The EI Podcast

The Lawrence legend continues to win new devotees while his pragmatic contribution to warfare is neglected. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/lawrence-of-arabia-on-war-how-the-past-haunts-the-present/ Credit: Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Throughout the ages, oracles, journalists and political scientists have attempted to guess the course fate may take. But should they fail to take the specifics, particularly specific individuals, into account, they are doomed to fail. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-importance-of-the-individual-in-history/ Credit: CBW / Alamy Stock Photo

In our latest episode of Worldview hosted by Adam Boulton we consider the role outer space will play in the future of conflict. How soon will conflicts on Earth spill out into space? What form might these conflicts take and how can we regulate them? Adam speaks to Jacob Geer, Dr Stuart Eves and Professor von der Dunk to find out.   Image description: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off, Cape Canave...

Traditional geopolitical solutions (accommodation or military containment) are unlikely to work with Putin’s Russia. Instead the West should pursue a unified geo-economic strategy. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-carrot-and-the-stick-geo-economics-and-russian-revisionism/ Credit: Klaus Oskar Bromberg / Alamy Stock Photo

How does the war in Ukraine look on the ground? What does the future of the battlefield hold? In this week's episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton speaks to Professor Hew Strachan and Dr Rob Johnson to discuss these issues and more. Image description: A drone operator from field medicine division, Ukraine. Credit: Mykhailo Palinchak / Alamy Stock Photo.

Our new series of Worldview, presented by Adam Boulton is considering the future of warfare and geopolitics in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  In this week's episode, Adam Boulton is in conversation with Vladislav Zubok and Sir Roderic Lyne, the former British Ambassador to Moscow. While both were horrified by the invasion of Ukraine last February, they offer varying views on how this n...

The condemnation of the annexation of the Crimea was unified and strong, but the sanctions that followed lacked any real bite. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/containing-and-deterring-russia-can-europe-act-strategically/ Credit: Nikolay Vinokurov / Alamy Stock Photo

Our new series of Worldview, presented by Adam Boulton is considering the future of warfare and geopolitics in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  In this week's episode, Adam Boulton is in conversation with Beatrice Heuser, Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones and Frank Gavin discussing the roles of NATO, the EU and the UN today. How can these twentieth-century institutions tackle the challenges...

For the past sixty years, the use of nuclear weapons has become unthinkable. But with every conflict there comes a point where the unthinkable becomes possible. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/can-nuclear-deterrence-preserve-the-long-peace-between-major-powers/ Credit: RBM Vintage Images / Alamy Stock Photo

In a religious system which presupposed a covenant not just between God and the individual Jew, but between God and Israel as a nation, the sense of communal solidarity had an abiding impact, regardless of the differences between denominations. Read by Leighton Pugh. Credit: Maraike Hofer / Alamy Stock Photo

For more than thirty years, the US has sought to avoid deploying ground forces into protracted conflict. It has nevertheless done so in almost every single one of those years. Perhaps it is time to accept reality. Read by Leighton Pugh https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/americas-problem-with-unconventional-warfare/ Credit: Bumble Dee / Alamy Stock Photo

Islam — unlike Christianity — may not have a central motif of pain, sin and suffering, but it reveals so much about what it means to live with adversity. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/suffering-the-price-of-being-alive-an-islamic-perspective/ Credit: Dmitrii Melnikov / Alamy Stock Photo

While Christianity may strive to sing in a single voice, no one modern denomination ought to claim a monopoly on the truth. The region's history is in fact far more eclectic. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/reassessing-christian-history/ Credit: Yogi Black / Alamy Stock Photo

The Hindu tradition of Radha and Krishna calls us to see passion as the kernel of all religion. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-gods-in-love/ Credit: Heritage Arts/Heritage Images via Getty Images

As Jesuit missionaries spread further across the globe, the order’s founder wanted to ensure that its members remained connected. The result of this was an unparalleled network of knowledge which superseded religious tensions. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/jesuit/ Credit: Wikipedia Commons/ Bibliothèque Universtaire Moretus Plantin

Portugal’s commercial dominance of large swathes of the world lasted little more than a century but the images, transmissions, and trades that it engendered left a significant and long-lasting influence. Read by Leighton Pugh. Credit: Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty Images

Sea power derives from resources, a direct interest in sea-based trade, and pressure exerted by enemies. In the modern age, the importance of these factors in international affairs remains paramount. Read by Leighton Pugh. Credit: Lev FedoseyevTASS via Getty Images

If a peace deal is not reached, all the key ingredients are present for Yemen to become a failed state. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/making-sense-of-the-yemen-war/ Credit: MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images

Acts of extreme self-sacrifice – such as suicide bombing – are not aberrations. They tell us something about our deepest instincts for group loyalty. Read by Leighton Pugh.  https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-dark-side-to-loving-a-group/  Credit: TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP via Getty Images

So-called civilisational states, including Russia, China and India, invoke fake histories to justify and buttress their contemporary political settlements. But those who cannot let go of the past are always at risk of finding themselves imprisoned by it. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-fake-history-of-civilisational-states/ Credit: PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images

Flags have become synonymous with nationhood, character, spirit, and power. In an age of renewed nationalism, their power should not be underestimated. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-flag-wars-are-here-to-stay/ Credit: Anthony WALLACE / AFP via Getty Images

The line between disinformation, propaganda and fake news is often blurred. This is especially the case when it is unclear whether these untruths or half truths are being disseminated by the 'good' or 'bad' guys. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/disinformation-in-the-information-age/ Credit: Franz Aberham via Getty Images

Once established, Roman exceptionalism and empire needed to be justified and maintained. The practical application of mythology was one way in which this was achieved. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/roman-geopolitics-an-exercise-in-myth-making/ Credit: Fred de Noyelle via Getty

The US once enjoyed the esteemed position of being the 'city on the hill', a beacon of hope and an example to the rest of the world. Post-9/11, however, the superpower's conduct in the Middle East has left its reputation tarnished. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/how-us-policy-failure-post-9-11-undermined-international-order/  Credit: James May/Alamy

Peering into the hearts and minds those living four thousand years ago is an impossible task. However, when it comes to the worship of the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna, it seems clear to be, quite literally, a labour of love and fear. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/uruk-and-the-origins-of-the-sacred-economy/ Credit: Print Collector via Getty Images