@annetteidler
Associate Professor @UniofOxford, Director @GS_Oxford, former Visiting Scholar @Harvard, #globalsecurity #armedconflict #illiciteconomy author #BorderlandBattles http://tinyurl.com/y2q www.annetteidler.com
In this @aljazeera.com explainer, I discuss how Mexican cartels obtain weapons & why most firearms seized in Mexico originate in the US. Addressing the problem requires treating southbound gun trafficking as seriously as northbound flows of drugs & people.Read more:
www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/03...
Spoke with France 24 on El Mencho. Decapitation strategies can weaken organisations but also trigger fragmentation and renewed violence while trafficking networks remain resilient. Long-term impact depends on addressing demand.
Here's the article: www.france24.com/fr/am%C3%A9r...
Hybrid Event
Join us for a field-based discussion on the Sinjar Peace Agreement & the challenges facing Iraq’s Yazidi community.
Speaker: Giorgi Gigauri, Visiting Fellow
🗓 3 March 2026, 5 PM
📍 Allen & Overy Room, Pembroke College & Online
Register: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Spoke w/ BBC News on El Mencho. Removing leaders doesn't dismantle broader crime systems. These groups are embedded in transnational supply chains that adapt to disruption. Without addressing demand and structural drivers, violence and trafficking will persist. Read here: www.bbc.com/portuguese/a...
I was interviewed by @aljazeera.com on El Mencho's killing in #Mexico. My key message: Kingpin arrests matter symbolically, but globally networked illicit supply chains are built to withstand leadership loss. @socsci.ox.ac.uk
Article: www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/...
NEW EVENT! Colombia’s armed conflict in regional and global context
What are the prospects & obstacles for peace in Colombia?
Dr @annetteidler.bsky.social explores security challenges and what to expect from the upcoming election
🗓️ Mar 18, 5-6.30 PM
🗺️ Cambridge, CB3 9DP
🔗 bit.ly/4qVgSY2
Spoke w/ @channel4news.bsky.social about El Mencho’s capture & unsettling retaliatory violence. The arrest is important, but global drug supply chains are resilient to leadership losses. Without reducing demand, underlying structures remain. Interview (watch @3:40): www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW4G...
Looking fwd to launching our webinar series tmw! @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social
I wrote for @ox.ac.uk on the US–Venezuela situation. One overlooked paradox: actions justified as fighting drug trafficking are likely to benefit it, by fragmenting authority and deepening instability. Read here: www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-01...
#GlobalSecurity #Venezuela #LatinAmerica
"It is so important that the international community really makes clear that we can't have unilaterial military action without any consent from others."
Listen to Prof Annette Idler speaks on US-Venezuela from 11:48 👇
https://ow.ly/bkhW50XSVzH
Shared further analysis on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast on US intervention in VEN. Key contradiction: Rubio says this was a limited law-enforcement operation. Reality: 15,000 troops, 150 aircraft, major military build-up. Listen (11:48 - 16:29): www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
#Venezuela #GlobalSecurity
Associate Prof @annetteidler.bsky.social explores the potential impact of US interventons in #Venezuela on stability in the region and worldwide. 👇
I spoke with BBC News Brazil about #Venezuela. Removing Maduro may be welcomed by many, but the method sets a dangerous precedent. It blurs the line between law enforcement and military aggression and risks a return to unilateral interventionism.
www.bbc.com/portuguese/a...
I spoke with BBC World News about the rapidly evolving situation in Venezuela. Removing an illegitimate ruler does not automatically produce stability, and coercion without legitimacy risks turning crisis into prolonged insecurity.
#Venezuela #GlobalSecurity
Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACzO...
"The era of protectorates and trustees ended with decolonisation".
Professor Annette Idler provides an assessment of the US military's operation in Venezuela.👇
https://ow.ly/OyqU50XRXWx
“The removal of Maduro creates not clarity but a dangerous power vacuum." -- Prof @annetteidler.bsky.social talked to @theipaper.com
"Without Venezuelan ownership and regional backing, any attempt at US-led governance risks rapid destabilisation rather than transition.”
inews.co.uk/news/explosi...
On LBC discussing the shocking US military intervention in #Venezuela. This goes far beyond Venezuela: it raises major legal and security risks, sets dangerous precedents, and lacks a clear plan for what comes next.
#GlobalSecurity #InternationalLaw #USForeignPolicy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDX2...
Will the US invade Venezuela? We ask @annetteidler.bsky.social, @stevelevitsky.bsky.social, and Boris Muñoz to look beyond the pretext of drug trafficking to puzzle out US motivations and weigh the pros and cons of invasion. https://loom.ly/5AiSOs4
"Trump claimed at some point that Maduro is emptying prisons and asylums. There's no evidence that this is true."
Associate Prof Annette Idler examines US policy towards Venezuela, questioning security claims and highlighting the risks of escalation.👇
https://ow.ly/nri450XN3Kp
Why is the US escalating pressure on Venezuela now?
In my interview for @harvard.edu @weatherheadcenter.bsky.social ’s Epicenter, I discuss why the threat is constructed, how US politics intersects with geopolitics, and why a drug war won’t yield stability epicenter.wcfia.harvard.edu/articles/why...
Spoke with BBC News about the U.S. carrier strike group now off Venezuela — the biggest deployment in the region in decades. What’s driving it? Pressure on Maduro. War-on-drugs politics. Oil + great-power competition. Rising regional tensions. Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4Qn...
"Global trade and digital connectivity is what turned these Brazilian factions into networked global organisations."
Associate Prof Annette Idler explains Brazil's role in global drug trafficking. 👇
https://ow.ly/ghjp50XuI4l
Spoke w/ Estadão on Brazil’s role in global cocaine routes. Rio’s violence is tied to EU demand, West African transit, and record Andean production. The war on drugs has failed — we need smarter, networked solutions.
Article: tinyurl.com/2a9z5fxx
Watch: tinyurl.com/va93dx37
We’ve launched the CONPEACE Report—a decade of research on turning conflict actors into architects of peace. Featured in El País: “So much is at stake—lives, wellbeing, progress, trust in the future. [This report] must be taken seriously.”
Report: tinyurl.com/CONPEACE
El País: tinyurl.com/bdxdb5cj
As I noted on BBC Radio4, a full-scale invasion is unlikely — the risk of civil conflict is too high.
But the region faces a deeper challenge: how to address the root causes of violence and instability beyond short-term militarised responses.
This show of force isn’t just about “narco-terrorism.”
It’s about domestic politics, energy leverage, and geopolitical signalling — from cutting off oil to Cuba to countering China’s growing presence in Latin America.
🎙️ I joined #BBC #Radio4’s Briefing Room to discuss the U.S. military build-up near #Venezuela — a move that could reshape regional security and global power dynamics. @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social @socsci.ox.ac.uk
🎧 Listen here @ 15:52: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
“What we see here is largely performative, it’s a show of power.”
Associate Prof Annette Idler explores the motives of US involvement in Venezuela on BBC Radio 4's Briefing room. Listen here 👇
https://ow.ly/vU3750Xok0p
"These recommendations are not only valid in the case of Colombia, but are also relevant for other countries seeking to transition from armed conflict to peace effectively and sustainably."
Read about Assoc Prof Annette Idler's report outlining 10 years of research👇
https://ow.ly/S4bL50XnCBw
I was interviewed by @france24.com on Trump’s new not-so-covert CIA operations in Venezuela. Turning covert ops into public theatre is about signalling toughness, not strategy—it risks cycles of retaliation. @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social @blavatnikschool.bsky.social
www.france24.com/en/americas/...