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, …
Islam and the Bomb
by | 2015-11-25 | 13 Comments
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 …
Scathe Mean in Desert Storm
by | 2015-11-20 | 3 Comments
A couple of weeks ago, I ran across a really interesting story from Operation Desert Storm. Did you know the United States deployed a Ground-Launched Cruise Missile (GLCM) unit in Saudi Arabia? But, instead of being equipped with nuclear-armed BGM-109G Gryphon, the unit deployed with Navy BQM-74 Chukar drones that were used to spoof the radars associated with Iraq’s …
No, Oz is not an NPT Nuclear Weapon State
by | 2015-11-19 | 17 Comments
When I was in Washington recently, I had a very funny conversation with Matthew Harries over dinner. It seems there is a proposal for Australia to seek nuclear-weapons state status under the NPT on rather weak claim that the UK had conducted nuclear tests down under in the 1950s. I was delighted when Matt and Hassan Elbahtimy offered to write up …
