Believe it or not, the gray battleship of the establishment’s fleet, Foreign Affairs, published an article decrying the use of cluster bombs during the Vietnam War. I can believe it because I was the author. How in the world did this staid journal publish an essay by an anti-war activist titled, “Weapons Potentially Inhumane: The …
Making Yield Estimates
by | 2013-02-15 | 25 Comments
Update | James says I misrepesented his method, which I may well have done. He is going to post a comment that explains his method in better detail than I have apparently done. Apologies that it took so long to post the companion piece on yield estimation to my Foreign Policy column, North Korea’s Big …
Yield Estimation Placeholder
by | 2013-02-13 | 26 Comments
It’s late, I am tired. I’ve got the better part of a post done, but I’ll finish it in the morning. Short version: don’t spend too much time estimating yield using the USGS Mb number. It gives you only a very rough approximation and there are better ways for seismologists to do it. Until then, …
POTUS in Situ for SOTU
by | 2013-02-10 | 16 Comments
On February 12th, the President of the United States will deliver his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Passages about nuclear dangers are usually included on these occasions. I asked Stimson’s Jonathan Fox to read all of these speeches, going back to President Truman, and to pass along the choicest …
