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, […]
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. nuclear arsenal should not be under the control of one person. No decision of one person should be able to initiate nuclear weapons conflict and potentially a humanity-ending nuclear war. Humanity is at a precipice, we need to draw back from the brink of disaster
As a military band plays Gershwin in the Rose Garden at the White House, the US president walks off stage after announcing he has decided to abandon the international climate agreement. A legacy is established, a message sent to the world, the US under the current president explicitly does not believe in a “global community”
Failure to act warning by Sec of State Tillerson: “Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences.” In an earlier “Oval Office” Reuters interview, the president is quoted: “There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea”
“The US is making up its mind to stop the North from conducting further nuclear tests, it doesn’t plan to co-exist with a nuclear-armed Pyongyang,” reports the lead April 12 editorial in the Chinese Global Times
In April 2017, at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the U.S. President and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down to an exquisite dinner in a regal, golden decor setting. As the two heads of state are eating dessert, the U.S. President suddenly announces to China’s president – “We’ve just launched 59 missiles…”
“Sleepwalking Into a Nuclear Arms Race with Russia” Chuck Spinney and Pierre Sprey write for Moyers’ online (and Spinney’s Blaster blog) with a warning about a new nuclear arms race, one where ‘the nuclear issue boils down to a question of understanding how America’s spending decisions and actions impact patriotic Russians’
A Kennedy perspective — Syria: Another Pipeline War by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — and now a flashpoint in the making. S-300s roll in, the most advanced Russian missile defense system. Ask what could and most likely would happen if a no-fly zone proposal collapses and a US fighter is shot down
Whether the US remains in Incirlik or not is actually a moot point, since the profound symbolism around what’s unfolding is much more substantial than the Pentagon’s physical presence there. Never before in history has the US been cut off from its own nuclear weapons, which is essentially what’s happened with the no-fly zone […]
Over a decade ago now, two Atlantic nations joined up and went to war… It didn’t end well. In fact it still hasn’t ended. The ‘war of choice’ goes on, the fallout spreads. Experts said the war was necessary (it wasn’t), it would be over fast (it wasn’t), it would pay for itself (it didn’t) […]
What is the president of the Brookings Institute’s thinking for an “endgame”? The recent escalation of the Ukrainian conflict has been accompanied by an escalation at Brookings with its positions urging greater US military involvement. In a series of strongly worded statements directed toward Vladimir Putin, Strobe Talbott takes hard lines and pushes for “lethal […]
How does one assess the risks and costs of escalating conflict moving toward events spiraling out of control? A civil war moving toward regional war and, as a result of weapon systems that have remained on “instant alert” as a carryover from the Cold War, a more than lethal “flashpoint”…
