Twittering Now
It’s come to this. We will try to integrate the tweets into the site down the road, but for the three people in the world who might be interested: http://twitter.com/ArmsControlWonk
2009
377 posts
How Much Respect Does A Nuclear Arsenal Get?
Cross-posted from TotalWonkerr.com. On August 31, 1998, North Korea conducted its first launch of a multi-stage ballistic missile, which flew over Japan. It failed to deliver a satellite into orbit, notwithstanding the boasts of state broadcasters. On January 10, 2003,…
White Supremacist Trust Fund Dirty Bomber
This is major league weird and a significant coup for WikiLeaks. Walter Griffin, of the Bangor Daily News, reports: James G. Cummings, who police say was shot to death by his wife two months ago, allegedly had a cache of…
Nonproliferation and Banking Reform
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with President Obama today and is reported to be pushing a “Global New Deal” to stop the economic slide. A key element of that program would be reforming bank regulation to prevent the sort…
Sir Michael Quinlan (1930—2009)
It was with genuine and deep sadness that I learnt yesterday of the death of Sir Michael Quinlan, aged 78, on Thursday. In a career within the UK civil service that spanned 40 years, Sir Michael served in a variety…
Presidential Policy Directives
It’s out! We now know that the Obama NSC has named it’s National Security Council-related directives Presidential Policy Directives or PPDs — thanks to Steve Aftergood who has posted a copy of PPD-1. I am mildly obsessed by this topic…
Debating Disarmament
Last September, George Perkovich and I published an Adelphi Paper, Abolishing Nuclear Weapons, which attempted to identify the challenges of getting to zero and how they might be overcome. Most of all, however, it called for serious international debate on…
Unha/Taepodong Test Imminent
Pollack the Wit — no relation to Joe — links to KCNA’s announcement that “preparations for launching experimental communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 by means of delivery rocket Unha-2 are now making brisk headway …” I observe no references, prior to February…
For Satellites, Danger Lurks at the Poles
Average probability of some (any) operational satellite at a give altitude being hit by something, either a piece of space debris, rocket body, or another satellite each year. This was calculated using a flux of space objects with diameters greater…
Nine Cascades In Vacuum
I wanted to talk about Joby Warrick’s story, Iran Easing Aspects Of Nuclear Program, Report Cites Lag at Centrifuge Facility. A senior UN official told journalists that Iran has slowed installation of a second module of 3,000 centrifuges: “The pace…