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 sure most people watching this channel will have seen your videos! ---------- LINKS: https://www.youtube.com/@StarskyUA https://twitter.com/starskyua?lang=en ---------- OTH...
Dec 30, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 318
Edition No30 | 27-12-2023 It is suspected that nearly 80 Russian sailors were aboard the Novocherkassk landing ship during the strike by Ukraine. The missile hit the bow of the ship, leading to a massive explosion and fire. British defense minister claims Ukraine has destroyed 20% of Russian Black Sea fleet in just 4 months. Loud explosions were heard in the port area of Feodosia in temporarily occupied Crimea in the early hours of Dec. 26. Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschuk reported a strike o...
Dec 28, 2023•43 min
Kateryna Gupalo is a Partner at Arzinger Law Office, in Kyiv, Ukraine. She is Co-Head of the Dispute Resolution Practice, and Head of the White-Collar Defence Practice. ---------- LINKS: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateryna-gupalo-04598394/ https://arzinger.ua/en/our-team/katerina_gupalo/ https://www.ibanet.org/conference/conf840/speaker-details/LSP840-1108060 ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHA...
Dec 26, 2023•51 min•Season 2Ep. 315
GUEST: Anna from Ukraine - Anna Danylchuk ---------- Anna Danylchuk has been creating a war diary since the early days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Anna Danylchuk aims to tell the truth about Ukraine and Russia’s war and cut through the noise and propaganda. Anna is passionate about the beauty and independence of her country, and communicates this powerfully in her videos, in a clear and honest way. ---------- LINKS: https://www.youtube.com/@UCiVefOT4TGW3pOqW6AxmlBQ h...
Dec 25, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 317
Christopher 'Swede' Forsbäck is Swedish and was wounded in the line of duty serving with the armed forces of Ukraine. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- LINKS: ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.or...
Dec 23, 2023•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 314
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 Studies, at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, specialising in NATO, the Transatlantic relations...
Dec 22, 2023•53 min•Season 2Ep. 316
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. ---------- ABOUT Anton Tarasyuk is Co-Founder and Expertise Lead at Mantis Analytics. Mantis Analytics is an AI-dri...
Dec 22, 2023•46 min•Season 2Ep. 313
Russia is tearing itself away from modern civilization and its associated values, norms, and comforts. What demons have resurfaced from Russia’s past, and what is driving a form of sado-masochistic self-destruction and flagellation, that seems to be propelling Russia backwards in a painful civilisational decline. And where will this out-of-control Troika stop – possibly at an era that pre-dates Peter the Great’s efforts to punch a window onto Europe in the façade of Russia’s feudal-military desp...
Dec 20, 2023•46 min•Season 2Ep. 312
Today I’m speaking with Jake Broe, a United States Air Force veteran who served for six years as a Nuclear and Missile Operations Officer. But you may know him better as one of the most prominent voices on YouTube throughout the war, someone with absolute moral clarity about who the victim of the war is – spoilers, it’s Ukraine – and who brings direct military experience to his detailed analysis of the unfolding conflict. Do please subscribe to his channel for videos updates on the war in Ukrain...
Dec 18, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 311
Zack The Russian, aged 22 and from Siberia, was forced to flee his homeland after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He started creating YouTube content while in Russia, to introduce Russian culture and life to his audience. As a student in Moscow, he participated in protests against the invasion of Ukraine, risking arrest and conscription into the war. In March 2022, he left Russia for the Republic of Georgia, where he lived in Tbilisi for a year. He is now studying in the US, and works as a Y...
Dec 18, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 2Ep. 310
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 “Europe without Barriers”, “Internews Ukraine”, “European Pravda” and more. ---------- SUPPORT THE C...
Dec 16, 2023•52 min•Season 2Ep. 309
Edition No29 | 14-12-2023 The certainty of Putin’s re-election calls into question for many the very terminology of ‘elections’ – of ‘competition’, ‘running’ and ‘winning’. The Kremlin has made the playing field unlevel in so many ways over so many years that the language of a presidential ‘coronation’ might be more appropriate. Indeed, Dmitry Peskov – Putin’s press secretary – admitted to the New York Times that the ‘presidential election is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy’, with...
Dec 15, 2023•52 min
Mykola Kuleba is the founder of Save Ukraine an organisation helping to save families and children from the war and was the Ombudsman for Children for the President of Ukraine (2014-2021). Mykola has been supporting the rights of children since 2000, as a founder of the International Charitable Organization «Child Rescue» he created a network of specialized centres for the rehabilitation of children in difficult circumstances, street children and those without care and support. He has played a k...
Dec 13, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 308
Liquidating $300bn in frozen Russian assets, could provide more funds for Ukraine. Western allies are running short of cash, but they could help release billions and hurt Putin’s war effort at the same time. Confiscation would also be a lawful act of self-defence. Article 51 of the UN charter recognises the right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a UN member. Russia’s aggression has an obvious economic impact on Ukraine via attacks on such things as energ...
Dec 12, 2023•48 min•Season 2Ep. 307
Edition No28 | 09-12-2023 The organizers of the Polish trucker strike at the Ukrainian border have close ties to Russia. They supported Russia’s occupation of Crimea, and some voted against condemning Russian war crimes. The official organizer of the protest at the Ukrainian-Polish border crossings is Rafał Mekler, the owner of the transportation company Rafał Mekler Transport. He is also the head of the far-right party Confederation of Freedom and Independence chamber in Lublin, which has anti-...
Dec 10, 2023•30 min
Edition No27 | 08-12-2023 A branch of the pro-Russian organization "Other Ukraine," founded by the exiled Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, was registered in Serbia. Medvedchuk, who was long thought to be Russian dictator Putin’s right-hand man in Ukraine, was charged with high treason and placed under house arrest in 2021, only to flee as Russia launched its full-scale invasion. He was subsequently re-arrested in April 2022. In September, he was handed over to Russia as part of a prisoner e...
Dec 10, 2023•27 min
Francis Farrell is a journalist and photographer, as well as a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He is a recent international studies graduate and Russia & Eurasia area specialist with interest and experience in areas of elections, media freedom, regional and hybrid conflicts. He is a native English and Hungarian speaker with fluent Russian and Ukrainian languages. Ukraine could still lose the war. Let’s get some things straight. https://kyivindependent.com/francis-farrell-failing-to-empower...
Dec 09, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 306
GUEST: Anders Puck Nielsen - YouTuber and military analyst. ---------- At the beginning of November, Zaluzhnyi suggested in an interview with the Economist that Ukraine’s summer counter-offensive was stalling. “Just like in the first world war we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” he said, prompting a debate about whether the statement was correct. Timothy Snyder, a Yale professor, responded by arguing that war is not a game of chess, and that the quantity of re...
Dec 04, 2023•55 min•Season 2Ep. 305
Liza Clinical Wizard is her handle on Twitter. She is a clinical research specialist, turned war journalist. A media Influencer, blogger, and proud Ukrainian. Liza is a volunteer helping UA Defenders on the front, and a member of the Vatnik bashing digital collective, NAFO. ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/lizaclinwizard https://twitter.com/ukrconnect https://twitter.com/_vpdfo_ ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtai...
Dec 03, 2023•45 min•Season 2Ep. 298
Edition No26 | 02-12-2023 As the clamour for peace at any price escalates, we need to ask in whose interests would this be? Who is pushing for peace, and is the Kremlin a credible negotiator for a potential peace deal? ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ The Economist https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/11/27/ukraines-new-enemy-war-fatigue-in-the-west https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/11/30/putin-seems-to-be-w...
Dec 03, 2023•32 min
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...
Nov 30, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 304
GUEST: Anna from Ukraine - Anna Danylchuk ---------- Anna Danylchuk has been creating a war diary since the early days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Anna Danylchuk aims to tell the truth about Ukraine and Russia’s war and cut through the noise and propaganda. Anna is passionate about the beauty and independence of her country, and communicates this powerfully in her videos, in a clear and honest way. ---------- LINKS: https://www.youtube.com/@UCiVefOT4TGW3pOqW6AxmlBQ h...
Nov 29, 2023•55 min•Season 2Ep. 300
In 2020, mass anti-government protests erupted across Belarus. The brutal crackdown that followed shocked the international community: the authorities arrested tens of thousands of citizens, shut down independent media and NGOs, and fomented a migrant crisis on the European Union's border. But where many thought Belarus's dictator, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, would fall, he instead turned to Moscow for support, intensifying repression. Many of his opponents fled the country. Then, in February 2022, B...
Nov 29, 2023•51 min•Season 2Ep. 303
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. ---------- LINKS: https://www.youtube.com/@INSIDERUSSIA ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buym...
Nov 27, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 302
Volunteering on a massive scale proved what is possible to achieve. Ukrainian volunteers play at integral role in resisting agains the Russian aggression and saving lives. ---------- Richard Woodruff is a British Cossack volunteering in Ukraine since June 2022. He is involved in Front Line Kit, both in the areas of humanitarian and military aid. Richard was awarded for his contribution to AFU by General Valerii Zaluzhnyi. And I have also had the privilege to meet him, at the Silicon Curtain even...
Nov 26, 2023•48 min•Season 2Ep. 299
The history of Russia after 1917 is traditionally written as the rise of the Communist Party, and its entrenchment in power throughout the 20th century. But is this missing a key piece of the equation? Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Popov have written a stunning book, that benefits from the trove of new historical sources available from inside the Russian secret services. It retells the familiar story from an entirely new angle – starting with the pivotal role of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the leader of ...
Nov 26, 2023•40 min•Season 2Ep. 301
Hans Petter Midttun is a former Norwegian military attaché to Ukraine and is one of the most astute analysts of Russia’s war against Ukraine. He was educated at the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy, the Norwegian National Defence Command as well as tactical education from the Federal Defence Forces of Germany. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- WATCH NEXT: Sir Richard Shirreff https://youtu.be/UMi1Y3iF710 Ope...
Nov 25, 2023•47 min•Season 2Ep. 297
INTRO: The history of Russia after 1917 is traditionally written as the rise of the Communist Party, and its entrenchment in power throughout the 20th century. But is this missing a key piece of the equation? Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Popov have written a stunning book, that benefits from the trove of new historical sources available from inside the Russian secret services. It retells the familiar story from an entirely new angle – starting with the pivotal role of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the lea...
Nov 24, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 296
Edition No25 | 23-11-2023 As winter comes hard upon Ukraine, Russia is again weaponising energy as an instrument of war. Targeting civilian electricity and heating infrastructure is still a war crime, but that does not stop Russia. At the same time, evidence is emerging that Russia planned already in 2021 to use theft of grain as an instrument of war - weaponising starvation to overcome Ukrainian resistance. ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patre...
Nov 23, 2023•39 min
GUEST: John Sweeney - investigative journalist and writer. Orange hat advocate. ---------- SPEAKER: John Sweeney is a British investigative journalist and writer. He worked for The Observer newspaper, and the BBC's Panorama and Newsnight series. Sweeney ceased working for the BBC in October 2019, and is now reporting on the war in Ukraine, as well as creating a Daily war diary. Which I strongly advise you to watch if you’ve not seen it. He’s also been working on a film, documenting the most brut...
Nov 22, 2023•54 min•Season 2Ep. 295
