Silicon Curtain

Edition No6 | 17-03-2023 A Year of Aggression and Lies ~~~~~ FEATURED ARTICLES: https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/11/russia-studies-war-ukraine-decolonize-imperialism-western-academics-soviet-empire-eurasia-eastern-europe-university/ It’s High Time to Decolonize Western Russia Studies Why has it taken a war of conquest for experts to recognize Russia’s nature as a vast imperial enterprise? By Artem Shaipov, a member of the Aspen Institute’s NextGen Transatlantic Initiative, and Yuliia Shaipova, an advisor at the Ukrainian Parliament. ~~~~~

Day by day Russia seems to be turning back the clock to darker times. Pick the worst periods of Russian history and you will find echoes of them in the present day – whether that be the economic and mafia chaos of the 90s, the privations and exceptionalism of the Soviet period, nuclear threat of the Cold War era, Stalin’s repressions and purges, the slaughter of WWII, poverty of the 19th century or unrelenting imperial expansionism of Ivan the Terrible’s times. In its political mythology and with its weaponed education system, Russia is a country whose focus is on the past more than the future, and daily reminds us why looking forward can sometimes be healthier than looking backwards. ---------- SPEAKER: 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. His latest book – “Blowing up Ukraine: The Return of Russian Terror and The Threat of World War III”, was researched before the invasion of Ukraine and is the first comprehensive investigation into the lethal methods Russia has used since 1999 to take over Ukraine – culminating in the full-blown unprovoked war in 2022 and mounting atrocities. More recently he has warned of the risk of a nuclear strike from the territory of Belarus, and it’s the topic of strategic nuclear blackmail that we’ll be discussing today. ---------- BOOKS: Blowing Up Ukraine: The Return of Russian Terror and the Threat of World War III (2022) The Putin Corporation: The Story of Russia's Secret Takeover (2012) Lenin and His Comrades (2010) The KGB Plays Chess: The Soviet Secret Police and the Fight for the World Chess Crown (2010) The age of assassins (2008) Corporation: Russia and the KGB in the Age of President Putin (2008) Blowing Up Russia (2002)

Disinformation continues to be a threat to Ukrainian sovereignty and unity, though is perhaps not as effective as it was in the years 2014-2022. But around the world aggressive information warfare still threatens information security and social stability, especially in states which Russia seeks to destabilise or coerce into supporting it. As we saw in the 2016 US elections, it can potentially threaten results of voting, place undue influence on voters’ decisions and undermine democratic processes. Valeria Kovtun is Head at Filter, the National media literacy project founded in Ukraine. FILTER aims to make society more resilient to misinformation and is a crucial tool in Ukraine’s armoury to defend itself from aggressive Russian information warfare. Valeria was formerly a journalist at BBC Reel, a senior correspondent at major Ukrainian media organisations, and a fellow journalist at the United Nations. She also has a background in video production, content management and news broadcasting. Valeria Kovtun has studied at law, Media Communications, and journalism at several prestigious institutions, including the Kyiv National Economics University, the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and The London School of Economics.

Every time Ukraine pulls off another ‘improbable’ victory, or achieves a substantial breakthrough, journalists and military analysts return to their familiar refrain that ‘the war will now grind on indefinitely’ or that ‘there will be no more advances until spring’. From the battle of Kyiv, to Kharkiv and now Kherson, the stark evidence of extraordinary Ukrainian capability and boundless Russian incompetence is quickly forgotten. It seems that underestimating Ukraine’s potential and over-estimating Russia’s strength is a comfort zone the experts cannot tear themselves away from. Jenny Mathers is a senior academic with expertise in Russian politics and security, gender, and conflict. She has been a Senior Lecturer at Aberystwyth University since 1992. Jenny Mathers is experienced in Policy Analysis, Political Science, and lecturing. She is a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) focused on International Relations gained from Somerville College, Oxford University.

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 Russian propaganda does not work how most people think it does. The interventions of the trolls and agitators often fail to directly promote pro-regime narratives in political discussions but do succeed in distracting people from having open discussions that are critical of the state. The mechanics of disinformation operations are often counter-intuitive – and we’ll unpack this topic in today’s episode. ---------- SPEAKER: Emma L Briant is an internationally recognized expert and scholar of information warfare and propaganda who helps policy makers, governments, business leaders, journalists and the general public understand and respond to the challenge of contemporary online threats. Emma is a fellow of Bard College. She has been called “The woman exposing the propaganda puppet masters” by Index on Censorship in 2022, and “One of the world's leading experts in information wars.” by Der Spiegel in 2023. Her research and solutions on the rapid evolution of surveillance driven propaganda and its implications for democracy were central in exposing the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Her work continues to inform policy including through US Congress, UK Parliament, Canadian Parliament and the European Parliament. ---------- BOOKS: Propaganda and counterterrorism: Strategies for global change (2015) Bad News for Refugees by Greg Philo, Emma Briant, et al. (2013) ---------- LINKS: Emma Briant blog and website: https://emma-briant.co.uk/ Emma Briant on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Briant Emma Briant on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmmaLBriant Emma Briant on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmalbriant/ Emma Briant on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/emmalbriant Emma Briant at Open Democracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/es/author/emma-l-briant/ Emma Briant at Bard College: https://www.bard.edu/faculty/details/?id=4601 Reading list: https://www.patreon.com/posts/78981573 About Cambridge Analytica: https://www.propagandamachine.tech/ UK Parliamentary committee report: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/96662/html/ ----------

After the first anniversary of the full-scale war, a febrile and impatient media is asking the question “when will the war end” with greater frequency. There are many reasons for this – of course a concern for the loss of life, the destruction, and the economic pain. But also, war fatigue, misunderstanding the combatant’s motivations and actions, and a general lack of historical perspective, leading them to misunderstand the mechanics and practice of warfare. My guest this week is Hein Goemans, an expert in war termination theory (in other words, how wars end). He explains that “It’s going to take a lot more dying and destruction before both sides are prepared to make a deal, or even start defining what a deal could like”. So is there any clear end to this war in sight, or are the two sides too far apart, with radically different objectives. ---------- SPEAKER: Hein Goemans, professor at the University of Rochester in the United States. His academic specialism is war termination theory. Hein is a specialist in the politics of war, war termination and territorial disputes. His first book, War and Punishment (2000), and asks what keeps wars going and what makes them stop, and focuses on the role of leaders in war termination – with an empirical focus on World War I. His second book, Leaders, and International Conflict (2011) and focuses on the role of leaders in war initiation, a very relevant area of study in the context of the Ukraine war. Goemans' publications have appeared in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, and other publications. Goemans has discussed his work on war termination in the context of the war in Ukraine in articles in The New Yorker and the Monkey Cage as well as in international media, such as the BBC's The Inquiry, Cable News CBC, Euronews, CNN Portugal, France 24, and other outlets as well as in print media such as The Financial Times, Der Spiegel, and Die Zeit. ---------- LINKS: https://www.ft.com/content/b3f7ea51-dcc2-4011-b3ac-45faabdc35c7 Ukraine series: how long will the war last? What history tells us about why some conflicts endure, and others end quickly. https://www.rochester.edu/college/faculty/hgoemans/ https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691049441/war-and-punishment ----------

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 Russian propaganda does not work how most people think it does. The interventions of the trolls and agitators often fail to directly promote pro-regime narratives in political discussions but do succeed in distracting people from having open discussions that are critical of the state. Welcome to the counter-intuitive world of Russian disinformation operations, populated by a rogue’s gallery of toxic yet highly effective propagandists. ---------- SPEAKER: Julia Davis is a Columnist at The Daily Beast and internationally known Writer and Investigative Journalist. She is also a Washington Post Contributor, National Security & Foreign Policy Reporter, and Analyst with Russian Media Monitor. Julia Davis has a broad background as a National Security, Counterterrorism, and Immigration Expert. She is a former federal officer, having served with the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection. She writes as an Investigative Reporter, exposing Russian propaganda, discussing foreign policy, international and domestic affairs, and other issues. Julia’s reports have been featured by CNN, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Business Insider, Newsweek, The Hill, and multiple other media outlets. ---------- LINKS: Julia Davis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliadavisnews/ Julia Davis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews Russian Media Monitor: http://www.russialies.com/

Russia is tearing itself away from modern civilization and its associated values, norms and comforts. Putin and his coterie of incompetent sycophants seem to be happily destroying the foundations of everything that has been built in the past 30 years. Instead, he’s embracing an alternative future tied to eastern despotism as a vassal state of China – a source of assets to be mined, without any value-added production. What demons have resurfaced from Russia’s past, and what is driving a form of sado-masochistic self-destruction and flagellation, that seems to be propelling Russia backwards in a painful civilisational decline. And where will this out-of-control Troika stop – possibly at an era that pre-dates Peter the Great’s efforts to punch a window onto Europe in the façade of Russia’s feudal-military despotism, established by the khans of the Mongol Horde. But what is the role of such a state in the modern world? ---------- SPEAKER: Alexander Etkind is a historian and cultural scientist. Alexander Etkind was born in 1955 in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is a professor at CEU Vienna. His book Russia against Modernity is forthcoming with Polity Press. He was formerly a professor of history and the Chair of Russia-Europe relations at the European University Institute in Florence. He is fellow of the European Institute for International Law and International Relations. He completed his B.A. and M.A. in 1978 in Psychology and English at Leningrad State University. Etkind taught at the European University at St. Petersburg then at Cambridge University where he was also a fellow of King's College. He was a visiting fellow at New York University, Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin, and other places. Etkind's research focuses on European and Russian intellectual history, memory studies, natural resources and the history of political economy, empire and colonies in Europe, and Russian politics, novels, and film in the 21st century. His has written many compelling books, including Russia Against Modernity, Rethinking the Gulag and Nature's Evil: A Cultural History of Natural Resources. ---------- LINKS: Alexander Etkind on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sasha_Etkind Alexander Etkind on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Etkind Alexander Etkind at the Moscow Times: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/author/alexander-etkind-2 ---------- BOOKS: Russia Against Modernity (2023) Rethinking the Gulag: Identities, Sources, Legacies (2022) Nature's Evil: A Cultural History of Natural Resources (2021) Eros Of the Impossible: The History of Psychoanalysis In Russia (2019) Development and Dystopia: Studies in Post-Soviet Ukraine and Eastern Europe (2018) War and Memory in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (2017) Cultural Forms of Protest in Russia (2017) Warped Mourning: Stories of the Undead in the Land of the Unburied (2013) Internal Colonization: Russia's Imperial Experience (2011) Remembering Katyn (2013) ----------

Through the winter, Ukrainian and Western officials had warned Russia was preparing to launch a new offensive. Apparently, it was “mustering forces beyond the Urals”, according to General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s army chief. Rumours circulated, that Russian forces, bolstered by Belarussian divisions, could even try to storm Kyiv once more. Russia had gathered half a million fresh mobilised troops and would “make a push” around the anniversary of the war, suggested the defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov. But it seems that Russia’s offensive began weeks ago, around the meat grinder of Bakhmut, and is already running out of steam – a damp squib. Intercepted communications and the ravings of angered mil bloggers suggest Russia is running out of ideas and ammunition. Now it seems is the turn of Ukraine to strike back. But when, where, and how hard will they hit the Russians? ---------- SPEAKER: 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. Ben Hodges has been Senior Advisor to Human Rights First since June 2022 and also serves as NATO Senior Mentor for Logistics. Until recently Ben Hodges was the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies, at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, specialising in NATO, the Transatlantic relationship and international security. ---------- LINKS: Ben Hodges - Twitter: https://twitter.com/general_ben Ben Hodges - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Hodges Ben Hodges - CEPA: https://cepa.org/author/ben-hodges/ Ben Hodges - New Statesman: https://www.newstatesman.com/the-weekend-interview/2023/02/ben-hodges-hope-russians-west-loses-will-keep-supporting-ukraine Ben Hodges - The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/b/ba-be/ben-hodges/ Ben Hodges - Defence IQ: https://www.defenceiq.com/contributor/ben-hodges Ben Hodges - BBC HardTalk interview: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/n3ct0c38 Ben Hodges - Globsec: https://www.globsec.org/who-we-are/our-people/lieutenant-general-ben-hodges Ben Hodges - Atlantic Council Q&A: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/ac-turkey-defense-journal/qa-with-lieutenant-general-retired-ben-hodges/ ----------

It’s my great pleasure to speak with Ian Garner today, on the terrifying topic of indoctrination ot Russia’s youth. We’ll be exploring themes covering in his forthcoming book: Z Generation: Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth. Ian Garner is an historian and expert on Russian war propaganda. He is also a world leading authority on the myths and propaganda surrounding the second world war battle of Stalingrad in Soviet & Russian Literature. Ian has been interviewed for the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, New York Times, BBC, VICE News, Mashable, and many other media channels. He is also a prolific commentator on Twitter – so please check out his feed – it’s entertaining as well as insightful. Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. If you enjoy the material we create, then please like, and subscribe to help boost the popularity of our videos in YouTube. ---------- BOOKS: Stalingrad Lives: Stories of Combat and Survival (2022) Z Generation: Into the Heart of Russia's Fascist Youth (2023) Read more at: https://www.igarner.net/ Follow Ian at: https://twitter.com/irgarner