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PODCAST

The Debate

FRANCE 24 English

A live debate on the topic of the day, with four guests. From Monday to Thursday at 7:10pm Paris time.

news & politics

All Episodes

00:42:09

French government again set to fall: Unpopular...

The Debate ·

2025/09/02

As Europe goes back to school, it already had plenty on its plate. Now – on top of inflation, extreme weather, the AI race, Russian threats and a no-longer-so-friendly United States, it's got a new worry: France. After last year's baffling dissolution that resulted in a hung parliament, the French prime minister's now got six days to convince the opposition parties that hold his fate in their hands that he was right to preempt a raucous showdown over his austerity budget and call a vote of

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00:43:43

Make Russia great again? Why Putin won't relent on...

The Debate ·

2025/09/01

"Yes, it was Russian troops that launched an unprovoked invasion – but it's the West that started the war in Ukraine." That's the long-repeated line spun again this Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in China. Repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it, goes the saying. But for Putin, this founding myth story is not a myth at all. Tried and true Kremlinologists insist that the ex-KGB agent genuinely feels grievance and genuinely believes in greater Russia's manifest

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00:46:05

Why the falling out? Trump-Modi relations strained as...

The Debate ·

2025/08/28

What's the US doubling of tariffs on India really all about? The Trump administration insists it just wants India to stop buying, then reselling, discounted Russian crude oil to bypass sanctions over Ukraine. New Delhi's imports of crude have indeed soared, but is that the only reason? Supporters of Kyiv say they wish Washington applied the same zeal to others like Turkey, not to mention the shadow fleets that ship Russian fossil fuels. We ask about New Delhi's muted reaction and why relations have

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00:40:15

White nationalist agenda? Minorities in front line of...

The Debate ·

2025/08/27

How's the United States' 249-year-old experiment in democracy going? On this show, we've discussed how the long-vaunted system of checks and balances is being tested by a president who's made a grab for more power than any US leader since the Second World War. Does that executive power extend to firing the first Black woman ever appointed to the US Federal Reserve's board of governors? Ostensibly it's because Donald Trump wants his way on a malleable central bank that would lower interest rates at

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00:45:27

Cruelty on demand? Outrage over livestreamed death of...

The Debate ·

2025/08/26

Humans enjoying the suffering of others is as old as the ancient Romans baying for blood when they would send in the lions at the Colosseum. Now though, the mob seems to have moved online. Just as Donald Trump threatens to slam nations that try to regulate the World Wide Web, France is coming to grips with last week's death of 46-year-old online personality Raphaël Graven, who went by the name of Jean Pormanove or JP. He died after 12 days of a marathon livestream where viewers were encouraged to

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00:46:03

As long as Trump's got his back? Netanyahu defies...

The Debate ·

2025/08/25

It will soon be two years since Israel endured its worst day of bloodshed and terror in its history. At the time here in France, home to Europe's largest Jewish community, a majority expected and even supported a forceful reaction. Nearly two years on, the sympathy has long waned: yes, Hamas still holds hostages but public opinion has long turned, long before a summer of daily images of desperate Gazans braving bullets to reach aid distribution points and the United Nations now formally labelling

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00:43:06

Inside India's ignored conflict: where is Manipur's...

The Debate ·

2025/07/16

Call it India’s ignored conflict: it’s been two years since violence in Manipur erupted, yet 60-thousand remain displaced by intercommunal tensions between the majority Meitei and the Kuki-Zo communities. We’ll ask why mediation efforts have stalled and what’s changed since the central government imposed President’s Rule from Delhi at the start of the year. We’ll ask why the prime minister’s remained mostly silent on Manipur, why foreign journalists have to apply for special accreditation which is

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00:41:59

Tariffs on political rivals: Can US impose its might?

The Debate ·

2025/07/15

Brazil has announced it's working on counter-measures should the Trump administration make good on its threat to punish the country and sanction its Supreme Court president over the coup attempt case against far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil is one of the nations threatened with secondary tariffs for buying Russian oil – but not Trump ally Turkey. The US is using its economic might to boost fellow travellers like Bolsonaro and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but also applying political

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00:45:29

Ukraine U-turn? Trump blasts Putin, approves...

The Debate ·

2025/07/14

The Nobel Peace Prize can wait. The same Donald Trump whose administration just weeks ago paused munitions and air defence supplies for Ukraine is now turning on Vladimir Putin with threats of asset seizures and ramped-up weapons sales for Kyiv. Why the about-face? How committed to Ukraine is Trump going forward? And how committed to NATO? Allies know that the days are numbered for the United States providing the bulk of Europe's defence umbrella. It's Bastille Day and on France's national holiday,

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00:43:54

Deterrence made in Europe? France, UK offer nuclear...

The Debate ·

2025/07/10

Caught between the threat of Vladimir Putin's Russia and the wavering of Donald Trump's United States, can Europe really rely on its only two nuclear powers to guarantee deterrence from atomic attacks? We review the joint announcement by video link out of Northwood military base in England to leaders in Rome gathered for a "coalition of the willing" summit on Ukraine. Ukraine has to think on its feet after yet another sleepless night of deadly bombardments and a week of off-and-on shipments of US

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00:44:48

Crackdown in Kenya: can authorities silence Gen Z...

The Debate ·

2025/07/09

Rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons, live rounds... Can Kenya’s police beat the defiance of a new generation into submission? These scenes from Monday’s Saba Saba Day marches that marked 35 years since the spark of the movement that led to a return of multiparty rule. We’ll ask about the 31 dead on the day, the increasingly heavy hand of authorities since last year’s anti-tax demonstrations and the demands of the so-called Gen-Z movement. Ahead of Saba Saba Day, the funeral in his home village

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00:45:26

Message from the palace? UK hosts state visit for...

The Debate ·

2025/07/08

His post may be largely ceremonial, but his messaging is crystal clear. The first state dinner at the palace of King Charles's reign goes to France's Emmanuel Macron, not the United States' Donald Trump. At a time when the United Kingdom is forced to rethink its role in an uncertain world, is it turning its back this time on Winston Churchill's adage that "if Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must always choose the open sea"? On that point, Macron was even handed the

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00:44:03

Gaza ceasefire: What if Israel says yes?

The Debate ·

2025/07/07

Benjamin Netanyahu has done it before: making positive noises about a Gaza truce before boarding a plane to America, only for it all to unravel after he lands. For the Israeli prime minister's third visit to the White House since Inauguration Day, the noises are more positive than they've been in a while, but hard evidence of progress is thin and these meetings with Donald Trump always feel loosely scripted; perhaps even improvised. The last time Netanyahu visited the Oval Office, he was ambushed by

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00:46:59

Too late to win over Trump? Europe frets as US...

The Debate ·

2025/07/03

Remember last week and that collective sigh of relief among allies that Donald Trump had a) showed up at the NATO summit and b) agreed to a sidebar meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, after which the US president gushed that Volodymyr Zelensky "couldn't have been nicer". It was quite the contrast with that February White House ambush on live television that so spooked Europeans. But that was a week ago. Now comes a double whammy: a pause in US arms shipments to Ukraine – officially to replenish

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00:42:14

How hard will Trump push? US president touts Gaza...

The Debate ·

2025/07/02

We've seen this movie before. US President Donald Trump is talking up a ceasefire initiative, only for the killing to continue in Gaza; killing that is relentless and off-the-scales ever since the rollout of a US-Israeli aid delivery scheme that bypasses traditional international agencies. We ask about Trump's claim that Israel has agreed to his 60-day truce and the reaction of a Hamas that's down but not completely out. We also ask what's changed since Benjamin Netanyahu walked away in March from

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00:42:29

Europe's growing heatwaves: Air conditioning for all?

The Debate ·

2025/07/01

It's the first day of July and already France and parts of Europe are enduring their second major heatwave with no respite. From the shores of the Mediterranean, warmed by waters at an alarming 26°C, to the rooftop of Europe – Mont Blanc – where the mercury's got no business venturing above freezing this early in the summer, how to adapt to the new normal? With poorly adapted schools forced to shut, the French far-right's Marine Le Pen is advocating air conditioning for all. But A/C begets higher

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00:42:41

The 12-day war: will Israel-Iran conflict reshape the...

The Debate ·

2025/06/24

Donald Trump first going all in with B2 bomber raids against Iran’s nuclear installations and then surprising allies and adversaries alike with a late Monday ceasefire announcement. All this for a victory lap at the NATO summit opening in the Netherlands? Whether it’s strategy or impulse that’s driving the US president, we’ll attempt to make sense of an operation resisted for decades by all of his predecessors including himself in his first term. Why did Israel finally get its wish of a US-backed

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00:42:55

Trump's war: Can US impose its will on weakened Iran?

The Debate ·

2025/06/23

There's the plan – and then there are the unintended consequences. The United States talks diplomacy, then bombs Iran. It suggests the targeting of nuclear sites may have been a one-off, yet leaves the regime uncertain: is regime change the real objective? Following its most significant show of force since the invasion of Iraq, will Washington take ownership of what comes next? For now, the US asserts itself as the sole superpower capable of projecting force in a region where China appears reduced

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00:42:15

The age of war? Israel-Iran conflict further...

The Debate ·

2025/06/18

Donald Trump sold us a different kind of Pax Americana. The U-S-led global rules-based order was always about soft power backed by bulk military might.Trump's rules on Inauguration Day veered instead to the utilitarian: yes to the world’s top superpower staking imperial claims to parts of the planet deemed vital to national interests. Yes to coveting Greenland’s strategic minerals and Panama’s essential waterway. No to forever wars in places like Ukraine where the US pays while Europe reaps the

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00:42:52

Trump's move: What next in Israel-Iran war?

The Debate ·

2025/06/17

He says he wants "better than a ceasefire". Donald Trump has returned to the White House, leaving behind the rest of the G7 leaders in western Canada. After five days of war between Israel and Iran, the US president faces a stark choice: he can either approve bunker-busting bombs to target underground nuclear facilities or tell Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu it’s time to stop. With air superiority over Tehran, Israel is doubling down on an operation that was in the works for decades. And while

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