Blood Work

Blood Flows: Arm Transfers

We trace the evolution of international arms transfers from mercantilism to the modern era, and the perverse incentives produced by the symbiosis of private enterprise and state imperatives in arms production.
Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT KobelIf you enjoyed this episode:– Support Blood Work via Patreon– Leave a rating or review on your podcast app– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Killstreak InboundALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOInspired by the Pentagon’s recent deployment of computer game graphics to promote its illegal bombardment of Iran, producer Thomas takes a longer view at the relationship between the United States military and the video games industry.
Sources:
Amnesty International (June 1995), ‘RWANDA: Arming the Perpetrators of the Genocide’, available at Amnesty.org
Jonathan Beatty and S. C. Gwynne (1993), The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart Of BCCI
Steve Boggan (Nov. 23, 1996), ‘Bloody trade that fuels Rwanda's war (Operation Insecticide), available at The Independent
Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
George Cryle (2003), Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History
Owen Greene and Nicholas Marsh (eds.) (2012), Small Arms, Crime and Conflict: Global Governance and the Threat of Armed Violence
Nicholas Kotarski (2018), ‘Whose Monster? A Study in the Rise to Power of al Qaeda and the Taliban’, History Theses, 47
Keith Krause (1992), Arms and the State: Patterns of Military Production and Trade
Mamello Mosiana, Hennie van Vuuren and Daniel Ford (Nov. 13, 2024), ‘Unaccountable 00040 | Willem ‘Ters’ Ehlers – apartheid’s secretary turned genocide arms dealer’, available at Open Secrets
John U. Nef (1950), War and Human Progress: An Essay on the Rise of Industrial Civilization
Robert Pear (Apr. 18, 1988), ‘Arming Afghan Guerrillas: A Huge Effort Led by U.S.’, available at The New York Times(archived)
Frederic S. Pearson (1994), The Global Spread of Arms: Political Economy of Economic Security
Peter Dale Scott (2007), The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America
William Shawcross (1988), The Shah’s Last Ride
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute [SIPRI] (2010), ‘End-User Certificates: Improving Standards to Prevent Diversion’, available at SIPRI
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute [SIPRI] (2024), ‘The SIPRI Top 100 Arms-Producing and Military Services Companies, 2024’, available at SIPRI
Rachel Stohl and Suzette Grillot (2009), The International Arms Trade
Joe Stork (Nov. 1, 1995), ‘The Middle East Arms Bazaar After the Gulf War’, available at Middle East Research and Information Project
Andrew T. H. Tan (ed.) (2010), The Global Arms Trade: A Handbook
Adam Tooze (Mar. 23, 2023), ‘Chartbook 204: Iraq’s economic impasse twenty years after the invasion’, available at Chartbook | Adam Tooze
Mark Townsend (Oct. 28, 2025), ‘UK military equipment used by militia accused of genocide found in Sudan, UN told’, available at The Guardian
Matt Wells (Feb. 10, 2000), ‘Arms firm linked to Rwandan army chief’, available at The Guardian
Brian Wood and Johan Peleman (2000), The Arms Fixers. Controlling the Brokers and Shipping Agents
Image: Soldiers patrol outside of Goma International Airport in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo (2022)

Uncle Joe’s Insurance Policy: The History of the AK-47, Part Two [PREVIEW]

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon.
It’s time to tell the story of Mikhail Kalashnikov, his eponymous gun, the horrors of the Eastern Front, and one of the biggest fumbles in US military history.
Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel
For more:
– Support Blood Work via Patreon
– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Pox AmericanaALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOFor this week’s newsletter, we provide a little Blood Work commentary on two morbid eruptions borne from the American imperial violence machine. Chronic and acute, all at once.
Image: Mikhail Klashnikov posing with the AK-47 at an event commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the gun’s creation in 2007

Machines Infernal: The History of the AK-47, Part 1

We begin our history of the most famous firearm of all time with a prologue: Because in order to understand how we got here, you gotta understand where we came from.
Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT KobelIf you enjoyed this episode:– Support Blood Work via Patreon– Leave a rating or review on your podcast app– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Little Marco’s Big SpeechALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOThis week, we discuss the thinly-veiled white nationalist vision laid out by Marco Rubio in his Munich Security Conference speech. But first, we provide a little background on the man himself and what it means that a man like that would be giving such a speech—because this might be one of those cases where the medium is the message.
Sources:
C. J. Chivers (2010), The Gun: The Story of the AK-47
Larry Kahaner (2008), AK-47: The Weapon that Changed the Face of War
Chris McNab (2001), The AK-47
Image: The American-British entrepreneur Hiram Maxim posing with his eponymous Maxim Gun.

24 Reasons Why w/ Josh Boerman

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon.
Josh drops by the Blood Work studio to talk about one of the most mentally unhinged prestige TV shows of the early millennium and what it might tell us about America’s relationship with violence.Follow Josh Boerman on BlueskyListen to The Worst of All Possible WorldsListen to Ill Conceived
Image: Jack Bauer interrogating Marie Warner in Season 2 of 24.
Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel
For more:
– Support Blood Work via Patreon
– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Zombie LiberalismALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOThis week, we took a look at Nancy Pelosi's response to a question on the topic of Iran at the Munich Security Conference, examining what her answer (or non-answer) can tell us about the state of establishment liberalism as we enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century, and whether these obstinate, self-ordained standard-bearers of the liberal international order are sufficiently equipped to bring the fight to an ascendant Fascist International drawing the knives out on nearly every continent. (Bad news. Sorry.)

A History of Violence w/ Patrick Wyman

Prompted by a meditation on mercenaries, Gregk consults the henchest man in ancient history to discuss ancient forms of violence work and whether our current conjuncture is really a rupture, or more a return to form.Follow Patrick Wyman on BlueskyListen to Past LivesListen to Tides of HistoryBlood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT KobelIf you enjoyed this episode:– Support Blood Work via Patreon– Leave a rating or review on your podcast app– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
Image: A group of unidentified mercenaries operating in Gaza, 2025.
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: WEST MIAMI ANTISOCIAL CLUBALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
For this week’s newsletter, we situate the United States’ latest wave of aggression against Cuba within the longer histories of the the twentieth and nineteenth centuries, stripping back the various narratives the western hemisphere’s imperial master has layered, like wallpaper, over its designs on Cuba over decades.

Combat 18, Part 2: We Need Some More Lads in Here w/ Gareth Watkins [PREVIEW]

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon.
Gareth and Gregk reconvene to tell the second chapter in the C18 saga which, naturally, features some sunlit uplands, a Swedish man named ‘Pie’, and a wizard.
Follow Gareth Watkins on Bluesky
Read his recent article, “Has Ukip Gone Full Nazi?” in The New StatesmanRead his excellent essay, “AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism” in New SocialistListen to the Death // Sentence podcast
Image: A title card from a C18 propaganda video tape, sourced from the third World in Action documentary about the group.
Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel
 
For more:
– Support Blood Work via Patreon
– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: SURGES, EMISSIONS, FLOWSALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOFollowing a few weeks in which the news has focused heavily on events which continue to unfold in Minneapolis and the broader United States, this week we’re shifting the focus to West Africa and the Middle East, to two conflict zones which still swirl and churn amidst the fallout of the 2011 Arab Spring, and the long first two decades of the twenty-first century.

Combat 18, Part 1: Lad’s Army w/ Gareth Watkins

Gareth and Gregk discuss what happens when a group of football hooligans decide to elevate their violent bloodlust into a fully-fledged political movement. (Spoiler: Bad, stupid things.)Follow Gareth Watkins on Bluesky
Read his recent article, “Has Ukip Gone Full Nazi?” in The New StatesmanRead his excellent essay, “AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism” in New SocialistListen to the Death // Sentence podcast
Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT KobelIf you enjoyed this episode:– Support Blood Work via Patreon– Leave a rating or review on your podcast app– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: OLD WORLD BRB, NEW WORLD AFKALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOThis week, we took a look at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent address at Davos in which he declared the end of the ‘rules-based international order’ (while conceding this had always been US hegemony draped in a convenient fiction) plus recent developments regarding Trump’s grotesque Board of Peace foundation, and provide some thoughts on where we now stand, how we got there, and who walked us there, step by step.
Sources:
Nick Lowles (2014 [2001]), White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18

Cruel to be Kind: Sanctions [PREVIEW]

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon.
We situate the favourite tool in the U.S. arsenal in its historical context, and try to make sense of that silent, peaceful, deadly weapon.
Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel
For more:
– Support Blood Work via Patreon
– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE – Witness, No Witnesses
This week, we look at two news stories which demonstrate the differing approaches to advancing right-wing politics in the US and UK. The rise of Donald Trump and his dominance of political discourse over the past decade has placed spectacle front-and-centre in our understanding of right-wing thought and, indeed, placed right-wing thought front-and-centre in our perception of dominant political ideology.
But as our second news story hopefully demonstrates, the brazenness of Trump’s particular political style at times serves to aid the advancement of right-wing cruelty and sadism elsewhere, when a comparative lack of ripples across the water creates the illusion that less is occurring beneath the surface.Now available in audio
Image: An Iraqi mother nurses her sick child at a hospital in Baghdad in 1994. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)

Reign of Terror w/ Spencer Ackerman

Gregk speaks to the award-winning national security journalist Spencer Ackerman about the long shadows of 9/11 and the War on Terror, how America’s response to those events contributed to its current condition, the media’s role in justifying and legitimating state violence, and much more.Spencer Ackerman is a national security journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Wired, The Nation, Zeteo and many other publications, and whose career has spanned almost the entirety of the Global War on Terror. In 2014, he shared the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for his work at The Guardian on Edward Snowden’s disclosures surrounding the NSA’s global surveillance programme. In 2021, he published Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump. He also recently wrote a ten-issue run on IRON MAN for Marvel Comics, currently available in two trade paperbacks. His latest book is The Torture and Deliverance of Majid Khan: A Father, A Son and the War on Terror, forthcoming from Penguin.
Spencer is also the founder and proprietor of FOREVER WARS, an ongoing chronicle, investigation and interrogation of the continuities, departures and permutations of the War on Terror
If you enjoyed this episode:
– Support Blood Work via Patreon
– Leave a rating or review on your podcast app
– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
 
Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE – DEI-Codi
For this week’s newsletter, Gregk shares some of his thoughts on the extra-judicial killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 7, 2026, and reflects on the homologies between the Trump administration’s paramilitaries and the death squads that operated in Central and South America during the latter half of the twentieth century – in many cases backed, trained and coordinated by the United States.
Image: U.S. Military Police guard detainees within Camp X-Ray at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 2002. (Shane T. McCoy/U.S. Navy/Getty Images) 

COIN All the Way Down: A Discourse on Counterinsurgency [PREVIEW]

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon.
We look at the history and philosophy of a doctrine so broad and plastic that even its theorists concede it might not mean anything at all—because if it doesn’t mean anything, then maybe it means everything.
Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel
For more:
– Support Blood Work via Patreon
– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
 
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE – FLORIDA RASHOMON
 
A few days ago, the United States knocked over Nicolás Maduro, Head of State of Venezuela, in arguably the most brazen U.S. regime change operations in the Western Hemisphere since the arrest of Manuel Noriega on the very same day in 1990. Everyone in the Trump administration agrees it was an act of bold, decisive leadership from America’s Commander-in-Chief – and yet no one can agree why it was done. This week’s newsletter takes a look at some of the competing justifications for the action from the mouths of America’s best and brightest.
Image: American soldiers and Vietnamese civilians walking through the streets of Huế in Central Vietnam (Getty Images)