36 posts
Is the Triad a Cold War relic, like Ice Station Zebra? I have long thought that a significant reduction in nuclear weapons — say 1000 or fewer deployed warheads — would require not merely downloading of warheads, but cuts to…
Congratulations Rick, you made the New York Times! In the New York Times Magazine, Bill Broad playfully detailed how North Korea’s rocket launch was used in the policy debate over missile defense. For a witty opening, he linked to a…
click on the image for a larger version R is the number of secondary cases caused by each infected person; thus R=1.1 means for each ten people sick, one more person will come down with the disease they will transmit…
Another dispatch from Michael Krepon’s shoebox, this one related to late Edward Teller (right) and his argument for ratifying the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty: “The ABM Treaty which is up for ratification… merely recognizes political realities. We must make a…
red=confirmed swine flu infections as of 26 April 2009 orange=suspected infections To put this into SAT format: Public health surveillance is to pandemics (and bio-weapons) as ballistic early warning radars are to nuclear war. In addition to sharing an early…
Some people have been wondering what happened to TotalWonkerr.com. Well. Glad you asked. ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a great island called Atlantis, west of the Pillars of Herakles. (Left at Gibraltar, then a couple blocks down — boom,…
With the discovery of a new and deadly flu virus in Mexico that might become a worldwide pandemic, I wanted to familiarize myself with the terminology used and bandied about so much in the media. This is the flu naming…
I can hear the sound of Jeffrey rushing to book a plane ticket. Or at least asking his programme assistant to do so. From the NYT: A senior Chinese naval officer said that China would unveil its nuclear submarines to…
A cool collection of vacuum tubes. So, you know how General Kevin Chilton, STRATCOM Commander, and others have been making to case for the “Reliable Replacement Warhead” by arguing that we must replace the vacuum tubes (more) remaining in the…
We are starting a new feature — Michael Krepon’s shoebox. As you will see from his explanatory note, he has collected quotes over thirty years, largely organized around his book writing projects. (You should check out his most recent book,…
