Podcast · Thread
Russia’s nuclear threats
Burevestnik, Oreshnik, Avangard and Russia’s other new weapons, and its nuclear signaling over Ukraine.
New strategic weapons 9
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From Satan to Sarmat
Russia tested the RS-28 Sarmat heavy ICBM, which will replace the SS-18/RS-36M Satan. What’s it for? Aaron and Jeffrey talk about…
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Fly Burevestnik Fly!
The Slack channel noticed that Russia was gearing up to test the SSC-X-9 Skyfall nuclear-powered cruise missile (aka Burevestnik), which Jeffrey and…
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Busting the Burevestnik
Friend of the Pod Decker Eveleth found the Burevestnik deployment site, it seems! Decker, of the CNA Corporation, has tracked down what…
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It’s Always Cloudy in Novaya Zemlya
Jeffrey and his team fear no cloud. Working with Capella Space to acquire cloud-piercing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, the MIIS team has been…
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Hyperbolic Hyper Hype
The hype is real. Maybe its a branding thing, maybe people forget ballistic missiles are a thing, maybe nobody thinks “glider force”…
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Russia’s Mysterious Nuclear-powered Missile Accident
Russia tested something and maybe kinda sorta told the truth about a subsequent spike in radiation. What happened? who knows? In this…
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Avangard: A Boost-Guide Primer
Russia tested a hypersonic missile, or at least they claimed to. As of now, Putin and Russian media have told us a…
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Russia’s Crashing Cruise Missile
Back in March, Putin said that Russia has been testing a nuclear-powered cruise missile and showed a little bit of video footage.…
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Putin’s Nuke-a-palooza
Russian president Validimir Putin presented his annual address yesterday. He showed off a bunch of new or recent nuclear weapons systems, designed…
INF and intermediate-range missiles 6
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Oreshnik Again
Russia has deployed the Oreshnik system in Belarus and then, from Russia, conducted another Oreshnik test. Jefffrey and Aaron discuss how the…
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The Oreshnik IRBM
Russia launched an experimental, offensive missile into Ukraine, aimed at the PA Pivdenmash (former Yuzhmash) factory. This is a new world of…
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Iskander, INF and Kaliningrad
Russia deployed the Iskander missile system to its tiny enclave of Kaliningrad for a training exercise and is reportedly churning out ground-launched…
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Russian Cruise Missiles
Russian cruise missiles are in the news lately, from allegations from strikes in Syria to ongoing allegations that Russia is violating the…
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The Little Green Men and a New Cruise Missile
The INF debate continues. The controversy about Russia’s new cruise missile raises a number of key questions about American strategy in Europe:…
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Russia and the INF: Don’t Call it a Circumvention
What should we make of the United States’ conclusion that Russia has violated the INF? What do we know about the violation?…
Doctrine and threats 6
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Russian Entanglement
Tom Schelling described escalation as a “curved slope” where you won’t be able to predict when the final drop occurs, and Ukraine…
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Russian Nuclear Doctrine in the Financial Times 2: A Conversation with William Alberque
William Alberque joins Jeffrey for a friendly and deep debate about the Russian Navy nuclear documents leaked to FT, covered in our…
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Russian Nuclear Doctrine in the Financial Times
Max Seddon and Chris Cook with the Financial Times have written an excellent piece on leaked Russian Naval documents that FT saw,…
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Russian Nuclear Doctrine and Escalation
What is Russia’s nuclear doctrine? Jeffrey talks to Dr. Olga Oliker about Russian nuclear doctrine and developments. Unfortunately, she speaks Russian, which turns out…
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Putin’s Dead Hand
Russia’s last early warning satellite is dead. It is no more, has ceased to be, is bereft of life, it rests in…
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Putin’s Nuclear Threat
Did Vladimir Putin just threaten the West with nuclear weapons? Could nuclear weapons be used in Europe? What is Russia’s nuclear doctrine?…
The war in Ukraine 7
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Pentagon Blocks Ukraine Strikes
Alex Ward and others at the Wall Street Journal reported on the details of a Pentagon review process that has halted Ukraine’s…
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Russia Buys North Korean Missiles
Shoigu went shopping. Russia is buying KN-23 and KN-25 missiles from North Korea and launching them in support of its invasion of…
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The CAT I is Out of the Bag
Ukraine is getting the SCALP-EG/Storm Shadow cruise missile, and that’s raising a whole lot of questions about MTCR guidelines Jeffrey and Aaron…
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Another Crazy Train
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is giving people brain worms. Multiple terrible reports, citing oSiNt aNaLyStS, have recently been released and grossly…
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Stealing the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
What the heck is going on with the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Planet? Aaron and Jeffrey walk through the safety situation, the open…
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The Bunga Bunga Theory of Deterrence
Should we be worried that Russia may intentionally use nuclear weapons in Ukraine? Jeffrey and Aaron discuss the role nuclear weapons, conspiracy…
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Deterrence in Ukraine
Russia has invaded Ukraine, and some folks are arguing that Ukraine could’ve deterred Russia “if it had never given up nuclear weapons.”…
Nuclear testing 2
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Shenanigans in Novaya Zemlya
Looks like everyone is preparing for a party. Between Russia’s potential un-signing of a nuclear test treaty, threats to test “if the…
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Low-yield Nuclear Testing in Russia?
The United States intelligence community, or a portion of it, has concluded that Russia is conducting very low-yield nuclear tests. Aaron and…
Also in this thread 2
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Novichok: The New Guy
The Russian chemical weapons attack in Salisbury is, sadly, not the first assassination to take place on UK soil. Jeffrey and Aaron spoke about…
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Podcast: The INF and the Dismemberment of Ukraine
In the inaugural Arms Control Wonk Podcast, Jeffrey and I discuss the alleged “circumventions” of the INF Treaty, the situation in Ukraine,…