Silicon Curtain

Russia did not just attack Ukraine in 2022 – and not only militarily.  The war started in 2014, and both propaganda and Information warfare  have been at the forefront of Russia’s efforts to control, dominate and  coerce the people of Ukraine. But a whole community of Digital  innovators – marketers and software engineers have fought back.  They  have been creating ne...

In his war of aggression against a peaceful, democratic neighbour, Putin  has achieved the impossible. The solidarity of NATO has been boosted to  a level unimaginable just 6 months ago. Finland and Sweden are now  members. Germany is supplying offensive, heavy weaponry to Ukraine, and  most European countries have committed to spend at least 2% of GDP on  defence. This fe...

Russia’s war of aggression started in 2014 against Ukraine and has  escalated significantly this year. But the attempts to control, coerce  and dominate Ukraine have far deeper roots. In this video Andreas Umland  and I examine the deep causes of the war, going back into Russia’s  imperialist past with one of the world’s foremost experts on Russian  international relations...

Whereas around 80% of the public in the UK, Finland and Sweden blame  Russia mostly or entirely for the war in Ukraine, this view is by no  means universal. Russian propaganda may get shirt shrift here but is far  more pervasive and persuasive in countries like Bulgaria and Greece,  where higher percentages of the population blame NATO more than Russia  as the primary caus...

It’s never been more important to understand the motives and techniques  of the world’s propagandists. Chief amongst them are the troll factories  of the Russian state TV and the Moscow Kremlin – spewing bile and hate  throughout its war of aggression with Ukraine, and over the last 10+  years. Olga Lautman is an expert in the corrosive effects of propaganda –  something s...

Now we need experts on Russian society and politics more than ever – not  just to understand the war and its origins, but to understand what  comes after it.   Kseniya Kirillova is an Investigative journalist and analyst. She offers her expert views on several services of Radio Free Europe and Radio  Liberty, with a focus on analysing Russian society, mentality. For this &...

Civilians have been on the frontline of the war in Ukraine because of  Russia’s inhumane strategies to target densely populated residential  areas and to assault Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. When they can’t  win on the battlefield, they turn to soft targets and terror tactics.  Russia’s strategies clearly constitute war crimes, and one day there  must be a reckoning fo...

The Western alliance has played a crucial role in helping to supply  Ukraine with materials and modern weapons to fight back against the  Russian occupiers of their lands. But without Ukrainian courage,  ingenuity, and stamina, those weapons would have counted for nothing. In  the light of Zelensky’s trip to Ukraine, today we discuss what Ukraine  needs to win this war, an...

Just as the rise of radio as a medium in the 1930s ran in parallel with the ascendency of Nazism, so in the 21st century the rise of the internet is accompanied by unprecedented levels of discord, division, and coercion. Joseph Goebbels saw radio as a new wonder weapon when combined with the emerging disciplines of behavioural psychology and social science.   Today I am talking with Carl...

Reporting from Russia has never been easy. But now when there is little agreement or collaboration on any issue between Russia and the West, that task has become near impossible. But so much of the West’s understanding of Russia comes from the work of Foreign Correspondents – and I am hoping that my guest today can help to put the current events into a broader historical context.   &nbsp...

Is it true to say that conspiracy theories have taken hold of Russia, from top to bottom? Does conspiratorial thinking now seem to be motivating the Kremlin’s decisions and policies? The narratives coming out of the Kremlin and State TV in Russia are aggressive, paranoid and highly toxic. How far do the russian elites believe these narratives, and how much of it is just an instrument for control a...

There has been a further ratcheting up of sanctions by Europe against Russian oil imports. Also, the transportation of Russia oil is under threat of sanction, as it’s cut off from insurance market by the UK and EU. Russia is now the most sanctioned nation on earth. But the value of its exports continues to rise, with the increases of oil prices. So, are sanctions failing to have an impact?  &...

Rob Blackie launched an extraordinary counter-propaganda campaign after the war in Ukraine began. The aim is to show independent news about the war in Ukraine to Russians – the kind of information that most Russians don’t get to see. His team are using digital ads to get around Putin's censorship.  Rob is a digital marketing strategist, but also has a background in Politics, History and Econo...

Decolonising Russia and Russian history is controversial, but the brutal war in Ukraine is driving a reassessment of the study of Russian history and is changing attitudes that have held sway for decades. The influence of a Russian imperial mindset on the lens through which Russian history is interpreted may finally be shattering, to lead to a new interpretation of Russia as a classical European c...

Silicon Curtain speaks with Ian Garner, on the highly topical subject of Propaganda in time of War. Ian Garner is an historian and expert on Russian war propaganda. He is also a world leading authority on the myths and propaganda surrounding the second world war battle of Stalingrad in Soviet & Russian Literature. He has been interviewed for the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, New York Times,...

Jessikka Aro is a Finnish journalist, and author of a non-fiction book Putin's Trolls. In September 2014, she began to investigate pro-Russian Internet trolls, but became a victim of their activities herself, which forced her to flee her native country of Finland. She was due to receive the 2019 International Women of Courage Award in the US, but this was rescinded shortly before the award ceremon...

Interview with Anders Åslund, about the war in Ukraine, and the role of propaganda, disinformation and historical myths in the conflict. Dr Åslund has advised the Russian and Ukrainian governments, and is the author of 15 books, most notably "Russia's Crony Capitalism", a scathing analysis of the economic system that has taken hold in Russia. We talk about the current crisis that is dominating wor...

2025-12-09 | Update #074 | Putin is difficult to imagine as a sinister mastermind, rather is closer in appearance and stature to a Gollum in a suit. But Karaganov, one of the regime’s key ideologies and verbal hatchet man, is much closer to the traditional image of a true Bond villain, hell-bent on world dominate, and evil incarnate. This week, one of the Kremlin’s favourite “strategists” looked s...

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. ----...