John Heathershaw

I would encourage anyone who thinks that the US-Israeli attack on Iran is about geopolitics and security dilemma to think again. It’s best understood as the threat perceptions, economic interests & strongman ideology of a small number of males who have unrealistic views about the utility of force.

Who or what restrains evil? The abuse and better use of 2 Thessalonians’ katechon The biblical concept of the katechon has been abused for poilitical purposes. Sound exegesis and political history confirm those that restrain evil are often also lawless.

On the mystery of lawlessness in world politics and the biblical-theological origins of the idea of a “balance of power“.

open.substack.com/pub/johnheat...

IR academics, is anyone planning to go to Lisbon for the EISA conference in Septmber? Would you like to be part of a roundtable on kleptocratic networks and international order? Message me.
eisa-net.org/pec-2026/

The prayer breakfast that brought down a government What are National Prayer Breakfasts for? Chine McDonald compares her experience in the UK to recent events in the US. 12/02/2026

Prayers should hold political leaders to account, and sometimes bring them down, not give them opportunities for grandstanding.

www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2026...

US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe State department grants to spread ‘American values’ are part of Washington’s 250th anniversary celebrations

“The Trump administration has interpreted efforts in Europe to regulate online content, including on major US social media networks, as an assault on free speech.”

For the “populist” Right, corporate interests almost always lie behind “ideology”.

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Has Kyrgyzstan’s power tandem finally broken? The sudden, shock removal of security services boss Kamchybek Tashiyev raises questions about who really held power, and who still does.

Personalist political orders and kleptocratic enterprises are generally more vulnerable to power struggle within than challenges from the outside. What difference will the removal of Tashiyev make to order and enterprise in the Kyrgyz Republic?
substack.com/@havli/note/...

A Bully in the Playground The question of how to respond to a reckless regime at the head of a superpower highlights the character of international order and the necessity of virtue. Bullies lose friends and influence.

No prizes for guessing who this is about!

open.substack.com/pub/johnheat...

An Offshore Turn to Asia? Africa's Deepening Links with Dubai,… The United Nations estimates that $88.6 billion per year leave Africa in the form of capital flight,  with much of it routed through, or ending up in,…

Great paper which goes beyond simple geopolitical analysis of the rise of Asia to a recognition that entrepots like Dubai offer English legal protections for dubious clients without the inconvenience of the rule of law. "Londongrad" turbocharged.

www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications...

We presented "the kleptocratic enterprise" in parliament yesterday evening. @marianizzero.bsky.social Tom Mayne and I call for a conceptual shift whereby existing & under-used powers may be utilised to identify patterns of criminal conspiracy between PEPs & their enablers.

giace.org/resources/th...

Kleptocratic networks should be treated as transnational enterprises and national security threats, new report warns Kleptocratic “ecosystems” should be seen as transnational enterprises and national security threats, with the recovery of assets legally linked not only to the individual criminal acts but to the syst...

New research by @jheathershaw.bsky.social @marianizzero.bsky.social and Tom Mayne shows how to strengthen the UK’s capacity to recover stolen or corruptly acquired assets, hold enablers accountable, and demonstrate genuine leadership in anti-corruption efforts

news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h...

Hubris Masquerading As Realism US action against Venezuela reminds us of America’s imperial history. History and wisdom suggests that such hubris begets tragedy and denotes weakness not superpower resurgence.

I wrote this, trying to place the topic of the week into some historical context.

open.substack.com/pub/johnheat...

johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/celebratin...

I am not actually asleep in this picture and was very much engaged throughout this excellent roundtable!

David Lammy announces the new UK anti-corruption strategy at Mansion house yesterday, just three years overdue. Evidence from our @oxunipress.bsky.social @tenaprelec.bsky.social Indulging Kleptocracy is cited. But will the many incremental changes proposed fix a problem which is transnational?

Tulip Siddiq MP given jail sentence in Bangladesh after trial in her absence The former minister and niece of Bangladesh's ousted former leader, who received a two-year sentence, says the charges are politically motivated.

"I'm absolutely baffled by the whole thing."

It's as if the former treasury minister responsible for anti-corruption measures with respect to the UK financial sector had not considered that family and business ties to a corrupt regime might cause controversy.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

’The two worst days of the year to go to church’ In a guest post, Nick Megoran, Professor of Geography at Newcastle Universty, contrasts the way churches sacralise the nation on Remembrance Sunday with the biblical call to be a 'holy nation'.

My thoughts on the politics of Remembrance in the UK, written for John Heathershaw's excellent Substack blog 'Security After Christendom.'

johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/the-two-wo...

’The two worst days of the year to go to church’ In a guest post, Nick Megoran, Professor of Geography at Newcastle Universty, contrasts the way churches sacralise the nation on Remembrance Sunday with the biblical call to be a 'holy nation'.

If you've ever wondered about the tension between Remembrance Sunday and the Christian church's call to peace, read this by @nickmegoran.bsky.social

johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/the-two-wo...

@tenaprelec.bsky.social
@gulnazsharaf.bsky.social
@cais-exeter.bsky.social
See you next week!

Towards Better Theories of Postcommunist Oligarchy Published in Europe-Asia Studies (Vol. 77, No. 9, 2025)

"The way towards better theories of postcommunist oligarchy lies in global comparisons of transnational oligarchic networks that originate in Eastern Europe and Eurasia but are not confined to the region."

I enjoyed writing this piece comparing three exc books.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Reith lecturer accuses BBC of cowardice for censoring his remarks on Trump Dutch writer Rutger Bregman says claim that Trump was ‘most openly corrupt president in US history’ was removed

This reminds me of when our paper on kleptocracy and reputation laundering was edited by Chatham House after legal threats from someone who made his money from kleptocracy and was laundering his reputation. Similar cowardice from the embattled BBC. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

Looking forward to joining this great line-up and my friend Corentin Cohen, the man without a face!

Friday-night drug deals helping Russian war machine, UK crime agency warns - BBC News The National Crime Agency says a "vast criminal ecosystem" funds "really bad things" around the world.

This UK-Kyrgyzstan-Russia connection links street drugs in Britain to Russian sanctions evasion via Keremet Bank in the Kyrgyz Republic. It's the tip of enormous iceberg of illicit finance connecting organised crime and professional enablers.
www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....

What kind of crisis do we face? Three crises over the last week speak to a shift in the “Overton window”, the increasingly simulated character of political order, and the inability of authorities to address complexity.

I wrote something about the character of crisis and the apparent inability of authorities to exercise political reason.
open.substack.com/pub/johnheat...

The Authoritarian Stack How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next

So much for sovereign states with functional independence. The field of International Relations needs to conceptualise elite networks of power and wealth or fall into irrelevance.

authoritarian-stack.info?fbclid=IwZnR...

This is an excellent book.

From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."

Therapy Culture for the Business Class: Exploring How CEO Peer Groups Make and Legitimate Elite Cohesion In the current context of extreme economic inequality and rising concentrations of income and wealth at the top, the social processes through which elites restrict the wider population's access to re...

"It is important to emphasise that such groups ultimately lock in wealth, advantage and connections between their (predominantly male) class-advantaged members."

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Image of the title of the journal article. (See below for full text)

Absolutely fantastic new paper from @katiehiggins.bsky.social "CEO peer groups reveal without a doubt that therapy culture has reached the top tiers of the business class. In fact, their version of self-help is in many ways more cooperative and less individualistic than the mainstream" but... 1/2

Why Britain may have stopped sharing some intelligence with America And how America might respond

It’s tough having a special relationship with a lawless regime.

Why Britain may have stopped sharing some intelligence with America
economist.com/britain/2025...

Thanks Ian. Let's hope speaking louder and cogently in English about the value of foreign languages will at least make some difference. I'm doing an event for secondary students with @exetermodlangs.bsky.social in December promoting the personal & professional value of Russian and other languages.