{"podcast":{"title":"The Eastern Border","slug":"the-eastern-border-1102925","podcast_index_feed_id":1102925,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/cfd8aed5-6d63-4b2f-b325-46e4b5665583","website_url":"http://theeasternborder.lv/","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6100808131fd81f125b34da8/show-cover.jpg","author":"Kristaps Andrejsons","episode_count":742,"summary":"A podcast about the politics and the history of the eastern Europe - including, but not limited to the current state of Russia, politics of the EU, history of the USSR and the region in general. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theeasternborder . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-31T22:19:30.944993+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-eastern-border-1102925"},"episode":{"title":"2.33 Eastern Border Special: Illusionary Calories","slug":"2-33-eastern-border-special-illusionary-calories","published_at":"2026-06-01T21:16:24+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-eastern-border-1102925/2-33-eastern-border-special-illusionary-calories","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-eastern-border-1102925","url":"https://shows.acast.com/theeasternborder/episodes/233-eastern-border-special-illusionary-calories","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/theeasternborder/e/6a1df6a8c1105f0d11162b39/media.mp3","summary":"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/theeasternborder YouTube version uploading and will become available at 3.30AM my time tonight - that is after 3 hours or so after posting this. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theeasternborder . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"We were tired of talking about depressing military losses and bureaucratic collapses, so today Evita and I decided to bring you a cheerful, lighthearted s…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4764,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-eastern-border-1102925/episodes/2-33-eastern-border-special-illusionary-calories/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-eastern-border-1102925/2-33-eastern-border-special-illusionary-calories.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}