March 1st : Russian president Putin addresses the nation. Accompanied by large screen animated demonstrations, he talks of a new generation of nuclear weapons. In the US, strategic experts question the weapons. Others begin debating the rising danger of a nuclear arms race. The US president reacts, angrily tweeting before dawn
This is what ratcheting up looks like. This time ratcheting is three-sided. China’s in the nuclear game and the new nuclear arms race extends from cruise missiles with ‘usable’ nuclear warheads to hypersonic nuclear re-entry vehicles. The US, Russia and China — and alliance partners — are racing, each pushing the other, toward strategic disaster
Far from the US public mind, the reality of global war continues, far beyond “counter-terror” operations in 76 countries, every minute, hour, day, year… costs counted and unaccounted, blood/treasure, opportunities lost, security lost, health care lost, education lost, lives crushed, today and tomorrow a reality of perpetual war… Where is the ‘winning’?
International Games — Political Spectacle Dangerous times. The world watches as athletes from North and South Korea march together and, in the background, threats of war form a counterpoint to beginnings of talks, glimpses of an ‘off ramp’ from war — Imagine
The new Nuclear Posture Review signals a new nuclear arms race. Luck of the draw. “Do you feel lucky?” The question of generational, existential risk takes on new dimension as strategic arms experts ask deadly end game questions. Nuclear tensions are turning to nuclear threats, an international ramp up of nuclear weapons development, ‘usable’ nukes, […]
Making America Nuclear Again Trump’s Gamble Inside the Doom Factory “Fire & fury like the world has never seen“
Via the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
At the front lines of the Cold War, a green political movement was launched in Europe. Today, green parties exist in over 1/2 the countries of the world — as nuclear nonproliferation education continues at the front of a green agenda
Citizens of the U.S. are not known for their knowledge of international relations — from the basics across to more detailed, complex geopolitics and diplomacy. Yet, it is time to recall what was once called “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” that set in motion an opening between the U.S. and China. The Olympics may be another opening
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 […]
