I have mocked the living hell out of this forthcoming administration follow-on white paper to <a href="http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/1587/maintaining-deterrence-in-the-21st-century. “>Maintaining Deterrence in the 21st Century, (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Fund the RRW). My teasing has been based, in part, on the lame list of myths that Administration plans to dispel. The myths were …
MAD nukes and Englishmen
by | 2007-12-14 | 10 Comments
Sorting out my accumulated junk that has, for the past few years, been slowly mouldering in my dad’s attic, I recently found my copy of Peter Hennessy’s brilliant The Secret State, a political history of British nuclear policy during the first half of the Cold War. In one memorable section (particularly relevant given recent revelations …
Non-Weapons Grade HEU Bust in Slovakia
by | 2007-12-13 | 10 Comments
Two weeks ago, a story broke involving the arrest in Slovakia of two Hungarians and one Ukrainian for allegedly trying to peddle around 1 pound of weapons-grade highly-enriched uranium. Days later, the incident was reported as involving 481.4 grams of a substance containing uranium 235, with a Slovak lab technician saying “Preliminary examinations showed it …
The Onion On Sha Zukang
by | 2007-12-13 | 1 Comment
For many years, Sha Zukang was a fixture on the disarmament circuit representing China during CTBT negotiations and making the odd statement here or there to cause an international kerfuffle — like when implied that China’s no-first use pledge might not apply to Taiwan. Now that he is UN Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, …
