The Digital Aspect of the Russia-Ukraine War

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When Putin invaded in February, no one knew what a war in Europe could look like in the digital age. Nothing in cyberspace works without internet. It was very clear right at the beginning of the war that if Ukraine couldn't get a bomb-proof system of internet installed, it was going to be very vulnerable. Luckily, Ukrainians had a lot of connections in Silicon Valley. They asked Elon Musk to send them Starlings - portable satellite dishes which help distribute high-speed broadband internet across rural areas and hard-to-reach places. The first wave of these were trying to solve simple problems such as how do we get hold of Russian bombs? And what do we have to hide from

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This weekend, we go to Ukraine. FT columnist Gillian Tett introduces us to the tech entrepreneurs and engineers who have built strong links with Silicon Valley and western tech companies over the past few decades. These connections are helping them fight what she calls an ‘open source war’ against Russia. Then, data journalist Oliver Roeder invites us into the elite world of professional chess. Now that computers are magnitudes better than humans, the game has dramatically changed.

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Links and mentions from the episode:

– Gillian’s piece, ‘Inside Ukraine’s open-source war’: https://on.ft.com/3QE08n5

– Oliver Roeder’s article, ‘Enter the inner sanctum of elite chess:’ https://on.ft.com/3Cd47CG

– Oliver’s book is called Seven Games: A Human History

– Gillian is on Twitter @gilliantett. Oliver is on Twitter @ollie.

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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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