The Debate

Donald Trump has been elected US president for a second time on an America-first agenda. We know from his first term that he is not afraid to break norms on the world stage. So what can we expect from Trump's foreign policy agenda this time around? Charli James puts the question to her panel.

After Donald Trump's historic victory in the US presidential election, we bring you a special edition of The Debate live from Washington. François Picard's panel of guests and FRANCE 24 correspondents break down the factors that contributed to Trump's triumph and discuss what this landmark result means for America.

Election Day has arrived. Polls are open across the United States, the culmination of a divisive and gruelling presidential campaign. All eyes are on the seven swing states likely to decide whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the presidency. We bring you a special edition of The Debate from Washington.

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati, Annarosa Zampaglione, Ilayda Hapib.

On the eve of Election Day, The Debate focuses on the US presidential candidates' final messages and the state of the vote. Charli James's panel breaks down the biggest issues on the minds of voters and discusses when Americans may know the results.

The planet's predominant superpower prides itself on its rules-based order and a constitution that codifies and sets in stone the transfer of power through the ballot box; a model and values that the United States tries to impose on the world scene. But for all the laws, all the rules, there is also Mao's line about political legitimacy, that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."

With the election of Donald Trump and the January 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol, America deviated from the traditional left versus right divide. Now, five days out from an election that's too close to call, could that model change again?

We ask about the security and legitimacy of a process that has already begun, with 60 million ballots cast in early voting.

Could the model of governance really change inside the nation that's home to Wall Street and Silicon Valley, that has kept the peace inside NATO, that defends South Korea and patrols the Pacific? If so, what's the plan for the rest of the planet?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elena Colonna and Ilayda Habip.

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.