S9 Ep50: Pagan Extremism, Warrior Myths, and the Culture Wars of Russia and Ukraine with Ross Downing

S9 Ep50: Pagan Extremism, Warrior Myths, and the Culture Wars of Russia and Ukraine with Ross Downing

Chris speaks with researcher and author Ross Downing about his book Germanic and Slavic Paganism: Security Threats and Resiliency. Ross, who works with a network of scholars and specialists focused on minority religions and extremism, explores how modern pagan traditions, particularly those rooted in Germanic and Slavic identity, are increasingly weaponized by extremist movements on both sides of the Ukraine War. From the myth of the warrior ideal to the role of neo-paganism in Russian special forces and the Azov movement, Ross unpacks the ideological messiness, spiritual camouflage, and social vulnerabilities that make these belief systems ripe for radicalization. They also discuss the “folkish vs. inclusive” divide, the algorithm’s role in spreading conspiratorial spirituality, and why mainstream institutions need to step up—not just to contain extremism, but to support resilient, non-violent expressions of cultural identity.

Find Ross’s book: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/germanic-and-slavic-paganisms-9781350423916/

Watch on YouTube to see Ross talk about Pagan symbols used by Russian and Ukrainian forces: https://youtu.be/IMJ3OH3czMA

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, geopolitics, and current affairs.

Support Secrets and SpiesBecome a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies
Buy merchandise from our shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996
Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg
For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com

Connect with us on social mediaBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social
Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies
Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies
Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:
https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social
https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by F & P LTD.
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photo by Olga Maltseva/AFP

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(350)

What the Next 10 Years Look Like: China, Russia, Europe and AI | Sam Lichtenstein RANE

What the Next 10 Years Look Like: China, Russia, Europe and AI | Sam Lichtenstein RANE

Sam Lichtenstein, director of analysis at the global risk intelligence firm RANE, returns to walk Chris through RANE's 2025–2035 decade forecast: a multipolar world in which no great power has the wil...

3 Okt 59min

Russia’s worldview, disinformation, and the politics of influence | Dave Troy

Russia’s worldview, disinformation, and the politics of influence | Dave Troy

Every week, the Security Council of the Russian Federation publishes a digest of world events as Moscow sees them. Investigative journalist Dave Troy has been reading them closely, and he argues they ...

26 Sep 1h 7min

The Stay Behinds: Sweden’s Cold War Guardians | Johan Wennström

The Stay Behinds: Sweden’s Cold War Guardians | Johan Wennström

Beginning in 1949, officially non-aligned Sweden did something it kept secret for half a century: in close cooperation with the CIA and MI6, it built a clandestine civilian resistance network meant to...

19 Sep 1h 9min

The Nerd Reich | Gil Durán

The Nerd Reich | Gil Durán

Journalist Gil Durán spent years in political consulting before returning to reporting, and eventually, to the beat that became the subject of his book, The Nerd Reich. He joins Chris to lay out his c...

12 Sep 59min

Ratcliffe’s Moscow Warning, Iran’s Long Reach, and an Alliance on Edge | Espresso Martini

Ratcliffe’s Moscow Warning, Iran’s Long Reach, and an Alliance on Edge | Espresso Martini

Chris and Matt open season eleven, and Secrets & Spies’ tenth anniversary, with three stories from a busy August. First, CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow, a rare visit by an agency chief s...

5 Sep 1h 16min

A Rebel, a Traitor, and the Birth of the IRA | Rory Carroll

A Rebel, a Traitor, and the Birth of the IRA | Rory Carroll

Before Bletchley Park, there was Reginald "Blinker" Hall, the Admiralty’s mercurial intelligence chief whose codebreakers read Germany’s wireless traffic during World War I, giving Britain a front-row...

29 Aug 42min

Ortiz’s War: The Most Decorated Marine in the OSS | Nicholas Reynolds & Katie S. Sanders

Ortiz’s War: The Most Decorated Marine in the OSS | Nicholas Reynolds & Katie S. Sanders

Peter J. Ortiz was the most battle-decorated member of the OSS, America’s wartime forerunner to the CIA, and one of the most decorated Marines of the Second World War. In 1944, the former French Forei...

22 Aug 48min

How GPS Became a Weapon | Katherine Dunn

How GPS Became a Weapon | Katherine Dunn

GPS is the rare piece of infrastructure most of us never think about until it fails — and it is failing more often, in more places, by design. In Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World, jour...

15 Aug 1h 4min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
popradet
fotballpodden-2
stopp-verden
saken
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
det-store-bildet
rss-gukild-johaug
nokon-ma-ga
hanna-de-heldige
rss-ness
aftenbla-bla
bt-dokumentar-2
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
e24-podden
frokostshowet-pa-p5