Guns for Hire

• "Yes, really": American PMCs (back) in Gaza

  Send 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 outlines how individuals, including PMC employees, may be held legally accountable for their participation in the GHF and their association with the IDF’s wider war crimes."This is not an aid operation. It is an extension of the unlawful Israeli occupation and its plans for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza."The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. Get in touch at: [email protected].

  --------  

  36:24
• "Do not come for adventure here": Mercenaries in DRC

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

  --------  

  48:00
• “No, really”: American PMCs in Gaza

  Send 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 to the motivations driving two deeply traumatised societies. The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. Get in touch at: [email protected].

  --------  

  45:45
• A mercenary client collapses

  Send 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 Brahimi. Get in touch at: [email protected].

  --------  

  35:01
• Air force for hire

  Send 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.“We have already boots on the ground, meaning an army for hire… So the next step will be to have an air force for hire. Of course, sometimes reality is faster than fiction.”The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. Get in touch at: [email protected].

  --------  

  1:02:19

Más podcasts de Ciencias

Podcasts a la moda de Ciencias

Acerca de Guns for Hire

Guns for Hire: Podcasts del grupo