South Korea’s “Main Enemy”
In the last few years, South Korea has gone back and forth over whether to describe the North as “the main enemy.” At one level, the words are immaterial; it’s painfully obvious whose army is lined up on the other…
July 2010
25 posts
IAEA/OECD Red Book
According to the IAEA website, the IAEA and OECD will release Uranium 2009: Resources, Production and Demand — the “Red Book” — tomorrow with a press conference. The Red Book is an essential resource if you want a handy estimate…
And We’re Back
As you can see, we have a spiffy new website, thanks to Greg at hexive and the Ploughshares Fund. (I also want to add a special note of thanks for Derek de Jong, aka Stratwonk, for many many hours of…
Wonk 3.0
The Wonk Engine is getting some scheduled maintenance this weekend. Actually, we’re planning a switch to new content management tools, database migration, move to subdomain blogs, and redesign launch. Whoa! We’ll be offline Friday 16th through Sunday 18th. I’m sure…
Limited Nuclear Options
The first impulse of states that acquire nuclear weapons is “simple” deterrence, and the simplest form of deterrence is massive retaliation to existential threats. (India and Pakistan, for example, now embrace declaratory policies of simple deterrence.) The second impulse, made…
Nat’l Security Strategy & Iran
Does the Obama Administration’s National Security Strategy signal a policy shift that in effect drops the condition that Iran suspend its enrichment related activities as a precondition for negotiations? Stephanie Cooke, Uranium Intelligence Weekly’s editor, thinks so: Speaking of Iran,…
Public Service Announcement
Even in the sweltering July heat, there are still events in the DC area. A few that caught my eye this week. ☞Wednesday, July 14, at noon at CATO. What to Do about North Korea? Featuring Stephen Linton, Karin J.…
Further Enrichment of Salehi’s Statement
Some readers noted errors in my previously posted calculations (Enriching Salehi’s Statement, 25 June 2010). My assumptions were quite wrong. I’ve now, finally, found some time to sit down and revisit my numbers. And as it happens, on the same…
Hangzhou Light Show
Something interesting apparently happened last Wednesday (7/7/2010) in the skies over Hangzhou, China. As regular Wonk-readers will quickly agree, trying to extract reliable information from regular media reports is difficult at best. Unfortunately, almost all the news reports of this…
On Bombing the Bomb
This morning’s Washington Post features an op-ed on Iran policy by former U.S. Senator Charles (Chuck) Robb and retired U.S. Air Force general Charles (Chuck) Wald. It’s a serious, earnest statement, but also seriously flawed. The gist of what The…