Silicon Curtain

Lesia Dubenko is a political scientist and an Alumna of Lund University, with an Msc in European Affairs. She has eight years of experience in political and social journalism and has been published in the Financial Times, Politico Europe, New Eastern Europe, Atlantic Council, KP. In August 2018 she entered the Ukrainian NGO sector, and has been cooperating with different Ukrainian NGOs, including “Europe without Barriers”, “Internews Ukraine”, “European Pravda” and more. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- ARTICLES: https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-west-talk-global-south-partners-war-ukraine/ https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukraines-counteroffensive-will-likely-create-new-reintegration-challenges/ https://www.ft.com/stream/cb65d50c-d074-4194-863f-d513b3226deb ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/LesiaLVD https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesiadubenko/ https://archive.kyivpost.com/author/lesia-dubenko https://www.politico.eu/author/lesia-dubenko/ ----------

Edition No22 | 31-10-2023 Russia opens Pandora's box - as a Pogrom unfolds in Dagestan. ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ Russia opens Pandora’s Box https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/10/30/it-felt-like-an-eternity https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/10/30/without-prevention-you-end-up-with-a-fire https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/10/29/throwing-stones-and-setting-fires?utm_source=email&utm_medium=briefly&utm_campaign=2023-10-31 https://time.com/6329188/ukraine-volodymyr-zelensky-interview/ https://cepa.org/article/has-the-kremlins-dream-of-global-chaos-come-true/ Yuri Dud video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjmBHn1bUBI ~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~

100 years ago, few in Western Europe cared about Ukraine – or its disappearance as an independent state – swallowed up as the newly born tyranny of the USSR flexed its imperial muscles; but that has now changed. Putin’s Russian World revanchism and violence have accelerated the evolution of Ukrainian identity and increased the pressure for social, political, and economic change. 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. And at the end of this war, Ukraine could prove to be the rock upon which the decrepit, brittle hull of the Russian imperial ship tears itself apart and sinks from history. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- Kateryna Babkina is a Ukrainian poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. She is the winner of Angelus Central European Literature Award (2021) for her book ‘My Grandfather Danced’. Kateryna was born in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine and attended Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv to study journalism, graduating in 2007, after which she worked as a freelance journalist. Babkina's novella for children "Cappy and the Whale" was published in translation by Penguin Random House, UK. In April 2023. Kateryna was the first Ukrainian author to have her readings at the Library of Congress, US. ---------- LINKS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kateryna_Babkina https://twitter.com/babkina https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/295414/kateryna-babkina https://pen.org.ua/en/members/babkina-kateryna https://www.instagram.com/babkina ---------- POETRY St Elmo's Fire (2002) The Mustard (2011) Painkillers and Sleeping Pills (2014) Charmed for Love (2017) Does not hurt (2021) SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS Lilu After You (2008) Schaslyvi holi lyudy (Happy Naked People) (2016) ---------- NOVELS Sonia (2013) My Grandfather Danced the Best (2019) ---------- SCREENPLAYS Evil, as part of the 2013 Kinofest NYC festival ---------- PLAYS Hamlet.Babylon (2016), an adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet ---------- CHILDREN'S STORIES Harbuzovyi rik (The Pumpkin Year) (2014) Шапочка і кит (The Hat and the Whale) (2015) Girls's power (2018, co-authored with Mark Livin) Snow heaty (2022) ----------

Edition No21 | 28-10-2023 The Hamas attacks on Israel seem to have divided Russian propagandists. Are some of them starting to realise the high price of siding with a genocidal regime, that sponsors terrorism? ~~~~~ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ~~~~~ NEWS LINKS: Russian Media Monitor https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews ~~~~~ The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/27/pro-moscow-ukrainian-politician-oleg-tsaryov-in-critical-condition-after-apparent-assassination-attempt ~~~~~ Kyiv Independent https://kyivindependent.com/ https://kyivindependent.com/polands-opposition-victorious-in-elections-proposes-new-government/ https://kyivindependent.com/none-of-it-made-any-sense-understanding-russias-disastrous-offensive-on-avdiivka/ https://kyivindependent.com/this-week-in-ukraine-ep-31-why-murderers-of-euromaidan-protestors-still-enjoy-impunity/ https://kyivindependent.com/ft-eu-leaders-back-using-profits-of-frozen-russian-assets-for-ukraine-aid/ https://kyivindependent.com/eu-returns-to-organizing-online-film-festival-in-russia/ https://kyivindependent.com/opinion-its-time-to-ban-russian-athletes-from-the-2024-olympic-games/ https://kyivindependent.com/as-bakhmut-counteroffensive-lags-soldiers-burnt-out-from-horrors-of-war/ https://kyivindependent.com/these-ukrainian-artists-writers-were-killed-by-russias-war/ https://kyivindependent.com/opinion-russias-defeat-must-be-democracies-goal/ ~~~~~ The Moscow Times https://www.themoscowtimes.com/ https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/27/how-russian-propaganda-built-an-alternate-reality-in-occupied-ukraine-a82900 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/27/russian-prosecutors-seek-3-year-jail-term-for-memorial-co-chair-a82918 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/27/russia-raises-interest-rates-to-15-on-inflation-fears-a82916 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/27/are-russians-really-living-like-theres-no-war-a82906 ~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~

Sir Richard Shirreff is Co-founder and Managing Partner at Strategia Worldwide. After graduating from Oxford, he served in the British Army for 37 years commanding soldiers on operations or in combat at every level from platoon to division and rising to the highest rank before retiring from the Army as NATO’s Deputy Supreme Commander Europe. Richard is co-Founder and Managing Partner of Strategia Worldwide. In 2016 his novel ‘2017: War with Russia’ was published in the UK, USA, and Poland. It became a best seller and has been translated into eight languages. He is an honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. ---------- LINKS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Shirreff https://twitter.com/RichardShirreff https://www.strategiaworldwide.com/our-people/sir-richard-shirreff https://www.globsec.org/who-we-are/our-people/gen-ret-sir-richard-shirreff https://www.brookings.edu/events/is-armed-conflict-with-russia-a-real-possibility/ ---------- BOOKS 2017: War with Russia (2016) ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ----------

In his extraordinary and unique, life Jack Barsky spent 10 years in the United States spying for the Russians. But his story began in his birthplace, East Germany, where he became a chemistry professor and was eventually recruited by the KGB. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- Jack Barsky was born Albrecht Dittrich, on 18th May 1949. He is a German American author, IT specialist and infamously a former sleeper agent of the KGB who spied on the United States from 1978 to 1988. He was exposed after the Cold War and became a resource for U.S. counterintelligence agencies and was able to remain in the country, eventually becoming a US citizen. He has now become known as an author, speaker, and expert on espionage. His autobiography, Deep Undercover, was published in 2017, and he has appeared in several high-profile documentaries. ---------- BOOKS Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America (2017) ---------- LINKS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Barsky https://spyscape.com/article/kgb-secrets-how-double-agent-jack-barsky-spied-on-america-and-cheated-death https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/11/thought-smarter-everybody-kgb-spy-jack-barsky https://www.spyex.com/expert/jack-barsky ----------

Ukrainian CrisisCare Telehealth Service "It's infinitely easier to take a life, than save a life” --------- ABOUT GPNOW UKRAINE 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 thousands of Ukrainian citizens to provide FREE medical advice, comfort care for thousands of Ukrainian families in Ukraine (including occupied territory), across Europe & around the world. Together with John Spiteri & Kirsty Macaulay who are about to release a song “Party-Z” to raise awareness and funding to support the service on: https://bandcamp.com/ PII Foundation - (a 501 9 (c)(3) non-profit organisation EIN: 92-1201579) --------- LEARN MORE: https://www.gpnow.net/ukrainian-crisiscare/ Fund GPNow: https://rebrand.ly/gpn_web Join GPNow: https://rebrand.ly/gpnow_teaming - join our Ukrainian CrisisCare Support Team Follow GPNow: https://rebrand.ly/gpnow_twitter_ua on X (Formerly Twitter) GPNow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gpnowtelehealthchannel --------- CONTACT Email Us: info@pii-foundation.org Corporate program sponsorship welcomed With thanks to: Robert Hicken: https://rebrand.ly/robert_linkedin John Spiteri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-spiteri-a7047a90 Kirsty Macaulay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-macaulay-667905b5 --------- INTRO Currently there are more than 7 million refugees who have fled the conflict in Ukraine. There is a dire need to ensure these citizens can access timely and free telehealth consultations. Robert Hicken is working closely with business leaders across every industry in asking them to commit corporate donations to Ukrainian CrisisCare, and its high-impact and life-changing program. Transparency in the charitable sector in Ukraine is important and GPNow’s Ukrainian CrisisCare, ensures each corporate sponsor gets valuable recognition for supporting the Ukrainian telehealth program, as well as transparency on how the funds or allocated and used. --------- Robert Hicken is President of the PII Foundation as well as being Founder and CEO of GPNow. He is focused on ensuring the world’s most vulnerable people can access secure high-definition low-bandwidth multi-lingual telehealth and virtual care services that they desperately need. --------- LINKS https://www.gpnow.net/home https://www.gpnow.net/pii-foundation/ https://twitter.com/rhicken --------- CONTACT Robert Hicken (President - PII Foundation) Mobile: +1 720 738 0774 Mobile: +65 8351 2580 (Whatsapp) Email: president@pii-foundation.org Website: www.gpnow.net/pii-foundation "VirtualCare for the most Vulnerable" PII FOUNDATION is a 501 9(c)(3) non profit organisation EIN: 92-1201579 Donations are tax-deductible in the US. --------- Details of songs mentioned in the episode: Links to purchase them will be provided, as soon as they are available. 'Party Z' Writer / producer / lead vocals / guitarist - John Spitteri Co- producer / media / 2nd Female vocalist - Kirsty Macaulay Lead female vocalist - Margaret Ryder Lead Guitarists - Andrew Dockerty Drums / bass guitar - Andrew Rankin Produced and recorded by Andrew Rankin at Black Cave Recording Studio 'No War in Ukraine' Written and sung by John Spiteri Violinist - Sheila Sapkota Engineered and mixed by Andrew Rankin at Black Cave Recording Studio Artwork / Media - Kirsty Macaulay ---------

Today I’m speaking to David Satter, journalist, and historian with unique insights into how the deformation and repression of the past, is having terrible consequences for present day Russia. David has written extensively about Russia and the Soviet Union, especially the decline and fall of the USSR and rise of post-Soviet Russia. David Satter became the first American journalist to be expelled from Russia since the Cold War in December 2013. This was perhaps not a surprising move, given that his books have covered topics such as the FSB’s role in the apartment bombings that brought Putin to power. From 1976 to 1982 David was the Moscow correspondent of the Financial Times, and then became a special correspondent on Soviet affairs for The Wall Street Journal. He is currently a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a fellow of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. ---------- BOOKS He is author of several books that are essential reading to help understand the origins of the current crisis, including the brilliantly named books: - It Was a Long Time Ago, and It Never Happened Anyway - Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State - The Less You Know, The Better You Sleep ---------- LINKS https://davidsatter.com/ https://twitter.com/davidsatter?lang=en https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Satter https://www.hudson.org/experts/362-david-satter https://www.fpri.org/contributor/david-satter/ https://www.foreignaffairs.com/authors/david-satter ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ----------

The Putin regime has been widely exploiting the vulnerabilities of global social media platforms, using bots and trolls to promote specific stories and narratives. But they are not alone once developed the same techniques can be used by other powers, international and local to subvert democratic institutions and to warp public perception of the news and politics in their countries. But hybrid digital warfare is not limited to propaganda – it also includes cyber-attacks, hacking and stealing intellectual property, and worse case scenarios such as taking down infrastructure and utilities. ---------- Andrew Hural is a Cybersecurity Veteran, Incident Response Expert, and Director at UnderDefense. He’s recognized for his extensive research on threat activity and incidents related to Ukraine and Taiwan, with a deep understanding of cyber warfare from Russia and China. His expertise lies in dissecting attacks, delving into their timing, objectives, and impact. ---------- LINKS https://underdefense.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-hural-944187138/ ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ----------

Zakhar Protsiuk is Chief Operating Officer at The Kyiv Independent and co-founder at The Fix Media. Zakhar is an innovator in the media industry and is helping to shake up the technologies and practices of modern journalism. His role at The Kyiv Independent was pivotal for its success, and it’s become an important voice for democracy, transparency, civil society, and human right throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion. After being established just a few months before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent had developed good revenue models, but needed to pivot quickly because of the changes brought about by the war. The Kyiv Independent is notable for its fearless journalism and does not hold back from running corruption investigations and critiquing the government, even in time of war and when extraordinary pressures are being felt from a hostile information ecosystem. ---------- LINKS https://kyivindependent.com/ https://twitter.com/zakharprotsiuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakhar-protsiuk-2178a1196/ ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ----------