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-Ukrainian war remains in the headlines. But what discussions are happening behind closed doors and what e...
Jul 15, 2023•48 min•Season 2Ep. 210
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 Ukraine to fight a counter-offensive without capabilities and equipment that would be considered a minimu...
Jul 15, 2023•56 min•Season 2Ep. 209
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 period of significant achievements in the Global War on Terror. David Petraeus is a Partner in the glo...
Jul 13, 2023•51 min•Season 2Ep. 207
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 summit should therefore not come as a surprise. ---------- SPEAKER: Richard Shirreff is Co-founder and...
Jul 10, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 208
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-russian-detention-a81775 U.S. Reporter Gershkovich Marks 100 Days in Russian Detention July 7, 2023 https://www...
Jul 09, 2023•20 min
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. Mercenaries were common in the European Middle Ages and contract warfare the norm. The proliferation of pr...
Jul 07, 2023•57 min•Season 2Ep. 206
“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 and is a professor of political science at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. Alexander is a ...
Jul 05, 2023•58 min•Season 2Ep. 205
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 towards Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia, and Africa. He was posted in Vienna as deputy head of...
Jul 04, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 204
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, climate change mitigation and policy advocacy. Between 2016 and 2018 she managed the expert “Energy Policy...
Jul 03, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 203
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 now 200 Vatnik soups, which introduce bad actors along with the strategies they employ to pollute th...
Jul 03, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 202
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 timeless peasant lifestyles, as well as outwards and overseas. To an extent Russia is still an ‘undiscove...
Jul 01, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 201
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 Afghanistan and with the Kurdish Peshmerga during the battle for Mosul in Iraq. Peterson is a former US Air...
Jun 29, 2023•55 min
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 #postsoviet ---------- SPEAKER: Nicolas Tenzer is a French civil servant, academic, writer, and editor. Tenze...
Jun 29, 2023•58 min•Season 2Ep. 198
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 commander of United States Army Europe in November 2014, and held that position for three years until retiri...
Jun 27, 2023•30 min•Season 2Ep. 200
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.com/ https://www.kyivpost.com/ https://english.nv.ua/ https://www.themoscowtimes.com/ https://meduza.io...
Jun 27, 2023•29 min
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 wife is Ukrainian, and so feels extremely connected to the invasion that scaled up in February 2022...
Jun 25, 2023•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 197
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/2023/06/23/in-photos-cleanup-efforts-in-kherson-following-kakhovka-dam-breach-a81608 In Photos: Cleanup Eff...
Jun 25, 2023•20 min
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 number of years as a reserve officer with extensive operational experience retiring as head of his s...
Jun 22, 2023•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 196
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 their spirit of resistance against tyranny. #OliaHercules #ukrainiancusuine #borscht #ukraine #ukrainewa...
Jun 21, 2023•55 min•Season 2Ep. 195
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/2023/06/13/ideology-money-or-freedom-why-fighters-from-the-global-south-join-russias-army-in-ukraine-a8143...
Jun 21, 2023•30 min
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 in local-level politics, serving as Kyiv City Council member, and deputy chair of the Council’s Commi...
Jun 19, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 194
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 Ukraine's defence sector and shares her informed and pointed thoughts on defence policy and foreign ...
Jun 18, 2023•58 min•Season 2Ep. 193
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 National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Anna holds degrees from both the National University of Kyiv...
Jun 16, 2023•47 min•Season 2Ep. 192
Christine Khariv is Business Development Manager at DLF attorneys-at-law Ukraine. Christine writes eloquently and passionately about Ukraine on LinkedIn and Twitter, exposing Russian falsehoods, and advocating for Ukraine’s cause.
Jun 12, 2023•55 min•Season 2Ep. 190
Videos and photos by Bogdan Logvynenko and Yurii Stefanyak from Ukraїner. ---------- LINKS: https://www.youtube.com/@UkrainerinEnglish https://ukrainer.net/en/ ---------- Ukraїner English language social media links: https://www.instagram.com/ukrainer_en https://www.facebook.com/ukrainer.eng https://twitter.com/ukrainer_en https://www.linkedin.com/company/ukrainer/ ---------- Ukrainian language links: https://twitter.com/logvynenko https://twitter.com/ukrainer ---------- Most prominent Ukrainian...
Jun 11, 2023•15 min•Season 2Ep. 189
Edition No9 | 09-06-2023 Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind, as War Comes to Russia ~~~~~ FEATURED ARTICLES: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/has-ukraine-launched-a-special-military-operation-in-russia/ Has Ukraine launched a ‘special military operation’ in Russia? Svitlana Morenets | 22 May 2023, 2:01pm https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/ukraines-next-move-can-putin-be-outsmarted/ Ukraine’s next move: can Putin be outsmarted? Mark Galeotti | 27 May 2023 ~~~~~ NEWS LINKS: The Moscow Times http...
Jun 10, 2023•26 min
Anna Proskurina is involved with Academic Projects and Communication, and specifically with Democracy International e.V. she is passionate about civil society, the opportunity for Ukraine to join the EU and Ukraine. She also engages in public conversations about Ukraine’s difficult history, democracy, and human rights. ------- LINKS: https://www.instagram.com/ukrainian.vibes/ https://www.instagram.com/democracy_intl/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-proskurina/ ------- RESOURCES: https://www.pub...
Jun 07, 2023•51 min•Season 2Ep. 188
The land war in Ukraine has occupied most attention among media and analysts since the full-scale war began in February 2022. But what happens in the Black Sea is perhaps where we should focus more. The battle for Snake Island, and the sinking of the Moskva grabbed the headlines for a while, but the Black Sea is an overlooked factor in understanding Russia’s motivations for invading, and for how victory will be defined by Ukraine, including taking back control of Crimea and Black seas ports. ~ |...
Jun 06, 2023•55 min•Season 2Ep. 187
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were forcibly deported to through Russia from Ukraine territory. They have experienced terrible things like the “filtration” camps on the borders, separation from families, cruel interrogations by Russians, and being forced to live in another country (an enemy country) without money or documents in many cases. Left stranded and struggling to leave Russia by themselves. Some, like children do not even have the option to try to return home or go to Europe. Russi...
Jun 06, 2023•51 min•Season 2Ep. 185
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 much-vaunted counter offensive finally bring an end to Russia’s genocidal and pointless war? And how fragile would Russia’s autocratic, vertical system be after a major battlefield defeat? Mark Hertling ...
Jun 05, 2023•53 min•Season 2Ep. 186
