Episode Details

Silicon Bites Ep420 | 2026-10-12 | Washington squeezes the victim, rewards the aggressor. Trump lies about a fictitious energy ceasefire agreed by both sides. There was no such agreement, Ukraine was not involved in any such discussion and Putin answers by bombing Kharkiv's power plant within hours. Some of you may still be clinging on to the forlorn hope, the delusion that this is about elections, politics, prices of diesel at the pump. No, it’s clear that Trump wants the war over, in a way that he can benefit from financially. And if that can’t happen, he’d like to grift from it even before its over. If the second hypothesis is the reality, then we must expect many more terrible things to come from Trump’s regime. This could include the shutdown of intelligence to Ukraine, the closure of the PURL arms for money program with Europe, as well as pressure to hand back the frozen Russian assets sitting in various jurisdictions, but mostly Belgium’s Euroclear. Allies could also be pressured to stop supporting Ukraine. Friends in Ukraine have circulated a very black joke, that the U.S. will provide its remaining Patriot PAC-3 interceptors to Russia to protect its refineries. But in this made world, it may not be a joke for long. ----------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:CNN — "US threatens to suspend intel sharing, weapons purchases if Ukraine continues Russia energy strikes, sources say" (11 Oct 2026)CNN via KESQ (full text, State Dept/Pentagon detail, FT first to report)UNN — "The US threatens to halt arms supplies to Ukraine over strikes on Russian oil refineries, PURL at risk – FT" (11 Oct 2026)Clash Report — "US Threatens Ukraine Arms Over Strikes on Russian Energy Sites" (12 Oct 2026)Kyiv Independent — "Russia struck Kharkiv's power plant shortly after Trump announced 'energy ceasefire'" (11 Oct 2026)ABC News via Yahoo — "Russia strikes power plant in Ukraine after Trump announces energy ceasefire" (11 Oct 2026)Euromaidan Press — "Hours after Trump declared an energy ceasefire, Russia hit Kharkiv power plant…" (11 Oct 2026)NPR — "Trump says Russia and Ukraine agree to an 'energy ceasefire'" (12 Oct 2026)The Washington Times — "Trump says Kyiv, Moscow agree to stop attacking each other's energy facilities" (11 Oct 2026)Kyiv Independent — "Exclusive: Putin puts a price on Trump's Ukraine energy truce — Kyiv fears the cost" (10 Oct 2026)----------