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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

Today

Smoke billows as people arrive in Damascus to celebrate the fall of the Syrian government.

Assad’s fall is an embarrassing blow to Putin

Lots could still go wrong in Syria, but the fall of a brutal regime aligned to other brutal regimes is a good thing.

  • 54 mins ago

November

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in 2017.

Netanyahu arrest warrant is a dangerous problem for the West

Donald Trump is likely to try to destroy the International Criminal Court over the pursuit for Israel’s leaders, but this is not in anybody’s interests.

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Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will benefit from Donald Trump’s vengeful attack on America’s establishments.

Trump’s foreign enemies are about to get a significant boost

The president-elect is threatening to gut the institutions that make America great, which can only benefit Russia and China.

Trump’s view of US foreign policy harks back to a pre-1941 vision of the country’s role in the world.

Trump and Harris poles apart on foreign policy

Beneath the slogans and insults, the Trump and Harris camps have fundamentally different views of how to prevent the world from sliding into conflict.

October

Donald Trump at a campaign rally in North Carolina this week. His victory would bring wildness and volatility back to the Oval Office.

Why these world leaders want Trump to win

The former president’s stress on power and indifference to democracy and human rights worries the EU. But it makes him the preferred partner of strongmen around the world.

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Iranians chant as they gather to listen to Ali Khamenei’s speech at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque.

This is the only way Iran’s regime can topple

Military intervention from Israel or the United States is unlikely to bring about the fall of the Islamic republic.

A cleric clenches his fist as he celebrates Iran’s missile strike against Israel in an anti-Israeli gathering in Tehran.

Trump could be the biggest winner from Middle East escalation

The former president claims the world was at peace during his rule and that the “weakness” of the Biden administration has led to wars in Europe and the Levant.

September

A billboard bearing a picture of slain Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on display in Tehran.

Israel’s dream of a new Middle East order could become a nightmare

With its decapitation of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli government hopes that it has finally seized the initiative in the battle with its regional enemies.

Kamala Harris

Harris must dazzle in debate or face defeat

The Democratic candidate badly needs a breakthrough in this week’s televised debate to restore momentum to her faltering campaign.

Elon Musk

Why Elon Musk is much more powerful than you think

His influence is showing up from Ukraine to China, angering the United States, although he still lacks the ability to make the law.

August

Ukrainians prepare to fire rockets towards Russian positions near Chasiv Yar town, in Donetsk region.

An aggressive Ukraine has crossed Washington’s red line

Volodymyr Zelensky is prepared to ignore Russia’s nuclear threats. But the Biden administration is still wary of escalating the war.

July

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in 2019.

The real danger that Trump would pose for Ukraine

Agreeing to Russia’s demand for a neutral Ukraine, as a new Republican presidency might, could leave the country at the mercy of Vladimir Putin’s long-term ambitions.

The race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will heat up in the coming month.

Why Donald Trump’s perfect target is ‘woke’ Kamala Harris

The election centres on who scares US voters the most. Republicans fear Harris will target white men, while Democrats say Trump is a would-be dictator.

The Trump campaign will certainly use the attempted assassination to ram home two key themes of the campaign: strength and victimhood.

The 2024 presidential election is not over yet

Millions of “never Trump” voters are unlikely to become “yes Trumpers”, however appalled they are by the vile attempted murder.

The centre ground in French politics is shrinking – and with it the authority of President Emmanuel Macron.

Europe now leaderless as global threats rise

President Emmanuel Macron’s authority in Europe has shrunk after chaotic national elections, while the UK’s influence has been hobbled by Brexit.

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French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Liberals panic worldwide as Trump, Le Pen rise

Liberals are in for a long struggle as nationalist populism surges in the US and Europe.

June

Protesters demonstrate against the far-right and racism in central Paris.

Unstable France could trigger the next euro crisis

Runaway budget deficits and a confrontation with Brussels and Berlin are a formula for trouble.

Vladimir Putin attends Russia’s Victory Day military parade in Moscow.

Why Putin’s nuclear weapons threats are a flop

The Western alliance is intensifying its support for Ukraine in a way that was unthinkable at the beginning of the war.

May

Joe Biden.

America is undermining global rules, not defending them

Washington should dial down its claim to be protecting an international order that is clearly in decline, and instead talk up its defence of the free world.

The ICC has applied for an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Arrest warrants huge blow for Israel and massive gamble by ICC

The question of how the US president responds to this, along with Congress, now becomes critical.

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