Years · 2014

April 2014

14 posts

Article

The Bucket Brigade

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…

Article

Turkey’s Syria Policy: Why Seymour Hersh Got it Wrong

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…

Article

Crowdsourcing Russian ICBMs

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)…

Article

Massive Retaliation

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…