My alma mater, Augustana College, home of the Vikings, hosts an annual college debate tournament. This year’s trophy for first place in the open division? [A Viking] battle axe—complete with blade guard and liability waiver. [snip] It stands 3 1/2 feet tall, with the main blade measuring slightly less than a foot. And it is …
Reporting on Iran
by | 2006-02-13 | No Comments
I have an article in the Nieman Watchdog—a publication of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University—about the relationship between the NPT and the showdown with Iran, the gist of which is basically … The vast majority of states with the capability to build nuclear weapons have not done so. Largely this is because …
Iranian Nuclear Test Shaft
by | 2006-02-12 | 6 Comments
Earlier this week, Dafna Linzer had a long, detailed story (and online chat) on intelligence found by German intelligence on a laptop computer stolen by an Iranian citizen in 2004. I am going to write a four-part series looking at the key pieces of information: a schematic of a shaft that might be for a …
Results of State Dept. Reorganization
by | 2006-02-10 | 1 Comment
Bureaucracies frequently matter more than the personalities at the top of an organization, particularly when that organization is the United States Department of State. On February 6, the Wall Street Journal penned a long article that might have been called, “Ding Dong the Neocon Witch is Dead” (actually, it was called “Diplomatic Relations: As ‘Neocons’ …
