SDI RIP
The thirtieth anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s surprise roll-out of the Strategic Defense Initiative has been duly noted within narrow circles. The section of my shoe box files devoted to SDI is thick and inviting. The 4 X 6 card…
March 2013
17 posts
Writing on the Wall
You know who tries to deter cyber-attacks with nuclear weapons? North Korea, that’s who. North Korea released a statement that Kim Jong Il had “ratified the plan of the Strategic Rocket Force for firepower strike” against “the U.S. mainland, their…
Pierre Noir, Again
About a year ago, I wrote about the case of Pierre Noir, the first IAEA inspector to die on the job. Noir died of a heart attack while inspecting a nuclear reactor in Taiwan on January 30, 1978. I am…
Show and TEL
The most rewarding aspect of the Monterey Institute is the students. Okay, it’s the weather. But the students are a close second. We have, for instance, an embarrassment of Chinese-speaking graduate students. One of our best, Jonathan Ray, has been…
WMD-Day + 10
President James K. Polk’s war of choice against Mexico from 1846-48 resulted in the acquisition of what became the states of California, Utah and Nevada, as well as parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming. Mexico received $15 million…
Chinese Chashma Poker Chip?
It’s late Saturday afternoon here in Ipanema, 28 degrees C and fair, and my options are to go back to the beach or blog this. So if I get a little speculative as the paragraphs wear on, just chalk it…
Ring Magnets
Last month, David Albright published screen shots of a solicitation by an Iranian company for ring magnets that may suitable for centrifuge bearings – a crucial component of Iran’s centrifuges. The question is whether the magnets, which fall below the…
Shoot-Look-Shoot
I have a column up at Foreign Policy (“Billion Dollar Baby”) on the announcement by newly installed SECDEF Chuck Hagel that 14 additional ground-based interceptors ought to do it with regard to North Korea. I noted in the piece that…
Emerging Powers and Nuclear Politics
Megan Garcia has penned a great little essay on “emerging powers” in nuclear politics in general, and Brazil in particular. Let me also plug her monograph, Global Swing States and the Non-Proliferation Order. The subject is super important — one of the big…
The Dunn Theorem
Lew Dunn, the Bronx’s gift to the Nonproliferation Treaty, has a theory about NPT Review Conferences. The Dunn Theorem is that back-to-back successes are a rarity; more likely, every other RevCon is a flop. If Lew is right, the next…