject – the intentional flooding of, Kakhovka by Russia in an act of monumental depravity and barbarism. We’ll also be talking about how culture and food fortify the Ukrainian identify and strengthen thei...

Edition No10 | 20-06-2023 As feuding among the elites begins - is the Russian empire rotten to the core? ~~~~~ NEWS LINKS: The Moscow Times https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/06/19/will-the-kakhovka-dams-destruction-hinder-ukraines-counteroffensive-a81531 Will the Kakhovka Dam’s Destruction Hinder Ukraine’s Counteroffensive? By Bashir Kitachayev June 19, 2023 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/0...

Olena Halushka is a is a board member of the Ukrainian NGO “Anti-corruption Action Centre”, and co-founder of the International Centre for Ukrainian Victory. She has also worked as a chief of international advocacy at the post-Maidan coalition of 80 CSOs “Reanimation Package of Reforms” (2015-2017). Olena was an advisor to Members of the Ukrainian Parliament from 2012 to 2014, and has experience i...

The last 9 months has seen a vicious war of attrition unfold in towns like Ugledar, Soledar and Bakhmut. But this should not be interpreted as a stalemate, as those struggles seems to have degraded the quantity of functional Russian equipment and depleted their fighting potential. Will Ukraine’s counter offensive finally bring an end to Russia’s genocidal and pointless war? Maria Drutska works in...

Anna Kvit is a visiting research fellow at University College London. Her research focuses on women in the military of Ukraine, veterans’ reintegration into civilian life, and the gendered impacts of the war in Ukraine. Anna contributed to the development of programs and policies on the implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda in Ukraine. She co-taught Military Sociology at the Nati...