World

Sunday

Professor Yosef Yuval Tobi

How Iran radicalised Yemen’s most tolerant tribe

My family left Yemen for Israel in 1935, at a time when tens of thousands of Jews were still living in the country. Their journey was particularly noteworthy because a member of my family was riding on a camel. My pregnant mother sat in the saddle, while my father and brother walked beside her. For centuries in Yemen, Jews had only been permitted to ride on donkeys. This was just one of a litany of laws that humiliated and subjugated Jews, and slowly pushed them to leave a country that they loved. Almost a century later, the climate for Jews in Yemen has turned from prejudiced to perilous. Only one Jew

John Keiger John Keiger

Britain should resist French pressure for a joint defence plan

On Friday President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky to the Elysée with great fanfare. The Ukrainian president was in Paris to sign a ten-year bilateral military agreement for France to supply and finance Kiev’s war effort and reconstruction, having already signed similar agreements with Britain and Germany. But behind Macron’s window dressing is France’s acute embarrassment at its low level of military support for Ukraine since the war began nearly two years ago. According to Germany’s highly respected Kiel Institute, cited in Le Monde, France is ranked 15th in terms of its military support for Ukraine. This is way behind the US’s contribution (€43.9 billion – equivalent to nearly £38 billion) which

Saturday

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Navalny’s cause of death changed to ‘sudden death syndrome’

How did Alexei Navalny die? The official version is that he collapsed after a walk in his Siberian prison. But his family are, like much of the world, sceptical – and have shared what they have been told so far. His mother and lawyer were originally told his body had been taken to the morgue at Salekhard, a town some 30 miles from the ‘Polar Wolf’ colony where he had been imprisoned. Upon arriving there, they found the morgue shut; when they finally got in touch with staff there they were told Navalny’s body was not in fact there. It appears the prison authorities have also deliberately been spreading confusion about

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

In Russia, Navalny is already becoming an unperson

Newspapers across Britain and the democratic world are dominated by the news of the death – perhaps murder – of Alexei Navalny. But not so in Russia. Less than 24 hours after the news broke and his supporters started to come out in sympathy, almost all traces of this news has disappeared from the country’s media. Masked men were sent last night to remove the flowers placed in his memory. Navalny is becoming an unperson. The only news homepage to even mention him is the business and politics-focussed broadsheet Kommersant where it features in a round-up of ‘what made the week of 12-17 February memorable’. Just three lines are allocated

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

If Donald Trump is re-elected, thank Letitia James

‘Donald Trump may have authored the Art of the Deal,’ said the New York Attorney General Letitia James, doing her best resolute voice. ‘But he perfected the art of the steal.’ There speaks the voice of American justice: biased, politicised, odiously trite. ‘Today, we proved that no one is above the law,’ said James, which is what every Trump prosecutor has said, over and over, for years now. ‘No matter how rich, powerful, or politically connected you are, everyone must play by the same rules.’ Despite all the strong words and massive fines, Trump’s candidacy is growing in strength That’s garbage and everybody knows it. The rules don’t apply to

Harry Mount

Harry Mount, Lara Prendergast, Catriona Olding, Owen Matthews and Jeremy Hildreth

29 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud, Harry Mount reads his diary, in which he recounts a legendary face-off between Barry Humphries and John Lennon (00:45); Lara Prendergast gives her tips for male beauty (06:15); Owen Matthews reports from Kyiv about the Ukrainians’ unbroken spirit (12:40); Catriona Olding writes on the importance of choosing how to spend one’s final days (18:40); and Jeremy Hildreth reads his Notes On Napoleon’s coffee. Produced by Cindy Yu, Margaret Mitchell, Max Jeffery and Natasha Feroze.

Jacob Heilbrunn

Donald Trump ordered to pay $350 million in fraud case

Donald Trump may be spending much of his time complaining that Nato members aren’t paying their bills, but he has been compiling his own. The latest is a whopping $350 million (£278 million) judgment courtesy of Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, who came down with a decisive thud on Trump’s business dealings in his civil fraud trial. Engoron not only demanded that Trump cough up the $350 million, but also banned him from any business activities in New York over the next three years. Eric and Don Jr. got dinged for $4 million (£3.2 million) each. Donald Sr. plans to appeal the ruling. But he has thirty days to post a

Friday

Sergey Radchenko

Hope for Russia has died with Navalny

It was brave. It was foolhardy. It was almost unbelievable. After his near-fatal poisoning by the Russian Federal Security Service, Alexey Navalny returned to Russia. He was taken away as he disembarked from the plane in Moscow, and thrown into prison on a made-up pretext. After three years of torture, Navalny has been done away with. The Russian prison authorities have reported his death from an unspecified cause.  Putin’s regime has murdered another opposition leader, and not just any. Navalny, like no one else in Russia, stood for the unlikely promise of change. His charisma, his humour, his clarity of vision, and, above all, his awe-inspiring disdain for Putin’s gangster

Owen Matthews

The tragedy of Alexei Navalny

I knew and greatly respected Alexei Navalny. The news (as yet not independently confirmed) that he died in prison came today as a physical blow – sickening, but at the same time tragically unsurprising. Navalny’s passion, his intelligence and his refusal to make compromises with the Putin regime made him a colossus in a world of opposition politicians filled with moral pygmies. The Soviet Communist party once claimed to be the ‘intelligence, the honour and the conscience’ of the Russian people. But that title properly belongs to Navalny, whose life and career were living proof that Putin had not yet entirely extinguished Russians’ spirit of freedom and defiance, even in

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison

Just over three years after he was imprisoned in Russia, the Putin critic Alexei Navalny has died. The news was announced by the local administration of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service shortly before 2:30 p.m. Moscow time. In a statement, the prison service said: ‘In correctional colony No. 3 the convict A.A.Navalny fell ill after a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness. All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, but did not yield positive results. Emergency doctors confirmed the death of the convict. The causes of death are being established.’ It was not stated when Navalny is reported to have died. Navalny’s team say they have yet to receive any official

Svitlana Morenets Svitlana Morenets

Will the Ukrainian army retreat from Avdiivka?

The battle for Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast is a bloodbath. The city, which is also called the ‘gateway to Donetsk’, is semi-surrounded. Some 50,000 Russian troops are trying to advance from three sides while they keep the main supply route into the city under artillery fire. At least 15 per cent of Avdiivka has been captured – and battles are being fought in urban areas. ‘We are forced to fight at 360 degrees against more and more brigades that the enemy is bringing in,’ said Andriy Biletskyi, commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade, which was deployed to rescue Avdiivka last week. Russia has sufficient manpower and artillery superiority, so its

Thursday

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

Is Nato ready for war with Russia?

38 min listen

Welcome to a slightly new format for the Edition podcast! Each week we will be talking about the magazine – as per usual – but trying to give a little more insight into the process behind putting The Spectator to bed each week. On the podcast: TheSpectator’s assistant foreign editor Max Jeffery writes our cover story this week, asking if Nato is ready to defend itself against a possible Russian invasion. Max joined Nato troops as they carried out drills on the Estonian border. Max joins us on the podcast along with historian Mark Galeotti, author of Putin’s Wars. (00:55)  Then: Lionel Shriver talks to us about the sad case of Jennifer Crumbley, the mum

Limor Simhony Philpott

Hamas can’t hide behind hospitals anymore

Israeli special forces are operating in Nasser hospital, one of the main hospitals in the city of Khan Yunis, where the Israel Defence Forces have been fighting Hamas for several weeks. IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari explained that the raid is based on ‘reliable intelligence’ about terrorist activity in the hospital. According to Hagari, there is also information, based on accounts given by released hostages as well as other sources, that several bodies of Israeli hostages abducted into Gaza during the 7th October attack are being kept there. The IDF has been searching for the Israeli hostages in Gaza since the war began. It has managed to extract three

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Why has Vladimir Putin endorsed Joe Biden?

Who does Vladimir Putin want to win the US presidential election this autumn? Last night, the Russian president gave an unexpected answer to that question. In an interview on the Russian state TV channel VGTRK, Putin was asked ‘Who is better for us, Biden or Trump?’ The smirk on journalist Pavel Zarubin’s face suggested he thought the question would be a slam dunk. And yet, to Zarubin’s visible surprise, Putin threw him a curve ball: Putin would, in fact, prefer Joe Biden. The enigmatic Russian president is a showman and he likes to stir the pot. Following a few moments of somewhat intense eye contact, Putin elaborated: ‘He is a

Eliot Wilson

Britain can no longer defend itself

When the Berlin Wall fell, the British Army had 152,800 soldiers. Tony Blair’s government cut this to 110,000; David Cameron’s reduced it to 87,000. Plans to let that number fall to 82,000 were accelerated by the former defence secretary Ben Wallace. It’s generally accepted that by next year numbers will have dropped to 72,500. That’s a generous estimate: there are credible reports the army could soon number just 67,800. This week the British Army is playing a leading part in Operation Steadfast Defender, the largest Nato exercise in peacetime history. Yet it is smaller than it has been at any point since the 1790s. More importantly, it’s far too small

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Labour struggles, unemployment falls and peers announced

Home Labour withdrew support from Azhar Ali, its candidate in the Rochdale by-election to be held on 29 February, after a recording was published of him claiming Israel had ‘allowed’ the deadly attack by Hamas gunmen on 7 October, which had given them ‘the green light to do whatever they bloody want’. He was suspended from the party pending an investigation, but electoral law made it impossible to remove his name and party from the ballot paper. At first Labour stood by him when he said he wished to ‘urgently apologise to Jewish leaders for my inexcusable comments’. The next day Labour suspended a former MP, Graham Jones, who was going

Max Jeffery Max Jeffery

Is Nato ready for a Russian invasion?

Tapa, Estonia In a pine forest two hours from Estonia’s border with Russia, preparation for war is under way. British, French, American and Estonian soldiers are rehearsing what Nato would do if Vladimir Putin invaded. They’ve brought Challenger II tanks, an F-16 fighter jet and Himars artillery systems – some of the best equipment the West has – for a fortnight of battle simulations. It means preparing for trench warfare, minefields, ambushes and mortar strikes in -20°C and a foot of snow. Not long ago, the idea of fighting a war against Russia was dismissed as a joke. When Mitt Romney ran for US president he said Moscow was a

Owen Matthews

Ukraine’s spirit isn’t even close to broken

Rome and Kyiv have one thing in common – the distinctive whine of motor-scooter engines in the night. The difference is that in Kyiv the high, Vespa-like noise does not rise from the streets but drifts down from among snow-laden clouds. It’s the unmistakable sound made by Iranian-designed Shahed-136 suicide drones, essentially modern-day doodlebugs armed with warheads big enough to collapse a medium-sized building. Kyivans nickname these sky-borne menaces ‘mopeds’. Shaheds are slow-moving, low altitude and easy to spot, so Russia fires them after dark. With a great deal of noise and spectacular flashes in the night sky, Ukrainian anti-aircraft and Patriot missile batteries usually blow most of them out

Wednesday

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Will the Tories be wiped out like the French Republicans?

Vote for me or you’ll end up with Keir Starmer. That was the threat from Rishi Sunak on Monday evening when in front of the GB News cameras he addressed voters in Country Durham. The Prime Minister warned that the general election will be a straightforward choice between the Conservatives and Labour. He then listed what was at stake: controlling spending, cutting taxes, boosting the economy, protecting borders and policing the streets. ‘All of those things that you care about, who is more likely to deliver them?’ Not the Tories, if the polls are to be believed. One poll last month predicted the party will be ‘wiped out’ in the

Benedict Rogers

Lionel Messi shouldn’t have been in Hong Kong in the first place

Football has turned messy in Hong Kong. Last Sunday, the beleaguered Hong Kong Chinese Communist party was hoping for a public relations boost after Inter Miami agreed to play a friendly in the city against the Hong Kong Team. Instead, the game was overshadowed by a furious row after Miami footballer Lionel Messi failed to come out on the pitch because of a groin injury. The Hong Kong government reacted with outrage, and fans booed the players and demanded refunds. Three days later Messi was well enough to play in Japan, adding insult to injury in the eyes of the CCP. The outcry has now spread to mainland China, with state