The Debate

By FRANCE 24 English

The Debate episodes

February 15, 2021 What exit strategy? France's Sahel allies open to dialogue with insurgents
How to stop the Sahel from becoming France's Afghanistan? A G5 summit is taking stock of a recent troop surge that's netted wins against IS group-affiliated radicals in the three borders area between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. But once again, it's the former colonial power that's led operations, eight years after the French first stepped in to prevent jihadists from marching on Bamako.
40 min
February 11, 2021 Why now? Saudi Arabia releases prominent women's rights activist
She's out of jail after 1001 days. Up to now, Saudi authorities had shrugged off international condemnation over the imprisonment of Loujain al-Hathloul and other leading women's "right to drive" campaigners. All the while she was behind bars, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed to let women drive and scrapped male guardianship rules for women over 21. So what threat exactly did she pose? Why the conditional release when just six weeks ago, she was sentenced for undermining state security?
39 min
February 10, 2021 Which way will it go? Myanmar protesters defy military
First there was a coup, then Myanmar's military banned protests. And yet a new generation of pro-democracy protesters is still returning to the streets. In fact, their numbers might even be growing. There are reports of some police siding with demonstrators. Many still fear a bloodbath like so many times before. Which way will it go?
38 min
February 09, 2021 Trump impeachment trial: Former president to be charged with inciting insurrection
It's a first-ever second impeachment trial. We bring you a special edition on the first day of Donald Trump's trial before the US Senate. He is charged with inciting insurrection when in a bid to stop the certification of his re-election loss, he encouraged a crowd of supporters to march over to the US Capitol.
1 hr
February 08, 2021 Showdown in Myanmar: Next generation defies coup leaders
Can Myanmar's military put a lid on it? Across the country, this Monday saw a third day of protests against the coup of last week that called time on a decade of democratic transition. Before 2011, citizens in one of Asia's poorest countries had mostly been secluded from the outside world. With Facebook and Twitter now cut off and the top leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD detained, the junta has certainly stacked the odds in its favour.
39 min
February 04, 2021 Dawn of a new era? Innovation boosts fight against cancer
If medical researchers can create vaccines for new variations of coronavirus and roll them out in record time, then what else is possible? On World Cancer Day 2021, we take a look at some of the good news – and the bad news.
38 min
February 03, 2021 Can they deliver? Politicians, big pharma & the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines
The race is on to vaccinate the planet. Can they deliver? They are the pharmaceutical giants who have rolled out jabs in record time but are now scrambling to ramp up production. They are also the political leaders who paid up front for the research and delivery of the vaccines. We ask about threats to force big pharma to make good on its promises of speedy delivery and the promise by European leaders to have 70 percent of the population inoculated by the end of August.
40 min
February 02, 2021 Navalny sentenced: Can Putin silence Russia's anti-corruption movement?
Alexei Navalny is in the dock this Tuesday, but who is the one on trial in the court of public opinion? First poisoned, then jailed, the anti-corruption crusader faces up to three-and-a-half years in jail for violating the parole of a 2014 money laundering conviction while convalescing in Germany. Tens of thousands of Russians have taken to the streets over the past two weeks. Last Sunday alone, police detained nearly 6,000 people – numbers unmatched since Soviet times.
41 min
February 01, 2021 Coup d'Etat in Myanmar: All over for democratic transition?
What now for Myanmar? It's back to power for the junta that never quite went away when it handed over to civilian rule five years ago. And back to jail or house arrest for Aung Sang Suu Kyi and leaders of the Nobel Peace laureate's National League for Democracy.
41 min
January 28, 2021 Breaking the silence on incest: How France is facing up to the unspeakable
France is reeling from claims and revelations of incest. It began with a book by the sister of an alleged victim – her own twin brother – abused sexually throughout his teens by his stepfather, political scientist Olivier Duhamel. Camille Kouchner's book "La familia grande" has blown the lid off a massive social problem. What happened to her brother is classified as incest in France. In other countries it would be called child sex abuse – all the more damaging because it is perpetrated by a person in loco parentis.
43 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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