On February 21 Kingston Reif published the following letter to the editor in The Baltimore Sun on the merits of further nuclear weapons reductions. The recent editorial on arms control (“Avoiding Armageddon,” Feb. 18) was exactly on point. More than two decades have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and U.S. national security […]
North Korea’s Third Nuclear Test: What Now?
Late on the night of Monday, February 11th, seismic detectors picked up signals of seismic activity in North Korea, measuring a 4.9 on the Richter scale. As Reuters pointed out, “North Korea is not prone to seismic activity.” Indeed, the tremors were an indication that North Korea had conducted the nuclear test it had been threatening for some time, in retaliation for sanctions placed against it after last December’s rocket launch.
Washington Post Editorial Board Gets It Wrong on Nuclear Reductions
On Saturday the Washington Post published a poorly reasoned editorial arguing that the Obama administration is misguided in pursuing further mutual nuclear weapons reductions with Russia because Vladimir Putin is, well, not a nice guy.
The Banality of Unilateral Nuclear Cuts
Published on Time’s Battleland blog on February 15, 2013. Article summary below; read the full text here. U.S. nuclear weapons strategy remains largely based on a confrontation with the Soviet Union that no longer exists. There is an emerging bipartisan and military consensus that it is time for an updated strategy and that a smaller […]
Obama Nuclear Arms Reduction Plan Picks Up Where Reagan and Bush Left Off
Amid vocal Republican opposition to reports of nuclear weapons reductions during President Obama’s second term, it’s worth looking back on the history of nuclear arms reductions through the years, and the compelling reasons for continuing to pursue a smaller nuclear stockpile. I did a piece for PolicyMic putting the President’s plan in context.