In August, the disputed territory of Kashmir – split between three nations – was thrown into chaos when India stripped it of its special autonomous status. Soldiers filled the streets, and in the communications blackout it was hard to know exactly what was going on. New Yorker staff writer Dexter Filkins and journalist Rana Ayyub give Christiane firsthand accounts of the situation.

Two weeks after entering the 2020 race for president – and with some catching up to do – billionaire Michael Bloomberg is perhaps not where you’d expect: he’s in Madrid, attending the COP25 climate summit. Christiane speaks exclusively with him in Madrid to discuss climate, impeachment and why he thinks he’s best placed to defeat President Trump.

To assess Michael Bloomberg’s chances and the state of the presidential race, Christiane speaks with political analyst John Avlon, who also happens to be the former speechwriter for another previous New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani.

In his latest book, “Transaction Man," veteran journalist and author Nicholas Lemann offers his take on the ideal of the American Dream – and why, for so many, it’s dying. Power, he says, has shifted away from government and corporations towards the financial sector. He joins Walter to explain the key points of his book.

This year, Bernardine Evaristo became the first black woman – and Britain’s first black author ever – to win the prestigious Booker Prize. She won it jointly with Margaret Atwood, almost forty years since beginning her career as a writer seeking to elevate unheard voices and narratives. She joins Christiane in London to discuss what her win means to her.

George Soros has spent years working to promote democracy in Ukraine and other emerging east European democracies, and along the way has become the target of conspiracy theories portraying him as trying to undermine the president. Patrick Gaspard is president of the Soros Open Society Foundations, one of the world’s largest philanthropies, and he joins the program to discuss.

Christian Siriano is one of the United States' foremost fashion designers who is thriving at a time of major cutbacks in the industry. He’s best known for his breathtaking visual imagination and for championing body positivity and diversity, both on the runway and the red carpet. Alison sits down with Siriano to discuss some of his most iconic designs and why he’s happy to break the rules.

Artist Dread Scott says “you can’t understand American society if you don’t understand slavery.” His latest work is a recreation of Louisiana’s German Coast uprising of 1811, the largest slave rebellion in the U.S. It involves over 500 people retracing the 26 mile route that was to lead them to freedom. Christiane speaks with Scott about the weight of the past for African Americans today.

Well over 200 people have been killed in a brutal crackdown against protestors in Iran, according to Amnesty International, but the Trump administration claims the death toll could be over 1,000. Farnaz Fassihi has been closely documenting these unfolding events for the New York Times, and joins the program to discuss her findings.

Following this week's NATO leaders meeting in London, Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó responds to President Macron calling NATO "brain dead" and explains Hungary's stance in the international community.

George Church’s current projects range from growing human organs to resurrecting the woolly mammoth. The Harvard genetics professor is at the cutting edge of genetic experimentation, having helped develop the first method for sequencing a genome and the gene editing tool CRISPR. Church joins Walter to discuss this transformative technology and address the ethical issues in genetic engineering.

One week from today, U.K. voters go to the polls in the third major vote in five years. It’s set to be a particularly dramatic general election, with voters having to wrestle with Brexit, something that has completely polarized the country and its parties. Rory Stewart makes the case for why centrism needs to be re-energized and discusses prison sentencing in the U.K.

The latest casualty in the Democratic presidential field was California Senator Kamala Harris, who had initially seemed one to watch, but this week abruptly dropped out of the running. To examine this and the impeachment hearings, Christiane speaks with a bipartisan duo: Democrat Russ Feingold and Republican Mia Love.

In a time of heightened political tension, Jonathan Haidt has a good idea of what’s driving this polarized atmosphere around the world. He is a social psychologist who believes social media has transformed in recent years to become an “outrage machine,” spreading anger and toxicity. He sits down with Hari to discuss this difficult problem and what the possible solutions could be.

Today, four constitutional scholars testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee about impeachment. It follows the testimony to the Intelligence Committee of multiple career foreign service officials, whom critics have said were sidelined by President Trump, leaving key national security issues in the hands of cronies. Michael Lewis, author of “The Fifth Risk," joins the program to discuss.

In an unguarded moment, a camera caught a few NATO allies joking about Trump’s long press conferences, which prompted the president to call Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau “two faced.” This week's summit has been somewhat bumpy, but is the 70 year old NATO alliance still on track? Christiane speaks with President Trump’s Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Emmy Award-winning director Feras Fayyad's film "The Cave" documents the work of Syrian doctor Amani Ballour as she manages an underground hospital in Ghouta, outside Damascus. Hari Sreenivasan sits down with Fayyad to discuss the film and his own traumatic experience of being kidnapped and imprisoned in Syria. Their conversation contains images of war victims and descriptions of torture.

Some of President Macron's sharpest criticisms today were aimed at President Erdogan, while Erdogan has called Macron "brain dead" for questioning his offensive into Syria, and is now blocking a NATO defense plan for the Baltics and Poland unless Turkey receives support for its effort to defeat Syrian Kurd forces on its borders. Erdogan's senior advisor joins Christiane to discuss the situation.

President Trump is in London for NATO's 70th's birthday, proud that other members are contributing more money to the defense organization than before. But there was also tension on display today between Trump and French President Macron, as they sparred over NATO, ISIS and Turkey. Bobby Ghosh, a veteran analyst of foreign affairs, joins the program to assess the fallout.

A new exhibition of female Iranian artists curated by photographer and filmmaker Shirin Neshat explores the nexus between politics, protest and culture. Christiane speaks with Neshat alongside another prominent Iranian exile, human rights activist Hadi Ghaemi, to discuss the history and emotional significance behind the exhibition.