Engelsberg Ideas Podcasts

Two years on from Russia?s invasion of Ukraine, a solution, military or diplomatic, seems as far away as ever.

On Worldview, leading historians and commentators reflect on a conflict that has altered the state of global geopolitics.

Jade McGlynn, author of Russia?s War, calls in from Kyiv (00:56).

Shashank Joshi, defence editor of the Economist and Hew Strachan, military historian, illuminate the battlefield picture (24:18). 

The possible outcomes are considered by Sergey Radchenko, expert on Russian foreign policy, and Tim Marshall, best-selling author, whose most recent book is The Future of Geography (1:00:45).

Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Worldview is produced by Alastair Benn and Marie Jessel. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.

Image: The national flag of Ukraine above the Kyiv skyline. Credit: Mykhailo Prysiazhnyi / Alamy Stock Photo 

From the Engelsberg Ideas Archive. States are back and they're out to challenge the international order.

Image: Vladimir Putin captured from screen. Credit: Anton Dos Ventos / Alamy Stock Photo 

Llewelyn Morgan, author of Horace: A Very Short Introduction, joins EI's Paul Lay to explore the Augustan poet's vast and complex legacy.

Image: Bust of Horace. Credit: Cum Okolo / Alamy Stock Photo 

Al-Qaeda's success in Yemen can in part be explained by the group's adept use of poetry as propaganda. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: An al-Qaeda logo is seen on a street sign in the town of Jaar in southern Abyan province, Yemen. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo 

Alwyn Turner, author of Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era, speaks to Paul Lay about the early 20th century, an age of anxiety.

Image: Street musicians in London in the Edwardian era. Credit: KGPA Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo 

From the Engelsberg Ideas Archive. The organisation that emerged under the name ISIS is not simply a terrorist group. It is a hybrid organisation comprised of a proto-state, a millenarian cult capable of attracting recruits from far beyond its borders, a network of Salafi jihadist groups, an organised criminal ring and an insurgent army led by highly skilled former Baathist military and intelligence personnel. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters shown in propaganda photos released by the militants. Credit: Handout / Alamy Stock Photo 

Ahron Bregman, author of Cursed Victory: A History of Israel and the Occupied Territories, outlines his vision for a lasting peace between Israel, Palestinians and the Arabs.

Image: An Israeli flag is seen through a dust cloud near the border with the Gaza strip. Credit: Eddie Gerald / Alamy Stock Photo 

By the time Kennedy and Johnson held the presidency in the 1960s, the definition of US national security had been stretched and expanded in previously unimaginable ways. It was not unusual for Americans to perceive their security frontiers as global ? indeed, it was considered natural. But it hadn?t always been thus. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Poster showing the American flag waving among clouds.  Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 

Daniela Richterova, Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies at the Department for War Studies, King's College London, reflects on the efforts the Soviet Union made to court African states and liberation movements during the Cold War and draws parallels with China and Russia's new scramble for Africa.

Image: A monument to Arab-Soviet Friendship at the Aswan dam, Egypt. Credit: Matyas Rehak / Alamy Stock Photo 

Thinking about 'war in our time' and our region is no longer an activity restricted to historians or military planners. Politicians and citizens in the countries bordering the Baltic Sea have been forced to accept that it has become necessary to prepare for an unwelcome guest: war. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: A naval operation staged as part of the Freezing Winds military exercise, led by the Finnish Navy. Credit: Sipa US / Alamy Stock Photo 

Alastair Benn is joined by Christopher Harding, cultural historian of Japan and author of The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East, to discuss the life and work of celebrated animator Mayazaki Hayao, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, and his latest (and last?) film, The Boy and the Heron, a semi-autobiographical exploration of wartime bereavement, courage and ultimate redemption.

Image: A still from The Boy and the Heron directed by Miyazaki Hayao. Credit: BFA / Alamy Stock Photo 

The United States, still the dominant military power in the world, is immersed in a new era of warfare that it has not yet recognised as endemic and enduring. America is losing its wars to less powerful but more adaptable adversaries, while preparing inadequately for future inter-state conflicts. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Posters of slain Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo 

In December 1941, the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, making the Second World War a truly global conflict. Paul Lay is joined by Charlie Laderman to discuss a month that shook the world.

Image: Three US battleships stricken during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. Credit: GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 

Political success for the global insurgents can arise not only from a military victory on the ground, but from a military stalemate and even a military defeat. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Mock Houthi-made drones and missiles are set up in a city square in Yemen. Credit: Zuma Press / Alamy Stock Photo 

There is only one way out of total destruction and collapse, which is creative diplomacy. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Dutch envoy Cornelis Calkoen received by the Ottoman grand vizier. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 

We cannot understand what is going wrong in the international order without first understanding what is going wrong in the constitutional order of states. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: The Statue of Liberty seen through a broken window on Ellis Island. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo 

What is the deep meaning of 2023? Alastair Benn is joined by Paul Lay and Iain Martin to set a dramatic year in perspective.

Image: A woman lights a candle to express solidarity with Israel. Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo 

China projects its power and secures its national interests in three ways: exercising might, spending money and expressing its own mindset. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: CCP propaganda printed in rice fields. Credit: Fabio Nodari / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Matthew Hefler, post-doctoral fellow at the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy, to discuss the changing role of intelligence services in an era of intense geopolitical competition.

Image: The MI6 building in Vauxhall, London. Credit: Alex Segre / Alamy Stock Photo 

Putin uses history not only to fit a narrative that Russia is strong when it stands together, but also to seek legitimacy. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Russian Second World War propaganda poster. Credit: Shawshots / Alamy Stock Photo 

What went wrong for the western alliance in Afghanistan? Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by John Ferris, author of Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain's Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency, to discuss whether liberal states can still carry out effective counter-insurgency operations.

Image: U.S. Marines search a compound in Afghanistan. Credit: Stocktrek Images, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo 

Religion is often ignored as a political factor; in the Middle East, this is not possible. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Supporters of the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah group wave the party flags in front of a poster of late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini during a ceremony in Beirut. Credit: dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Calder Walton, author of Spies: The epic intelligence war between East and West, to discuss how governments can use covertly acquired intelligence as a powerful tool to influence debate ? and how easily it can all go wrong.

Image: US Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, second from right, confronts Soviet delegate Valerian Zorin, first on left, with a display of reconnaissance photographs during an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council at the United Nations headquarters in New York, on October 25, 1962. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo 

Wherever we insist on truth in order to win over our adversaries, we awaken a spirit of violence that endangers our living-together in the world. Read by Leighton Pugh.


Image: The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre by Francois Dubois. Credit: Niday Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Kate Cooper, author of Queens of a Fallen World, to discuss the women who shaped the life of Augustine of Hippo.

Image: A 17th century painting of Saint Augustine and Saint Monica. Credit: The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo 

Mystical experience is the missing link in modern accounts of how human beings came to be conscious. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Trasverberazione di Santa Teresa d?Avila (1640). Credit: jozef sedmak / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay, Alastair Benn and Iain Martin discuss the cultural legacy of the Fab Four and why the Beatles story continues to fascinate sixty years on.

Image: The Beatles showing their MBE Insignias after receiving them from the Queen. Credit: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo 

The Middle East and North Africa's transition from authoritarianism to democracy has been slow and painful, with both hopeful gains as well as worrisome setbacks. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Crowds cheer joyfully in central Cairo, Egypt. Credit: Jake Lyell / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay is joined by Kori Schake to examine the rise and fall of the inspirational Shawnee leader Tecumseh who used strategy to defy America's westward expansion.

Image: Shawnee chief Tecumseh confronting William Henry Harrison in Indiana. Credit: North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy Stock Photo 

The history and evolution of (proto) religious behaviour is ancient. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Print of early humans making fire. Credit: Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by James Barr, historian of the Middle East, to discuss Gaza's long and complex history and how it continues to be felt in the present day.

Image: A print of Gaza around 1880. Credit: Holy Land Art / Alamy Stock Photo 

Finding a new settlement between the Anywheres and the Somewheres is now the central task of modern politics. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Poverty in London, 1919. Credit: Classic Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo 

A new translation of the Iliad is an opportunity to reassess the first great work of European literature.

Image: Achilles and Memnon fighting in Greek pottery dating to 300 BC. Credit: Peter Horree / Alamy Stock Photo 

The need to buttress control is the bottom line for Xi.

Image: Portrait of Mao on the street. Credit: Chuck Nacke / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Suzanne Raine, national security and counter-terrorism expert, and Michael Goldfarb, author and broadcaster, to discuss Hamas' terrorist outrage and the uncertain future that follows for the region.

Image: Members of the Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo 

The proletarianisation of knowledge promises a bumpy ride for both us and capitalism as we know it. Read by Leighton Pugh.

The New York Stock Exchange. Credit: Sergi Reboredo / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss the idea of Autumn, a season peculiarly rich in cultural resonances.

Image: Autumn on the Seine, Claude Monet (1840-1926). Credit: IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo 

A good political community can only live and flourish in cities that speak to the soul of the citizens and inspire the love of order. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Map of Renaissance Florence. Credit: Pictures Now / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay is joined by Francis J. Gavin, Director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS, to discuss nuclear statecraft past and present.

Image: Still from Stanley Kubrick's 1963 film Dr Strangelove. Credit: TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo 

In modern Russia, the past is being rewritten to suit Vladimir Putin's script. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: People carry portraits of their relatives - soldiers of the Second World War - as they take part in the Immortal Regiment march in downtown Moscow. Credit: SOPA Images Limited / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay is joined by the historian Sir Hew Strachan to discuss On War, the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz's seminal text, and the indispensable guide to the conduct and practice of war.

Image: Carl von Clausewitz. Credit: ART Collection / Alamy Stock Photo 

The intellectual dark web will, most likely, be a flicker in history, a reminder of when the West?s conversation was at its most shrill, and when free-thinking people had to look to underground clubs for a place to air their thoughts. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Camille Paglia. Credit: Independent / Alamy Stock Photo 

JFK biographer Fredrik Logevall, in conversation with EI's Paul Lay and Iain Martin, discusses Kennedy's enduring and 'iconic' status, his claims to greatness, his style, and what his example offers for a divided America.

Image: During a campaign trip Senator John F. Kennedy greets a roadside crowd in Indiana. Credit: American Photo Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 

Dying to defend territory is an ancient human need - but war in the 21st century may not follow the script. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: English propaganda poster from the First World War showing a column of soldiers and civilians marching to war. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo 

In the latest episode of EI Talks... Paul Lay and Alastair Benn put together an idiot's guide to Rugby Union. The World Cup, the sport's showcase competition, kicks off tonight. The team gives their predictions.

Image: French Rugby poster from the 1930s. Credit: Lordprice Collection / Alamy Stock Photo 

A defence of capitalism will have to rest first and foremost on an appeal to ethics, obligation, and duty. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Our information-rich civilisation is not superior or inferior to the pre-literate world of Brazil's indigenous peoples, just different. Read by Leighton Pugh.

The destruction of rainforests threatens valuable cultures and reams of possible medical innovations. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Credit: Dennis Frates / Alamy Stock Photo

 A good society is one with a proper balance between the aptitudes of ?head?, ?hand? and ?heart?. The modern knowledge economy, however, has delivered higher and higher returns to the cognitive elite and reduced the relative pay and status of manual and caring jobs. Read by Leighton Pugh. 

The risks we now face are vast, as is the potential upside of the technology. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Art installation on the theme of AI. Credit: Michele D'Ottavio / Alamy Stock Photo