Blood Work

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon.
Kelsey joins Gregk to discuss his ten-year beat covering military tech, drones and autonomous weapons and talk about emergent modes of war in the 2020s.
For more from Kelsey D. Atherton:– Follow him on Bluesky– Preorder A World For All: New Visions of US Foreign Policy, out this October with OR Books– Check out the Center for International Policy (CIP)
Image: The remnants of a commercial quadcopter drone manufactured by Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) shot down with an anti-drone laser produced by Raytheon. (Courtesy of Kelsey Atherton)
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
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
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: The Road Not TakenALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOThis week, some thoughts on Ansar Allah’s rapid advance down Yemen’s western coast as they prepare to exact further costs on the US for its war of choice against Iran, followed by some brief meditations on September 11th and its consequences.

We look at Grégoire Chamayou’s groundbreaking 2015 book on Drone Warfare to examine the phenomenon of killing without vulnerability, and the troubling ethics such technologies induce.
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
Image: An 18-year-old factory worker named Norma Jean Dougherty poses for a photograph at the Radioplane factory in Burback, Califorina, in 1944. Shortly after, she would achieve international stardom under the stage name ‘Marilyn Monroe’.
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: Supply & DemandALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOThis week, we’re coming through with some updates on the swirl of outside actors arming the conflict in Sudan; news of a thwarted coup in Niger which possibly clarifies the nature of Russia’s role in the Sahel; and a troubling technological advancement in the Russia-Ukraine War. Enjoy.

Josef enters the Zone to talk about his experience working in the U.S. State Department and discuss the quiet violence work of diplomats, administrators and functionaries.
For more from Josef Burton:– Follow him on Bluesky and Twitter– Listen to his appearance on QAA discussing Iranian Monarchists– Read his 2023 essay ‘Impolite Society’ in The Baffler
Image: A photo of the exterior of the Writers’ Building in Kolkata, originally built as an office for junior clerks in the East India Company and which served as the effective seat of British power on the Indian subcontinent.
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: Crack-upALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
This week, we’ve got excerpts from two essays recently published in Foreign Affairs for you, which are striking in their candour about ‘the current situation’ and surprising in their proposed routes out. Capping it off, we briefly dwell on Mark Carney’s recent remarks about the ongoing US-Canada trade war.

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon.
 
Josef enters the Zone to talk about his experience working in the U.S. State Department and discuss the quiet violence work of diplomats, administrators and functionaries.
 
For more from Josef Burton:
– Follow him on Bluesky and Twitter
– Listen to his appearance on QAA discussing Iranian Monarchists
– Read his 2023 essay ‘Impolite Society’ in The Baffler
 
Image: A photo of the exterior of the Writers’ Building in Kolkata, originally built as an office for junior clerks in the East India Company and which served as the effective seat of British power on the Indian subcontinent.
 
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: Crack-up
ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
This week, we’ve got excerpts from two essays recently published in Foreign Affairs for you, which are striking in their candour about ‘the current situation’ and surprising in their proposed routes out. Capping it off, we briefly dwell on Mark Carney’s recent remarks about the ongoing US-Canada trade war.

The girls from No Gods No Mayors swing by to talk about mayoral megalomania and the evolution of the violence inherent to municipal politics.
Listen to No Gods No Mayors
For more from Mattie Lubchansky:
– Read Simplicity– Read Boys Weekend– Listen to Temporal Culture WarFor more from Riley Quinn:– Listen to Trashfuture– Listen to Trouble in River City
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
 
Image: Former Mayor of New York City Eric Adams holding a picture of a gun.
 
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: Power TripALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
Last week, Israel carried out airstrikes on a defunct airbase in northwestern Syria, in an action both stated and perceived as aimed at Turkey. We offer a little background on Israel and Turkey’s regional rivalry in the context of Syria’s civil war, and speculate on how Israel’s actions might have another target in their sights: Turkey’s NATO membership. 

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon.
 
We take another dive into the Blood Work theory zone, looking at Cameroonian postcolonial thinker Achille Mbembe’s seminal 2003 essay on the production of death as the crowning political activity of our era.
 
Image: Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics (2019), Duke University Press
 
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: Time to Hedge
ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
Last week, three countries across the Middle East and South Asia signed a new defence pact which has several potential ramifications for the region, and indeed security arrangements around the world. This week, we’re going to discuss that announcement and why we should hope it never has to be worth more than the paper it’s printed on. Because if it does, things could get silly.

We explore the modern history of putting big guns on wheels, then dive into the history of Chad and its border dispute with Libya to learn how a humble pickup truck became a quintessential weapon of war.
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
Image: A Nigerien military convoy on a counter-terrorism patrol in the Sahara Desert (UNICEF)
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: Tatmadaw’s Shiny Happy People Committee for Lo-Fi Beats to Study ToALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOThis week, we’re in Southeast Asia, jumping just over Thailand’s north-western border to Myanmar, where the ongoing civil war between the country’s military dictatorship and numerous armed groups across the country is showing slithers of hope that a resolution might be on the horizon, nestled amidst a morass of repression and violence which has persisted, practically uninterrupted, for over sixty years.
Sources:
Mario J. Azevedo (1998), Roots of Violence: A History of War in ChadBBC News (July, 2006), ‘Profile: Chad's Hissene Habre’, available at BBC NewsAntony Beevor (2006), The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939Michelle L. Burgis (2009), Boundaries of Discourse in the International Court of Justice: Mapping Arguments in Arab Territorial DisputesCarla Chahrour (October, 2020), ‘The arrival of Toyota in Saudi Arabia’, available at Arab News JapanMichael Ellmer (April, 2021), ‘The Great Toyota War: Birthplace of the Technical’, available at Grey DynamicsHuman Rights Watch (September, 2005), ‘“Africa's Pinochet” Faces Extradition and Trial for Crimes Against Humanity’, available at Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch (June, 2016), ‘Enabling a Dictator: The United States and Chad’s Hissène Habré 1982-1990’, available at Human Rights WatchFrank Jacobs (November, 2011), ‘The World’s Largest Sandbox’, The New York Times, available at The New York Times ArchiveRoy May (1988), ‘Internal Dimensions of Warfare in Chad’, Cambridge Antropology (13:2), pp. 17-27Jack Mulcaire (February, 2014), ‘The Pickup Truck Era of Warfare’, available at War on the RocksLe Monde (March, 1987), ‘TCHAD: le conflit avec la Libye Les nouvelles inquiétudes de Paris et de N'Djamena’, available at archive.todayLe Monde (March, 1987), ‘TCHAD: N'Djamena affirme que 1 269 soldats libyens ont été tués à Ouadi-Doum’, available at archive.todayLeigh Neville (2018), Technicals: Non-Standard Tactical Vehicles from the Great Toyota War to Modern Special ForcesLodi News-Sentinel (April, 1987), ‘How Libya lost the battle for Wadi Doum’, available via Google NewsLos Angeles Times (April, 1987), ‘Chad Troops Used Pickup Trucks to Foil Libyan Tanks’, available at Los Angeles Times ArchivesLRDG, Long Range Desert Group, available at lrdg.hedgewisch.net
Michael Maren (1997), The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International CharitySam C. Nolutshungu (1996), Limits of Anarchy: Intervention and State Formation in ChadPierre Péan (March, 2001), ‘Les preuves trafiquées du terrorisme libyen’, Le Monde Diplomatique, available at archive.todayBryan Perret (April, 1979), ‘Ford Model T Patrol Car’, Airfix Magazine, available at Landships IIKenneth M. Pollack (2002), Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991Kenneth M. Pollack (2019), Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military EffectivenessNathaniel K. Powell (2021), France’s Wars in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in AfricaReuters (March, 1987), ‘Chad is Said to Capture Strategic Air Base’, The New York Times, available via archive.todayGeoff Simons (2003), Libya and the West: From Independence to LockerbieRavi Somaiya (October, 2010), ‘Why Rebel Groups Love the Toyota Hilux’, available at NewsweekChandra Lekha Sriram (February, 2013), ‘“Africa’s Pinochet” or the beginning of “Africa’s solutions”?’, available at Al JazeeraToyota Global, ‘75 Years of Toyota: Vehicle Lineage’, available at Toyota GlobalToyota Industries, ‘The Story of Sakichi Toyoda’ available at Toyota IndustriesSimon Whistler (March, 2026), ‘The Great Toyota War: How Chad Won a War with Pickup Trucks’, available at War FrontsLuc Wiesman (August, 2025), ‘How The Humble Toyota Hilux Became The World’s Most Deadly Warzone Vehicles’, available at DMARGEIgnacio Yárnoz (2018), ‘Toyota wars and the next generation in counter insurgency strategies’, available at Universidad de Navarra Global Affairs and Strategic Studies

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon.
 
Blood Work’s EU Correspondent joins us to discuss Europe’s sclerotic struggle to adapt to a rapidly changing world, why NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is such a freak, and what the heck actually went down in Ceuta.
 
For more from Ciarán Dold:
– Follow him on Bluesky– Listen to Corner Späti
– Follow CS on Instagram
– Visit operationglad.io
 
Image: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte
 
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: Southern Discomfort
ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
For this week’s newsletter, we offer a brief overview of some of the violences plaguing the border regions of Thailand before taking a closer look at the twenty-year Malay separatist insurgency which has claimed thousands of lives in the country’s ‘Deep South’.
 

Hussein comes on to talk about the most important film of the COVID era that isn’t Christopher Nolan’s TENET.
For more from Hussein Kesvani
– Listen to Ten Thousand Posts and Trashfuture
– Order Vittles #3 to read his piece about how Muslim consumers have become central to the evolution of British food culture
– Follow Hussein on Bluesky
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
Image: An image from a Japanese promotional poster for the film Eddington, depicting a cowboy hat fashioned out of tin foil.
 
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: Collateral FamineALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOThis week we presenting a report published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on fertiliser shortages produced by the US-Israeli war on Iran, and the looming threat of undernourishment, famine and starvation which is becoming increasingly inevitable the longer Trump’s disastrous war drags on.

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon.
 
Molly from Weird Little Guys comes on to talk about the long thread connecting Confederates, Klansmen, Veterans and armed white power groups past and present.
 
For more from Molly Conger:
– Follow her on Bluesky– Listen to Weird Little Guys
 
Image: Louis Beam attending a Klan rally in Santa Fe, Texas, in 1981. Dressed in a Klan robe, he is using a torch to ignite a small fishing boat labelled ‘U.S.S. Viet Cong’
 
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 Temper Tantrum
ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
This week, we take a look at Marco Rubio’s declaration of war against the International Criminal Court in the Wall Street Journal, and interject with some running commentary to his frothing-mouthed raving to explain what might really be under his bonnet. (Featuring some commendable theatrics courtesy of Thomas O’Mahony.)