The Rachman Review

The heavy cost of the war on Iran

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon discusses the Iran war with defence analyst Jack Watling, author of Statecraft - The New Rules of Power in a Divided World. Why did the US fail...

Introducing Untold: Opus Dei

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Introducing Opus Dei, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Antonia Cundy uncovers the cultural and political influence of a controver...

Formidable US firepower fails to unseat Iran’s regime

12 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon speaks to Sir Simon Gass, a former UK ambassador to Iran, about why the formidable destructive power of the US and Israel has failed to di...

Iran war risks turning into a battle of endurance

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon discusses the US and Israeli war against Iran with Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. What are the war aims, c...

Boris Johnson: Pressure on Putin is the price of peace

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon discusses the state of peace talks on Ukraine with Boris Johnson at a conference organised by the Yalta European Strategy group in Kyiv. The fo...

Chrystia Freeland on how to negotiate with autocrats — and allies

19 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Chrystia Freeland, former deputy prime minister of Canada, about different approaches to negotiating with the Trump administration. Th...

The predator in the Oval Office

12 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to American political scientist Stephen Walt about the phrase ‘predatory hegemon’ that he coined to describe the US administration un...

Can diplomacy avert a US-Iran war?

05 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew England, the FT’s Middle East editor, speaks to Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham Hous...

Bill Gates: AI, aid cuts and the fear of speaking out

29 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Bill Gates tells Gideon that a climate of fear has taken hold in the US business community under the Trump administration: “People are afraid to spe...

Mark Carney on a world in rupture — and what comes next

21 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, received a standing ovation at the World Economic Forum in Davos after warning that the global order has enter...

Greenland: the good, the bad or the ugly?

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon speaks to Finland’s president about how to resolve the stand-off between Europe and the US over Greenland. Alexander Stubb describes the disp...

Sudan: inside the world’s worst humanitarian crisis

15 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Famine, mass killings and the collapse of basic government services have pushed Sudan into what the UN now calls the world’s worst humanitarian cris...

‘Regime roulette’ in Venezuela: Is Greenland next?

08 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Now that the Trump administration has fully embraced the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ - a policy claiming the western hemisphere as a US sphere of influence ...

2025: A year of chaos and confusion

25 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon and guests look back at 2025 as well as forward to the year ahead in an FT Live discussion for the Global Boardroom. Donald Trump set the tone ...

Trump takes aim at South Africa

18 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump has accused South Africa of carrying out a genocide against its white population. He also says the nation does not deserve to be a member...

Europe’s rocky relations with Donald Trump

11 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Jens Stoltenberg, Nato's former secretary-general, about Ukraine and Europe's strategic priorities after recent scathing criticism fro...

Splits in the Maga movement

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest, about the rows over racism, Epstein and Israel that have broken out in Donald Trump’...

The voice of moderate America

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the senior Democrat on the US Senate Committee on foreign relations, about Donald Trump’s foreign polic...

Coming soon from Tech Tonic: Defying death

22 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Investors are spending billions of dollars on novel ways to extend human life through inventive treatments, therapies, and even manipulating our genes...

Europe’s triple shock: Putin, Trump and Xi

20 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The French pioneer of European integration Jean Monnet believed that Europe would be ‘built in crisis’. The war in Ukraine is putting this theory ...

The battle for AI supremacy

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon Rachman sits down with the FT's innovation editor John Thornhill and Caiwei Chen, China reporter for the MIT Technology Review, to discuss the ...

Donald Trump and autocracy in America

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon Rachman talks to historian and author Anne Applebaum about the Trump presidency. The US president is increasingly accused of being a would-be d...

US versus China: a test of strength

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to former US trade representative Michael Froman about Donald Trump’s visit to Asia this week, culminating in a meeting with Xi Jinping...

Nuclear weapons and the balance of terror

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to the historian and author Serhii Plokhy about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed our calculations about the risk of nuclear war...

Introducing Untold: Toxic Legacy

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Introducing Toxic Legacy, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Laura Hughes uncovers a lead poisoning epidemic across the UK. You mig...

Taiwan under threat: how strong are its defences?

16 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Taipei-based policy analyst J Michael Cole about how the Taiwanese are handling the threat of invasion from Beijing. Clips: APT News; ...

What chance for Trump’s Gaza peace plan?

09 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to former White House official and Middle East expert Philip Gordon about Donald Trump’s plan for a peaceful end to the Gaza conflict. ...

Coming soon from Tech Tonic: Mission to Mars

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

US President Donald Trump has pledged to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”, China could send its first crewed mission to Mars withi...

David Lammy on the fight for democracy

01 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon interviews Britain's deputy prime minister David Lammy at the Labour Party conference at a meeting hosted by the Tony Blair Institute. They dis...

How to fix America

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Matt Duss, former adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders and executive vice-president of the Washington-based Center for International Poli...

Russia’s drone incursions put Baltics on alert

18 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis about Russia’s recent drone incursion into Polish airspace. What message s...

Israel's man without a plan

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to journalist Anshel Pfeffer about Israel’s ‘strongman’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They discuss how his ‘brazen disregard...

Lea Ypi on parallels between the 1930s and today

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Albanian academic Lea Ypi about her book Indignity. In the book, she describes how living first under the Ottoman empire, then as...

Taiwan’s Trump problem

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The longheld US position to defend Taiwan’s independent status in the face of Chinese aggression is looking shaky under the Trump administration, in...

Trump ‘plays into Putin’s hands’

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon discusses the outcome of the recent Alaska and Washington summits with Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. Has Ru...

What next for India as Trump-Modi friendship sours?

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Trump administration has hit India with 50% tariffs. And just after a short military conflict between India and Pakistan, President Trump played h...

The cold war guru whose warnings on Russia still stand

07 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Zbigniew Brzeziński was one of the most influential statesmen of the cold war. But many of the geopolitical problems he wrestled with in Russia, Chin...

Can Israel translate power into peace?

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Israel has demonstrated its capacity to strike at its enemies far and wide since the Hamas attacks of October 7 2023. But what will it do wi...

Our shrinking and ageing world

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Humans have never been healthier or better fed. We’re living longer, but having fewer children - and many countries’ populations are now shrinking...

The war in Gaza - what do Israelis want?

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Israel’s military victories have brought little comfort to Israelis who are focused on the fate of those hostages still in Gaza. Sasha Polakow-Suran...

Putin steps up summer offensive against Ukraine

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine are escalating, both on the front lines and across urban centres. Ben Hall, the FT’s Europe editor, talks to military ...

Is the US heading for a debt crisis?

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund and author of a new book: How Countries Go Broke. They ...

Too soon to celebrate peace between Iran and Israel?

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon discusses whether the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran can hold with Vali Nasr, Professor of Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins Univ...

Israel goes to war with Iran

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Israel has launched an aerial bombardment of Iran, with the aim, it says, of ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Gideon talks to Philip ...

Nato’s moment of truth

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Oana Lungescu, Nato's former and longest-serving spokesperson, about what to expect from this month’s summit and what's at stake?&nb...

What drives China’s strongman?

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon Rachman and China historian Rana Mitter discuss the evolution of Xi Jinping from internal exile, to party apparatchik, to strongman leader. Wha...

Coming soon: The Wolf-Krugman Exchange

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a special six-part series of The Economics Show, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugma...

A foreign policy debrief with Jake Sullivan

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Biden’s time in office was a momentous period in world affairs and American foreign policy. The Taliban returned to rule Afghanistan, Russ...

Is Trump a threat or an opportunity for the EU?

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The EU is in Donald Trump’s cross hairs. So how should it respond? In this week’s episode, Paschal Donohoe, Ireland’s finance minister and presi...

India and Pakistan: what now?

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After a short but intense clash, a ceasefire is holding between India and Pakistan, but tensions remain high. Both sides claim victory, but the rapid ...

How can Democrats combat Donald Trump?

08 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump continues to issue a blizzard of controversial statements and executive orders. His political opponents often seem confused, even stunned...

Are we any closer to peace in Ukraine?

01 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

US efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine have so far not yielded anything close to a peace deal. Both Russia and Ukraine have objected to some aspe...

El Salvador’s ‘jailer for hire’

24 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to the FT’s Michael Stott about Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, whose friendship with Donald Trump has been in the spotlight ov...

Iran’s nuclear talks could reshape the Middle East

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nuclear talks between the US and Iran began last weekend in Oman, and are set to continue in the coming weeks. President Trump has warned that if the ...

The end of globalisation as we know it

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to the economic historian Harold James about the economic and political implications of Donald Trump's tariffs. What are the similarities...

China in the age of Trump 2.0

03 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

German businessman Joerg Wuttke has been an observer of China since the 1980s, watching it evolve from backwater to superpower. He talks to Gideo...

The making of Vladimir Putin

27 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Russia experts Catherine Belton and Arkady Ostrovsky about Vladimir Putin’s goals. They discuss his early ambition to restore Russia...

Mexico hopes to stave off Trump tariffs

20 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Thirty years ago Mexico made a fateful decision to open its economy and engage with the US. Now that decision is being tested by Donald Trump’s...

Europe's response to the threat from Trump

13 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Europe is facing its biggest defence challenge since the second world war. This is compounded by the destabilising impact of US tariffs. So how is it ...

How should Canada react to Trump’s threats?

06 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Canada’s Liberal party will elect a new leader this weekend and Chrystia Freeland is running to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister. Donald Tru...

Ukraine weathers new geopolitical climate

27 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon tests the mood in Kiev three years after the Russian invasion as the Trump presidency upends previous tenets of international politics. He talk...

Mathias Döpfner: Transatlantic alliance in danger

20 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon dissects US vice-president JD Vance’s incendiary speech at the Munich Security Conference with German businessman Mathias Döpfner....

US systems unravel under Trump

13 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University in the US, about why it’s no longer possible to trust Amer...

Trump sets his sights on Gaza property deal

06 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Andrew England, the FT's Middle East editor, about the US president's 'crazy' plan for a takeover of the Gaza Strip. And he ...

Bangladesh students win a chance for change

30 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Muhammad Yunus, interim leader of Bangladesh, who was invited by students to take charge after their revolution last July. He des...

Finland's president on Europe in a Trumpian world

23 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As Donald Trump begins his second term as US president, and Russia presses forward in Ukraine, Gideon Rachman speaks to Finland’s President Alexande...

Does the Trump administration pose an existential threat to Canada?

16 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Michael Ignatieff, the former leader of Canada’s Liberal party, about how the country will deal with its newly-hostile southern neig...

South Korea’s real-life political drama

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to the FT's Christian Davies about President Yoon’s thwarted attempt to impose martial law in South Korea. What lies behind the shock m...

What to expect in 2025

26 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon hosts an end-of-year discussion with Alexander Gabuev of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, Jeremy Shapiro of the European Council on Foreign ...

Fear and euphoria in Damascus

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to FT Middle East correspondent Raya Jalabi about what she found when she drove from Beirut into Damascus shortly after the toppling of P...

Will Trump pull America back from the world?

12 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most important groups of advisers around Donald Trump are the 'restrainers'. They want to radically reduce America’s commitments to globa...

Syria caught up in Lebanon fallout

05 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to FT contributing editor Kim Ghattas about the rebel advances in Syria that have taken place in the wake of Israel’s bombardment of Pr...

Can Britain's ties with the US survive a second Trump presidency?

28 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Sir Alex Younger, former head of Britain's secret intelligence service MI6, about the "special relationship" between the US and the UK...

What Elon Musk gains from a friend in the White House

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Sebastian Mallaby, author of a best-selling book on Silicon Valley called The Power Law. They discuss the reason why Elon Musk de...

The ideology behind Xi Jinping’s China

14 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin Rudd, the former Australian prime minister, has made a life-long study of China’s leadership. He tells Gideon how an understanding of Communis...

What will Donald Trump's second term in office look like?

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to his colleague Ed Luce and to Susan Glasser of the New Yorker about what to expect from a second Trump presidency. Clip: Fox NewsF...

Donald Trump and the autocrats' playbook

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Ivo Daalder, a former American ambassador to Nato and chief executive of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, about the potential th...

The trauma of life and death in Gaza

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Sigrid Kaag, the UN’s Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, about her efforts to keep hope alive during a hum...

Afghanistan: a country on the edge

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After three years of sanctions, women's lives in Afghanistan are highly restricted and hunger is widespread. So if sanctions have failed, is it t...

Germany’s ‘deplorable’ divide on the Ukraine war

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Norbert Röttgen, a CDU member of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament and author of a new book called Democrac...

Israel presses its military advantage

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East programme at Chatham House in London, about what Israel and Iran may be planning for their ne...

How will Hizbollah respond to Israel’s Lebanon onslaught?

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Kim Ghattas, an FT contributing editor based in Beirut, about Israel’s decision to step up its war against Lebanon’s Hizbollah. Ho...

Does the UN still matter? With António Guterres

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly, Gideon Rachman speaks to António Guterres, secretary-general of the UN. Guterres exp...

Why Russians are still backing Putin

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region of Russia represented another sign that Vladimir Putin’s invasion is not going to plan. But numerous set...

The truth behind QAnon’s lies

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Gabriel Gatehouse about his new book, The Coming Storm: A Journey into the Heart of the Conspiracy Machine. They discuss the US Republ...

Japan raises its defences

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Takako Hikotani of the Asia Society Policy Institute about how Japanese attitudes towards security have changed in light of the war in...

Ukraine wrongfoots Russia in Kursk

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ben Hall, the FT’s Europe editor, discusses Ukraine’s Kursk incursion with Andriy Zagorodnyuk, former defence minister and chair of the Centr...

Maduro’s humiliating election

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Stott, the FT’s Latin America editor, talks to Phil Gunson, a Caracas-based senior analyst for the International Crisis Group and Michael Sh...

Is the Middle East heading for all-out war?

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Two assassinations carried out by Israel, one in Beirut and one in Tehran, have brought threats of retaliation from Iran and the Lebanese militant gro...

Can the Olympics cure France’s malaise?

01 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite some early setbacks the Paris Olympics is proving a big success. The French have set aside their initial doubts and are enjoying a breath...

'Kamala Harris could win — and win big'

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon Rachman hosts the show from Washington, DC, with his guest Jacob Heilbrunn, the editor of the National Interest magazine. They discuss the stat...

Drama in the US presidential race

18 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon discusses the latest drama in the US presidential race with his friend and colleague Ed Luce at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee...

Britain’s role in a changing Europe

11 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How easy will it be for Keir Starmer, Britain’s new prime minister, to reset relations with the EU, and what impact will political disarray in Franc...

Who are the Middle East power brokers?

04 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to John Sawers, a former head of MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence agency, about the Israel-Hamas conflict. Is there any prospect...

US foreign policy under Trump 2.0

27 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What would US foreign policy look like under a second Trump presidency? Gideon puts this question to former US state department official Jeremy Shapir...

Can South Africa’s national unity government succeed?

20 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa took office at the head of the country’s first power-sharing government since the immediate pos...

Macron's gamble

13 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After a grim showing for his party in the European elections, President Emmanuel Macron stunned observers by calling snap elections in France. With Ma...

China’s great power strategy

06 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Oriana Skylar Mastro, author of Upstart: How China Became A Great Power. They discuss China’s rapid rise, Beijing’s ambitions...

How much power can far-right parties win in Europe?

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gideon talks to Henry Foy, the FT’s bureau chief in Brussels, about next week’s EU parliamentary elections. Far-right parties are set to win more ...

Introducing Untold: Power for Sale

29 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Introducing Power for Sale, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. In Untold: Power for Sale, host Valentina Pop and a team of FT corre...