NEFARIOUS RUSSIANS

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Stuck in Jahiliyyah May 17, 2024

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Even though Yasha was annoyed to be recording a podcast rather than sleeping we manage to have a quite robust discussion from bed — real poisonings, fake mushrooms and fake prophets, my life as an investment banker and a single mother in a parallel reality, the now more visible evil doings of the American Empire, Sayiidi Qutb, Black Iron Prison and other concepts from PKD’s Book of Revelations aka The Exegesis…

—Evgenia

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More of the same May 08, 2024

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It’s a bit uncomfortable to have to write this because we only vaguely recall what we talked about before falling asleep last night. As far as we remember we chatted about Yasha’s theory of the Dentist’ Plot, decrepit parents, our recent visit to the now-cleared CUNY encampment, 1990s Russia and the docuseries that’s being released by Navalny’s people (we talked about it last week), Evgenia’s thoughts on the “Patriots,” which is a Broadway show about Boris Berezovsky that’s currently playing, and…there’s more but that’s all that we remember. Eavesdrop on us doing free association podcasting while lying down — the psychoanalytic method in action!

Breeders in decline Apr 30, 2024

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We talk about the western phenomenon of “the MILF,” American malaise, and how grandparents are the new parents. Then we chat about Russian politics and a new documentary series released by Alexei Navalny’s movement — The Traitors — which expands on a very late realization Navalny had while in prison: that Yeltsin’s criminal privatization of Soviet wealth in the 1990s is the source of Putin’s power today. The series has been tearing Russia’s liberal opposition apart, pitting Navalny’s people against their usual allies: old school liberals who backed Yeltsin and the original oligarchs…people who see Putin as some kind of demonic aberration rather than what he really is: a continuation of that original sin.

Bedtime with Soviet zombies Apr 17, 2024

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As we fall into the dream world we talk about the Soviet zombie film we’re working on, historical Jesus and real Judaism, and Yasha’s impeding transformation into Les Grossman.

Sweet dreams.

Describing reality Apr 08, 2024

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At bedtime we talked about nootropics and drugs, Israel, history as a sub-genre of fiction writing, Celine, PKD, documentary filmmaking as upper class leisure…and more. Listen to our previous ep where we talk about our, eh, rebrand.

Sweet dreams.

(In bed with) the Russians Mar 27, 2024

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We’re trying out a new podcast format where we record from bed before going to sleep. Last night we talked about the Huberman scandal, psychiatry and drug use, Villeneuve’s Dune, the ISIS-K attack in Moscow. We also talked about Evgenia’s precog abilities but our recorder malfunctioned and so that part was lost.

Sweet dreams.

Exiled and Loving It with Shaul Magid Jan 27, 2024

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What is Jewish identity without zionism? We talk to professor and rabbi of Fire Island Shaul Magid about the big question that’s dividing Jews all around the world.

In his new book, Shaul tries to decouple zionism from the state of Israel — making the point that zionism is detrimental to Israel and should become obsolete.

We talk to him about the importance of the diaspora and how he thinks Judaism has to become the center of American Jewish identity rather than what is now: Israel and Jewish nationalism. Shaul agrees with Yiddish writer Isaac Singer that if Jews hadn’t dispersed throughout the world, they would’ve been a small Arab tribe that would likely have disappeared centuries ago. As for the debate about whether Israel has a right to exist, Shaul points out that no state has a right to exist — it exists, it’s a country like other countries.

—The Russians

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Against the Vortex book launch Jan 19, 2024

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This is a recording of a book launch of Anthony Galluzzo’s Against the Vortex: Zardoz and Degrowth Utopias in the Seventies and Today — in which he examines our society’s techno-utopianism and attempts to chart a new way forward past our dead-end productivist society.

I moderated the discussion by stayed mostly out of the way. It was a great talk. Check it out, follow Anthony, and buy his book!

—Yasha

PS: We had Anthony on a couple of times in the past, including to talk about his book. Check out those eps here and here.

The event took place at Spoonbill Books in Brooklyn on January 14, 2024.

“The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds and makes new life to poison the earth with a plague of men. But the gun shoots death, and purifies the earth of the filth.”

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Class traitors with Fergie Chambers Jan 14, 2024

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We talk to Fergie Chambers of the Cox family — one of America’s wealthiest clans — about class traitors and the failure of individualist ideology to provide meaning.

—The Russians

A couple of notes. Bari Weiss’ media op tried to do a hit piece on Fergie a few months ago but ended up writing a balanced and fair portrait. We mention a biography of Lenin by David Shub. Check more on it here.

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The waning cult of California Dec 26, 2023

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In this last episode of the year we talk about our recent trip to LA and our new life out here in the Hudson Valley. One thing is clear to us: the cult of California is on the wane. That state, more than any other, represented the limitless frontier of technological progress. Lots of people still cling to it, but they’re the past. That idea is dead. What’s next, no one really knows. But lots of people are looking for something. Maybe upstate will be the new it destination and cultural frontier.

—The Russians

On the Hudson River, a pioneer on the new frontier.