Natalie Sabanadze is Senior Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Program, at Chatham House. Natalie was Georgia’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, and the EU and head of the Georgian mission to the European Union in May 2013. Prior to assuming her current position, Sabanadze worked as the senior adviser to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in The Hague. She held a number of posts with the OSCE HCNM, including head of Central and Southeast Europe section and more recently, head of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia section. ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/natasabanadze https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-people/natalie-sabanadze https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-sabanadze-8a9b892a/ https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/about/people/natalie-sabanadze-0 ---------- ARTICLES: https://www.chathamhouse.org/events/all/members-event/whats-next-ukraines-path-eu-accession https://carnegieeurope.eu/2023/05/17/who-is-afraid-of-georgian-democracy-pub-89746 https://cepa.org/article/drugs-lies-and-secret-tapes-georgias-faltering-democracy/ ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NGO “Herojam Slava” https://heroiamslava.org/ kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ NOR DOG Animal Rescue https://www.nor-dog.org/home/ ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: 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.

Vladimir Putin's regime has increasingly been accused of embracing fascism, in its annexation of Crimea, its historical revisionism, attacks on liberal democratic values, and its support for far-right movements in Europe. These tendencies have accelerated with the full-scale war in Ukraine. So, does Russia now meet the diverse criteria for historic fascism, or it’s off-shoot, German Nazism? Russia has successfully muddied the waters, by branded itself as the world's preeminent antifascist power because of its sacrifices during the Second World War. But Russia continues to weaponize and debase that legacy of WWII, embracing the same characteristics, policies, and tactics of the axis powers. ---------- Marlène Laruelle is Research Professor of the Illiberalism studies department at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at the George Washington University. Marlène is a French historian, sociologist, and political scientist who specializes in Eurasia and Europe, and is one of the most prolific and insightful Western experts on issues related to Russian nationalism and memory politics. Formerly, she was Senior Research Fellow at the Central Asia and Caucasus Institute and Research Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars. ---------- LINKS: http://marlene-laruelle.com/ https://elliott.gwu.edu/marlene-laruelle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marl%C3%A8ne_Laruelle https://www.ifri.org/en/about/team/marlene-laruelle https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/about/people/marlene-laruelle https://www.ifri.org/en/publications/publications-ifri/ouvrages-ifri/russia-fascist-unraveling-propaganda-east-and-west ---------- BOOKS: Is Russia Fascist? Unravelling Propaganda East and West (2021) Central Peripheries: Nationhood in Central Asia (2021) Memory Politics and the Russian Civil War: Reds Versus Whites (2020) Understanding Russia: The Challenges of Transformation (2018) Russian Nationalism: Imaginaries, Doctrines, and Political Battlefields (2018) Russian Eurasianism (2008) ---------- ARTICLES: https://www.faena.com/aleph/umberto-eco-a-practical-list-for-identifying-fascists https://www.russiamatters.org/analysis/review-marlene-laruelles-russia-fascist-unraveling-propaganda-east-and-west ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NGO “Herojam Slava” https://heroiamslava.org/ kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ NOR DOG Animal Rescue https://www.nor-dog.org/home/ ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: 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.

Illia Ponomarenko is a Ukrainian journalist, war reporter and defence analyst formerly writing for The Kyiv Independent. In January 2023, given his prominent role in reporting from the conflict, he was described by Der Spiegel as "likely the best-known Ukrainian after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy". He has written an account of his experiences reporting on the war – I Will Show You How It Was: The Story of Wartime Kyiv (to be released in August 2024). ---------- BOOK SUMMARY: In late February 2022, a series of missiles and rocket strikes began falling upon Ukraine, as the Russian military barreled over the border and fanned out across the country. First they took Chernobyl, then Kherson, then Mariupol. Time stood still as the world waited for Ukraine to flatten underneath the boot of its neighbor. Meanwhile, on the front lines in the capital city, Kyiv Independent reporter Illia Ponomarenko was seeing a different story on unfold: after months-years-of waiting for this long-feared attack, Ukraine was fed up and ready to fight back. The Russians bogged down hard in combat east and west of Kyiv. They got exhausted. They screwed up logistics. They sustained heavy losses. Their unbelievably overconfident blitz was failing. I Will Show You How It Was is Illia Ponomarenko's heart-wrenching memoir of the war on his homeland, offering a fiery diatribe against Russian hypocrisy and a moving look at what is being lost. But it's also a story of pride and even elation as Ukrainian forces come together, find their mojo, and oust the invaders from Kyiv. The most powerful and personal chronicle of the war to date, I Will Show You How It Was is an exceptional literary achievement, chronicling a stunning feat of resistance and a courageous people set on a miraculous victory. ---------- LINKS: https://kyivindependent.com/author/illia-ponomarenko/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illia_Ponomarenko https://www.theguardian.com/profile/illia-ponomarenko ---------- BOOKS: I Will Show You How It Was: The Story of Wartime Kyiv (2024). https://www.amazon.co.uk/Will-Show-You-How-Was/dp/1639733876 https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/i-will-show-you-how-it-was-9781639733880/ ---------- ARTICLES: https://kyivindependent.com/illia-ponomarenko-the-story-of-wartime-kyiv/ https://lawliberty.org/book-review/horror-and-heroism-in-the-battle-of-kyiv/ https://time.com/6836750/ukraine-biden-us-congress/ https://kyivindependent.com/what-will-it-take-for-ukraine-to-maintain-and-operate-the-m1-abrams/ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/09/kyiv-suburbs-stalingrad-ukraine-capital-city ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NGO “Herojam Slava” https://heroiamslava.org/ kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ NOR DOG Animal Rescue https://www.nor-dog.org/home/ ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: 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.

Ukraine will not succeed in liberating its lands without the provision of long-range missiles, argues Colby Badhwar. For Kyiv, the ability to strike operational and strategic targets deep inside enemy territory — i.e. inside Russia itself — is not a whim, but a crucial necessity. But are allies framing their strategy and aligning their production and logistic capabilities accordingly? The manufacturer of German TAURUS missiles has halted production due to a lack of orders. Meanwhile, Chancellor Olaf Scholz remains adamant in refusing to supply Ukraine with long-range weapons. Do the Western allies want victory, or merely prevent Ukraine from being annihilated by a revanchist Russian empire? ---------- Colby Badhwar is a security columnist at The Insider, a Russia-focused, independent media outlet. He is a defence and news analyst with an emphasis on procurement, arms sales military aid to Ukraine. Colby is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/ColbyBadhwar https://theins.ru/en/opinion/colby-badhwar ---------- ARTICLES: https://theins.ru/en/opinion/colby-badhwar/266452 https://www.mediaite.com/politics/tucker-carlson-roasted-for-not-challenging-putins-claim-that-poland-was-to-blame-for-hitler-invading/ https://theins.ru/en/opinion/colby-badhwar/270670 https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/did-the-biden-administration-fall-for-russias-nuclear-propaganda/ ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NGO “Herojam Slava” https://heroiamslava.org/ kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ NOR DOG Animal Rescue https://www.nor-dog.org/home/ ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: 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.

Jen Stout is a journalist, writer, and radio producer from Scotland, frequently working in Ukraine. Originally from Shetland she has lived in Germany and Russia. Her reports are often found in the Sunday Post and on BBC Radio. And she’s written a fabulous book: Night Train to Odesa: Covering the Human Cost of Russia's War, which we’ll be discussing today. ---------- 'NIGHT TRAIN TO ODESA' Sometimes, in the last few years, Jen Stout has found herself in bomb shelters and subterranean facilities, surrounded by death and destruction. She has watched as women in their seventies slept on cold floors in an underground station and fretted about her, instead of complaining about their own situation. As she says: “They’d worry about the weight of my flak jacket, my general health, was I eating enough, did I miss my family….it was an overwhelming amount of kindness and solidarity, because we were all in this together, all sheltering from the bangs above. “Except, of course, I could leave and go back to my peaceful, normal home, and they could not, and that makes you feel terribly guilty, if you dwell on it.” Typically, for somebody with her compassion and empathy for the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine, Jen has dwelt on it in her acclaimed new book Night Train to Odesa. And it explains a lot about how this redoubtable individual has advanced from growing up in Shetland to become one of the most potent war correspondents of her generation. FROM ARTICLE: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/lifestyle/6417316/shetland-writer-jen-stout-war-ukraine/ ---------- LINKS: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-stout-61903b53/ https://birlinn.co.uk/contributor/jen-stout/ https://jennybrownassociates.com/author/jen-stout BOOKS: Night Train to Odesa: Covering the Human Cost of Russia’s War Hardcover – 2 May 2024 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Train-Odesa-Covering-Russias/dp/1846976472 "When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, millions of lives changed in an instant." Millions of people were suddenly on the move. In this great flow of people was a reporter from the north of Scotland. Jen Stout left Moscow abruptly, ending up on a border post in southeast Romania, from where she began to cover the human cost of Russian aggression. Her first-hand, vivid reporting brought the war home to readers in Scotland as she reported from front lines and cities across Ukraine. Stories from the night trains, birthday parties, military hospitals and bunkers: stories from the ground, from a writer with a deep sense of empathy, always seeking to understand the bigger picture, the big questions of identity, history, hopes and fears in this war in Europe. Night Train to Odesa begins in Russia and continues to focus on people, relationships and individuals in Ukraine. It is the account of a young female reporter with no institutional backup or security. Both in language and themes, it is accessible and highly readable. ---------- ARTICLES: https://muckrack.com/jen-stout/articles https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/jen-stout/ https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/europe/61781/ukraines-war-of-the-words ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NGO “Herojam Slava” https://heroiamslava.org/ kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ NOR DOG Animal Rescue https://www.nor-dog.org/home/ ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: 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.

Ilya Ponomarev is a Russian-Ukrainian politician who was a member of the Russian State Duma from 2007 to 2016. After the 2022 Russian invasion, Ponomarev joined Ukraine's Territorial Defence Forces, and categorically denounced the invasion. While a member of the Russian State Duma, he was the only deputy not to vote in favour of the Russian gay propaganda law and to vote against Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014. In 2015, while in the US, Ponomarev was formally charged in Russia with embezzlement, which he called politically motivated. In 2016, he was impeached for not performing his duties, and he went into exile in Ukraine, where he obtained Ukrainian citizenship in 2019. Ilya Ponomarev has endorsed acts of sabotage and arson in Russia and claims to be a spokesman with insurgent Russian forces (National Republican Army) fighting on the side of Ukraine. ---------- ARTICLES: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/01/19/ilya-ponomaryov-we-have-to-capture-the-kremlin-there-is-no-other-way-a83772 ---------- BOOKS: Does Putin Have to Die? The Story of How Russia Becomes a Democracy after Losing to Ukraine (Hardcover – 19 Jan. 2023) ---------- LINKS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Ponomarev ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NGO “Herojam Slava” https://heroiamslava.org/ kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ NOR DOG Animal Rescue https://www.nor-dog.org/home/ ---------- WATCH NEXT: Yuri Felshtinsky https://youtu.be/PWGC2il6svU Konstantin Samoilov https://youtu.be/ogYRqb24ltc Grigor Atanesian https://youtu.be/oxDAieyJt9I Maria Snegovaya https://youtu.be/qL6lAj2UsPk Olga Solovyeva https://youtu.be/ABNXnXV-7ic ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: 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.