Dictators v Democrats: Why We Fight

“If you fire, fire at me.”

During Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution in 2014, Ray Wong saw an older man stand in front of armed police and offer his life to protect the crowd. That moment changed Wong forever, and set him on a path from student protester to activist leader, and finally into exile.

In this episode of Dictators v Democrats: Why We Fight, Ray — now policy and strategy advisor at Hong Kong Watch — tells his story: how the U...

In this compelling episode of Dictators v Democrats: Why We Fight, we sit down with Professor Tim Wilson - academic, filmmaker, YouTuber, and former politician - in London to explore the crisis facing modern democracy and what we can do about it.

Professor Wilson brings a unique perspective, having taught in authoritarian countries including Russia, where he met Vladimir Putin in 2016 ("he emanates evil"), and having infil...

In this episode of Dictators v Democrats: Why We Fight, we’re joined by Professor Mark Galeotti, one of the world’s leading experts on modern Russia, for a sweeping conversation on authoritarianism, democracy, and the future of Putin’s regime.

We explore:

• Why democracy failed in post-Soviet Russia
• The real legacy of Boris Yeltsin and the 1990s
• How Putin rebuilt an authoritarian state with elite loyalty and public apathy
• Russia’s str...

In this episode of Dictators v Democrats: Why We Fight we’re speaking with Jonathan Fink. He was a digital marketing strategist, then Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine changed everything. 

Now, he’s the creator of Silicon Curtain, a YouTube channel and podcast that battles Russian disinformation with facts, context, and strategic narrative warfare.

Be sure to check out his work through the link above!

In this episode, we dive de...

In this gripping episode of Dictators v Democrats: Why We Fight we sit down with award-winning journalist and war correspondent John Sweeney. 

With four decades on the frontlines from Grozny to Kyiv, Sweeney unpacks what he's learned about authoritarian power, the role of propaganda, and why telling the truth still matters.

From Chechnya to Ukraine, from the Taliban to Tommy Robinson, Sweeney reflects on how democracies are unde...

In this powerful episode of Dictators v Democrats: Why We Fight, We speak with Estonian MP and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee Marko Mihkelson for an unflinching conversation about Russia’s imperial legacy, the modern authoritarian playbook, and what it takes to defend democracy today.

Drawing on decades of experience as a journalist and politician, Mihkelson shares eyewitness insights from the First Chechen War, the Kremlin’...

In this episode of Why We Fight, I speak with Adil Raja, a former major in the Pakistani military who became one of its fiercest critics.

Now living in exile in the UK, Raja pulls back the curtain on how Pakistan’s military has dominated the country’s politics, enabled extremism, and violently suppressed dissent both at home and abroad.

We explore:

· His transformation from decorated officer to dissident journalist

· His firsthand acco...

In this powerful episode of Why We Fight, we speak with award-winning Pakistani investigative journalist Taha Siddiqui, who survived an attempted abduction by Pakistan’s military and now lives in exile in Paris. 

From exposing military human rights abuses to running The Dissident Club, a bar for global exiles and freedom fighters, Siddiqui shares how authoritarian regimes weaponise identity, faith and fear to silence dissent.

We disc...

In this episode of Why We Fight we’re again recording in Kyiv, speaking to the legendary war correspondent Paul Conroy. 

He’s covered nearly every war since Kosovo: Libya, Iraq, Syria and now, Ukraine. He has brought back stories that have made an enormous difference; the human stories, the stories that mattered. 

We discuss what war is, where in the human spirit it comes from, what resistance can look like, how truth can survive aut...

In this episode of Why We Fight we’re at the Estonian Embassy in Kyiv, speaking with Ambassador Annely Kolk, Estonia’s highest representative in Ukraine. 

She has had a storied career in the Estonian Foreign Service, previously serving as ambassador to Turkey, concurrently accredited to Iran and Azerbaijan. In 2017 she helped secure the release of Estonian security personnel in India, earning her the nickname ‘Lioness’

We discuss Est...

In this episode of Why We Fight we’re speaking with Jimmy Rushton, a British journalist and defence analyst. He has covered nearly every conflict in the 21st century. He is a geopolitical expert and has been living in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. 

We discuss what we can expect from the US in Ukraine, what China may do and the prospects for Ukrainian victory. 

Enjoy!

Oh, and, this work is entirely self funded, if...

In this episode of Why We Fight we’re speaking with Marika Mikiashvili. She's a politician, an academic and an activist working to keep the flame of liberty alight in embattled Georgia, where the regime is trying to turn the clock back to older, darker times of tyranny and repression. 

We talk about how Georgian Dream stole the 2024 elections, what democrats in other countries can do to help protect Georgian democracy, how it f...

In this episode of Why We Fight we’re speaking with Freddie Steimler

A 27 year veteran of Norway’s military, he now serves again as a volunteer bringing vital vehicles and equipment into Ukraine for the charity Bergen Hjelper Ukraina.

We explore how a children’s theatre in Norway came to support Ukraine, and reflect on his wartime experience to assess how much warfare has changed — and how Russia’s war crimes undermine it both milita...

In this episode of Why We Fight we’re speaking with Dr Alex Fergusson. He’s a British boffin in the highest and best tradition. 

A PhD in materials science from Imperial College London, he initially founded a green tech company: FAC Techonology. When Russia invaded Ukraine, he refocused his efforts on arming the Ukrainian military with the best drones he could design. 

We talk about his experience of repression in the 2019 protests i...

In our third episode of ‘Why We Fight’ I am privileged to be talking with the filmmaker  Caolan Robertson. His films on Russia’s illegal and imperialist invasion of Ukraine have reached millions worldwide and he represents a new, young and vibrant type of conflict correspondent. 

We talk about how to combat disinformation, the fear you need to keep hold of when reporting war and what government needs to do to fight Russian psy-war e...

In this episode of Why We Fight, I am speaking with Tamara, a woman protesting against Aleksandar Vucic’s corrupt and undemocratic government in Serbia. 

She is one of many protesting in the wake of a tragedy at a railway station in Novi Sad last year in which 16 people died. 

She speaks about feeling democracy slip away, about how corruption effects daily life and what she wants Serbia’s future to look like. 

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In our first episode of why we fight, we're talking with Sheikh Said Ismagilov. 

He is one of the most senior Islamic clerics in Ukraine and was Mufti of the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine. 

When the Russians invaded in 2022, he signed up to fight as a combat medic, serving in Bakhmut and across the lines. He participated in the liberation of his hometown of Bucha, where the Russians had looted his home. 

Join me,...