Is it better than Putin bargained for? Critics of Geneva talks between Cold War rivals say they reward the Kremlin for its massive troop build-up on the Ukrainian border. Would the United States be sitting down with Russia without the threat of an invasion? Is it better to talk or not to talk?

On the first anniversary of the US Capitol assault, the arrests and revelations keep coming over a planned insurrection, encouraged and never denounced by an outgoing president who was trying to stop the certification of an election he had lost. Two weeks later, despite pressure from the top to overturn the will of the people in states like Georgia and Pennsylvania, institutions held firm and a new president was sworn in.

When Emmanuel Macron first ran for president five years ago, he touted himself as a disruptor; a leader who could reform France from outside the box of the traditional political parties. It turns out the reformer can sometimes be a loose cannon. We ask our panel about the incumbent's latest shock statement that's got the chattering classes going in Paris.

We bring you a special edition of the FRANCE 24 Debate marking the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Growing up, it seemed as if the zero-sum game of the Cold War would last forever. What did we see coming? And what did we miss as supplies ran low, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant broke down, the Red Army suffered setbacks in Afghanistan and the Communist Party's grip started to loosen, in the far reaches of an empire that stretched over 11 time zones?

Can we stomach it? We're going to have to change our eating habits if we're going to save the planet. At the approach of the holiday season, amid a pandemic that's got many people home cooking instead of restaurant dining, a "no longer so quiet" revolution is on the move. In the past decade, vegetarian dishes have already stopped being a rarity on Parisian menus. But how much of a sacrifice will the future be for meat lovers?

What's it really like inside the new Afghanistan? Four months after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, FRANCE 24 went to the capital and beyond to speak to citizens from all walks of life. What they heard was a mix: relief that the guns have gone quiet but worry over the prospect of a bleak winter, with more than half the population facing acute food shortages.

Nine years after Timbuktu welcomed them as liberators, French troops are withdrawing from their final outpost in Mali's north. There are no cries of mission accomplished: the jihadist radicals who scattered when French-led forces intervened in 2013 have long since morphed into a low-intensity insurgency with raids as far away as the far north of Benin. With the summer's chaos in Afghanistan still fresh in memories, when is the right time to end a military intervention?

With Tehran feared to be weeks away from a point of no return on nuclear weapons, are we looking down the barrel of an arms race in the Middle East? With little optimism in the air for the current round of talks in Vienna, where might this leave the Biden administration? Does the US have the stomach for a fight? And is a fight really what's unfolding? Traditional lines in the sand seem to be out the window as the same Gulf states that are cementing new ties with Israel are also keeping channels open with Tehran.

Functioning democracy completes peaceful transition of power. These days, that is no longer always a given. Germany's story is one of continuity but also change, even if the new chancellor is a familiar face who has been dubbed the Scholzomat for his monotone ability to stay on-message. Olaf Scholz may sound boring, but the platform of the country's first three-party coalition since the 1950s reads like a manifesto for wholesale reform.

Would Russia really invade Ukraine? Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin are speaking by video link after more than a month of escalation in eastern Ukraine and across the Russian border, where a troop build-up has got NATO allies warning of red lines and harsh sanctions if those troops cross over. We debrief the virtual summit and Washington's threat to send more troops to Eastern Europe in case of attack.