On this Washington Roundtable episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast, sponsored by Bell, our guests are Dov Zakheim, PhD, former DoD comptroller, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute, Michael Herson of American Defense International and Jim Townsend, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO who is now with the Center for a New American Security.

Topics:

— Senate keeps government open until March 11 as lawmakers move toward full-year appropriations measure

— Analysis of Reuters report that Biden administration will ask for $773 billion for defense in 2023

— Limits of bipartisanship as GOP donors pressure lawmakers after recent cross-aisle cooperation on sanctions and other measures

— Whether Russia will invade Ukraine now that Duma has moved to recognize Russian separatist enclaves of Donetsk and Luhansk in Eastern Ukraine, and Moscow has massed 190,000 around Ukraine and ramped up cyber attacks and artillery strikes

— What Vice President Kamala Harris and US leadership team need to marshal allies and partners against Russia at the Munich Security Conference

— Motivation for French President Emmanuel Macron’s drive for European sovereignty

— Analysis of the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy

— Outlook for AUKUS partnership to equip Australia with nuclear powered attack submarines

— DoD’s new competition strategy to help reduce cost and drive innovation

— Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s historic trip to Bahrain and update on Iran nuclear negotiations

— Warming Israeli-Turkish relations as a consequence of Ukraine crisis and possible gas cutoff to Europe