Flu Terminology 101
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…
2009
377 posts
Chinese Nuclear Subs on Display
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…
Vacuum Tubes
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…
Michael Krepon's Shoebox
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,…
Das Puffen Boomer
On Thursday and Friday, I attended a workshop sponsored by AAAS and Princeton concerning advances in Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty monitoring and verification. There was considerable discussion of “venting” — when underground nuclear tests eject radioactive material into the…
DPRK: U'nha-2 Powered Trajectory
Jan Stupl’s contour of pixel intensity of the U’nha-2 contrail image Jan Stupl, who is a Science Fellow at Stanford’s CISAC this year and who has done an amazing experimental and theoretical analysis of the US Airborne Laser, produced a…
DPRK: Back to Square One
Cross-posted from Verification, Implementation and Compliance. The monitors have been switched off. The cameras are being removed from their mounts, and the seals are broken. The guesthouse just off the main site no longer houses the IAEA three-person team or…
DPRK: Cobra Ball vs SBX
A number of us have been wondering why the US didn’t send the Sea-Based X-band (SBX) radar out to see (sorry, I couldn’t resist that!) the Unha-2’s launch. One of the best arguments I’ve heard comes from Victoria Samson who…
Russia's EW Is Worse Than You Thought
Cross-posted from totalwonkerr.com. Last week’s obsessive recapping of the Unha-2 launch provided an occasion to ask why Russian officials have such odd perceptions of North Korean missile and nuclear activity, and what that would imply for the actual use of…
Where Nuclear Weapons Go To Die
Meri Lugo and I have a short piece on nuclear weapons dismantlement in The Argument, Foreign Policy’s “provocation about global politics, economics, and ideas, written by people who shape them.” Speaking in Prague on April 5, U.S. President Barack Obama…