China's President Xi Jinping is absent from this year’s United Nations General Assembly, but he’s certainly being talked about. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who also skipped the meeting, is moving the United Kingdom away from its previously hostile stance toward China, arguing that boycotting Beijing is not an option amidst the many global challenges requiring cooperation. He has angered many in his right-wing governing party, particularly longstanding China hawks like former leader Iain Duncan Smith. One Decision's Julia Macfarlane sits down with the UK’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward, who served as their first female Ambassador to Beijing to discuss UK relations with China and Sir Richard Dearlove joins Julia to discuss his takeaways and Russia's role in the UN Security Council.

The world’s leaders descend on New York City this week for the annual gathering of the United Nations—think of it as our global town hall. Amid the backdrop of the Ukraine war, spiralling inflation, natural disasters and heightening superpower tensions, there is a lot to be discussed. It comes also on the heels of the G20, where Indian PM Narendra Modi played a pivotal role in shaping global agreements on Ukraine and pushing for the African Union to join the bloc—an equivalent, he argues, to the EU. As the Global South continues to refuse to pick a side in the war in Europe, we are asking this week: is the West’s global dominance over?

Christiane Amanpour, the legendary foreign correspondent, marked 40 years with CNN this week. She's covered some of the biggest stories of our times: the Gulf wars, the conflict and breakup of the former Yugoslavia, the War on Terror, the Arab Spring, interviewing and challenging world leaders from Washington to London to Paris to Tehran. Having recently returned from Ukraine, she shares with One Decision's Julia Macfarlane and Sir Richard Dearlove what she heard in Kyiv on their counteroffensive against Russia. She also offers an assessment of the strength of American support for Ukraine, the influence of tech barons like Elon Musk on the safeguarding of democracy, and also her thoughts on the newly announced CEO at her network, former BBC Director General Mark Thompson.

As the Washington Post's White House Bureau Chief, Toluse Olorunnipa has an outsized role in how the world—especially the power players in America’s capital city—interpret President Joe Biden’s diplomacy. In this week's bonus episode, Olorunnipa sits down with guest host Brett Bruen to look at what it’s like to travel the globe on Air Force One and write the first draft of history books on major moments from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the controversial decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. They also discuss foreign anxiety over a second Donald Trump term and what role international affairs will play in the presidential election in the United States.

Croatia’s former President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on several occasions faced down Vladimir Putin at the negotiating table. But her experience of the Russian leader might not be what you may expect. Her country Croatia, also knows a thing or two about facing a much larger invading force - which is perhaps why she has been invited to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, so regularly. She sits down with One Decision to discuss what Putin is like close up and what historical parallels Ukraine might draw from the Croatian war of independence against the former Yugoslavia.