Hello and welcome to ways to change the world. I'm Krishnam Garimuthi and this is the

podcast in which we talk to extraordinary people about the big ideas and their lives and

the events that have helped shape them. We are on location in the US Embassy this week

because my guest is General CQ Brown Jr. He is the chief of staff of the US Air Force,

a former instructor and a pilot himself and he grabbed the world's attention.

Not just because of that but because he is the first African-American to hold this

job and because in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protest

that followed he made a remarkable video on YouTube about what he was thinking about which

reflected on his own experience and the experience of other African-American. So we've got a lot

to talk about General Brown. Thank you very much indeed. My pleasure to be here with you today.

I want to begin with Ukraine because that is obviously front and center in the news. How has the war

in Ukraine changed the way you think about defending America and Western democracy?

Well I think one of the key areas I would highlight is the value of allies and partners.

In the long term relations we have in various nations and particularly here in Europe with NATO

and what I was able to see is how quickly many nations came together. But you hate to see a crisis

like this and really the burden that the Ukraine is bearing for us to come together like this but it

also highlights that our security as individuals nations, our security across the globe is never guaranteed

and it's very important for us to pay attention to these kinds of things before they become a crisis

and that's why the long-term relationships between the various nations here in Europe and

really around the world are really so important. In your career obviously we have talked about Russia

as a partner international conferences and summits. Do you now think of them unequivocally as an

adversary? They are an adversary and the thing I think about there is just the, we collect

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