The Debate

By FRANCE 24 English

The Debate episodes

October 17, 2019 Brexit breakthrough? Talks intensify on eve of last-chance EU summit
Silence can be golden if you're in the homestretch of a hard bargain. On the eve of a last-chance EU summit in Brussels, negotiators are giving reporters little to go on. So is this it, the final push towards a Brexit divorce deal? We ask if it will be enough to satisfy all sides including in Northern Ireland and Dublin, plus enough to satisfy the rest of the EU.
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October 15, 2019 In Turkey's way: Russia deploys patrols to northern Syria
Last week, it was a US troop pullout and an invitation to the White House. Now Donald Trump is slapping sanctions on Turkey. The US president's surprise decision to withdraw support for Syria's Kurds was taken as a green light by Ankara, which wasted no time crossing the border with the aim of establishing a buffer zone between itself and a group closely allied with its own PKK insurgency. Amid the uproar over abandoning the fighting force that took on the Islamic State group, we try to make sense of the US sanctions.
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October 14, 2019 Race to the border: Syrian Kurds call in Assad against Turkey offensive
Is it up to Bashar al-Assad to fill the void left by the United States in northeast Syria? One week after Donald Trump's shock decision to pull out, the Kurds have had to go cap in hand to Damascus for help. The end of their dream of an autonomous region? Most probably. But will it even be enough to stave off the Turks?
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October 10, 2019 Erdogan's war: Turkey dismisses NATO objections to Syria offensive
There’s no turning back for Turkey. It was midnight local time when Ankara sent its troops across the Syrian border, shrugging off calls for restraint and words of warning from allies inside the Atlantic Alliance. Could it be the beginning of the end for a club of military powers born with the Cold War? We weigh the consequences for NATO members if they stand idle… and the consequences if they actively confront a Turkey that's taking on the same Kurds who liberated the area from the IS group.
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October 09, 2019 Trump's pull-out, Turkey's war: Offensive against Syria Kurds follows withdrawal order
It's on. Just three short days after a phone call with Turkey's president that led Donald Trump to order the withdrawal of US forces from northeast Syria, Turkish fighter jets are reportedly bombing positions across the border. This after Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the launch of an offensive, shrugging off calls for restraint from NATO allies, plus Iran and Russia.
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October 08, 2019 China's rules: NBA partnership in doubt over Hong Kong tweet
In the age of globalisation, the West and in particular the United States flexes huge soft power, what with its social media giants, its clothing, its food and drink, its sports and entertainment. But what happens when that soft power comes up against the might of a market of 1.4 billion consumers?
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October 07, 2019 Trump's about-face: US drops support for Syrian Kurds after Turkey call
They were the boots on the ground that turned the tide and defeated the Islamic State group. But after a Sunday phone call between the US and Turkish presidents, Donald Trump has announced the end of Washington's military backing for Syria's Kurds. It opens the door for Ankara to launch an invasion. After Ukraine, maybe one of our panellists has an insight as to the transcript of this latest phone call.
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October 03, 2019 How nasty will it get? Trump impeachment probe opens in run-up to 2020 campaign
It's like the Watergate scandal. Except that with Watergate, the dirty tricks campaign unravelled after the president had won re-election and in 1974, you did not have the internet. Donald Trump on Wednesday tweeted a profanity and accused a key opposition lawmaker of treason. In the week since the Democrats formally launched impeachment proceedings, the US president has responded with rage. But is it calculated rage? The kind that can get a populist leader re-elected?
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October 02, 2019 Johnson's 'final' offer: The UK prime minister's alternative Brexit proposal
With time running short, it's here: Boris Johnson's long-awaited counter-offer to the EU. The UK prime minister has written to the European Commission president with his alternative to the current Brexit divorce deal and also gave his big speech before the Conservative Party conference. Johnson promises checks moved back from the United Kingdom's only land border between the two Irelands.
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October 01, 2019 Mightier than Mao? Xi Jinping's China marks 70 years of Communist rule
It is a tale of two cities. In Beijing, the biggest military parade in recent memory marks the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Xi Jinping's display of force is the biggest tribute to Mao Zedong since the Cultural Revolution. Over in Hong Kong, meanwhile, pro-democracy activists brave the demonstration ban and police respond with live fire, allegedly shooting one protester. What’s next for the territory's one nation, two systems status?
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A live debate on the topic of the day, with four guests. From Monday to Thursday at 7:10pm Paris time.

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