John Heathershaw @jheathershaw.bsky.social
@HeathershawJ
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Professor @exeterpolitics. Author of "Security After Christendom" (2024) and "Indulging Kleptocracy" (2025). Academic freedom by/for/of academics.
England, United Kingdom
Joined June 2014
It's out today! Our @tenaprelec @TomMayne16 @OUPAcademic book, Indulging Kleptocracy. Foreword by @OliverBullough. The UK’s indulgence of kleptocratic elites from Russia and Eurasia is an acute example of the phenomenon of professional enabling. https://t.co/wqfIu3j9T2
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They recognise one of their own
The current U.S. administration is the easiest one so far for Central Asia to work with. Business interests can be used to attract Washington’s attention, and there is no longer any need for demonstrative distancing from Russia or commitment to democratic reforms.
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I tried to write something less triumphalist about Gaza while recognising that this is an important step for the victims of the conflict. I also wanted to look at how "peace" is understood in the Hebrew Bible (Torah) compared to what's going on Gaza. https://t.co/75haST9ASU
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Fantastic reporting by @OCCRP. If you scroll down you can see the Boeing 737 which flew Kerimguly Berdimuhamedov into Exeter, apparently to study for his Politics degree. https://t.co/MMBfjXe45U via @OCCRP
occrp.org
In authoritarian Turkmenistan, even a single airplane trip abroad is out of reach for most citizens. But the country’s ruling Berdimuhamedov family, which has held power across two generations,...
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In our new research, we show how Londongrad beat the UK Anti-Money Laundering regime via the incumbency advantage (political elites being in power or in favour back home) and enablers effect (networks of highly-skilled legal and financial professionals). https://t.co/hk8Uyg5lrW
tandfonline.com
The emergence and survival of ‘Londongrad’, despite the UK anti-money laundering regime, is an intellectual and policy conundrum. We analyse an original dataset of £2 billion of domestic real estat...
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I wrote something on one of the urgent political questions of our time: how to respond to Christian nationalism. https://t.co/KEmUVMfyLX
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"Even [the] ugly and dehumanising fusions of religion and militarism cannot obscure our ineradicable sense that human life is a gift of God, that we are created imago Dei, in his image." https://t.co/JKj24di8hp
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It's understandable to draw attention to Trump's about turn. But one thing has not changed: he has no strategy. Grand standing is not strategy. A change of rhetoric doesn't end a war.
If I wrote these comments, which the president made today, my MAGA followers/trolls on this platform would be lambasting me as a war monger for the 1000th time. Eager to read their reaction to Trump's statement. Change of heart? Or doubling down on old positions?
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This looks great. I'm looking forward to reading it! Full article: Power and positionality: researching state crime and reputation laundering in Uzbekistan
tandfonline.com
Studying power in authoritarian environments poses challenges not only because of rampant surveillance but also because of researchers’ positionality. Western scholars have touched on the issue of ...
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Lessons from the forgotten peacemakers on Aka Island - stories for VJ Day. https://t.co/9IGBoFuFA8
churchtimes.co.uk
Eighty years after Victory over Japan, Nick Megoran reflects on a little-known story about the brokering of a truce
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"Christian nationalism" (in academic terms, a neo-Christendom imaginary) by the Dept of Homeland Security. This is not a fringe pursuit but central to how the Trump administration presents the United States.
TO EVERY CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIEN IN AMERICA: Darkness is no longer your ally. You represent an existential threat to the citizens of the United States, and US Border Patrol's Special Operations Group will stop at nothing to hunt you down.
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“Come meet us in Dubai.” A phrase that marks a deeper shift in how elites move money - away from scrutiny, toward secrecy. Professor Ricardo Soares de Oliveira explores the rise of “jurisdictional arbitrage” in global corruption with John Heathershaw in a new blog. Read here:
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Read @krishk's response to the "Christian Heritage" speech in the House of Commons. https://t.co/h3ZNiA68j5
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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. https://t.co/q25xpwPBIL
crudeaccountability.org
Russian pumpjacks in a winter field. Adobe Stock. July 3, 2025 By Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu, Visiting Senior Fellow at London School of Economics and Political Science …
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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. https://t.co/LjcsMvhU9Z
theconversation.com
Sensitive business is moving towards more permissive jurisdictions in response to tighter regulations and greater media attention.
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From @CSC_barrington wherein he discusses what "I will never allow London mansions to be the bitcoin of kleptocrats" (@DavidLammy) might actually mean. https://t.co/gpU8uj0DCY
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These kind of geopolitical takes on the global economy always deceive. These companies (like all companies) aren’t owned by countries; they are owned by shareholders via multinational corporations that are globally dispersed to reduce their taxes & legal obligations.
▪️British Steel - Chinese ▪️Royal Mail - Czechia ▪️British Airways - Spanish ▪️Yorkshire Water - Singapore ▪️British Telecom - India ▪️Rolls Royce - Germany ▪️Jaguar - India And many others… UK national assets sold to foreign owners. Part of the reason we are in this mess.
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I quite enjoyed writing this. 'MAGA is not a coherent agenda or ideology but an unstable identity movement of a minority of Americans. A “powerful” individual in such a context seeks image and status over actual control or domination.' https://t.co/OvxQ8jXwUt
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What do we do with scandalous scholars? I went to a great conference of the @CSBibleViolence this week and wrote this post. https://t.co/n4lhwb4SA1
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Nice piece by @blagden_david. As he says, non-intervention is cheap realism. But sailing HMS Prince of Wales across the Indian Ocean is expensive roleplaying (grandstanding), devoid of strategy.
Don’t just do something, stand there! @blagden_david writes in praise of non-intervention https://t.co/mDnVs0NYa5
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