Silicon Curtain

The rise of the internet in the 21st century has been accompanied by  unprecedented levels of polarisation, division, and coercion. At the  same time democracies are being hit by a huge range of different, and  rapidly evolving hostile state activities. Not all of them have their  origins in Russia, though clearly many do, and these saw a significant  scaling up after the 2014 inversion of Donbas.     Today, I am discussing these issues with Carl Miller, an experienced  digital researcher, author and international speaker, Partner, and  Research Director at CASM Technology. We’ll also be exploring the  extraordinary technology and methodology behind Beam: an initiative for  Defending Information, developed by Carl Miller and the team at CASM  Technology. Carl is also a Visiting Fellow at King's and an  International Speaker, as well as author of the fascinating book “The  Death of the Gods – The New Global Power Grab”. Carl is interested in  how technology is changing society and politics. In 2012 he co-founded  the first UK think tank institute dedicated to studying the digital  world at Demos and has been its Research Director ever since. He writes  widely on tech and society, including for The Economist, Wired, New  Scientist, The Sunday Times, the Telegraph, and the Guardian.

From 2007-08 Putin came to believe that the West was in decline,  degenerate and weak. It’s at that moment he pronounced a more assertive  Russia, and started to act accordingly on the world stage, and in  relations to neighbouring countries, with the invasion of Georgia in  2008, and Crimea in 2014. NATO provocation is one excuse given for  Russian aggression and is prominent in domestic Russian propaganda. But  it’s unlikely he saw NATO as a threat and must have known they had  neither the intent nor capability to directly threaten Russian  territory. Afterall, why would they when Europe’s economy depended on  Russian gas and oil? Rather he may have seen NATO as an irritating  barrier to his new imperial ambitions to unite the Russian speaking  world, and former colonial territories.    Dr Fiona Hill is a British-American foreign affairs specialist and author.  She is a former official at the U.S. National Security Council,  specializing in Russian and European affairs, and was a witness in the  November 2019 House hearings during the first impeachment of Donald  Trump. She earned a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University in 1998.  She currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in  Washington and will take up office as Chancellor of Durham University in  England in summer of this year. She recently served as deputy assistant  to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs  on the National Security Council from 2017 to 2019. From 2006 to 2009,  she served as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at  The National Intelligence Council. She is author of “There Is Nothing  for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century” and co-author of  “Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin” (Brookings Institution Press,  2015). Hill has researched and published extensively on issues related  to Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, regional conflicts, energy, and  strategic issues.

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 in Chief at Ukrainer.

Today I’m speaking with Oksana Semenik - Art Historian and Journalist  from Ukraine. She has created an engaging Twitter account, called  Ukrainian Art History (@ukr_arthistory), which focuses on topics that  include Decolonizing American and European museums – particularly,  Ukrainian art and artists that have been labelled as ‘Russian’.   ----------   Ukrainian Art History https://twitter.com/ukr_arthistory @ukr_arthistory 'Ukrainian Art History' by Oksana Semenik, art historian and journalist  from Ukraine. DM for personal contact | Decolonizing American and  European museums.  ----------

John Spencer is considered one of the leading experts in military  operations in an urban context.    As winter sets in with a vengeance life is becoming harder in Ukrainian  cities and the supply of power and heat become unreliable from Russian  missile strikes. Russia’s campaign to cripple Ukraine’s power  infrastructure could therefore trigger a new wave of emigration to  Europe, and there is still the threat of a new offensive against Kyiv.  As Russia’s position on the battlefield becomes more precarious, Putin  may resort to terroristic threats, against nuclear facilities, or other  irresponsible actions. Ukraine is on a path to victory, but how long  will it take, and what will be the eventual cost? John Spencer is chair of Urban Warfare Studies at Modern War Institute  at West Point, Major, US Army (ret). He is an award-winning College  Assistant Professor and a widely published author in the many of the  world's top news sources. John Spencer is considered one of the leading  experts in military operations in an urban context. He is currently  serving as a Colonel in the California State Guard with assignment to  the 40th Infantry Division, California Army National Guard as Director  of Urban Warfare Training.

After nearly a year of doing these Podcasts, about propaganda, Ukraine,  and Russian aggression, I’ve found that sometimes the best insights come  from people with first hand experience of the conflict. Insights that  you just can’t find in books or articles, and which can help to make  sense of the academic literature that is being written about the  conflict. In this spirit, we’ll be featuring more first-hand witnesses  to the conflict, and those that have formed relationships with the  country before the invasion.    I’d like to welcome Johnny FD to the channel – someone with extensive  experience of Ukraine and many of the big personalities that are  reporting on the war and fighting it – Johnny is an accomplished  YouTuber, traveller, Digital nomad, and all-round humane and witty  content creator.

In 2022–2023, Ukraine commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor  genocide. It comes at a time when Ukraine is facing a new struggle for  its survival. Russia is committing a new genocide – with the full-scale  war it launched in Feb-2022. Methods to suppress Ukrainian nationhood  differ, - a man-made famine, terror, and deportation in the 1930, and  war in the 21st century, but the intent remains the same – and the  source of this misery is Russia once more. But the Ukrainian nation  perseveres, and Ukrainians themselves seem to be irrepressible,  resilient, inventive, and indomitable. GUEST: Bohdan Krawchenko, academic and writer.

Is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine about territory and resources, or is it  about much more? An aging tyrant seeking to create a legacy or even lift  flagging popularity ratings. Is it a struggle to control historical  memory, or evidence of a country trapped by historical myths and  delusions? Is there a coherent ideology behind the regime, or just a  messy collage of propagandistic tropes? Russia seems to be unclear on  its objectives and motivations, but Ukraine could not be clearer.  Ukraine’s struggle is one for identify, culture, language and even  survival, but it’s also a struggle to retain the right to question and  reshape national history and not be sucked back into someone else’s  imperial narrative.    Dr Jade McGlynn is Senior Researcher at the Monterey Initiative in  Russian Studies. She is a Russia specialist and experienced researcher  and lecturer, as well as adept at policymaking. Jade is a Polyglot  political analyst with experience of living and working in several  European countries. She has a PhD in Russian from the University of  Oxford, with academic fellowships from Leverhulme, AHRC, Marie Curie,  and Carnegie and has held positions in Russia, the UK, and US. She is  the author of scholarly works as well as media articles and has a new  book coming out in March 2023 – Russia’s War.

This week the choice open to the allies on the side of Ukraine became  clear and stark. Continue drip feeding weapons to Ukraine, and the  outcome may well be a stalemate that Russia would regard as a victory,  and which may ensure Putin retains his grip on the country. Or give  Ukraine the tools it needs to do the job to eject Russia from all its  territory. After months of speculation, prevarication, and some  dissention within the alliance the scales seem to have tipped decisively  in favour of the latter.    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. 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.

Russian lies. From government officials to the military, diplomats, and  propagandists – all the way up to Putin and his cronies. If their mouths  are open and they are uttering sounds – you can make a bet that they  are lying, and most times you’d win that gamble. The lies are often so  monstrous, gigantic, so ridiculous, so irrational and contradictory,  that they’d be comical. Except that Russian lies are also accompanied by  theft, murder, rape, and torture. Brutality and depravity on a scale  that Europe has not seen since the 1940s. Today I’m speaking with Operator Starsky, a Ukrainian National Guardian,  blogger, and self-described ‘war hipster’. He has created one of the  most popular and original YouTube channels dedicated to the  international community who support Ukraine in its struggle against  Russian aggression.