Did India successfully test a two-stage thermonuclear device in May 1998? There are substantial reasons for skepticism. India claimed that it detonated three devices on 11 May 1998 at Pokhran (right)—a 43-kiloton thermonuclear explosion, a 12-kiloton fission explosion and a 0.2-kiloton fission explosion. (India then claims to have conducted low yield tests on 13 May …
Dan Blumenthal: China Marketing to the Mullahs?
by | 2005-04-09 | 9 Comments
Dan Blumenthal is a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. That is a fact. Here are a few more facts about Blumenthal’s latest screed, “Providing Arms: China and the Middle East”, which appears in Daniel Pipes’ right-wing rag, the Middle East Quarterly. Blumenthal’s article starts strong—which is to say that it begins with a …
Starfire Optical Range
by | 2005-04-08 | 1 Comment
This is a picture of the 3.5 telescope at the Starfire Optical Range, Directed Energy Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, NM. The FY 2006 President’s Budget Request includes $4.9 M for the Starfire Optical Range to “perform atmospheric compensation/beam control experiments for applications including antisatellite weapons, relay mirror …
Iraq Investigations Wankery
by | 2005-04-08 | No Comments
Although the Robb-Silberman report didn’t get into the question of Bush administration officials’ statements RE: Iraq’s supposed WMD, the Senate Intelligence Committee is supposed to be looking into the question. Supposed to be. Apparently, there’s a bit of controversy about the matter, which I wrote about here. And a reader kindly pointed me to a …
