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Insights are generated by CastFox AI using publicly available data, episode content, and proprietary models.
Total monthly reach
Estimated from 2 chart positions in 2 markets.
By chart position
- 🇨🇦CA · Social Sciences#6830K to 100K
- 🇷🇴RO · Social Sciences#703K to 10K
- Per-Episode Audience
Est. listeners per new episode within ~30 days
17K to 55K🎙 Weekly cadence·26 episodes·Last published today - Monthly Reach
Unique listeners across all episodes (30 days)
33K to 110K🇨🇦91%🇷🇴9% - Active Followers
Loyal subscribers who consistently listen
13K to 44K
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* Data sourced directly from platform APIs and aggregated hourly across all major podcast directories.
On the show
Recent episodes
“Shoot everybody”: US contractors in San Diego court
May 26, 2026
39m 01s
Fighting mercenaries: A Ukrainian soldier’s perspective
Mar 5, 2026
51m 05s
Narco noir: Drugs, gangs and mercenaries in Latin America
Feb 1, 2026
1h 01m 55s
“Youth as merchandise”: Iraqi mercenaries in Ukraine
Dec 6, 2025
59m 31s
Death is our business
Jul 8, 2025
59m 55s
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| Date | Episode | Description | Length | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/26/26 | “Shoot everybody”: US contractors in San Diego court | Send Alia a Text Message 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... | 39m 01s | ||||||
| 3/5/26 | Fighting mercenaries: A Ukrainian soldier’s perspective | Send Alia a Text Message 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 NAT... | 51m 05s | ||||||
| 2/1/26 | Narco noir: Drugs, gangs and mercenaries in Latin America | Send Alia a Text Message 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 traffickin... | 1h 01m 55s | ||||||
| 12/6/25 | “Youth as merchandise”: Iraqi mercenaries in Ukraine | Send Alia a Text Message 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 ... | 59m 31s | ||||||
| 7/8/25 | Death is our business | Send Alia a Text Message 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 do... | 59m 55s | ||||||
| 6/4/25 | "Yes, really": American PMCs (back) in Gaza | Send Alia a Text Message In 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 int... | 36m 24s | ||||||
| 2/28/25 | "Do not come for adventure here": Mercenaries in DRC | Send Alia a Text Message Host 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 vas... | 48m 00s | ||||||
| 1/30/25 | “No, really”: American PMCs in Gaza | Send Alia a Text Message Alia 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... | 45m 45s | ||||||
| 12/23/24 | A mercenary client collapses | Send Alia a Text Message Alia 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 ... | 35m 01s | ||||||
| 11/30/24 | Air force for hire | Send Alia a Text Message Alia 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 ... | 1h 02m 19s | ||||||
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| 10/23/24 | Sledgehammer: The Wagner cult in Syria | Send Alia a Text Message Host and Nonresident Senior Fellow Alia Brahimi chats with the defence researcher Jack Margolin about his new book on the Wagner Group. They focus on its operations in support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and the central place of Syria within the Wagner subculture. They also discuss the ever-present profit motive for the Wagner Group’s leaders, as well as the ways in which grievances born in Syria festered and fostered resentment for many years, before explodin... | 54m 52s | ||||||
| 9/26/24 | "Borrowed servants"? PMCs and sadism at Abu Ghraib | Send Alia a Text Message Alia is joined by the international criminal lawyer Katherine Gallagher to explore her litigation against a prominent PMC for war crimes at Abu Ghraib. Katherine talks us through the sixteen-year legal fight on behalf of former Iraqi detainees, the various defences invoked by CACI Premier Technology Inc., and the decision-making around whether to prosecute corporations or individual contractors. She also discusses her role in the case brought against Caterpillar Inc. ... | 1h 02m 30s | ||||||
| 7/27/24 | I was a Blackwater mercenary in Iraq | Send Alia a Text Message Alia is joined by former Blackwater contractor Morgan Lerette. In a wide-ranging conversation about Morgan's experiences, they look at Blackwater’s lax vetting procedures, the tense relationship on the ground between private contractors and the US military, the absence of long-term benefits or a support system for former Blackwater employees, and the prevalence of substance abuse and suicides. Morgan likens private military contractors to a single-serve coffee cup, to... | 59m 48s | ||||||
| 6/26/24 | Mercenary meatgrinder: The price of Bakhmut | Send Alia a Text Message Alia is joined by the Russian reporter and photojournalist, David Frenkel, to consider the staggering toll of the “Bakhmut meatgrinder”– Russia’s bloodiest battle since the Second World War. They talk through his latest report from independent Russian news platform Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service, “The Price of Bakhmut”, and David’s methodology for determining which prisoners were recruited and from where. David also examines the numbers that were killed, the qu... | 1h 01m 48s | ||||||
| 5/29/24 | What makes Colombian mercenaries so interesting? | Send Alia a Text Message Host Alia Brahimi speaks with Dr Andrés Macías, a Bogota-based expert on Colombian mercenaries. They begin by discussing the explosive case of 26 Colombian nationals arrested for their part in the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse. Andrés goes on to look at the thousands of Colombians who enlist under the banner of the UAE, what’s driving hundreds of Colombians to sign up to fight Russia in Ukraine, and what makes former Colombian soldi... | 47m 05s | ||||||
| 4/24/24 | American hit-squad in Yemen | Send Alia a Text Message In the season two opener of the Guns for Hire podcast, Alia chats with Emmy award-winning BBC investigative journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi about her film exposing American mercenaries in Yemen. One of the few journalists to report from Yemen first-hand, Nawal discusses the Delaware-registered PMC contracted by the UAE to kill “terrorists”, her meetings with two of the Americans involved, and the PMC’s training of Yemeni units – including former al-Qaeda operatives... | 48m 17s | ||||||
| 1/9/24 | Mercenaries and Gaza | Send Alia a Text Message In Episode 10 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by Renad Mansour, an expert on Iraq, Iran and allied groups. As the region convulses from the war in Gaza, they begin by assessing reports that the Wagner Group has been tasked with transferring a Russian air defence system from Syria to Hizballah in Lebanon. They go on to discuss the rivalry between Russia and Iran in the Middle East, what is motivating the non-state actors leading the bid... | 49m 04s | ||||||
| 11/28/23 | What's Charlie Sheen got to do with it? | Send Alia a Text Message 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 Sovie... | 1h 02m 05s | ||||||
| 10/26/23 | Prosecuting the Wagner Group | Send Alia a Text Message 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 terro... | 47m 53s | ||||||
| 9/21/23 | Tracking mercenaries | Send Alia a Text Message 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 tool... | 37m 22s | ||||||
| 8/24/23 | Semtex teddy bear: The mercenary build-up in Libya | Send Alia a Text Message 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 communi... | 48m 23s | ||||||
| 7/6/23 | Mercenary bloodline: The war in Sudan | Send Alia a Text Message 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 ... | 1h 06m 05s | ||||||
| 6/30/23 | “What just happened?” The Wagner Group mutiny | Send Alia a Text Message 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 tha... | 40m 57s | ||||||
| 5/30/23 | What's so bad about mercenaries? | Send Alia a Text Message 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 a... | 38m 31s | ||||||
| 4/27/23 | What Russian mercenaries tell us about Russia | Send Alia a Text Message 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... | 50m 39s | ||||||
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Chart Positions
2 placements across 2 markets.
Chart Positions
2 placements across 2 markets.