Reader Chris Camp, who comments under the name Cthippo, sent me an essay last week that I wanted to share with readers. Camp asks which states would be winners (or losers) if some sorcerer used a magic wand make all the world’s nuclear weapons disappear. As I read through and found myself agreeing here, disagreeing …
Second Term Blues
by | 2013-07-01 | 9 Comments
There have been only two Democratic Presidents since FDR who have been elected to serve two full terms. On nuclear issues, Barack Obama seems to be following in the footsteps of Bill Clinton. President Clinton achieved considerable success in reducing nuclear dangers during his first term, but lost momentum during his second. In his first …
FYRP: Between Two Stools
by | 2013-06-30 | 6 Comments
We know you’ve missed your favorite post! New York Times | Is anybody happy with President Obama’s Berlin speech? The NYT Ed Board wishes he had the nerve to endorse unilateral nuclear arms cuts rather than wait on Russia. Eric Edelman and Robert Joseph, observing that he hasn’t completely ruled it out, predict that Obama will end up going …
LBJ’s Safeguards Legacy
by | 2013-06-25 | 6 Comments
When the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established in 1957, its member states began putting flesh on the bones of the IAEA’s statutory verification mandate. Then “and for many years thereafter,” according to David Fischer’s seminal history, “there were no serious proposals for applying safeguards” in the nuclear weapon states (NWS). These countries already had …
