The Debate

Are we witnessing what's neither the first nor the last testing of the limits of US democracy? Or is Donald Trump taking the world's most powerful nation into unchartered territory? What to make of the attacks on judges and lawyers, as well as the attempt to gut vast swathes of the government and even shut down public broadcasting? Do Americans mind this new turn? After all, a majority voted for Trump despite the attempt to overturn by force his defeat four years ago.

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont and Ilayda Habip.

Nearly two years on, it’s back to Khartoum for Sudan’s civil war. The forces of junta leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan are ousting those of ally-turned-foe Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo from key points. The leader of the RSF militia can instead point to gains in North Darfur province. We ask why we're seeing these shifting alliances that are redrawing the frontline, whether it’s a turning point and whether there's any light at the end of the tunnel for the 12 million people displaced by a fratricide conflict that follows the interruption by coups of a revolution that strived to bring democracy to Sudan after decades of strongman rule.

Beyond ethnic cleansing that harks back to the days of the Darfur genocide and the risk of famine in parts, there's also a brewing war of words with neighbours South Sudan and Chad, with the latter's leadership accused by Burhan of facilitating Emirati weapons supplies to the RSF. So which will it be for Sudan: containment or contagion?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habib and Aurore Laborie. 

Despite bans, beatings and even the use of facial recognition technology to pursue protesters, Turkey's opposition is out in the streets in its greatest numbers in more than a decade. This comes after the jailing of centre-left opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul who's been charged with corruption and abetting terrorism just as he's been plebiscited by the CHP to carry the party's colours in the 2028 presidential election. Will the protesters prevail?

Turkey has seen many a rule-of-law showdown over the years. One-time Istanbul mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan was himself jailed in 1999, essentially for being popular. He's since enjoyed 22 years of uninterrupted power, which a potential constitutional reform would extend. What to make of this crackdown and its pushback?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habib and Aurore Laborie. 

As US-led talks with Russia and Ukraine progress without the Europeans at the table, the 27-nation bloc is pressing ahead with what Ursula von der Leyen has branded a steel "porcupine strategy". In her words: "We need to make Ukraine strong enough to be indigestible for potential invaders". Her plan aims to build the Ukrainian armed forces and the country’s defence industry into a formidable opponent for Russia to give Ukraine a hope of self-defence in the future. But can Europe find the money to help Ukraine?

Produced by Théophile Vareille, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip.

Israel is bringing the war back to the people of the Gaza Strip, notably launching a ground operation to take back control of the Netzarim Corridor. This follows the extensive bombardment of March 18, in which more than 400 Palestinians lost their lives. Among them, Israel says five senior Hamas leaders were killed. Where does this leave the quest for peace in the Middle East?

In Jerusalem this Wednesday, demonstrations called for peace and the safe return of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas since October 7, 2023.

With phase one of the peace deal expired and not renewed, with accusations of breaking the accord on both sides, and now with Israel's all-out assault taking the region back into a war scenario, there are many questions on where this might lead.

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habib and Aurore Laborie. 

Much was riding on this Tuesday's phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Trump is wanting movement from Moscow on the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. This as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Putin of dragging his heels in responding to the US proposal.

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

US President Donald Trump likes to say he's the protector of free speech. Yet, his administration has already threatened Democratic Congress members with investigation for criticising conservatives while withdrawing federal grants that include language it opposes. This as it sanctioned law firms that represent Trump's political opponents and arrested the Palestinian organiser of student protests that Trump criticised as "anti-Semitic, anti-American". The US president is stripping back the government-funded news organisation Voice of America as he accuses it of being "anti-Trump" and "radical". So will free speech survive in America? And are we merely witnessing the opening salvos of a war on so-called wokeism?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip, Juliette Laffont.

Donald Trump has said it many times: "The most beautiful word in the dictionary to me is tariff." But the tariffs that Trump is imposing on businesses across the borders are having a less than beautiful effect. Trump came to power promising prosperity for the United States, a "new golden age", but now the country is teetering towards recession. 

Is this a lose-lose situation where Trump's tariffs provoke a similar response from the penalised countries? Caught in the middle are the consumers who always seem to suffer when the people in power want radical change. 

Produced by Théophile Vareille, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip.

Talk about mood swings: is that epic White House bust-up that we are still processing already water under the bridge? Donald Trump’s envoys making that recent dumpster fire of a sitdown with Volodymyr Zelensky sound like a fading memory. The US now unpausing military assistance to Kyiv and talking up the imminence of a rare minerals deal in exchange for Ukraine agreeing to a 30-day truce with Russia. All is forgiven … up to a point. 

With the ball now in the Kremlin’s court, Ukraine is still shut out of direct bargaining over its own fate. For now, it is still between Moscow and Washington.

We will ask about the dizzying ups and downs of diplomacy à la Trump, and how allies feel about this rollercoaster ride. On that score, special attention to all the huddling we have seen in London and Paris as Europeans figure out how to rewrite their own security strategy on the fly, what with a US-led NATO no longer what it used to be.

Produced by Théophile Vareille, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip. 

It's got a population smaller than Paris’ Latin Quarter, but thanks to Donald Trump, the whole world’s watching Greenland. As citizens of the Arctic Danish dependency choose between six main parties, all pro-independence to varying degrees, we’ll ask how locals voting in parliamentary elections feel about the US president promising Congress to get the mineral-rich island “one way or another”.

Even if it means taking on traditional allies. Denmark’s an EU and NATO member that equips its military with hardware made in the USA. What does Trump's hard bargaining say about the times we live in? New imperialism, melting polar ice caps, housing and social challenges, we’ll ask how changing times are impacting the life of Greenland’s 56,865 inhabitants and what lessons we can all draw from the global attention they're suddenly getting. 

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.