Alex Cornell du Houx served on the Energy Utilities and Technology and Legal and Veterans Affairs committees, sponsoring 14 successful pieces of legislation and co-sponsoring 98 successful bills. He won the REED award for the best national Public Affairs Campaign for his work co-founding Operation Free, a coalition of lawmakers and veterans promoting energy security. Cornell du Houx participated in and led State Department delegations to Southeast Asia to foster government-to-government relation...
Dec 16, 2024•48 min•Season 3Ep. 570
Shota Dighmelashvili is editor-in-chief at Forbes Georgia, a policy entrepreneur and a dedicated civil society leader. His work has earned global acknowledgement, including features in renowned international outlets. ---------- LINKS: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shotad/ https://x.com/shotadig https://www.facebook.com/shotad/ https://oc-media.org/tag/shota-dighmelashvili/ https://civil.ge/archives/tag/shota-dighmelashvili ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain...
Dec 14, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 3Ep. 567
Iryna Baturevych is a co-founder of the Chytomo media project (NGO), the Ukrainian independent media covering publishing and contemporary literary and cultural processes in Ukraine. Together with the Chytomo team, she organized the Ukrainian Chytomo Award for the Outstanding Achievements in Publishing. The publishing markets observer. In 2022, she co-founded the Ukrainian Club of Montreal. Iryna is a deputy director and a head of the analytical department of the Ukrainian Book Institute, guest t...
Dec 13, 2024•48 min•Season 3Ep. 569
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. ---------- SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISER A project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awa...
Dec 12, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 571
A complex array of tactics are employed by the Russian government to manipulate public sentiment in connection with Russia's war in Ukraine, and to stifle any internal dissent. Studying the "politics of pacification" can help us understand how authoritarian regimes maintain control over society through a mixture of incentives and fear. As dissent increases, then repression needs to find new and more effective ways to maintain the authoritarian status quo and semblance of normality. But there are...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 568
It’s been claimed that on Election Day in the US 280,000 X users closed their accounts. At the same time, Bluesky saw a massive spike in new users, up from 13 million in October, surpassing 21 by November. Rose Wang, whom I’m honoured to speaking with today, is quoted as saying that the company's 20-person team has been in "firefighting mode" as this spectacular growth has far surpassed their projections and has caused some technical stress. Bluesky is touted as a far more decentralised and demo...
Dec 10, 2024•43 min•Season 3Ep. 566
Mariam Kintsurashvili is a Strategic Communications expert, countering hybrid warfare. ---------- LINKS: https://x.com/kintsurashvili7 https://www.linkedin.com/in/kintsurashvili/ https://demsecinstitute.org/?page_id=371 ---------- 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 -...
Dec 09, 2024•46 min•Season 3Ep. 565
Edition No68 | 08-12-2024 - Assad is falling – in fact the total capitulation of his regime may be confirmed by the time this episode comes out. The mainstream media are paying attention and giving these events prominence fitting with their historical importance. The rapid collapse of the Assad clan’s 50-year reign of tyranny is a major blow to Russia and Iran in the region and will send out shockwaves to autocratic regimes around the world. Colour revolutions are back. It’s doubtful Putin will ...
Dec 08, 2024•20 min
See the full conversation on iWi channel - https://youtu.be/1aOGBQv2j2M https://www.youtube.com/@infowarfarechannel/featured ---------- Lesia Dubenko is a Ukrainian journalist and analyst featured in the Financial Times, Politico Europe, New Eastern Europe, Washington Times, and more. She’s currently affiliated with Ukraine’s media outlet Euromaidan Press. You can follow her on Substack for a dose of good and satirical commentary https://lesiadubenko.substack.com ---------- LINKS https://x.com/l...
Dec 07, 2024•57 min•Season 3Ep. 564
Edition No67 | 06-12-2024 - Love him or loath him, Tucker Carlson has a knack for sucking the oxygen out of the information space. He creates friction, he generates headlines, he grabs attention. “Nothing is what it seems” is the apparent philosophy behind his media persona. He is just asking the ‘difficult questions’ that nobody else wants to ask. Looking for alternative ideas and uncovering the deep state conspiracies that manipulate us and ruin our lives. The trouble is the overall framing of...
Dec 07, 2024•19 min
Anna Gvarishvili is a journalist and editor, providing news and analysis on the drastic reversal of liberal democratic values in Georgia. She is Head of Investigative Media Lab (IML). Anna worked as Head of media production and operations at School of Social Sciences, the University of Georgia. She has eight years of experience in TV and online media. In 2020-2022 she has served as a managing editor of "Tabula". ---------- LINKS: https://x.com/annagvarishvili https://www.journalismfund.eu/journa...
Dec 05, 2024•49 min•Season 3Ep. 563
Andriy Zagorodnyuk is a Ukrainian entrepreneur and politician. From 2015 to 2017, Andriy headed the Reform Project Office at the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. He was the Minister of Defence of Ukraine from 29 August 2019 to 4 March 2020. Andriy studied law at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. He also graduated from Warwick University and Oxford University and became an advisor to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky after he was elected president in the 2019. After his r...
Dec 04, 2024•32 min•Season 3Ep. 562
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...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 48 min•Season 3Ep. 561
Cormac Smith has worked in Public Relations and Corporate Communications for over three decades. In 2016 he travelled to Ukraine to take up a special appointment as the ‘Strategic Communication Advisor’ to Pavlo Klimkin, then the Foreign Minister of Ukraine. He was attached to the British Embassy in Kyiv but was embedded in Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first foreigner to hold such a position. While in Kyiv, he also advised and provided training for five other government ministries ...
Dec 02, 2024•47 min•Season 3Ep. 559
Edition No66 | 01-12-2024 - It is an illusion that Putin wants the war to end. In fact, he needs the war not to end, to perpetuate his regime. There are no limits to how many Russians he will sacrifice to save his own neck, how much blood he will spill to save the 10.5 pints in his own body. He is quite prepared to burn all of Russia’s economy and resources, for as long as that keep him in power. So, the determination of President-elect Donald Trump to achieve a settlement of the war, any deal i...
Dec 01, 2024•30 min
Cormac Smith has worked in Public Relations and Corporate Communications for over three decades. In 2016 he travelled to Ukraine to take up a special appointment as the ‘Strategic Communication Advisor’ to Pavlo Klimkin, then the Foreign Minister of Ukraine. He was attached to the British Embassy in Kyiv but was embedded in Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first foreigner to hold such a position. While in Kyiv, he also advised and provided training for five other government ministries ...
Nov 30, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 560
Timothy Ash, who has been professional economist for more than 30 years, with two thirds of that in the banking industry. Timothy’s specialism is emerging European economics, and he writes and blogs extensively on economic challenges for leading publications such as the Kyiv Post, Atlantic Council, the Financial Times, and the United Business Journal. He is also an Associate Fellow in the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatham House and has advised various governments on Ukraine-Russia policy a...
Nov 29, 2024•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 558
Edition No65 | 24-11-2024 - We’ve been predicting that the Russian economy would implode for going on two years, but also pointing out that Russian Central bankers may be able to preserve an impression of stability and normalcy for some considerable time. And so, it’s proved. Russia has been more adept at creating an alternative economy to replace Western exports, and indeed not all the revenue from Western markets dried up despite three nearly years of full-sale war. Grey markets, grey fleets a...
Nov 28, 2024•15 min
African American journalist Terrell Jermain Starr sees the Story of Ukrainian resilience as a Black experience. Russia is not only a colonial state, but it’s also a supremacist state, he says. Terrell has made it his mission to build bridges of trust between Americans and Ukraine. This is clearly vital, as he explains that African Americans are some of the most exposed people to Russian propaganda and disinformation within the US. Today we’ll be exploring the parallels to discrimination faced by...
Nov 27, 2024•55 min•Season 3Ep. 556
Too little too late. Slow walking munitions for Ukraine over three years has ensured the war becomes a long, attritional grind. In that time Ukraine has lost some of its bravest and brightest warriors. Is the rush to supply Ukraine after the US election simply to ensure that the country does not lose on Biden’s watch? ---------- Jon Sweet is an accomplished intelligence professional who served for 30 years within the Defence and Intelligence sector as an U.S. Army Military Intelligence Officer. ...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 557
This video and the audio recording were made at an event at the Liberal Club in London on 20th November 2024. The event was kindly organised by the Liberal Democrat Friends of Ukraine. ---------- Kira Rudik is a Ukrainian politician currently serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from the Holos party. She is the party's leader, and vice president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). Prior to politics she worked in the Ukrainian and American IT industries. She was a memb...
Nov 25, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 555
Edition No64 | 24-11-2024 - Russia stands accused of firing the first intercontinental ballistic missile to be used against an adversary at war. The horror is even starker, as the missile was not used against military objectives, but fired indiscriminately into an urban centre. Dnipro in Ukraine. When we strip way all the fluff of geopolitical jargon, we can see Russia as a nuclear armed, terroristic entity that learned its statecraft of trauma and threat from the Mongol Horde and not Europe. --...
Nov 24, 2024•26 min
Edition No63 | 23-11-2024 - Documents from the first weeks of Putin’s invasion have been obtained by Russian investigative unit Systema. They reveal aspects of the plan to render post-war Ukraine powerless. Russia seems to have embarked on its war, with a ‘pre-baked’ “peace agreement” to impose upon a defeated Ukraine. One also presumes with the Ukrainian government decapitated and its leaders either captured or killed. ---------- SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISER A project to make a documentary f...
Nov 23, 2024•19 min
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. #russian #russiaukraine #russianarmy #russianeconomy #ukraine #ukrainewar #ukrainerussia ---------- SILI...
Nov 22, 2024•33 min•Season 3Ep. 553
Today I’m speaking with Operator Starsky, a former 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...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 3Ep. 554
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...
Nov 20, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 552
Edition No62 | 19-11-2024 - Scholz's call with Putin risks opening a 'Pandora's Box,' warns Zelensky. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's has been calling Putin again, and it risks opening a "Pandora's box," says Zelensky. He’s not the only one. Manby leaders both publicly and privately have pointed out how unilateral and misguided are Scholz's actions. ---------- SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISER A project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporti...
Nov 19, 2024•18 min
Stephen Douglas is a self-described expert in combat propaganda (is a former diplomat), and creator of Decoding Trolls and Disinfolklore. The latter has been described in a Byline Times review as a “brilliant new analytical method to parse and counter disinformation”. ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/DecodingTrolls https://www.decodingtrolls.net/ https://www.disinfolklore.net/ https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/disinfolklore ---------- SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISER A project to make a doc...
Nov 17, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 551
Ian Williams is an author and award-winning journalist - a long-time foreign correspondent in Russia, China and the Far East, where he worked for Channel 4 News and NBC. He is the author of Fire of the Dragon - China's New Cold War, and Every Breath You Take - China's New Tyranny, a study of China's surveillance state. He is currently a PhD candidate at the War Studies Department, King's College London, where he researches the converging offensive cyber strategies of China and Russia. ----------...
Nov 16, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 550
Edition No61 | 15-11-2024 - This episode focuses on opportunities for the Trump administration to win in Ukraine. It does not mean he will adopt them or be minded to embrace similar measures. Only the choices he makes, and discernible actions he takes when his administration assumes power, will tell the truth about what’s in his mind. His choices may also be guided by events, rather than any premeditated strategy. That means we need to be agile, and ready to inject ideas and opportunities into p...
Nov 15, 2024•57 min
