The Debate

By FRANCE 24 English

The Debate episodes

February 27, 2023 France's strategy in Africa: Macron unveils changing military, economic agenda
With France's influence waning in Africa, it was time to push reset. President Emmanuel Macron has laid out a revamped strategy for the continent. He has insisted Africa is a priority of his second term as president. Indeed, this week he will head there for the second time since being re-elected last year, embarking on a four-nation trip to Gabon, Angola, the Republic of Congo and finally the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
45 min
February 25, 2023 One year on: How is Ukraine's resistance holding up?
One year after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, FRANCE 24 brings you a special 35-minute report on the Ukrainian resistance. Our reporter Gwendoline Debono went to meet members of the resistance in the southern Kherson region, which was retaken from Russian forces last November. The clandestine actions of these ordinary citizens, driven only by their conscience, played a key role in the liberation of Kherson. But today, how much longer can Ukraine resist? Will Western arms deliveries to Kyiv really prove decisive? We discuss this and more in this special debate.
16 min
February 23, 2023 Ukraine, one year later: Lessons from life during wartime
Here in Europe, in the 21st century, a World War I-style artillery war is unfolding that has killed thousands and laid waste to vast parts of Ukraine. Unlike the present conflict, World War I was preceded by a decades-long buildup. One year on, we are still asking why Vladimir Putin made a grab for Kyiv. To think that just a year ago, we were marking 30 years since the breakup of the Soviet Union. What's left of a shared past between two nations? What can that past and this present teach us all about our future?
47 min
February 22, 2023 Nigeria's uncertain election: Can third party candidate force presidential run-off?
Will Nigeria's two-party system tremble? Africa's most populous nation has known its share of bruising campaigns, but never since the 1999 return to democracy has there been a run-off in the presidential election. Now, in a nation where the average age is 18, could voters turn away from big tent parties and candidates who are both in their seventies?
44 min
February 21, 2023 Superpower showdown: Biden and Putin in duelling Ukraine anniversary speeches
Duelling speeches for duelling world visions. Ahead of the first anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin delivered a state of the nation address in Moscow, in which he accused a West bent on destroying Russia of holding Ukraine hostage. In Warsaw, Joe Biden was back in the same setting where the US president last year quipped of his Russian counterpart "for God's sakes, this man cannot remain in power". At the time, the White House rolled back those remarks. But was that and is that in fact the plan?
45 min
February 20, 2023 Message to Moscow: Biden's surprise wartime visit to Kyiv
The president of the United States has visited Kyiv ahead of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We ask about the drama and the logistics of a visit kept secret until Joe Biden was on the ground, a visit punctuated by air raid sirens. How times have changed since a year ago, when Biden was derided on the world stage over the messy US pullout from Afghanistan. What standing does the US have today?
45 min
February 16, 2023 Agents of disinformation: Dirty politics and the 'Team Jorge' revelations
Enter the latest revelations from Forbidden Stories: the worldwide consortium of 30 media outlets who has blown the cover of the election-hacking and disinformation firm known as “Team Jorge”, founded by a 50-year-old former Israeli special forces operative who bragged to undercover reporters how he could launch cyber attacks and swing elections.
47 min
February 16, 2023 Information war: Moscow’s messaging puts France on the back foot in Africa
Russia’s foreign minister is coming off a barnstorming tour of the African continent, which included Mali, where coup leaders have kicked out the French and replaced them with Wagner mercenaries. The same scenario has already unfolded in the Central African Republic, and Mali’s neighbor Burkina Faso could be next to welcome the Russians.
45 min
February 14, 2023 Ballooning tensions: What next after US-China spy claims?
While Edward Snowden’s revelations about hacked undersea cables familiarised us with large-scale spying, surveillance satellites date back all the way to the Cold War. And now ballons? Where should we fit in the United States’ claims of Chinese balloons hovering in the sky? What are they for? And what about the unidentified floating objects that were shot down over North America over the weekend? The Pentagon is so far tight-lipped. Is it something, or is it nothing?
44 min
February 13, 2023 Turkey's fault lines: Could more have been done to limit quake damage?
Imagine your world collapsing around you in the middle of the night. That is literally what happened to so many in Turkey and Syria. Eight days on from the earthquake of the Century, the odd miracle like the one witnessed by our team in Antakya still occurring but that is fleeting solace for relatives and survivors. It is easy in hindsight to lay blame for the 37,000 confirmed dead while the residents give it their all.
46 min

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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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