The Eastern Border
by Curonian
Soviet Union and shaping current Russia and it’s Government and Ideologies. The government of the USSR. History of the Soviet rule. Laws, culture and everyday life of a Soviet citizen. What did they see? How did they get by? What did they go through? And what is left after the collapse of USSR?The other side of the cold war - talking about politics in the EU, history of the USSR and the Eastern European region in general. Mostly for Americans, who also happen to be history geeks. Also, we're all friends here, and have beer!
Episodes
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3.07 “A Dolboyob, But Ours!”
First of all, yes, I know the thumbnail is wrong, but I noticed that a bit too late, I hope you won’t mind. The Russian empire has a peculiar talent for producing spectacles that read like satirical fiction. This week, Mikhail Zvinchuk—the sanctioned founder of the largest military Z-channel on...
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3.06 The Assembled Man: Life and crimes of Igor ‘Strelkov’ Girkin
In 2014, Igor Girkin crossed into Ukraine with 52 men and pulled the trigger on a continental war, convinced he was the reincarnation of a [...]
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3.05 Virtual Zone of Our Control
Maxim Shevchenko gave the only operational definition of victory that functions inside Russia’s neo-estate society: victory is whatever the President says it is, and everyone [...]
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3.04 Who Pays for the War
Three hundred and fifty-five seats. Whatever that was, it certainly wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning. Within days of the vote, the bill [...]
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3.03 History of Non-Elections
Russia just held its State Duma elections. United Russia walked away with 355 of 450 seats, the largest faction in its history, on a result [...]
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3.02 Pre-Voting in a Non-Binding Pseudo-Referendum. Sort-of.
Welcome back to the Chornaya Zona. In Episode 3.02, we execute a surgical strike on the administrative rot surrounding the GosDura 2026 elections. The Russian [...]
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3.01 Vranyo
The Russian state is not collapsing because of Western sanctions or NATO expansion. It is dying of a biological, bureaucratic pathogen it injected into its [...]
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3.0 Hardcore Eastern Border (A Dan Carlin tribute)
Season 3.0 of The Eastern Border begins here. Recorded 22 kilometers from the border of the Russian Federation, this is a 2-hour, 18-module geopolitical autopsy [...]
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2.56 Rabid Dogs on a Broken Leash
Welcome back to the Chornaya Zona. The Kremlin’s summer offensive has collapsed into a mathematical nightmare, the demographic death spiral is accelerating, and the imperial [...]
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2.55 They will hang me
CIA Director John Ratcliffe didn’t fly to Moscow to negotiate with diplomats—he flew in to hand the FSB a spreadsheet proving the Russian Empire is [...]
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Dark Autumn 3
Greetings, comrades! Welcome back to The Eastern Border for the definitive, third installment of the Dark Autumn series: The Latgalian Siege. Recorded straight from the [...]
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2.53 TFUM
Time to put on our Wall Street suits and dive into the spreadsheets to calculate the TFUM: The Total F*cked Up Metric. The Russian Federation [...]
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2.52 Serfdom Forever
Welcome to Serfdom Forever! The demographic hemorrhage has become so catastrophic that Moscow is now renting North Korean indentured servants to roll sushi in the [...]
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2.51 The Pirate, the Piglet, and the Cartel
In this special 7,000+ word extended autopsy set to the aggressive thrash metal of golden-era Metallica, I dismantle the terminal rot, financial death spirals, and [...]
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2.50 The 800,000 Ghosts
Welcome back to The Eastern Border. In Episode 2.50, we descend into the terminal madness of the Russian state apparatus. With the federal budget blowing [...]
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2.49 Crazy Vova’s Mad Emporium
Welcome back to The Eastern Border. I had a bit of a doozy with health, but we’re back now! In Episode 2.49, we take a [...]
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2.48 Dark Autumn for Russia 2
Back in April, the white-paper dreamers in Washington told you the Russian state was a rational actor optimizing its war effort. We used the Ponyatiya [...]
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2.47 I am a Bobbit Worm and I do “BLOOP”
Ukrainian deep-strike drones are acting as mechanical Bobbit worms—buried deep in the operational rear, snapping Russia’s supply chains in half. In Episode 2.47, we wade [...]
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2.46: National Peculiarities of Russian Freemasonry
When an empire starts running out of money, fuel, and soldiers, it doesn’t apologize—it doubles down on esoteric cosplay and window-dressing. In this episode of [...]
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2.45: The Wildberries Extinction Event
Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign has escalated into a systematic liquidation of Russia’s deep-rear logistics. As multi-billion-ruble Wildberries and Ozon distribution hubs burn from Krasnodar to [...]
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2.44 August Without an Emperor
August has always been a bad month for the Russian Empire. In this comprehensive Eastern European Gonzo brief, Kristaps Andrejsons rips through the sanitized corporate [...]
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2.43 …but it sometimes rhymes
The software patches on the Kremlin’s digital autocracy have officially failed, and the nineteenth-century Tsarist operating system underneath is throwing rods in real time. In [...]
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2.42 The Pantyhose Filter
Welcome back to the edge of the empire. In Episode 2.42, the grand illusion of the “Long War” officially crashes into a 69-hour line for [...]
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2.41 All Hail Hypnotoad
The Russian state isn’t just collapsing; it’s being quietly appraised for a corporate buyout. In Episode 2.41, we dive into the terminal loop of the [...]
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2.40 Fraud Watch
Welcome back to the studio at the edge of the empire. Today, the institutional lying known as Vranyo has officially collided with a physical, unyielding [...]
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2.39 Vranyo for Dummies
The global gas station has run out of gas. In Episode 2.39 of The Eastern Border, we pull back the heavy curtain of “Vranyo”—the mandatory, [...]
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The Eastern Border x Operator Starsky
Another of our collaboration episodes for the anniversary month! This time, with our good friend Operator Starsky! Trigger warning: There is mention of intimate activities [...]
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2.38 Existential Fanfiction
Happy Anniversary to The Eastern Border! We are celebrating the madness of the post-Soviet space by watching the Russian Federation actively cannibalize its own economy [...]
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The Eastern Border x Advent of Computing
In our second anniversary episode, we chat with Sean from Advent of Computing about Russian internet blocks and much more! Car4Ukraine Eastern Border Summer Campaign! [...]
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Transnistria (and other things) with The Red Line
Here’s the first one of our anniversary special episodes. This is a prolonged chat with Michael Hillard from The Red Line podcast. Donate to Ukraine: [...]
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2.37 The Simulated Empire
Welcome to the absolute peak of the “Simulated Empire.” It is June 2026, and the Russian Federation has finally achieved the ultimate geopolitical breakthrough: it [...]
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2:26 This was supposed to be SPIEF 2
The geopolitical abstract has officially broken down into physical, bleeding reality. Recorded live from Latgale, just 22 kilometers from the Russian border, host Kristaps Andrejsons [...]
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2.35 SPIEF 2026: We can. But why?
Welcome to Episode 2.35 of The Eastern Border: “SPIEF 2026: We can. But why?” While the Russian elite dine on 18,500-ruble elk lips at the [...]
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2.34 The Clone Trap is Burning
Before we dive into the grim reality of the Russian collapse, a quick note on the channel art. I’ve been listening to your feedback regarding [...]
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2.33 Eastern Border Special: Illusionary Calories
We were tired of talking about depressing military losses and bureaucratic collapses, so today Evita and I decided to bring you a cheerful, lighthearted special [...]
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2.32 Orthodox Armoured Polyethylene
The Russian state monopoly on violence is officially cracking. While the Kremlin legalises private corporate militaries for Gazprom and Rosatom to defend against systemic Ukrainian [...]
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2.31. The Empire Bleeds, part 2
The illusion of the Russian war machine is shattering. In Part 2 of our deep dive into the May 2026 reality, we strip away the [...]
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2.30 The Empire Bleeds, Part 1
In Part 1 of our massive 2.30 Double-Feature, we aren’t looking at the frontlines—we are looking at the multi-organ failure of the Russian state. Terminal [...]
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2.29 Overdosing on Vranyo
Greetings, comrades, and welcome to The Eastern Border. Today, we are taking a long, hard look into the rotting, schizophrenic core of the Russian imperial [...]
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2.28: Black Overlord
The Russian Federation has officially hit terminal velocity, and the Alpha-male imperial dream has been replaced by a desperate, hallucinating Cargo Cult. We dive into [...]
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2.27 Cuckoldry Day
Welcome to the 81st anniversary of Victory Day—the year the “Collector of Russian Lands” officially became a sub-letter of his own history. In this special [...]
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2.26 The Great Mattress Raid
The global oil market has shifted, and the UAE just handed the Kremlin an armor-piercing reality check. In Episode 2.26, we document the final, terminal [...]
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2.25 Dendro-Fecal Imperium
The Big Deal is dead. Welcome to the Dendro-Fecal Empire. While the Russian elites party in Dubai and the spreadsheet-watchers promise economic stability, the physical [...]
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2.24 The Black Rain
Today, we are opening the body bag and performing a brutal autopsy on the Russian state. We track the physical decay from the burning refineries [...]
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2.23 The Slow Freeze
Welcome back to The Eastern Border. While Western “Pink Pony” analysts look at top-line GDP numbers and declare the Russian war machine an unstoppable juggernaut, [...]
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Dark Autumn for Russia
Comrades, welcome to a special audio-only broadcast of The Eastern Border. (Using the classic thumbnail to mark this one—we are stepping away from the daily [...]
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2.22 The Terminal Matrix: 404 Empire Not Found
Welcome back to the nightmare, comrades. In this feature-length episode, we take a brutal, unsparing look under the hood of the Russian Federation’s terminal bureaucratic [...]
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2.21 Zero Day At The Ivory Tower
Greetings, Comrades. I…I seriously do not even. You’ll listen to this, and you will think that I’m crazy, BUT…well, when I say, try running those [...]
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2.20 The Asymmetrical Humiliation: Or Else, What?
Greetings, comrades! In Episode 2.20: The Asymmetrical Humiliation, we examine the sheer, terminal absurdity of the Russian Federation’s bureaucratic collapse.The geopolitical gravity has inverted: Armenian [...]
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2.19 Planet of Pink Ponies
The digital iron curtain just fell. This week, we dive into the total communications blackout in Moscow and St. Petersburg as the Kremlin panics over [...]
About this show
Soviet Union and shaping current Russia and it’s Government and Ideologies. The government of the USSR. History of the Soviet rule. Laws, culture and everyday life of a Soviet citizen. What did they see? How did they get by? What did they go through? And what is left after the collapse of USSR?The other side of the cold war - talking about politics in the EU, history of the USSR and the Eastern European region in general. Mostly for Americans, who also happen to be history geeks. Also, we're all friends here, and have beer!
Hosted by
Curonian