Silicon Curtain

Whereas around 80% of the public in the UK, Finland and Sweden blame  Russia mostly or entirely for the war in Ukraine, this view is by no  means universal. Russian propaganda may get shirt shrift here but is far  more pervasive and persuasive in countries like Bulgaria and Greece,  where higher percentages of the population blame NATO more than Russia  as the primary cause of the conflict. Today I’m talking to one of the  UK’s most experienced military men, not just about the execution and  impact of the conflict, but also about how the struggle for victory is  one of competing narratives where information has become weaponised by  propagandists, Where the Kremlin is creating a parallel reality of  victory and victimhood, to justify their crimes against humanity and  Ukraine.    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. When he broke his neck, 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. He is in  demand as an after-dinner speaker and campaigns against the persecution  of war veterans and has plans for a Veterans Human Rights campaign in  2021.

It’s never been more important to understand the motives and techniques  of the world’s propagandists. Chief amongst them are the troll factories  of the Russian state TV and the Moscow Kremlin – spewing bile and hate  throughout its war of aggression with Ukraine, and over the last 10+  years. Olga Lautman is an expert in the corrosive effects of propaganda –  something she has tackled head-on in the incredible Podcast “Kremlin  File”, which she co-hosts.  Olga is a national security researcher and  analyst concentrating on the cross-section of organized crime and  intelligence operations in Russia and Ukraine, as well as their impact  on Western democratic practices. She is a Senior Fellow at the Centre  for European Policy Analysis. Olga maintains her expertise on the  kleptocratic dealings of Russia’s ruling elite, on its intelligence  agencies, and has a sophisticated understanding of Soviet political history and Russia’s transition post-collapse. Her fluency in Russian helps her monitor Kremlin-aligned media and social media trends to track  and disrupt Russian disinformation operations and active measures  campaigns.

Now we need experts on Russian society and politics more than ever – not  just to understand the war and its origins, but to understand what  comes after it.   Kseniya Kirillova is an Investigative journalist and analyst. She offers her expert views on several services of Radio Free Europe and Radio  Liberty, with a focus on analysing Russian society, mentality. For this  podcast we are especially interested in her deep knowledge of the  mechanisms of Russian propaganda (including in the US), "active  measures" and foreign policy.  Kseniya is author of several hundred  articles, including researches on Russian propaganda and soft power for  the Atlantic Council, the Jamestown Foundation, British Institute for  Statecraft, EU Today, British-Canadian security project Defense Report,  Ukrainian English-language media Kyiv Post and Euromaidan Press, Stop  Fake project, etc. In the United States, she has cooperated with the  Associated Press, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, ABC7, Newsy, and other  media. Expert of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament  Studies.

Civilians have been on the frontline of the war in Ukraine because of  Russia’s inhumane strategies to target densely populated residential  areas and to assault Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. When they can’t  win on the battlefield, they turn to soft targets and terror tactics.  Russia’s strategies clearly constitute war crimes, and one day there  must be a reckoning for the tens of thousands of crimes Russia is  committing in this war. But right now, across the country, fact-finding teams like Truth Hounds  are tirelessly gathering evidence and testimonies of victims about  Russian atrocities, often within hours of troops retreating. Turning  this evidence into convictions will not be easy, or quick, but must be done.

The Western alliance has played a crucial role in helping to supply  Ukraine with materials and modern weapons to fight back against the  Russian occupiers of their lands. But without Ukrainian courage,  ingenuity, and stamina, those weapons would have counted for nothing. In  the light of Zelensky’s trip to Ukraine, today we discuss what Ukraine  needs to win this war, and how Western support for Ukraine can be  sustained through the long, hard winter, and through the world economic  crisis. Roman Sheremeta is Professor of Economics at CWRU and Co-Chair at UA  House and Founding Member at the Global Ukraine Foundation. He holds a  Ph.D. in economics from Purdue University and is a recipient of research  and teaching awards, including the 2018 Smith Ascending Scholar Prize,  as well as grants, including the National Science Foundation and the Max  Planck Institute grants. Sheremeta was listed as a Top Economic Thinker  of Ukrainian descent by Forbes in 2015, a top-rated young economist in  the world according to the IDEAS ranking in 2018 and recognized as the  Best 40 Under 40 Professors by Poets and Quants. Since the invasion of  Ukraine, Sheremeta has been actively involved in delivering humanitarian  aid to Ukraine and working on initiatives to rebuild Ukraine.

Just as the rise of radio as a medium in the 1930s ran in parallel with the ascendency of Nazism, so in the 21st century the rise of the internet is accompanied by unprecedented levels of discord, division, and coercion. Joseph Goebbels saw radio as a new wonder weapon when combined with the emerging disciplines of behavioural psychology and social science.   Today I am talking with Carl Miller about the death of the 20th century’s propaganda weapons, and the creation of new ones in the 21st.  Carl Miller is an experienced digital researcher, author and international speaker, Partner and Research Director at CASM Technology, Visiting Fellow at King's and an International Speaker in great demand. He is also 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.

Reporting from Russia has never been easy. But now when there is little agreement or collaboration on any issue between Russia and the West, that task has become near impossible. But so much of the West’s understanding of Russia comes from the work of Foreign Correspondents – and I am hoping that my guest today can help to put the current events into a broader historical context.    James Rodgers is an Associate Professor in International Journalism and Assistant Vice-President of Global Engagement at City, University of London. He is an academic, veteran journalist, and author of the fascinating book “Assignment Moscow – Reporting on Russia from Lenin to Putin.” He has also written incisively about reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and is an expert on the reporting of armed conflict, and journalism in history. He is also widely published in online and print publications, and academic journals, including NBC Think, History Today, The New European, and The British Journalism Review.

Is it true to say that conspiracy theories have taken hold of Russia, from top to bottom? Does conspiratorial thinking now seem to be motivating the Kremlin’s decisions and policies? The narratives coming out of the Kremlin and State TV in Russia are aggressive, paranoid and highly toxic. How far do the russian elites believe these narratives, and how much of it is just an instrument for control and coercion? This interview with Ilya Yablokov is both enlightening and terrifying. The author and academic helps to unravel some of the perplexing narratives and motivations beind Russia's cruel war with Ukraine. Was there a point in time where Putin and his minions started to believe their own conspiracy narratives? Or to some extend have they always seen the world differently from the West? Ilya Yablokov teaches journalism and digital media at the University of Sheffield. He is a world-leading authority on conspiracy theories in the post-Soviet world – which is especially relevant to our discussion today because it’s weaponised conspiracy theories that are driving the Kremlin’s narrative around the war in Ukraine. His research interests include journalism in Central and Eastern Europe, censorship and self-censorship, disinformation, and conspiracy theories as well as post-Soviet politics. His first book, Fortress Russia: deals with how the Russian political leadership uses conspiracy theories for social and political mobilisation, and latterly in control and suppression of dissent. He has published articles in leading papers and journals, including the New York Times, the BBC World Service, Meduza, GQ Russia, Vogue Russia, and The Moscow Times. Ilya, welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast.

There has been a further ratcheting up of sanctions by Europe against Russian oil imports. Also, the transportation of Russia oil is under threat of sanction, as it’s cut off from insurance market by the UK and EU. Russia is now the most sanctioned nation on earth. But the value of its exports continues to rise, with the increases of oil prices. So, are sanctions failing to have an impact?   Timothy Ash has been a professional economist for more than 30 years, with two thirds of that in the banking industry. Timothy’s specialism is emerging European economics, and he writes and blogs extensively on economic challenges for leading publications such as the Kyiv Post, Atlantic Council, the Financial Times, and the United Business Journal. He is also an Associate Fellow in the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatham House and has advised various governments on Ukraine-Russia policy and specifically on the impact of sanctions.

Rob Blackie launched an extraordinary counter-propaganda campaign after the war in Ukraine began. The aim is to show independent news about the war in Ukraine to Russians – the kind of information that most Russians don’t get to see. His team are using digital ads to get around Putin's censorship.  Rob is a digital marketing strategist, but also has a background in Politics, History and Economics. He was  shortlisted as a mayoral candidate in London and has studied at the LSE and Oxford.