What Are Nukes Good For?
The nuclear order seems to be falling apart. Gone is the uneasy balance between the cold war superpowers. We now face a slew of new nuclear actors. North Korea has reprocessed enough plutonium for perhaps ten bombs, in addition to the two it has already tested. Iran’s centrifuge program seems poised to produce weapons-grade uranium. And Syria was apparently constructing a clandestine nuclear facility, before it was destroyed by Israeli air strikes in 2007. READ MORE >>
The Battle Over Addiction
To read Sally Satel's response, click here. READ MORE >>
Missile Man
A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon By Neil Sheehan (Random House, 534 pp., $35) READ MORE >>
Obama Channels Eisenhower
Richard’s post nicely highlighted a tension in last night’s speech that struck me as well, but I think that the pull toward realism was far, far greater than the pull in the other direction. I was most forcefully struck by this sentence: “As president, I refuse to set goals that go beyond our responsibility, our means, or our interests.” READ MORE >>
Iran: Still Not a Weapons Program?
As Mike points out, the uranium enrichment facility at Qom is not, apparently, intended to produce fuel for a civilian power reactor. Besides which, Iran’s covert construction of the facility is decidedly suspicious. READ MORE >>
Is Scaling Back Missile Defense Worth It?
Deterred From Logic on Nukes
Hillary The Architect
This afternoon, Hillary Clinton gave what I thought was an excellent speech laying out the Obama administration's approach to the world. READ MORE >>
Offense-Defense Nonsense
Mcnamara's Other Legacy
As one would expect, coverage of Robert McNamara's death has focused on his management of the Vietnam war and his later reappraisal of its necessity, but the former secretary of defense left an equally important--and far more positive--legacy regarding U.S. nuclear policy. READ MORE >>
