German historian Rainer Karlsch has written a book, Hitler’s Bomb, which— according to press reports—concludes “Adolf Hitler had the atom bomb first but it was too primitive and ungainly for aerial deployment.” Karlsch reportedly claims Germany tested the weapon in the Baltic and that the fissile material came from “an atomic reactor in Gottow, a …
Hans Bethe, 1906-2005
by | 2005-03-07 | 1 Comment
Hans Bethe, an important figure in the Manhattan Project and long time proponent of arms control, has passed away today, aged 98. Oh, did I mention the Nobel prize? His 1968 article, co-authored with Richard Garwin, demolishing the rationale behind the Safeguard ABM system (“Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems,” Scientific American 218:3, March 1968, pp.21-31) is the …
Appearance of Impropriety
by | 2005-03-07 | No Comments
More on John Bolton’s nomination as Ambassador to the UN. I can think of 30,000 reasons that Bolton should not be confirmed for this post. The Washington Post previously reported that former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui maintained “a secret $100 million fund to buy influence with foreign governments, institutions and individuals”: Taiwanese officials said the …
Bolton to be UN Ambassador
by | 2005-03-07 | 1 Comment
The President intends to nominate self-described “Americanist” John Bolton to be its Ambassador to the UN. Bolton is an outright xenophobe, as evidenced by this little speech he gave at a conference entitled, Trends in Global Governance: Do They Threaten American Sovereignty?: My thesis, as a convinced Americanist, is that these happy days are over. …
