Avatar photoThe Bomber Gap

There is a long history of deceptive practices and bogus military displays designed to project greater firepower than is actually available. In my military dictionary, this is known as creative deterrence, or deterrence on the cheap. A classic case in point occurred during the July, 1955 Moscow Aviation Day, which stoked fears in the United …

Avatar photoLee Myung-bak as Rat?

There is all sorts of wild talk, mostly around the possibility of a third DPRK nuclear test.  But that’s hardly the weirdest, most disturbing thing occurring on the Korean peninsula. The North Korean propaganda campaign against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is in high dudgeon with all manner of ugliness.  Particularly unpleasant examples can be …

Avatar photoEndless Summer

The summer of love (at least in the San Francisco Bay Area) was in 1967. The summer of arms control was in 1960. Longstanding readers of these posts may recall my ten favorite books on arms control. Two of them – Schelling and Halperin’s Strategy and Arms Control and Arms Control, Disarmament, and National Security, …

Avatar photoMore on DPRK TELs

We’ve had a lively discussion about the Chinese-manufactured WS51200 TEL that showed up in the DPRK’s April 15 military parade, carrying something very pointy.  I wanted to weigh in with a few observations about the Wanshan Special Vehicle Company, the WS51200 model, the MTCR and TELs in general.