Years · 2011

December 2011

13 posts

Article

Broken Arrows

Consider this long post a crude proselytizing effort in this holiday season for those who doubt the existence of God, angels, guardians, guides, benevolent spirits, or deities of any kind or persuasion. One way to get religion is to have…

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India Was Khan’s Fourth Customer

Josh Pollack has an amazing article in Playboy (of all places) that identifies AQ Khan’s so-called fourth customer: India. The image of a Pakistani magistrate revoking AQ Khan’s pardon intercut with scenes of Josh cavorting with bunnies at the Playboy…

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Pakistan’s Patrons

India remains thoroughly non-aligned, even after its civil nuclear deal with Washington. Pakistan, in contrast, needs patrons, and has succeeded in having two powerful ones — Washington and Beijing – to counterbalance India, a significant diplomatic accomplishment. No other country…

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Bountiful Harvest for Year End Contest

Responses so far have blown away expectations. It’s good to know that some of you are stealing time away from other preoccupations to dip into your playlists about the Bomb and to craft new lyrics to old favorites. But other…

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Pakistan’s Nuclear Artillery?

This is, purportedly, a very interesting Urdu-language article in a Pakistani paper, The News.  I don’t read Urdu, so as far as I know, this is just a recipe for chicken biryani. According to some translations floating around, the article…

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Year-End Contest

It’s that time of year again: time for the annual (?) contest for readers whose aesthetic reach extends their technical grasp. Last year’s contest – best quip about the Bomb – was a resounding success. This time around, let’s combine…

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Farewell Happy Hour, Thursday 12/15

I first stepped off the escalator at Dupont Circle for the very first time in May 1996.  After spending most of the past fifteen years in Washington, I am throwing in the towel and moving to Monterey, California.  (We’re just…

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Special Delivery from North Korea

A Friend of Blog thoughtfully collected these specimens in Pyongyang last week: They are, of course, postage stamps commemorating the “successful” delivery into orbit of North Korea’s two satellites, Kwangmyongsong-1 (1998) and Kwangmyongsong-2 (2009). Maybe next time they should try…

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Collected Thoughts on Phil Karber

Well, what to say about Phillip Karber’s forthcoming report that suggests China might have more than 3,000 nuclear weapons stashed away in all those tunnels that the Second Artillery has been building over the past few decades? Well, for one…

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12 Nov Blast at Military Base in Iran

Some readers have asked why we have yet to comment on the very interesting November 12 explosion at  an Iranian missile facility (35°37’26.69″N, 50°52’23.88″E), as well as reports of another explosion near Isfahan.  The short answer is that, despite a…