On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute, Michael Herson of American Defense International, former Pentagon Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security, former Pentagon Comptroller Dr. Dov Zakheim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies join host Vago Muradian to discuss stalled debt deliberations on Capitol Hill as the Federal Reserve grapples with a banking crisis that could impact the central bank’s ability to further raise interest rates to fight inflation much less bail out failed institutions as its borrowing capacity is constrained, analysis of the administration’s $842 billion defense budget request, whether French President Emmanuel Macron can survive after driving through much-needed if unpopular increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64, how Washington should respond to Russia’s downing of an American MQ-9 Reaper unmanned reconnaissance aircraft over international waters in the Black Sea to deter China from miscalculating regarding US and allied intelligence assets in the Indo-Pacific, what’s next as Poland and Slovenia agree to supply Ukraine with 16 MiG-29 fighters including possible escalation with Russia, what to expect from Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to Moscow as reports surface that Beijing is supplying Russia with assault rifles and body armor, whether the AUKUS deal will deliver capability in time to deter China, new leadership in Beijing as Seoul and Tokyo warm relations and Pyongyang conducts a missile test, and fears that protests of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s controversial judicial reforms could spark a civil war.
