Effe Barker Human Interest

Updates on Russia And Ukraine War

Photo Credit: taken from Wikipedia - PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY Official website 

Please listen to the full podcast to hear more insights from our resident historian Mr. Adam Barker and to get more update on Russia Ukraine war.

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Today. Our consultant from California Mr. Adam Barker helps us analyze the reports on the major Ukrainian breakthrough of Russian lines in western Zaporizhzhia region. He answers these questions:

• Russia, NOT only that they have gotten their minefields deeper and denser too, did Ukraine not see this coming? Did they prepare for it?

• These tri layered defenses or Surukvin Lines, how can it be countered?

• The battle for Tokmak is said to be very hard because it will be like the gateway towards Melitopol. Some analysts say that they [RU] will throw all the reserves they have left and because UA already suffered quite serious losses in this offensive, so the Russians lost very significantly. The question now is who will run out of reserves first?

• HOW SIGNIFICANT IS THIS BREAKTHROUGH?

Cover Photo Credit from Wikipedia from

Is Ukraine Responsible with the Recent Drone Air Strikes in Russia?

Today. We bring you the latest with Ukraine and Russia war and the recent drone strikes at a Russian military airfield in Moscow.

Reports say that nobody was hurt in the attacks but it had damaged a warplane and caused a fire in the airfield. The Novgorod region lies hundreds of km from Russia's border with Ukraine.

Drone air strikes have increased in Russia in recent months in fact one smashed into a building in central Moscow after Russian air defences shot it down, disrupting air traffic at all civilian airports in the capital. 

Once again we are with our consultant Adam Barker in California who help us analyze the events in the war in Ukraine and Russia.

Cover Photo Credit from Wikipedia from the President

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Please listen to the full podcast to hear more insights from our resident historian Mr. Adam Barker and to get more information about the recent drone attack at a military airfield in Soltsy, Novgorod region, Russia.

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Today. We bring you the latest with the war in Ukraine and Russia and its effects to its vulnerable neighboring countries like Moldova. Is Moldova Putin’s next target? It's Friday once again we speak with our consultant from California Mr. Adam Barker. 

We saw chaos and mass protests in Moldova in March this year and politicians in the country say Russia is targeting them because the government is pro EU and leans towards NATO. While some don’t like this direction and are trying to undermine it and with Kremlin’s support, this hybrid war has got the Moldovia leaders worried that this could escalate.

1) How likely that putin will invade Moldova?

2) If so, why would he do that?

3) What is his game plan if there is any?

4) Is he gaining anything with the chaos that is happening in Moldova?

Cover Photo Credit from Wikipedia from the President

Please listen to the full podcast to hear more insights from our resident historian Mr. Adam Barker and to get more information whether NATO cause the war in Ukraine.

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In this week's episode, Mr. Adam Barker breaks down all the events from last week's attempted coup in Russia. He explained who Wagner (Prigozhin) is and why Prigozhin attempted the coup? Why did the coup fail? What is Prigozhin up to now? What was Lukashenko's role? What does the coup mean for Putin?

Mr. Barker says he was surprised when it happened and the way it happened, but that he was not surprised that it happened. He added that he could tell that it was coming. The coup attempt in Russia was done by a man named Yevgeny Prigozhin who is the owner of a corporation called the Concord Group that has various businesses; one of them is providing food for the Russian military and later he expanded to actual physical military security forces or, as we call it in the Western world, private security personnel such as bodyguards for celebrities, media personalities etc., and eventually mercenaries for military operations outside of Russia. 

Mr. Barker thinks that Prigozhin launched the coup because the war in Ukraine did not go the way anybody had planned or thought. He added that the coup failed because Prigozhin launched it with the understanding that if he did he would receive support from certain elements within the Russian military but during the course of that day the support didn't come through.

Please listen to the full podcast to hear more insights from our resident historian Mr. Adam Barker and to get more information as to why the coup failed and what is its significance.

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We are still with our guest Mr. Adam Barker. He is an Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. history, Government, and Economics teacher in California. He has a degree in Political Science from the California State University and a Masters degree in comparative politics and Communist regimes of Eastern Europe from the George Washington University.

This week we talked about the latest reports that Russia is making more threats against Ukraine and now also the U.S. and the U.K. According to media reports, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Moscow possesses information that Ukraine plans to strike Crimea with US supplied HIMARS long range rocket systems and British Storm Shadow cruise missiles. He added that if Crimea is bombed the U.S. and U.K. will be fully dragged into the conflict and would entail immediate strikes on decision-making centres in Ukraine.

However, Mr. Barker said that it is probably the world's worst kept secret that Ukraine intends to recapture the Crimean peninsula from Russia - obviously, Ukraine is going to try to recapture Crimea. He said that when Russia invaded and seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 it did so in violation of international law and in violation of the borders of Ukraine that Russia itself recognized.

In international law, he said especially members of the United Nations agree that if they recognized another country they are saying "yes, we recognize this country X, and the borders as defined by country X -  and in this case Russia recognized Ukraine and it's borders. They exchanged ambassadors, had diplomatic relations, you could travel from Russia to Ukraine - Ukraine to Russia, etc. So, when Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine it was just grabbing it -stealing. He added that unless you go back to medieval history and the origins of Russia and Ukraine, the peculiar events of 1991 and the disintegration of the USSR are the real the cause of the current situation.

Mr. Barker also said that the U.K. and U.S. have already given Ukraine Himars and Storm Shaddow and Ukraine seems to have been using both of them and various types of drones of unknown type. The U.S. and U.K. are providing Ukraine with ever more capable, more lethal and longer range Fires - missiles and rocket artillery able to reach very far if Ukraine wanted to hit targets deep inside Russia.

"Actually Ukraine already today can strike and apparently has struck targets in Moscow so the issue is not whether Ukraine could do that in fact Ukraine has said all along that they reserves the right to strike anywhere in Russia because Russia is doing that to Ukraine. So, the issue is if the U.K. and the U.S. give Ukraine those missiles and Ukraine uses those missiles isn't that the U.K. and the U.S. in effect going to war with Ukraine?.

Mr. Barker also said that Russia is afraid of the Americans and they are afraid of NATO. He also believes that Putin might use a tactical nuclear device, which is a small nuclear bomb, somewhere in Ukraine but he will not use nuclear weapons against NATO. He said that if he does that he is personally dead, his regime is finished, and Europe, India, and China will break off diplomatic relations with Russia, and they will not trade with  Russia as long as Putin is in power. 

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Our guest for this episode is Mr. Adam Barker. He is an Advance Placement (AP) U.S. history, Government, and Economics teacher in California. He has a degree in Political Science at the Cal State University and Masters degree in political theory in political science comparative politics from the George Washington University.

Mr. Barker discussed the history of the Russian Empire, the USSR, and the country called Russia. He said that in 1991, during the reverse revolution, Russia and Ukraine were created and recognized internationally as two separate countries with separate governments and territory so, legally speaking, Putin does not have any ground to stand on.

However, the problem is that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not believe that Ukraine and Russia are two separate countries. He believes that there is no such thing as Ukraine; it is really just a part of Russia and Russia is a part of Ukraine - it's all the same thing. However, it is clear that Ukrainians do not believe it.

Also, in regards to the restoration of the Soviet Union Mr. Barker said, contrary to what most people think, the truth is that Putin wants to restore the old Russian Empire, the pre communist empire.

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Dr. Joel Gamo is a professor of medicine at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). His son Miguel Antonio Gamo jumped off Coronado bridge in 2019. Initially he went missing on the 29th of September but later his body was found on the 3rd of October.   In this interview, Dr. Gamo said that people who are depressed have a great possibility they'll mask their depression; they come home smiling, do their usual thing, or even play video games with their friends, you won't really know unless you explore. He said that while it is not a good idea to look at their diary if they have one, that is how he learned about his son's essay describing him as an absentee father.  Dr. Gamo added that in retrospect he should've been more proactive about his son's mental health and advises anyone with a family member suffering from depression to convince them to get a second opinion with a psychiatrist because they're the one who can prescribe antidepressants.  Meanwhile, Dr. Gamo regretted that he was not able to help his son with his mental health, given the fact that he is a doctor. He said that if he was an engineer, an architect, or a lawyer and had no medical background it would have been okay; he would not feel as guilty. He added that a week before he died, he was giving a lecture to his nursing students and talked about depression. For his son to die of suicide the next week he said was so hard.  Email us at efebarker@gmail.com for story suggestions.