John Heathershaw
@jheathershaw.bsky.social
590 followers 270 following 150 posts
Professor @cais-exeter.bsky.social University of Exeter, UK. Author of "Security After Christendom" (2024) and "Indulging Kleptocracy" (2025). Academic freedom by/for/of academics.
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jheathershaw.bsky.social
It's out today! Many years in the making. Our @tenaprelec.bsky.social Tom Mayne @oxunipress.bsky.social book, Indulging Kleptocracy.

The UK’s indulgence of kleptocratic elites from Russia and Eurasia is an acute example of the phenomenon of professional enabling.

global.oup.com/academic/pro...
jheathershaw.bsky.social
It’s not clear to me how Peter Mandelson’s “singular talents” differ from his elite network connections that meant he had a relationship with Epstein (and Trump). Isn’t that why they put him in place?

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Peter Mandelson seen as ‘worth the risk’ as US ambassador, minister says
Peter Kyle says ‘singular talents’ were balanced against warnings as Epstein accuser’s family criticise appointment
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by John Heathershaw
jheathershaw.bsky.social
👏😅
roberthutton.co.uk
So much weird in here, but hard to disagree that the average Saxon would have recognised policies of sinking vessels you don't like the look of, and imprisoning people who look different.
jheathershaw.bsky.social
An excellent book on a topic that many of us have worked on for years. The problem of authoritarianism for academic freedom isn’t purely external (as some on the Right claim) or purely internal (as some on the Left claim). It is both, intertwined.

www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-p...
How to protect your university against authoritarianism
US institutions are facing threats to academic freedom from the Trump administration, yet they must also stay vigilant to authoritarianism from abroad. Here is what university leaders and academics ca...
www.timeshighereducation.com
jheathershaw.bsky.social
This is an excellent blog on how working politically in aid is hampered by large disbursements.

“As one staff member put it: 'generally, [aid] money disrupts change, it does not promote it'.”

Ergo: don’t scale up.

Small disbursements via small often faith based agents.✅

odi.org/en/insights/...
Surviving the aid cuts: working politically to deliver value at lower cost
As aid cuts begin to hit hard, these rich lessons on how to achieve impact by taking politics seriously and focusing on issues that galvanize people are some of the best tools we have.
odi.org
jheathershaw.bsky.social
Darwin says “unfinished” in the sense of contradictory processes which were not resolved. I’d want to emphasise legacies especially the offshore system created under English common law including some extant colonies and expanding well the time (including to Astana and Baku)!
jheathershaw.bsky.social
Again, right out of the authoritarian playbook. All very familar to me from living in West Africa and Central Asia.
nytimes.com
Breaking News: The Justice Department is said to have subpoenaed New York Attorney General Letitia James. One of the subpoenas relates to her office's civil fraud case against President Trump, the other to a case against the National Rifle Association.
Justice Department Subpoenas Office of Letitia James, a Trump Nemesis
Ms. James, New York’s attorney general, won a civil fraud case against President Trump that is on appeal. One of the two subpoenas is related to that case.
nyti.ms
jheathershaw.bsky.social
Netanyahu is like the head teacher of a school which stops the kids getting food, where part of the playground is run by bullies, and whose teachers kill lots of the kids as punishment. When inspectors question the head’s decisions, he blames the bullies.

economist.com/middle-east-...
A glimpse of Gaza’s miserable future
The territory will remain at the mercy of outsiders for years to come
economist.com
jheathershaw.bsky.social
"One of the defining features of the Trump decade is the strange combination of conservative Christians’ fervent loyalty to the president and Trump’s obvious ignorance of Christianity. Playing to his base, Trump pretends to be an ardent follower of a faith he couldn’t care less about."
christiancentury.bsky.social
“To understand the role the Bible plays in our politics, we have to focus less on what biblical texts mean and more on how the Bible is used.”

– Mac Loftin

www.christiancentury.org/features/how...
How politicians use the Bible
Scholar Hannah Strømmen provides a helpful guide for navigating our scripture-saturated political...
www.christiancentury.org
Reposted by John Heathershaw
oxmartinschool.bsky.social
“Come meet us in Dubai.”
An offhand remark, but one that captures a seismic shift in global corruption.
Professor's Ricardo Soares de Oliveira and John Heathershaw reveal how professional enablers are redrawing the map of illicit finance.

Read here: www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/blog/come-me...
‘Come meet us in Dubai’: the new offshoring of grand corruption
This article explores how professional enablers of grand corruption are shifting operations to permissive financial hubs like Dubai, enabling illicit…
www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk
jheathershaw.bsky.social
Apparently I said: "Donald Trump is normal". That needs to be heard in context.
jheathershaw.bsky.social
“The Russians simply exploited our own corrupt system. They studied America’s pay-for-play culture, found its weak spots, and very carefully manipulated it."

It's worth going back to this Vox interview with Craig Unger.

It's not about regimes, its about networks.

www.vox.com/world/2018/9...
Trump’s ties to the Russian mafia go back 3 decades
Journalist Craig Unger talks Russia, Trump, and “one of the greatest intelligence operations in history.”
www.vox.com
jheathershaw.bsky.social
Gubad Ibadoghlu, still under house arrest, shows how the UK's sanctions on entities affiliated with Azerbaijan involved in the sale and transit of Russian oil exposes both the limits of the current regime and the possibilities for secodnary sanctions.

crudeaccountability.org/balancing-ac...
Balancing Act: Azerbaijan’s Energy Links to Russia and the Sanctions Regime -
Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu explores Azerbaijan's covert delivery of sanctioned Russian oil and the limitations of the international sanctions regime.
crudeaccountability.org
jheathershaw.bsky.social
Laws and rules to counter kleptocracy must have greater extraterritorial reach and/or more effective multijurisdictional partnerships to meet a challenge which is becoming even more transnational in form.

With Ricardo Soares de Oliveira.

theconversation.com/come-meet-us...
‘Come meet us in Dubai’: the new offshoring of grand corruption
Sensitive business is moving towards more permissive jurisdictions in response to tighter regulations and greater media attention.
theconversation.com