Category Archives: militaries

Battlefield to Boardroom

I wrote about the business managerial pretensions of former special operators for the LRB: https://lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n04/laleh-khalili/stupid-questions And then had a chat with Thomas Jones on their podcast: https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-podcast/the-special-forces-fantasy

Posted in empire, imperialism & colonialism, Middle East, militaries, political economy, war | Leave a comment

Interview with Luke de Noronha on race and capital accumulation

I got to talk to the brilliant Luke de Noronha of the Sarah Parker Redmond Centre at UCL. The Soundcloud is here and the transcript can be found here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/racism-racialisation/transcript-conversation-laleh-khalili

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, infrastructure, Middle East, militaries | Leave a comment

Interview with 032c Magazine

An interview I did with Victoria Camblin a few months ago is now up on the site of 032c magazine. I won’t cut and paste as their graphics are pretty cool: https://032c.com/laleh-khalili-sinews-of-war-and-trade

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, free ports/zones, infrastructure, labour, logistics, media, Middle East, militaries, political economy, ports, seafaring, shipping conditions, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Carceral Seas

I gave a talk to the Millennium Conference in October which can be seen here: And hopefully it will be published in the next few months!

Posted in empire, imperialism & colonialism, labour, logistics, Middle East, militaries, piracy, political economy, the sea, war | Leave a comment

Interview with Doug Henwood for KPFA’s Left Business Observer

As always it is really fun to talk to Doug, given that he was a merchant marine in his youth, and he is a great conversationalist. We chatted for his Left Business Observer in early August and the conversation went … Continue reading

Posted in capital accumulation, construction, empire, imperialism & colonialism, infrastructure, logistics, Middle East, militaries, oil, political economy, shipping conditions, transport | Leave a comment

A review of Sinews of War and Trade in The Baffler

I was thrilled to see such a brilliant erudite review of the book by Harris Feinsod. All at Sea Surveying the watery expanses of the world economy By Harris Feinsod, 24 August 2020 Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and … Continue reading

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, finance and insurance, free ports/zones, infrastructure, logistics, Middle East, militaries, oil, shipping conditions, transport, war | Leave a comment

An interview with Katy Fox-Hodess on Logistics, Labour and State Power

20 August 2020 I was honoured to be interviewed by my amazing colleague and comrade, Dr Katy Fox-Hodess (whose own work is also cited in my book and with whom I worked when we put together sinewswartrade.org. Below is the … Continue reading

Posted in bureacuracy, capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, finance and insurance, free ports/zones, infrastructure, labour, logistics, Middle East, militaries, seafaring, shipping conditions, transport, war | Leave a comment

Interview with Jadaliyya’s New Text Out Now

  Laleh Khalili, Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula (Verso, 2020). Jadaliyya (J): What made you write this book? Laleh Khalili (LK): Towards the end of 2011, I had just finished the manuscript for Time in the Shadows, research … Continue reading

Posted in capital accumulation, construction, logistics, Middle East, militaries, political economy, seafaring, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

This Is Hell!

So incredibly incredibly excited to be speaking to Chuck Mertz of This Is Hell! We talked a lot about capital and maritime trade — and quite a bit about the effects of COVID-19 on maritime trade. You can listen to … Continue reading

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, finance and insurance, infrastructure, logistics, Middle East, militaries, political economy, ports, transport, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Interview with Philip Wohlstetter

For a couple of years now I have really wanted to attend the Red May socialist festival in Seattle, but sadly the timing (and the physical distance) have gotten in the way. This year, because of COVID-19, I ended up … Continue reading

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, finance and insurance, infrastructure, labour, logistics, Melville, Middle East, militaries, oil, political economy, ports, Uncategorized | Leave a comment