Popular Front

Venezuela is currently in chaos. The country has two people claiming to be the rightful president, more than 35 protesters have been shot dead in a week by paramilitaries, everyone is still starving, America is meddling, Russia is meddling, Maduro's still an authoritarian, and all people want to do is scream about who they support on social media from thousands of miles away. Cut through all that bullshit with this week's episode. We speak to Giancarlo Fiorella about the real situation in Venezuela. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

Kosovo based journalist Valeria Plesch tells us about Kosovo's recent decision to start its own army and the trouble this could cause in a country still tense from the war in the 90s. We also talk about the crippling youth unemployment in Kosovo and the stagnating government made up of former guerrillas. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

We speak to AFP correspondent Maya Gebeily about a WhatsApp network she discovered that has the sole purpose of catching fleeing ISIS fighters in Syria. Thousands of Syrians pool their information together in a network of group chats to try and stop the jihadists escaping justice. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

Today we speak to Bellingcat researcher Nick Waters about his extensive work on the use of commercial drone bombs in war. We're talking about drones you can buy off of Amazon and use in your garden that have been converted by insurgents to drop bombs on their enemies. The use of these drone bombs has skyrocketed since ISIS started using them in Mosul in 2017. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

Thanks for all the support. This year was just the beginning, 2019 will be a lot bigger for Popular Front. Have a good New Year. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

This week Donald Trump decided to rapidly pull out all the US forces currently backing the Kurdish YPG militia in Northern Syria, known as Rojava to the Kurds. The YPG has proven to be the strongest ally for the US when fighting ISIS, but now they'll be left alone for Turkey to attack. We speak with journalist Wladimir van Wilgenburg, who's dedicated his career to covering the Kurdish issue. He speaks Kurdish fluently (both Sorani and Kurmanji) and was in Rojava just last week. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

We speak to John Arterbury, an analyst with his eyes firmly set on Yemen. He tells us how the war started, the current crossroads both sides are at, and his theories on why this conflict, where children regularly starve to death, goes so under-reported. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

I'm away filming a documentary for Popular Front this week and didn't have time to get the planned episode ready in time. To avoid going a week without Popular Front I've used one of the Patreon bonus episodes to fill the void. It's the first and last time we'll do this. We'll hear from Abu Academic, who claims to be former Russian special forces. He's now using the skills he claims to have learned in Russia to train HTS jihadist fighters in Syria. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

We got journalist Christopher Miller back on to talk about last week's clashes between Russia and Ukraine in the Sea of Azov. Everything you wanted to know about this escalating situation is right here. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

Independent researcher Jakub Janovsky tells us how the Assad regime's tank fleet, one of the world's biggest, was reduced almost entirely to scrap metal and smouldering debris. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

There's a lot of hype and nonsense when it comes to reporting on cyber warfare, so we spoke to one of the best tech journalists around to explain what the real threats of cyberwar are right now. - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

Phillip Smyth takes us on a deep dive into the world of the Hashd al-Shaabi, the Iranian backed militias (also known as the PMU, PMF, and "Shia Militias") fighting in Iraq. They've documented their own war crimes, shot unarmed protesters, and have been building the groundwork for their movement for years... So who are they? - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front

It's Halloween, so we're doing something a bit different. For this episode we teamed up with the guys from War College to have a chat about how nuclear war has so often influenced the pop culture around us. - patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - twitter.com/War_College

Alexander McKeever tells us all about the mysterious assassination squads of Afrin in Northern Syria. We hear about the tactics of Wrath of Olives and how Afrin was looted and ruined after the invasion by Turkish backed rebels. - patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

Yago Rodríguez tells us about Wilayat Sinai, the branch of ISIS in Egypt. We hear how they're launching well organised military attacks, trading weapons with Libya, and doing deals with Gaza. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

We speak to Giancarlo Fiorella from In Venezuela Blog about the crushed rebellion in Venezuela. He tells us all about the street clashes, the food crisis, the drone bomb, and the last stand of Oscar Perez. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

We speak to Firat Batman as he takes a brief rest from fighting against ISIS in their last stronghold in Syria. Firat is a Kurd from Rojava who grew up in Sweden. He's been fighting in Rojava for the YPG for three years and is currently on the final push to chase ISIS out of the last areas they control. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

Gregory Waters tells us all about the Tiger Forces in Syria, the pro Assad regime militia that's seen as heroes to some and war criminals to others. We'll find out why their leader is so enigmatic, how they're working with the Russian military, and what power they really hold over the region. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

We speak to Ora Szekely about the role of female combatants within various irregular conflicts, from the Colombian rebels of FARC to the Kurdish female fighters of the YPJ in Syria. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

We speak to Everest65, who's been working extensively to gather information about insurgent suppressor use in battle in the Middle East and North Africa. This one is about as niche as it gets. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

The region of Idlib in northwestern Syria has been a fiefdom for jihadist forces for some time, most notably the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham who rule about 60% of the region. Russia and the Assad regime are likely to launch an offensive on Idlib very soon, but with three million people living there and many unhappy civilians, it's not as simple as wiping out extremists. Sasha Ghosh-Siminoff tell us why the battle for Idlib will be a huge humanitarian catastrophe. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

We speak to Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed about his highly controversial 3D printed gun project. He also talks about crypto-anarchy, untraceable firearms, and his long battle with the US government. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

The conflict in East Ukraine has become a slow but constant battle from the trenches. Young soldiers are killed almost every week and the separatist held regions are still under the rule of an iron fist, yet the media, both in Ukraine and internationally, seems to have forgotten that Ukraine is still at war. We got some updates on the current state of the conflict from Radio Free Europe's Christopher Miller, who's been covering the conflict from the start. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

In Cameroon a conflict between English speaking Cameroonian rebels and the French speaking Cameroon state forces is rapidly getting worse. Whole villages are being burned, civilians are being killed, and young men are forming militias. There's little coverage in the media about this conflict so far, so we spoke to the only reporter who's been on the ground with the Anglophone militias to find out what's going on. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

Ever wondered why some warlords get all the best guns and others are left to craft their own? Or how British made muskets end up on Afghanistan gun markets? Or why the Marines now have a dedicated drone person? If so, you'll love this episode. Discover all things small arms with Silah Report. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

Hear Pawel Wojcik talking about how ISIS has gone international, spreading its jihadist Caliphate across the world, setting up effective cells in Libya, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and East Asia. Find out why the fall of Raqqa was not the end of ISIS. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

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Independent Aum Shinrikyo researcher Sarah Hightower tells us how the Japanese death cult became a terrorist organisation with more than 10,000 members. They produced Sarin gas, they built their own assault rifles, and they even tried to buy bombs from the former Soviet Union. To this day Aum Shinrikyo still exists. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

A first person account from reporter Sean Williams (New Yorker, Harpers) of what it was like inside the battle of Marawi, where Filipino ISIS fighters laid siege to the island city in 2017 for six months. - patreon.com/popularfront - popularfront.co - @jake_hanrahan

A very detailed introduction to the many different facets of the so-called "Christian militias" fighting in Iraq and Syria, talking about the history and motivations of the Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldean community. - patreon.com/popularfront - jakehanrahan.com/popularfront - @jake_hanrahan

After recently returning from El Salvador, journalist Danny Gold tells us about the violence of MS-13 and how evangelical Christianity is tying to quell it. He also explains how paramilitary death squads are organising via WhatsApp to slaughter the gangs in their own neighbourhoods. - jakehanrahan.com - patreon.com/popularfront - @jake_hanrahan

Aram Shabanian tells us why the forgotten "frozen conflict" between Armenia and Azerbaijan could explode into a full blown war that pulls in everyone from Russia to India. - jakehanrahan.com - patreon.com/popularfront - @jake_hanrahan

All about ISIS and their suicide cars (or SVBIEDS—suicide vehicle borne improvised explosive devices) in Iraq, from the switches they use to tricks they played in Mosul. jakehanrahan.com @jake_hanrahan

Portrait photographer Joey L went to war for the first time in Northern Syria to capture the fight of the Kurdish YPG, documenting the culture in a way he says photojournalists can't. jakehanrahan.com/popularfront @jake_hanrahan

Find out from Hampton Stall, the guy who runs "Militia Watch", all about US militias and their love for guns, liberty, and often Donald Trump. jakehanrahan.com/popularfront @jake_hanrahan

Find out from Pascal Andresen about the far-right Syrian Social Nationalist Party and the militants they've sent to go and fight for Assad in Syria. jakehanrahan.com/popularfront @jake_hanrahan