Jack Dickens
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Jack Dickens
@jackfdickens.bsky.social
140 followers 160 following 53 posts
Historian & journalist exploring geopolitics, empires and the Middle East. Cricket tragic 🏏 Commissioning Editor at Engelsberg Ideas | Email: [email protected]
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Jack Dickens @jackfdickens.bsky.social · 11d
I am delighted to announce that my chapter on espionage in Central Asia and the Great Game has been published as part of this wonderful collection, ‘Spies in History’.

It will be up on @engelsbergideas.bsky.social soon. A big thank you to @paullay.bsky.social and Lars Molin for the opportunity.
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
A little history of the medieval horse | @nicmorton.bsky.social

engelsbergideas.com/reviews/a-li...
A little history of the medieval horse
Horses were essential to the medieval world, shaping everything from warfare to cultural status.
engelsbergideas.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
How Milei made austerity popular | Julieta Casas

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/how...
How Milei made austerity popular
The history of Argentina suggests that austerity is only politically viable under two conditions. Javier Milei has achieved both.
engelsbergideas.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
Pier Paolo Pasolini's vision of the Eternal City was far from an aesthete's fantasy. His Rome was a real place, at once poetic and squalid, which he captured with a cartographer’s eye.

Pasolini’s Rome | Ian Thomson

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/pas...
Pasolini’s Rome
Pier Paolo Pasolini's vision of the Eternal City was far from an aesthete's fantasy. His Rome was a real place, at once poetic and squalid, which he captured with a cartographer’s eye.
engelsbergideas.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The tragedy of Zelensky’s Ukraine | Owen Matthews

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the...
The tragedy of Zelensky's Ukraine
President Zelensky's stunning political rise promised to combat corruption and bring rapprochement with Russia. His administration is now mired in allegations of war-profiteering.
engelsbergideas.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:05 PM
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engelsbergideas.bsky.social
Palestine 36’s distorted history | Christopher Silvester

engelsbergideas.com/reviews/pale...
Palestine 36's distorted history
The new historical epic, 'Palestine 36', offers a deeply flawed, disappointingly partial and waywardly remiss representation of British rule in the Holy Land.
engelsbergideas.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
iainmacgregor1.bsky.social
Loved writing this. So many characters and legal history to capture.
November 19, 2025 at 10:43 AM
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keirgiles.bsky.social
Russia's insatiable demand for bodies to feed the meatgrinder of its war on Ukraine has a real and tragic human cost for the Global South. Here @munira.bsky.social in @engelsbergideas.bsky.social describes deceit and exploitation in Africa, South Asia and beyond.

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the...
The trafficking networks sustaining Russia’s war of attrition
As Putin seeks to avoid another politically damaging mobilisation, the temptation to draw on Moscow's extensive global trafficking networks will only grow.
engelsbergideas.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The nature of the Japanese language presents fascinating challenges to the development of artificial intelligence.

Japan’s LLM language barrier | @drchrisharding.bsky.social

engelsbergideas.com/essays/japan...
Japan's LLM language barrier
The nature of the Japanese language presents fascinating challenges to the development of artificial intelligence.
engelsbergideas.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:34 AM
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engelsbergideas.bsky.social
In the northernmost corner of Denmark, the painter Anna Ancher made light her lifelong muse.

Anna Ancher’s language of light | @amwilson.bsky.social

engelsbergideas.com/reviews/anna...
Anna Ancher's language of light
In the northernmost corner of Denmark, the painter Anna Ancher found the light of Skagen to be her lifelong muse.
engelsbergideas.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:56 AM
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engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The German war hero was an aesthete who sought to be heard only by those who might be willing to listen.

The aesthetics of Ernst Jünger | Jaspreet Singh Boparai

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the...
The aesthetics of Ernst Jünger
The German war hero was an aesthete who sought to be heard only by those who might be willing to listen.
engelsbergideas.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The Turkish president's ongoing crackdown against political opponents has left his challengers in disarray, giving him a free hand to continue reshaping the country in his own image.

Erdogan’s new order | Hannah Lucinda Smith

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/erd...
Erdogan's new order
The Turkish president's ongoing crackdown against political opponents has left his challengers in disarray, giving him a free hand to continue reshaping the country in his own image.
engelsbergideas.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The philosopher Michael Oakeshott reminds us that historical myth-making is at the heart of politics.

On the uses of a legendary past | Daniel Skeffington

engelsbergideas.com/essays/on-th...
On the uses of a legendary past
The philosopher Michael Oakeshott reminds us that historical myth-making is at the heart of politics.
engelsbergideas.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The long shadow of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials | @iainmacgregor1.bsky.social

engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-l...
The long shadow of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials
In the courtrooms of Nuremberg and Tokyo, the victorious Allies declared that civilisation must not merely win wars but also judge them, leaving a legal and moral legacy that persists to this day.
engelsbergideas.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:03 AM
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engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The annual conferences held by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reveal a worldview that is dependent on continued confrontation with the West.

Inside the mind of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard | Kasra Aarabi & Saeid Golkar

engelsbergideas.com/essays/insid...
Inside the mind of Iran's Revolutionary Guard
The annual conferences held by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reveal a worldview that is dependent on continued confrontation with the West.
engelsbergideas.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
jackfdickens.bsky.social
I am delighted to announce that my chapter on espionage in Central Asia and the Great Game has been published as part of this wonderful collection, ‘Spies in History’.

It will be up on @engelsbergideas.bsky.social soon. A big thank you to @paullay.bsky.social and Lars Molin for the opportunity.
November 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM
jackfdickens.bsky.social
I am delighted to announce that my chapter on espionage in Central Asia and the Great Game has been published as part of this wonderful collection, ‘Spies in History’.

It will be up on @engelsbergideas.bsky.social soon. A big thank you to @paullay.bsky.social and Lars Molin for the opportunity.
November 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The trafficking networks sustaining Russia’s war of attrition | Munira Mustaffa

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the...
The trafficking networks sustaining Russia’s war of attrition
As Putin seeks to avoid another politically damaging mobilisation, the temptation to draw on Moscow's extensive global trafficking networks will only grow.
engelsbergideas.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The philosopher sought freedom from the bewitchment of language.

Wittgenstein’s great silence | Bryan Appleyard

engelsbergideas.com/reviews/witt...
Wittgenstein's great silence
The philosopher sought freedom from the bewitchment of language.
engelsbergideas.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
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engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The craft of John le Carré | Malcolm Forbes

engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...
The craft of John le Carré
He was a writer who created his own world, filled with lamplighters and scalphunters, babysitters and pavement artists.
engelsbergideas.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:11 AM
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engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The traffic lights of today have come a long way from the mechanical, gas-powered device first unveiled in London almost 160 years ago. But will they survive in a world of driverless cars?

How the traffic light changed the world | Keith Lowe

engelsbergideas.com/essays/how-t...
How the traffic light changed the world
The traffic lights of today have come a long way from the mechanical, gas-powered device first unveiled in London almost 160 years ago. But will they survive in a world of driverless cars?
engelsbergideas.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
With the entry of Timor-Leste, ASEAN has gained a tiny new democracy to join its diverse grouping of one-party states, absolute monarchies and military juntas.

Why Timor-Leste joined ASEAN | Imran Shamsunahar

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/why...
Why Timor-Leste joined ASEAN
With the entry of Timor-Leste, ASEAN has gained a tiny new democracy to join its diverse grouping of one-party states, absolute monarchies and military juntas.
engelsbergideas.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The Locarno Pact’s enduring legacy | Patrick O. Cohrs

engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-l...
The Locarno Pact's enduring legacy
The Locarno Pact of 1925 provided the foundations for a more just, durable and peaceful European order. Although its early promise was snuffed out by the global crisis of the 1930s, the pact's guiding...
engelsbergideas.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:11 AM
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engelsbergideas.bsky.social
As 'Islam' rose from a personal act of submission to an ideology, it eclipsed the very divinity it sought to serve.

Modern Islam’s loss of theology | Fitzroy Morrissey

engelsbergideas.com/reviews/mode...
Modern Islam's loss of theology
As 'Islam' rose from a personal act of submission to an ideology, it eclipsed the very divinity it sought to serve.
engelsbergideas.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
wdjames.bsky.social
I've written a piece for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social on the sources of grand strategic ideas. Best enjoyed over the weekend with a brew ☕

Thanks to @jackfdickens.bsky.social, @paullay.bsky.social, and the EI team for publishing.
November 7, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Reposted by Jack Dickens
engelsbergideas.bsky.social
The key to grand strategy | @wdjames.bsky.social

engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-k...
The key to grand strategy
A close examination of the history of statecraft reveals that grand strategy works best when competing ideas collide, and rigorous processes challenge prevailing orthodoxies.
engelsbergideas.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:22 AM