The Rachman Review
Episodes
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...
Ukraine war at a tipping point
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon discusses the state of Ukraine’s defences with Jack Watling, senior fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute. Russ...
Has the US declared economic war on China?
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As the US election looms, President Joe Biden has announced huge new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and other green tech goods. Gideon Rachman s...
Coming soon: China, the new tech superpower
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a new season of Tech Tonic, longtime FT China reporter Jame Kynge travels around the world to see how China is pushing towards tech supremacy. Will...
Italy and the Giorgia Meloni phenomenon
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With elections for the European parliament a month away, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is emerging as a key figure in European politics. Gideo...
Modi’s mission
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Narendra Modi looks set to win a third term in office thanks to the popularity of his economic policies. But the Indian prime minister has a vision of...
US aid package offers fresh hope to Ukraine
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Outgunned and outmanned, Ukraine has been forced to cede territory to Russia in recent months. Now it has been thrown a lifeline with the latest US mi...
Iran raises the stakes with attack on Israel
18 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon discusses Iran’s attack on Israel with Emile Hokayem, senior fellow for Middle East security at the International Institute for Strategic Stu...
How do you define a war crime?
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon discusses the history of international humanitarian law since the first world war with Boyd van Dijk, a historian at Oxford university and auth...
Is Japan at a turning point?
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Japan has been celebrating the end of a near 20-year deflationary cycle. But the country’s shrinking population remains a serious cause for concern....
Is Europe battle-ready?
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Bastian Giegerich, chief executive of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, about the state of Europe's defences. The scr...
Malcolm Turnbull on US and Australian politics
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull about the prospect of a second Trump presidency. They discuss why Rup...
Is there a way out of Haiti’s nightmare?
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Henry Mance discusses the breakdown of the rule of law in Haiti with Robert Fatton, professor of government and foreign affairs in the Department of P...
Netanyahu defies the west on Gaza
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Henry Mance, standing in for Gideon, talks to James Shotter, FT correspondent in Jerusalem, about the Israeli political landscape and why the country’...
Global threats: contrasting views in Europe, Asia and the Pacific
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon Rachman talks to Michael Fullilove, executive director of the Lowy Institute in Sydney, about the differing views he encountered at recent secu...
Russia’s threat to Europe
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How much of a threat would Russia pose to Europe if its invasion of Ukraine was successful? Given recent remarks by the US Republican presidential con...
Is China’s power on the wane?
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
China’s property crisis and slowing growth rate have raised questions about its future as an economic and military power. Gideon discusses whet...
Why we need the UN
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Mark Malloch-Brown, former deputy secretary-general of the UN and president of the Open Society Foundations, about the role of the Uni...
Introducing: Swamp Notes from The FT News Briefing
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you have questions about this year's US presidential election, we have answers.Swamp Notes is a new podcast from the FT News Briefing. Listen every...
Germans push back against extremist AfD
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Germans have been staging mass protests against the far-right ideology of the AfD party. This followed revelations about a meeting late last year in w...
The battle for the control of Poland’s institutions
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Tusk’s re-election cheered democrats across Europe and paved the way for the biggest change in Poland since the fall of communism. He’...
Introducing Untold: The Retreat
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Introducing Untold, a new podcast from the special investigations team at the Financial Times. In its first series, The Retreat, host Madison Marriage...
Putin’s nemesis in the west
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bill Browder tells Gideon the story of his battle against Russian corruption, which took off when his lawyer was murdered in a Russian prison in ...
Can a wider Middle East war be averted?
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, more and more regional actors are being drawn in, from the Houthis in Yemen, to Isi...
The future of Europe
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's an important year for the European Union, which holds parliamentary elections in June. As geopolitical turbulence continues to test the strength ...
The world in 2024
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Who will win the US presidential election? Will China continue its rapprochement with the west? What are the prospects for an end to the wars in Ukrai...
COP28: is the Dubai deal enough for the climate?
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Countries at the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai have reached a deal to transition away from fossil fuels. Gideon speaks to the FT’s Simon Mundy, who...
Biden and Xi mend ties
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A recent visit to the US by China’s president Xi Jinping has raised hopes of a bilateral rapprochement. But how stable is this more positive relatio...
Trump closes in on a second term in office
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to FT colleague Ed Luce and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker about Donald Trump’s campaign to be the Republican nominee in next year’s...
How united are Arab and Muslim leaders on Gaza?
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The war in Gaza has provoked mass demonstrations across the Arab and Muslim world and exposed the policy failings of regional leaders. Gideon discusse...
Is the balance tilting towards Russia in Ukraine?
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Some have described Russia’s war against Ukraine as being at a stalemate. But one side could quickly gain the upper hand. Gideon discusses...
Who will run Gaza once the war is over?
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Emile Hokayem, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, about Israel’s military campaign in Gaz...
The global power of the dollar
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Wally Adeyemo, US deputy Treasury Secretary, about the power of US financial sanctions to punish autocrats and dictators and curb terr...
Coups make a comeback in Africa
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Comfort Ero, president of the International Crisis Group, about what’s behind the recent resurgence of military coups in the Sahel r...
Can the Gaza conflict be contained?
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Baroness Catherine Ashton, former high representative of the EU on foreign affairs, about the role of diplomacy in helping to contain ...
Israel and Gaza at war
11 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to the historian and writer Lawrence Freedman about what led to the catastrophic events of the past week in Israel and what options the&n...
The problem with Bidenomics
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Will Bidenomics help the US Democrats win another term in office? Will the policies be effective in tackling the climate crisis? Adam Posen, president...
Bidenomics and global trade
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of our three-part series, Gideon talks to WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala about the impact of Bidenomics on countries' attitudes to free a...
What is Bidenomics and is it working?
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of a three-part series on Bidenomics, Gideon talks to Brian Deese, former head of the National Economic Council in the Biden White House....
Coming soon: Can AI help us speak to animals?
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Subscribe now to the FT's Tech Tonic podcast: Some scientists believe that rapid advances in artificial intelligence may also hold the key to decoding...
Post-Brexit Britain
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Opinion polls now suggest that about two-thirds of British people think that Brexit has failed. So was it all a terrible mistake? Gideon talks to FT c...
The nuclear and biological weapons threat
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are our politicians doing enough to protect humanity from the potential risk of a nuclear war, a deadly pandemic or AI without guardrails? Gideon disc...
Biden’s plan for a US-Saudi-Israeli peace deal
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, about the strength of bipartisan support for Ukraine and ...
The end of Prigozhin
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to political commentator and economist Sergei Guriev about the lessons Russians and the outside world will draw from the apparent killing...
Introducing: The Russian Banker
21 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Who is Sergei Leontiev? To the US asylum system, he’s an exiled Russian banker who was persecuted by the state and forced to flee. To Russia, he’s...
Sanctions, global terror and the drugs trade
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to the FT’s Miles Johnson, author of a new book called Chasing Shadows about the links between international crime and geopolitics...
Japan’s role in US-China strategic rivalry
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
China’s assertiveness on the global stage has reinvigorated economic and political ties between the US and Japan. Leo Lewis, the FT’s Asia busines...
Will Donald Trump end up in prison or the White House?
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump was indicted this week on charges related to his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. But the former presi...
Sudan power struggle risks turning into civil war
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Sudanese people are being held hostage by warring generals in a power struggle that has already lasted 100 days. With no solution in sight, the fi...
Spain's lurch to the right
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The government of Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez looks set to lose Sunday's elections to the centre-right People's party. But the PP may be unable to...
Will this year’s climate talks be a washout?
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The UAE, host of this year’s UN climate conference, has pushed for a “global stocktake” of progress towards Paris targets, aimed at triggering f...
How much should we fear artificial intelligence?
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists have been sounding the alarm about the potentially catastrophic dangers posed by artificial intelligence. Gideon talks to Anu Bradford, pro...
Has the Wagner revolt fatally undermined Putin?
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Edward Lucas, author and senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, about the stability of Vladimir Putin’s regime in...
When should countries intervene to prevent mass murder?
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Indian opposition Congress politician and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor about the concept of the 'responsibility to protect', which a...
How Ukraine’s fightback could change the world
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Karin von Hippel, director-general of the UK defence think-tank RUSI, about Ukraine’s counteroffensive and the discussions that are ...
David Lammy on Britain’s place in the world
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon meets Britain’s shadow foreign secretary on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, the main forum for discussion of security issues in the...
Is the Ukraine war reaching a turning point?
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to the FT’s Chris Miller about the recent upsurge in military operations between Ukraine and Russia. Is this the start of Kyiv’s long...
Modi’s moment in the spotlight
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to strategist Raja Mohan about India’s rising geopolitical influence. As the countries of the world form alliances to counterbalance th...
China’s next generation
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to economist Keyu Jin about China’s goal of becoming the world’s biggest economy despite a falling population, the impact of the dete...
Putin’s historical magical mystery tour
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Russia expert Fiona Hill about the forthcoming Ukrainian counter-offensive, the state of Russia and the similarities between the leade...
How far will the rehabilitation of Assad go?
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Leaders in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan have decided that they need to work with the regime in Syria to solve problems ranging from the return of ...
Is Turkey about to see the end of the Erdoğan era?
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been in power for 20 years - and he has every intention of carrying on. But the Turkish leader faces a serious cha...
Is there such a thing as a rules-based international order?
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to the US political theorist John Ikenberry about why the Ukraine war has been both a challenge and a spur for those who want to see libe...
Macron’s flawed diplomacy in China
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Emmanuel Macron sparked an international backlash over remarks he made to the press about Taiwan after a visit to China. The French president is also ...
Ukraine's other battleground: the economy
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Hlib Vyshlinsky, director of Ukraine's Centre for Economic Strategy, about keeping Ukraine's economy alive while the war goes on. Desp...
The rise and fall of Yevgeny Prigozhin
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to the FT’s Max Seddon and Miles Johnson about Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group and its once secretive leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. Th...
Divided Iran makes peace with its neighbours
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to the FT’s Middle East editor Andrew England about his recent visit to Iran in the aftermath of some of the worst unrest since the est...
Israeli democracy at a crossroads
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal tells Gideon why he believes Israel is on course for a full-blown constitutional crisis. The Netanyahu government’s pl...
Is Mexico slipping into autocracy?
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to academic and writer Denise Dresser about President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s autocratic tendencies and why she thinks the lead...
Bill Gates on Ukraine’s ‘shock to the system’
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist talks to Gideon about his efforts to keep global development goals alive amid rising geopolitical tensions...
Ukraine series: the battle for Bakhmut
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Christopher Miller moved to the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in 2010 as a volunteer for the US Peace Corps. Now an FT correspondent in Kyiv, he tells Gid...
Ukraine series: how long will the war last?
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the second episode in our special series, Gideon talks to war historian Hein Goemans about what it would take to end the fighting in Ukraine. FT po...
Ukraine series: life in a war zone
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of a three-part series, Gideon talks to Ukraine MP Lesia Vasylenko about what it was like to wake up in a country at war, how Ukrainians ...
How to fix our flawed democracies
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, about his new book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism. They discuss why the pos...
Philippines caught in the line of fire
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Filipino people are paying a heavy price for regional tensions between China and the US, Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr tells Gideon.&nb...
The global battle against impunity
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The war in Ukraine has had dire consequences for millions of people beyond Europe. Gideon talks to David Miliband, IRC president, about why Putin's ch...
America’s hard right
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A small group of Republican party zealots, backed by former president Donald Trump, have forced their way into a position of power in the US Congress....
What next for Putin’s Russia?
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How has Russia changed since Putin embarked on his Ukraine war nearly a year ago? Gideon talks to Angela Stent of Georgetown University about the orig...
2022 Year In Review
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon Rachman is joined by a panel of colleagues: FT editor Roula Khalaf, Moscow correspondent Max Seddon and US editor Edward Luce. This year was de...
Qatar’s soft power play
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Qatar’s decision to host the World Cup was mired in controversy from the start but ultimately seems to have paid off, bringing the tiny Gulf emirate...
How threatened is Australia by the rise of China?
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Australia’s relations with China have taken a dive in recent years, forcing Canberra to reassess regional security and trade ties. Gideon talks to M...
China protests test the limits of Xi Jinping’s authority
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Severe lockdowns associated with China’s zero-Covid policy have combined with economic woes to incite the most widespread protests since Tiananmen S...
90,000 migrants arrive in Italian ports
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Italy has become one of the main entry points to the EU for irregular migrants but its new nationalist prime minister Giorgia Meloni has taken a hard ...
Brazil’s Lula joins leftist leaders pushing for change in Latin America
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Brazil joins a group of Latin American countries that have elected leftwing leaders. What kind of change will they bring to the region and its relatio...
How the Ukraine war reshaped US alliances
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Thomas Wright, director of strategic planning at the National Security Council in the Biden White House, tells Gideon how the war in Ukraine changed U...
US midterms: Republicans on the rise
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Biden’s Democrats look set to lose control of Congress in this month's elections. But many of the Republicans poised to take office support Dona...
Xi consolidates his rule as economic problems mount
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to economist Linda Yueh of Oxford university about recent dramatic developments at the Chinese Communist party’s congress in Beijing. T...
US-Saudi ties at an all-time low
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There was outrage in Washington over Saudi Arabia’s decision to back Opec output cuts during a global energy crisis. What was the kingdom’s motive...
Russia's nuclear threat
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ukrainian cities have faced an onslaught of missiles from Russia this week in retaliation for the attack on the Kerch bridge that links Russia with oc...
Protests show Iran’s social contract is broken
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The death of a young woman detained by Iran’s ‘morality police’ has sparked nationwide protests that the government is struggling to control.&nb...
The remaking of Europe
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Europe’s priorities have undergone a massive shift in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Gideon talks to political scientist Ivan Kr...
What next for Global Britain?
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Britain's new prime minister is facing huge challenges on both the domestic and international stage. Gideon talks to Bronwen Maddox, director of Chath...
Russia faces defeat in Ukraine
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ukraine’s rapid recapture of territory in recent days has put Russian forces on the back foot and raised the prospect of an early end to the war. Gi...
How Italy is facing a crucial election
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Polls suggest that the largest single party will be the Brothers of Italy - and its leader Giorgia Meloni will therefore be prime minister. That’s c...
Will India soar or struggle in the coming years?
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon’s guest this week is Ramachandra Guha, who is often hailed as the most distinguished historian of modern India.He is also a noted c...
Who's winning the war in Ukraine?
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Six months into the Ukraine war, Gideon talks to Phillips O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, about the...
Would China go to war over Taiwan?
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to Chinese-American academic Minxin Pei about China’s reaction to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. What does it ...
Whatever happened to Mandela’s dream for South Africa?
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon talks to the South African writer and political activist, Songezo Zibi, about the need to build a coalition for change to help restore some of ...
How to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sergio Jaramillo was one of the architects behind Colombia’s landmark peace deal with Marxist guerrilla group Farc. Now, as a senior adviser at the ...
How social media platforms put profits before people
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Human rights lawyer Cori Crider co-founded Foxglove, a group that fights on behalf of those harmed by the misuse of technology. She talks to the ...