Excellent column by Gideon Rachman on how Ukraine could yet - just - stay in the fight even if America gives up on it ft.com/content/2e908d… via @ft

A testament sadly to a bygone age - a ⁦USAID billboard still adorning a bomb shelter in Odessa testifying to all it funded to keep the port city alive, incl boats, generators, ambulances & much more…..

A rare bit of seemingly uplifting news for Ukraine. The potential loss of Starlink worries strategists more than anything apart from their number one concern, air defences ft.com/content/f4cc04… via @ft

Without US support, “the front won’t collapse, but Russia is going to keep advancing”. Sobering and essential take on what happens to Ukraine if America ends its military support - Christopher Miller and Fabrice Deprez ft.com/content/b43937… via @ft

The retreat of USAID opens a huge opportunity for China in Africa. Outstanding and important reporting by Monica Mark on the revamping of Mao’s ‘freedom’ railway in Zambia ft.com/content/23e568… via @ft

Worth rereading this FT Weekend essay by Jonathan Powell on how to contain a recalcitrant Russia - "We need to find a way of addressing underlying Russian concerns — without compromising the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine" ft.com/content/5d9ff1… via @ft

“With each day it’s harder to wage war - but if we surrender it will not improve our situation.” It’s an agonising prospect but make no mistake, Ukrainians are preparing to fight on without America Ben Hall Christopher Miller ft.com/content/423815… via @ft

“‘Transactional’ has become a pejorative. At the end of the day we all do transactions." My interview with India's foreign minister Jaishankar, a (cynical?) realist with a sharp tongue. Conclusion: India is enjoying the West's disarray - for now ft.com/content/2877a7… via @ft

London! On March 27, come to legendary Frontline Club for a screening of our Financial Times docu film about Russia’s executions of Ukrainian POWs with Q&A to follow. I’ll be there virtually over Zoom but Alec Russell, Joe Sinclair & Sam Joiner will be in person. 🎟️: eventbrite.co.uk/e/screening-qa…

Join us to have all your questions answered on what next in this wrenching war in Ukraine ...

An honour to host shortly Frontline Club a viewing of and debate on this searing film on Russia’s executions of Ukrainian POWs. Kudos Christopher Miller and Sam Joiner & Jo Sinclair. Watch it for essential context of the talks & the need for justice ft.com/video/cffdbfff… via Financial Times

The more 2025 unfolds the more prescient Robert Kaplan’s bleak diagnosis of the world seems. Grimly looking forward to speaking to him tonight Intelligence Squared ft.com/content/fc1362… via @ft

Truth, lies and the betrayal of Ukraine - my column on the dangers and damage of Trump's falsehoods on the origins of the war ft.com/content/27e5ff… via @ft

“Two years ago we were two steps ahead of the Russians [in high-tech warfare].Now we are one step ahead of them.” My interview with Oleksandr Yakovenko one of Ukraine’s top dronemakers on the race with Russia and the tussle to get spare parts from China ft.com/content/37ba33… via @ft

The rise of the populist right in Romania is almost entirely the fault of the complacent parties which have governed since the 1989 revolution. My column here ft.com/content/0f6f51… via @ft

A scoop with Monica Mark on South Africa’s golfing diplomacy ahead of Cyril Ramaphosa’s vital and perilous White House meeting with Donald Trump ft.com/content/dec51c… via @ft

Listen to Afrikaners, not Trump, on the state of South Africa - my column on Afrikaners and Trump’s ludicrous claim of a white genocide ft.com/content/0aa1eb… via @ft

Bosnia, 30 years on from its war - much of course has changed and yet so much is still unresolved. The separatist urge of Milorad Dodik but also the Bosnian Croats seems as intense and depressing as ever. And Putin is stirring the pot. Marton Dunai ft.com/content/e41208… via @ft

"Latin and Ancient Greek may be dead, but their writers are very much alive and we are all the more questioning for it." My essay in the ever excellent FT Weekend books section - Fred Studemann Maria Crawford ft.com/content/0d42e4… via @ft

35 years ago when I first reported on Romania it was on its knees. A delight now to be able to present it as a case study in how to take on populism. My column for FT Opinion ft.com/content/b827af… via @ft