Before Ronald Reagan, there was Charles Evans Hughes. Both men were unorthodox thinkers, spotlight stealers and risk takers. Both were dismissive of the status quo, and sought deep cuts in strategic forces. Battleships were the strategic forces of the 1920s and 1930s, able to traverse long distances to project power and assert national interests. The …
AP Story on “Steep” Nuclear Cuts
by | 2012-02-17 | 19 Comments
It’s time for the annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit featuring speeches by luminaries including Senator Jon Kyl and Representative Michael Turner, which means it is also time for a damaging (and false) leak about the Obama Administration’s nuclear policy! The Associated Press’s Robert Burns — what? Eli Lake was busy? — reports that “the Obama administration is …
On That Burning Russian SSBN
by | 2012-02-15 | 19 Comments
The Russian magazine Vlast (in Russian) is reporting that a serious fire occurred aboard a Russian submarine in 29 December 2012 2011. The fire was covered on television news (YouTube is a goldmine) and someone placed a great many photos online at a military-oriented internet forum, forums.airbase.ru. As in the case of the Plushkino traffic jam, I am …
Worst Ever Treaty Provisions
by | 2012-02-12 | 11 Comments
I belong to the tribe that favors treaties that reduce the risk of war, add transparency and predictability to relations between well-armed competitors, and that depress impulses toward arms races. Not all treaties and treaty provisions succeed. Some have not only failed to accomplish these objectives, but have undercut them. What are the worst offenders?
