Years

2013

164 posts

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How Long an “Interim”?

Critics of the interim agreement suggest that we wait for sanctions to have more bite. But while we wait, Iran’s stockpile of fissile materials will grow, and the Arak reactor moves closer to completion. Another alternative would be to bomb…

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Interim Deal with Iran

Update | Read the text of the Joint Plan of Action. From the White House release: Halting the Progress of Iran’s Program and Rolling Back Key Elements Iran has committed to halt enrichment above 5%: Halt all enrichment above 5% and…

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The Curious Case of Red Mercury

Reader Chris Camp, who submitted as essay on disarmament “winners and losers“, has been thinking about the curious tale of Red Mercury lately.  He sends along this dispatch: The curious tale of Red Mercury by Chris Camp  In the lore…

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FYRP: Iran Talks, Round 2

Well, it’s been a while, but it has returned! Safeguards Report – IAEA Board of Governors | “No additional major components have been installed at the IR-40 Reactor; the production of UO2 for fuel assemblies for the reactor has continued…

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Optimists and Cynics

All of the significant gains in the field of arms control were the result of stubborn optimism mixed with idealism. Pessimists thought nuclear arms control was a fool’s errand, bound to end very badly, like naval arms control in the…

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Will Gravity Lift the Space Code of Conduct?

Space may be the final frontier, but it’s also the cosmic dust that we’re made of. Our lineage traces back to seawater, as well. Is that why we humans stare out into space and the ocean? Two wordless and magnificent…

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Some Think Size Matters

A few weeks ago — ok, maybe longer — I commented on an interesting proposal (that I nevertheless disagree with) by Crispin Rovere and Kalman Robertson to prohibit low yield nuclear weapons. I agued (“Size Doesn’t Matter“) that I didn’t…

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Conflicting Blueprints

Sometimes it helps to frame choices about familiar subjects in different ways. By way of prologue – and to dust off the arguments in my book, Better Safe than Sorry (2009) – here’s another way to think about future arms…

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Home Sweet Home with AQ Khan 2/2

Yesterday, the two us — Jeffrey Lewis and Jende Huang — discussed AQ Khan’s residence in the upscale E-7 neighborhood of Islamabad, where he lived for many years including the period he was under house arrest.  Today, we turn our…

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Home Sweet Home with AQ Khan 1/2

Where does AQ Khan live? Well, he has at least two houses in Islamabad – a lake-side villa in Bani Gala that was the subject of controversy as detailed by William Langeweische in The Atlantic and home in the E-7…