WACL Redux: The Rise and Fall of Far West Ltd

Over on The Farm podcast, I've recently concluded an epic series concerning the enigmatic private military company commonly known as Far West Ltd. What's more, this endeavor was a continuation of The Farm's storied World Anti-Communist League (WACL) series, which in turn grew out of the original series of WACL articles I wrote during the prior decade. Links to those works can be found here. 

In this most recent incarnation we consider the evolution of the old WACL network from the end of the Cold War up to current day events. And trust me folks, it's simply incredible how relevant WACL's legacy is in 2023. When Keith Allen Dennis, "Don Diligent," and the rest of the original WACL crew began the podcast series, we saw it as a largely historical undertaking. But as the show we did on Abe's assassination in the summer of 2022 revealed, the old WACL network is still around, still a player, but with a new generation of leaders and institutions that have carried on the work of the OGs.

At the forefront of this revival is another subject as relevant now as ever: private military and intelligence companies. One of the contentions made throughout this series is that modern day PMCs and PICs have effectively taken up the role of WACL and like bodies in the twenty-first century. Whereas during the Cold War, WACL served as a middle ground between Western elites from the Conservative Establishment and the Neo-liberal Order alike to plot with a motley crew of international drug and arms traffickers; aging Nazi war criminals and next generation Black terrorists; and religious fanatics and cultists of all stripes. It was an incredible milieu, both sides of which largely still exiting. But increasingly, PMCs and PICs are where they're doing business, on any number of levels, now.

At the center of it all was Far West. It was an allegedly Russian-controlled PMC. But it was so much more than that. Indeed, it may be the driving force behind the present war in Ukraine and how Joe Biden ended up in the White House. I truly wish I was exaggerating with that claim. But Far West was at the heart of various intrigues from the late 1990s onwards that shaped the world we currently live in: the Great Ruble Scandal; the Moscow Apartment bombings; 9/11; Project Hammer; its shocking links to the smuggling of nuclear and biological weapons; and its role in Ukraine's Orange Revolution and the 2008 Russo-Georgia War; and even the Boston Marathon bombing and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. 

Needless to say, this was an incredible undertaking and I could not have done it without the invaluable contributions of "Senate" and the great Edmund Berger. Senate is who inspired this series while Ed proved much needed information linking these events and players together. And I like to think the spirit of Ed Coffman, alias Don Diligent, the star of the original WACL podcast series, contributed to the proceedings as well. Regardless, each and everyone of these shows is dedicated to him and his memory. I hope that they have done him justice.

And without further ado, here is the series:

WACL Redux: Far West Ltd and the Origins of WWIII Part I

In the first installment Senate and I unpack the origins of the forces behind Far West an their linkage to the old WACL network.

Apple

Spotify

WACL Redux: Far West Ltd and the Origins of WWIII Part II