Gardening and Arms Control
I contend, as readers of these posts know, that being a Red Sox fan is helpful training for the profession of arms control. So, too, is gardening. At the ripe old age of 68, Thomas Jefferson wrote, I have often…
April 2010
29 posts
Missile Defense and the Prague Treaty
Does the Prague Treaty (aka New START) limit missile defenses? Certainly the text mentions defenses, but does it limit them? “Limit” is a very particular word — The definitions in OED suggest usage most often involves those things that we…
Grading the NPR: Transparency
As I have already argued, I believe the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review is a significant achievement — in a way that critics and some surprising advocates don’t quite grasp yet. Because everyone is focusing on the details — this caveat,…
The Blue and Yellow Bomb (Part 3)
Yesterday, I attended a meeting with the International Law Association in Brighton, and the Swedish nuclear programme was raised again. It is interesting that so much international attention has been given recently to what, essentially, is a but a side…
The Dead Hand
Wow. David Hoffman’s The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy has won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in the category of general nonfiction. To win in that catch-all category, it had to…
“Unveiling” Iran’s New Centrifuge
click on the image for a larger version Iranian president Ahmadinejad unveiled the new IR-2 centrifuge on 11 April 2010 after having viewed it during its development stage in 2008. Unveiling is in quotes because we have, of course, seen…
Arnie Kanter, 1945-2010
The late, great Arnie Kanter, attempts to explain nuclear weapons policy to a very dim student. Arnie Kanter passed away over the weekend. I am disconsolate. When I arrived at the New America Foundation, my first task was to convince…
Malaysia and the Bomb
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najab Razak, man of the hour. For real. [Update | 5:45 pm. The White House has a readout of the Obama-Najab bilat.] When most Americans think of Malaysia, they… Well, most of us don’t think of…
Minot AFB Investigation, meet FOIA
Remember that incident a few years ago at Minot Air Force Base, with nuclear warheads being transported by accident? Of course we do… discussed all over ACW (link, link and link). The Air Force conducted the Commander Directed Report of…
Prague Treaty Text and Protocol
The Russians — big surprise — have released the Russian text of the New START/Prague Treaty and the Protocol. Last I heard, the Obama Administration was planning to wait until the entire packet was submitted to the Senate. Of course,…