Guns for Hire

The Guns for Hire podcast is a production of the Atlantic Council’s North Africa Initiative. Taking Libya as its starting point, it explores the causes and implications of the growing use of mercenaries in armed conflict. The podcast features guests from many walks of life, from ethicists and historians to former mercenary fighters. It seeks to understand what the normalisation of private warfare tells us about the world as we currently find it, but also about the future of the international system and about what war could look like in the coming decades. Written and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.

Recent Episodes
  • "Yes, really": American PMCs (back) in Gaza
    Jun 4, 2025 – 36:24
  • "Do not come for adventure here": Mercenaries in DRC
    Feb 28, 2025 – 48:00
  • “No, really”: American PMCs in Gaza
    Jan 30, 2025 – 45:45
  • A mercenary client collapses
    Dec 23, 2024 – 35:01
  • Air force for hire
    Nov 30, 2024 – 01:02:19
  • Sledgehammer: The Wagner cult in Syria
    Oct 23, 2024 – 54:52
  • "Borrowed servants"? PMCs and sadism at Abu Ghraib
    Sep 26, 2024 – 01:02:30
  • I was a Blackwater mercenary in Iraq
    Jul 27, 2024 – 59:48
  • Mercenary meatgrinder: The price of Bakhmut
    Jun 26, 2024 – 01:01:48
  • What makes Colombian mercenaries so interesting?
    May 29, 2024 – 47:05
  • American hit-squad in Yemen
    Apr 24, 2024 – 48:17
  • Mercenaries and Gaza
    Jan 9, 2024 – 49:04
  • What's Charlie Sheen got to do with it?
    Nov 28, 2023 – 01:02:05
  • Prosecuting the Wagner Group
    Oct 26, 2023 – 47:53
  • Tracking mercenaries
    Sep 21, 2023 – 37:22
  • Semtex teddy bear: The mercenary build-up in Libya
    Aug 24, 2023 – 48:23
  • Mercenary bloodline: The war in Sudan
    Jul 6, 2023 – 01:06:05
  • “What just happened?” The Wagner Group mutiny
    Jun 30, 2023 – 40:57
  • What's so bad about mercenaries?
    May 30, 2023 – 38:31
  • What Russian mercenaries tell us about Russia
    Apr 27, 2023 – 50:39
  • Defeating the Wagner Group
    Mar 21, 2023 – 52:23
  • Promo
    Feb 22, 2023 – 05:58
Recent Reviews
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork on this page are property of the podcast owner, and not endorsed by UP.audio.