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.

Podcasting since 2023 • 27 episodes

Guns for Hire

Latest Episodes

“Shoot everybody”: US contractors in San Diego court

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...

May 26, 2026 • Season 2 • Episode 16 • 39:01

Fighting mercenaries: A Ukrainian soldier’s perspective

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...

March 05, 2026 • Season 2 • Episode 15 • 51:05

Narco noir: Drugs, gangs and mercenaries in Latin America

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 Glob...

February 01, 2026 • Season 2 • Episode 14 • 1:01:55

“Youth as merchandise”: Iraqi mercenaries in Ukraine

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 rec...

December 06, 2025 • Season 2 • Episode 13 • 59:31

Death is our business

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...

July 08, 2025 • Season 2 • Episode 12 • 59:55

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Fan Mail

Hi Alia, love your podcast's, have a great Christmas

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Alia Brahimi

Host