I was famously quoted in the New York Times (and in Newsweek) as saying about the failure of the April 5th, 2009 satellite launch attempt: It’s got to be embarrassing. I can imagine heads flying if the Dear Leader finds out the satellite didn’t fly into orbit. Not too many people have noted the if …
The Trouble With Zero
by | 2009-05-10 | 12 Comments
Image is credited to “Shout” in the NYT. Philip Taubman, a former New York Times reporter now writing a book at Stanford, has a wonderful survey of the debate about nuclear abolition in the New York Times entitled, The Trouble With Zero: Yet even as the allure of disarmament grows, the obstacles seem as daunting …
DF-21 Delta Confirmation
by | 2009-05-09 | 17 Comments
In October, I observed that the Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile was probably styled the DF-21 Delta, making it the fourth mod of the DF-21. (A journalist had referred to it as the DF-21 Charlie, which I think is just the plain vanilla conventionally-armed DF-21 variant). Looks like I was right. A senior defense official dropped …
(Space) Insurers Are My Heroes
by | 2009-05-09 | No Comments
…and they should be yours too! There is a question of when an international practice becomes a binding law. Some invoke the Treaty of Vienna, a highly controversial subject in the United States, to say that a treaty obligation arises as soon as a country signs a treaty regardless of whether or not it is …
