A couple of days ago, I posted a discourse on the Administration’s return to Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In it, I expressed pessimism that this would happen before anti-CTBT stalwart Senator Jon Kyl retires at the end of next year. I also opined that it is, in fact, possible to assure […]
Guns, sex, and cartoons. If you’re a 13 year old boy – scratch that – if you are a male, those words probably gain your attention a bit. And since US foreign policy circles are predominately male, I’m hoping my readership levels will go up with this post. On to the sensationalism…. Guns. As discussed in […]
According to a Memorandum of Understanding document obtained by the National Journal, DOE and NRC are working together to simulate Japan’s Fukushima Daichii nuclear accident in order to validate its computer models for how reactor cores respond to accident conditions. The simulation is meant to inform NRC’s Fukushima lessons learned efforts. According to NJ, the […]
Throughout most of the Cold War, the United States maintained some 5,000 so-called tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, including land mines, artillery shells, and bombs on fighter-bombers. The rationale for their presence–let alone their very existence–was always dubious at best. In a daring move of startling vision, former president George H.W. Bush unilaterally withdrew almost […]
A little while back, I wrote about a renewed Obama Administration push to get the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty ratified by a recalcitrant Senate. I noted that, with the retirement of anti-CTBT stalwart Jon Kyl, the treaty MAY have a chance at getting done. However, his intent to retire has clearly not softened Senator Kyl […]
The international community has been involved in Afghanistan since 2001 as a consequence of the 9/11 attacks on U.S. soil. By 2003, NATO took control of the ISAF and expanded its operations across all Afghanistan. Likewise, the Europeans have been involved in Afghanistan through several types of missions. On one side, Europeans have contributed to […]
According to International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, it’s time to turn our attention to the drought in East Africa now, before it’s too late. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon agrees with that sentiment, saying that he is“extremely worried” about the potential famine and massive numbers of deaths. Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are facing one of […]
As I wrote on June 23rd, the IAEA Board of Governors referred Syria to the UN Security Council over allegations, proven-ish, that it had covertly built a plutonium production reactor which the Israelis then destroyed in 2007. And, because Damascus has continued to block IAEA efforts to return to the Dair Alzour site to gather […]
Is the Arab Spring going to lead to polarized, issue-specific politics, similar to those that currently afflict America? If so, what are the implications for the wave of revolution and can, or even should, the US do anything to ensure that the democratic revolution is cemented? Moreover, what would the long-term effects of polarized politics […]
I just spent my Saturday morning doing some solid nerding. By that I mean, I read two great articles about that rising behemoth, China. The first was ‘China’s Bumpy Road Ahead by international consultant and geopolitical analyst Ian Bremmer. Bremmer, has a blog at Foreign Policy that features many guest writers and covers impactful global […]
Evolution of violence against the state will occur in environments that do not allow for coping mechanisms, perceived political inclusion, and sufficient state propaganda. Iran and Turkey, for example, are states that can shift if the former were to experience erosion of coping mechanisms, pushing it further towards violence, and the latter could see improvement in political inclusion, pushing it further towards peace.
Journalist R. Jeffrey Smith has a piece in today's Washington Post which publicizes a letter released by Abdul Quadeer Khan, Pakistani proliferation raconteur, and imaginary nuke trader (the West made it up, you see) to former British Journalist Simon Henderson which ” support(s) his claim that he personally transferred more than $3 million in payments […]
I found this letter today. It comes from Words Without Borders. The author, Boualem Sansal, is an Algerian novelist, and Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia on December 17, 2010. The letter is beautiful, and worth a read. Dear Brother: I write these few lines to let you know we’re doing well, on […]
Two reports – one from CSIS, and another from RI – take up the contentious issue of the ALP. Regardless of delusions and hope, arming Afghanistan will only further hinder counter-terrorism efforts, stability, and humanitarian access.
After nearly seven years of negotiations, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, formed ironically in response to India’s diversion of civilian nuclear technology to nuclear weapons production, issued more stringent guidelines for transfer of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies. The new guidelines, approved during its June 23-24 meeting in the Netherlands, strengthens the conditions under which a […]