In the bunker with Darth Putin

In this episode, we delve into the Belarusian legal system through Katie's firsthand experience as a co-defendant in a political trial. We discuss the challenges of finding a criminal defense lawyer—or any lawyer—willing to represent a dissident. Darth also reads an excerpt from his book and shares insights on the week's most significant tweets.

In Katie's guest appearance on the Silicon Curtain podcast, she provides an in-depth look at the everyday lives of civil society and political actors in Belarus. The conversation explores themes of surveillance, precautionary measures, and the challenges of understanding the (un)successful protests in the country. Full episode: Youtube/SiliconCurtain

As always, thank you for your support on buymeacoffee.com/inthebunkerwithdarth and patreon.com/IntheBunkerwithDarth

John Sipher, former CIA officer and a co-founder of Spycraft Entertainment, in the bunker.

We are asking our guest how it would be if the CIA were tasked to invade Canada; what were John's impressions from working in Moscow; and many details about Russian intelligence services.

Follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@InTheBunkerWithDarth 

John Sipher’s podcast: “Mission implausible” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Thank you for your support on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/IntheBunkerwi... and Buy me a coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/inthebunkerw... 

In this episode, we sit down with Edward Lucas, who is British writer, journalist, and politician.

Did you know that Edward was among the first 100 Darth's followers back in the days?

Here is some context for Edwards' reference to Lennart Meri's speech.

Full address by Estonian President Lennart Meri in 1994 is here. 

As usual, we are most thankful to each of our Patreons for the material support. 

In this episode, we sit down with General Ben Hodges to talk about Ukraine's counteroffensive in Kursk, as well as Russian army capabilities (lack thereof) and corruption.

We are most thankful to each Patreon for the material support of our podcast.

If you are not ready for a long-term commitment, such as on Patreon, but you enjoy our chatter in the bunker, buy us some coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/inthebunkerwithdarth

In this episode Eto Buziashvili joins us in the bunker to discuss the recent arrest of Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram. We talk about how telegram works, what the Kremlin uses it for, what kind of content is on there and what the implications are for the Kremlin now they believe western intelligence has access to the platform.

In June Eto wrote "Another battlefield: Telegram as a digital front in Russia’s war against Ukraine" so she's been popular recently. Here's the article: https://dfrlab.org/2024/06/10/another... 

Apparently, Maria Snegovaya survived visiting us in the bunker in Season 1. So we decided to invite Maria again, this time to talk about her recent article, "Dissecting Putin's regime ideology," which she co-authored together with Jade McGlynn: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1060586X.2024.2386838.

Jade appeared on our pod as well, and we had a nice chat about evil Anglo-Saxons plotting against Moscow: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-the-bunker-with-darth-putin/id1732865476?i=1000648848793

In this episode:

• Darth is messign with his mic
• Dive into Maria's publication: Does Putin have an ideology?
• How to research the elites using open sources
• Indoctrination in culture and education
• Do Russians really believe this ideology?
• What Russians are being told about the unpleasantries of Ukraine's offensive 

Did you miss us this summer? We finally caught our sound editor, who's been in hiding, and we're back with season 2 of our podcast.

This time we sit down with Brendan B. Brown, the frontman of the Wheatus rock band, to talk about music censorship, Russian tsar Nicholas II, and many other things in between. When Brendan is not touring and performing on stage, he is quite a geopolitical commentator.

Find us on Youtube/IntheBunkerWithDarth

We now have video recordings of our podcast; subscribe to not miss our upcoming live sessions where you can ask questions and share your perspective.

Since Darth has decreed to exile everyone to Siberia, you may at least buy some tea on the plane or upgrade to a window seat. Payments are accepted via our Patreon page, www.patreon.com/IntheBunkerwithDarth

On a more serious note, we greatly appreciate your material contribution to our podcast.

Yours truly,

Katie from Minsk

In this episode, we welcome David Frum, a Canadian political commentator and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. David is currently a senior editor at The Atlantic and an MSNBC contributor. 

What we discuss:

• David expresses his belief that Trump will soon lose: "He would seem like a stronger candidate if he just stayed at Mar-a-Lago and kept quiet."
• We explore how Fox News broadcasts, let's say, false remarks on television and corrects them on Twitter. This implies that the modified message would only be seen by a considerably smaller audience.
• "That is an impressive disinformation project," David remarks, "to tell people things are going bad when they are going well." As I watched the first 2024 Trump-Biden debate, this struck a chord with my own thinking.
• Do you remember Russian-backed disinformation that the evil West is managing biolabs in Ukraine? David explains how the U.S. and Europe supported researchers from the former USSR who possessed sensitive knowledge to make sure they had continuous employment and didn't end up working for malicious actors. This disinformation was debunked on the BBC as well: https://www.bbc.com/news/60711705 
• We briefly mention Lee Harvey Oswald—yes, that guy who apparently shot JFK. He defected to the USSR and worked at a factory in Minsk, my hometown. He lived in the city center. Fancy. The Soviets were happy to award him for his change of loyalty.

Yours truly,

Katie from Minsk

* This episode was originally recorded for our Patreon supporters who receive premium content on Belarus, Russia, and Darth's insights on Twitter debates.

Join us on patreon.com/IntheBunkerwithDarth to engage directly with our team, ask questions, and shape the content you love. *

Greetings from the Bunker! In this 1-on-1 episode with Darth, we discuss:

• Russia-Belarus integration process: Yeah, we all have heard about it for over two decades, and Russia's appetite to swallow Belarus sounds like a false alarm—until it isn't.

• Putin's visit to Belarus on May 23, 2024. After all, Vladimir doesn't have many choices for traveling these days. The ICC warrant might have something to do with it. It's a good thing that Luka simply can't say no to him, so they can keep each other company.

• The Kremlin placed tactical nukes in Belarus a year ago. Why bother? Since it doesn't give Moscow's management an actual strategic advantage.

• The reorientation of Belarusian state-owned enterprises towards servicing Russian military needs.

• Grotesque trials against Lukashenka's opponents in absentia, where I am among the defendants.

Yours sincerely,

Katie from Minsk

Isn't it exciting that Darth and I are now talking to the smart guys at the GOP?

Tune into our chat with Rick Wilson, an American political strategist who ran campaigns for George W. Bush (R), Dick Cheney (R), and Rudy Giuliani (R).

In this episode:

• Why is U.S. support for Ukraine being micromanaged?
• Why do Putin's policies resonate with Trump supporters?
• Rick, who is the fifth-generation Floridian, is boasting that his soon-to-be-born granddaughter gets a parole officer at birth. Oh, those Floridians!

Yours truly,

Katie from Minsk