Silicon Curtain

2025-11-30 | DAILY UPDATES #069 | The civil war has broken out in Russia – but not the one you perhaps imagined. It’s a weird civil war between objectionable characters – one happening inside the pro-war camp. Z-Patriots and propagandists are turning on each other.The Z-patriots, “turbo-patriots,” Telegram war-bloggers and Kremlin talking heads who cheered on the invasion… are now denouncing, arresting and in some cases literally killing each other. Foreign-agent lists. “Terrorist” labels. Extremism charges. Car bombs, gunshots on occupied territory, and Chechen generals promising that troublesome bloggers will be “destroyed legally”. They also hint at illegal methods. But is ‘law’ a redundant concept in Russia, in any case – where strength, status, brutality and connections define everything. This isn’t dissent versus the regime. This is the regime’s own shock-troops turning their knives inward – and the minions of the security state happily twisting the blade. Let’s unpack how we got to the point where, as one Ukrainian adviser put it during an earlier bombing of a Russian war-blogger, “the spiders are eating each other in a jar.” (Reuters)----------SOURCES: The Guardian – “Putin’s repressive machinery turns inward to target pro-war figures,” 6 Nov 2025Meduza – “‘Eating their own’: What the latest scandal among Russia’s pro-war pundits says about the Z-blogosphere’s future,” 14 Nov 2025Novaya Gazeta Europe – “Falling foul: Who is Roman Alyokhin, the first pro-war blogger to be deemed a ‘foreign agent’?” 25 Sept 2025Meduza – “Russia changes military recruitment tactics… Russia’s financial watchdog adds Tatyana Montyan to its list of terrorists and extremists,” 28 Oct 2025EADaily / Izvestia – “Blogger Montyan added to Rosfinmonitoring extremist list,” 27 Oct 2025United24 – “They’ll Be Destroyed Legally: Russia Cracks Down on Its Own Pro-War Bloggers,” Nov 2025United24 – “Putin’s Purge Turns Inward: Kremlin Targets Its Own Pro-War Propagandists,” 2025Hindustan Times / The Economist – “Russia’s militant bloggers are clashing with their own regime,” 18 Nov 2025Meduza / BBC Monitoring – reports on the detention of pro-war blogger Oksana Kobeleva, Nov 2025Reuters – reports on the killing of Darya Dugina, Aug 2022Reuters – “Bomb kills Russian war blogger in St Petersburg café,” 3 Apr 2023RFERL / The Moscow Times – on the assassination of Igor Mangushev in occupied Luhansk, Feb 2023Reuters / AP – on the car-bomb attack on Zakhar Prilepin and subsequent life sentence for the bomber, May 2023–Sept 2024----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------

Jason Jay Smart is a political adviser who has lived and worked in Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Latin America. Due to his work with the democratic opposition to Vladimir Putin, Smart was made persona non grata for life by Russia in 2010. Jason is a Special Correspondent at the Kyiv Post. It’s the state of US support for Ukraine that we will discuss today.----------LINKS:https://jasonjaysmart.com/ https://www.kyivpost.com/authors/5 https://americanpoliticalservices.com/https://www.facebook.com/jasonjaysmarthttps://twitter.com/officejjsmart ----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN 10 Events in 10 months - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur first live events this year in Lviv and Kyiv were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run 10 events in 10 months (at a minimum). We may add more venues to the program, depending on the success of the fundraising campaign. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyślhttps://kharpp.com/NOR DOG Animal Rescuehttps://www.nor-dog.org/home/----------

Livestream with Yuri Rashkin----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/autumn-harvest-silicon-curtainDonate and Receive - Collectable PatchAUTUMN HARVEST TRUCKS 2025. Part of our 2025 patch collection. Everyone who contributes €100 (~$115) or more will be able to receive it.For our Autumn patch, we present the Galician Lion. The rampant lion represents power and intelligence. It has represented Western Ukrainian people since the 1100s. The Ruthenian lion, also known as the Ukrainian lion or Galician lion, was featured on the historic coat of arms of: The Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia (Ruthenia)1199-1349, The battle flag of the Lviv land in the Battle of Tannenberg, 1410 The Ruthenian Voivodeship (Administration) 1434-1772 and The Western Ukrainian People's Republic 1918-1919. The Ukrainian national liberation movement, 1948----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyslhttps://kharpp.com/NOR DOG Animal Rescuehttps://www.nor-dog.org/home/-----------

2025-11-27 | DAILY UPDATES #068 | The civil war has broken out in Russia – but not the one you perhaps imagined. It’s a weird civil war between objectionable characters – one happening inside the pro-war camp. Z-Patriots and propagandists are turning on each other.The Z-patriots, “turbo-patriots,” Telegram war-bloggers and Kremlin talking heads who cheered on the invasion… are now denouncing, arresting and in some cases literally killing each other. Foreign-agent lists. “Terrorist” labels. Extremism charges. Car bombs, gunshots on occupied territory, and Chechen generals promising that troublesome bloggers will be “destroyed legally”. They also hint at illegal methods. But is ‘law’ a redundant concept in Russia, in any case – where strength, status, brutality and connections define everything. This isn’t dissent versus the regime. This is the regime’s own shock-troops turning their knives inward – and the minions of the security state happily twisting the blade. Let’s unpack how we got to the point where, as one Ukrainian adviser put it during an earlier bombing of a Russian war-blogger, “the spiders are eating each other in a jar.” (Reuters)----------SOURCES: The Guardian – “Putin’s repressive machinery turns inward to target pro-war figures,” 6 Nov 2025Meduza – “‘Eating their own’: What the latest scandal among Russia’s pro-war pundits says about the Z-blogosphere’s future,” 14 Nov 2025Novaya Gazeta Europe – “Falling foul: Who is Roman Alyokhin, the first pro-war blogger to be deemed a ‘foreign agent’?” 25 Sept 2025Meduza – “Russia changes military recruitment tactics… Russia’s financial watchdog adds Tatyana Montyan to its list of terrorists and extremists,” 28 Oct 2025EADaily / Izvestia – “Blogger Montyan added to Rosfinmonitoring extremist list,” 27 Oct 2025United24 – “They’ll Be Destroyed Legally: Russia Cracks Down on Its Own Pro-War Bloggers,” Nov 2025United24 – “Putin’s Purge Turns Inward: Kremlin Targets Its Own Pro-War Propagandists,” 2025Hindustan Times / The Economist – “Russia’s militant bloggers are clashing with their own regime,” 18 Nov 2025Meduza / BBC Monitoring – reports on the detention of pro-war blogger Oksana Kobeleva, Nov 2025Reuters – reports on the killing of Darya Dugina, Aug 2022Reuters – “Bomb kills Russian war blogger in St Petersburg café,” 3 Apr 2023RFERL / The Moscow Times – on the assassination of Igor Mangushev in occupied Luhansk, Feb 2023Reuters / AP – on the car-bomb attack on Zakhar Prilepin and subsequent life sentence for the bomber, May 2023–Sept 2024----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------

Andriy Borovik is Executive Director of Transparency International Ukraine.NOTE: The first half of the video is audio only (with a still image of the guest) - apologies, this is due to a corrupted video file. ----------LINKS:https://acrec.org.ua/en/news/the-first-in-ukraine-master-s-program-anti-corruption-studies-is-open/LVIV MEDIA FORUM:The NGO Lviv Media Forum strengthens media, institutions, and public figures capable of fostering healthy public dialogue in Ukraine and beyond. Our goal is an effective and democratic society united by healthy communication. The organization was founded in 2013 to bring together media professionals from Ukraine and around the world in Lviv for the annual LMF conference. Over the years, we have grown into an ecosystem of people, organizations, and projects that support the media, develop comprehensive solutions for them, and promote the best media practices in Ukraine and globally. We are moving from supporting and developing media and journalists to a broader strategic focus: empowering communication actors, including media, civil society organizations, government bodies, and more. https://lvivmediaforum.com/enhttps://conference.lvivmediaforum.com/----------Your support is massively appreciated! SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon CurtainNEXT EVENTS - LVIV, KYIV AND ODESA THIS MAY AND JUNE.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur first live events this year in Lviv and Kyiv were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. We may add more venues to the program, depending on the success of the fundraising campaign. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyślhttps://kharpp.com/NOR DOG Animal Rescuehttps://www.nor-dog.org/home/----------PLATFORMS:Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSiliconInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqmLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube’s algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

2025-11-26 | Silicon Wafers #067 | The man sent to sell peace in Russia’s war against Ukraine turns out to have been helping the competition polish their sales pitch. He’s gone from witless and hapless amateur diplomat to become Witkoff the Kremlin whisperer. On the surface this appears to be a treasonous act – but it seems that Trump doesn’t really care, one way of another. It’s at this point we must ask some important questions and start to draw conclusions. - Putin’s envoy would hardly go to all this trouble behind the scenes, to plant the idea of the 28 points in the minds of the US administration, if Trump were simply an agent of the Kremlin. Surely, they could snap their fingers and he’d get it done? It suggests they do not control him and perhaps find his actions as ‘wayward’ and capricious as we do. - This episode also gives an insight into many on the Trump side -they may not be assets or agents, but they are quite happy to align with the Kremlin on certain points, and not at all deterred when this comes to light. We must conclude that they just don’t care – get peace done is something Trump wants, but he does not care how. The detail of ‘how’, values, morality, sensitivity, justice are just so much white noise to him. - And finally, we must conclude something obvious, and yet overlooked, that Putin wants to make peace directly with the US, completely exclusion the European and British, and preferably with Ukraine a bit player, with no visible agency in the process.----------SOURCES: Reuters – “Russia rules out big concessions on Ukraine as leak shows Witkoff advised Moscow”Reuters – “Russia says leak of Witkoff call recording is unacceptable, amounts to hybrid warfare”Associated Press – “Kremlin confirms US envoy will visit as talks on ending war in Ukraine gain momentum”The Guardian – “‘Traitor’: US representatives call for Trump envoy Witkoff to be fired after leaked Kremlin call”Meduza – “Leaked calls between Steve Witkoff and Putin’s advisers raise new questions about Trump’s ‘peace plan.’ Here’s how the world is reacting.”Kyiv Independent – “How Steve Witkoff pushed Ukraine sympathizers out of White House, and led the US into Russia’s arms” Kyiv Independent – “Trump’s peace plan undermines Europe’s security, experts warn”Kyiv Independent – “Trump walks back deadline for Ukraine peace deal”Kyiv Independent – “Witkoff to meet Putin as US sends delegations to Ukraine, Russia in hopes of finalizing peace plan” Babel – “Either 28 difficult points, or an extremely difficult winter. Zelensky addressed Ukrainians amid news of the peace plan” NV – coverage of Ukrainian and public reaction to the 28-point planAtlantic Council – “Putin’s new Ukraine essay reveals imperial ambitions” OSW (Centre for Eastern Studies) – “Putin’s article: ‘On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians’”Washington Post – “Putin is an open book. U.S. leaders have refused to read it.” Le Monde – “Putin’s eternally inscrutable diplomacy” (English edition) ----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------

2025-11-25 | DAILY UPDATES #065 | As we record, U.S. and Ukrainian delegations are in Geneva working on an “updated” or “refined” version of the plan – with Marco Rubio talking about “tremendous progress” and Ukrainian officials quietly insisting that their red lines are being taken on board. All of this shows weakness, tremendous weakness and delusion. It signals to Moscow that we are divided, disorganised, lack any sense of a common outcome, and that we do not have the will to support our partner Ukraine for survival let alone victory. They are the ones fighting with extraordinary tenacity and innovation, yet apparently, it’s us who are exhausted. In this episode we will look at the two numbers that explain everything, and topics associated with them that would crush Moscow, if systematically adopted by America and Europe. Spoilers, they won’t, and Russian cognitive warfare plays a big role in why this won’t happen. It's the weakness of Trump’s political position, and Putin’s economy that define why this barrage of fake diplomacy has broken out now, and why it’s so irrationally ferocious. ----------SOURCES: Axioshttps://www.axios.com/2025/11/20/trump-ukraine-peace-plan-28-points-russiaReutershttps://www.reuters.com/world/europe/draft-us-backed-peace-proposal-ukraine-2025-11-21/Reutershttps://www.reuters.com/business/finance/full-text-european-counter-proposal-us-ukraine-peace-plan-2025-11-23/AP Newshttps://apnews.com/article/1f22a02dda9adff079383370ee69f95cThe Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/22/zelenskyy-approves-bill-weakening-anti-corruption-bodies-despite-big-protestsAP Newshttps://apnews.com/article/6766134c963f0423d88c2ac1749f8c11----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------

Philip Malzahn serves as an in-house reporter for UNITED24 Media, with a focus on investigative reporting in Ukraine’s war zones. By diving deep into the stories behind the headlines, he uncovers key information and brings transparency to the complexities of the war, providing his audience with thorough, compelling and fact-based reporting.LINKS:https://united24media.com/authors/malzahnhttps://muckrack.com/philip-malzahnhttps://www.imdb.com/name/nm13494738/----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyślhttps://kharpp.com/NOR DOG Animal Rescuehttps://www.nor-dog.org/home/----------PLATFORMS:Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSiliconInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqmLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube’s algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Welcome to our monthly conversation with Konstantin, who is one of the most respected voices on YouTube about what is happening Inside Russia. Konstantin Samoilov is a well-known YouTuber whose channel ‘Inside Russia’ comments insightfully on Russia’s decent into authoritarianism over the last few years. But now, like many others, he’s outside Russia, with no idea of when he can return there. ----------DESCRIPTION: Inside Russia: The Realities of War, Economy, and Internal StrugglesIn this episode, Jonathan hosts Konstantin Samoilov for a profound discussion on the current situation inside Russia. The conversation delves into Konstantin's experiences as a truth-teller on Russian affairs, the dangers associated with being on Alexander Dugin's radar, and the implications of the ongoing Ukraine conflict. They also explore Russia's internal economic struggles, the potential for Putin to rebuild Russia's military might if given a reprieve, and the emerging civil war among the Z-Patriot community. The episode concludes with a discussion on the need for Russia to address its Soviet and imperial past for a stable future.----------CHAPTERS:01:35 Discussing Alexander Dugin's Influence04:09 Personal Safety Concerns06:57 The Dubious Peace Process09:34 Economic Troubles in Russia25:22 Potential Outcomes and Historical Parallels29:29 Economic Strategies in Modern Russia31:17 The Hybrid Economy Model32:49 Challenges and Adaptations33:51 Historical Parallels and Lessons40:05 The Z Patriot Civil War44:01 Corruption and Fundraising Scams50:45 The Legacy of Power and Influence55:05 The Need for Systemic Change----------LINKS: @INSIDERUSSIA https://www.patreon.com/insiderussiaINSIDE RUSSIA is a source of current news on Russia - Konstantin carefully selects 9 news stories that are important and really matter, with commentaries and analyses by Konstantin delivered daily to channel patrons at Patreon.comGet your access to daily news updates at patreon.com/INSIDERUSSIA----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------

Dorka Takácsy is a researcher specializing in disinformation and propaganda across Central-Eastern Europe and Russia. She currently serves as a visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and a research fellow at the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy. As a PhD candidate at Corvinus University of Budapest, she explores Russian domestic disinformation targeting the West. Her recent roles include a Denton Transatlantic Fellowship at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, a Visegrad-Taiwan Scholarship in 2024, and a Think Visegrad Fellowship in 2023 from the International Visegrad Fund. Dorka has built a robust professional background with experience at the European Parliament, the Political Capital Institute in Budapest, the National Defense University in Washington, and other institutions. She earned an MA in international relations from Central European University and a BA in international business from the Budapest Business School and the University of Picardy Jules Verne.----------LINKS:https://ceid.hu/about-3/dorka-takacsy/https://cepa.org/author/dorka-takacsy/https://www.gmfus.org/find-experts/dorka-takacsyhttps://conference.lvivmediaforum.com/speakers/dorka-takacsyLVIV MEDIA FORUM:The NGO Lviv Media Forum strengthens media, institutions, and public figures capable of fostering healthy public dialogue in Ukraine and beyond. Our goal is an effective and democratic society united by healthy communication. The organization was founded in 2013 to bring together media professionals from Ukraine and around the world in Lviv for the annual LMF conference. Over the years, we have grown into an ecosystem of people, organizations, and projects that support the media, develop comprehensive solutions for them, and promote the best media practices in Ukraine and globally. We are moving from supporting and developing media and journalists to a broader strategic focus: empowering communication actors, including media, civil society organizations, government bodies, and more. https://lvivmediaforum.com/enhttps://conference.lvivmediaforum.com/----------Your support is massively appreciated! SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon CurtainNEXT EVENTS - LVIV, KYIV AND ODESA THIS MAY AND JUNE.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur first live events this year in Lviv and Kyiv were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. We may add more venues to the program, depending on the success of the fundraising campaign. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/----------