Roula Khalaf Razzouk

Roula Khalaf Razzouk     (editor)
Born	May 1965 Beirut, Lebanon
Residence	UK
Nationality	Lebanese, British
Alma mater	Syracuse University, Columbia University
Spouse	Assaad Wajdi Razzouk
Member of	Ditchley/Governors, Ditchley/UK
Interest of	"Philip Cross"
FT Editor alleged to be complicit in faking evidence to promote the Skripal affair official narrative  Financial Times/Editor In office 20 January 2020 - Present Preceded by Lionel Barber  Financial Times/Editor In office 2016 - 20 January 2020 Deputy Roula Khalaf Razzouk Succeeded by Roula Khalaf Razzouk

Roula Khalaf is, writes John Helmer "the only editor of a major London newspaper about whom next to nothing important is obvious, not even her name."

Background

Khalaf was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and grew up there during the civil war. Her husband’s name is Assaad Wajdi Razzouk, a former banker now an influential figure in renewable energy schemes. Both have their background in the well-known el-Solh family of Beirut. From the el-Solhs have come four Lebanese prime ministers on the Sunni moslem side of the Beirut line; together with considerable wealth which the family has accumulated over almost a century. Assaad Razzouk’s business "is deceptively complicated; his wife’s deceptively simple."

Career

Khalaf began her career as a staff writer for Forbes magazine in New York, and worked for the magazine for about four years.

She has worked for the FT since 1995, first as North Africa correspondent, then Middle East correspondent, Middle East editor and as foreign editor. She covered the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the Arab Spring colour revolutions. In 2016, she was promoted to be deputy editor of the Financial Times. In addition to her deputy editor responsibilities, she writes and comments regularly on world affairs, Middle East politics and business.

Activities

Helmer writes that "She has advanced over the past 25 years, FT sources claim, by taking orders from her superiors and never reporting outside the guidelines of the FT’s management".

"The Austrian disclosures also reveal that in London the Financial Times editor, Roula Khalaf, four of the newspaper’s reporters, and the management of the Japanese-owned company have fabricated a false and misleading version of the OPCW evidence and have covered up British government lying on the Skripal blood testing and the Novichok evidence."

Pegasus

In July 2021, her number was included in a leaked list of mobile phone numbers selected for possible surveillance by clients of NSO, an Israeli firm that manufactures spyware and sells it to governments. Its principal product, Pegasus, is capable of compromising a phone, extracting all of the data stored on the device and activating its microphone to eavesdrop on conversations. Analysis of the leaked data suggests that Khalaf’s phone was selected as a possible target by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Another way at looking at the "leaking" of her name, is that it is an attempt to give her 'street cred' as an independent journalist.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Munich Security Conference/2016	12 February 2016	14 February 2016	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 52nd Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2017	17 February 2017	19 February 2017	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 53rd Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2022	18 February 2022	20 February 2022	Germany Munich Bavaria	Slightly less than 1/3 of the 664 of the participants have pages here
Munich Security Conference/2023	17 February 2023	19 February 2023	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists. The real decisions are made by deep politicians behind the scenes, elsewhere.
Munich Security Conference/2024	16 February 2024	18 February 2024	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists - in their own bubble, far from the concerns of their subjects
WEF/Annual Meeting/2017	17 January 2017	20 January 2017	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2951 known participants, including prominently Bill Gates. "Offers a platform for the most effective and engaged leaders to achieve common goals for greater societal leadership."
WEF/Annual Meeting/2019	22 January 2019	25 January 2019	World Economic Forum Switzerland	"The reality is that we are in a Cold War [against China] that threatens to turn into a hot one."
WEF/Annual Meeting/2020	21 January 2020	24 January 2020	World Economic Forum Switzerland	This mega-summit of the world's ruling class and their political and media appendages happens every year, but 2020 was special, as the continuous corporate media coverage of COVID-19 started more or less from one day to the next on 20/21 January 2020, coinciding with the start of the meeting.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2022	22 May 2022	26 May 2022	World Economic Forum Switzerland	1912 guests in Davos
WEF/Annual Meeting/2025	20 January 2025	24 January 2025	World Economic Forum Switzerland

 

Event Witnessed

Event	Location(s)	Description
Munich Security Conference/2014	Munich Bavaria Germany	The 50th Munich Security Conference

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