Avatar photoN Minus Six Months

We were discussing the origin of the widespread claim that Japan is “six months” from a bomb—and the earliest scholarly reference I could find was Richard Halloran’s Chrysanthemum and Sword Revisited: Is Japanese Militarism Resurgent. Halloran argues: Japan also has the financial and technical resources to make nuclear weapons. A Japanese strategic thinker said years …

Avatar photoSecond NORK Nuclear Test?

ABC’s Jonathan Karl is quoting a “senior defense officials” claiming that North Korea has made preparations for a second nuclear test. North Korea appears to have made preparations for another nuclear test, according to U.S. defense officials. “We think they’ve put everything in place to conduct a test without any notice or warning,” a senior …

Avatar photoIsrael Wants Same Treatment as India

Wonder how our friends in Israel feel about that big, gaping hole we blew in the nonproliferation regime for India? Jealous, according to Mark Hibbs: During the last 18 months, Israeli officials have discreetly explored, including in bilateral discussions with their US government counterparts, how Israel might politically benefit from the US-India nuclear deal, well-placed …

Avatar photoFrom One Success to Another

From the genius who brought you the Bush Administration’s stem cell policy … comes our North Korea policy: The architect of [the Bush Administration’s policy on stem cell research], navigating ethically and politically treacherous terrain, was a litigator named Jay P. Lefkowitz who was working as general counsel in the White House’s Office of Management …