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Blood Work

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A show about the Economy of Violence

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#54
Tuesday · 34 min
The Human is the Object of War: Drones & Autonomy w/ Kelsey D. Atherton
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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our 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 Taken ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This 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.
#53
September 8 · 1 hr 7 min
I See It All: Drones, Part 1
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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Supply & Demand ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This 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.
#52
September 4 · 2 hr 43 min
UNLOCKED: Paper Work: Immigration, Islamophobia and Bureaucracy w/ Josef Burton
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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our 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: 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.
#51
September 1 · 38 min
Paper Work: Immigration, Islamophobia and Bureaucracy w/ Josef Burton
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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our 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: 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.
#50
August 27 · 1 hr 10 min
Municipal Blood Board w/ Mattie Lubchansky & Riley Quinn
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 War For 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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Power Trip ALSO 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.
#49
August 18 · 28 min
A Vast Accumulation of Corpses: Necropolitics
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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our 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: 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.
#48
August 11 · 1 hr 33 min
Keep on Truckin’: The Toyota Hilux
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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Tatmadaw’s Shiny Happy People Committee for Lo-Fi Beats to Study To ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This 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 Chad BBC News (July, 2006), ‘Profile: Chad's Hissene Habre’, available at BBC News Antony Beevor (2006), The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 Michelle L. Burgis (2009), Boundaries of Discourse in the International Court of Justice: Mapping Arguments in Arab Territorial Disputes Carla Chahrour (October, 2020), ‘The arrival of Toyota in Saudi Arabia’, available at Arab News Japan Michael Ellmer (April, 2021), ‘The Great Toyota War: Birthplace of the Technical’, available at Grey Dynamics Human Rights Watch (September, 2005), ‘“Africa's Pinochet” Faces Extradition and Trial for Crimes Against Humanity’, available at Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (June, 2016), ‘Enabling a Dictator: The United States and Chad’s Hissène Habré 1982-1990’, available at Human Rights Watch Frank Jacobs (November, 2011), ‘The World’s Largest Sandbox’, The New York Times, available at The New York Times Archive Roy May (1988), ‘Internal Dimensions of Warfare in Chad’, Cambridge Antropology (13:2), pp. 17-27 Jack Mulcaire (February, 2014), ‘The Pickup Truck Era of Warfare’, available at War on the Rocks Le Monde (March, 1987), ‘TCHAD: le conflit avec la Libye Les nouvelles inquiétudes de Paris et de N'Djamena’, available at archive.today Le Monde (March, 1987), ‘TCHAD: N'Djamena affirme que 1 269 soldats libyens ont été tués à Ouadi-Doum’, available at archive.today Leigh Neville (2018), Technicals: Non-Standard Tactical Vehicles from the Great Toyota War to Modern Special Forces Lodi News-Sentinel (April, 1987), ‘How Libya lost the battle for Wadi Doum’, available via Google News Los Angeles Times (April, 1987), ‘Chad Troops Used Pickup Trucks to Foil Libyan Tanks’, available at Los Angeles Times Archives LRDG, Long Range Desert Group, available at lrdg.hedgewisch.net Michael Maren (1997), The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity Sam C. Nolutshungu (1996), Limits of Anarchy: Intervention and State Formation in Chad Pierre Péan (March, 2001), ‘Les preuves trafiquées du terrorisme libyen’, Le Monde Diplomatique, available at archive.today Bryan Perret (April, 1979), ‘Ford Model T Patrol Car’, Airfix Magazine, available at Landships II Kenneth M. Pollack (2002), Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991 Kenneth M. Pollack (2019), Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness Nathaniel K. Powell (2021), France’s Wars in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in Africa Reuters (March, 1987), ‘Chad is Said to Capture Strategic Air Base’, The New York Times, available via archive.today Geoff Simons (2003), Libya and the West: From Independence to Lockerbie Ravi Somaiya (October, 2010), ‘Why Rebel Groups Love the Toyota Hilux’, available at Newsweek Chandra Lekha Sriram (February, 2013), ‘“Africa’s Pinochet” or the beginning of “Africa’s solutions”?’, available at Al Jazeera Toyota Global, ‘75 Years of Toyota: Vehicle Lineage’, available at Toyota Global Toyota Industries, ‘The Story of Sakichi Toyoda’ available at Toyota Industries Simon Whistler (March, 2026), ‘The Great Toyota War: How Chad Won a War with Pickup Trucks’, available at War Fronts Luc Wiesman (August, 2025), ‘How The Humble Toyota Hilux Became The World’s Most Deadly Warzone Vehicles’, available at DMARGE Ignacio Yárnoz (2018), ‘Toyota wars and the next generation in counter insurgency strategies’, available at Universidad de Navarra Global Affairs and Strategic Studies
#47
August 4 · 19 min
Euro(trash) w/ Ciarán Dold
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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our 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: 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’.
#46
July 28 · 1 hr 41 min
Your Being Manipulated: Eddington w/ Hussein Kesvani
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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Collateral Famine ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This 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.
#45
July 21 · 27 min
Homecoming: White Power & the US Military w/ Molly Conger
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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our 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: 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.)
#44
July 14 · 1 hr 42 min
Blood (of Christ) Work: Evangelicals w/ Josh Boerman & Brian Alford
Brian and Josh enter the Blood Zone to explain how Christian conservatives were transformed into one of the most powerful blocs in contemporary US politics. For more from Josh Boerman and Brian Alford: – Listen to their podcast, The Worst of All Possible Worlds – Listen to Josh’s podcast with June Sternbach, Ill Conceived – Follow Josh, Brian, TWOAPW and Ill Conceived on Bluesky Image: President George W. Bush attending a National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White House on May 3, 2007. Seated beside him are Dr. James Dobson (founder of the right-wing evangelical organisation Focus on the Family) and his wife Shirley. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our 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 Eleventh Night ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO For this week’s newsletter we’re returning to Northern Ireland to examine a recent story about alleged hate crimes being perpetrated in connection with traditional Loyalist celebrations. (Yes, shocker.)
#43
July 7 · 21 min
Two and a Half Men: Sportswashing w/ Tom Usher
This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Gregk is joined by Tom and Producer Thomas to discuss whether cultural reputation laundering is really such a new phenomena, and whether anything is even being washed at all. Read Patrick Redford’s piece ‘The State of Sportswashing’ in Defector here. Read Jack Crosbie’s piece ‘The White House UFC Fight Was Donald Trump’s All-American Dream’ in Rolling Stone here. For more from Tom Usher: – Check out his Substack – Follow him on Bluesky and – Follow Tangible Vibe Shift on Instagram Image: Donald Trump accepts the inaugural ‘FIFA Peace Prize – Football Unites the World’ award during the Final Draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026™ at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel For more: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Strange Bedfellows ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week’s newsletter is a mini-episode, unlocked for all listeners, taking a deeper dive into the history of the interlocking conflicts currently engulfing the Sahel, and trying to make sense of what Russia and Africa Corps (formerly Wagner Group) are really up to in West Africa.
#42
July 5 · 40 min
THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Strange Bedfellows
Article 1: Army, Allied Militias, Islamist Armed Groups Commit Violations with Impunity Report by Human Rights Watch – Jun 28, 2026 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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel
#41
June 30 · 1 hr 23 min
An Unsolved Remainder: Haiti w/ Jonathan M. Katz
Jonathan joins us to talk about the gang violence that has engulfed Haiti since 2021 and place the instability that has haunted that nation within its proper political and historical context. For more from Jonathan Katz: – read his newsletter, The Racket – Follow him on Bluesky and – on Instagram 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 man stands in front of a burning barricade on a street filled with smoke from burning tires during a protest in Cap-Haitien, following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in July of 2021 (Source: REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo) Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Slob Hog Down ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO Now that prophecy has failed, and Britain’s vaunted emperor-administrator Sir Keir Starmer has been exposed in both his bare-arsed nudity and his interior vacuity, we took the opportunity to give his bare arse a courtesy Blood Work kick as he shambles out the door. Good riddance to a pig, a slob, and a wretched dog.
#40
June 23 · 20 min
Axis of Empire w/ Dr. Afshin Matin-Asgari
This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Gregk speaks to the author of a new book on US-Iran relations to place the two countries’ braided history in its proper context and make sense of… how we got here. Axis of Empire: A History of US-Iran Relations is out now, available from Verso Image: A photograph of a large anti-USA mural painted on the side of a residential apartment block in downtown Tehran Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our 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: VetClaims.AI For this week’s newsletter, we present four articles which collectively paint an interesting picture of our current conjecture, beginning with the text of Iran’s fourteen-point MoU with the US, running through the UFC spectacle at the White House, and concluding with an excellent recently-published interview with Alberto Toscano.
#39
June 16 · 1 hr 39 min
An Orchestral Conductor of Violence: The Veiled Prophet w/ Devin O'Shea
Devin joins Gregk to talk about his book The Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy, and the Struggle for St. Louis. It’s a conversation that goes some places. The Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy, and the Struggle for St. Louis comes out on June 23, 2026, published by Haymarket Books. Pre-order now: – Haymarket Books (US) – Blackwell’s (UK) Follow Devin O’Shea: – on Bluesky and – on Instagram – and check out his Spotify playlist of 90s Mall Music Image: Painting of the first 1878 Veiled Prophet, St. Louis Chief of Police Colonel John Priest, wielding a silver police baton. Priest, a prominent realtor and civic leader, appears “in robes of his office as Grand Oracle.” (Source: Missouri Historical Society) Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our 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: Right on Cue ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week we are, of course, going to speak about the violence which erupted on the streets of Belfast this week, and provide some commentary on how this sordid saga not only bears the mark of those fascists from Britain’s past whom we covered at length, but has plenty to say about the ones currently walking among us — even plugging themselves into the very architecture of the British state apparatus itself.
#38
June 12 · 56 min
Genghis Tron: Signal Fire w/ Michael Sochynsky
Genghis Tron’s keyboardist and programmer joins us to talk about the band’s new record and making despair-laden music in a collapsing world. GENGHIS TRON: SIGNAL FIRE — OUT NOW. STREAM HERE PHYSICAL COPIES & MERCH AVAILABLE VIA: – Bandcamp – Relapse Records – Rough Trade (UK) – Shirt Killer Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our 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
#37
June 9 · 28 min
Combat 18, Part 4: Ladageddon w/ Gareth Watkins
This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Our story of Britain’s most infamous neo-nazi terror gang concludes with a Harlow Night of the Long Knives and a final, desperate attempt to kick off and claim the race war. Follow Gareth Watkins on Bluesky Listen to the Death // Sentence podcast Image: A man walks past a burning barricade during the Oldham riots in 2001. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel For more: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Lather, Rinse, Repeat ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO For this week’s newsletter, we take a look at Nigel Farage’s cynical, exploitative response to the Henry Nowak murder case, and the shameful role our political, media and civic elites play in legitimising and affirming right-wing outrage with the hopes of shoring up their own power.
#36
June 2 · 1 hr 11 min
Warp & Weft: Afghan War Rugs
We explore the cultural history of rug-weaving in Afghanistan, and how decades of war caused that country’s craft and conditions into a morbid reciprocity. 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 Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Super Smash TV ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week, some light entertainment for you, in the form of recent developments surrounding the Trump administration’s planned UFC fight on the White House lawn as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Sources: Afghan Rug Shop, ‘80cm x 60cm Fall of Afghanistan War Rug’, Afghan Rug Shop Naman P. Ahuja (2019), ‘War Rugs’, Marg Publications, available via academia.edu Max Allen (2008), ‘Battleground: War Rugs from Afghanistan’, Textile Museum of Canada, available via archive.org Rachel Edman (2020), ‘An introduction to War Rugs’, MacGuffin Magazine, available via Rachel Edman Bettina Gräf (2023), ‘Drone Rugs: Knotted Images as a Reminder of the Cruel Global Present’, Suzanna in the Bath. Essays on Middle East Studies and Public Discourse, available via academia.edu Impart (2025), ‘Afghan War Rugs’, Impart Nigel Lendon and Tim Bonyhady, Rugs of War (Wordpress) RespectableLawyer (2018), ‘THREAD: Afghan War Rugs and the Lossy Compression of Cultural Coding’, Twitter/X, available via Threadreader and archive.today Ron O’Callaghan (2003), ‘Afghan War Rugs: A Sub-group With Iranian Influence’, Rug Review, available via archive.today Kevin Sudeith, WarRug.com Brian Spooner (2011), ‘Afghan Wars, Oriental Carpets, and Globalization’, Expedition (53:1), available at Penn Museum Pamela D. Toler (2021), ‘How Afghanistan’s “Rugs of War” Helped Its Citizens Tell the Story of Conflict’, Historynet Kelly Wilson (2014), ‘Afghan War Rugs’, Art Amongst War: Visual Culture in Afghanistan, 1979-2014 (Exhibition Booklet), The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Art Gallery, available via academia.edu Image: A high quality example of a typical 9/11 war rug, woven and knotted by hand in the aftermath of the 2002 US invasion of Afghanistan
#35
May 26 · 32 min
Combat 18, Part 3: Crisis of Ladsculinity w/ Gareth Watkins
This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Gareth returns to continue our history of ‘90s Britain’s most notorious neo-nazi gang, recounting the time Will Browning convinced a Scandinavian to mail a package bomb to an Olympic swimmer. Image: Thomas Nakaba marching at a far-right rally in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the 1990s. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel For more: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Protecting the Organism ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week we’ve got a recent report from the BBC regarding activities by a para-state political organisation in Russia which appears to be assuming ever greater policing and security prerogatives within that state amidst the exceptional situation of the war on Ukraine – and becoming further radicalised and emboldened in the process.

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