Silicon Curtain

Jason Jay Smart is a political adviser who has lived and worked in Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Latin America. Due to his work with the democratic opposition to Vladimir Putin, Smart was made persona non grata for life by Russia in 2010. Jason is a Special Correspondent at the Kyiv Post. It’s the state of US support for Ukraine that we will discuss today.----------LINKS:https://jasonjaysmart.com/ https://www.kyivpost.com/authors/5 https://americanpoliticalservices.com/https://www.facebook.com/jasonjaysmarthttps://twitter.com/officejjsmart ----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------ACTIVE CAMPAIGN:We are raising funds for 5 of 15 Vampire DronesSilicon Curtain for Kupiansk Vampires. Dzyga’s Paw, together with Jonathan Fink, is joining forces to raise $40,000 to provide the Khartiia Brigade with Vampire Drones.https://dzygaspaw.com/silicon-curtain-for-kupiansk-vampiresThese heavy bombers are designed to destroy manpower and equipment, as well as for remote mining. The Vampire UAV, manufactured by Skyfall, has proven itself to be one of the most effective weapons in the Kupiansk direction. Skyfall is one of Ukraine’s largest defense tech companies, producing Vampire bomber drones, various modifications of Shrike FPV drones, P1-SUN, Shahed drone interceptors, communication systems, and components.----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Car4Ukrainehttps://car4ukraine.com/en-US/campaignsDzyga's Pawhttps://dzygaspaw.com/projectsSuperhumans - Hospital for war 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.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/----------PLATFORMS:Substack: https://substack.com/@siliconcurtainTwitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSiliconLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm----------

Silicon Bites SW26-218 | 2026-06-25 | We Haven't Started Yet. The empty-threat doctrine: Putin reaches for Istanbul 2022, and his ministers promise the "real" war – claiming once more that Russia “has only just started’ fighting – a claim that is getting hollower and more absurd by the day — while Moscow's own refinery burns and there is no hidden gear left to find.On the morning of 18 June, the largest drone raid of the entire war hit Moscow. Black smoke over the southern skyline. Soot raining onto the streets. The Kapotnya refinery — the plant that supplies roughly a third of the capital's fuel — on fire for the second time in a week. Vladimir Putin was 700 kilometres away in Kazan, smiling for the cameras at a summit with Southeast Asian leaders. He said nothing about the smoke.----------ACTIVE CAMPAIGN:We are raising funds for 5 of 15 Vampire DronesSilicon Curtain for Kupiansk Vampires. Dzyga’s Paw, together with Jonathan Fink, is joining forces to raise $40,000 to provide the Khartiia Brigade with Vampire Drones.https://dzygaspaw.com/silicon-curtain-for-kupiansk-vampiresThese heavy bombers are designed to destroy manpower and equipment, as well as for remote mining. The Vampire UAV, manufactured by Skyfall, has proven itself to be one of the most effective weapons in the Kupiansk direction. Skyfall is one of Ukraine’s largest defense tech companies, producing Vampire bomber drones, various modifications of Shrike FPV drones, P1-SUN, Shahed drone interceptors, communication systems, and components.----------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:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war 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----------SOURCES:----------

Dr. Joshua E. "Bugsy" Segal is Co-Founder and Vice President for Strategy and Innovation at Deft9 Solutions, a Washington-DC-based national security consultancy. He carries a PhD in Russian Studies from George Washington University. His career has run for more than thirty years across military, civilian, and intelligence positions in US national security. He served as a naval officer and retired in 2020 after a closing tour as a lead planner at US Special Operations Command, working on counter-WMD and great-power-competition requirements. Since retirement, Segal has worked as a senior national security consultant focused on information warfare, arms control, and hybrid warfare strategies. ----------LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-e-segal-phd-%E2%80%9Cbugsy%E2%80%9D-394752a7/https://www.fpri.org/contributor/joshua-segal/----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------ACTIVE CAMPAIGN:We are raising funds for 5 of 15 Vampire DronesSilicon Curtain for Kupiansk Vampires. Dzyga’s Paw, together with Jonathan Fink, is joining forces to raise $40,000 to provide the Khartiia Brigade with Vampire Drones.https://dzygaspaw.com/silicon-curtain-for-kupiansk-vampiresThese heavy bombers are designed to destroy manpower and equipment, as well as for remote mining. The Vampire UAV, manufactured by Skyfall, has proven itself to be one of the most effective weapons in the Kupiansk direction. Skyfall is one of Ukraine’s largest defense tech companies, producing Vampire bomber drones, various modifications of Shrike FPV drones, P1-SUN, Shahed drone interceptors, communication systems, and components.----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Car4Ukrainehttps://car4ukraine.com/en-US/campaignsDzyga's Pawhttps://dzygaspaw.com/projectsSuperhumans - Hospital for war 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.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/----------PLATFORMS:Substack: https://substack.com/@siliconcurtainTwitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSiliconLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm----------

H. Perry Boyle Jr. is the CEO and co-founder of MITS Capital LLC — Military Innovation Technology Solutions — and chairman of MITS Industries, the Danish-Ukrainian defence-tech joint venture announced in September 2025. He divides his time between Kyiv and Ketchum, Idaho. Boyle came to Ukrainian defence technology from three decades on Wall Street. He held senior positions at SAC Capital and Point72 — where he served as head of equities and capital development, managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios across global markets. His co-founders are Denys Gurak (COO and CIO, former venture partner at FF Venture Capital) and Anton Melnyk (Founding Partner, Ukraine-based). The MITS Industries board co-chairs are a former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment and a retired US Army Colonel with 26 years in defence and transatlantic security — that combination signals the political-strategic positioning Boyle has built around the firm.----------LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/perryboyle/https://www.cnas.org/people/h-perry-boylehttps://mits.capital/team/----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------ACTIVE CAMPAIGN:We are raising funds for 5 of 15 Vampire DronesSilicon Curtain for Kupiansk Vampires. Dzyga’s Paw, together with Jonathan Fink, is joining forces to raise $40,000 to provide the Khartiia Brigade with Vampire Drones.https://dzygaspaw.com/silicon-curtain-for-kupiansk-vampiresThese heavy bombers are designed to destroy manpower and equipment, as well as for remote mining. The Vampire UAV, manufactured by Skyfall, has proven itself to be one of the most effective weapons in the Kupiansk direction. Skyfall is one of Ukraine’s largest defense tech companies, producing Vampire bomber drones, various modifications of Shrike FPV drones, P1-SUN, Shahed drone interceptors, communication systems, and components.----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Car4Ukrainehttps://car4ukraine.com/en-US/campaignsDzyga's Pawhttps://dzygaspaw.com/projectsSuperhumans - Hospital for war 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.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/----------PLATFORMS:Substack: https://substack.com/@siliconcurtainTwitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSiliconLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm----------

Silicon Bites SW26-217 | 2026-06-24 | Zelensky stops asking Lukashenko to stay out of the war — and starts counting down to the moment Ukraine removes the equipment Russia has placed on their territory to harm Ukraine, for him. He has been warned, but this warning also demonstrates a more muscular and confident approach from Ukraine. They are they only one globally who have shown the will and capacity to constrain and contain Russia and deliver consequences for its aggression.There is a clock counting down in Minsk now. It started on Friday. For four years and four months, the West has treated Alexander Lukashenko as a bystander to this war. A nervous neighbour. A man who lent Putin his territory once, in February 2022, watched the missiles fly out of his own country into Ukrainian apartment blocks, and then phoned Kyiv to apologise and explain it wasn't really his fault. The bystander narrative has been very convenient — for Lukashenko, for Moscow, and for every Western capital that would rather not think about NATO's longest land border with a hostile state, a willing puppet of the Kremlin’s ambitions. ----------ACTIVE CAMPAIGN:We are raising funds for 5 of 15 Vampire DronesSilicon Curtain for Kupiansk Vampires. Dzyga’s Paw, together with Jonathan Fink, is joining forces to raise $40,000 to provide the Khartiia Brigade with Vampire Drones.https://dzygaspaw.com/silicon-curtain-for-kupiansk-vampiresThese heavy bombers are designed to destroy manpower and equipment, as well as for remote mining. The Vampire UAV, manufactured by Skyfall, has proven itself to be one of the most effective weapons in the Kupiansk direction. Skyfall is one of Ukraine’s largest defense tech companies, producing Vampire bomber drones, various modifications of Shrike FPV drones, P1-SUN, Shahed drone interceptors, communication systems, and components.----------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:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war 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----------SOURCES:Kyiv Independent — "'A week will be enough' — Zelensky issues ultimatum to Lukashenko over drone-guidance equipment" (19 June 2026)UNITED24 Media — "'If He Does Not Do This, We Will': Zelenskyy Issues 7-Day Ultimatum to Lukashenko Over Border Military Tech" (19 June 2026)EUalive (via European Pravda) — "Zelenskyy issues ultimatum to Lukashenko: dismantle Russian drone retranslators or Ukraine will act" (20 June 2026)Yahoo News / Euronews wire — "Zelenskyy issues one-week ultimatum to Lukashenka over drone-guidance equipment" (20 June 2026): Censor.NET — "Zelenskyy issued an ultimatum to Lukashenko regarding relay stations" (19 June 2026)Charter97 — "Zelenskyy Issued An Ultimatum To Lukashenko" (19 June 2026)Kyiv Independent — "Ukraine denies Russian claim that Ukrainian drone struck bus carrying Belarusian children's football team" (17–18 June 2026)Ukrainska Pravda — "Kyiv posts Russian document refuting claim that Ukrainian drone hit bus carrying Belarusian children" (18 June 2026)Euronews — "Bus with Belarus children's football team hit by a drone in Russia, Moscow claims" (17 June 2026)RFE/RL — "Ukraine Denies Russian Claims Of Strike On Bus Carrying Belarusian Children" (17 June 2026)Kyiv Post — "Ukraine Has 500 Targets Ready in Belarus if Lukashenko Joins War" (26 May 2026)----------