Arms Control Wonk

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Linguistic Gymnastics with the Missile Defense Agency

Two space-based missile defense items, today. NEAR FIELD INFRARED EXPERIMENT Theresa Hitchens noticed an interesting choice of words in the letter that the White House sent to the Senate Appropriations complaining about various recissions in the Defense Appropriations report. You…

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Department of Peace

Anybody remember the “Department of Peace” proposal? Representative Dennis Kucinich (R-OH) has proposed legislation to create a DOP; Conservatives ridicule the idea. Even my fellow Democrats in Washington react to the idea with a mixture of derision and embarrassment; One…

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Congress kills NFIRE

Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have killed NFIRE. Guess I don’t need to finish my NFIRE Fact Sheet. If you want to see the cuts yourself … House Appropriations Committe Report, page 332, line 71.Senate Appropriations Committe Report,…

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Russia ratifies Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty

Russia completed ratification of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty on June 25, Defense News reports. The ratification is welcome news, but it comes amid a troubling political context. Russia is concerned about the expansion of NATO into the…

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US Drops Push for ICC Exemption

The United States has dropped its effort to secure a Security Council exemption for U.S. forces under the ICC, after a revised resolution circulated Tuesday night failed to garner sufficient support. James Cunningham, U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N., told…

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Emerald City

Emerald City — That is what some in the Washington Post newsroom are calling Baghdad’s “Green Zone.” This and other fascinating tidbits emerged at the 2004 Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference. There is a bunch of stuff that I need to…

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American journalism

As some of you know, one of the big themes here at Armscontrolwonk is wondering what to do about the apparent inability or unwillingness of the American media to challenge how the Administration frames security issues. Michael Massing has a…

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Airstrike in Fallujah

The Washington Post is reporting that “the U.S. military launched precision weapons into a poor residential neighborhood of Fallujah on Saturday to destroy what officers described as a safe house used by fighters loyal to Abu Musab Zarqawi and perhaps,…

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Preventive Strikes on the Three Gorges Dam

Under the misleading headline “Beijing Hits Taiwan With War of Words”, the Los Angeles Times reports that a PLA General, Lt. Gen. Liu Yuan, told a state-run newspaper that a pre-emptive strike by Taiwan on the Three Gorges Dam “will…

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NSPD on Iraqi Reconstruction

The FAS Project on Government Secrecy has posted the NSPD “United States Government Operations in Iraq,”(May 11, 2004) that defines the organization and structure of the U.S. presence in Iraq after the transition to Iraqi sovereignty by June 30. The…