Shows
Guns for HireDeath is our businessSend Alia a Text MessageAlia is joined by John Lechner to discuss his new book, Death is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare. They chat about the Wagner Group’s soft power strategy in Africa including films and beauty pageants, and its corresponding popularity in places like the Central African Republic, its patterns of recruitment, and how its mercenaries are already “bringing the war home” to Russia. John also reflects on his own experiences interviewing dozens of Russian mercenaries and on being seized and interrogated for two days in Mali. John argues...
2025-07-0859 min
Behind The Lines with Arthur SnellIsrael - Iran - ceasefire? Or more chaosAs Lenin apparently never said, ‘There Are Decades Where Nothing Happens and Weeks Where Decades Happen’. We are clearly living through the latter. Arthur and Jason attempt to untangle the latest: from the Iranian attack on the US airbase in Qatar to Trump’s declaration of forever peace to end what he is cleverly calling the 12 Day War.Arthur and Jason rally in violent unity for Mega Ordering -- whether you advocated for Obama’s ‘Iran Deal’ or supported Trump’s tearing it to shreds, whether you love Benjamin Netanyahu or think he is an evil genius, whether you su...
2025-06-2430 minGuns for Hire"Yes, really": American PMCs (back) in GazaSend Alia a Text MessageIn this emergency episode, Alia is joined by the international human rights lawyer and former senior UN official, Craig Mokhiber. They discuss a new, controversial mechanism for the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza – with American PMCs at the core of the system. Craig offers his assessment of why the Israeli-led Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was established, its rejection by the UN and the international aid community for weaponising hunger, as well as the international laws it is breaching. He describes the cruelties and dangers inhering in this new aid system and ou...
2025-06-0436 minGuns for Hire"Do not come for adventure here": Mercenaries in DRCSend Alia a Text MessageHost Alia Brahimi is joined on the podcast by the African politics and security expert Ben Shepherd. After 300 Romanian mercenaries were cornered by M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo in January, Ben reflects on the reasons behind the rebels’ advance, as well as the perennial need for DRC’s government to look to external security providers for help with managing threats. They also discuss Rwanda’s support for M23, regional jockeying for access to DRC’s vast mineral wealth, and a recently thwarted coup involving three US nationals. The Guns...
2025-02-2848 minGuns for Hire“No, really”: American PMCs in GazaSend Alia a Text MessageAlia chats with modern warfare expert Dr Andreas Krieg about the sudden deployment of three private military companies to the Netzarim corridor in the Gaza Strip. Andreas examines the risks and opportunities in outsourcing a key task of stabilisation to the market, and of depending on low-profile companies for a high-profile job. He argues that the Israeli Defence Forces have a poor track record when it comes to stabilising any of the territories they have controlled and that Gaza might be a case where the profit motive of PMCs is preferable...
2025-01-3045 minGuns for HireA mercenary client collapsesSend Alia a Text MessageAlia sits down with acclaimed author and former CIA analyst, David McCloskey, to discuss the spectacular collapse of a major mercenary client in Syria. They discuss why, despite their notorious brutality, Bashar Al-Assad’s forces proved so brittle, and who the winners and losers are from the stunning rebel victory. David also talks us through CIA scenario planning around Syria and what spy services might be doing or thinking in relation to Syria right now.The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Br...
2024-12-2335 minGuns for HireAir force for hireSend Alia a Text MessageAlia is joined by the mercenaries expert Alessandro Arduino, who is also a top China analyst. They discuss recent seismic leaps in UAV technology and how the cost of drone defence is a magnitude greater than drone offense. They explore the way certain aggressive PMCs are marrying drone capabilities with their mercenary offerings, raising the spectre of air forces for hire. Alessandro also talks us through China’s developing thinking around privatised force, with some in China now pushing for more forceful security around the Belt-and-Road Initiative and the Chinese nationals constructing it...
2024-12-011h 02Guns for HireSledgehammer: The Wagner cult in SyriaSend Alia a Text MessageHost and Nonresident Senior Fellow Alia Brahimi chats with the defence researcher Jack Margolin about his new book on the Wagner Group. They focus on its operations in support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and the central place of Syria within the Wagner subculture. They also discuss the ever-present profit motive for the Wagner Group’s leaders, as well as the ways in which grievances born in Syria festered and fostered resentment for many years, before exploding with the Wagner mutiny in June 2023. “[They] focused on this understanding of Slavi...
2024-10-2354 min
mbanerjeepalmer+listennotes 's Listen LaterMercenary meatgrinder: The price of Bakhmut Podcast: Guns for HireEpisode: Mercenary meatgrinder: The price of BakhmutPub date: 2024-06-26Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationSend Alia a Text MessageAlia is joined by the Russian reporter and photojournalist, David Frenkel, to consider the staggering toll of the “Bakhmut meatgrinder”– Russia’s bloodiest battle since the Second World War. They talk through his latest report from independent Russian news platform Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service, “The Price of Bakhmut”, and David’s methodology for determining which prisoners were r...
2024-10-151h 01mbanerjeepalmer+listennotes 's Listen LaterWhat makes Colombian mercenaries so interesting? Podcast: Guns for HireEpisode: What makes Colombian mercenaries so interesting?Pub date: 2024-05-29Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationSend Alia a Text MessageHost Alia Brahimi speaks with Dr Andrés Macías, a Bogota-based expert on Colombian mercenaries. They begin by discussing the explosive case of 26 Colombian nationals arrested for their part in the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse. Andrés goes on to look at the thousands of Colombians who enlist under the banner of the UAE, w...
2024-10-1547 minmbanerjeepalmer+listennotes 's Listen LaterMercenaries and Gaza Podcast: Guns for HireEpisode: Mercenaries and GazaPub date: 2024-01-09Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationSend Alia a Text MessageIn Episode 10 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by Renad Mansour, an expert on Iraq, Iran and allied groups. As the region convulses from the war in Gaza, they begin by assessing reports that the Wagner Group has been tasked with transferring a Russian air defence system from Syria to Hizballah in...
2024-10-1349 minGuns for Hire"Borrowed servants"? PMCs and sadism at Abu GhraibSend Alia a Text MessageAlia is joined by the international criminal lawyer Katherine Gallagher to explore her litigation against a prominent PMC for war crimes at Abu Ghraib. Katherine talks us through the sixteen-year legal fight on behalf of former Iraqi detainees, the various defences invoked by CACI Premier Technology Inc., and the decision-making around whether to prosecute corporations or individual contractors. She also discusses her role in the case brought against Caterpillar Inc. for the death of Rachel Corrie, and how private corporations involved in warfare are on notice now much more so than twenty...
2024-09-261h 02mbanerjeepalmer+listennotes 's Listen LaterI was a Blackwater mercenary in Iraq Podcast: Guns for HireEpisode: I was a Blackwater mercenary in IraqPub date: 2024-07-27Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationSend Alia a Text MessageAlia is joined by former Blackwater contractor Morgan Lerette. In a wide-ranging conversation about Morgan's experiences, they look at Blackwater’s lax vetting procedures, the tense relationship on the ground between private contractors and the US military, the absence of long-term benefits or a support system for former Blackwater employees, and the prevalence of substance abuse and...
2024-07-3159 minGuns for HireI was a Blackwater mercenary in IraqSend Alia a Text MessageAlia is joined by former Blackwater contractor Morgan Lerette. In a wide-ranging conversation about Morgan's experiences, they look at Blackwater’s lax vetting procedures, the tense relationship on the ground between private contractors and the US military, the absence of long-term benefits or a support system for former Blackwater employees, and the prevalence of substance abuse and suicides. Morgan likens private military contractors to a single-serve coffee cup, to be used and discarded at will so that corporations can profit, and governments can avoid committing boots on the ground.“I st...
2024-07-2759 minGuns for HireMercenary meatgrinder: The price of BakhmutSend Alia a Text MessageAlia is joined by the Russian reporter and photojournalist, David Frenkel, to consider the staggering toll of the “Bakhmut meatgrinder”– Russia’s bloodiest battle since the Second World War. They talk through his latest report from independent Russian news platform Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service, “The Price of Bakhmut”, and David’s methodology for determining which prisoners were recruited and from where. David also examines the numbers that were killed, the question marks over whether promised death payments were made, and why the Wagner Group turned to prisons for manpower in the first plac...
2024-06-261h 01Guns for HireWhat makes Colombian mercenaries so interesting?Send Alia a Text MessageHost Alia Brahimi speaks with Dr Andrés Macías, a Bogota-based expert on Colombian mercenaries. They begin by discussing the explosive case of 26 Colombian nationals arrested for their part in the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse. Andrés goes on to look at the thousands of Colombians who enlist under the banner of the UAE, what’s driving hundreds of Colombians to sign up to fight Russia in Ukraine, and what makes former Colombian soldiers so interesting to the international private security market. “What is the Colo...
2024-05-2947 minGuns for HireAmerican hit-squad in YemenSend Alia a Text MessageIn the season two opener of the Guns for Hire podcast, Alia chats with Emmy award-winning BBC investigative journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi about her film exposing American mercenaries in Yemen. One of the few journalists to report from Yemen first-hand, Nawal discusses the Delaware-registered PMC contracted by the UAE to kill “terrorists”, her meetings with two of the Americans involved, and the PMC’s training of Yemeni units – including former al-Qaeda operatives – to conduct targeted assassinations. “He knows these guys aren’t terrorists. This was a business d...
2024-04-2448 minGuns for HireMercenaries and GazaSend Alia a Text MessageIn Episode 10 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by Renad Mansour, an expert on Iraq, Iran and allied groups. As the region convulses from the war in Gaza, they begin by assessing reports that the Wagner Group has been tasked with transferring a Russian air defence system from Syria to Hizballah in Lebanon. They go on to discuss the rivalry between Russia and Iran in the Middle East, what is motivating the non-state actors leading the bid to avenge Gazans, and w...
2024-01-0949 minGuns for HireWhat's Charlie Sheen got to do with it?Send Alia a Text MessageIn episode nine of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi speaks with the Russia analyst Sergey Sukhankin about the 2019 arrest in Libya of the Wagner Group political operative Maksim Shugaley and the Russian propaganda campaign to free him. They discuss Russian political and media operations in Africa, from Libya to Madagascar, and how Russia fundamentally lacks the ideological and financial enticements of the Soviet Union or of China.“This goes back to Soviet times when the Soviet Union was inviting people like [George] Bernard Shaw an...
2023-11-281h 02Guns for HireProsecuting the Wagner GroupSend Alia a Text MessageLawfare is the use of legal systems for strategic advantage. One of its pioneers, the international human rights lawyer Jason McCue, joins host Alia Brahimi on episode eight of the Guns for Hire podcast. Jason describes how he first began pursuing the IRA through private civil actions in the 1990s and goes on to outline the application of these methods to the Wagner Group. Jason and Alia also discuss whether it’s meaningful to designate mercenary groups as terrorists, if private civil actions can form the basis for criminal prosecutions, and...
2023-10-2647 minGuns for HireTracking mercenariesSend Alia a Text MessageAs humans share more of their experiences online for the world to see, the blank zones are shrinking. In episode seven of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by Eliot Higgins, an award-winning journalist and founder of the independent investigative collective, Bellingcat. Eliot, who was personally sued by the late mercenary leader Yevgeny Prighozin for outing him as the oligarch behind the Wagner Group, discusses the types of online open-source tools used to track mercenary activity, and how anyone with a bit of time...
2023-09-2137 minGuns for HireSemtex teddy bear: The mercenary build-up in LibyaSend Alia a Text MessageHost Alia Brahimi is joined by the Libyan security expert and Atlantic Council Nonresident Senior Fellow Emadeddin Badi. They discuss the surge of African, Syrian and Russian mercenaries in Libya since 2019, the major value-add of Wagner Group contractors in terms of utilising Libya's Soviet-era weapons and mortar and sniping capabilities, and how mercenary recruitment networks are used to smuggle migrants to Europe. The working assumption of the international community is that a future elected government will expel mercenaries from Libya, but Emadeddin argues that the mercenaries themselves pose a threat to the...
2023-08-2448 minGuns for HireMercenary bloodline: The war in SudanSend Alia a Text MessageIn this bumper episode on the war in Sudan, host Alia Brahimi speaks with the former US government expert on Sudan, Cameron Hudson, about the mercenary pedigree of the Rapid Support Forces and its transformation from a ragtag Arab militia into an institutional juggernaut. Cameron argues that this mercenary history has had a determinative impact on the conflict: it has generated a cash windfall which allows the RSF to recruit in numbers to rival the size of the national army; it has forged regional relationships that are now central to t...
2023-07-061h 06Guns for Hire“What just happened?” The Wagner Group mutinySend Alia a Text MessageHost Alia Brahimi speaks with renowned Russia expert Mark Galeotti about the striking developments which saw mutinous mercenary forces from the Wagner Group take over two Russian cities and march towards Moscow. Mark argues that the plot was not picked up in a timely manner precisely because the Wagner Group is a mercenary force operating outside of the purview of counterintelligence and the units that ordinarily monitor the loyalty of the military. “It’s likely that this is the start of the real endgame… most crucially of all it was th...
2023-06-3040 minGuns for HireWhat's so bad about mercenaries?Send Alia a Text MessageAlia is joined by the philosopher Professor Tony Coady, who examines the key characteristics of mercenaries, including the motivation for private gain. They discuss the Geneva Conventions definition of mercenaries, the gray area of military contractors in support roles, and whether it’s possible to base a moral or legal judgement on an individual’s intentions. They also consider the main moral objections to mercenaries, with Professor Coady arguing that we should do as much as possible to tone down the resort to war as a standard political option. “Mercen...
2023-05-3038 minGuns for HireWhat Russian mercenaries tell us about RussiaSend Alia a Text MessageHost Alia Brahimi talks to the Russian defense analyst Dr Pavel Luzin about what the proliferation of Russian mercenaries abroad tells us about Russia at home. They explore the domestic forces that gave rise to the Kremlin’s co-optation of Russian mercenaries, how they are funded by the Russian federal budget, and the effects mercenaries are already having on Russian society. “Hundreds of thousands of veterans will come back sooner or later to Russia, and it will be a political economy and social disaster. It will be [a] high leve...
2023-04-2750 minGuns for HireDefeating the Wagner GroupSend Alia a Text MessageIn the launch episode of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi speaks with the author and former mercenary Dr Sean McFate about his three-pronged strategy for defeating the Wagner Group. They also discuss internal dynamics within the Kremlin-linked private military company, the dangerously outsized influence of its leader on the war in Ukraine, and Sean’s argument that there’s nothing more unconventional today than a conventional war– and that this is borne out by the way that Russia is fighting in Ukraine.“There’s this natural schism, be...
2023-03-2152 minGuns for HirePromoSend Alia a Text MessageIntroducing a new podcast series from the Atlantic Council in Washington DC. Taking Libya as its starting point, the Guns for Hire podcast explores the causes and implications of the growing use of mercenaries in armed conflict. Hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. Get in touch at: gunsforhirepodcast@gmail.com.
2023-02-2205 min
Cognitive EngineeringRevolutions and the Arab SpringTen years on from the Arab Spring uprisings, we look at whether revolutions constitute an effective way of improving a country’s governance, with Dr Alia Brahimi, an expert in Middle Eastern politics.
In this podcast we look at the precursors and aftermath of the Arab Spring, examining several of the affected countries - then and now - to see whether their lots have been improved. We also examine revolutions in general and consider how you might determine their success or failure, and over what period of time it is appropriate to judge their outcomes. Finally, we analyse different types of...
2021-04-1437 min
Conflict and Cultural Heritage ConferenceCultural Heritage in the Islamic State’s WorldviewPart of the Conflict and Cultural Heritage Conference. Theme 2: Why is this happening? Understanding ISIL and other Islamist extremism. With Dr Alia Brahimi (CCW; Contest Global). This presentation will explore the beliefs that underlie the Islamic State’s practices, as well as the political strategies behind the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage.
2015-11-1900 minConflict and Cultural Heritage ConferenceCultural Heritage in the Islamic State’s WorldviewPart of the Conflict and Cultural Heritage Conference. Theme 2: Why is this happening? Understanding ISIL and other Islamist extremism. With Dr Alia Brahimi (CCW; Contest Global). This presentation will explore the beliefs that underlie the Islamic State’s practices, as well as the political strategies behind the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage.
2015-11-1917 min
The Frontline ClubFrom Al Qaeda to ISIS: Terrorists TacticsThirteen years on from the 9/11 terrorist attack on the US by Al Qaeda, how has the organisation evolved around the world and what are its links with developing groups such a ISIS and al-Shabaab?
With sophisticated social media strategies and professional promotional videos, we will be looking at the tactics being deployed, both on the ground and online, and how they differ from what we have seen from Al Qaeda.
A panel of experts will be joining us to examine the tactics and strategies these affiliated groups have developed and what is being done to combat them.
Chaired by foreign...
2014-09-241h 28
Spring 2011 | Public lectures and events | VideoAmerica's Wars in the Muslim WorldContributor(s): Dr Alia Brahimi, Professor Fawaz Gerges, Nir Rosen | This event celebrates the publication of Aftermath by Nir Rosen and Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror by Alia Brahimi. While Rosen chronicles the devastating consequences on the ground, Brahimi explores the problematic ideology driving the leaders above. Alia Brahimi is a research fellow at LSE Global Governance and a senior research associate of the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford. Fawaz Gerges is the director of the Middle East Centre at LSE. Nir Rosen is a freelance writer, photographer and filmmaker who...
2011-01-261h 21Spring 2011 | Public lectures and events | Audio and pdfAmerica's Wars in the Muslim WorldContributor(s): Dr Alia Brahimi, Professor Fawaz Gerges, Nir Rosen | This event celebrates the publication of Aftermath by Nir Rosen and Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror by Alia Brahimi. While Rosen chronicles the devastating consequences on the ground, Brahimi explores the problematic ideology driving the leaders above. Alia Brahimi is a research fellow at LSE Global Governance and a senior research associate of the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford. Fawaz Gerges is the director of the Middle East Centre at LSE. Nir Rosen is a freelance writer, photographer and filmmaker who...
2011-01-261h 21Spring 2011 | Public lectures and events | Audio and pdfAmerica's Wars in the Muslim WorldContributor(s): Dr Alia Brahimi, Professor Fawaz Gerges, Nir Rosen | This event celebrates the publication of Aftermath by Nir Rosen and Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror by Alia Brahimi. While Rosen chronicles the devastating consequences on the ground, Brahimi explores the problematic ideology driving the leaders above. Alia Brahimi is a research fellow at LSE Global Governance and a senior research associate of the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford. Fawaz Gerges is the director of the Middle East Centre at LSE. Nir Rosen is a freelance writer, photographer and filmmaker who...
2011-01-261h 21Spring 2011 | Public lectures and events | VideoAmerica's Wars in the Muslim WorldContributor(s): Dr Alia Brahimi, Professor Fawaz Gerges, Nir Rosen | This event celebrates the publication of Aftermath by Nir Rosen and Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror by Alia Brahimi. While Rosen chronicles the devastating consequences on the ground, Brahimi explores the problematic ideology driving the leaders above. Alia Brahimi is a research fellow at LSE Global Governance and a senior research associate of the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford. Fawaz Gerges is the director of the Middle East Centre at LSE. Nir Rosen is a freelance writer, photographer and filmmaker who...
2011-01-261h 21