Skip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footerHelp using this website - Accessibility statement
The Australian Financial Review
Newsfeed
Newsfeed
Advertisement

Gideon Rachman

Columnist

Gideon Rachman is chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times. His particular interests include American foreign policy, the European Union and globalisation.

Gideon Rachman

November

Xi Jinping.

Xi Jinping’s pandemic triumphalism returns to haunt him

Repression may well work in China. But the carefully constructed myth of the president’s wisdom and power cannot survive the collapse of his zero-COVID policies.

The current assumption is that the Chinese leader will hold a direct meeting with Joe Biden.

The first global summit of the second Cold War

Joe Biden and Xi Jinping may meet at the G20 in Indonesia, but Vladimir Putin’s presence is unlikely.

October

Vladimir Putin’s speech last week, announcing the illegal annexation of parts of Ukraine, was stuffed full of conspiratorial thinking.

This is what happens when conspiracy theorists run countries

Conspiracy theorists have moved from the streets to the suites, and the most dangerous of them all is Vladimir Putin, who is threatening the world with nuclear war.

September

It is hard to imagine Vladimir Putin accepting even the less hardline Western position, since that would mean he had sacrificed thousands of lives for no gain at all.

Putin’s nuclear threats cannot be ignored

Vladimir Putin is cornered, immoral and reckless. His first choice is not to use a nuclear weapon, but it might be an option to avoid humiliation and defeat.

The new dynamic of the ‘no limits’ relationship is a problem for Xi

A seriously weakened and embarrassed Russia is already a much less useful partner for China. And the results of the war in Ukraine are still unfolding.

Advertisement
A Ukrainian soldier inspects a Russian tank destroyed in a battle in a freed territory on the road to Balakleya in the Kharkiv region.

The Ukraine war has reached a turning point

The prospect of Russian defeat is real and exhilarating. But Ukraine’s advances also open a new and dangerous phase in the conflict.

Flowers are laid for the Queen in Belfast.

Elizabeth II was Global Britain personified

This international outpouring demonstrates the Queen’s success in transcending politics and easing international tensions.

August

When economic logic was more powerful than geopolitical rivalry, the dominant question was: Where is it cheapest to produce goods?

The enemies of globalisation are circling

Rising nationalism and concerns about inequality and the environment threaten international trade.

Alexander Dugin has long told Russians to “kill, kill, kill” Ukrainians.

The global reach of Putin’s philosopher

The Russian nationalist, whose daughter was killed in a car bomb attack blamed on Ukraine, has become an international spokesman for the far right.

Nancy Pelosi’s stopover in Taiwan has caused quite a stir, with China promising not to sit idly by.

War over Taiwan starts to seem probable, not just possible

In the past, a US-China war over Taiwan seemed like a real possibility, but no more than that. Increasingly, experts say a US-China conflict is not just possible, but probable.

July

Peas in a pod? Not quite, but

Johnson, Trump and how to get rid of a strongman leader

Both former leaders live in a world of alternative facts, where inconvenient truths are ignored or dismissed as ‘fake news’. Both men are monstrous egotists, willing to trash the system in favour of their own interests.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a media conference.

Erdoğan is an infuriating but indispensable ally

Despite the leader’s patchy record, NATO would not be better off without him. The expulsion of Turkey, even if it were legally possible, would be a strategic disaster.

June

The US plans to release tens of millions of barrels of oil from its strategic reserves to check rising prices and bolster Democratic election prospects later this year.

Putin is strong now, but US can win the energy wars

Russia can squeeze the West in the short term on oil and gas, but it is losing its position as an energy superpower.

Vladimir Putin has used the cover of his special military operation in Ukraine to finally snuff out any domestic political opposition.

Farewell to Russia and to the Sinatra doctrine

Officials used to joke that liberated states ‘were doing it their way’. Thirty years later, Vladimir Putin has taken Russia back to the imperialism of the Soviet period.

  • Updated

Divisions in the West threaten Ukraine

In military terms, Kyiv is losing ground as the US and its allies argue about the real aims of the war.

  • Updated
Advertisement
Many in the Biden administration see Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and China President Xi Jinping as partners in a challenge to the “rules-based order”.

Why the Ukraine invasion could be the start of a second cold war

The US once again sees itself in a global struggle with Russia and China.

  • Updated

May

Estonian soldiers take part in NATO drills in one of the largest ever military training exercises in the Baltics.

The West must hold its nerve on Ukraine

The Ukrainians are increasingly edgy because they worry that Western support is going soft.

Vladimir Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony on Victory Day marking the end of World War II, in Moscow earlier this month.

Lies weaken Russia in its trial of strength with the West

The US and its allies specialise in hypocrisy, but their open systems permit the uncovering of painful truths.

Vladimir Putin

Russia learns a hard lesson about the folly of war

Russia is likely to emerge from the war in Ukraine poorer, weaker and greatly diminished. Vladimir Putin’s war is not just a crime. It is also a mistake.

Russian President Vladimir Putin watches the Victory Day military parade in Moscow.

Putin’s Nazi speech shows Russia stuck in humiliating war

When both sides accuse their enemies of being the heirs to Hitler, compromise becomes almost unthinkable.

The Australian Financial Review Magazine

Samantha Johnson: “It’s a small world, so you do end up sort of meeting people where there might be opportunities.”

Lessons learnt kiteboarding that this Polestar boss takes to work

  • Samantha Hutchinson

BOSS Financial Review

xxxxx

How Vicki Brady went from pulling beers to running our largest telco

  • Lucas Baird

Life & Leisure

Dopamine for the heels, from the Pink PP autumn/winter 2022-23 collection by Valentino Garavani.

Gird your ankles – high heels are back for summer

  • Lauren Sams

Rich List

Oroton is making a further push into new categories like jewellery.

Oroton swings back to black in 2022

  • Carrie LaFrenz