Arms Control Wonk

Given the topicality of nuclear testing, today’s entry from the shoe box files deals with General Curtis LeMay on the perils of an atmospheric nuclear test ban treaty. In 1991, Dan Caldwell and I edited a book on The Politics of Arms Control Treaty Ratification, (my concluding chapter is online) which gathered much dust during …

[Cross-posted from TotalWonkerr.com. Yep, it’s back up.] What should we expect from North Korea? A good place to start might be the Foreign Ministry statement of April 29: In case the UNSC does not make an immediate apology [for the presidential statement condemning the launch of the Unha-2], such actions will be taken as: Firstly, …

As always when the DPRK tests, I’m in a seminar somewhere else. This time, I was discussing FMCT verification with the good people of SIPRI and the diplomats of the Conference on Disarmament. The plot is based on the Mb to yield estimates for dry-rock, close coupled, underground nuclear explosions. I’ve used the USGS estimate …

The DPRK apparently told China before its 2006 test that they were aiming for a yield of about 4 KT but they only acheived a yield around ½ KT. This implies that there was a significant problem with that design. ( Their announcement of this test seems to indicate that they are acknowledging that.) If …