The U.S. needs new oversight on the unlimited power of the president to order nuclear use on any day at any moment for whatever reason. The singular nuclear launch authority one person has is an extreme and potentially cataclysmic authority. Now is the time for a sane nuclear launch system
Deterrence in nuclear capabilities? North Korea’s gamble, and the world’s gamble, is that their offensive force will deter devastation in the vein of the first war in North Korea, when the US air campaign of General LeMay leveled nearly every building. Today’s NK ‘gamble’, ratcheting up, is in no country’s interest
In the US Congress survival is being debated. Nuclear weapon use, first use, is up for debate for the first time in over 40 years. A point of view brought forward by StratDem before the presidential election and more actively since July 2016 is now world news. Now is the time to change first-use policy […]
On Veterans Day, formerly World War One Armistice Day, the “war to end all wars”, we look back and forward at the costs of war and remember the courage in defense of values worth defending. My father was a B-17 pilot then trained as a B-29 pilot among those who began the nuclear era…
A decade ago, founding members of Strategic Demands organized a “Surviving Victory” conference in Washington DC to address the 2006 security briefing: Strategic Demands of the 21st Century. Our intent was to bring new perspective to failing, counterproductive security policy. This week we look back — and look forward. The #CostsofWar are top of mind
U.S. Air Force preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour ready alert? Yes, no, maybe. Mixed messages from media, nuke experts, the Air Force. Defense One interview quotes revisited
As war drums beat, talk of war grows closer. Yesterday, we exchanged pre-publication messages with professor Tom Nichols over the issue of “preventive” versus “preemptive” war. We went further by asking how many Americans, who support a US attack on North Korea, even know the difference between preventive and preemptive war. A Trump-ordered first strike […]
Today we wake to the US President touting his own IQ, having been called a “moron” by the US Secretary of State, and complaining via Tweets that US Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) gave a recorded interview to the NY Times, as the Senator and his staff previously acknowledged, questioning the President’s mental fitness
Will the US Dollar continue to be the world’s Exchange Currency? Let’s look closer at the question of Reserve Currency. Rivals to the U.S. have emerged. U.S. political turmoil promises less safe-haven and ongoing crises, conflict and war, threatened trade, environmental degradation and deeply damaged international relations. How much longer will the Dollar reign?
Count the ways words and belligerance can escalate to war. A litany comes to mind — miscalculation, provocation, preemption, a Gulf of Tonkin moment, or just a temper-tantrum acted out in a “fit of pique” (James Clapper’s words). We could go on, but words that draw the world closer to the edge, push closer to disaster
In what is arguably one of the more threatening addresses since the creation of the United Nations, the US president lays out his vision of nations, “sovereignty”, and what he sees as “America First” within the international community. He goes on, lecturing, warning, threatening the use of US force
The US Nuclear Arsenal What is it there for, if it can’t be used? – The U.S. President
We’ll see … President Trump says “we’ll see” whether he’ll order strikes on North Korea in response to its nuclear test… a barrage of news stories on a Sunday morning does nothing to address the question of the hour… One person has #hairtrigger power to order US forces to attack North Korea, potentially initiating nuclear war […]
Questions of command and control are circulating. The former US Director of National Intelligence goes on record to worry about the President’s access to nuclear codes. Erratic decisions, speeches, and behavior of the US Commander in Chief are continuing to produce concern as the public and international community react
Steve Bannon out as US presidential adviser. The Bannon agenda returns to Breitbart news with a Bannon message that he intends to ‘go to war‘. The ‘McMaster era’ begins as the national security adviser formerly at odds with Bannon reports to an unpredictable president. Will more ‘globalist’ extension, troops and conflicts across hemispheres result
The future is overcast and the horizon foggy. The aftermath of the riot in Charlottesville is just beginning to be wrought. The consequences of words and policies, action and non-action will define the American experiment going forward. The American president wavers, then shocks with his remarks
