The Debate

Iran’s biggest protests since the Women, Life, Freedom movement of 2022 extending everywhere from Tehran’s grand bazaar to remote villages throughout the 31 provinces. As per usual, the government’s offering dialogue while employing deadly force, issuing menacing warnings and slowing the Internet.  Every time social movements arise in the under-sanctions, inflation-hit Islamic Republic, the regime outlasts its opponents. Why should this time be different? What are the variables? We’ll ask about a global stage where Iran’s influence is in stark retreat… in Syria, Lebanon and further away in fellow OPEC member Venezuela. After last summer’s US and Israeli bombing campaign, how resilient do the clerics and the revolutionary guards remain?     Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

It’s a tweet pinned to the top of the official account of the US State Department: "This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened." US diplomacy is making the capture of Venezuela’s president and the threats against Greenland about security. But it was first about drugs and immigration, and now oil and precious minerals.  Read moreTaking over Greenland, a long-standing US obsession So what does drive this present-day version of the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine and its claim that the United States holds imperial sway over its entire hemisphere? We ask about motives and targets. The same Trump administration that wanted to cut a quick deal with the Kremlin on Ukraine is first pressuring an ally of Moscow in South America and now defying Vladimir Putin with the boarding in the North Atlantic of a Russian-flagged ghost tanker originally bound for Caracas. What reaction can we expect from China, the main importer of Venezuelan crude? Read moreUS military seizes Russian-flagged oil tanker in North Atlantic And what do NATO allies make of a US that expresses support for a plan that would effectively halt Russia's advance in Ukraine, while threatening to seize Greenland from Denmark?  Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

As Venezuela's deposed president faces his first US court date on drug trafficking charges, back in Caracas, Nicolas Maduro's regime remains intact. We ask how a US president who promised no more forever wars will deal with an entrenched system whose local militias have their fingers in drug trafficking, gold and also oil. Donald Trump has talked up oil, while the word democracy has yet to pass his lips since Saturday's raid. Why sideline Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado and the civilian opposition, whose election win was stolen? Will he ultimately try to install a US-style occupation authority? Or simply do business with those currently running Venezuela? The country is broken after years of sanctions and mismanagement, but its institutions and cohesion differ vastly from Iraq, Afghanistan and other failed US regime change playgrounds. How will Washington's new age of imperialism mesh with a Venezuela that's about to enter a whole new era? Produced by François Picard, Théophile Vareille, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

It's one of those New Year's resolutions often blurted out after a big family meal. "I'm going to run a marathon!" But like the cautionary saying "puppies aren't for Christmas, they're for life", one wonders how many realise the error of their ways when they're gasping for air during that first January training run. Or not. Not everyone will run a 41-kilometre race in 2026, but more and more will take up what's arguably the world's oldest sport. Why the trend? Is it a mere post-pandemic fad, or the sign of something deeper? We think of running as a solitary pursuit, but it's increasingly a social activity. Running clubs are particularly in vogue among the young, who seek a release from a life that's increasingly happening in front of a screen. Technology is also seeping into the experience, be it with equipment, monitors or apps, to the point that some bemoan the gamification of running. So what's running about: a pursuit or an escape? Goals to achieve or the experience of the journey? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

There's nothing more innately human than humming a tune. Especially when it's made by humans. But don't bother trying to see The Velvet Sundown in concert: the band doesn't exist. The sounds are produced with artificial intelligence. Watch moreThe Velvet Sundown: This band blowing up on Spotify is 100% AI-generated Worse, most listeners can't tell the difference from the real thing. With computers borrowing from real musicians for their inspiration, we weigh the implications. If humans are going to continue to rule artistic creation, then our panel needs to answer one simple question: what makes a hit song? Sometimes it's a gorgeous melody and a brilliant arrangement; sometimes it's an annoyingly easy-to-remember "brain worm" that will stay in your head long after you wish it had departed. Either way, what makes a song special? Produced by François Picard, Aline Bottin, Daniel Whittington, Ilayda Habip and Charles Wente.