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The new Sy Hersh doc is a waste of time
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nefariousrussians.comWe went to a private preview of Cover-Up, the new Sy Hersh documentary that comes out next month, and stayed for a Q&A with Laura Poitras, its director. In this ep we give our honest appraisal of the film. And, sadly, it’s not a positive one. There are a lot of problems with the film — overproduced yet clunky, boring, superficial, intellectually not there at all, very Wikipedia-like, and with an outdated pre-Trump America feel to it. But perhaps its main crime is that it wasted an opportunity to talk to Hersh about the mythology of journalism in America and journalism’s ultimate lack of power. He spent his entire life exposing secrets — the My Lai Massacre, the CIA’s Operation CHAOS, torture at Abu Ghraib — and yet in that same span of time, America kept getting worse and more corrupt and unequal and more violent and more unaccountable. We’re at point where journalism doesn’t matter at all. And so what good was all his journalism? Was it just a game? Entertainment? A way to pass the time and make a living? A path to fame? A relief valve for society? None of the problems with the film are Sy Hersh’s fault. It seems like he actually gets it. The problem is that Laura Poitras is just not that bright. I guess you could say there is an unintended message in this film and it’s this: Information by itself is not power. You need organization to turn information into power, and journalism by itself does not provide that. At the end of the ep we discuss a Laura Poitras scandal that few know about. It includes her, Jacob Appelbaum, Julian Assange, a very expensive mattress in Berlin, and her documentary Risk. —YashaPS: We discussed the mattress scandal in detail in a previous episode: Triple Threat: Julian Assange. PPS: We also previously reviewed The Beauty And The Bloodshed, a Laura Poitras doc about Nan Goldin and her fight against the highly respected Sackler family, which is actually quite good.
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Pistachio Wars Q&A at the Roxy — Yasha Levine w/ Will Menaker
Posting the Q&A Will Menaker and I did after Pistachio Wars screened in NYC’s Roxy Cinema on November 6th, 2025. Chinatown made flesh, insane consumerism, our dead ender industrial civilization, people worked to death so that a few can live in Beverly Hills... Watch Pistachio Wars first and then listen to our discussion. Film’s streaming now on your favorite oligarchic platform!—Yasha---If you’re in New York this weekend, make sure you come out to our talk/book discussion on AI and the politics of technology. Music by Michelle Shocked!This Sunday at the KGB BAR in NYC. 7pm! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nefariousrussians.com/subscribe
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Spinal Tap 2: Senility Files
We get back into our old groove of recording right before bed. We talk movies. Specifically we talk about the horrible, senile sequel to the genius original Spinal Tap. Nobody asked for this film. Nobody wanted this film. And really, you can barely call it “a film.” It shouldn’t exist. Should never have been made. Evgenia discusses Christopher Guest’s pioneering approach to filmmaking and goes deep on his aristocratic background (he is a baron), discussing how his comedic interests are always about looking down: he satirizes the bumbling middle class while treating his own English aristocratic social strata seriously and respectfully.PS: We also talk about dumb AI, influencers doing MMA cage fights, and more…PPS: If you are in Oakland, LA, or NYC come out to Yasha’s Pistachio War screenings. SUPPORT THE ARTS! SUBSCRIBE! Want to know more? Read Evgenia’s essay about art and senility. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nefariousrussians.com/subscribe
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Sam Kriss, the empty vessel
We come back from our break to do some light but cutting literary gossip and criticism. Our focus: the millennial essayist Sam Kriss. Kriss is one of the last erudite men of letters and blesses us all with his uber long Substack pieces that weave medieval history and current politics and go for tens of thousands words. Brevity is soul of the wit, as some dead British guy said. But to Kriss verbosity is essential — he needs to make his readers so confused and overwhelmed and so stuffed with facts and obscure tangents that they end up being convinced this is the work of inexplicable genius rather than a product of an insecure over-educated empty vessel. Enjoy the episode. Subscribe to NEFARIOUS RUSSIANS. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nefariousrussians.com/subscribe
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What Russians think about the American Right w/Artur Dugin
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nefariousrussians.comWe’re posting part two of our conversation with Dmitriy Khvorostov (aka Artur Dugin, son of Alexander Dugin) about politics, art, and culture in Russia today — specifically we discuss what Russian traditionalists think about America’s new right. If you missed part one, you can listen to it here: Sovereign Art.
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