For his first term, President Barack Obama selected Significant Outsiders for his key foreign policy and national security posts. In his second term, he depends heavily on known commodities and loyalists. He promotes from within and keeps the State Department on a short leash. As his original appointees leave, their successors have less clout. Some …
Archives for April 2014
Turkey’s Syria Policy: Why Seymour Hersh Got it Wrong
by | April 8, 2014 | 2 Comments
On 6 April 2014, Seymour Hersh published “The Red Line and the Rat Line” in the London Review of Books. The piece builds on his previous article, “Whose Sarin?,” which calls into question the White House’s framing of the 21 August 2013 chemical weapons attack in the Damascus neighborhood of Ghouta. The latest article accuses …
Crowdsourcing Russian ICBMs
by | April 2, 2014 | 12 Comments
Russian ICBMs NATO RUSSIA Warheads Stages Fuel Basing Range (km) No. SS-18 Mod 5 (SATAN) RS-20/R-36M2 (Voyevoda) 10 2 +PBV Liquid Silo 10,000+ About 50 SS-19 Mod 3 (STILLETO) RS-18/UR-100NUTTH 6 2 +PBV Liquid Silo 9,000+ About 50 SS-25 (SICKEL) RS-12M 1 3 +PBV Solid Road-mobile 11,000 More than 150 SS-27 Mod 1 RS-12M2 (Topol …
Massive Retaliation
by | April 1, 2014 | 26 Comments
Massive retaliation is a siren song that appeals to states that cannot afford a nuclear competition but can afford to let an adversary cross the nuclear threshold first. It’s a money-saver, and it sounds persuasive, until the threat of massive retaliation is actually tested — when a nation’s nuclear bluff is called. What national leader …
