The so-called DF-21D is much in the news recently, mostly because it hasn’t shown up yet. It is reputed to be the anti-ship version of China’s short-range workhorse, the DF-21. (China uses some version or other of the DF-21 for short-range ballistic missiles, anti-satellite weapons, and ballistic missile defense.) I thought I’d start the analytical …
Does Jordan Want It If Vietnam Has It?
by | 2010-08-06 | 4 Comments
Vuong Huu Tan, director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, a government office, said Vietnamese and U.S. officials reached an initial agreement on nuclear cooperation in March and hope to finalize the pact later this year. He said Vietnam didn’t plan to enrich uranium, “as it is sensitive to Vietnam to do so.” — Jay …
Black Helicopters
by | 2010-08-04 | 16 Comments
What is it about the New START treaty’s Bilateral Consultative Commission that seems to stir up such paranoia on the right-wing? Jack Goldsmith and Jeremy Rabkin, two conservative legal scholars, have what at first glance to be the most boring op-ed in the history of the Washington Post — a proposal that the Senate ratify …
Deterrence, North Korea-style
by | 2010-08-04 | 2 Comments
As regular readers are well aware, North Korea’s KCNA often features heartwarming turns of phrase like this one: The DPRK will bolster up its war deterrent under the uplifted banner of Songun as long as the U.S. military threat and provocations against it persist. “Bolstering” is ideally carried out through nuclear or missile tests, but …
