{"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":"2.38 Existential Fanfiction","slug":"2-38-existential-fanfiction","published_at":"2026-06-15T21:09:48+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-eastern-border-1102925/2-38-existential-fanfiction","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-eastern-border-1102925","url":"https://shows.acast.com/theeasternborder/episodes/238-existential-fanfiction","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/theeasternborder/e/6a306a1d0592e82545c70daa/media.mp3","summary":"Happy Anniversary to The Eastern Border ! We are celebrating the madness of the post-Soviet space by watching the Russian Federation actively cannibalize its own economy in real-time In this masterclass of imperial decay, we track the massive Ukrainian drone strikes turning Russian oil refineries into atmospheric fireballs, forcing the Kremlin to burn billions of rubles just to subsidize domestic gasoline. Meanwhile, the Central Bank is choking the civilian sector with 21.5% interest rates, military commissars are flying out of windows in Rostov, and the real estate market is being propped up by \"coffin money\" from the frontlines. And if the physical collapse wasn't enough, there is the ideological rot: the state is prosecuting teenagers for insulting the Taliban, and we suffer through Vladimir Solovyov’s self-published, megalomaniacal fiction novel where he gives himself superpowers and teleportation. The simulation is crashing. Donate to Ukraine, folks: https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/summer-sunshine-trucks-2026-eastern-border Become our patron: https://www.patreon.com/theeasternborder Merch 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.lv Download all episodes for free on our website; pictures accompanying certain episodes can be found there as well! http://theeasternborder.lv/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theeasternborder . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"Happy Anniversary to The Eastern Border ! We are celebrating the madness of the post-Soviet space by watching the Russian Federation actively cannibalize…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3101,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-eastern-border-1102925/episodes/2-38-existential-fanfiction/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-1102925/2-38-existential-fanfiction.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}