On this Washington Roundtable episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast, sponsored by Bell, our roundtable guests are Dov Zakheim, PhD, former DoD comptroller, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Byron Callan of the independent equity research firm Capital Alpha Partners, Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute and Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute.

Topics:

— Biden defense budget expectations as Republican leaders call to boost military spending

— “Specious" and Dangerous” nature of Democratic arguments to justify US defense spending cuts

— After action report on last week’s US-China meetings as Beijing lashes out at Britain, Canada and EU for siding with Washington in sanctioning Chinese officials

— Dispelling the notion that China lacks allies and partners as Beijing shares common interest with Moscow, Pyongyang, Tehran, Caracas — and even close US allies

Biden’s approach to Afghanistan withdrawal and signals it sends allies and partners worldwide

— Tradeoffs by UK to retire current systems and take immediate risk to invest in capabilities to reduce future risk — and lessons for the United States

— Blockage of Suez Canal and impact on global supply chains

— Rising food prices and potential implications for global instability