Silicon Curtain

Jonathan Fink

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A podcast about propaganda, digital disinformation, politics, corruption, hybrid warfare, weaponised conspiracy theories, social echo chambers and digital dystopias.

1984, Authoritarian, Autocracy, Autocrat, Big Brother, Brainwashing, Cold war, Cold war propaganda, Communism, Conflict, Conspiracy theories, Control, Cults, Cyber warfare, Deception, Dictator, Dictatorship, Digital dystopia, Digital media, Disinformation, Echo chambers, Economic sanctions, Fascist, Fake news, Foreign correspondents, Foreign policy, Fossil fuel sanctions, George Orwell, History, Hybrid warfare, Industrial disinfo

Episodes

Mentioned books

Nov 24, 2023 • 1h 11min

296. Yuri Felshtinsky - Russia Went from Red Terror to a Terrorist State led by the Intelligence Services

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 leader of the Communist Secret Service, the Cheka. It then traces the intense and bitter struggles of the Cheka to wrest state control from the Communist party. With the presidency of Vladimir Putin in 1999, Dzerzhinsky’s ultimate goal finally came to fruition. It explains why modern Russia, a state without ideology, is the world’s only mafia-state programmed to forever extort, pillage and loot it’s people and the world. ---------- ABOUT: Dr Yuri Felshtinsky is a prominent author, historian, and journalist, and expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union. He has appeared in print, TV, and radio interviews worldwide, and is widely known as co-author of the book “Blowing Up Russia” with Alexander Litvinenko, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the FSB who was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London in 2006. ---------- LINKS: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Terror-Mafia-State-Intelligence/dp/1783342501/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3AZ4FJFR61BZ1&keywords=popov&qid=1699637170&sprefix=popov%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-1 ---------- BOOKS: From Red Terror to Terrorist State: Russia’s Secret Intelligence Services and Their Fight for World Domination from Felix Dzerzhinsky to Vladimir Putin Hardcover – 4 Nov. 2023 by Yuri Felshtinsky (Author), Vladimir Popov (Author) Publisher: Gibson House ----- WATCH NEXT: Denis Zakharov https://youtu.be/HCVPAJrAoyI Vlad Vexler https://youtu.be/RDQ92lLLwyM Konstantin Samoilov https://youtu.be/gbINoWwiq-Y Boris Bondarev https://youtu.be/-fP-vggvDXo Konstantin von Eggert MBE (Hon) https://youtu.be/Rj6pTGVlG1E ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube’s algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Nov 23, 2023 • 39min

Silicon Bites - #25 - Weaponising Food and Energy to Destroy the Ukrainian Nation, Identity and Will

Nov 22, 2023 • 54min

295. John Sweeney - Putin has been Getting away with Murder for Two Decades Enabled by Western Countries.

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 brutal parts of the conflict – ‘The Eastern Front’, which is released in June this year. ---------- LINKS: https://www.johnsweeney.co.uk/ https://twitter.com/johnsweeneyroar https://inews.co.uk/opinion/john-sweeney-vladimir-putin-chance-1972364 https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/1736357/john-sweeney-ukraine-war-vladimir-putin https://pressgazette.co.uk/comment-analysis/john-sweeney-ukraine-front-line/ ----- BOOKS: Killer in the Kremlin Putin's Prisoner: My Time as a Prisoner of War in Ukraine Taking on Putin with John Sweeney The Useful Idiot The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology Hunting Ghislaine ---------- #johnsweeney #bbc #oligarchs #bungabunga #genocide #warcrimes #ukraine #ukrainewar #russia #zelensky #putin #propaganda #war #disinformation #hybridwarfare #foreignpolicy #communism #sovietunion #postsoviet ---------- WATCH NEXT: Fiona Hill https://youtu.be/maBUKuJmQ4M Jade McGlynn https://youtu.be/uc_ak2c4XX0 Peter Pomerantsev https://youtu.be/bIFrJXly9QY Edward Lucas https://youtu.be/Qcfyu_dwHEo Owen Matthews https://youtu.be/1XbmVAaseGM ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube’s algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Nov 20, 2023 • 1h 24min

294. Shaun Pinner - Captured by Russians After Fighting in Mariupol, he was Tormented, Beaten and Starved

Shaun Pinner is a former British soldier and Ukrainian Marine. He has written an extraordinary first-hand account of the war in Ukraine, his capture, imprisonment, and torture by the Russian invaders. Shaun was a retired and decorated British soldier, living peacefully in Mariupol with his Ukrainian family. But the full-scale war began, and after fighting alongside Ukrainian army colleagues, he found himself imprisoned in Russian-occupied Ukraine, and embarking on an unexpected and unimaginable fight for survival. After the horrors of frontline fighting, Shaun had to survive his capture by Russian soldiers, and his removal to a Black Site – an off-grid FSB prison operating outside all human rights conventions – where he was subjected to a campaign of torture by Putin's secret police. ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/olddog100ua https://www.facebook.com/snowy5599 https://www.instagram.com/snowy_ua/ https://linktr.ee/old_dog_ua https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=GKJQYBPRV6YNL ---------- BOOKS: Live. Fight. Survive.: An ex-British soldier’s account of courage, resistance and defiance fighting for Ukraine against Russia Paperback (2023) by Shaun Pinner (Author) ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- WATCH NEXT: Sir Richard Shirreff https://youtu.be/UMi1Y3iF710 Operator Starsky https://youtu.be/ABIIyNa1AOk Anders Puck Nielsen https://youtu.be/2TJTUuu_cM0 Ben Hodges https://youtu.be/gpzfEVhdNp0 John Spencer https://youtu.be/2lmAOWfQvdE ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ ----------

Nov 19, 2023 • 53min

292. Bohdana Neborak - Ukrainians Remain Creative and Defiant Refusing to be Defined by War or Victimhood

Bohdana Neborak is Editor in Chief at The Ukrainians. She is host of an award-winning video project about decolonization («Наразі без назви»). Bohdana is ex-Head of the Translation Department at the Ukrainian Book Institute, and had a seven-year career in journalism, writing about culture and the creative industries. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- LINKS: https://theukrainians.org/ https://twitter.com/BohdanaNeborak https://book.artarsenal.in.ua/en/guest-23/bohdana-neborak/ https://www.apofenie.com/interviews/2022/4/20/interview-bohdana-neborak ---------- WATCH NEXT: Oleksandr Kraiev https://youtu.be/tbucZuR6CqI Eugen Fedchenko https://youtu.be/YDi5IKtlv1M Valeria Kovtun https://youtu.be/l7zw1L12ZVg Oleksandra Tsekhanovska https://youtu.be/sgwt2XwIS3k Olga Tokariuk https://youtu.be/b6Y0lHUqpeo ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube’s algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Nov 19, 2023 • 1h 4min

293. Julia Tymoshenko - Ukraine has been Transformed into the Most Active Volunteer Society in the World.

Ukraine has been transformed into a society with the most active volunteer groups in the world - and has a dynamic civil society and donation culture. In addition, Ukraine’s diaspora of professionals and refugees are playing an extraordinary role in support Ukraine, both materially, but also by raising awareness of it’s cause in their host countries and within the international community. Today I am speaking with Julia Tymoshenko, who is Fighting for Ukraine on the informational front – running Marketing and Communications for Saint Javelin and as Editor and interviewer at Ukrainer. ---------- LINKS: https://www.instagram.com/yulia_tymosha/ https://www.saintjavelin.com/ https://ukrainer.net/en/ ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- #saintjavelin #ukrainer #juliatymoshenko #ukraine #ukrainewar #russia #zelensky #putin #propaganda #war #disinformation #hybridwarfare #foreignpolicy #communism #sovietunion #postsoviet ---------- WATCH NEXT: Oleksandr Kraiev https://youtu.be/tbucZuR6CqI Eugen Fedchenko https://youtu.be/YDi5IKtlv1M Valeria Kovtun https://youtu.be/l7zw1L12ZVg Oleksandra Tsekhanovska https://youtu.be/sgwt2XwIS3k Olga Tokariuk https://youtu.be/b6Y0lHUqpeo ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube’s algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Nov 18, 2023 • 41min

Silicon Bites #24 - Cynical Kremlin Elite Seeks to Avoid 'Afghan Syndrome' and Revolt on Home Front.

Nov 17, 2023 • 60min

291. Dr Stephen Hall - What are the Preconditions for Renewing Dialogue with Moscow and Lifting Sanctions

INTRO: There are many scenarios of what a post-Putin Russia would look like, especially following a substantial defeat in Ukraine. The obvious one, is to assume that a humiliated Russia would blame the West for its defeat and seek revenge, forcing the collective West to rearm and prepare for the next act of aggression by the Russian imperium. But reality has a way of throwing surprises, and we can’t discount the scenario of a weak and fragmented Russia actually embarking on reforms and changes that begin the process of democratic transition and reconciliation. While seemingly unlikely, should we nonetheless be preparing to engage if Russia takes this course, and is there anything we can do to promote an outcome that will be far more beneficial for us, and potentially for Russians themselves? ---------- ABOUT: Dr Stephen Hall is an Associate Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. Dr Stephen Hall is a Lecturer (and Assistant Professor) in Russian and Post-Soviet Politics, at the Department of Politics, Languages, and International Studies at the University of Bath. He is a specialist on Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Central Asia, and the South Caucasus and on authoritarian regions. He received his PhD from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He has published extensively in Europe-Asia Studies, Problems of Post-Communism, East European Politics, Post-Communist Economies, Russian Politics, and the Journal of Eurasian Studies. His book entitled The Authoritarian International: Tracing how Authoritarian Regimes Learn in the Post-Soviet Space came out in 2023 with Cambridge University Press. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- ARTICLES: https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/getting-a-foot-in-the-door-creating-a-future-russia-now/ ---------- LINKS: https://henryjacksonsociety.org/staff/dr-stephen-g-f-hall/ https://twitter.com/stephengfhall https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-g-f-hall-7313b942/ ---------- BOOKS: Authoritarian International https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/authoritarian-international/4B49766C0CC9ACE7F2522ECB5AB804B8#fndtn-metrics ---------- WATCH NEXT: Sir Richard Shirreff https://youtu.be/UMi1Y3iF710 Operator Starsky https://youtu.be/ABIIyNa1AOk Anders Puck Nielsen https://youtu.be/2TJTUuu_cM0 Ben Hodges https://youtu.be/gpzfEVhdNp0 John Spencer https://youtu.be/2lmAOWfQvdE ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ ----------

Nov 16, 2023 • 54min

290. Jerry Hendrix - The Window for a Full-scale Invasion of Taiwan by China may be Closing Permenantly

GUEST: Henry J. Hendrix - Retired US Navy captain, defence analyst, historian and curator. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- SPEAKER: Henry J. Hendrix is a retired United States Navy captain. He has served as an American defence analyst, an official historian and curator of the Navy and an author. His written work has focused on the composition of the United States Navy force, the structure of the Navy, the role of the aircraft carrier in modern strategic environments and the structure of the carrier air wing. He also publicly supported a recent plan to build a 350-ship Navy. Jerry Hendrix is President of Hendrix and Associates. ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/JerryHendrixII https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_J._Hendrix https://sagamoreinstitute.org/dr-jerry-hendrix/ https://www.usni.org/people/jerry-hendrix https://www.cnas.org/people/dr-jerry-hendrix https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-hendrix-9599684/ ---------- ARTICLES: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/04/us-navy-oceanic-trade-impact-russia-china/673090/ ---------- WATCH NEXT: John Sipher https://youtu.be/h_0Wbn3T0XE David Satter https://youtu.be/Fi9ubrm1Yk8 Mark Galeotti https://youtu.be/KJl6C2WQ8cE Vlad Vexler https://youtu.be/1nRItDXm1LA ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube s algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Nov 15, 2023 • 51min

289. Benjamin Tallis - Russia will Keep Prosecuting its Genocidal War in Ukraine for as Long as we Let it

Dr Benjamin Tallis is a research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. He runs the project “Action Group Zeitenwende” on the transformation of Germany’s security and foreign policy, and where he hosts the podcast "Berlin Inside Out". He previously worked for the EU on security missions in Ukraine and the Balkans and was policy officer at the European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management in Berlin. Benjamin spent five years at the Institute of International Relations Prague where he headed the Centre for European Security, advised numerous European governments, edited the journal New Perspectives. Benjamin regularly appears in the media, and has been published in Foreign Policy, Politico, The Independent, and in leading academic journals. He is the author of the books To Ukraine with Love: Essays on Russia’s War and Europe’s Future (2022) and Identities, Borderscapes, Orders: (In)Security, (Im)Mobility, and Crisis in the EU and Ukraine (2023). ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/bctallis?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-tallis-b02a386/ https://berlinsideout.podigee.io/ https://dgap.org/en/user/28265 https://foreignpolicy.com/author/benjamin-tallis/ https://www.opendemocracy.net/ru/author/benjamin-tallis/ ---------- ARTICLES: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/germany-should-create-a-new-stereotype-for-itself-team-power/ https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-leopard-2-tanks-zeitenwende-russia-ukraine-war-nato/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/14/europe-military-alliance-britain-poland-ukraine/ ---------- LINKS: https://ecfr.eu/profile/gustav_gressel/ https://twitter.com/GresselGustav ---------- WATCH NEXT: Sir Richard Shirreff https://youtu.be/UMi1Y3iF710 Operator Starsky https://youtu.be/ABIIyNa1AOk Anders Puck Nielsen https://youtu.be/2TJTUuu_cM0 Ben Hodges https://youtu.be/gpzfEVhdNp0 John Spencer https://youtu.be/2lmAOWfQvdE ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ ----------

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