The ways of war are changing. Artificial intelligence is used to bomb families in Gaza. Flying drones are deployed to track down refugees on the US-Mexico border. But the biggest change is the one we talk about the least: the privatization of war. From Yemen to Sudan, Syria to Nigeria, tens of thousands of guns for hire now fight on behalf of foreign powers. For Episode 7 of “The International,” a world-spanning video series brought to you by Jacobin and the @ProgIntl, Rania Khalek tells the story of how we got here. It is the tale of an infamous US firm known as Blackwater and the rise of the secret mercenary armies that have pushed warfare into the shadows.
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