Episodes

  • 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 military aid package. How much difference will this make and can Ukraine still hope to win the war? Gideon puts these questions to the FT’s Christopher Miller, recently back from the frontline. Clips: Sky News, MSNBC


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    Ukraine is the front line of a much larger conflict 

    Greece and Spain under pressure to provide Ukraine with air defence systems

    Ukraine faces race against time to deploy US funding

    Military briefing: Russian ‘glide bombs’ pound Ukrainian troops and towns


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • Gideon discusses Iran’s attack on Israel with Emile Hokayem, senior fellow for Middle East security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. What will the leaders of Israel and Iran be thinking about as they ponder their next move? And where does this leave the prospects for a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza? Clip: ABC News


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    Ukraine’s air defence struggle highlights risks to Israel

    US and EU prepare fresh sanctions against Iran after Israel attack

    The Biden dilemma on Israel

    Military briefing: Israel’s options to strike Iran


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • Gideon discusses the history of international humanitarian law since the first world war with Boyd van Dijk, a historian at Oxford university and author of a recent book, Preparing for War - The Making of the Geneva Conventions. They discuss current efforts to prevent war crimes and hold leaders engaged in conflict to account. Clip: The Fog of War, RadicalMedia and SenArt Films, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, 2003


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    Russia ‘prepared’ for nuclear war, warns Vladimir Putin

    Israel grapples with ‘Eichmann’ dilemma over Hamas attack trials

    Mexico and Chile ask ICC to investigate Israel-Hamas conflict

    S Africa accuses Israel of breaking international laws on genocide in Gaza


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • 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. Gideon talks to the FT’s Kana Inagaki and Leo Lewis about whether the new mood of optimism about Japan is justified. Clip: BBC


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    Why good news for Japan may be bad news for hedge funds

    Japan relaxes defence export rules to allow sales of new fighter jet

    US and Japan plan biggest upgrade to security pact in over 60 years

    Marriage holds key to Japan’s falling births

    The professor vs the PM: a political funding probe shakes Japan’s government


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Simon Panayi.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • Gideon talks to Bastian Giegerich, chief executive of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, about the state of Europe's defences. The scramble to come to the aid of Ukraine and doubts about future US willingness to contribute have exposed significant vulnerabilities. How quickly can Europe’s armed forces be upgraded to meet the Russian threat? Clips: CBS News; France 24; Daily Telegraph


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    Europe’s leaders have woken up to hard power

    EU looks to bypass treaty ban on buying arms to support Ukraine

    Wars in Ukraine and Middle East boost orders at German defence supplier

    Defence CEO calls for European version of Israel’s Iron Dome


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • Gideon talks to former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull about the prospect of a second Trump presidency. They discuss why Rupert Murdoch’s ‘anger-tainment’ industry has done less harm to Australia’s democracy than it has in the US, and why the recent referendum on Aboriginal rights in Australia failed.


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    China urges Australian caution on ‘third-party’ disruption of relationship

    Donald Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine

    Democracy dies in Trumpian boredom


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • 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 Politics at the University of Virginia. How has the past influenced recent events and is there a way out of the nightmare? Clips: The Times and The Sunday Times; AP


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    The gangster named ‘Barbecue’ who controls Haiti’s violent slums

    Haiti prime minister to quit as gang violence rocks country

    Haiti declares state of emergency after mass jailbreak


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    Presented by Henry Mance. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • Henry Mance, standing in for Gideon, talks to James Shotter, FT correspondent in Jerusalem, about the Israeli political landscape and why the country’s leadership is pursuing such a scorched earth policy in Gaza. Clip: Sky News


    US begins Gaza aid airdrops after Joe Biden rebukes Israel

    The Israel-Hamas war in maps: latest updates 

    Berlin and Paris join outcry over Israel’s role in Gaza aid convoy deaths 

    The urgent need to end the catastrophe in Gaza

    Israel’s Rafah offensive: a tipping point for US support?


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    Presented by Henry Mance. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • Gideon Rachman talks to Michael Fullilove, executive director of the Lowy Institute in Sydney, about the differing views he encountered at recent security conferences in India, Europe, the US and Australia. Clip: midday india


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    The squawkus about Aukus is getting louder

    Leaked Russian military files reveal criteria for nuclear strike

    White House decision to not replace Asia tsar stokes concern among US allies 

    Asia space race heats up as China, Japan and India reach for the stars


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • 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 contender Donald Trump, does Europe have the firepower to defend itself without the aid of the US? Gideon discusses these questions with the writer and historian Anne Applebaum, just back from the 2024 Munich Security Conference. Clip: Deutsche Welle


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    Ursula von der Leyen calls on EU to subsidise defence production

    Russian victories shake global leaders’ faith in Ukraine war prospects

    Alexei Navalny, Russian opposition activist, 1976-2024

    Joe Biden blasts Donald Trump for ‘un-American’ comments about Nato allies


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • China’s property crisis and slowing growth rate have raised questions about its future as an economic and military power. Gideon discusses whether it’s time to call ‘peak China’ with Richard McGregor, senior fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. Clip: Bloomberg


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    China’s consumers tighten belts even as prices fall

    China’s growth enigma

    The looming trade tensions over China’s subsidies

    We shouldn’t call ‘peak China’ just yet


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • 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 United Nations. While it sometimes struggles to make an impact on matters of global security, it plays a unique and often unrecognised role in shaping policy on migration, refugees and climate. Clip: The Guardian


    ICJ’s Israel judgment seeks to restore rule of law to a brutal conflict

    Head of UN agency for Palestinians defies Israeli calls to quit

    A ‘multipolar’ world defies the ‘rules-based’ order


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • 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 Saturday morning as our journalists analyse and discuss the latest happenings in US politics. We’ll go beyond the horse race for the White House and offer a global perspective on the election.  


    You can subscribe to Swamp Notes here or wherever you get your podcasts.


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  • 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 which the party and its backers discussed the potential for mass deportations of people of foreign origin. Gideon discusses whether this could be a turning point in German politics with international affairs analyst Constanze Stelzenmüller. Clip: The Guardian


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    In praise of mass immigration

    German far right defeated in regional election

    Germany’s top court paves way for financing ban on extremist political parties


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • 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’s hoping to rebuild the country's institutions and began with a clear-out of state TV that had become a mouthpiece for the previous government. Now he's waging war with the president and constitutional court. Ben Hall, the FT’s Europe editor, discusses Tusk’s first month in office and what lies ahead with Andrzej Bobiński, managing director of Polityka Insight. Clips: CNBC, tvp


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    EU to sidestep Polish president’s veto to release billions in funding

    Poland’s escalating power struggle

    Poland’s ‘iron broom’ shows that democrats can bite back


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • Introducing Untold, a new podcast from the special investigations team at the Financial Times. In its first series, The Retreat, host Madison Marriage examines the world of the Goenka network, which promotes a type of intensive meditation known as Vipassana. Thousands of people go on Goenka retreats every year. People rave about them. But some people go to these meditation retreats, and they suffer. They might feel a deep sense of terror, or a break with reality. And on the other side, they’re not themselves anymore. Untold: The Retreat launches Jan. 24.


    Subscribe and listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.


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  • 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 2009. The war in Ukraine has turbocharged his campaign. Can he now take it further to persuade western governments to use frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine? Clip: World Economic Forum


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    Washington puts forward G7 plan to confiscate $300bn in Russian assets

    The west would harm itself with rash seizures of frozen Russian assets

    We must keep fighting Russia with banks as well as tanks

    Freezing Order — Bill Browder on the trail of dirty Russian money


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • 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 Isis in Iraq and Syria. Gideon discusses whether a widening regional war can be averted with Kim Ghattas, distinguished fellow at Columbia University's Institute of Global Politics. Clip: Reuters


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    US intensifies efforts to prevent Middle East conflagration

    Senior Hizbollah and Hamas figures killed as fears grow of regional war

    The edge of the abyss looms in the Middle East


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • It's an important year for the European Union, which holds parliamentary elections in June. As geopolitical turbulence continues to test the strength of global alliances, will Europe pursue further integration or start to pull apart? Gideon discusses these questions, and the role played by European Commission presidents, past and present, with Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform in London. Clip: European Commission


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    Jacques Delors, who drove EU integration, dies at 98

    How migration is pushing Europe to the right

    EU readies €20bn plan B to fund Ukraine

    Ukraine and its backers need a credible path to victory


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Simon Panayi.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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  • 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 Ukraine and Gaza? Gideon discusses these and other questions with the FT’s Martin Wolf, Karin von Hippel, director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, and Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group. Clip: CNN


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    Americans won’t be terrified into rejecting Trump

    Time is of the essence in defending Ukraine

    America’s cultural supremacy and geopolitical weakness

    Peace is impossible without resolving the leadership vacuum in Israel and Gaza

    The US retains the economic advantage in its rivalry with China


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    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.