One Decision

After a tense start, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky walked away from the NATO summit with some tangible wins—unprecedented long-term security commitments–and a clear path to join the alliance. In this week's bonus episode, Brett Bruen, the former Director of Global Engagement in President Obama’s White House speaks with the Wall Street Journal's Vivian Salama from Vilnius, Lithuania. They...

One Decision’s Julia Macfarlane and former MI6 Chief Sir Richard Dearlove caught up with John Kirby, the head of Strategic Communications at the National Security Council just before the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Kirby discusses the United States and NATO's long-term security commitments to Kyiv, plans to deal with Ukraine's artillery shortage to support the counter-offensive, and concern...

Brett Bruen, who was President Barack Obama’s Director of Global Engagement, co-hosts this week's episode on the NATO Summit with Former Chief of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove. They speak with Leon Panetta, who led the CIA and was United States Defense Secretary, along with having served as White House Chief of Staff and a senior member of the US House of Representatives. They discuss what has to be ac...

Former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson sits down with One Decision’s Julia Macfarlane and former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove for his first ever podcast interview. Johnson discusses the state of the Ukraine war— his thoughts on Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's failed mutiny and details from his recent conversation with former President Donald Trump about supporting Ukraine in def...

Former Director of Global Engagement in the Obama White House, Brett Bruen hosts our weekly special One More Decision with Sir Richard Dearlove for analysis on Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's short-lived coup against Russia and exile to Belarus. Sir Richard shares his views on the aftermath, and what this means for Russian President Vladimir Putin's grip on power and the war in Ukraine.  L...

Former President Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary Mark Esper has come out against his old boss who fired him by tweet in November 2020, just days after the election. Esper has revealed in his memoir that he stayed in the administration in order to ‘hold the line’ against suggestions that the United States might bomb Mexico, Venezuela, or send a quarter million troops to the southern border. One De...

President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a series of strategic deals aimed at strengthening military, economic and technological ties between the two countries. The strategic partnership is crucial as the United States moves to reign in Russia’s influence and counter China’s growing military presence. One Decision's Julia Macfarlane and Sir Richard Dearlove discuss the...

One Decision's Julia Macfarlane and former MI6 Chief Sir Richard Dearlove sit down with Senator Mark Warner, Chairman of the powerful United States Senate Intelligence Committee. In his role, the Virginia Democrat oversees the vast intelligence community and investigations related to national security. The discussion features the committee's work on investigations into the mishandling of classifie...

Two major decisions by European entities this week will likely transform how the world interacts with technology. First, the European Parliament passed legislation that could introduce some of the first major regulations around the use of artificial intelligence, including how the police deploy facial recognition systems. POLITICO's Chief Brussels Correspondent Suzanne Lynch just returned from Str...

One Decision sits down with Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas to talk about America’s foreign policy priorities and what should be done about China. Hutchinson is an outsider in the race, but insists he is there to widen the parameters of the debate, as Trump and DeSantis continue to offer a populist, nativist vision of America to voters. And, Sir Ri...

Since President Biden and President Xi exchanged handshakes and smiles at last year’s G20, relations between the two powers have been on shaky ground. Most recently, the United States Defense Secretary was snubbed by his Chinese counterpart in Singapore during a regional defense summit. The Chinese military has lashed out at the United States holding a joint exercise with Canada in the waters arou...

Ukraine finally began its long-awaited counteroffensive on June 4th, two days before D-Day, the anniversary of the liberation of Europe from the Nazis. Much is at stake - but barely after Ukraine began calculated assaults along Russian lines, someone blew up the Kakhovka Dam. A torrent of floodwater has been unleashed on tens of thousands of homes in both Russian and Ukrainian controlled areas, an...

Professor George Gao, the former head of China's Centre for Disease Control (CDC) recently told the BBC that no theory for the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic should be ruled out including whether or not it came from a lab, after years of extremely insistent public denials from the Chinese leadership. Gao added that China investigated whether the virus may have originated from the Wuhan Institute...

As the world rushes to meet its targets for a green-powered revolution, the demand for materials like cobalt are set to double by the year 2050 due to its critical role in the manufacturing of lithium ion batteries, and the rising demand for electric vehicles. Author and activist Siddharth Kara sits down with One Decision's Julia Macfarlane to discuss his new book, "Cobalt Red: How the Blood of th...

Russian forces captured the city of Bakhmut largely led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group and its fighters—who suffered heavy losses on the battlefield. One Decision’s Julia Macfarlane and former MI6 Chief Sir Richard Dearlove discuss Russia's next move as it prepares for Ukraine's counter-offensive, and what's behind the border skirmishes in the Russian town of Belgorod...

In recent months the Biden administration has put a concerted effort into wooing the African continent. It’s not a moment too soon, because China is busy forging ties and building infrastructure across African countries - with a growing number of African economies, such as Ghana’s, becoming increasingly dependent on the Chinese to bail out their debt. Russia has also been busy, deploying Wagner me...

In this week's One More Decision, former Director of Global Engagement in the Obama White House, Brett Bruen is joined by Nikkei's Diplomatic Correspondent Ken Moriyasu from the G7 summit venue in Hiroshima to discuss Japan's agenda as it plays host to world leaders in the city that suffered the first nuclear attack in the world. They discuss what will come from the high-stakes gathering, China's...

Venezuela is known to have the world’s biggest reserves of crude oil - but more than 90% of its citizens live in poverty. Millions of people have fled the country since 2015, in what the United Nations has described as the second biggest displacement disaster in the world. The policies of the Hugo Chavez government live on in the Bolivarian regime and leadership of Nicholas Maduro - but can the co...

En un episodio especial de One Decision en español Brett Bruen, exasesor del presidente Obama, entrevista a Juan Guaidó en su primera visita como exiliado a Washington D.C. El expresidente venezolano reflexiona sobre las lecciones aprendidas, las sanciones y hasta hace una autocrítica de la gestión del gobierno interino. Revela la influencia rusa en el país asentado sobre las mayores reservas de p...

Judges in Pakistan have ordered the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan from custody after his dramatic arrest in Islamabad on what his supporters claim are trumped up charges of corruption. The Supreme Court has ordered Khan be freed on protected bail, meaning he cannot be re-arrested on the same charges for another two weeks. The country has seen waves of violence after his supporters wh...

Turkey’s longtime leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing what many describe as his toughest election yet. On Sunday, May 14th polls will open for presidential and parliamentary elections, and amid a dire economic crisis in the country, his prospects are in doubt. His leading rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu is a mild-mannered and bookish elderly lawmaker who is presenting himself as a man of the people, a...

The United States and Ukraine have strongly denied any involvement in an alleged drone assassination attempt against Vladimir Putin this week. According to Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, two drones were reportedly downed by Russian air defences above the Kremlin, the fortress which is the heart of the government. One Decision’s Julia Macfarlane and Sir Richard Dearlove analyze the incident, the...

One Decision's Sir Richard Dearlove was a guest of the Kyiv government during the last week of April - coinciding with the day that Russia launched its biggest air strikes on Ukraine in two months. Sir Richard reveals the details of his unfortunate night spent in a bomb shelter in Kyiv, what he learned from conversations on the ground with high-level government officials, Ukraine's focus on NATO's...

Former Director of Global Engagement in the Obama White House, Brett Bruen joins to host our weekly special One More Decision to provide analysis on President Joe Biden's announcement—that at 80 years old he will seek another term as president setting up a potential Trump vs. Biden rematch in 2024. Brett speaks with Johanna Maska, the former Director of Press Advance at the White House during the...

If Donald Trump were to return to office in 2025 he would find that NATO, the target of so many of his scathing comments, is now more closely resembling the kind of alliance the former President said he wanted. It is more muscular, fed by bigger budgets paid for by its constituent European parts. And as NATO changes, Japan and Germany have shifted away from their postwar military restraint in the...