World
‘Help us, before it’s too late’
Western Ukraine Outside a military recruiting centre in Lviv, Egor Grushin, one of Ukraine’s most famous classical pianists, was waiting…
Hungary’s ‘patriotic fight’ with the EU: an interview with justice minister Judit Varga
Budapest is racked with tension. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sends a stream of refugees to Hungary’s eastern border, Viktor…
A cultural boycott of Russia plays into Putin's hands
Has the cultural boycott of Russia gone too far? Events at an Italian university this week, where writer Paolo Nori…
Xi Jinping and the plight of Chinese nationals in Ukraine
The plight of desperate Chinese nationals in Ukraine has further battered Xi Jinping’s credibility, testing his continued refusal to condemn…
Are we cheering on Ukraine to destruction?
We’re just ten days into Russia’s assault on Ukraine and the western world has painted itself in Ukraine’s colours. Cities…
Do Russians support Putin’s war?
Everyone is calling the conflict in Ukraine Putin’s war and insisting that it has nothing to do with the Russians…
The myopic focus on racism at the Polish-Ukrainian border
There are already a hell of a lot of foreign correspondents and human-rights workers at the Ukrainian-Polish border – an…
The downfall of Russia’s oligarchs
The normal justification for sanctioning oligarchs is that doing so will cost them money, causing them to put pressure on…
Can Russia ever coexist with the West?
Seeing Vladimir Putin’s bloated face and listening to his increasingly unhinged rhetoric makes it tempting to assume that the current…
Sage admits its models were 'at variance to reality'. But why?
The Sage committee was set up as a pool of experts on tap to advise government. During the pandemic, it mutated…
Ukraine and the art of viral war
The sky is dull and gray, the sun obscured by clouds. The camera pans down past some desolate Soviet housing…
Lindsey Graham unites the world
It was a beautiful moment of bipartisan unity when, left and right, American and European, young and old, united to…
Is Russia Today finished?
As the British authorities debate whether to ban the propaganda channel of a savage imperialist power, Russia Today is making a…
Rest in peace, Shane Warne
Headingly, July 22nd 1993 and the opening day of the fourth test that summer between England and Australia. This, as…
Putin will not survive a failed war in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has had a very bad week. His army, allegedly refurbished after its poor performance in the war against…
Britain should spend more on defence
Britain must spend more on defence. As I say in the Times today the defence budget is already being increased but…
Will Russia’s economy collapse?
How quickly can a G20 economy collapse? That question has come to the fore this week, as the world has…
Will the Russian Stock Exchange ever reopen?
It is one thing for western companies, funds, investment trusts and others to promise to divest from Russian assets. But…
The Russian army is failing – but not enough to lose the war
There have been three major surprises for military analysts since the Russian military invaded Ukraine. The first has been the…
A wave of anti-Russian hysteria is sweeping across the West
McCarthyism is an overused word, I know. But really, what other word will do to describe the sacking of a…
How Putin wins the war
There was a revealing comment yesterday from Robert Habeck, the German economics minister. It is a comment that inadvertently suggests…
Did the move to the free market unleash Russia’s demons?
Back in 2009 on an unseasonably warm autumn evening in Moscow, I was walking to dinner with a banker friend,…
Russia’s war is not a Trump redux
I hate going back, again, to Orwell, but since the world is intent on using Nineteen Eighty-Four as an instructional…
Pro-Ukraine citizens clash with authorities in Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia After one week of fighting, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already caused far-reaching geopolitical consequences, most of which…
The problem with the UK's Russian clamp down
I’m no apologist for oligarchs, whether they be from Russia or anywhere else. I have been writing for years about…
