David Patrikarakos

Starmer’s Palestine gamble

My analysis of the UK, Canada and Australia's recognition of Palestine, for @unherd.com.

What does recognition do - and not do? What is the thinking behind it, what is it intended to achieve, and what does it say about national and international politics?

unherd.com/2025/09/star...

Denmark eliminates 25% book tax to combat declining reading skills Denmark is eliminating its 25% book tax after finding reading skills in steep decline. Culture Minister Engel-Schmidt: "The gift of reading is something we should give to younger generations."

Denmark eliminates 25% book tax to combat declining reading
boingboing.net/2025/08/22/d...

Who is preventing peace in Ukraine?

My latest from Ukraine:

"Ukrainians cannot understand why Trump humiliated their president; they cannot understand why he parrots Kremlin propaganda...&, above all, they cannot understand why he has wanted to embrace Putin, a man who so clearly despises the US."
unherd.com/2025/03/who-...

Episode 2 of Apocalypse Now, the Daily Mail's weekly global news podcast is out. Listen to me discuss Trump, the signal debacle & a changing US with Brett Bruen and Patrick Tucker.

"The Trump administration...cares little for the lives of soldiers oversea."

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

My latest - from Damascus:

"The government must now add the task of uniting a country in danger of descending to civil war. Its leader al-Sharaa must act or Syria will implode, and its people will once more face a life of the most grievous violence and murder."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Trump's Ukraine power play

My Latest, for UnHerd

"In Europe, we have lived off American largesse for 80 years. We love welfare states and so we outsourced our security to Washington to pay for them. Whether we like it or not, in certain regards the true father the NHS is not Nye Bevan but Harry Truman."

It's time to re-arm.

Many Ukrainians Believed in Trump. Now They Feel Betrayed. ‘We used to wear American flag patches on our body armor as a symbol of the land of freedom. Now, we’ve taken them off.’

Delighted to make by debut for the @thefp.com as I speak to Ukrainians 🇺🇦 about their thoughts on the war, on Donald Trump, and on the future of the West.
www.thefp.com/p/ukrainians...

My dispatch from Syria's Sednaya prison. They call it Al-Maslakh Al-Basharia, the human slaughterhouse.

Estimate are that over 13,000 prisoners died due to torture there between 2011 and 2015, with another 13,000 executed over that period as well.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

My latest for @unherd on Trump's somewhat unhinged Gaza plan.
unherd.com/2025/02/trum...

I'll be on @NickFerrariLBC's Breakfast show, reporting from Hollywood on the LA wildfires at 7:20am UK time. Tune in.

I was caught in the LA wildfires and had to evacuate. The city is in utter chaos.

"Running around your house with about 45 minutes to choose just exactly what to take with you is an instructive exercise in understanding what really matters in life."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Israel has long called Iran’s nuclear program an "existential threat." But do the Israelis have the capacity to take out the nuclear facilities? And would Trump give them the green light to do so? Read and find out!

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Who governs Georgia?

My dispatch from Tbilisi, for @unherd.

"The lesson of Georgia is as clear and unignorable as that of Ukraine. You can never be Putin’s ally: either stand up to him or become his serf."
unherd.com/2024/12/who-...

In Tbilisi, I meet a protestor carrying the Syrian flag.

"Syrians fought for 12 years to get rid of a brutal dictator backed by the same enemy who seeks to subjugate us here: the regime of Vladimir Putin. This flag is a token of solidarity between us & the Syrian people."

I took a deep dive inside Assad's prison system. Not for the faint-hearted.

"Nothing more completely embodied the barbarous sadism of Assad’s regime than his prisons.
They were both a symbol & a means of the regime’s brutality & its oppressive tactics."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

13: Putin Facing 'Death By A Thousand Cuts' with Syria Offensive Podcast Episode · 90 Seconds to Midnight · 05/12/2024 · 45m

In the latest episode of 90 Seconds to Midnight I discuss Syria, not to mention Russia and Iran, with former army officer and chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.

Listen at the link below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I was fortunate enough to do what no foreign journalist has ever done: embed with ETA, the most elite Special Forces Unit of the Greek Army 🇬🇷. These are the soldiers who will help to hold the Mediterranean in case of global war.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: My story of how a western intelligence agency captured & interrogated a Quds Force operative - INSIDE IRAN.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

My latest, on Biden's decision allowing #Ukraine 🇺🇦 to use long-range missiles in Russia - & the latest on the situation from on the ground in Kursk.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Biden has lifted restrictions Ukraine using long-range missiles in Russia (starting with Kursk). Excellent. Earlier this year, I embedded with 🇺🇦special forces as they conducted a deep strike 100s of Kilometres into Russia & saw first hand the importance of being able to do this.

Dispatch from Tblisi: the frontline of Russian interference? Podcast Episode · 90 Seconds to Midnight · 14/11/2024 · 41m

This week 90 second to Midnight is in Tbilisi. Former Prime Minister & opposition leader Giorgi Gakharia talks Russian election interference, if Georgia might be the next #Ukraine 🇺🇦 & what Trump means for the region.

Listen👇🏽 or wherever you get your podcasts.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/9...

Hello Bluesky.