EPISODE · Apr 14, 2026 · 18 MIN
Why is Putin HIDING? Is May 9th Moscow Victory Day Parade to be Cancelled?!
from Silicon Curtain · host Jonathan Fink
Published on Victory Day - deliberately. While Putin’s tanks roll across Red Square on 9 May (if the parade goes ahead), Ukrainian drone operators are dismantling that same military in real time. The Dark Heart of Russia is published on that date as an ironic statement: the war Russia says it is winning is the war it has already lost.WHO IS IN IT: Four NATO commanding officers. The former NSC Russia director. The man who broke the Kremlin’s money. A chess grandmaster. A Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The Russian Duma deputy who cast the lone vote against the annexation of Crimea - who now fights for Ukraine. 30 of the world’s leading experts deliver the verdict the West has been too timid to hear. General David H. Petraeus, General Sir Richard Shirreff, General Mark Hertling, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, Fiona Hill, Garry Kasparov, Bill Browder, Peter Pomerantsev, Luke Harding, Mark Galeotti, Oleksandra Romantsova, Ilya Ponomarev, and fourteen more.Edited by Jonathan Fink | Gibson Square | Publication date 9 May 2026. Drawn for their exceptional insight into Russia’s political soul from nearly 1,000 long-form interviews recorded for the leading Geopolitical podcast Silicon Curtain (YouTube) - 2M+ views/month, 180k subscribers.----------The Dark Heart of Russia - NOW available from the following stores: Bookshop.orghttps://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-dark-heart-of-russia-a-startling-journey-through-russia-s-sinister-culture-jonathan-fink/a452423d870823fcWorld of Bookshttps://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/dark-heart-of-russia-book-jonathan-fink-9781783342662Waterstoneshttps://www.waterstones.com/book/the-dark-heart-of-russia/jonathan-fink//9781783342662Blackwellshttps://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781783342662Hatchardshttps://www.hatchards.co.uk/book/the-dark-heart-of-russia/bill-browder/9781783342679Amazon UKhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Heart-Russia-Journey-Startling/dp/1783342668/ref=mp_s_a_1_3----------FOUR ARGUMENTS THE WEST HAS REFUSED TO MAKE1. Russians are also the problem.The fiction that Putin alone is responsible does not survive the evidence. Vast sections of Russian society have participated actively in an imperial project that has killed hundreds of thousands.2. Something is structurally wrong with Russia.The rot predates Putin and will outlast him. Contributors trace it from the totalitarian inheritance to today’s Orwellian state. Regime change alone is not a solution, for an empire wired for aggression.3. Russia is the global export hub for kleptocracy.The Kremlin is the laboratory for ‘kleptocratism’: capturing democracies, weaponising grievance, installing strongmen, exporting chaos. From Trump’s America to Orbán’s Hungary - Moscow’s playbook is everywhere.4. This war is the hinge of the century.How it ends - and on whose terms - will determine whether constitutional democracies or the authoritarian-kleptocrat model prevails. There is no separating Ukraine from the wider crisis of the West.“The West is, once again, being lulled to sleep. The thirty voices in this book are the ones who have spent their careers refusing to let that happen.” - Jonathan Fink----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Car4Ukrainehttps://car4ukraine.com/en-US/campaignsDzyga's Pawhttps://dzygaspaw.com/projectsSuperhumans - Hospital for 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.org----------
What this episode covers
Published on Victory Day - deliberately. While Putin’s tanks roll across Red Square on 9 May (if the parade goes ahead), Ukrainian drone operators are dismantling that same military in real time. The Dark Heart of Russia is published on that date as an ironic statement: the war Russia says it is winning is the war it has already lost.WHO IS IN IT: Four NATO commanding officers. The former NSC Russia director. The man who broke the Kremlin’s money. A chess grandmaster. A Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The Russian Duma deputy who cast the lone vote against the annexation of Crimea - who now fights for Ukraine. 30 of the world’s leading experts deliver the verdict the West has been too timid to hear. General David H. Petraeus, General Sir Richard Shirreff, General Mark Hertling, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, Fiona Hill, Garry Kasparov, Bill Browder, Peter Pomerantsev, Luke Harding, Mark Galeotti, Oleksandra Romantsova, Ilya Ponomarev, and fourteen more.Edited by Jonathan Fink | Gibson Square | Publication date 9 May 2026. Drawn for their exceptional insight into Russia’s political soul from nearly 1,000 long-form interviews recorded for the leading Geopolitical podcast Silicon Curtain (YouTube) - 2M+ views/month, 180k subscribers.----------The Dark Heart of Russia - NOW available from the following stores: Bookshop.orghttps://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-dark-heart-of-russia-a-startling-journey-through-russia-s-sinister-culture-jonathan-fink/a452423d870823fcWorld of Bookshttps://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/dark-heart-of-russia-book-jonathan-fink-9781783342662Waterstoneshttps://www.waterstones.com/book/the-dark-heart-of-russia/jonathan-fink//9781783342662Blackwellshttps://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781783342662Hatchardshttps://www.hatchards.co.uk/book/the-dark-heart-of-russia/bill-browder/9781783342679Amazon UKhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Heart-Russia-Journey-Startling/dp/1783342668/ref=mp_s_a_1_3----------FOUR ARGUMENTS THE WEST HAS REFUSED TO MAKE1. Russians are also the problem.The fiction that Putin alone is responsible does not survive the evidence. Vast sections of Russian society have participated actively in an imperial project that has killed hundreds of thousands.2. Something is structurally wrong with Russia.The rot predates Putin and will outlast him. Contributors trace it from the totalitarian inheritance to today’s Orwellian state. Regime change alone is not a solution, for an empire wired for aggression.3. Russia is the global export hub for kleptocracy.The Kremlin is the laboratory for ‘kleptocratism’: capturing democracies, weaponising grievance, installing strongmen, exporting chaos. From Trump’s America to Orbán’s Hungary - Moscow’s playbook is everywhere.4. This war is the hinge of the century.How it ends - and on whose terms - will determine whether constitutional democracies or the authoritarian-kleptocrat model prevails. There is no separating Ukraine from the wider crisis of the West.“The West is, once again, being lulled to sleep. The thirty voices in this book are the ones who have spent their careers refusing to let that happen.” - Jonathan Fink----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Car4Ukrainehttps://car4ukraine.com/en-US/campaignsDzyga's Pawhttps://dzygaspaw.com/projectsSuperhumans - Hospital for 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.org----------
NOW PLAYING
Why is Putin HIDING? Is May 9th Moscow Victory Day Parade to be Cancelled?!
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
May 7, 2026 ·65m
Apr 30, 2026 ·59m
Dec 13, 2025 ·68m