The Debate

Ceasefire or all-out war? While Israel's prime minister headed to UN Week in New York, his office stated that Binyamin Netanyahu had not even started considering a Franco-American plan for a 21-day truce with Hezbollah. Word of the plan was greeted with immediate pushback from hawks within Netanyahu's right-wing cabinet.

As Israeli jets continue to pound Lebanon, as top brass talk up the potential for a ground invasion, Hezbollah and its main backer Iran are more circumspect: they are still reeling from last week's exploding electronic devices and the killing of three of the militant group's top commanders. They would gladly consider an all-in-one US plan to wind up fighting both in Gaza and on Lebanon's border. 

The question remains: what are Israel's goals going forward? Has it weakened Hezbollah enough? Has it restored an aura of regional might that first teetered with its inconclusive 2006 war with Hezbollah and then shattered last October 7 when Hamas attacked from Gaza? Can a prime minister who probably faces an inquiry over Gaza when the guns go silent keep up a perpetual state of war? And is Lebanon doomed to forever remain a battleground for all the region's proxy wars?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Mélissa Kalaydjian.

Winter is coming. So are the US elections. So how about diplomacy? It's UN Week in New York and before heading to Washington, Ukraine's president is trying to rally support for what he's branded his "victory plan". How much support and how much leverage can he expect?

On the battlefield, Ukraine is on the backfoot in the brutal battle for Pokrovsk in the east, but has scored a huge moral boost with its cross-border incursion into Kursk. We bring you an exclusive FRANCE 24 report from that Russian region.

And of course, we ask our panel if any deal can be struck, whoever the next occupant of the White House is and whether it is all down to who sits at the Kremlin. 

Read moreExclusive: On the ground in Russian territory held by Ukrainian forces

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Mélissa Kalaydjan. 

Will it be all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah? What was a dangerous dance is now a major escalation. Monday’s air strikes killed hundreds and triggered a mass exodus by civilians. Not since 2006 had Lebanon experienced such scenes. Could a ground invasion follow?

From 1985 to 2000, Israel and its proxies got bogged down in an occupation of South Lebanon. Since that time, Iran-backed Hezbollah has massively reinforced its arsenal, which includes seemingly untouched long-range missiles.

Hezbollah did not launch an October 7-style attack like Hamas did from Gaza, but its repeated rocket launches have forced tens of thousands to flee northern Israel. What is the best way to guarantee security for civilians on both sides of the border? 

And since it's UN Week and world leaders are rubbing elbows on the sidelines of the General Assembly in New York, what can the international community do to prevent the escalation from engulfing the entire Middle East?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Mélissa Kalaydjan.

Back in May, Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to clear the air and called surprise snap elections. Nine weeks and one hung parliament later, does the naming of France's new centre-right coalition government seal his fate for the history books as a lame duck president whose gamble backfired miserably?

Even a term-limited French president has powers at his disposal and the cabinet named on Saturday seems even weaker than Macron. It is beholden to a National Assembly that is also weak: split three ways between left, centre-right and far right. When push comes to shove, is it the presidential palace that's got the strongest hand of the lot? 

New Prime Minister Michel Barnier's main task is to get a budget over the line. The EU's former Brexit negotiator does so while inheriting an off-the-charts deficit. Yes, Macron's "whatever it costs" spending policies during Covid saved small businesses and helped win him re-election in 2022. Is now the time to pay the piper?

More broadly, what to make of the most right-wing government since the days of Nicolas Sarkozy more than a decade ago? What immigration policy is likely? And with Marine Le Pen's National Rally dangling the threat of a no-confidence vote at any time over Barnier's government, how far to the right is France in 2024? 

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Mélissa Kalaydjan. 

"Rape is rape." Gisèle Pélicot emphatic on the stand Wednesday in a trial that has sent shockwaves beyond France’s borders: the 71-year-old retiree batting away suggestions that the 50 defendants invited by her ex-husband to enter their bedroom when she was under sedation could have engaged in anything in the slightest consensual. 

"Rape is rape." Gisèle Pélicot emphatic on the stand Wednesday in a trial that has sent shockwaves beyond France’s borders: the 71-year-old retiree batting away suggestions that the 50 defendants invited by her ex-husband to enter their bedroom when she was under sedation could have engaged in anything in the slightest consensual. 

Pélicot’s drawn admiration for her decision to waive her right to protection from the public eye and to sit front and center in the courtroom every day since the September 2nd opening of the trial in the southern city of Avignon. 

We will ask about that choice and a case that raises questions about individual guilt and collective responsibility: how many in the picturesque Provence village of Mazan knew? As her mental and physical health deteriorated over the years, it was only when gendarmes investigating a cold case came across lewd photos shared over the Internet that she discovered the horror. 

Why did no one come forward? 

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip & Annarosa Zampaglione. 

A precision operation that’s part of a grander scheme or a one-off magic trick to score spy ops points against the enemy? Either way, what to make of a second day of exploding devices that has killed a dozen and wounded more than 3-thousand? Hezbollah's response awaited after a security breach that will go down in the history books: how did those recently-equipped pagers explode? Why the aftershock of exploding walkie-talkies in several regions. We will examine possible scenarios in this edition of The Debate.

We will see how Lebanon’s digesting its worst casualty toll since the August 2021 port of Beirut explosion, the options available to Hezbollah and its Iranian backers – Tehran's ambassador to Lebanon among the injured and how the timing impacts what’s already a conflict on two fronts.

For now, Israel is tight-lipped. It does not have to claim responsibility for the kind of derring-do operation that is normally the reserve of a John Le Carré novel or a James Bond movie, but does technical prowess imply political smarts? Time will tell.

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip.

It's a daring operation with no claim of responsibility. But with the pagers of Hezbollah members exploding in Lebanon and Syria, with Iran's ambassador in Beirut among the injured, all eyes are turning to Israel. For years, militants of the Tehran-backed militant group have been warned off using cellphones, preferring ethernet cables and pagers to communicate. In this special edition, we unpack the significance of Tuesday's pager blasts.

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Anna Rosa Zampaglione.

How violent are liberal democracies these days? Authorities in the US are investigating what is possibly the second assassination attempt against Donald Trump of this presidential election campaign.

We ask about the probe and whether a link exists between violent rhetoric and actual acts of violence. From the assassination of Japan's former leader Shinzo Abe to the recent attempt on the life of Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, each example is different.

But is there something about America, the land of gun rights and the pioneer spirit of the Wild West, that makes it unique among Western powers? What impact does this violence have on voters? And when they count the ballots, will the pen be mightier than the sword?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

We have asked the question before: does Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine put superpowers on a collision course? With the revelation that Iran is supplying Russia with not just drones but ballistic missiles, allies strongly suggest that a UK-US summit in Washington this Friday could, on the quiet, mean the end to the Biden administration's restrictions on Ukraine using the long-range missiles it provides for strikes deep inside Russia. 

Already Kyiv is growing bolder in response to the Kremlin's relentless targeting of its critical infrastructure, with Ukrainian drones this week hitting a military airport near Moscow and aiming for bases in Murmansk, all the way on the Arctic Sea. What would be legitimate targets for US-made ATACMs and Franco-British-made Storm Shadows? In view of Tehran's role, could war in the Middle East and tensions in eastern Europe conflate into one?

On that score, we hear what the candidates for US president had to say in their Tuesday showdown. How is that electoral campaign weighing on the military campaign between Russia and Ukraine?

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip. 

So what are US presidential debates about: substance or style? Policy or punchlines? Our panel has brought its scorecard from Tuesday's one and so far only showdown between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

We ask if it all went to script, and what that script is in a tight race with huge consequences for the whole planet. A fleeting instance of infotainment or a moment that might move the needle?

Central is the strategy: in 2024, is it all about energising your followers or convincing the undecided and the apathetic? What does this race say about the United States and the path it wants to pursue?

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Hapib.