Guns for Hire

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Alia is joined by Daniel McLaughlin, an international lawyer and Legal Director of the Centre for Justice and Accountability (CJA), a California-based legal nonprofit working on behalf of victims of torture and other atrocity crimes. Daniel and CJA are leading a civil suit in San Diego against a Delaware-registered PMC for war crimes in Yemen. They represent the Yemeni parliamentarian Anssaf Ali Mayo, who was one of the targets of an alleged hit-squad in Yemen. Daniel talks us through the facts of the case, how it ended up in a California courtroom ten years later, and which US and international laws were ostensibly broken by the PMC. He also argues forcefully that the US government has a duty to regulate how former members of its military use their training and know-how.

The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. 
Get in touch at: [email protected].

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Alia sits down with Dimko Zhluktenko, a Ukrainian drone pilot and analyst within the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Ukrainian military. They discuss the realities of drone warfare in Ukraine, as well as the ways in which mercenary forces change the nature and tempo of battle. Dimko describes how he and his comrades are combatting Shahed drones, the psychological mechanisms necessary to keep fighting an army which uses waves of expendable manpower, and the need for NATO to start thinking of drones as bullets. Dimko also talks about how procurement and innovation cycles on both sides of the war are now measured in weeks, and how the geeks of war have turned the tide in Ukraine. 
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. 
Get in touch at: [email protected].

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Alia is joined by Dr Vanda Felbab-Brown, a renowned expert on non-state armed groups and organised crime. They begin by discussing the escalation of gang violence in Haiti over the last year, despite the arrival of the American PMC, Vectus Global, which is led by the Blackwater founder Erik Prince. They go on to explore the bunkering of fuel by colectivos in Venezuela, Hizballah’s continuing narcotics operations across Latin America, the IRGC’s role in drug trafficking, and how the regime in Iran ends. 
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. 
Get in touch at: [email protected].

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Alia is joined by the Iraqi political analyst Mohammed Salih to discuss the legion of Iraqi men turning up on the frontlines of the war in Ukraine. They explore how poverty and political dysfunction in Iraq have been weaponised by mercenary recruitment networks – and how death in Europe has been packaged as an economic opportunity. They consider the possible complicity of prominent Iran-backed militias in Iraq, or even parts of the Iraqi state itself, and the ways in which Iraq’s recent history has made the sale of martial services a normalised part of survival. Mohammed also talks listeners through the implications of Iraq’s November elections, recent attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan, and what options there might be for “disarming” pro-Iran militias in Iraq. 

"There has been some reporting of Iran-backed militia groups facilitating this human trafficking recruitment scheme for the Russian side... There is the suspicion that there is some sort of an officially permissive environment that allowed this, because it is not happening on a small scale."
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. 
Get in touch at: [email protected].

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Alia 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 that the Wagner Group’s legacy is drawing Russia into Africa and transforming it into a major security player on a strategic continent. 

“I do think that if and when we do see a ceasefire in Ukraine, the pool of recruitment for PMCs globally is going to jump incredibly… With the Russians, but I’m sure we’ll see a Ukrainian version of it as well.” 

The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. 
Get in touch at: [email protected].