VOICES FROM THE FRONT & THE WIRE TAP
Weekly war analysis from Kyiv with Shaun Pinner, the British former Mariupol defender and Russian POW.
FRANK FRIDAY WITH FRANK FIGLIUZZI
Former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi answers your questions, Fridays at 5 p.m. ET.
FREE THE PRESS WITH BRIAN KAREM
White House correspondent Brian Karem on press freedom, access to the briefing room and the fight over credentials.
CULTURE SATURDAYS: UKRAINIAN MUSIC
Bandura players, choirs, street musicians and bands I have filmed in Kyiv and Lviv since 2022.
Legendary violinist and composer L. Shankar joins Chris Sampson on The Wire Tap for a deep, wide-ranging conversation on music, consciousness, and a lifetime of innovation.
From the sacred traditions of South Indian classical music and the Guru–Shishya lineage, to groundbreaking collaborations with Frank Zappa, Peter Gabriel, Don Cherry, Zakir Hussain, and Tony Levin, Shankar reveals how music transcends borders, genres, and time.
In this interview, we explore:
The spiritual foundation of Indian classical music
Why music is more than mathematics — it’s consciousness
The creation of Shankar’s revolutionary double violin
The shift from temple performance to modern global audiences
What it was like working with Frank Zappa and Western legends
Why today’s fast-paced world is changing how we experience music
The importance of humility, discipline, and lifelong learning
Filmed during wartime Kyiv, this conversation is also about something deeper — how music connects cultures, carries memory, and offers a path toward peace.
“If you serve music, music will serve you.” — L. Shankar
On November 15, 2025, on Kyiv’s Sofiia Square, Ukrainian PEN and the Center for Civil Liberties held the annual Empty Chairs action to honor journalists, writers, and human rights defenders who have been disappeared, imprisoned, or killed by Russia’s war. For the first time, former captive UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khyliuk spoke in person, reflecting on how his own name once appeared on one of those empty chairs. In this video, he calls on the world to use publicity and pressure to help bring Ukraine’s civilian hostages home.
THE CRISIS IN UKRAINE
Since essentially January 2022, I have lived exclusively Ukraine to document the war, the people, the history and culture and music of the country. It has been a humbling experience and it is far from over. Thank you to all of those people who supported the efforts to document and bring aid. The in country experiences and friendships will be with me forever. The support from abroad has been invaluable. We have so much more to do.
Your donation helps cover costs to travel, help Ukrainian fixers and translators and have more direct access to the news in country. We will not rely upon advertisements and or gimmicks to get the job done. Your help keeps us focused on the tasks. Thank you.
THE WIRE TAP
- RUSSIAN TERROR ATTACK ON SOUTH BRIDGE - KYIV October 2, 2026ON THE GROUND REPORT FROM THE CAPITOL
- Moscow’s Inferno: The Fire That Came Home To Roost September 23, 2026Russia’s four and a half years of launching missiles and drones are being mirrored back to its home base.
- The Reporter Who Sued Trump Twice, and His Lawyer, on What's Coming Next September 21, 2026Brian Karem and Mark Zaid join us to discuss the White House kicking out the press
- Stop Hitting the Thing We Praised You For September 18, 2026A Year Ago It Was Strategy. Now It's Forbidden.
- Donald Trump’s Iran Failure Becomes Another Reason to Blame Ukraine September 16, 2026How Ukraine’s Battle to Cripple Russia’s War Machine Fits Into the Trump Administration’s Distraction
- ACCOUNTABILITY AFTER 9/11: COL MORRIS DAVIS ON GITMO September 14, 2026After 16 years since our first conversation, we discuss the 25th Anniversary of 9/11
- PUTIN LIED ABOUT WAR REALITY September 14, 2026TOM MUTCH AND CHRIS SAMPSON ON THE REALITY OF THE FRONT AND THE WAR FURTHER WEST
- DRONE WARFARE TRAINING September 12, 2026Inside Ukraine’s Drone Warfare Training with Simon Ostrovsky
- Gaining Clarity: An FBI Insider on 25 Years of 9/11 September 12, 20269/11 at 25: Torture, Lies, and the Threat We Missed with Frank Figliuzzi
- RUSSIA VS NATO with OLGA LAUTMAN September 12, 2026We know Russia hasn’t broken Ukraine’s will to survive, but is NATO ready?
- The Diplomatic Circuit: Moscow to Kyiv and Peace Through Strength September 7, 2026Volume Three of the Witkoff Ventures: a coin, a lie told to his face, a train into Kyiv, and the ledger nobody in either room was carrying
- Lectured by the Unbombed September 6, 2026Kyiv to Houston: What Americans Get Wrong About a Country at War
MUSIC-THE HEART OF A NATION: A journey through the music of Ukraine
You can know a people through the music they play, dance to, celebrate with and mourn those who pass. Ukraine has a vibrant music tradition and the path across the country is loaded with variety and expression.
CRISIS IN UKRAINE: PART TWO - A day in Bucha: First hand account of atrocities in Ukraine
Days after the Russians invaded Ukraine, they descended upon the small town of Bucha, just west of the capital, Kyiv. For weeks the battle ensued in the town until the Russian forces withdrew on March 31, 2022. The Russians were under command of Gennady Bayur, commander of the VDV’s 234th Air Assault Regiment. Like many other commanders in this war, he died just days later in Bucha on March 11, 2022. The Russian digital sphere said he died of a land mine, but we may never know.
ATTACKS ON DEMOCRACY
BEFORE THE JANUARY 6, 2020 Insurrection:
On Tuesday, September 8, 2020, Katy Tur spoke with former FBI Special Agent Frank Figliuzzi and Chris Sampson about the pending threats around the 2020 Election. Online chatter and real world comments indicate there is a serious threat of retribution if Trump legitimately loses the election. As Trump consistently tells his supporters there is only one way he’d lose, rigged and stolen election, his supporters then feel no other possibility exists. This has created an unparalleled threat problem with talk of violence.
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PUTIN’S ASYMMETRIC ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY IN RUSSIA AND EUROPE: Implications for U.S. National Security
In Putin’s Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe, we learn about Vladimir Putin’s rise to power through the KGB to mayor of St. Petersburg and eventually as head of the Russian state. We discover the history of how Putin used classic Cold War KGB tactics by weaponizing civil society, culture, ideology, and Russia’s criminal element against the nascent Russian democracy by cultivating and using ties to NGOs, thinktanks, extremist political groups, the Russian orthodox church, industrial and energy policy, and the Russian Mafia. We also see how the Kremlin then exported this political extortion, intimidation, and monetary corruption first to its Eastern European neighbors, then their western partners in the European Union, and how it has now landed on America’s shores.
