Arms Control Wonk

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"Is Iran set on building a nuclear bomb?"

The answer to that question determines whether or not one supports the Iran-EU3 deal. NPR asked Matt Bunn that very question this morning. (You can listen to they story, “Iran Agrees to Halt Uranium Enrichment, here and Matt’s answer at…

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Edward Tufte

Belated praise to Edward Tufte who skewered Colin Powell’s UN presentation on Iraq at the time, noting: The cognitive style of Powell’s PP presentation resembles that of JFK assassination theorists: small highly selected bits of information that, along with some…

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Beijing Doesn't Seem to Be Feelin' it

If the Bush administration really is trying to get China to put more pressure on North Korea, Hu and Bush’s press appearance today suggests that the effort isn’t going all that well: PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thank you for this…

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North Korea: Is Kim Jong-Il Nuts?

We’ve all heard the stories: playboy, alocholic, wack-job, etc. Typical is a recent book by one Kenji Fujimoto (a psuedonym), who claims to have been Kim Jong-Ils cook. An excerpt in The Atlantic leaves no doubt that Fujimoto thinks Kim…

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Powell Disclosure: Fallout

Global Security Newsire has a nice summary of the fallout from Colin Powell’s clumsy use of poorly sourced intelligence about the Iranian missile program. Adam Ereli put on a brave face, adding that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage “saw…

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Michael Roston Rules

In a fit of sado-masochism, Michael Roston has committed to reading the right-wing press every day. Check out Looking for Someone to Lie to Me. The result—THE TWO MINUTES HATE—has rapidly become my favorite daily read.

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A Little More Colin …

The Washington Post is reporting that the information in Powell’s statement about the Iranian ballistic missile program “was classified and based on an unvetted, single source who provided information that two U.S. officials said yesterday was highly significant if true…

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Allegations About Iran

There have been several allegations recently that Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons, despite the recent agreement signed with the EU-3. Here are the two that have popped up recently, so you don’t have to sift through the stories yourself.…

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Crazy Ivan

Linda Rothstein at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists suggests that Putin’s recent reference to “future weapons … which other nuclear powers do not and will not possess” is a reference to the “testing of a new hypersonic ‘Crazy Ivan’ warhead…