Host Carol Castiel talks with former US Special Forces officer Mike Waltz, now a Republican Congressman from the state of Florida who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Waltz, who has served in the US military for over 24 years, analyzes the Biden Administration’s policy toward Ukraine, Afghanistan and Africa and speaks of the need to do more to prevent malign actions by China against Taiwan. The second half of the show features an interview with historian and writer, Anne Applebaum, conducted by VOA senior Ukrainian broadcaster, Tatiana Vorozhko, on April 21, immediately after Applebaum met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
Host Carol Castiel talks with Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, and John Fortier, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute about critical issues dominating the US political landscape from the seven hour and 37-minute gap in former President Donald Trump’s phone log on January 6, 2021, the day a violent mob attacked the US Capitol, US President Joe Biden’s decision to release more oil from the US strategic petroleum reserve to mitigate rising fuel prices, the politics surrounding the confirmation of the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court and headwinds for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.
Host Carol Castiel talks with Lauren Speranza, Director of the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), about the new security reality in Europe created by the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine. She analyses the outcome of a special NATO Summit, meetings among G-7 leaders and the European Council in Brussels aimed at strengthening unity and coordinating greater military support for Ukraine and bolstering NATO’s Baltic states and eastern flank.
Host Carol Castiel talks with Congresswoman Shontel Brown, a Democrat from the state of Ohio, who serves on the House Agriculture and Oversight and Reform Committees. Brown, who won a contentious special election for the seat vacated by Representative Marcia Fudge, now Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is serving out her first term in Congress. She shares her thoughts on legislative priorities guided by the principles of equity, inclusion and diversity, enthusiasm for the bipartisan infrastructure law, voting rights, US leadership in combatting Vladimir Putin’s aggression toward Ukraine and the importance of preserving democracy at home.
Host Carol Castiel talks with Russian born, Anna Borshchevskaya, Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, about the latest developments surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including Moscow’s underestimation of national resistance, the impact of the latest raft of sanctions on Russia, the political and economic implications of the dire humanitarian situation, and how the West’s actions and inactions over the last decade have inadvertently contributed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.