Silicon Curtain

Silicon Bites Ep409 | 2026-10-01 | Trump wants compliant allies – supine, dependent, insecure – and possibly divided. Now his animosities and resentments, intrigues and plotting may finally be tearing NATO apart. In this episode: the Pentagon's club of the obedient: why Eldridge Colby's formation of a NATO inner circle heralds the death of the alliance by other means, and why Europe must refuse to play this self-destructive game. Putin is getting all his Christmas presents early, courtesy of Trump. ----------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:Politico, "Trump administration leaves key allies out of NATO meeting," 30 September 2026 (original report; paywalled/blocked at time of drafting, content verified via secondary outlets below): https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/30/trump-nato-allies-left-out-01100310Kyiv Post, "Trump Leaves Key US Allies Out of NATO Group Meeting," 1 October 2026: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/85825Babel, "Politico: Pentagon blocks key allies from NATO meeting," 1 October 2026: https://babel.ua/en/amp/news/130614-politico-pentagon-blocks-key-allies-from-nato-meetingTürkiye Today, "Pentagon leaves UK, France and Baltics out of NATO meeting in Poland: Report," 1 October 2026: https://www.turkiyetoday.com/world/pentagon-leaves-uk-france-and-baltics-out-of-nato-meeting-in-poland-report-3229362SFG Media, "Pentagon Did Not Invite Britain, France and the Baltic States to Discuss NATO's Future," 1 October 2026: https://sfg.media/en/a/pentagon-excludes-allies-nato-future-talks/Euronews, "US troop drawdown in Romania signals wider US pivot away from Europe," 3 November 2025: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/11/03/us-troop-drawdown-in-romania-signals-wider-us-pivot-away-from-europeReuters via AOL, "Hegseth expected to follow Rubio in skipping NATO ministers' meeting," January 2026: https://www.aol.com/articles/hegseth-expected-skip-nato-ministers-154236573.htmlPolskie Radio, "US defense secretary expected to skip NATO meeting next month," 29 January 2026: https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7785/Artykul/3640935,us-defense-secretary-expected-to-skip-nato-meeting-next-monthReuters via AOL, "Pentagon policy chief calls for NATO based on 'partnership rather than dependency'," 12 February 2026: https://www.aol.com/articles/nato-more-based-partnership-instead-082732347.htmlAl Jazeera, "US considers suspending Spain from NATO, reported internal email suggests," 24 April 2026: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/24/us-weighs-retaliation-against-nato-allies-over-iran-war-divisions-reutersForeign Policy, World Brief on Pentagon email (Spain/Falklands), 24 April 2026: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/24/us-pentagon-email-nato-spain-uk-falkland-islands-iranAaj English TV (Reuters wire), "Pentagon email floats suspending Spain from NATO, other steps over Iran rift," April 2026: https://english.aaj.tv/news/amp/330457382----------

Lt. Gen. (retired) Ben Hodges is the former Commanding General of United States Army Europe, a post he held from 2014 to 2017 during the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine and NATO's subsequent reinforcement of its eastern flank. A 1980 West Point graduate and infantry officer, he commanded at company, battalion and brigade level, including the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He later served as Commander of NATO Allied Land Command in İzmir.Since retirement, Hodges has become a prominent analyst of European security, NATO logistics, Russia and Ukraine. He serves as a NATO Senior Mentor for Logistics, is associated with GLOBSEC's Future of Security and Defence Council, previously held CEPA's Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies, and co-authored Future War and the Defence of Europe. ----------LINKS:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Hodgeshttps://x.com/general_ben?lang=enhttps://www.globsec.org/who-we-are/our-people/lieutenant-general-retired-ben-hodgeshttps://www.rusi.org/people/hodges-0https://www.thecipherbrief.com/experts/ben-hodges----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------DESCRIPTION:Ben Hodges on Western Will, Russia’s Escalation, and a Path to Ukrainian VictoryJonathan interviews retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges about what they describe as a “sub-admission” war in which the West fails to openly acknowledge Russia is at war with it, undermining political will, policy coherence, and a defined end state. They discuss Russia’s rising risk-taking, including the Leipzig airport explosives drone incident and an underwhelming German response, arguing Moscow fills the space created by Western inaction and is rarely made to pay meaningful, unanticipated costs (including over frozen Russian assets). Hodges criticizes U.S. leadership under President Trump and urges Europe to “defeat Russia first” by enabling Ukraine to expel Russian forces, which would also signal resolve to China and isolate Iran. They contrast Ukraine’s infrastructure-strike exhaustion strategy with Russia’s strategy of erasure, warn about an accelerating drone arms race, and note civilians’ constrained options under intensified strikes. Hodges argues strategic bombing is not decisive, highlights Ukraine’s growing capacity to damage Russia’s oil and gas revenue and to conduct integrated combined-arms operations, and closes by stressing war as a test of will.----------EPISODES:00:00 War Is a Test of Will01:08 Naming the Conflict03:10 Russia Fills the Space05:19 Seizing the Initiative07:21 Why the West Hasn’t Mobilized09:26 Leadership and Defeat Russia First12:24 Theories of Victory16:17 Europe’s Crocodile Strategy19:32 Drone Arms Race Reality21:35 Life Under Airstrikes25:19 Why Strategic Bombing Won’t Win27:36 Combined Arms Hope29:34 Final Warning on Will30:25 Support the Channel----------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 Ep408 | 2026-09-30 | This terror will come to you. And not in the sneaky hybrid way, that happens just out of the corner of your eye. Out of sight and sound, with no direct impact on your lives, so you can forget and move on with your cosy lives. You have been warned. Such murder and mayhem are coming to your – to your factories, your businesses, your homes and your special places. You may not be interested in Russia, and may mean it no harm or ill thoughts, but believe me, Russia is not just interested in you, but may want to kill you, if it does not get its way. In this episode, the double terror that shows us what Russia has become – the Hamas of the snow, the ISIS of the Siberian steppe, a persistent threat to our safety, security and sovereignty. Russia murders scientists at their desks in broad daylight, and an unnamed "foreign actor" attempts a terror act on an English airbase. Europe is appalled. But being appalled is not a defence policy. Waves of terror and horror are radiating out from the terror fortress in Moscow, the Kremlin, point zero in a global terrorist alliance challenging the prominence of the West. This is a zero-sum game, and yet we are acting like the threat is only peripheral. ----------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:The Guardian via AOL — "Staff killed and wounded in Russian strike on Kyiv's science academy" (28 Sep 2026): https://www.aol.co.uk/articles/staff-killed-wounded-russian-strike-151650000.htmlReuters via The Japan Times — "Kyiv Science Academy hit, 10 dead as Russian jet-drones strike across Ukraine" (29 Sep 2026): https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/09/29/world/kyiv-science-academy-russia-drones/National Security Journal — "America's Own National Academies Have Now Condemned Russia's Direct Strike on Ukraine's Scientific Infrastructure" (29 Sep 2026): https://nationalsecurityjournal.org/americas-own-national-academies-have-now-condemned-russias-direct-strike-on-ukraines-scientific-infrastructure/Kyiv Post — "Russia Pounds Kyiv Again With Ballistic Missiles Hours After Attacks Kill 2, Injure 26" (29 Sep 2026): https://www.kyivpost.com/post/85606Kyiv Post — "'Science Became a Target': Europe Condemns Russian Strikes on Kyiv Civilian Sites" (29 Sep 2026): https://www.kyivpost.com/post/85607Kyiv Post — "Zelensky Warns Russia Is Training North Korea for War, Feeding Iran Satellite Intelligence" (29 Sep 2026): https://www.kyivpost.com/post/85609Research Professional News — "Leaders condemn Russia's 'barbaric' attack on Ukrainian academy" (29 Sep 2026): https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-europe-other-nations-2026-9-leaders-condemn-russia-s-barbaric-attack-on-ukrainian-academy/ALLEA (All European Academies) — "ALLEA Condemns Russian Drone Strike on the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine" (29 Sep 2026): https://allea.org/allea-condemns-russian-drone-strike-on-the-national-academy-of-sciences-of-ukraine/UNITED24 Media — "Two Scientists Killed in Russian Strike on Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences" (28–29 Sep 2026): https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/two-scientists-killed-in-russian-strike-on-ukraines-national-academy-of-sciences-22926----------

James Sherr OBE is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme, which he headed from 2008–11. He currently is a Honorary Fellow at the International Centre for Defence & Security in Tallinn, Estonia, and he was previously Senior Fellow of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute there. His background stretches across the UK Defence Academy, Oxford, RUSI, extensive advisory work in Ukraine and decades of research into Soviet/Russian military and security policy.----------LINKS:https://icds.ee/en/author/james-sherr-5/https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-people/james-sherrhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Sherrhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/james-sherr-obe-9593885/----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------DESCRIPTION:James Sherr: Russia Chose War in 2021—And the West Still Thinks in Peacetime TermsIn this interview, James Sherr argues that Russia’s core security culture and institutions—its siloviki and General Staff—were never reformed after the USSR, and that a key change in late 2020–2021 was Moscow’s conclusion that it could not achieve its objectives in Europe without war, testing the Biden administration and seeking recognition of a Russian sphere of influence. Since 2022, he says Russia has intensified a holistic, undeclared war against the West alongside the brutal war in Ukraine, with “hybrid” operations becoming increasingly kinetic, while Western responses remain constrained by peacetime legal standards, escalation fears, and lost institutional memory. Sherr stresses that Putin seeks to crush Ukraine, that Russia will not stop voluntarily, and that only tangible, risk-accepting Western actions can make Russia’s aims infeasible; he also notes Russia’s effective allies and warns Western analysis often misreads Russian belief systems, endurance, and concepts of power.----------CHAPTERS:00:00 Russia Militarized State01:11 Why War Became Inevitable04:11 Undeclared War Reality06:11 Attribution And Escalation Trap10:19 Lost Deterrence Memory12:37 Siloviki Culture Unreformed14:52 Dark Empathy For Russia19:19 Authority And Prigozhin Lesson23:24 Western Weak Signals30:04 Allies And Alignment Of Interest35:03 Putin Next Levers40:44 No Magic Breaking Point47:07 War Transforms Russia58:10 Risk And Strategic Neutralization----------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----------

Lough is currently Senior Research Fellow and Head of Foreign Policy & International Partnerships at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre (NEST Centre). He leads its foreign-policy work and international partnerships. He remains an Associate Fellow in Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme. ----------LINKS:https://nestcentre.org/author/john-lough/https://nestcentre.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-lough-6201804/https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-people/john-lough----------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 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----------