Responses so far have blown away expectations. It’s good to know that some of you are stealing time away from other preoccupations to dip into your playlists about the Bomb and to craft new lyrics to old favorites. But other…
It’s that time of year again: time for the annual (?) contest for readers whose aesthetic reach extends their technical grasp. Last year’s contest – best quip about the Bomb – was a resounding success. This time around, let’s combine…
Krasnodar is a beautiful region near the Black Sea which is justly famous for its black tea. It may become the home for Iskander tactical ballistic missiles, now that the Kremlin has pulled the plug on talks with the Obama…
The only top-of-the-charts space-age instrumental was silenced by the highest yield US atmospheric test ever conducted. OK, I’m taking literary license. Readers of a certain age will recall Telstar, the satellite and the top-40 single. Telstar enabled the transmission of…
Hard problems keep earning compound interest, but advanced age and distance from complexity can act as a wonderful solvent. Now that I qualify for Medicare, this syndrome bothers me less than hearing simple solutions from those who cannot use the…
“Gerry” Smith had the look of a bulldog wearing a well-tailored, pin-striped suit. No diplomat’s jaw seemed more able to take a solid punch. Ambassador Smith took more than his share during the first strategic arms limitation talks. The SALT…
Ashley Tellis’ important book, India’s Emerging Nuclear Posture (2001), predicted an “arms crawl” instead of a nuclear arms race on the subcontinent. One major reason for Ashley’s benign assessment was that Indian decision makers “view their nuclear weapons primarily as…
The Bomb lends itself to magical thinking on both sides of the usual divide. Died-in-the-wool realists scoff at arms control, let alone the plans of abolitionists. They tend to ascribe powers to nuclear weapons even beyond the Bomb’s destructive capacity,…
Before wars exhaust America’s patience and treasury, they can generate even more far-reaching aspirations. Higher purposes vary. During the Spanish-American War, President William McKinley felt obliged to set his sights beyond Cuba in order to uplift, civilize, and Christianize Filipinos.…
Critical foreign languages won’t make or break a career, but they can help aspiring wonks gain comparative advantage in the job market. Learning a critical foreign language can also lead to great travel opportunities, and travel, as Mark Twain once…
