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 […]
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
The Consequences Start Now / June 1 From Strategic Demands’ associate, GreenPolicy360, a scan of international reactions to the U.S. president’s decision to reject the global climate agreement as he speaks of climate change as “a hoax” and moves to cut off pro-active measures to build a global effort confronting global threats
Via RT — Russia has unveiled the first image of its new thermonuclear missile system, RS-28 Sarmat, nicknamed “Satan-2” by NATO. The MIRV’d Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, designed to be fitted with hypersonic warheads, are expected to go into production as early as 2018. Tags: Calculus of War; Cold War 2.0; Nuclear Proliferation; Hypersonic Arms Race
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 […]
A Nuclear Arsenal and Reflections on a President’s Last Days in Office Obama plans major nuclear policy changes in his final months … Obama administration determined to advance the nuclear reduction agenda. StratDem update: A month ago we wrote that the president’s final days in office should include executive orders addressing nuclear proliferation issues… Now, […]
Last week we wrote of President Obama and his National Security counsel as they prepared to leave office and leave behind the power of the White House to shape security policy. This week we continue on the theme of the president’s legacy and strategic nuclear risks by again considering My Journey at the Nuclear Brink […]
A decade ago your editor organized a policy conference in Washington DC with a group of national security experts that ranged from a former NSC senior staffer (and Kissinger aide who resigned in protest of the Cambodia invasion) Roger Morris to current National Security Advisor Susan Rice. The 2006 conference was inauspiciously called “Surviving Victory”
U.S. nuclear national laboratories at Los Alamos and Sandia in New Mexico are the world’s foremost facilities for the production of mass destruction and death… Over the past 60 years, our country has spent over $7 trillion to generate 70,000 nuclear warheads at an average cost of about $100 million apiece… 10,400 such weapons […]
One has to ask after watching this week’s foreign policy speech from candidate Clinton, billed as a “major” policy presentation, where were the foreign policies and national security positions? The speech was an unrelenting attack on candidate Trump, yes, but Clinton tough talk and a ‘new neo-con’ confrontational foreign policy remains a major issue
“Lethal Autonomous Robotics” (LARS), artificial intelligence programmed to destroy on command — and Network-on-Network warfare. Autonomous weapon systems are being designed and prototyped to fight future wars — and programmed to go beyond where humans can go. These weapon-autonoms-AI systems are coming
Article Five… Ask the question of questions: How will the U.S. administration respond if Russia retaliates militarily against Turkey, a NATO ally
In appreciation of social media and marble memories, on the day after the debate of five presidential candidates, let us take a moment to remember the meaning of the phrase “Machiavellian” and the words of “The Prince”
As lobbying, discussion and debate continue in the US amid general agreement that the President has the votes in support of the P5+1 Iran agreement, two additional points come further into view: the IAEA powers to monitor and verify in Iran and IAEA powers to monitor and verify beyond Iran
President speaks to the issue of international agreement with Iran — As delivered at American University — August 5, 2015 ◊ Obama: Arguments against Iran deal echo those favoring war in Iraq — Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama, seeking to amplify his campaign to garner congressional support for the Iran nuclear deal, declared Wednesday the decision […]
Rising tensions between the US and Russia, and the US and China, are producing a gauntlet of consequences. New nuclear arms escalation, oil/gas and energy agreements, new alliances and old rivalries take on added dimension as a “Grand Strategy” in Eurasia gathers force
