For mercenaries, death is a business. It’s all about finding the right market. Wagner and other Russian mercenary groups have found willing markets in Africa. Journalist John Lechner spent years in Africa among the mercenaries and he’s on the show today to tell us about what he learned.
Lechner tells us how Wagner’s men think the U.S. media killed Prigozhin, why every theater (or market) is different, and the training regimen of a fresh convict recruit. It’s all in his new book Death Is Our Business: Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare.
The threats change…but the mercenaries stay the same.
Interlinking militant Islam and the rise of modern mercenaries
Russian mercenaries before Wagner
Prigozhin rising
Putin’s Chef was the father of ‘Hybrid War’
Wagner in Africa
‘No one said mercenary life was gonna be easy.’
Life inside Wagner
‘Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.’
You can’t judge intent by results
The Russian “royal” court is full of self starters and entrepreneurs
Pardoned for Serving in Ukraine, They Return to Russia to Kill Again
Taliban Bureaucrats Hate Working Online All Day, ‘Miss the Days of Jihad’
Russian Murderers Who Go to War and Come Home to Kill Again
In Russia there’s a revolving door between prisons and the frontlines. What began as a Wanger program is now official: the Kremlin will pardon nearly any crime if the convict agrees to serve on the front lines in Ukraine. After a six month stint at war, murderers and rapists are free to return to the scene of the crime. Some come home…
