Vladimir Putin seems to have thought the ‘regime’ in Kyiv could be toppled in 10 days through a blitzkrieg operation carried out from Russian and Byelorussia territory. But instead, he has made the political situation in Russia more fragile and volatile than at any time since the 1990s. Could Putin’s aggressive expansionist policies in Ukraine actually signal the disintegration of Europe’s last empire? Anton Shekhovtsov is a Ukrainian political scientist, academic and writer. He is known for wri...
Feb 18, 2023•48 min•Season 2Ep. 123
Edition No3 | 15-02-2023 NAFO special edition ~~~~~ FEATURED ARTICLES: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/204 https://news.sky.com/story/amp/ukraines-internet-army-of-fellas-are-using-dog-memes-to-fight-russian-propaganda-and-theyve-raised-1m-for-the-army-too-12729625 https://amp.dw.com/en/nafo-ukraines-info-warriors-battling-russian-trolls/a-63124443 https://emerging-europe.com/voices/why-decentralisation-is-nafos-greatest-strength/ https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/lessons-from-the-meme-war-in-u...
Feb 17, 2023•33 min
The Putin regime has been widely exploiting the vulnerabilities of global social media platforms, using bots and trolls to promote specific stories and narratives. Now there seems to be an increase in their activity of trolls, agents, fellow travellers, useful idiots and grifters who post lies and distortions online in support of Kremlin narratives. Is this uptick in activity real, and what is it’s strategic purpose? Pekka Kallioniemi has a PhD in interactive technology and is an expert on socia...
Feb 13, 2023•54 min•Season 2Ep. 122
***** Please note, the sound quality is not great because of an echo. I hope the quality of the content means that you'll persevere! ***** ---------- Russia used energy as an economic weapon against Ukraine in 2007. But it seems that it has now fully played the gas and oil cards, and Russia is losing the energy war. Has Vladimir Putin’s winter gas attack backfired, as Moscow has been frozen out of lucrative European energy markets? Or will the terroristic threats against nuclear facilities re-em...
Feb 13, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Season 2Ep. 118
Today I am speaking with a rare and special person – a Russian activist with an unambiguous, strong voice condemning the crimes and horrors being committed in Ukraine by Russia, and who is doing it with humour and passion. It has to be said, that he’s also taking on considerable risk in doing so. Fortunately, he’s also doing this in English, so you can follow his views on Twitter and Telegram. Denis Zakharov is an activist and has a strong, unusually direct, and outspoken voice within opposition...
Feb 13, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 121
Edition No 2 | 08-02-2023 | Silicon Bites Don't Fear a Ukrainian Victory ~~~~~ FEATURED ARTICLES: Don’t worry about a Russian defeat in Ukraine - Just give Ukraine tools to win the war, ASAP https://timothyash.substack.com/p/dont-worry-about-a-russian-defeat Decisive battles are looming in Ukraine https://timothyash.substack.com/p/decisive-battles-are-looming-in-ukraine?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=601228&post_id=100601775&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email ~~~~~...
Feb 09, 2023•41 min
Edition #1 | 27-01-2023 | Silicon Bites Feeding the Crocodile - "Eat me Last" ~~~~~ LINKS & SOURCES: ~~~~~ Germany to Crocodile: Eat Me Last https://cepa.org/article/germany-fails-to-supply-leopards-to-ukraine/ Putin Blasts 'Neo-Nazis' in Ukraine on Holocaust Remembrance Day https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/01/27/putin-blasts-neo-nazis-in-ukraine-on-holocaust-remembrance-day-a80065 Lavrov's Africa Trip Reveals Limits to Russian Soft Power https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/01/25/lavrovs-...
Feb 09, 2023•21 min
Today I’m speaking with Orest Zub – traveller, blogger, and online entrepreneur from Lviv. He has been reporting on the war in Ukraine from the start via his YouTube channels in Ukrainian and English. Before the war, Orest visited over 120 countries including many regions experiencing conflict. But as he says, he could never imagine that the full-scale war would come to his own country. Orest’s aim is to inform the global community on what is really happening in Ukraine, and to provide informati...
Feb 09, 2023•59 min•Season 2Ep. 120
The first thing Russians do in territories they have conquered, is to take over the media – television, newspapers, and internet. That’s no coincidence. Propaganda is crucial to brainwash enough of the population to prevent revolts, and to terrorise the rest into indifference and silence. Today I am looking at the hybrid threats that have been facing Ukraine since 2014, and the role of a resilient media in countering Russian disinformation and aggression. Iryna Subota is Head of Data Analytics a...
Feb 06, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 84
Russia seems condemned to repeat the mistakes of history, rather than learning from them, as shown by Putin’s mass mobilisation of Russian males into the armed forces, and the shock and panic it prompted earlier this year in Russia. Konstantin Samoilov is a well-known YouTuber whose channel ‘Inside Russia’ comments insightfully on Russia’s descent 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.
Feb 06, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 85
There was a time when those calling Russia a mafia state, and Putin a terrorist, were in the minority, and who were even thought of as extreme voices. My guest today was one of those people, who along with a handful of other writers and journalists like Edward Lucas and David Satter called Putin out early on, while his oppressive regime was just starting to flex its muscles. Luke Harding has observed Russia’s decent into tyrannical absolutism and terrorism over many years, and charted the malign...
Feb 06, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 86
As Ukraine prepares for another wave of Russian attacks on the Eastern front, an EU Ukraine Summit takes place – but is there the courage and determination in Europe to stay the course, and persevere until, Russia is comprehensively defeated? What will that take, and how will Russia try to fight back with terroristic threats, influence, coercion, and disinformation? What cards has Putin left to play? Aliona Hlivco is a Former Ukrainian MP. Regular contributor to The Russia and Eurasia Programme ...
Feb 04, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 119
The rise of the internet in the 21st century has been accompanied by unprecedented levels of polarisation, division, and coercion. At the same time democracies are being hit by a huge range of different, and rapidly evolving hostile state activities. Not all of them have their origins in Russia, though clearly many do, and these saw a significant scaling up after the 2014 inversion of Donbas. Today, I am discussing these issues with Carl Miller, an experienced digital researcher, author and inte...
Feb 03, 2023•55 min•Season 2Ep. 116
From 2007-08 Putin came to believe that the West was in decline, degenerate and weak. It’s at that moment he pronounced a more assertive Russia, and started to act accordingly on the world stage, and in relations to neighbouring countries, with the invasion of Georgia in 2008, and Crimea in 2014. NATO provocation is one excuse given for Russian aggression and is prominent in domestic Russian propaganda. But it’s unlikely he saw NATO as a threat and must have known they had neither the intent nor...
Feb 02, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 117
Ukraine’s diaspora of professionals and refugees are playing an extraordinary role in support Ukraine, both materially, but also by raising awareness of it’s cause in their host countries and within the international community. Today I am speaking with Julia Tymoshenko, who is Fighting for Ukraine on the informational front – running Marketing and Communications for Saint Javelin and as Editor in Chief at Ukrainer.
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 115
Today I’m speaking with Oksana Semenik - Art Historian and Journalist from Ukraine. She has created an engaging Twitter account, called Ukrainian Art History (@ukr_arthistory), which focuses on topics that include Decolonizing American and European museums – particularly, Ukrainian art and artists that have been labelled as ‘Russian’. ---------- Ukrainian Art History https://twitter.com/ukr_arthistory @ukr_arthistory 'Ukrainian Art History' by Oksana Semenik, art historian and journalist from Uk...
Jan 31, 2023•49 min•Season 2Ep. 103
John Spencer is considered one of the leading experts in military operations in an urban context. As winter sets in with a vengeance life is becoming harder in Ukrainian cities and the supply of power and heat become unreliable from Russian missile strikes. Russia’s campaign to cripple Ukraine’s power infrastructure could therefore trigger a new wave of emigration to Europe, and there is still the threat of a new offensive against Kyiv. As Russia’s position on the battlefield becomes more precar...
Jan 29, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 87
After nearly a year of doing these Podcasts, about propaganda, Ukraine, and Russian aggression, I’ve found that sometimes the best insights come from people with first hand experience of the conflict. Insights that you just can’t find in books or articles, and which can help to make sense of the academic literature that is being written about the conflict. In this spirit, we’ll be featuring more first-hand witnesses to the conflict, and those that have formed relationships with the country befor...
Jan 29, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 88
In 2022–2023, Ukraine commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor genocide. It comes at a time when Ukraine is facing a new struggle for its survival. Russia is committing a new genocide – with the full-scale war it launched in Feb-2022. Methods to suppress Ukrainian nationhood differ, - a man-made famine, terror, and deportation in the 1930, and war in the 21st century, but the intent remains the same – and the source of this misery is Russia once more. But the Ukrainian nation persevere...
Jan 29, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 89
Is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine about territory and resources, or is it about much more? An aging tyrant seeking to create a legacy or even lift flagging popularity ratings. Is it a struggle to control historical memory, or evidence of a country trapped by historical myths and delusions? Is there a coherent ideology behind the regime, or just a messy collage of propagandistic tropes? Russia seems to be unclear on its objectives and motivations, but Ukraine could not be clearer. Ukraine’s struggl...
Jan 29, 2023•58 min•Season 2Ep. 114
This week the choice open to the allies on the side of Ukraine became clear and stark. Continue drip feeding weapons to Ukraine, and the outcome may well be a stalemate that Russia would regard as a victory, and which may ensure Putin retains his grip on the country. Or give Ukraine the tools it needs to do the job to eject Russia from all its territory. After months of speculation, prevarication, and some dissention within the alliance the scales seem to have tipped decisively in favour of the ...
Jan 25, 2023•56 min•Season 2Ep. 112
Russian lies. From government officials to the military, diplomats, and propagandists – all the way up to Putin and his cronies. If their mouths are open and they are uttering sounds – you can make a bet that they are lying, and most times you’d win that gamble. The lies are often so monstrous, gigantic, so ridiculous, so irrational and contradictory, that they’d be comical. Except that Russian lies are also accompanied by theft, murder, rape, and torture. Brutality and depravity on a scale that...
Jan 22, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 111
Putin unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe on Ukraine and Europe in 2022. He continues to terrorise the people of Ukraine and target civilian infrastructure forcing a miserable existence on millions, and extreme danger for those to the frontlines. The Russian targeting of energy infrastructure is explicitly a war crime. Putin is enabled, aided, and abetted by millions of Russians, whether that be actively or passively. But when bad people take control of the agenda, as has so often happened thro...
Jan 21, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 90
It seems like the past century has been least kind to Ukraine, of all the countries in Europe. Fought over repeatedly in WWII by rampaging armies, which came off the back of revolution, civil war, terror, and genocide in the Holodomor. Ukraine has bene plagued with monumental events — wars, famines, political upheavals. But there's a recurring theme – its struggle to break away from Russia – which, like an abusive husband, refuses to let Ukraine go, while threatening to destroy everything in ret...
Jan 21, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 91
We are at risk of losing the information war. The widespread normalisation of disinformation as a political tool is accelerating distrust in democratic institutions and processes. But online disinformation has offline consequences, as we saw during the coronavirus pandemic and on January 6th in Washington. Malicious actors such as Russia and China have also proved adept at weaponizing information for their foreign policy objectives. Governments have held off from intervening strongly in the onli...
Jan 20, 2023•54 min•Season 2Ep. 110
Women are playing an extraordinary role in support for Ukraine, by raising awareness of its cause in their host countries and within the international community. Anastasiia Marushevska is a Ukrainian Communications expert, speaker, writer, and traveller. Like many Ukrainians, she is involved in a whole range of initiatives to support the war efforts, and to raise awareness of Ukraine as a culture and voice in the world. She is Communications Lead at Ukraїner and Co-founder at PR Army and Where A...
Jan 19, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 2Ep. 109
Ukraine’s diaspora of professionals and refugees are playing an extraordinary role in support Ukraine, both materially, but also by raising awareness of it’s cause in their host countries and within the international community. Today I am speaking with Dana Pavlychko, CEO of United for Ukraine, and owner of Osnovy Publishing.
Jan 19, 2023•36 min•Season 2Ep. 108
Today I’m speaking with 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.
Jan 18, 2023•46 min•Season 2Ep. 105
Russia is paying a huge price in terms of blood and resource for every inch of Ukrainian territory it tries to seize. The capture of Soledar, a small town of little strategic importance that is claimed to have taken over the weekend underscores this – as it likely cost many thousands of Russian lives. But a war of attrition and stalemate on the frontline is the last thing Ukraine needs. Will a defeat of its forces in 2023 finally bring an end to Russia’s genocidal war against its neighbour, or w...
Jan 16, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 107
Putin continues to drive deeper Western support for Ukraine with his brutality and indiscriminate aggression. Now France, Germany and the US are sending tanks and Patriot batteries. This could signal a real step up from the supply of defensive weaponry to offensive. Has the West finally realised that to end the war requires a resounding Ukrainian victory on the battlefield? Russia is rumoured to be on the cusp of drafting half a million more conscripts, but will Putin break the fragile consensus...
Jan 16, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 102
