29 posts
Words matter, which helps explain the arms control community’s preoccupation with declaratory policies and treaties relating to nuclear weapons. But whatever phraseology emerges from the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review and however long it takes for the CTBT to enter…
As this penultimate year of the decade draws to a close, our thoughts naturally turn to all the changes we have seen. (Don’t ask me why this year and not next, there is just something special I suppose about seeing…
click on the image for a larger version This is the second in a series of preparatory posts leading up to a discussion on the Safir’s guidance system. The first discussed the orientation of the Safir at launch and showed,…
The work of the JASON defense advisory panel — better known as “the JASONs” — tends to be taken quite seriously. Certainly, the conclusions of JASON’s scientists on issues related to nuclear warheads are followed closely in the arms control…
In June 2005, Senator Richard Lugar released the findings of a survey he commissioned of nonproliferation experts. Eighty-five of us responded. Here are some of our pessimistic findings: Question 1: In your estimate, how many nations that do not currently…
What better occasion than Christmas to ponder nuclear terrorism? According to a Dec. 19 story by Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt in the New York Times, the forthcoming Nuclear Posture review will be just as much about preventing nuclear terrorism…
This video is just a little more interesting than watching paint dry—until you realize that it is sound causing that little bright dot in the center! Sonoluminescence, light emitted by a plasma created at the center of a converging spherical…
What is more festive that a batch of Holiday Fudge? A recipe for Holiday Fudge on WMD stationary! My friend Stephanie Kaplan — wonk and entrepreneur — sat down to whip up a batch (she’s a wonderful cook) when she…
Sen. Richard Lugar and former Sen. Sam Nunn near Shchuchye, Russia in 2007 (AP Photo/Douglas Birch) The Arms Control Association is holding their annual “Arms Control Person of the Year” contest. Vote for the 2009 Arms Control Person(s) of the…
We’ve had quite a discussion in the comments over Russia’s recent failed Bulava SLBM test and the pretty spiral it made before crashing into the ocean. Oooh. Aaah. Having largely dispensed with the usual spate of extraterrestrial and paranormal hypotheses…
