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