Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast [Aug 21, ’26 Washington Roundtable]

On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute think tank, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security, and former Pentagon Comptroller Dr. Dov Zakheim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss implications of US debt passing $40 trillion as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent intervened in bond markets to cut yields, backfiring by alarming markets that reacted negatively to the move; President Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz as American territory, threatening Iran with an economic “D-Day” and Oman with strikes as the UAE, a financial gateway for Tehran, also imposed sanctions; Israel and Hamas rebuffed Jared Kushner as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared Turkey a threat, striking a facility in Syria where Turkish troops were based; France, Germany and the UN condemned Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir for calling on the execution of 30 to 40 Gazans a day; Ukrainian civilian casualties mount as Moscow concludes Ukraine can no longer defend against large-scale ballistic missile barrages; another corruption scandal involving a close aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has opposition figures calling for elections; a suspected Russian drone is downed by a NATO fighter jet over Latvia as Moscow threatens London for supplying strike drones to Ukraine; the administration’s questionnaire asking allies to detail how nations are exhibiting loyalty to the US president and his policies; Trump’s order the Pentagon abruptly end annual military exercises with South Korea six days early to punish Seoul for not support the Iran War and saying North Korea is a nonthreatening state, which Pyongyang rebuffed with its largest missile tests in months; the impact economic warfare on Iran will have on China; and Taiwan’s defense spending increase that Washington demanded just as some in Washington debate the US pivoting away from Asia.