Edition No91 | 05-02-2025 - About 8 months ago I spotted an uptick in allusions to a certain narrative – the illegitimacy of Ukraine’s president. His elected term formally ended in May 2024, but under the country's martial law no election can be held. Let’s make this clear, it would be unconstitutional and unlawful for Zelenskyy to call an election. We’ll examine the impracticality of this later. ---------- We ran two events in Ukraine in the last two weeks. Lviv (part 2) and Kyiv. The event we ...
Feb 05, 2025•16 min
Edition No90 | 04-02-2025 - Under the guise of bringing efficiency and transparency to governance in the US is a coup under way? An administrative takeover, a crypto coup by the leading luminary of the tech brotherhood, Elon Musk? A nihilistic revolution eviscerating US government institutions. Some are starting to see patterns that indicate a hijack of the Federal Government is in progress and being conducted virtually unchallenged. You perhaps thought that Trump 1, after 2016 was chaotic, then...
Feb 04, 2025•20 min
Kyiv stands firm, in the third year of the war. Our trip to Ukraine is now over. ALL INTERVIEWS RECORDED and they’ve started appearing on the channel. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen - your generosity meant we could film everything that we planned. We hope these materials will have an impact in helping to tell Ukraine's story, and generate support for its cause. Everything will be published free on Silicon Curtain throughout February. We are still a little way off the funding tar...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 30 min
Edition No89 | 03-02-2025 - This episode is all about energy – especially gas supply to Europe. Rumours abound that the EU is considering renewing gas purchases from Russia as part of a Ukraine peace deal. Where do we even start with this unbelievably misguided, opportunistic, immoral and strategically brain-dead idea? Dependence on Russian gas is what led Putin to believe he could invade a sovereign European nation in the first place and coerce all the others to just tolerate that. ---------- W...
Feb 03, 2025•12 min
Edition No88 | 02-02-2025 - Strelkov is back with more pronouncements. It has been many months since the untimely reports of his demise spread around the Z-blogosphere. Of course we are not concerned about his health, or even his welfare. He is a war criminal and bears even more responsibilities for this horrific war than most Russians. His views on the state of the Russian army may hold some interest, however, as he has been known to occasionally give critical assessments of the competence and ...
Feb 02, 2025•17 min
Lviv, a city of resistance, ideas, and stories, was the perfect place for our latest conversation on epistemic injustice, Ukraine’s agency in global knowledge production, and the decolonisation of how Ukraine is understood. Together with writer, curator, and academic Sasha Dovzhyk, we unpacked the gaps in global knowledge about Ukraine, the ways historical narratives shape (or distort) perceptions, and what it takes to reclaim our voice on our own terms. 📍 Hosted at INDEX: Institute for Documen...
Feb 02, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Season 4Ep. 601
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...
Feb 01, 2025•31 min•Season 4Ep. 614
Edition No87 | 31-01-2025 - There is Chaos and confusion after Trump halts US foreign aid. ‘It will kill people’, claim NGOs, charities and recipients of US aid. The new directive mat put some aid organizations at risk of bankruptcy and has caused genuine panic among NGOs fighting Russian aggression in Ukraine and Georgia. There are organization across many areas of activity threatened, with funding ranging from a few percent of total funds and income for staff right up to 90% of costs. --------...
Jan 31, 2025•29 min
Philip Obaji Jr. is a Nigeria-based correspondent for The Daily Beast, covering sub-Saharan Africa. He fearlessly and relentlessly uncovers stories about Russian crimes in Africa, including those perpetrated by the Wagner Group. He was awarded Int. Journalist of the Year in 2023. He won the Future Awards Africa Prize in Education in 2014, and the Future Awards Africa Prize for Young Person of the Year in 2015. ---------- LINKS: https://x.com/PhilipObaji https://www.gofundme.com/f/philip-obaji-un...
Jan 31, 2025•37 min•Season 4Ep. 607
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...
Jan 30, 2025•33 min•Season 4Ep. 608
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...
Jan 29, 2025•39 min
Liubov Velychko is a Ukrainian investigative journalist with over 15 years of experience uncovering corruption, crime, and human rights violations. She Specializes in exposing disinformation campaigns, and has conducted numerous investigations into Russian propaganda, revealing the networks behind its spread and dismantling the information operations orchestrated by Russian intelligence agencies. ---------- At relatively short notice, we're organising two events in Ukraine in the last week of Ja...
Jan 28, 2025•17 min•Season 4Ep. 606
“It's time to make a deal.” Announces incoming President of the US, Donald Trump. If he does not end Russia’s war against Ukraine war soon, Trump implies that Putin will face punitive tariffs and sanctions, on top of those already imposed. Trump also says he’ll ask NATO allies to raise defence spending to 5 percent of GDP, which is far beyond the current spend, and even higher than current US expenditure on defence. This would be a transformational change to many societies, with implications tha...
Jan 26, 2025•12 min
The Lychakiv military cemetery opened in Lviv at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine already contains hundreds of graves, with a capacity ten times greater. Tragically, it's area has grown considerably since I was last there in August 2023. ---------- At relatively short notice, we're organizing two events in Ukraine in the last week of January. Lviv (part 2) and Kyiv. The event we ran in August 2023 was a huge success, and had a great impact. Now our aim is even more ambitious. Two...
Jan 26, 2025•17 min
Edition No84 | 21-01-2025 - Today’s episode is recorded with the notorious NAZI death camp of Auschwitz in the background. It seems relevant to be here, where levels of anxiety build around the world, following the inauguration of Trump, and the impromptu fascistic style salute given by Elon Musk yesterday. Combined with growing support for the aFD in Germany and a boisterous Tommy Robinson in the UK. Along with a resurgence of extreme populist politicians around the world and increasing adoptio...
Jan 22, 2025•18 min
Jake Broe is 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 Ukraine as well as conversat...
Jan 20, 2025•58 min•Season 4Ep. 598
Charlie Gammell is an historian and former diplomat who was on the Iran desk at the Foreign Office. He has written for publications such as The Spectator ---------- LINKS: https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-pearl-of-khorasan/ https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/charlie-gammell/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-g-280116266/ https://catholicherald.co.uk/author/charlie-gammell/ https://shows.acast.com/behind-the-lines-with-arthur-snell/episodes/iran-where-are-they-headed ---------- At relat...
Jan 19, 2025•45 min•Season 4Ep. 597
Edition No83 | 18-01-2025 - This is an update of an episode I put out while the US election was still in full swing. Now, the Trump team are having to tackle the issue of Russia, its interference with and sabotage against Western powers, and its imperial war in Ukraine, there is far more nuance and realism in the pronouncement and comments coming from key figures. It seems timely to put out a revised episode based on ideas for the incoming Trump team, about how they could win in Ukraine. -------...
Jan 18, 2025•26 min
Edition No82 | 17-01-2025 - Russia is a terrorist state. We’ve been saying this for three years on the channel. But Russia constantly reminds of this fact. The latest is an allegation that Russia plotted terror attacks on airlines around the world. According to Polish PM, Donald Tusk this bombshell news has come from US intelligence sources. "I can only confirm that Russia planned acts of air terror, not just against Poland but against airlines across the globe," said Tusk during a meeting with ...
Jan 17, 2025•12 min
Oleksandr Mykhed is a Ukrainian writer. Until March 2022, he lived in Kyiv; he is now enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He is the author of nine books; selected essays and excerpts from his books have been translated into ten languages. He has participated in literary residencies in Finland, Latvia, Iceland, the USA and France, and a virtual residency at Oxford University. He has written for publications including The Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and The Guardian, and h...
Jan 17, 2025•56 min•Season 4Ep. 595
Sergej Sumlenny is founder of the European Resilience Initiative Centre and a former Regional Director for Ukraine and Belarus at the Heinrich Böll Foundation. He is based in Berlin, Germany and is an expert in Energy and Security Policy, Human Rights, and International Business Consulting. He is also an expert in the Central and Eastern Europe region, with a Ph.D. in Political Sciences. Fluent or native in German, English, Ukrainian, and Russian. ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/sumlenny h...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Season 4Ep. 594
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 ...
Jan 15, 2025•57 min•Season 4Ep. 593
Edition No81 | 15-01-2025 - Ukraine has steadily been increasing its strikes against targets deep within Russia since the conclusion of the US election. But before we get into the details of the latest strikes over the weekend, let’s review how this started last week with the huge, 'multi-day’ targeting of Russia's Engels airbase infrastructure. ---------- At relatively short notice, we're organising two events in Ukraine in the last week of January. Lviv (part 2) and Kyiv. The event we ran in A...
Jan 15, 2025•8 min
https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras At relatively short notice, we're organising two events in Ukraine in the last week of January. Lviv (part 2) and Kyiv. The event we ran in August 2023 was a huge success, and had a great impact. Now our aim is even more ambitious. Two cities. Two events. Multiple panels consisting of the best experts, and all filmed in high definition for the channel. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras But it costs. Last time the overall cost was £3,500...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Season 4Ep. 592
https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras At relatively short notice, we're organising two events in Ukraine in the last week of January. Lviv (part 2) and Kyiv. The event we ran in August 2023 was a huge success, and had a great impact. Now our aim is even more ambitious. Two cities. Two events. Multiple panels consisting of the best experts, and all filmed in high definition for the channel. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras But it costs. Last time the overall cost was £3,500...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 4Ep. 591
One of President Joe Biden's final decisions in office was to grant Ukraine permission to use ATACMS on Russian territory, but with geographical restrictions. One of then Trump teams first decision may be to allow long range, or deep strikes. Will this turn the tide of the war or force Putin to negotiate? ---------- 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...
Jan 14, 2025•51 min•Season 4Ep. 589
Edition No80 | 13-01-2025 - We cannot say when the Russian economy will ‘collapse’, or even if it’s cave in single a dramatic moment. But what’s not under doubt is that pressure on Putin’s economy is building – it was even terms a ‘house of cards’ in a recent article in the Financial Times. All this pressure makes Putin’s war economy less sustainable, his regime more brittle, and the outcome of events far less certain or indeed predictable. And if you’re a tyrant, then things you cannot control,...
Jan 13, 2025•17 min
Friends and acquaintances who are traditional republicans of the Reagan era try to reassure me there is a gulf of difference between what Trump says, and what he’ll do. I have some doubts. ---------- David DeBatto is host of the ‘No Delusion Zone’ podcast @NoDelusionZone He is a retired U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent, a geopolitical analyst, writer, and podcaster. David is an Iraq war veteran who served as Team Leader of a Tactical Human Intelligence Team (THT) in operations within ...
Jan 13, 2025•50 min•Season 4Ep. 588
Edition No79 | 11-01-2025 - This channel has been warning for over a year of the threats to marine ecologies from Russia’s rust-bucket fleet of clapped-out illegal tankers, transporting its blood oil to unscrupulous buyers around the world to fuel Putin’s genocidal war. And now another one of them is threatening disaster, as a shadow fleet vessel carrying 100,000 tonnes of oil breaks down and is adrift in heavy seas off Germany’s northern coast. The Eventin was sailing from Russia to Egypt with ...
Jan 11, 2025•8 min
Russia Is Losing the War in Ukraine, says a former senior US diplomat. In today’s interview I’m honoured to be joined by Ambassador James Gilmore, who explains the broader consequences of Russia’s actions and what’s at stake if the international community fails to push back against Putin’s aggressive imperialist and expansionist ambitions. As a Trump-era diplomat James Gilmore has had firsthand experience of negotiating with the US’s European partners and our common Russian foe. ---------- James...
Jan 11, 2025•33 min•Season 4Ep. 586
