The Debate

Ukraine's president warns it could lead to "a world war." Is Volodymyr Zelensky overreacting by sounding the alarm over the deployment of North Korean soldiers to Russia? NATO believes the troops are destined for the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine, where the Kremlin's forces have struggled to push back a Ukrainian incursion.

Seoul is certainly taking the threat seriously, having dispatched its defence minister to Washington amid reports of a South Korean delegation expected in Kyiv. Is this the moment where NATO lifts restrictions on the use of its weaponry by Ukraine? How far will this escalation go?

And what's in it for Pyongyang's regime? In recent months, it has severed mediation channels and destroyed roads across the demilitarized zone. Those garbage-filled balloons launched towards the South may seem comical from afar, but rising tensions are no laughing matter. Does Kim Jong Un actually want war? If so, why? And is the West prepared?

Could the nation that back in 2008 fought a war against Vladimir Putin be giving up on its EU dream? Packed crowds are massing outside Georgia’s parliament to protest what the pro-Western president calls a stolen election. We scrutinise Saturday's vote, which gave another outright majority to the Georgian Dream party of billionaire former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

His side's campaign employed the "look what happened to Ukraine" argument, warning against alienating the Kremlin. What next for Georgia?

And what next for the rest of the former Soviet space? A lot, of course, hinges on Ukraine. From 2008 to the present, is Putin by increments fulfilling his dream of recreating a greater Russia? On that score, what to make of Hungary’s illiberal leader Viktor Orban rushing in to offer his congratulations to the winners in Tbilisi?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip. 

Far from the war in Ukraine and the multiple fronts in the Middle East, a power grab between feuding coup leaders rages on. Since April 2023, Sudan has descended into a full-blown civil war where momentum has swung several times and may be doing so again. The government forces of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan are trying to recapture the whole of the capital. Meanwhile, a senior general has switched sides, defecting from the Rapid Support Forces of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, aka Hemedti, who has laid siege to the last major city beyond his reach inside his native Darfur.

We ask about the dire situation there, the spillover effect everywhere from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa and the discreet backers who make this nightmare possible. Rival sides found themselves at the same table at this week’s BRICS summit in Russia. With the West helpless elsewhere, what can be done to stop Sudan's wanton destruction and put its revolution of 2021 back on track?

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Annarosa Zampaglione. 

It's the home stretch of a fiercely partisan presidential race in the United States, a nation where political fault lines seem to increasingly match the gender of the voter who is casting a ballot. If you are an American woman, you are more and more likely to vote for Kamala Harris. If you are a man, for Donald Trump. Why does this election seem like a battle of the sexes?

The Economist magazine recently ran a story entitled "Crypto bros v. cat ladies". We hear from a researcher quoted in that piece, which reveals that the gender gap is about much more than cultural tastes. 

When Barack Obama chastises the growing number of Black men voting Republican, is it about their skin colour or simply the fact that they are men?

Beyond views on abortion and reproductive rights, there are fears in this fast-changing world over economic opportunities on both sides of the divide. Are those fears justified? And how will they play out electorally?

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Annarosa Zampaglione. 

It's been not too shabby a week so far for Russia’s leader of 24 years, sandwiched between a Moldova referendum where the pro-EU camp underwhelmed and a crucial general election in fellow former Soviet state Georgia. 

Forget International Criminal Court arrest warrants. Vladimir Putin is rolling out the red carpet for dozens of leaders by the banks of the Volga in Tatarstan's capital Kazan.

Despite Western sanctions over Ukraine and the sputterings of a slowing Chinese economy, new names are lining up at the BRICS summit to join the club of emerging world giants whose fortunes seem tied to the whims of world commodity prices. If, as billed, it is much more than a trade talking shop, then what are the BRICS all about in 2024?

And if Putin's having a good week so far, what about in two weeks if Donald Trump returns to the White House? We ask our panel how the former Soviet world sees that prospect.

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Annarosa Zampaglione. 

Is the off ramp in sight, or did Binyamin Netanyahu’s government deliberately blow past it? If achieving the stated aim of killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar offers Israel a reason to relent in Gaza and Lebanon, that has yet to happen. The days since have been particularly lethal: air strikes near Beirut targeted Hezbollah’s financial assets just as US envoy Amos Hochstein was touching down to talk ceasefire conditions.

We ask if we are witnessing the storm before the calm, or if there is no plan to de-escalate.

With the US Secretary of State following Hochstein, Israel is mindful of growing pressure from its allies and is organising press tours for journalists to show renewed aid deliveries to Gaza. But the UN accuses Israeli authorities of continuing to obstruct delivery of critical aid. 

On that score, France’s president is suggesting Sinwar’s death “must be an opportunity to begin a new phase of negotiation”. We get the panel’s take on Emmanuel Macron’s latest pronouncements and the verbal jousting with Netanyahu that preceded it. 

Produced by Théophile Vareille, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip. 

He masterminded the bloodiest day in Israel's history. One year and one week later comes news that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed. Before October 7, much of the planet knew only the names and faces of Hamas's political leadership in exile, but that all changed when the 62-year-old native of Khan Younis launched the devastating attacks from Gaza. We ask if Sinwar's demise is a turning point for the war and if it will bring any hope of a ceasefire in Gaza.

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Hapip. 

Can Europe compete? Part of the answer is on display in Hall 5 of the Paris Motor Show, which opened its doors to the public on Tuesday. Chinese maker BYD is signalling its play for the French market with affordable – albeit subsidised – fully electric models. We ask about EU pushback against those subsidies, and how the homegrown competition is faring.

 

Governments invested massively in the switch away from gas guzzlers, in what seemed like a masterstroke for a continent in need of both tackling climate change and a fresh start coming out of the pandemic. But now, public money is running dry. The most glaring example: France has been forced to slash its subsidy to EV buyers. We will ask if a burgeoning electric vehicle market could cave.

As we recently saw when looking at the US presidential race, we see how here too the green transition has become a battleground in bitter culture wars. So where's the middle of the road?

How porous are sanctions? The war in Ukraine has familiarised this show with the concept of dual-use products, like the washing machine whose computer chip can power a lethal drone. FRANCE 24's investigative news website The Observers got reports from citizen journalists in Iran during the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests about shotgun cartridges made in France and used in the crackdown on peaceful protesters. We track their journey from the factory to the streets.

 

Speaking of sanctions, we ask about an Iran that's been living under them for years, that's holding its breath ahead of Israel's forthcoming response to its missile salvos and to a US election with possible consequences on the scale of pressure and isolation.

Watch our investigation in fullRepression in Iran, ammunition made in France

They are called peacekeepers, but what is their mission when they cannot keep the peace? The United Nations, along with the 40 nations that contribute UNIFIL blue helmets to monitor the buffer zone in south Lebanon, is condemning the growing standoffs with Israel's invading army that have culminated in a tank ramming the gates of an observation post on Sunday. We hear about the fallout and comment on the counterargument.

Israeli forces are releasing drone footage purporting to show a Hezbollah position that is literally a stone's throw away from a UNIFIL base. What is the UN's job when Hezbollah fires rockets for 11-plus months out of a zone that is supposed to be the reserve of the Lebanese army? What does the world body do when Israel asks the peacekeepers to get out of the way?

There is a broader issue: UN bashing is a pretty safe sport, particularly when a permanent Security Council member like the United States has your back, but what is the alternative? Binyamin Netanyahu may score political points at home for slapping a travel ban on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, but what are the actual consequences?

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip.