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 14, 2023 • 55min

288. Jon Sweet and Mark Toth - Has Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Strategy Reached a Pivotal Inflection Point

Ukraine’s counteroffensive has reached a transition point – not a point of failure, as it has been labelled by some commentators and media sources. We are 20 months into a war that Gen. Mark Milley said would last three days. Russian planners estimated 10 days. A Ukrainian military once considered inferior to Russia’s has militarily defeating Russians on every battlefield in Ukraine. They have killed more than 300,000 Russian soldiers, and according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “recaptured half the territory that Russia initially seized in its invasion.” That is not failure. ---------- 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. He is now a freelance author, contributor and columnist for The Hill, The Messenger, Washington Examiner, Kyiv Post and FOX News. He provides an experienced military perspective on current world events. Mark Toth is a retired economist, historian and entrepreneur and has lived in US diplomatic and military communities around the world. Mark writes on issues of National Security and Foreign Policy and is a regular contributor to The Hill, BBC, Washington Examiner, Fox News, Kyiv Post and The Messenger. ---------- ARTICLES: https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4299756-its-decision-time-in-ukraine-will-biden-make-the-right-choice/ https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4133192-putin-is-losing-his-war-but-his-threats-of-armageddon-keep-working/ https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4007441-the-collapse-of-russian-influence-is-widening/ https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4202074-putins-kingdom-of-the-dead/ https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4166675-for-ukraine-its-crimea-or-bust/ ---------- 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

Nov 14, 2023 • 56min

287. Alexander Motyl - Is the Idea that Russia is Too Big to Fail Holding Back Western Strategic Support?

Nov 12, 2023 • 34min

Silicon Bites - #23 - Russia Flaunts its Nuclear Capabilities to Intimidate the Allies of Ukraine.

Edition No23 | 11-11-2023 Russia returns to terror threats, as it flaunts its Nuclear capabilities to intimidate the Allies supporting Ukraine militarily. ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ NEWS ITEMS: https://metro.co.uk/2023/11/08/russian-singer-shaman-simulates-a-nuclear-attack-during-concert-19781777/ https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-russia-post-video-simulation-nuclear-attack-us-1841172 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/03/vladimir-putin-withdraws-russia-ratification-nuclear-test-ban-treaty-criticism https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/19/russias-lavrov-says-west-needs-continual-reminder-of-risks-of-nuclear-war https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/putin-filmed-china-accompanied-by-officers-with-russian-nuclear-briefcase-2023-10-18/ https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/11/09/stalemate-in-ukraine-is-the-hesitant-wests-fault-a83049 https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-moves-one-step-closer-to-joining-eu-whats-next/ https://kyivindependent.com/ukrainians-step-up-efforts-to-cross-dnipro-tie-up-russian-forces-in-kherson/ https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-war-latest-eu-unlikely-to-deliver-1-million-artillery-shells-to-ukraine-by-march-2024-bloomberg-reports/ https://kyivindependent.com/poll-44-of-ukrainians-have-war-zone-experience/ https://kyivindependent.com/investigative-stories-from-ukraine-authorities-yet-to-seize-assets-of-putins-ex-right-hand-man/ https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/11/10/kremlin-says-convicts-fighting-in-ukraine-atone-for-crimes-with-blood-a83070 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/08/opinions/ukraine-russia-stalemate-nato-mcglynn/index.html ~~~~~ USEFUL LINKS: Vatnik Soup https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi http://www.medbat.org.ua/en/ Real World News https://kyivindependent.com/ https://www.kyivpost.com/ https://english.nv.ua/ https://www.themoscowtimes.com/ https://meduza.io/en https://meduza.io/ https://novayagazeta.eu/ https://www.newsweek.com/topic/russia...Analysis https://www.ft.com/russia https://www.economist.com/ https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ https://cepa.org/ https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/ https://www.theatlantic.com/search/?s... YouTube Channels / @timesradio1 / @khodorkovskyru / @popularpolitics / @macknack / @plushev / @tvrain / @fake_news / @feyginlive ~~~~~

Nov 11, 2023 • 60min

284. Gustav Gressel - Does Western Hesitancy, Disunity, Fear and Weakness Put Ukrainian Victory at Risk?

Gustav Gressel is a senior policy fellow with the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Berlin office. His topics of focus include Russia, Eastern Europe, and defence policy, Russia, armed conflict missile defence and proliferation. Before joining ECFR, Gressel worked as a desk officer for international security policy and strategy in the Bureau for Security Policy of the Austrian Ministry of Defence, and as a research fellow of the Commissioner for Strategic Studies with the Austrian MoD from. He was also a research fellow with the International Institute for Liberal Politics in Vienna. Before his academic career he served five years in the Austrian Armed Forces. Gressel have appeared in media such as the New York Times, the Guardian, Foreign Policy, Kyiv Post, the Moscow Times, the Telegraph, the Economist, Newsweek, Deutsche Welle, and many more. ---------- 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/

Nov 10, 2023 • 55min

285. Robin Horsfall - Are we Underestimating how Destructive and Long-lived Moscow's Aggression could be?

GUEST: Robin Horsfall, soldier, writer, campaigner and keynote speaker. ---------- The existence of the USSR over many decades unfortunately shows that tyranny can be tenacious, and the extreme barbarism it deploys to suppress freedoms can last a long time and exact a huge toll of human suffering. That is why our weak strategy towards a decisive Ukrainian victory and complacency in the face of a revanchist, totalitarian (even fascistic) Russian World ideology is so very dangerous. We underestimate how pernicious, destructive, and long-lived this new wave of illiberal aggression from the Moscow swamplands could be. ---------- SPEAKER: Robin Horsfall joined the British Army at the age of fifteen in 1972. He served with the Parachute Regiment and 22 Special Air Service. He left the British Army in 1984 and worked as a mercenary, bodyguard and as a medical officer is many active zones around the world. He then built London Karate for twenty years, teaching thousands the art and discipline of karate. He retired and went to Surrey University aged 56 and graduated in English Literature and Creative Writing three years later. He is the author of several books including his hugely successful autobiography Fighting Scared - which I highly recommend you read. ---------- LINKS: https://robinhorsfall.co.uk/books/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-horsfall-52243220/ ---------- BOOKS: - Slava Ukraini! Who Dares Shares (2023 - Signed hardback) - Fighting Scared - The Words of the Wise Old Paratrooper - Warrior Poet: A Soldier’s Songs Find out more about Robin's extraordinary life and achivements here, as well as an online shop to buy his books: https://robinhorsfall.co.uk/ ---------- #robinhorsfall #sas #britisharmy #paratrooper #ukraine #springoffensive #ukrainewar #russia #zelensky #putin #propaganda #war #disinformation #hybrid warfare #foreign policy #communism #sovietunion #postsoviet ---------- 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/ 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 9, 2023 • 59min

283. Joseph Lindsley - Only Democracies are Plagued by Coincidences. Dictators Don’t Tolerate Serendipity

This week Russia attacked Odesa with missiles and drones, seriously damaging the Odesa National Art Museum building, a designated UNESCO monument (which was 124 years old yesterday). Missiles also hit the city centre damaging several multi-story residential buildings. Eight people were injured by shrapnel wounds. Night after night, Russia hits vital infrastructure, residential building, transport links and cultural objects. Russia is exacting an ever-greater toll on Ukrainian heritage and lives, wealth, and industry. When will fascist Russia be stopped and held to account for its crimes? ---------- ABOUT: 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 media industry. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- LINKS: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@uafreedomnews Website: UkrainianFreedomNews.com Truth to the World. Supplies to Ukraine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lindsley https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-lindsley-60087618/ https://twitter.com/JPLindsley https://www.instagram.com/jplindsley/ https://linktr.ee/ufnews ---------- Please like and subscribe to see more great speakers and content on the Silicon Curtain channel, and check you are still subscribed to the channel, as many YouTubers covering the war in Ukraine have reporting losing subscribers, in a way that is unexplained, perhaps as part of some algorithmic change or process; I’d hate for you to miss out on some of the great greats we have lined up. Please also consider becoming a patron to support the work of the channel, or ‘Buy me a Coffee’. ----------

Nov 6, 2023 • 48min

279. Michael Sheridan - Does Xi Jinping's Iron Grip Over CCP & China come at the Cost of Economic Growth?

In this episode, we explore how the “black box” of Chinese politics operates. How Xi Jinping seized power, and how he maintains control. We examine China's soft authoritarian power and the apparatus of the absolutist state. Does Xi's iron grip over the CCP and China come at a cost - is it stifling innovation and economic growth? ---------- ABOUT THE GUEST: Michael Sheridan is the Author of a new history of Hong Kong and China, and a long-time foreign correspondent in Asia, Middle East, and Europe. He was the Far East Correspondent for the Sunday Times for 20 years, based in Hong Kong, and later Bangkok. He delivered political and economic news from China, Japan, North & South Korea, southeast Asia, and Pakistan. He covered the rise of China and the handover of Hong Kong, upheaval in Burma and the fall of Suharto in Indonesia. Her reported on the 2011 Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown, and covered multiple assignments to natural disasters involving mass casualties, including the Asian tsunami of 2004. Michael has also interviewed key figures in Asia, including Lee Kuan Yew and Aung San Suu Kyi. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- BOOKS: The Gate to China: A New History of the People’s Republic & Hong Kong (2021) by Michael Sheridan, Daniel York, et al. The Red Emperor by Michael Sheridan (2024) ---------- LINKS: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-sheridan-4a7499109/ https://www.independent.co.uk/author/michael-sheridan ---------- ARTICLES: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/china-foreign-minister-qin-gang-netflix-b2384179.html https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/china-wuhan-covid-lab-leak-trump-b2351132.html https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/japan-asia-sushi-fukushima-nuclear-plant-b2399551.html https://cepa.org/article/portugal-steps-off-the-silk-road/ ---------- Please like and subscribe to see more great speakers and content on the Silicon Curtain channel, and check you are still subscribed to the channel, as many YouTubers covering the war in Ukraine have reporting losing subscribers, in a way that is unexplained, perhaps as part of some algorithmic change or process; I’d hate for you to miss out on some of the great greats we have lined up. Please also consider becoming a patron to support the work of the channel, or ‘Buy me a Coffee’. ----------

Nov 5, 2023 • 57min

280. Elina Beketova - Brainwashing, Terror and Lawlessness is what Russia Brought to Occupied Territories

Elina Beketova is a Democracy Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). She has experience of working as a journalist, editor, and TV-anchor for news stations in Kharkiv and Kyiv. Elina is originally from Crimea. At CEPA, Elina Authored – Behind the Lines – a project about the latest developments in the temporarily occupied and recently liberated territories of Ukraine. For that study, she interviewed a wide range of Ukrainian voices – policymakers, activists, and officials. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- LINKS: https://cepa.org/author/elina-beketova/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/elina-beketova-a40b0016/ https://twitter.com/elina_beketova?lang=en https://www.kyivpost.com/authors/846 ---------- ARTICLES: https://cepa.org/article/behind-the-lines-ukraine-after-russias-invasion/ ---------- Please like and subscribe to see more great speakers and content on the Silicon Curtain channel, and check you are still subscribed to the channel, as many YouTubers covering the war in Ukraine have reporting losing subscribers, in a way that is unexplained, perhaps as part of some algorithmic change or process; I’d hate for you to miss out on some of the great greats we have lined up. Please also consider becoming a patron to support the work of the channel, or ‘Buy me a Coffee’. ----------

Nov 5, 2023 • 59min

277. Taras Kuzio - Russia Looking to Replace International Rules-based Order with Lawless, Violent Chaos.

Dr Taras Kuzio is a British academic and Professor of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, and an expert on politics, crime and security in Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. Taras Kuzio is of Ukrainian descent and received a BA in economics from the University of Sussex, an MA in Soviet studies from the University of London and holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Birmingham; he was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University. His most recent book is Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War (2022), which was published prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. This follows two other books on Russia-Ukraine relations. In total, he is the author and editor of sixteen books. He is an associate research fellow at the UK Henry Jackson Society thinktank and has contributed to the Atlantic Council, Foreign Affairs, Kyiv Post, New Eastern Europe, and E-International Relations. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- ARTICLE: https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/russia-and-the-anti-western-axis-must-be-militarily-defeated-shifting-the-western-consensus-toward-ending-russias-military-threat-to-ukraine-and-the-west/ ---------- LINKS: https://henryjacksonsociety.org/staff/dr-taras-kuzio/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taras_Kuzio https://twitter.com/TarasKuzio https://www.linkedin.com/in/taras-kuzio-3811583a/ https://archive.transatlanticrelations.org/fellows/taras-kuzio/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Taras-Kuzio/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3ATaras+Kuzio ---------- Please like and subscribe to see more great speakers and content on the Silicon Curtain channel, and check you are still subscribed to the channel, as many YouTubers covering the war in Ukraine have reporting losing subscribers, in a way that is unexplained, perhaps as part of some algorithmic change or process; I’d hate for you to miss out on some of the great greats we have lined up. Please also consider becoming a patron to support the work of the channel, or ‘Buy me a Coffee’. ----------

Nov 3, 2023 • 55min

278. Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges - Far from a Stalemate, Ukraine is Making Crimea Untenable for Russia to Defend.

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 relationship and international security. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/general_ben https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Hodges https://cepa.org/author/ben-hodges/ https://warsawsecurityforum.org/speaker/hodges-ben-lt-gen/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-hodges-1674b1172/ ---------- Please like and subscribe to see more great speakers and content on the Silicon Curtain channel, and check you are still subscribed to the channel, as many YouTubers covering the war in Ukraine have reporting losing subscribers, in a way that is unexplained, perhaps as part of some algorithmic change or process; I’d hate for you to miss out on some of the great greats we have lined up. Please also consider becoming a patron to support the work of the channel, or ‘Buy me a Coffee’. ----------

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