Gideon talks to journalist Anshel Pfeffer about Israel’s ‘strongman’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They discuss how his ‘brazen disregard’ for international norms has helped him to cling to power, but also left him at the mercy of more and more extreme forces in Israel. This episode is an edited recording of an event organised by Intelligence Squared that took place in central London earlier this month. Clips: LBC; CNN; BBC

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Israel unbound: was Qatar a strike too far?

EU moves to freeze some funding to Israel over war in Gaza

Israeli annexation of the West Bank would be ‘red line’ for UAE

Netanyahu’s disastrous plan to take control of Gaza

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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.

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Gideon talks to Albanian academic Lea Ypi about her book Indignity. In the book, she describes how living first under the Ottoman empire, then as part of fascist Italy and later in a post-war communist state affected the lives of her grandparents. They discuss possible parallels between the first half of the 20th century and the times we are living in today and ask what lessons can be drawn from this history to avoid making the same mistakes. Clip: AQSHF

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Kant and the case for peace

Albania’s ‘old sheriff’ on course to win fourth term as prime minister

Why the EU’s migration dilemma is pushing the bloc further right

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

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The longheld US position to defend Taiwan’s independent status in the face of Chinese aggression is looking shaky under the Trump administration, in spite of Taiwanese efforts to court the American president. This week, Gideon talks to analyst and author James Crabtree - former director of the Asia office of the International Institute for Strategic Studies - about why the US now seems more interested in doing a deal with China than showing support for Taiwan. They also discuss the broader implications that this, and other issues, might have for US alliances across the Indo-Pacific region, including relations with South Korea, Japan, Australia and India.

Clips:

Amazon Prime

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More on this topic:

Taiwan raises defence spending by 23% under US pressure to counter China threat

Donald Trump blocks Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te from New York stopover

US cancelled military talks with Taiwan

Trump is the gift that keeps giving to China

The geopolitics of chips: Taiwan’s ‘Silicon Shield’

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Clare Williamson. Sound design is by Breen Turner. 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.