US Members of Congress excel at four things: fund raising, getting re-elected, protecting sunk costs and the jobs of their constituents, and imposing sanctions. In theory, punishing sanctions are supposed to become means toward diplomatic ends, but in practice, Capitol Hill gravitates toward means and is myopic about ends. One reason: Imposing sanctions is a …
China’s New Centrifuge Plants
by | 2013-09-17 | 37 Comments
Oh my, China has built a lot of centrifuges for uranium enrichment in recent years. You may know that China purchased several modules of Russian centrifuges in the 1990s, installing them at Hanzhong and Lanzhou. You may also know that China built a large facility at Lanzhou that appears to house a domestic centrifuge enrichment …
Syria Chemical Weapons Roundup
by | 2013-09-16 | 9 Comments
With remarkable speed, the UN has produced and released its report on the Syrian debacle! A great deal of material has appeared on this subject very rapidly. Something we haven’t spotted elsewhere yet is a one-stop shop for official and unofficial reports on the events of August 21st in Ghouta, Syria, and previously elsewhere in …
Heschel on the Bomb
by | 2013-09-16 | 5 Comments
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Holocaust survivor who eventually settled in the United States, where he served on the faculty of the Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Heschel had broad-ranging interests. His understanding of the responsibilities of being a Jew led him join in common cause with Martin Luther King, …
