(Associated Press – July 28, 2020) — Antagonisms between the United States and China are rattling governments around the world, prompting a German official to warn of “Cold War 2.0”
U.S. China ‘Spats’ Rattle the World
Author: Strategic Demands Online
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On the 75th Anniversary of the ‘Trinity Test’
The birth of the nuclear age was begat at the Trinity site in a barren New Mexico desert named Jornado del Muerto. The “Gadget”, as it was called by Los Alamos scientists who conceived and built the first nuclear bomb, was hoisted up the tower. At dawn, July 16, 1945, it lit up the sky…
US Nuke Buildup, New Nuke Arms Race
It doesn’t take a Kissinger to see how nations respond to threats. It doesn’t take a Balance of Power theory to explain why when one nation throws out arms control and races to build a next generation of new nuclear weapons, then other nations will race to not become a hostage to hard power. So […]
The Button, Bolton & Trump
A John Bolton interview. Another warning about command and control of nuclear weapons presents itself. A series of threats, abandoned arms agreements, collapsed diplomacy, escalations and provocations emanate daily in the news. How often, over the years, do we have to be warned of ‘erratic’ decisions delivering catastrophic consequences
Spend Russia and China ‘into oblivion’
As nuclear weapons control agreements have fallen one after another since the Trump presidency commenced, a new US int’l envoy announces a new US nuclear weapons strategy. The Boston Globe quotes Marshall Billingslea: the US is prepared to spend Russia and China ‘into oblivion’. We are now witnessing a new nuclear arms race, a MAD-strategy
The 1033 Program, What’s It For?
‘Repurposed from the battlefield’ describes how US war equipment is transferred for use by local US police departments. The Pentagon’s 1033 program expedites these transfers of military weaponry to over 8000 law enforcement related agencies. The program was substantially expanded by President Trump in August 2017
Morning After Screenshots from DC
Tom Cotton: Send In the Troops. The nation must restore order. The military stands ready. By Tom Cotton. Mr. Cotton, a Republican, is a United States senator from Arkansas. ‘One thing above all else will restore order to our streets: an overwhelming show of force…
The Wars Come Home
The costs of decades of war are rarely considered in full dimension. These costs are brought home by every soldier, hundreds of thousands diagnosed with post traumatic syndrome, the grievously wounded, the angry and the bitter… then there’s the war brought home, the ‘stuff of war’ we can now begin to see on the streets
A Message from California Governor Brown
A Message to the US President As the Washington Post reveals the Trump administration’s planning to re-start nuclear weapons testing even as it ends another nuclear weapons treaty and announces its intent to allow the last critical nuclear weapons control treaty – New START – to terminate…
Darkening, Closed Skies, an Opening Conversation
Watching the collapse and observing a retreat into xenophobia… Today a more dangerous world, tomorrow another withdrawal from international engagement and cooperation. National and international security threats multiply — pandemic, economic depression, climate disruption, a new nuclear arms race, weapons proliferation, decades of conflict, migration of refugees in the millions, political chaos
China – Russia – US – Mutual Existential Threat, Nuclear Weapons 21st Century
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and US took a half century facing off and ramping up nuclear weapons. Doomsday war games threatened life on the planet. Dr. Strangelove-types planned to ‘bring it on’. Today, proliferators are back with a vengeance. Time to meet ‘MET’
The Virus & Politics
Coronavirus politics… between now and the November 3 election in the U.S. the wheels will turn, hundreds of millions, a billion plus, will be spent. Prepare for a daily news cycle of blame game, recriminations, politics of division — political division, national division, international division. Time for attack politics, war room politics
Earth Day, 50th Anniversary
Fifty years on… and still going strong. Your Strategic Demands editor reflects on the road to the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970. Senator Nelson played a key role, Rep. George E. Brown worked behind the scenes, the Vietnam Moratorium with its message to Nixon and tactics of ‘teach-ins’ inspired. The word went out — […]
Coronavirus, Global Data Dashboard
Again, we point at the challenge of front-line reporting, data intelligence, wide and targeted testing to monitor the spread of the new Coronavirus. Government decision-makers must manage policies and guidance based upon essential data. Measuring & monitoring the virus data is the key to managing the pandemic
Testing for the Virus
Pandemic. The threat is real. The novel Coronavirus / COVID-19 continues infecting populations across the nations of the world. As people isolate and economies shut down an admonition comes to mind. We need extensive testing to effectively measure, monitor and manage this disease
Coronavirus – COVID-19, Global Crisis
The US stock market crashes, the world economy wavers between recession and depression, and a pandemic threatens. The US president at first speaks of a threat exaggerated, then blames China for not reporting the severity of the virus, then pivots to a national response
