Vlad Vexler
@vladvexler.bsky.social
Philosopher - ethics, politics, music | Slowly writing a book on Isaiah Berlin | Born in USSR, home is London | Living with ME since 2003.
youtube.com/vladvexler (main channel)
youtube.com/vladvexlerchat (chat channel)
youtube.com/@vladvexlerphilosophy
youtube.com/vladvexler (main channel)
youtube.com/vladvexlerchat (chat channel)
youtube.com/@vladvexlerphilosophy
Written version of my latest main-channel video on Soviet Nostalgia and authoritarian populism.
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
SOVIET ICE CREAM, NOSTALGIA AND THE GLOBAL WAVE OF POPULISM
Written version of my latest main-channel video.
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Written version of my latest main-channel video on Soviet Nostalgia and authoritarian populism.
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
Three senses of what it means to be a liberal today -
1. Substantive sense.
This sense of liberalism is about what kinds of historical images and ideas of politics make up your mind. From Hobbes to Isaiah Berlin.
1. Substantive sense.
This sense of liberalism is about what kinds of historical images and ideas of politics make up your mind. From Hobbes to Isaiah Berlin.
November 25, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Three senses of what it means to be a liberal today -
1. Substantive sense.
This sense of liberalism is about what kinds of historical images and ideas of politics make up your mind. From Hobbes to Isaiah Berlin.
1. Substantive sense.
This sense of liberalism is about what kinds of historical images and ideas of politics make up your mind. From Hobbes to Isaiah Berlin.
5 Things No One Says About the Ukraine Peace Plan
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
5 Things No One Says About the Ukraine Peace Plan
LEADERSHIP AND EXISTENTIAL DECISION
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:57 PM
5 Things No One Says About the Ukraine Peace Plan
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
We don’t just miss the past.
We miss a past vision of the future.
My Soviet ice-cream memories open this video, but the story leads to something bigger: how authoritarian populists weaponise nostalgia today.
"How Soviet Nostalgia Still Rules Putin’s Russia"
youtu.be/gI1VcTVmqA8?...
We miss a past vision of the future.
My Soviet ice-cream memories open this video, but the story leads to something bigger: how authoritarian populists weaponise nostalgia today.
"How Soviet Nostalgia Still Rules Putin’s Russia"
youtu.be/gI1VcTVmqA8?...
Why Putin’s Russia Is Trapped in the Soviet Past
YouTube video by Vlad Vexler
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 5:46 PM
We don’t just miss the past.
We miss a past vision of the future.
My Soviet ice-cream memories open this video, but the story leads to something bigger: how authoritarian populists weaponise nostalgia today.
"How Soviet Nostalgia Still Rules Putin’s Russia"
youtu.be/gI1VcTVmqA8?...
We miss a past vision of the future.
My Soviet ice-cream memories open this video, but the story leads to something bigger: how authoritarian populists weaponise nostalgia today.
"How Soviet Nostalgia Still Rules Putin’s Russia"
youtu.be/gI1VcTVmqA8?...
Much of the discussion of the “peace plan” evades two blunt truths: (a) Europe has no strategy, and (b) Trump is chaotic and aligned with Putin. This isn’t ignorance but a refusal to reckon with reality - a depoliticised move that, at scale, helps Trump and Putin.
November 23, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Much of the discussion of the “peace plan” evades two blunt truths: (a) Europe has no strategy, and (b) Trump is chaotic and aligned with Putin. This isn’t ignorance but a refusal to reckon with reality - a depoliticised move that, at scale, helps Trump and Putin.
Reposted by Vlad Vexler
Europe and Ukraine are on their own - my first long form Substack on Trump’s 28 point "peace plan"
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
Trump's 28 point plan: big-picture analysis
Europe and Ukraine are on their own
open.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Europe and Ukraine are on their own - my first long form Substack on Trump’s 28 point "peace plan"
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
open.substack.com/pub/vladvexl...
Events around Ukraine have intensified.
I’ve been too sick to broadcast for a couple of days, but will be back with an analysis as soon as I can. Possibly late Friday or early Saturday morning UK time.
I’ve been too sick to broadcast for a couple of days, but will be back with an analysis as soon as I can. Possibly late Friday or early Saturday morning UK time.
November 21, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Events around Ukraine have intensified.
I’ve been too sick to broadcast for a couple of days, but will be back with an analysis as soon as I can. Possibly late Friday or early Saturday morning UK time.
I’ve been too sick to broadcast for a couple of days, but will be back with an analysis as soon as I can. Possibly late Friday or early Saturday morning UK time.
Intelligence is no longer tied to the ability to get informed. It’s drifting away from truthfulness. We’re told the issue is stupid people being misinformed. It isn’t. When intelligent people are widely misinformed, the culture is in deeper trouble.
November 20, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Intelligence is no longer tied to the ability to get informed. It’s drifting away from truthfulness. We’re told the issue is stupid people being misinformed. It isn’t. When intelligent people are widely misinformed, the culture is in deeper trouble.
The Russian opposition and the depoliticised majority of the Russian population share the same colonising conception of the Kremlin. They view the Kremlin not as an institution Russia creates, but as a foreign power - an external authority that happens to rule them.
November 19, 2025 at 10:04 PM
The Russian opposition and the depoliticised majority of the Russian population share the same colonising conception of the Kremlin. They view the Kremlin not as an institution Russia creates, but as a foreign power - an external authority that happens to rule them.
Russia won’t be a “normal functioning democracy” because by the 2030s even Western countries will struggle to be “normal functioning democracies”.
“I have absolutely no doubt the day will come when Russia will be a normal democratic European country... It is important to be preparing now for that window of opportunity to make sure we get it right.”
Our conversation with Sir @billbrowder.bsky.social on Times Radio.
youtube.com/watch?v=RwqY...
Our conversation with Sir @billbrowder.bsky.social on Times Radio.
youtube.com/watch?v=RwqY...
November 16, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Russia won’t be a “normal functioning democracy” because by the 2030s even Western countries will struggle to be “normal functioning democracies”.
The 1920s–40s can’t be a guide to a possible collapse of democracy in the 2030s. Back then societies still had the forces needed to rebuild democracy. Today those forces are missing.
November 16, 2025 at 7:36 AM
The 1920s–40s can’t be a guide to a possible collapse of democracy in the 2030s. Back then societies still had the forces needed to rebuild democracy. Today those forces are missing.
Attention and truthfulness go together - especially the kind of attention that is willing to concentrate without understanding.
November 13, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Attention and truthfulness go together - especially the kind of attention that is willing to concentrate without understanding.
Trumpists attack BBC, and its response is woeful: my comprehensive analysis -
youtu.be/S6fuqxDO7Zc?...
youtu.be/S6fuqxDO7Zc?...
Trump threatens to sue BBC for $1 billion
YouTube video by Vlad Vexler Chat
youtu.be
November 10, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Trumpists attack BBC, and its response is woeful: my comprehensive analysis -
youtu.be/S6fuqxDO7Zc?...
youtu.be/S6fuqxDO7Zc?...
The BBC chair rightly admits an error in editing Trump’s Jan 6 speech. But he does not challenge the false Trumpian claim in the dossier: that Panorama “completely” and “materially”misrepresented its meaning. This is not impartiality. It’s surrender to post-truth populism.
November 10, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The BBC chair rightly admits an error in editing Trump’s Jan 6 speech. But he does not challenge the false Trumpian claim in the dossier: that Panorama “completely” and “materially”misrepresented its meaning. This is not impartiality. It’s surrender to post-truth populism.
The crisis at the BBC shows how embattled and defensive serious news organisations have become - and how close they are to yielding, pre-emptively, and being overwhelmed, by authoritarian populists.
November 10, 2025 at 12:07 AM
The crisis at the BBC shows how embattled and defensive serious news organisations have become - and how close they are to yielding, pre-emptively, and being overwhelmed, by authoritarian populists.