The Eastern Border

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! https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/summer-sunshine-trucks-2026-eastern-borderYouTube link:https://youtu.be/lsAWKr5G3cwOh, and news episode tomorrow!

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 Car4Ukraine:https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/summer-sunshine-trucks-2026-eastern-border

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 has completely decoupled from the physical universe. Why fight a miserable, bloody, losing war in the Ukrainian mud when your official military command can simply decree that soldiers should pay “less attention to reality” and trust the pristine paperwork instead?In Episode 2.37 of The Eastern Border, we perform a full structural autopsy on a nuclear-armed mafia state running on pure, unadulterated vranyo. From the hollow victory laps at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) to the frontlines of the Zaporizhzhia steppe, the matrix is cracking wide open.Become our patron:https://www.patreon.com/theeasternborderMerch store + another option for memberships:https://theeasternborder-shop.fourthwall.com/Follow what’s going on here in the very border of Eastern Europe:https://bsky.app/profile/theeasternborder.lvDownload all episodes for free on our website; pictures accompanying certain episodes can be found there as well!http://theeasternborder.lv/Car4Ukraine Eastern Border Summer Campaign!https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/summer-sunshine-trucks-2026-eastern-border

In the honor of our 15th anniversary month, we'll be doing quite a bit of collaborations and other fun events. As the first among our guests we have @decodingtrolls - I forgot to ask if I should use his real name, and the internet tells me that this is the preferred and the usual way, so i hope my dear guest won't mind. I hadn't slept all night and was nervous at the beginning - because Decoding Trolls is a great show, Gonzo approved, which I recommend to everyone - but it ended up being a lot about archetypes, philosophy and genuinely deep concepts. And fun at the same time! (As, well, you can see by the sheer length of the episode.)This one, of course, completely free for patrons. Happiness is Mandatory!Decoding trolls Substack:https://www.disinfolklore.net/Main Disinfolklore source:https://www.disinfolklore.com/Car4Ukraine Eastern Border Summer Campaign!https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/summer-sunshine-trucks-2026-eastern-border

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 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum alongside Andrew Tate and Scott Ritter, the empire is bleeding out. Vladimir Putin accidentally admits his apocalyptic "Oreshnik" missile was intentionally tested on an empty shed. Ukrainian AI-guided drones have turned the R-280 land corridor into a 200km slaughterhouse, triggering a catastrophic fuel famine and rationing in Crimea. And to hide the smoke from their own citizens, Roskomnadzor's war on Cloudflare is accidentally bricking the Russian banking sector.Join us from the GonzoLab as we dissect the Z-patriot meltdowns, the "Cheburnet" kill-switch, and the Kremlin's desperate pivot to a 20-year infinite war.Become our patron:https://www.patreon.com/theeasternborderMerch store + another option for memberships:https://theeasternborder-shop.fourthwall.com/Follow what's going on here in the very border of Eastern Europe:https://bsky.app/profile/theeasternborder.lvDownload all episodes for free on our website; pictures accompanying certain episodes can be found there as well!http://theeasternborder.lv/Car4Ukraine Eastern Border Summer Campaign!https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/summer-sunshine-trucks-2026-eastern-border

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 our AI thumbnails. The community poll was an absolute dead heat at 52% vs 48%, so we had to find a middle ground. We are shifting the visual baseline to a highly stylized, character-free 2D Anime aesthetic. It removes the uncanny valley, avoids the public figure issues, and gives us a distinct, unified look. It might not be a perfect solution for everyone, but it’s a solid half-step compromise to keep the show looking sharp while we focus on the actual journalism. Let me know what you think in the comments.Now, onto the nightmare.In Episode 2.34, we document a state legally canceling its own existence. While the Western media panics over fake Excel spreadsheets, the Russian reality is terminal. We break down the 10% macro-drop in petroleum products and the glorious return of Soviet-style 20-liter gas ration cards in occupied Crimea. The Ukrainian Armed Forces aren't just holding the line; they have turned the R280 logistics highway into a mechanical graveyard using advanced drone swarms.But the real fatal damage is happening in the rear. We cover Finance Minister Siluanov’s desperate 16-trillion-ruble sequester of the civilian economy, the mafia-style raid on Wildberries, and the absolute absurdity of Putin’s own regional proxy having a daughter who is actively funding the Ukrainian military from Georgia. And the ultimate punchline? Russian oligarchs are now buying heavy anti-aircraft weapons to build their own PMCs. They aren't preparing for NATO; they are arming up for the post-Putin Civil War.The Empire of Clones is burning. Welcome to the GonzoLab.[SUPPORT THE SHOW & THE RESISTANCE]Car4Ukraine "Summer Sunshine" Campaign: Head over to https://car4ukraine.com and donate to my specific campaign. If you do, you will receive an exclusive, limited-run "Three Brothers" (Old Riga) steel badge minted specifically for listeners of this show. Let's put some trucks on the road!🛡️ Patreon (Ad-Free Episodes): https://www.patreon.com/TheEasternBorder 👕 Official Gonzo Merch Store: https://theeasternborder-shop.fourthwall.com/ 🌐 Website: https://theeasternborder.lv/

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 about something universally joyful: grocery shopping in 2026 Russia!...It goes down from there.Welcome to a tour of a culinary "shitutopia." In this special episode of The Eastern Border, Evita and I perform a deep-dive regulatory and macroeconomic audit on the Russian import-substitution food economy. From AI-hallucinated marketplace listings and 239-ruble bone-paste sausages to a blatant "Red Herring" legal scam, we break down exactly how the isolation economy has turned the Russian supermarket into a predatory dumping ground for toxic, unregulated industrial waste.We look at "Evita's Theorem" of gray-market exploitation, calculate the devastating $12 billion shrinkflation black hole, explore the tragic "Mayonnaise Delusion," and break down the absolute madness of a single plastic Kinder Joy egg costing 1.5% of a provincial firefighter's entire monthly salary.Grab a drink, look closely at your own dinner plate, and welcome to the illusionary calorie economy.🌞 SUPPORT OUR SUMMER TRUCKS CAMPAIGN: Help us purchase, armor, and deliver vital pickup trucks to frontline units in Ukraine. Every donation saves lives. 👉 https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/summer-sunshine-trucks-2026-eastern-border🎙️ SUPPORT THE SHOW DIRECTLY: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theeasternborderYouTube version uploading and will become available at 3.30AM my time tonight - that is after 3 hours or so after posting this.

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 drone dominance, the regular troops are left stranded in a neo-feudal logistics nightmare.In this episode, we dissect the absolute breakdown of the Mariupol-Crimea "Highway of Life" under autonomous, AI-targeted UAV strikes—and how the Russian military brass responded by executing their own tech talent in frontline meat assaults. Meanwhile, the home front is facing an economic and physical infrastructure heart attack: VCIOM polling data is bleeding out despite intimidation tactics, the middle-class concrete housing market has entered a terminal Japanese-style zombie coma with 25% mortgage rates, and local authorities admit to an 85% wear-and-tear rate on utility grids.We cap it off with the ultimate "raspil"—the multi-billion-rouble grift to reopen an obsolete Soviet tank academy in Chelyabinsk in an era where drones cause 90% of casualties—and look at the dark, ultra-violent "Black Redistribution" civil war that the Z-patriots themselves are now predicting once the central authority collapses.Support the show, keep the digital bunker running, and get vital gear to the front lines:Become our patron:https://www.patreon.com/theeasternborderMerch store + another option for memberships:https://theeasternborder-shop.fourthwall.com/Follow what's going on here in the very border of Eastern Europe:https://bsky.app/profile/theeasternborder.lvDownload all episodes for free on our website; pictures accompanying certain episodes can be found there as well!http://theeasternborder.lv/Car4Ukraine Eastern Border Summer Campaign!https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/summer-sunshine-trucks-2026-eastern-border