Avatar photoCampaign Against Red Mercury

Red Mercury. It does not exist and anyone promising you riches for it is a conman. Following CJ Chivers massive story in the New York Times magazine about the red mercury hoax, inlcuding efforts by groups like ISIS to obtain what they think is an ultra-secret nuclear material, Jeffrey talks to Michael Moore about the …

Avatar photoSecond-Term Blues for Arms Control

The “Arms-Control Enterprise” is taking a beating as the “Nuclear Enterprise” is recapitalized. These trend lines have become starker during the Obama administration’s second term, mirroring the declining fortunes for arms control during President Bill Clinton’s last four years in the White House. While Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush did surprisingly well …

Avatar photoRebel With A Bomb

One of the major developments in the study of nuclear weapons has been a shift from pseudo-rationalist explanations to empirical research based on the decision-making style and outlook of actual  leaders.  A few years ago, Bill Potter and Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova wrote a nice review essay in International Security called Divining Nuclear Intentions that surveyed this shift, …

Avatar photoIslam and the Bomb

This post on Islamic teachings from the Quran is written by Faiqa Mahmood, a Non-Resident Fellow at the Stimson Center. It’s another in a series on how traditional principles of the world’s major religions relate to the advent, possession and use of nuclear weapons. – MK With a distinct and slim minority of Muslims engaged in …