2024-06-08 | What China Gives Russia by Vladimir Milov | Translated from the original Russian by Jonathan Fink ---------- What did Putin agree with Xi Jinping during his visit to China, and what is happening in Russian Chinese relations in general? There is a lot of talk about this now. On the one hand, the dialogue between Putin and Xi in Beijing did not end with anything concrete in terms of signing any new agreements. On the other hand, we hear a lot of talk that China may still begin to supp...
Jun 12, 2024•29 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Today I’m speaking with the Ambassador of Ukraine to Estonia, His Excellency Maksym Kononenko. The Ambassador is preparing for the upcoming Global Peace Summit in Switzerland on June 15-16. And this interview is part of an effort to draw the attention of the global public to topics relating to creating a sustainable and secure peace in Ukraine, and about Ukraine's vision of ending the Russia-Ukraine war. ---------- LINKS: https://estonia.mfa.gov.ua/en/governance/maksym-kononenko https://x.com/ko...
Jun 12, 2024•49 min•Season 3Ep. 434
Disinformation continues to be a threat to Ukrainian sovereignty and is also targeted at Western democracies and allies of Ukraine. Around the world aggressive information warfare threatens information security and social stability, especially in states which Russia seeks to destabilise or coerce into supporting it. As we saw in the 2016 US elections, it can potentially threaten results of voting, place undue influence on voters’ decisions and undermine democratic processes. This is more importa...
Jun 11, 2024•36 min•Season 3Ep. 438
IN MEMORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF KAKHOVKA DAM Friends and fellow activists, This is vitally important, and unfortunately has not received nearly enough media attention, either at the time the crime was committed by Russia, or subsequently. Ecocide needs to be designated a war crime. We must remember Kakhovka. Please share this around your networks to maximise attention on this issue. My friend and colleague Steven Lacey has kindly involved me in the creation process of this impactful campaign to ...
Jun 10, 2024•24 min•Season 3Ep. 437
Edition No48 | 09-06-2024 ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ NEWS SOURCES: KYIV INDEPENDENT https://kyivindependent.com/zelensky-tells-french-parliament-russia/ https://kyivindependent.com/biden-warns-putin-is-not-going-to-stop-at-ukraine/ https://kyivindependent.com/hur-ukraine-hit-su-57-jet-for-first-time/ https://kyivindependent.com/what-are-frances-mirage-2000-5-jets-and-how-can-ukraine-use-them/ https://kyivind...
Jun 09, 2024•52 min
2025-05-29 | Michael Naki | How Putin Destroyed Luhansk ---------- Russian propaganda has been trying for 10 years to pretend that there was no Russian invasion of Donbass. That in fact, a civil war took place in Ukraine 10 years ago, and the residents of Donbass simply wanted to secede, they wanted independence from Kyiv. And the bloody Kiev regime came and began to destroy Donbass in response. Where have you been for eight years? Asked during the start of the Russian full-scale invasion two ye...
Jun 08, 2024•40 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Olena Tregub is a Ukrainian expert in policy analysis, policy design and reform implementation, with a special focus on corruption prevention in economic and security sectors. Since 2017 Olena has been Secretary General of NAKO (the Independent Defence Anti-Corruption Committee) – an international oversight body created by Transparency International. It’s her mission to strengthen democratic oversight over defence spending, increase accountability and transparency of the sector, which is critica...
Jun 08, 2024•49 min•Season 3Ep. 436
Today I am speaking with "Two Grumpy Old Men”, Michael Andersen and Brian Bonner who seasoned Ukraine watchers and have teamed up to create a video and Substack blog "Two Grumpy Old Men On Ukraine." They focus on Ukraine, and issues in related parts of thew world since both have lived and worked in many countries. They write, run Q&As, create videos, report on the unfolding war, and resurface content from their collective archive, to help frame current events in a historical context. -------...
Jun 07, 2024•33 min•Season 3Ep. 435
Joe Lindsley is a traveller and a writer, and American reporting on Chicago's WGN Radio from Ukraine each and every weekday of Russia's full-scale war. He once was protégé to Fox News founder Roger Ailes, but Lindsley escaped that frenzied world where power mattered more than truth. He came to Lviv for a Ukrainian Catholic University journalism conference on Information Overload, AI, and Responsibility. Then the Coronavirus shut down world travel, and he stayed to build a better vision for the m...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 433
Kevin Leach is the main director for Sabre Training Advisory Group, a professional military training non-profit. Their aim is to give Ukrainian defenders the skills to come home alive. Kevin is a Canadian Armed Forces veteran, with a long history of working in Ukraine and in military affairs. He served as a sergeant from 2008-2018, specialising in armoured reconnaissance. He leads a weekly segment on the Mriya Report called “Come Home Alive” covering the Key Elements of Training for the Ukrainia...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 432
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...
Jun 04, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 431
Edition No47 | 03-06-2024 ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ NEWS SOURCES: KYIV INDEPENDENT https://kyivindependent.com/russian-troop-losses-hit-record-monthly-high-in-may-ukraine-claims/ https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-war-latest-zelensky-urges-us-to-allow-ukraine-to-strike-russia-with-atacms-missiles/ https://kyivindependent.com/we-took-out-so-many-of-them-ukraine-stabilizes-kharkiv-front-after-brutal-russian-...
Jun 03, 2024•43 min
What is the connection between oil, war, and climate crisis? In a long article “Oil, climate and war: The curse of the petrostate”, Alexander Etkind explores the tendency of authoritarian petrostates, such as Russia and Iran, to launch wars and downplay climate change. ---------- SPEAKER: Alexander Etkind is a historian and cultural scientist. Alexander Etkind was born in 1955 in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is a professor at CEU Vienna. He was formerly a professor of history and the Chair of Rus...
Jun 02, 2024•55 min•Season 3Ep. 419
The ascension of Vladimir Putin - a former lieutenant colonel of the KGB - to the presidency of Russia in 1999 was a strong signal that the country was headed away from democracy. In the intervening years Putin has grown not only into a dictator but an international threat, but for too long the US and the world's other leading powers have continued to appease him. Now it’s clear Putin is at the centre of a worldwide assault on political liberty and the modern world order. But will the Western al...
Jun 01, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 430
Galina Ackerman is Editor in Chief at Desk Russia, and is a French writer, historian, journalist, translator, and researcher at the University of Caen, specializing in Ukraine and Post-Soviet states. She was also a translator for the Russian journalist murdered by the Putin regime, Anna Politkovskaya. Galia was born into a Russian Jewish family and holds a doctorate in history from the University of Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne. In 1998, Galia translated into French 'Chernobyl Prayer' by Svetlana Ale...
May 31, 2024•48 min•Season 3Ep. 429
Perhaps the most perverse Russian invasion narrative, is that Ukraine is not old, and is not distinct from Russia in any case. But Ukraine is not just a footnote to Russian imperial history. As a nation, it is old, different, and diverse. Just as it went unrecognised by Russia, it has not been understood or recognised by the outside world either, for a variety of reasons. 100 years ago, few noticed its disappearance as an independent state; but that has now changed. Putin’s tyranny and violence ...
May 30, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 426
GUEST: Robin Horsfall, soldier, writer, campaigner and keynote speaker. ---------- The war in Ukraine continues despite a lack of media interest. Russian forces have made repeated assaults along the Donbas front and attempted an offensive towards Kharkiv. Perhaps Putin wanted some kind of victory, no matter how insignificant, before the Victory Parade in Moscow on May 9th. But it has cost Russia dearly, with the loss of more than 15,000 soldiers killed or wounded and he has nothing to show excep...
May 29, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 428
Christopher 'Swede' Forsbäck is Swedish volunteer 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 ---------- 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.org.ua/ Co...
May 28, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 424
Edition No46 | 27-05-2024 ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ NEWS SOURCES: KYIV INDEPENDENT https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-war-latest-syrskyi/ https://kyivindependent.com/explainer-russias-most-recent-offensive-into-kharkiv-oblast/ https://kyivindependent.com/russian-missile-strike-reduces-kharkiv-printing-press-to-ashes/ https://kyivindependent.com/media-explosions-reported-across-occupied-crimea/ https://kyiv...
May 28, 2024•46 min
Ukraine needs a game-changer. In fact, it needs two, argue Jon Sweet & Mark Toth in their latest article in The Hill. The first is Washington’s unequivocal greenlight to use US made weapons, and other western equipment, to strike Russian troops staging along its borders — especially those near the Kharkiv Oblast. Russia is using this US restriction as a way to plan and execute attacks against civilians and to launch new offensives. Secondly, Kyiv needs a no-fly zone, and fast. ---------- Jon...
May 26, 2024•58 min•Season 3Ep. 425
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/@PropagandaStudyInstitute http://psi-eu.org/ https://www.youtub...
May 25, 2024•44 min•Season 3Ep. 427
Harvard’s Lawrence Tribe has forcefully remarked, “there can be no justification for halfway measures, let alone for doing nothing while Ukraine is destroyed. Inaction is an illusion: it would represent a cowardly decision to appease and to encourage further aggression around the world.” Similarly, 80 years ago, FDR warned, “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” Interpreting that in the context of Russia’s illegal violation of Ukraine’s sovereign borders, Je...
May 25, 2024•18 min•Season 2Ep. 422
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: INSIDE RUSSIA is a source of current news on Russia - Konstantin carefully selects 9 n...
May 23, 2024•47 min•Season 3Ep. 423
Tinatin Japaridze specializes in the geopolitics and security of Eurasia, with a particular focus on the Russia-Ukraine war. She leads Eurasia Group’s coverage of Georgia and Azerbaijan, including the countries’ domestic and foreign policies, reforms, and leadership. Prior to joining Eurasia Group, Tinatin spent more than 15 years working at the intersection of communications and security. For several years, Tinatin was the UN Bureau Chief for Eastern European media outlets, a UN Radio host, and...
May 22, 2024•57 min•Season 3Ep. 421
Macer Gifford is a British veteran of the Ukrainian Army – who will be well known to members of NAFO, and those who follow the Ukraine war in detail. As he says on his Twitter profile, he is channelling the spirit of George Orwell, and his dispatches from the frontlines of this conflict have bene highly engaging, informative, eloquent, and full of humanity. Macer has an MSc in Security and Diplomacy. ---------- FUNDRAISER: 409th fundraiser! https://fundrazr.com/c2Ogqb "I will be doing a fundrais...
May 21, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 420
Edition No45 | 20-05-2024 Episode dedicated to that infamous vatnik, Roger Waters, and to the other members of Pink Floyd who actually know right from wrong, and back Ukraine. ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ KYIV INDEPENDENT https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-war-latest-ukrainian-drones-hit-military-facilities-in-russia-crimea-amid-russian-claims-of-over-100-drones-downed/ https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-war...
May 20, 2024•42 min
Ukrainian CrisisCare Telehealth Service "It's infinitely easier to take a life, than save a life” --------- ABOUT GPNOW UKRAINE GPNow Ukrainian CrisisCare is helping Ukrainian families in 5 continents - Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East, South America and Europe. Today, we hear from Robert Hicken – President of the PII Foundation who will provide an update on their GPNow Ukrainian CrisisCare “hospital in the cloud” Telehealth Service which provides free medical advice, comfort and care for thous...
May 19, 2024•32 min•Season 3Ep. 418
Deborah Fairlamb is a Founding Partner at Green Flag Ventures, a business fund investing in the future of Ukraine. Since 2015, she has specialized in investments and business development in Ukraine, with a particular focus on the tech sector and startups. ---------- LINKS: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahfairlamb/ https://www.greenflag.vc/team https://www.ukrainer.net/deborah-fairlamb/ ---------- ARTICLES: https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/11/24/7430183/ https://ubn.news/an-american-fou...
May 19, 2024•47 min•Season 3Ep. 417
Jahara "FRANKY" Matisek teaches in the Department of National Security Affairs (NSA) as a Military Professor at the U.S. Naval War College. Previously, he was an Associate Professor in the MSS Department, Senior Fellow at HDI, Fellowship Director for IWI, and T-53 Instructor Pilot. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Northwestern University with a Graduate Certificate in African Studies. He has been published over 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals and other outlets and ---------- LINK...
May 18, 2024•58 min•Season 3Ep. 416
“A toxic flood of dark money has given billionaires and special interests a powerful way to rig the system secretly in their favour…” These are the words of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, ahead of a debate in the US Congress around the Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act. But this phrase could equally be applied to the UK, where Russian Oligarchs and dark money interests have been able to cleanse their ill-gotten gains for decades through the London financial laundromat. Londongrad is the phrase c...
May 17, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 415
