Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast

Bill Buppert
  • 4.8 (83)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

An unauthorized podcast series peeking behind the curtain at the vast machinery and briar patch politics of fighting terrorism and insurgency and everything in between. I'm a "COINtra" and not a "COINdinista", the latter are the vast army of apparatchiks and apologists who fire the engines of Irregular Warfare (IW) planet-wide. We're the skeptics and doubters of all things IW and special operations. And we are a tiny sliver of the IW community. I have noticed a jarring gap in this part of the discussion and intend on filling the breach. Substack: Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast Smedley D. Butler Fellow for Military Affairs at the Libertarian Institute Chasing Ghosts Podcast on YouTube I am an Amazon Affiliate. You can contact me at cgpodcast@pm.me

  1. Ep 073 "Modern Antifa: Communist Insurgency in the US Part Two"

    OCT 27

    Ep 073 "Modern Antifa: Communist Insurgency in the US Part Two"

    I examine the domestic communist and terrorist insurgency that is Antifa and its affiliated organizations both governmental and non-government. In this second episode, we examine the history that brought the US to the brink of civil war it is at now. America is in a Civil War with a major political party and its blacked-shirted paramilitary arm going from cold to hot war. Prepare accordingly. Part One at Episode 72. I did a primer on cell organization in Ep 051 "Cellular Ecology: Guerrilla Organizations and Grunt Math". References: House Un-American Activities Committee records, 1945-1975 How They Hunt *** Bryan Borrough Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence Andy Ngo Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy AQ Training Manual The IRA Greenbook Hunting the Sleepers An Analysis of Al-Qaida Tradecraft Modeling Terrorist Networks - Complex Systems at the Mid-Range Understanding the Form, Function, and Logic of Clandestine Insurgent and Terrorist Networks: The First Step in Effective Counternetwork Operations HR Kedward In Search of the Maquis: Rural Resistance in Southern France, 1942-1944 George Millar Maquis: An Englishman in the French Resistance Ian Wellsted SAS with the Maquis: In Action with the French Resistance, June–September 1944 Stephen Biddle Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias My Substack Email at cgpodcast@pm.me

    54 min
  2. Ep 072 "Modern Antifa: Communist Insurgency in the US Part One"

    OCT 13

    Ep 072 "Modern Antifa: Communist Insurgency in the US Part One"

    I examine the domestic communist and terrorist insurgency that is Antifa and its affiliated organizations both governmental and non-governments;. In this first episode, we shall examine origins, terminology and some expositions on methodology. America is in a Civil War with a major political party and its blacked-shirted paramilitary arm going from cold to hot war. Prepare accordingly. I did a primer on cell organization in Ep 051 "Cellular Ecology: Guerrilla Organizations and Grunt Math". References: House Un-American Activities Committee records, 1945-1975 How They Hunt *** Andy Ngo Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy AQ Training Manual The IRA Greenbook Hunting the Sleepers An Analysis of Al-Qaida Tradecraft Modeling Terrorist Networks - Complex Systems at the Mid-Range Understanding the Form, Function, and Logic of Clandestine Insurgent and Terrorist Networks: The First Step in Effective Counternetwork Operations HR Kedward In Search of the Maquis: Rural Resistance in Southern France, 1942-1944 George Millar Maquis: An Englishman in the French Resistance Ian Wellsted SAS with the Maquis: In Action with the French Resistance, June–September 1944 Stephen Biddle Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias My Substack Email at cgpodcast@pm.me

    56 min
  3. Ep 071 "The Devil's Thermostat: Turning Up the Heat on American Civil War"

    SEP 22

    Ep 071 "The Devil's Thermostat: Turning Up the Heat on American Civil War"

    This episode examines civil war manifesting itself in the US and the world over the next few years and makes a forecast on how close we are on the doomsday clock of civil war on American soil. The probability and possibility of civil kinetic conflict in the US is closer than in decades.. My Storming America Series covers the gamut of what a spontaneous attack in the US will look like when terror cells launch a simultaneous attack on the US homeland which in my mind is the primary man-made vector for civil war in America. I cover it in Episodes 37, 41-43, 49-50 and 62 of my Chasing Ghosts podcast. References: Video: NCTC Islamist Attacks on US Forecast 2025 Winston Marshall The UNTOLD History of The White Slave Trade & How Islam Conquered 3/4 of The Christian World Andrew Gold CIVIL WAR is Coming - Professor David Betz Books: Stephen Biddle Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias Barbara Walter How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them David Armitage Civil Wars: A History in Ideas William Forstchen Day of Wrath Kurt Schlichter The Attack Karl Dahl Faction Faction: With the Crusaders Matt Bracken: Enemies Foreign and Domestic Foreign Enemies And Traitors Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista The Red Cliffs of Zerhoun Castigo Cay Eric Frank Russell The Wasp Michael Z. Williamson The Weapon (and the entire Freehold series) Ernest R. May Strange Victory: Hitler’s Conquest of France Robert Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert Asprey War In The Shadows: The Guerrilla In History Howard Jones My Lai: Vietnam, 1968, and the Descent into Darkness My Substack Email at cgpodcast@pm.me

    1h 1m
  4. Ep 070 "Bolivar's Revenge: The Venezuelan Tar Pit and American Ambition"

    SEP 8

    Ep 070 "Bolivar's Revenge: The Venezuelan Tar Pit and American Ambition"

    We examine the emerging Venezuelan kerfuffle. There are many currents and undercurrents in the latest incipient war debacle in America history. This will be a disaster for America if it clacks off and; expect the American government to make this a preamble to go kinetic on the drug war generally and the following catastrophes. I covered this in detail in both parts of Ep 059 and 059 "The Mexican Cartel Conundrum: War Without End". Gird your loins for the first war in American history that will lead to significant foreign-born bad actors making war on American soil. *** References: US Treasury Sanctions Venezuelan Cartel Headed by Maduro Marie Arana Bolivar: American Liberator Carlos Lizarralde Venezuela's Collapse: The Long Story of How Things Fell Apart Justin Podur Extraordinary Threat: The U.S. Empire, the Media, and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela Tom Wainwright Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel Benjamin T. Smith The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade Anabel Hernandez Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers Ioan Grillo El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency David F. Marley Mexican Cartels: An Encyclopedia of Mexico's Crime and Drug Wars Carmen Boullosa A Narco History: How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the “Mexican Drug War” Patrick Winn Narcotopia: In Search of the Asian Drug Cartel That Survived the CIA Jesse Fink Pure Narco: One Man's True Story of 25 Years Inside the Cartels My Substack Email at cgpodcast@pm.me

    1h 2m
  5. Ep 069 "The CG Mailbag: Question Time and the Backbenchers Lament"

    AUG 4

    Ep 069 "The CG Mailbag: Question Time and the Backbenchers Lament"

    It's been quite some time since I have responded to "mail" so I have curated five questions to address:. What are your personal weapons of choice: rifle or pistol?How do you fix the defense acquisition system?Is the American military really in terminal collapse?Storming America; is it still coming to the US?Is America headed to civil war?I'll offer some more recommendations and a path forward. References: RAND wish-casting on drones in 2015. Slaughterbots (2017) Slaughterbots: if human: kill() (2021) How are Drones Changing Modern Warfare? Sun Tzu The Art of War Carl von Clausewitz On War Miyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy H. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to Warfare Christian Brose The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare Qiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America My Substack Email at cgpodcast@pm.me

    1h 4m
  6. Ep 068 "The Military Drone Revolution: Make All Flesh Forfeit"

    JUL 7

    Ep 068 "The Military Drone Revolution: Make All Flesh Forfeit"

    Despite what you are told by the mainstream news sources in the media, the drone war is here to stay and it will be the most significant war modality for the next generation. It has literally exposed all ground troops and the exquisite platforms the West relies upon in war-making for detailed neutralization and destruction. In concert with the democratized distribution of ubiquitous missile technology, it is the end of Western dominance in warfare. Despite what you may think, the US conventional forces are in terminal collapse and completely unprepared for 21st century peer conflict. I'll offer some more recommendations and a path forward. References: RAND wish-casting on drones in 2015. Slaughterbots (2017) Slaughterbots: if human: kill() (2021) How are Drones Changing Modern Warfare? Sun Tzu The Art of War Carl von Clausewitz On War Miyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy H. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to Warfare Christian Brose The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare Qiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America My Substack Email at cgpodcast@pm.me

    1 hr
  7. Ep 067 "The Mountains of Madness: Military Defeat and Terrain Part II"

    JUN 23

    Ep 067 "The Mountains of Madness: Military Defeat and Terrain Part II"

    This will be the first CG episode to get the complete audio upgrade and revision to achieve the cleanest sound ever for the podcast series. The WarNotes episode catalog has been completely re-fabbed using the new technology at Chris Williams' Podsworth. Let me know what you think. We discuss the latest missteps by the West in Iran. The recent American involvement in direct military intervention in Iran changed the temper and nature of the war inevitably. I assess how the RMAs rapidly displacing centuries-old conflict norms are going to look for the remainder of the century. Buppert’s Law of Military Topography: “Mountainous terrain held by riflemen who know what they are about cannot be militarily defeated.” References: Points of Resistance and Departure: An interview with James C. Scott Lester Grau and Charles J. Bartles Mountain Warfare and Other Lofty Problems: Foreign mountain combat veterans discuss movement and maneuver, training and resupply (Helion Studies in Military History) Lester Grau The Bear Went Over The Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics In Afghanistan [Illustrated Edition] Lester Grau The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War Mark Thompson The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919 James C. Scott The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia Sun Tzu The Art of War Carl von Clausewitz On War Miyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy H. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to Warfare Christian Brose The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare Qiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America My Substack: https://t.co/7a8jn2Mmnx Email at cgpodcast@pm.me.

    55 min
  8. Ep 066 "Civil War on the Horizon: The Empire Strikes Back"

    JUN 16

    Ep 066 "Civil War on the Horizon: The Empire Strikes Back"

    This CG episode got the complete audio upgrade and revision to achieve the cleanest sound ever for the podcast series effective 22 June 2025 using the new technology at Chris Williams' Podsworth. This episode examines civil war manifesting itself in the world in the west in the 21st century and some of my modest forecasts of war weather in the next few years. Dr. David Betz and others have started to float the balloons of probability and possibility of civil kinetic conflict in the West. My Storming America Series covers the gamut of what a spontaneous attack in the US will look like when terror cells launch a simultaneous attack on the US homeland which in my mind is the primary man-made vector for civil war in America. I cover it in Episodes 37, 41-43, 49-50 and 62 of my Chasing Ghosts podcast. References: Video: Winston Marshall The UNTOLD History of The White Slave Trade & How Islam Conquered 3/4 of The Christian World Andrew Gold CIVIL WAR is Coming - Professor David Betz Books: Barbara Walter How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them David Armitage Civil Wars: A History in Ideas William Forstchen Day of Wrath Kurt Schlichter The Attack Karl Dahl Faction Faction: With the Crusaders Matt Bracken: Enemies Foreign and Domestic Foreign Enemies And Traitors Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista The Red Cliffs of Zerhoun Castigo Cay Eric Frank Russell The Wasp Michael Z. Williamson The Weapon (and the entire Freehold series) Ernest R. May Strange Victory: Hitler’s Conquest of France Robert Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert Asprey War In The Shadows: The Guerrilla In History Howard Jones My Lai: Vietnam, 1968, and the Descent into Darkness My Substack Email at cgpodcast@pm.me

    1h 6m
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4.8
out of 5
83 Ratings

About

An unauthorized podcast series peeking behind the curtain at the vast machinery and briar patch politics of fighting terrorism and insurgency and everything in between. I'm a "COINtra" and not a "COINdinista", the latter are the vast army of apparatchiks and apologists who fire the engines of Irregular Warfare (IW) planet-wide. We're the skeptics and doubters of all things IW and special operations. And we are a tiny sliver of the IW community. I have noticed a jarring gap in this part of the discussion and intend on filling the breach. Substack: Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast Smedley D. Butler Fellow for Military Affairs at the Libertarian Institute Chasing Ghosts Podcast on YouTube I am an Amazon Affiliate. You can contact me at cgpodcast@pm.me

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