Arms Control Wonk

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Whiffs of Grapeshot

Quote of the week: “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene IV The master of self-inflicted wounds has done it again. This time, President Donald Trump is walking away from meaningful, verifiable limits…

Episode44 min

KCN-eh? April’s other North Korea Developments – Part 2

A Canadian reviews the last few weeks of North Korea news with a special guest. Andrea chats with Antoine Bondaz from the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. They dissect the optics and outcomes of the recent inter-Korean summit, analyse the responses,…

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A Nobel Prize for Brinkmanship?

Quote of the week: “If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” — Moshe Dayan A bandwagon is underway urging the selection committee for the Nobel Peace Prize to make Donald Trump…

Episode42 min

Netanyahu and the Atomic Archive

Bibi showed off Iran’s bomb. And its pretty crappy. The slide show added some titillating details to what the world already knew about Iran’s nuclear weapons program and, in doing so, made the case for why the JCPOA is so…

Episode74 min

KCN-eh? April’s other North Korea Developments – Part 1

A Canadian reviews the last few weeks of North Korea news with a special guest. Andrea talks to Ramon Pacheco-Pardo from King’s College London about DPRK summit mania. They cover the recent high-level visits to Pyongyang, Beijing and Washington, consider…

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Trump and Kim Upend Diplomatic Protocol

Quote of the week: “Americans, being a moral people, want their foreign policy to reflect the values we espouse as a nation. But Americans, being a practical people, also want their foreign policy to be effective.” ― George P. Shultz…

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The Logic of Nuclear Superiority

Quotes of the week: “You show me a Secretary of Defense who’s planning not to prevail [in a nuclear war] and I’ll show you a Secretary of Defense who ought to be impeached.” — Caspar Weinberger, New York Times, August 24,…

Episode24 min

The Strike on Al Kibar

Haaretz dropped an incredible article with new details about the 2007 Israeli air strike on the nascent Syrian nuclear reactor at Al Kibar. So we thought it would be a good opportunity to interrupt Jeffrey’s working vacation to talk about…

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Steve Coll on the Afghan Quagmire

Quotes of the Week: “The events of September 11, 2001, taught us that weak states, like Afghanistan, can pose as great a danger to our national interests as strong states…The United States will stand beside any nation determined to build…