Commentariat

FT Editorial

It was a confident and forceful speech, acknowledging her supporters’ disappointment yet emphasising the importance of a Democratic victory in November. She called unequivocally for party unity, and told her supporters to go out and vote for Barack Obama

The US-led Nato mission is not winning against the Taliban. It needs a re-focused strategy, built around security and jobs, and it needs to break the cycle of lawlessness and corruption that is rotting the nation-building effort that has hardly begun

The European Central Bank cannot risk becoming an asset dump of last resort. Its challenge is to differentiate between the opportunists and the needy

The biggest question raised by the current turmoil is whether the country’s civilian leaders are ready to govern in the national interest or merely their own

The example of Abkhazia and South Ossetia may well encourage the restive republics of the north Caucasus to determine their own destiny

American and Iraqi leaders are finalising a security pact that promises to bring the curtain down on the US occupation. Although some details have yet to be worked…

The Bush administration has long been guilty of a fundamental inconsistency on the issue of nuclear proliferation. On the one hand, it insists that international…

At last year’s confabulation of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the view that the US Federal Reserve should cut interest rates by 100 basis points was…

The next president should ditch the US-India accord and opt for an approach that reforms the rules of the nuclear game for America’s friends and foes

The US presidential election has helped concentrate minds in Washington on withdrawal – but an orderly departure is still far from guaranteed

A priority must be to recapitalise Freddie and Fannie, but with the minimum giveaway to private investors and a clear plan to privatise both in the end

The last gold medal has been won, the last world record broken, and the Olympic flag is now in the care of London’s mayor, Boris Johnson. What now? As far as the games…

In choosing the running-mate he would present to this week’s Democratic national convention, Barack Obama had to decide how well, or how badly, his campaign for the…

The London Olympics themselves will not suffice to regenerate east London and inspire the nation to more active lifestyles

Biden is well-known and well-liked, and would be the perfect intermediary between the president and Capitol Hill. Sadly for the campaign, this cannot be expected to carry much weight with voters

No one used to switch on Seinfeld, the record-breaking sitcom, just to see its star, Jerry Seinfeld. Playing a fictionalised version of himself, his role was to…

Like migrating birds, modern-day European workers are in search of yield. Their travels are dictated not by annual climate patterns, but by cyclical economic activity…

The Georgian crisis has shown President Dmitry Medvedev’s Russia for what it is - an aggressive authoritarian power. The slim hope that he might soften the tough line…

Countries that want to ally with the west will have to work harder to resist Russian pressure. And they can expect less western support than before

Sitcom star Jerry Seinfeld is being drafted in to lead a $300m promotional drive for Microsoft’s flagship operating system

With the UK economy now officially stagnating and unemployment rising, migrant workers will find it harder to get jobs. The influx has already slowed

As a global city and leading international financial centre, London is at the heart of Britain’s economic success. So the victory of the Conservative candidate in the…

While the Kremlin can hardly contain its joy at the course of events in Georgia, the crisis has come as a shock to Russian business. The country’s financial markets…

The road to consolidation is a long one, particularly in Germany. Fallout from the credit crunch has raised hopes for mergers in the fragmented banking sector, while…

Boris Johnson’s first few weeks in City Hall have raised disturbing questions about the fitness of the Tories for office