Jeffrey Lewis and Dave Schmerler Construction is occurring at North Korea’s nuclear test site for the first time since North Korea announced the closure and dismantlement of the site in spring 2018. In April 2018, Kim Jong Un announced an end to nuclear explosive testing and tests of intermediate- and intercontinental-range ballistic missiles. In May, North Korea …
Hold Steady
by | 2022-03-07 | 3 Comments
Verse of the week: “Who has invented our enmity? Who prescribed us/ hatred of each other? Who has armed us against each other/ with the death of the world? Who has appointed me such anger/ that I should desire the burning of your house or the/ destruction of your children?” — Wendell Berry, “To A …
Putin Gives the Mad Man Theory a Try
by | 2022-02-27 | 4 Comments
“Our Father, who art in heavenof the full moonand the hollow sunshield from death my parentswhose house stands in the line of fireand who won’t abandon itlike a tomb”—Lyuba Yakimchuk, “Apricots of Donbas” Vladimir Putin has announced that his nuclear forces are on “high combat” alert. He’s playing the mad man card, threatening the use …
Deterrence in Ukraine
by | 2022-02-24 | No Comments
Russia has invaded Ukraine, and some folks are arguing that Ukraine could’ve deterred Russia “if it had never given up nuclear weapons.” But they never “had” nuclear weapons. Jeffrey and Aaron talk through the control of nuclear weapons in Ukraine during the Cold War, and the “return” of those weapons to Russia after the fall …
