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 and Dr. Kathleen McInnis, the director of the Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Topics:

— Implications of one lawmakers, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., blocking move by Congress to approve $40 billion in aid for Ukraine, $7 billion more than requested by President Biden

— Finland’s formal move to join NATO and what Helsinki brings to the alliance and how Russia will respond

— Whether Sweden will follow suit and if enlargement will face opposition from Hungary and Turkey

— How Ukraine war will shape the strategic concept to be adopted by NATO members at upcoming summit in Madrid

— Value of UK move to strike security pacts with Finland and Sweden in advance of NATO membership announcements

— Need for national leaders to make the case for continued support for Ukraine to avoid the conflict becoming “frozen,” handing Russia a victory

— Grading President Biden and his team on making the same for Ukraine support

— Key takeaways from extraordinary meeting of ASEAN leaders at the White House

— Update on newsflow across the Pacific including North Korea’s admission of covid outbreak

— Britain’s strategic security agreement with Japan

— Deadly violence in Israel and what it means