High-resolution photographs of the airframe for North Korea’s Pukguksong submarine-launched ballistic missile have a surprise. The airframe appears be wound filament, not the simple metal airframes we’ve seen on North Korea’s space launchers. That opens up a lot of possibilities for North Korea — and ticks off an important requirement for North Korea to build …
Putting the North Korean Threat into Perspective
by | 2017-04-21 | 11 Comments
It’s not easy, right? To put North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat into perspective. Everywhere you turn, you’ll hear widely differing factual claims, strongly opposed views on what to do or not do, etc. A cacaphony. And that’s a little hard to take, especially if you’re suddenly inclined to hunt for information on the subject. Serious journalists often …
A Three-Person Rule for Nuclear First Use
by | 2017-04-17 | 9 Comments
Quote of the week: “We still tend to conceive of national security almost solely as a state of armed readiness, a vast, awesome arsenal of weaponry… We are haunted by this concept of military hardware.” —Robert S. McNamara, The Essence of Security Whiffs of grapeshot and sarin gas are in the air – enduring conflicts in …
The Counterforce Compulsion in South Asia
by | 2017-04-12 | 2 Comments
Quotes of the week: “There has been literally no chance at all that any sane political authority… would consciously choose to start a nuclear war. This proposition is true for the past, the present, and the foreseeable future. For sane men on both sides the balance of terror is overwhelmingly persuasive… There is no prospect …
