The Rachman Review

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: CNNFree links to read more on this topic:South Africa arrests Kenyans working at US-run Afrikaner ‘refugee’ centreThe ‘pampered princess’ accused of trafficking South Africans to RussiaHow South Africa’s underworld infiltrated its governmentSouth Africans question future of Black empowerment policiesSouth Africa’s credit rating upgraded for first time in two decadesSubscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.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, @gideonrachmanRead 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: PoliticoFree links to read more on this topic:The White House’s rupture with the western allianceTrump pushes for ‘free economic zone’ in Donbas, says ZelenskyyFriedrich 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 peaceRead a transcript of this episode on FT.comSubscribe 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.

Gideon talks to Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest, about the rows over racism, Epstein and Israel that have broken out in Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. Clips: Tucker Carlson, Right wing watch, Dana LoeschFree links to read more on this topic:Marjorie Taylor Greene to resign from Congress after clash with Donald TrumpTrump’s Maga coalition fractures over far-right interviewMaga vs AI: Donald Trump’s Big Tech courtship risks a backlashDonald Trump’s Maga base split over handling of Jeffrey Epstein filesSubscribe 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.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gideon talks to Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the senior Democrat on the US Senate Committee on foreign relations, about Donald Trump’s foreign policy. Can Congress stop the president from making big concessions to Russia and attempting regime change in Caracas? Clip: ABC NewsFree links to read more on this topic: Ukraine has no choice but to engage with US peace planRussia pursues peace deal — on its own termsDonald Trump’s affordability problem: in chartsWhat is Venezuela’s ‘Cartel of the Suns’?Mohammed bin Salman, the autocratic Saudi moderniser trying to escape his pastRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Investors are spending billions of dollars on novel ways to extend human life through inventive treatments, therapies, and even manipulating our genes. And increasingly, it seems as though anti-ageing efforts have moved from the super rich to a mass market consumer industry. In this series, we’re covering the past, present and future of the longevity movement. We’ll be looking at where the fixation on longevity is coming from, and trying to understand the practical and ethical issues at the heart of this cutting-edge field of research. From Silicon Valley fantasies, to Singaporean health spas, to Colombian genetic clinics and beyond, the FT’s Hannah Kuchler and Michael Peel ask whether breakthroughs in science and technology can really help us live longer, and even stop us aging altogether.Free to read: US ‘wellness’ industry scents opportunity to go mainstreamThe quest to make young blood into a drugThis season of Tech Tonic was produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Fact checking by Simon Greaves, Lucy Baldwin and Tara Cromie. Original music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The French pioneer of European integration Jean Monnet believed that Europe would be ‘built in crisis’. The war in Ukraine is putting this theory to the test, once again. Gideon discusses with historian Timothy Garton Ash how European leaders are responding to this latest crisis after the brief ‘holiday from history’ that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall. Clip: ITVFree links to read more on this topic:US and Russian officials draft new peace plan for UkraineThe scramble for Europe is just beginningUkraine secures winter gas support from GreecePoland blames Russia-linked operatives for rail explosionSubscribe 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, @gideonrachmanRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gideon Rachman sits down with the FT's innovation editor John Thornhill and Caiwei Chen, China reporter for the MIT Technology Review, to discuss the race between China and the US to become the 21st-century AI superpower. The west is used to hearing about the might of the Silicon Valley giants, US cutting-edge research and chip dominance. But China has a different approach. Will its use of a cheaper and more efficient open AI model allow China to overtake the US with this era-defining technology?Want more? Join John and the FT’s Chinese technology correspondent Eleanor Olcott in a live Q&A on November 13 at 1pm GMT where they will be answering your questions on the tech battle between Silicon Valley and Beijing. Submit your question: Will China win the AI race?And subscribe to a new six part newsletter series - 'The State of AI'. It's a collaboration between the FT and MIT Technology Review where writers from both publications debate the defining questions of the AI era. Sign up here More on this topic:The State of AI: is China about to win the race?China offers tech giants cheap power to boost domestic AI chipsAI pioneers claim human-level general intelligence is already hereThe AI raceWho’s right about AI: economists or technologists?Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachmanSubscribe to the Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.The Rachman Review is presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Clare Williamson. The executive producer is Flo Phillips and the sound design is by Simon Panayi.Clip: AxiosRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gideon Rachman talks to historian and author Anne Applebaum about the Trump presidency. The US president is increasingly accused of being a would-be dictator, but is it fair to compare Donald Trump to authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping? This episode is an edited recording of an event organised by Intelligence Squared that took place in central London last month. Clips: CBS 60 MinutesFollow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachmanMore on this topic:Trump’s fawning cabinet and the threat to US democracyThe Trump doctrine: don’t rely on AmericaThe Trump SupremacySaudi Arabia in talks for US defence pactHow the Trump companies made $1bn from cryptoSubscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Clare Williamson. The executive producer is Flo Phillips and sound design is by Breen TurnerRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gideon talks to former US trade representative Michael Froman about Donald Trump’s visit to Asia this week, culminating in a meeting with Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Apec summit in South Korea. What does it tell us about US trade priorities in the region and who is best placed to win the contest of strength between the US and China? Clips: NST online; Times Now Free links to read more on this topic: Will Trump push south-east Asia towards China?China calls for ‘extraordinary measures’ to achieve chip breakthroughsWhy China keeps winning the trade warChina doubles down on industrial policySubscribe 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, @gideonrachmanRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gideon talks to the historian and author Serhii Plokhy about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed our calculations about the risk of nuclear war. They discuss the history of the atom bomb from its first use in 1945 to the risk of a resurgence of proliferation. Clip: Harry S Truman Library Free links to read more on this topic: The Nuclear Age by Serhii Plokhy — why nations want the bombUS offers nuclear energy companies access to weapons-grade plutoniumThe covert trip by Iranian nuclear experts to RussiaThe old nuclear rules won’t stop proliferationSubscribe 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, @gideonrachmanRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.