Guns for Hire
Atlantic Council
All episodes
Best episodes
Seasons
Top 10 Guns for Hire Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Guns for Hire episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Guns for Hire for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Guns for Hire episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Mercenary bloodline: The war in Sudan
Guns for Hire
07/06/23 • 66 min
In 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 the RSF’s resupply; and it feeds a detached mercenary mentality amongst RSF fighters that facilitates war crimes and abuses. As mercenaries from multiple Sahelian states flood into Sudan, Cameron also contends that the conflict in Sudan is becoming a pan-African conflict in ways that are not yet understood.
They discuss, too, the role of the Wagner Group in the war in Sudan and the status of Libya as a major source of resupply for the RSF.
Alia also chats with Professor Munzoul Assal of the University of Khartoum about the danger of two parallel governments emerging in Sudan along the lines of the bifurcation in Libya. Munzoul also discusses, the presence of RSF fighters at the Sudanese border with the Central African Republic where the Wagner Group is deeply entrenched, as well as the clear and alarming possibilities for a regional conflagration.
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.
“What just happened?” The Wagner Group mutiny
Guns for Hire
06/30/23 • 40 min
Host 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 the spectacle of the security forces in the main not joining Wagner, but nor did they act to stop Wagner. They sat back and just thought, let’s see how this all plays out.”
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.
What's Charlie Sheen got to do with it?
Guns for Hire
11/28/23 • 62 min
In 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 and many other public figures... Today Russia is using virtually the same playbook.”
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.
Prosecuting the Wagner Group
Guns for Hire
10/26/23 • 47 min
Lawfare 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 how Jason and his law partner were personally sanctioned by the Russian state.
“Autocrats are looking for a model for asymmetric warfare against democrats and the Wagner model is definitely the model on the table, with its plausible deniability. And it’s really important for us to not only designate it but to litigate it.”
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.
Tracking mercenaries
Guns for Hire
09/21/23 • 37 min
As 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 and an internet connection can get involved.
“A mercenary might have a friend who uses social media a lot and they’re featuring a lot in these photographs, for example, and then you can start building out the networks from that.”
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.
Semtex teddy bear: The mercenary build-up in Libya
Guns for Hire
08/24/23 • 48 min
Host 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 freeness and fairness of those very elections.
“You have smugglers that are actually putting Syrians on [mercenary] rotations to Libya in order for those Syrians to then depart for Europe. So there’s a whole new political economy around migrant smuggling.”
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.
What's so bad about mercenaries?
Guns for Hire
05/30/23 • 38 min
Alia 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.
“Mercenaries should be treated as combatants along with regular soldiers and have the same restrictions on their conduct and, where appropriate, protections.”
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.
What Russian mercenaries tell us about Russia
Guns for Hire
04/27/23 • 50 min
Host 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 level of violence.”
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.
Defeating the Wagner Group
Guns for Hire
03/21/23 • 52 min
In 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, between for-profit and not-for-profit warriors. Let’s just widen that schism in the Russian instance.”
The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.
Promo
Guns for Hire
02/22/23 • 5 min
Introducing 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.
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does Guns for Hire have?
Guns for Hire currently has 21 episodes available.
What topics does Guns for Hire cover?
The podcast is about Russia, Ukraine, International Relations, Podcasts, Social Sciences, Science, Philosophy, War, Ethics and Politics.
What is the most popular episode on Guns for Hire?
The episode title 'Prosecuting the Wagner Group' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Guns for Hire?
The average episode length on Guns for Hire is 49 minutes.
How often are episodes of Guns for Hire released?
Episodes of Guns for Hire are typically released every 33 days, 9 hours.
When was the first episode of Guns for Hire?
The first episode of Guns for Hire was released on Feb 22, 2023.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ