Silicon Curtain

By Jonathan Fink

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How many episodes does Silicon Curtain have?

The podcast currently has 1,319 episodes available.

Silicon Curtain episodes:

April 11, 2023 Olha Poliukhovych - Ukrainian Literature has been Influenced by its Complex History and Colonialism.
Today we are exploring the cultural aspects of the David and Goliath
struggle between Ukraine, a young democracy versus Russia an old
imperial autocracy. Russian propaganda ties to play up the similarities
between Ukrainian and Russian culture, because of some shared history
and cultural ties. However, there are significant differences between
the two literary traditions, due to the historical and cultural context
in which the two literary traditions developed. Ukrainian literature has
a strong tradition of folk tales and oral poetry, and it has been
influenced by the country's complex political and cultural history,
including periods of colonization and national struggle. Russian
literature, on the other hand, has been shaped by its own distinct
history, including periods of imperial expansion and revolutionary
upheaval. Ukrainian writers were persecuted in the 1920s during the
period of Soviet rule in Ukraine, as part of a process to suppress
Ukrainian national identity and culture and replace it with a new Soviet
identity; literature was a key tool for this, as it is also for Russia
today.
Olha Poliukhovych is a Writer, literary critic, and editor. She is an
Associate professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy,
and also Managing Editor at the Kyiv-Mohyla Humanities Journal. Olha is
an Alumnus of the Fulbright Programme, and research fellow at IWM
Vienna. And finally, she participates in an NGO together with Mariia
Shuvalova. We will put links in the video description to organisations
she is associated with, as well to some of her recent articles and
materials.
...more
1h
April 09, 2023 Oleksandra Romantsova - What can International Community do to Hold Russia Accountable for Crimes?
One year after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Nobel
Peace Prize winning organisation Centre for Civil Liberties has
documented more than 30,000 war crimes in the country. Their aim is for
an eventual “Tribunal for Putin” that will hold the criminals
accountable. But how does documenting Russian crimes by the Centre for
Civil Liberties and others help this process? While fighting against
Russian aggression, Ukraine is defending not only its independence, but
European security and the principles of democracy and open society. What
can the international community do to hold Russia accountable? This
interview will explore this vital topic, and how Russia’s versions of
the Nuremberg trials could be established.
Oleksandra Romantsova
is a Human rights activist, and since May 2014 has been working at the
Centre for Civil Liberties. As Executive Director, she learned that the
Centre for Civil Liberties had become the Nobel Peace Prize laureate for
2022. From 2016 she coordinated a project observing the human rights
violations and war crimes in the east of Ukraine, and political
persecution in occupied Crimea. As a leading figure within the Centre
for Civil Liberties she has been actively engaged in advocacy, seeking
international support for Ukraine and to bring those responsible for war
crimes in Ukraine to justice.
...more
1h
April 08, 2023 Taras Topolia - Ukrainian Rock Band Antytila Joined the Territorial Defence Forces before the War.
Taras Topolia is singer and frontman of leading Ukrainian rock band
Antytila. He is also spokesman of the Youth Council to President
Zelensky of Ukraine. In 2018, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the future president
of Ukraine, participated in one of their videoclips, LEGO. Antytila has
collaborated with U2 and Ed Sheeran as well as other bands and
musicians.
Shortly before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the band joined the
Territorial Defence Forces, having previously served as volunteers
since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. In March 2022, the band made an
appeal to perform remotely in the Concert for Ukraine, a benefit concert
raising funds for those affected by the invasion, but they were refused
a place at the concert due to their association with the military. As a
result, Ed Sheeran collaborated with the band on a remix of his song
‘2step’, with profits from streams of the music video being donated to
Music Saves UA, a fundraising project created to provide humanitarian
aid in Ukraine.
~/~/~/~/~
Antytila (Ukrainian: Антитіла) is a Ukrainian musical group. It includes
Taras Topolia (vocals), Serhii Vusyk (keyboard, artistic director),
Dmytro Zholud (guitar), and Dmytro Vodovozov (drums), Mykhailo Chyrko
(bass).
~/~/~/~/~
https://twitter.com/tarastopolia
https://twitter.com/antytila_offic
https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa
https://antytila.com/
~/~/~/~/~
...more
43min
April 07, 2023 Marnie Howlett - What Peace Settlement would be Acceptable to Ukrainians to End the Violence.
Ukraine confounded military experts and pundits in 2022, firstly by
surviving, and then by pushing the Russian army back from thousands of
square kilometres of its territory. Politicians and pundits around the
world had urged Ukraine to offer concessions in order to secure a peace
settlement with Russia. Giving up territory in the east or pledging to
remain neutral, would in their views have saved Ukrainian lives and
reduced the risk of Russian aggression or even a nuclear strike. But
Ukrainians are in no mood to trade land of concessions for a fragile or
temporary peace. It’s doubtful too whether anything the West or Ukraine
could have done, short or total capitulation, would have satisfied
Putin. But now Ukraine has shown extraordinary strength, resilience, and
success on the battlefields, it raises the question as to what sort of
settlement would be acceptable to Ukrainians and whether they may have
to cede some territory or sovereignty to end the violence.
Marnie Howlett is a Departmental Lecturer in Russian and East European
Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations and
Oxford’s School of Global and Area Studies. She is also an Associate
Member at St. Antony’s and Nuffield Colleges. Marnie's research lies at
the nexus of geopolitics, cartography, borders, and nationalism within
the former Soviet Union, particularly Ukraine. She has conducted
extensive fieldwork in the country analysing the role of borders in
shaping grassroots dynamics. Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine
war, she has been working on several projects related to Ukrainian
nation-building at the grassroots, including running public opinion and
conjoint experiment surveys in the country. Her main research interests
also include the use of digital, visual, and spatial methods for
political research.
~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~
...more
1h
April 06, 2023 Silicon Bites - Russia has Inflicted Huge Trauma on Ukraine in A Year of Aggression and Lies
Edition No6 | 17-03-2023
A Year of Aggression and Lies
~~~~~
FEATURED ARTICLES:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/11/russia-studies-war-ukraine-decolonize-imperialism-western-academics-soviet-empire-eurasia-eastern-europe-university/
It’s High Time to Decolonize Western Russia Studies
Why has it taken a war of conquest for experts to recognize Russia’s
nature as a vast imperial enterprise?
By Artem Shaipov, a member of the Aspen Institute’s NextGen
Transatlantic Initiative, and Yuliia Shaipova, an advisor at the
Ukrainian Parliament.
~~~~~

...more
35min
April 04, 2023 Yuri Felshtinsky - Day by day Russia Seems to be Turning Back the Clock to Darker Times from History
Day by day Russia seems to be turning back the clock to darker times.
Pick the worst periods of Russian history and you will find echoes of
them in the present day – whether that be the economic and mafia chaos
of the 90s, the privations and exceptionalism of the Soviet period,
nuclear threat of the Cold War era, Stalin’s repressions and purges, the
slaughter of WWII, poverty of the 19th century or unrelenting imperial
expansionism of Ivan the Terrible’s times. In its political mythology
and with its weaponed education system, Russia is a country whose focus
is on the past more than the future, and daily reminds us why looking
forward can sometimes be healthier than looking backwards.
----------
SPEAKER:
Dr Yuri Felshtinsky is a prominent author, historian, and journalist,
and expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union. He has appeared in
print, TV, and radio interviews worldwide, and is widely known as
co-author of the book “Blowing Up Russia” with Alexander Litvinenko, a
former Lieutenant Colonel in the FSB who was poisoned with radioactive
polonium in London in 2006. His latest book – “Blowing up Ukraine: The
Return of Russian Terror and The Threat of World War III”, was
researched before the invasion of Ukraine and is the first comprehensive
investigation into the lethal methods Russia has used since 1999 to
take over Ukraine – culminating in the full-blown unprovoked war in 2022
and mounting atrocities. More recently he has warned of the risk of a
nuclear strike from the territory of Belarus, and it’s the topic of
strategic nuclear blackmail that we’ll be discussing today.
----------
BOOKS:
Blowing Up Ukraine: The Return of Russian Terror and the Threat of World
War III (2022)
The Putin Corporation: The Story of Russia's Secret Takeover (2012)
Lenin and His Comrades (2010)
The KGB Plays Chess: The Soviet Secret Police and the Fight for the
World Chess Crown (2010)
The age of assassins (2008)
Corporation: Russia and the KGB in the Age of President Putin (2008)
Blowing Up Russia (2002)
...more
1h 12min
April 02, 2023 Valeria Kovtun - Building Resilience to Russian Disinformation on a Mass Scale -Lessons for the West
Disinformation continues to be a threat to Ukrainian sovereignty and
unity, though is perhaps not as effective as it was in the years
2014-2022. But around the world aggressive information warfare still
threatens information security and social stability, especially in
states which Russia seeks to destabilise or coerce into supporting it.
As we saw in the 2016 US elections, it can potentially threaten results
of voting, place undue influence on voters’ decisions and undermine
democratic processes.
Valeria Kovtun is Head at Filter, the National media literacy project
founded in Ukraine. FILTER aims to make society more resilient to
misinformation and is a crucial tool in Ukraine’s armoury to defend
itself from aggressive Russian information warfare. Valeria was formerly
a journalist at BBC Reel, a senior correspondent at major Ukrainian
media organisations, and a fellow journalist at the United Nations. She
also has a background in video production, content management and news
broadcasting. Valeria Kovtun has studied at law, Media Communications,
and journalism at several prestigious institutions, including the Kyiv
National Economics University, the Taras Shevchenko National University
of Kyiv, and The London School of Economics.
...more
42min
April 02, 2023 Jenny Mathers - Why Experts Underestimate Ukraine’s Potential and Over-estimating Russia’s Strengths
Every time Ukraine pulls off another ‘improbable’ victory, or achieves a
substantial breakthrough, journalists and military analysts return to
their familiar refrain that ‘the war will now grind on indefinitely’ or
that ‘there will be no more advances until spring’. From the battle of
Kyiv, to Kharkiv and now Kherson, the stark evidence of extraordinary
Ukrainian capability and boundless Russian incompetence is quickly
forgotten. It seems that underestimating Ukraine’s potential and
over-estimating Russia’s strength is a comfort zone the experts cannot
tear themselves away from.
Jenny Mathers is a senior academic with expertise in Russian politics
and security, gender, and conflict. She has been a Senior Lecturer at
Aberystwyth University since 1992. Jenny Mathers is experienced in
Policy Analysis, Political Science, and lecturing. She is a Doctor of
Philosophy (Ph.D.) focused on International Relations gained from
Somerville College, Oxford University.
...more
1h 3min
April 02, 2023 Emma L Briant - The Woman Exposing the Propaganda Puppet Masters - Leading Expert on Information War
The Putin regime has been widely exploiting the vulnerabilities of
global social media platforms, using bots and trolls to promote specific
stories and narratives. But they are not alone once developed the same
techniques can be used by other powers, international and local to
subvert democratic institutions and to warp public perception of the
news and politics in their countries. But Russian propaganda does not
work how most people think it does. The interventions of the trolls and
agitators often fail to directly promote pro-regime narratives in
political discussions but do succeed in distracting people from having
open discussions that are critical of the state. The mechanics of
disinformation operations are often counter-intuitive – and we’ll unpack
this topic in today’s episode.
----------
SPEAKER:
Emma L Briant is an internationally recognized expert and scholar of
information warfare and propaganda who helps policy makers, governments,
business leaders, journalists and the general public understand and
respond to the challenge of contemporary online threats. Emma is a
fellow of Bard College. She has been called “The woman exposing the
propaganda puppet masters” by Index on Censorship in 2022, and “One of
the world's leading experts in information wars.” by Der Spiegel in
2023. Her research and solutions on the rapid evolution of surveillance
driven propaganda and its implications for democracy were central in
exposing the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Her work continues to inform
policy including through US Congress, UK Parliament, Canadian Parliament
and the European Parliament.
----------
BOOKS:
Propaganda and counterterrorism: Strategies for global change (2015)
Bad News for Refugees by Greg Philo, Emma Briant, et al. (2013)
----------
LINKS:
Emma Briant blog and website: https://emma-briant.co.uk/
Emma Briant on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Briant
Emma Briant on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmmaLBriant
Emma Briant on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmalbriant/
Emma Briant on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/emmalbriant
Emma Briant at Open Democracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/es/author/emma-l-briant/
Emma Briant at Bard College: https://www.bard.edu/faculty/details/?id=4601
Reading list: https://www.patreon.com/posts/78981573
About Cambridge Analytica: https://www.propagandamachine.tech/
UK Parliamentary committee report: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/96662/html/
----------
...more
56min
April 01, 2023 Hein Goemans - It’s Going to take More Dying and Destruction Before Russia is Prepared to make Deal
After the first anniversary of the full-scale war, a febrile and
impatient media is asking the question “when will the war end” with
greater frequency. There are many reasons for this – of course a concern
for the loss of life, the destruction, and the economic pain. But also,
war fatigue, misunderstanding the combatant’s motivations and actions,
and a general lack of historical perspective, leading them to
misunderstand the mechanics and practice of warfare. My guest this week
is Hein Goemans, an expert in war termination theory (in other words,
how wars end). He explains that “It’s going to take a lot more dying and
destruction before both sides are prepared to make a deal, or even
start defining what a deal could like”. So is there any clear end to
this war in sight, or are the two sides too far apart, with radically
different objectives.
----------
SPEAKER:
Hein Goemans, professor at the University of Rochester in the United
States. His academic specialism is war termination theory. Hein is a
specialist in the politics of war, war termination and territorial
disputes. His first book, War and Punishment (2000), and asks what keeps
wars going and what makes them stop, and focuses on the role of leaders
in war termination – with an empirical focus on World War I. His second
book, Leaders, and International Conflict (2011) and focuses on the
role of leaders in war initiation, a very relevant area of study in the
context of the Ukraine war. Goemans' publications have appeared in the
American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political
Science, the Journal of Politics, and other publications. Goemans has
discussed his work on war termination in the context of the war in
Ukraine in articles in The New Yorker and the Monkey Cage as well as in
international media, such as the BBC's The Inquiry, Cable News CBC,
Euronews, CNN Portugal, France 24, and other outlets as well as in print
media such as The Financial Times, Der Spiegel, and Die Zeit.
----------
LINKS:
https://www.ft.com/content/b3f7ea51-dcc2-4011-b3ac-45faabdc35c7
Ukraine series: how long will the war last? What history tells us about why some conflicts endure, and others end quickly.
https://www.rochester.edu/college/faculty/hgoemans/
https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691049441/war-and-punishment
----------
...more
46min

FAQs about Silicon Curtain:

How many episodes does Silicon Curtain have?

The podcast currently has 1,319 episodes available.

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