Donald Rayfield is emeritus professor of the school of modern languages, Queen Mary University of London. Among his books is Stalin and his Hangmen (Random House, 2005), which has appeared in five other languages. He is editor-in-chief of the Comprehensive Georgian-English Dictionary (Garnett Press, 2006), a work of 1,440,000 entries and nearly 1,800 pages in two volumes.

Recent articles

Georgia’s disastrous defeat in the conflict of August 2008 is not all it seemed.  The losses are clear and devastating, but Tbilisi has - albeit in less tangible ways - gained too. The outlines of a more realistic national project are becoming visible, says Donald Rayfield.

(This article was first published on 6 August 2009)

The reverberations of the vicious conflict in the south Caucasus continue. A fresh assessment of the circumstances and outcomes of the war suggests what its possible longer-term consequences might be, says Donald Rayfield.

(This article was first published on 16 November 2008)

The two regions at the heart of the Georgia-Russia war of August 2008 must be understood in their own terms if the problem of Georgia - and western illusions about the country - are to be seriously addressed, says Donald Rayfield.

(This article was first published on 13 August 2008)

An intimate past and bitter present make it hard for Russians and Georgians to live as neighbours but impossible to separate completely, says Donald Rayfield.

Wine and roses, spies and sanctions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia...Tbilisi's long, intimate and turbulent relationship with Moscow has gone badly wrong. Donald Rayfield explains how and why.

This article was first published on 3 October 2006