The Debate

How violent are liberal democracies these days? Authorities in the US are investigating what is possibly the second assassination attempt against Donald Trump of this presidential election campaign.

We ask about the probe and whether a link exists between violent rhetoric and actual acts of violence. From the assassination of Japan's former leader Shinzo Abe to the recent attempt on the life of Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, each example is different.

But is there something about America, the land of gun rights and the pioneer spirit of the Wild West, that makes it unique among Western powers? What impact does this violence have on voters? And when they count the ballots, will the pen be mightier than the sword?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

We have asked the question before: does Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine put superpowers on a collision course? With the revelation that Iran is supplying Russia with not just drones but ballistic missiles, allies strongly suggest that a UK-US summit in Washington this Friday could, on the quiet, mean the end to the Biden administration's restrictions on Ukraine using the long-range missiles it provides for strikes deep inside Russia. 

Already Kyiv is growing bolder in response to the Kremlin's relentless targeting of its critical infrastructure, with Ukrainian drones this week hitting a military airport near Moscow and aiming for bases in Murmansk, all the way on the Arctic Sea. What would be legitimate targets for US-made ATACMs and Franco-British-made Storm Shadows? In view of Tehran's role, could war in the Middle East and tensions in eastern Europe conflate into one?

On that score, we hear what the candidates for US president had to say in their Tuesday showdown. How is that electoral campaign weighing on the military campaign between Russia and Ukraine?

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip. 

So what are US presidential debates about: substance or style? Policy or punchlines? Our panel has brought its scorecard from Tuesday's one and so far only showdown between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

We ask if it all went to script, and what that script is in a tight race with huge consequences for the whole planet. A fleeting instance of infotainment or a moment that might move the needle?

Central is the strategy: in 2024, is it all about energising your followers or convincing the undecided and the apathetic? What does this race say about the United States and the path it wants to pursue?

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Hapib. 

After a stint at the Dutch embassy in Caracas, Venezuela’s opposition candidate for president Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia has chosen exile in Spain over arrest by his election rival, incumbent Nicolas Maduro. Did the 76-year old former diplomat do the right thing? 

How about the leader of the opposition coalition, Maria Corina Machado? The conservative – who was barred from running – insists she is staying put in Venezuela, all the while playing hide-and-seek with authorities who are also threatening her with jail time.

As for the successor of Hugo Chavez, he claims he won in the July 28 first round with 56 percent, but still has not released precinct-by-precinct figures to prove it. In the past, Maduro could count on stalwarts of the Latin American left to back him. Will it be different this time? Already Chile's left-wing president has denounced the result while neighbours Brazil and Colombia – who had offered to mediate this latest crisis – are weighing their options.

More broadly, how does oil-rich Venezuela do it? It seems to lurch from crisis to crisis with no change at the top in a quarter-century. What are the options for the opposition? What are the options for the country's 28 million citizens?

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Maria Rosa Zampaglione. 

As Europe waits on France to form a government, as the world waits on the US to pick a president, who drives the agenda?

In the wake of the January 6th 2021 storming of the US Capitol, the rest of the world thought there is no way Americans would ever again elect Donald Trump.

So why – despite all the initial excitement around Kamala Harris, despite charges that include trying to overturn an election – is he still ahead in the polls going into Tuesday’s night’s debate against the vice president?

The Democrats have scored points on issues like women’s rights – all the while shifting towards Trump’s views on trade and immigration. How much of a shift? To what degree are self-styled illiberals driving policy in 2024?

Here in France, where the president has tapped a Gaullist conservative to try and form a government that’s palatable to a divided new parliament, Trump admirer Marine Le Pen insists that she in no way had a hand in Emmanuel Macron’s pick of Michel Barnier even though the far-right leader has clearly emerged as kingmaker from an inconclusive snap election. Are the illiberals winning the battle of ideas?

 

Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip and Juliette Brown. 

The seven-week wait is finally over. Succeeding France's youngest prime minister of the past century is its oldest yet: Michel Barner. President Macron on Thursday appointed the Brussels veteran to try and form a government that can survive a vote of no confidence. The EU's former Brexit negotiator will now have to muster all his negotiating savvy.

Macron's gamble on snap elections delivered the most splintered parliament since the Fifth Republic while appointing a new Gaullist PM whose party finished fifth. That begs the broader question: Who has got the legitimacy to govern? And with what mandate after those elections?   

General de Gaulle introduced the 1958 Constitution which granted more powers to sitting presidents, allowing them to weigh on policy despite lacking a majority in government. How much power does Macron still have now that he has shown his hand and played his cards?  

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

First the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, now the ban on Twitter in Brazil. After years of making outrage and tribalism their business model, are tech titans getting their comeuppance? In this edition, we ask about the almighty showdown between the billionaire owner of the social media platform now known as X and the chief justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court who has extended the ban to VPN systems that try to flout the ruling.

Alexander de Moraes just notched up an important win, what with Musk’s Starlink satellite system relenting on initial plans to defy the Twitter ban. There’s the broader question of how to make a digital public square that extends beyond echo chambers without peddling hate and disinformation.

Musk’s own timeline has become the bullhorn of a billionaire tycoon who opposes taxes and immigrants. Donald Trump’s now promised him a role auditing the US government if the Republican nominee wins in November. In an age where so much wealth is concentrated in the hands of so few, what are the limits to one man’s powers?

 

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Are the gloves off in Israel? After the October 7th attack by Hamas, the nation put aside bitter differences. But after the killing of six Israeli hostages, cue the biggest protests since last year’s attempted judicial overhaul by Binyamin Netanyahu’s hard right government. Demonstrators accuse the prime minister of piling on demands to extend a war that has become his ticket to staying in power. 

Netanyahu is doubling down on his decision to now prioritise the occupation of the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt, while pushing back against growing pressure from allies. He has also called the UK’s decision to suspend certain arms exports licenses to Israel "shameful". What is the plan in London and Washington?

What is the plan for Netanyahu? Can he lead a divided nation in a war that is also involving the West Bank and the Lebanese border? With all the protests, does Netanyahu he still have the support to keep going?

 

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

Thuringia may represent just two percent of Germany's population, but the eastern state is hardly an outlier. The far right finished first in Sunday's regional elections, while also surging in nearby Saxony. Admittedly, the AfD, whose lead candidate Björn Höcke was twice fined this year for using Nazi-era slogans at rallies, will not be in government.

It is precisely with the Nazis in mind that Germany hard-baked moderation and compromise into its federal system. Still, how will these results impact policy both in both Berlin and Brussels?

There is another layer of Germany’s past evoked with these elections: the sudden inroads made by anti-immigrant left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht, formerly of the Communist-rooted Die Linke party. She's playing to a "make East Germany great again" sentiment among voters frustrated by Western-looking policymakers. 

Both her BSW party and the AfD denounce military support for Ukraine and enjoy warm relations with Russia, where all the Cold War-era nostalgia can only be music to Vladimir Putin's ears. 

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

At what point does the French president have to hand over the reins of power? It's business as usual on this last Thursday in August at the Élysée Palace for Emmanuel Macron, meeting the new British prime minister before jetting off to Serbia for an official visit. But it’s been nearly two months since his surprise gamble on snap elections backfired and he’s yet to name a new prime minister. 

It's not easy to choose a head of government when parliament is now split three ways between the far right, a coalition of the left and those in between. In fact, it is unprecedented. In a nation that has not known coalition building since Charles de Gaulle changed the constitution back in 1958, how to pass an October budget through a splintered house?

Through it all, the French still went on summer vacation, the trains still ferried fans to the Olympics and Paralympics and parents and teachers still got ready for next week's first day back at school. But how long can the state of limbo last? When does France start to seem rudderless to the rest of Europe and when does it start to matter?

Produced by François Picard, Andrew Hilliar, Ilayda Habip, Meiqi An