Modern Insurgent

In 2003. as reports of Janjaweed attacks poured in, Mukesh Kapila then the UN's top official in Sudan found himself at the centre of one of the century's first major genocides. HE reflects on the moral weight of witnessing such an event, and what it means to speak out when silence is safer.

Sudan’s wars are not just about politics or power, they are also about who belongs. Anthropologist Jok Madut Jok guides us through the country’s complex web of ethnicity, language, and region, showing how identity has been weaponised, contested, and reimagined. It’s a conversation about the human dimensions of conflict, and the struggle to imagine a shared Sudanese future.

To understand Sudan today, we begin with the past. In this opening episode, Alex de Waal traces Sudan’s long cycle of coups, uprisings, and unfinished revolutions. From colonial rule to the fall of Omar al-Bashir. Together, we unpack how power, identity, and resistance have shaped the modern Sudanese state, and why history here never truly stays in the past.

Joined by Dr Wil Pansters to discuss how cartels create meaning and legitimacy through belief systems. From the infamous Santa Muerte, to the portrayal of Narcos as moral actors.

Joined by Stefano Ritondale from All Source News to discuss OSINT in the Mexican Drug War, from the information gathered, to the methods used, and even how propaganda is used by the cartels.

Joined by John Gibler, a journalist whose seen firsthand the destruction thrust upon the Mexican people. Some of the biggest horrors seen in the nation and the stories of those affected by them.

Joined by Edgardo Buscaglia, one of the worlds foremost experts on the economic analysis of organised crime, to discuss how the Mexican Drug War is intrinsically linked to state corruption.

In this one, we speak with Ryan McLiverty, former TMI writer and current Computer Security Expert to break down the Guacamaya Leaks. A series of hacks that released military and state secrets across Latin America. We explore what was leaked, by who, about who, and what hacktivism really means.

Joined by Rowan Glass, resident Modern Insurgent editor and filmmaker, to discuss how without an understanding of the context of the Zapatistas and their 1994 uprising, you can never understand Modern Mexico.

We sit down with Deborah Bonello, top level investigative journalist and author of Narcas. We explore the realities of the lives of women in Mexico. From female cartel leaders, to the officers who chase them, to the average woman trying to care for a family. Each one has a story.

In this episode, Joe is joined by one of Mexico's most iconic journalists, Anabel Hernandez. She connects the links between Mexico's state apparatus and some of the most brutal criminals in history. Not an episode to miss!

In this episode, Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and one of the world’s leading experts on organized crime and insurgency joins Joe to dissect the murky intersection where illicit economies, state power, and armed conflict collide. We explore how criminal networks shape governance, how states negotiate with armed actors, and why conventional security policy often...

In this episode, journalist Ioan Grillo, author of El Narco, Gangster Warlords, and Blood Gun Money, joins Joe to unpack two decades of reporting on Mexico's drug cartels and the broader architecture of the global drug war. A deep dive into the lived reality behind the headlines, from the streets of Sinaloa to the corridors of Washington.

Before cocaine reaches Mexico, an entire world has already moved it through forests, fields, and forgotten borderlands. In this episode, our host Joe Collins interviews Toby Muse and digs through the roots of the cocaine trade. Cocaine : Digging the Roots out now!

In this opening episode of Modern Insurgent: Mexico, Joe Collins speaks with Professor Ben Smith — historian at the University of Warwick and author of The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade. Together, we trace the roots of Mexico’s modern conflict: how colonial legacies, rural inequality, and decades of U.S. intervention helped shape a war that was never just about drugs. From the b...

The Groypers, also known as the ‘Groyper Army’ or America First, are a movement of far-right nationalists in the US who first emerged online, but began to also move into the offline world in 2019. The name ‘Groypers’ originates from the Groyper frog image, which rose to popularity as a racist-coded version of the Pepe the Frog meme; the Pepe image is often associated with the alt-right. Groypers t...

Sun Yee On (新義安), or the New Righteousness and Peace Commercial and Industrial Guild, is the largest and ostensibly most powerful triad society in the world. By some estimates, the organization has more than 55,000 members across the world, making it nearly twice as large as the Hong Kong Police Force. Like most triads, the Sun Yee On is based in Hong Kong, but also operates in mainland China....

The Tiger Forces are an elite formation of the Syrian Arab Army that was formed in 2013 by drawing select personnel from other special forces units and reorganizing them under the Air Force Intelligence Directorate, the most prominent Syrian intelligence service. The Tiger Forces were renamed as the “25th Special Mission Forces Division” in 2019 and placed under Syrian Arab Army command, but they...

The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is an Islamic separatist group composed mostly of Uighurs in Xinjiang, China who wish to create an Islamic state called East Turkestan that would include parts of Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Xinjiang. The ETIM was founded in 1997 by Hasan Mahsoum. The US, beginning in the Trump administration, asserts that TIP and...

As a wrap-up and bonus, we speak to our Chief Reporter, Michael Archer, to investigate the elusive role of BOAK in the Ukrainian War. Thanks to Michael's work on BOAK (including our documentary on the group), we use primary information to analyse their tactics, alliances, and their broader impact on regional stability and conflict dynamics.

Dive into the shadowy world of the Wagner PMC alongside Bianca Bridger, one of our Managing Editors, in order to explore their role, strategies, and the broader implications of employing mercenaries in modern warfare within the Ukrainian conflict.

Explore the emergence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics along with Liam Coyle, our Head of Photojournalism & one of our Contributing Writers. In this episode, we unravel their goals, governance, and complex relations with Russia and Ukraine amidst ongoing regional tensions.

In this episode, we speak to Michael Godwin (MikeReports) to trace the origins and pivotal moments of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, from Crimea's annexation to the ongoing conflict. An excellent analysis of key events and their impact on the regional and global stage.

In this outstanding third episode, we speak to Taras Kuzio, a Political Scientist at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, to examine the rise of Slavic nationalism in the wake of the Russian invasion. An incredible insight that helps understanding its cultural, historical, and geopolitical ramifications, including the controversial concept of "Russkiy Mir."

Join us in our second episode featuring Elliott Chapman, PhD student at Leeds Beckett University & Expert on Labour Relations in Post-Soviet Societies, as we delve into the economic and political aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here, we analyse the dramatic shifts under the shock doctrine and its profound impact on Ukraine’s society and governance.