Show Notes
The story is as underreported as it is consequential for the entire planet. Three Turkish-owned cargo ships out of Ukraine have been hit in EU waters by suspected Russian drones. One, the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan, sunk on Tuesday off Bulgaria. Ten Egyptian and Syrian crew members are missing. For its part, Ukraine has been hitting Russian tankers in the Black Sea, with no sign of a return to a UN-brokered deal to allow oil, grain and fertiliser ships to pass. With the United States in drawdown mode – and reports that its president's entourage is coveting commercial deals with Moscow – what's Europe to do? That same Europe is still grappling over whether the closing of a few Russian consulates is strong enough of a response to the August drone attack on a Ukrainian cargo plane in Leipzig, Germany. So how far will Russia push Europe? How equipped are Europeans both for hybrid warfare and war on the cheap, with the Ukraine war illustrating how easy it is to mass produce the drones that can pummel cities and sap morale? Is the threat real or exaggerated, particularly in the minds of the tens of millions who will be called on in the coming months to cast ballots in Spanish, French and Italian elections? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.
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Brazil's future is within the margin of error ahead of Sunday's presidential runoff: most of the latest polls put the far-right's Flavio Bolsonaro ahead of left-wing incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – a lead that's narrowed after last weekend's acrimonious debate. We ask about crime, inequality and the other issues that could determine this nail-biter. We also ask whether the nearly 81-year-old Lula has lost his lustre of old, whether Brazilians are ready to overlook the attempted coup conviction of 45-year-old Flavio Bolsonaro's father after he was voted out last time around in 2022, and how Brazil has changed in four years. For starters, its embrace of social media has only snowballed. Brazil is now the planet's third-biggest user of Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. It's such a factor that Meta, the parent group of WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter, has been branded by critics as the third party in the run-off, with Bolsonaro supporters flooding the zone with content. Will all the virtual campaigning tip the scales on Sunday? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Léonore Jaury.
Youth-driven protests have been popping up all over Europe: in Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Albania, Serbia and Greece. The spark here in France was deteriorating conditions in high schools and universities, particularly for students from underprivileged backgrounds. Meanwhile, wages aren't keeping up with inflation. The housing crisis is front and centre in places like Spain and Portugal, while corruption and democratic backsliding have sparked uproar in Albania and Serbia. Last Saturday's unexpected violence in France was mirrored on a smaller scale in Italy's financial capital Milan. The response on both sides of the Alps was a message of firmness and the deployment of troops to stop looters tarnished by the far right as led by foreigners. Will the Melonis and the Le Pens of the continent come out as the big winners? Will this movement mark a turning point for Europe?
Two weeks out from the US midterm elections, there's bipartisan pushback against data centres that suck the water and power out of communities. Just two years ago, ChatGPT was still a brand-new thing, and AI was admired with awe by most voters. Like in 2024, the hot-button issue in swing constituencies remains inflation, or "the price of eggs". But anxiety over the end of the month is now coupled with anxiety over the end of the world. In 2026, AI bots and large language models write papers and churn out campaign ads. We ask about calls for regulation despite fierce resistance from tech billionaires and whether the latest wobbles from the stock market signal that the race to corner the market and scale up at warp speed may be running out of road. Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.
France didn't just erupt on Saturday – it exploded. Police were doubly overwhelmed by the turnout of the October 17 cost-of-living demonstrations, which saw two and-a-half times the crowds they expected. Officers were also overwhelmed by determined flashmobs: some radical militants hellbent on a fight, others who came for the looting. The whole world watched the assault on symbols of the Republic like the 19th-century city hall in Limoges, the usually quiet porcelain capital of France. There's anger over rioting, but also over growing inequality, six months out from a presidential election where the extreme right and left have a huge lead in the polls. What should the response be? How does President Emmanuel Macron's minority lame-duck government, with no money in the state coffers to throw at the problem, restore faith in leadership, institutions including the police – and democracy? What message should be conveyed to France's youth, who sparked the movement to draw attention to deteriorating conditions in their schools? How to offer hope to the next generation? Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.
Can a flick of a switch really be enough for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to end Ukraine's hopes of holding out against Russia? With Kyiv already reeling from daily strikes by Russia's new motor-powered drones, the US decision to slow SpaceX's Starlink service was felt immediately on Wednesday, when air raid warnings failed. We check the status of Starlink, which is reportedly back up to speed, ask if Volodymyr Zelensky has any friends in Washington that can convince an administration that prefers diesel deals with Moscow to supporting Ukraine, and whether supporters of Kyiv in Europe have run out of road. They're striving to wean themselves off eight decades of depending on Washington for their defence. Do they have any agency? If not, is it the end of Ukraine, NATO and even the European Union as we know it? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.