On That Aeroflot Advert
Update | 1 September 2012 The image is from the 2011, not 2012, Victory Day Parade. I managed to find a high-resolution aerial shot of the 2012 Parade that allows us to exclude 2012 That would make the second set…
Jeffrey Lewis
Reciprocal Unilateral Measures
“Reciprocal unilateral measures” is not my favorite phrase, despite my rather considerable affection for some of the people who have made use of it. There is nothing wrong with the concept, mind you, but RUMs? Ugh. The term is back…
Deterring Syria’s CW
A minor miracle the other day. U.S. President Barack Obama drew a “red line” concerning Syria’s chemical weapons. Everyone understood what he meant. No one thought he was threatening to nuke Syria. Hallelujah!
Ayatollah’s Pregnant Pause
Sorry about the light posting as of late — the day job has been busier than usual and the new column at Foreign Policy is definitely a lot of work. I’ve started a few posts, but got hung up in…
Diplomacy 101
What are we to make of these two statements, one by Senator Jon Kyl and the other by Representative Michael Turner? A central tenet of the Obama Administration’s security policy is that, if the U.S. ‘leads by example’ we can…
My Own Sleuthing From Home
Sorry about the light posting last week, but I had a bit of an adventure. Let me tell you about it. One of my favorite articles of all time was published in 1993 in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Called…
Do We Need ICBMs?
The Commander of the US Strategic Command, C. Robert “Bob” Kehler recently offered support for the Triad — the trinity of bombers, land-based missiless and ballistic missile submarines — that some people have chose to characterize as tepid. Now, admittedly…
DPRK Panel of Experts
I have a new post up over at 38 North looking at the role of the Panel of Experts supporting the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006) — the resolution establishing sanctions on the DPRK. I had…
When the Navy Declassifies …
I always figured the number of Tomahawk cruise missiles in the Navy inventory was a classified number. Turns out, the Navy has been publishing the number since at least 1997. The Navy also, between 1997-2000, published the number of TLAM/N…
Iran Mil Power Report
In April 2012, the Defense Department released another edition of the (purportedly) annual Report to Congress on the Military Power of Iran. As in 2010, I am struck by the arbitrariness of headline that has emerged. This year it is:…