The Rachman Review

Famine, mass killings and the collapse of basic government services have pushed Sudan into what the UN now calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. As regional powers across the Middle East fuel the conflict by backing rival factions, civilians have largely been left to fend for themselves. Gideon speaks to Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair and Sudan expert Alex de Waal to understand how the country reached this point — and where the country and its people go from here. Clips: Sky News; Africa News

Free links to read more on this topic:
There is already an answer to securing Sudan’s future
US rebukes backers of Sudanese paramilitary force behind ‘horrific’ atrocities
The human cost of a world without rules
How the UAE-Saudi Arabia alliance ruptured
Israel’s Horn of Africa gamble raises tension with Arab and Muslim rivals

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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Now that the Trump administration has fully embraced the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ - a policy claiming the western hemisphere as a US sphere of influence - which country will be next in the line of fire? Gideon discusses this with Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group consultancy, which has just published its top risk report for 2026.

Free links to read more on this topic:
Venezuela and the trouble with the Donroe doctrine
Greenland’s future must be decided by island and Denmark, Starmer warns Trump
Donald Trump’s imperial Venezuela folly will leave America no richer
The gangs, goons and guerrillas running swaths of Venezuela
No, Trump is not a fascist

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.
Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Simon Panayi and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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

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 of world politics this year from his tariff wars to his efforts to make peace in the Middle East and Ukraine, while also bombing Iran and threatening Venezuela. In a bid to make sense of the contradictions, Gideon is joined by Leslie Vinjamuri, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Dan Drezner, professor of international politics at the Fletcher school at Tufts university in Boston, and James Crabtree, author of an acclaimed book on Modi's India and a forthcoming book on US-China tensions in the Pacific. Clip: PBS

Free links to read more on this topic:
When business and democracy don’t mix
The AfD’s love-in with Maga
Open source could pop the AI bubble — and soon
China is making trade impossible

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.
Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 of the G20, which it hosted last month. FT Africa editor David Pilling - standing in for Gideon - puts these allegations to two South Africans, Lawson Naidoo, a civil society activist, and Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, a foreign policy expert. What is the state of race relations in the country and how are South Africans reacting to the allegations? Clip: CNN

Free links to read more on this topic:
South Africa arrests Kenyans working at US-run Afrikaner ‘refugee’ centre
The ‘pampered princess’ accused of trafficking South Africans to Russia
How South Africa’s underworld infiltrated its government
South Africans question future of Black empowerment policies
South Africa’s credit rating upgraded for first time in two decades

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Presented by Devid Pilling. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gideon talks to Jens Stoltenberg, Nato's former secretary-general, about Ukraine and Europe's strategic priorities after recent scathing criticism from US president Donald Trump over its failure to end the war: ‘They talk but they don’t produce.’ Clip: Politico

Free links to read more on this topic:
The White House’s rupture with the western alliance
Trump pushes for ‘free economic zone’ in Donbas, says Zelenskyy
Friedrich Merz offers to host Ukraine talks so deal not done ‘above Europe’s head’
Ukraine’s ‘fortress belt’ that Donald Trump wants to trade for peace

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.
Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.