The Debate

Feb 04 2025 23 ep. 43 mins 956
The Debate Podcast artwork

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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Trump and South Africa: doing Musk's bidding?

Feb 04 2025 43 mins  
We would assume that the new president of the United States has a pretty full in-tray. So at first glance, it was a bit of a surprise to hear Donald Trump lash out at South Africa, threatening to cut aid over its 2023 employment equity act. There’s an obvious suspicion over who did the whispering in Trump’s ear. South African-born Elon Musk has been locking horns with the ANC-l

Who needs soft power? Trump threatens neighbours with tariffs

Feb 03 2025 43 mins  
Forget soft power. It's all about hard bargains. Donald Trump is making good on his campaign promise of tariffs and is starting with his closest neighbours. We ask if it's all a big made-for-reality-TV drama that ends at the negotiating table. He has already hit pause on tariffs for Mexico. How much has the world's most powerful nation decided to throw its weight around? We gauge r

Return to Damascus: How to build the new Syria?

Jan 29 2025 43 mins  
For exiled Syrians, this is their Berlin Wall moment—the doors to a homeland they thought they'd never see again are suddenly swinging open. The heady days following December 8 and the fall of Assad's seemingly immovable regime have brought an unexpected Christmas gift: a return to Damascus. But as the initial euphoria fades, clear-eyed Syrians know better than to declare "and th

Panic in Silicon Valley? China's DeepSeek challenges US supremacy over AI

Jan 28 2025 45 mins  
On his first full day back in power, US President Donald Trump trumpeted a $500 billion plan to build giant data centres for artificial intelligence. The photo op put the rest of the world on notice: the billionaire tech bros of Silicon Valley reign supreme, with the full weight of the White House behind them. Fast forward to Monday and the record $590 billion drop in the market va

Lessons from the last survivors: How to remember the Holocaust?

Jan 27 2025 44 mins  
Some 50 former inmates of the largest of the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau have made the trip to Poland for the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation. How to process the collective folly of the industrial-scale mass extermination of 1 million Jews, along with 100,000 others, in the space of a few short years? The Holocaust shattered the belief that technology could onl

Davos 2025: How can Europe find the money to achieve its goals?

Jan 27 2025 42 mins  
With public coffers depleted and an ageing population putting pressure on social safety nets, how can Europe mobilise the financial resources necessary to meet its triple goals of a decarbonised economy, effective defence and technological competitiveness? FRANCE 24's Charles Pellegrin puts the question to his panel of guests at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The Covid Backlash: Trump targets UN's World Health Organization

Jan 23 2025 42 mins  
In a crowded Paris metro car or at the counter of a bustling café, it’s easy to forget what loomed over us just five years ago. Yet, on the fifth anniversary of the first Covid-19 lockdown in Wuhan, China, the headlines tell a different story: Donald Trump, on his first day back in office, signing an order for the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization.

Can Europe rise to the challenge? Trump takes on traditional allies

Jan 22 2025 44 mins  
Do they stand firm or bow to the pressure? Europe is facing a clear message: Donald Trump’s administration isn't just pushing liquefied natural gas exports. The US is demanding that the continent adjust to a new reality. From walking away from multilateral efforts on climate change and global tax standards, to charting its own course on regulating tech – especially artificial i

Back with a vengeance? Trump's bid to unravel the Biden years on day one

Jan 21 2025 44 mins  
With a few strokes of the pen, it’s as if he never left. Or is it? On day one of his second term, Donald Trump pardoned nearly all those convicted in the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol. Has the 45th and now 47th president succeeded in rewriting the narrative?

Special coverage: Trump sworn in as 47th US president

Jan 20 2025 43 mins  
It's a second coming and a very different Washington. Four years after his unseating at the ballot box and an insurrection that rattled the world's most powerful nation, a victorious Donald Trump returns to the White House with the promise of radical change. François Picard's panel of guests give us their take on his inaugural address and what we can expect from Trump 2.0.