Is Lebanon a failed state?

Gideon talks to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its impact on Greece as a leading shipping nation. They discuss Greece’s recovery from the financial crisis of 2015, how to achieve European strategic autonomy and the best way ...  Show more

Gideon Rachman speaks to James Crabtree, former head of the Asia programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and author of The Perimeter, about Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, his first in a decade. What do Washington and Beijing hope to gain, and what does th ...  Show more

Protests, power cuts and bank hold-ups – Lebanon was already struggling before the 2020 port explosion that devasted its capital, Beirut, but now it’s in a desperate economic collapse. The Lebanese people are struggling to buy basic food and medicine. And the country also hosts t ...  Show more

Lebanon is in economic crisis with shortages of food, medicine and electricity on the ground. Today, how did the country, whose capital was once described as the Paris of the Middle East, get here? And is there hope for the future?

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The massive explosion that tore through Beirut on August 4th left more than 200 people dead, 6,000 injured, and as many as 300,000 homeless. The explosion was caused by a fire that ignited 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the port. When the blast hit, Lebanon was already ...  Show more

After the unimaginable horror of the mega blast which devastated Beirut the people of Lebanon are now forced to live with a zombie government - dead in all but name, not yet replaced. Stephen Sackur speaks to Raoul Nehme, still Lebanon's Minister of Economy and Trade until a new ...  Show more