Greetings, Readers of the Wonk. My name is Robert Zarate, and I’m a research fellow at the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center in Washington, D.C. I’ll be guest-blogging this week, but before getting started, I wanted first to thank Jeffrey Lewis for the kind offer—and the wonderful opportunity—to do this. To kick things off, I thought …
Boltonesque Sanctions on Rosoboronexport
by | 2008-10-31 | 11 Comments
A week ago, the State Department announced the imposition of sanctions for alleged supply of WMD and missile-related technology or destabilizing conventional weapons systems in accordance with the provisions of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act (P.L. 109-353). Sanctions were levied against 13 entities from seven countries, as this Global Security Newswire story …
We Don't Need No Water, Let the Mother …
by | 2008-10-31 | 4 Comments
A fire broke out in a Minuteman III silo in Wyoming and burned undetected for five days. Tom Roeder from the Colorado Springs Gazette has the story. The use of duct tape is my favorite detail: The fire was May 23 at a silo 42 miles east of Cheyenne, Wyo,, where the Minuteman III missile …
Gen. Chilton on a Space Weapons Treaty
by | 2008-10-30 | 21 Comments
Yesterday morning I attended a breakfast featuring General Chilton, STRATCOM commander. The one-time astronaut offered this colorful illustration for why definitional issues would make it impossible, in his judgment, to negotiate a workable treaty banning space weapons: Let’s say you build a craft capable of pulling alongside a satellite, extending a robotic arm, and plucking …
