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…
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)…
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…
Regular readers know I love public policy, especially perverse effects. One of my favorite perverse effects is what I call “the cookie” problem after the plight of a beleaguered friend. Let’s say you’ve come thisclose to cheating on a spouse…
Richard H. Speier, K. Scott McMahon and George Nacouzi have a new RAND monograph out entitled Penaid Nonproliferation: Hindering the Spread of Countermeasures Against Ballistic Missile Defenses. The report is very simple, which is not to say simplistic. Speier et al believe the MTCR should be expanded…
Editor’s note: I am holding to my commitment to make three blog posts a week, no excuses. But my post today will be a short one. So, to make up for that, here is the Managing the Atom’s Nick Roth…
Five years ago, President Barack Obama was preparing to deliver a speech in Prague calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Nongovernmental organizations, including the Stimson Center, helped with blueprints for getting to zero, and distinguished “formers” were lending their…
I’ve been mulling a post over the recent North Korean launches of Scud and now Nodong missiles, but I want to draw attention to a wrinkle that’s been neglected — North Korea’s new 300 mm artillery system.
A few disarmament posters by Robert Wout, better known as Opland. Many of my colleagues are attending the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (My friend @MilesPomper is tweeting up a storm for #NSS2014.) It is normal for the assembled heads of government…
Yeah, that’s a weird title, huh? Well, it’s a weird idea. Bear with me. Over the course of my writing, teaching and corresponding about China’s nuclear forces, I kept stumbling over the same question: Why does China insist on calling…
