A quick look at the sidebar will reveal a variety and number of books read over the course of the past year, oft times engendering discussions off-site as to selections and purpose. Looking at the current working stack on my desk, I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk to why these particular selections.  Understanding…
7 Feb 1950: In a demonstration of carrier long-range attack capabilities, a P2V-3C Neptune, with Commander Thomas Robinson in command, took off from Franklin D. Roosevelt off Jacksonville, Fla., and flew over Charleston, S.C., the Bahamas, the Panama Canal, up the coast of Central America and over Mexico to land next day at the Municipal…
9 July 1962. At Johnston Atoll, a scrap of coral in a remote part of the Pacific, a Thor IRBM stands on the pad as launch preparations are carried out. Loaded with test equipment, its prime payload is a W-49/Mk-4 RV payload. The target, however, is not to be found on a map or chart….
It appears that second-time around worked for the North Koreans: SEOUL (AFP) — North Korea carried out a second and more powerful nuclear test, defying international pressure to rein in its atomic programmes after years of six-nation disarmament talks. The hardline communist state, which stunned the world by testing an atomic bomb for the first…
A quick history lesson. A quarter of a century ago, the US (and NATO) were engaged in an unprecedented nuclear arms build-up in Europe that was initiated with the deployment of the SS-20 Sabre (NATO)/RT-21M Pioneer (Russia) IRBM in 1976. Unlike the much older SS-4 and SS-5 IRBMs, employed in 1959 and 1961,…
“Stability 2008” the exercise that (if you believe Russian sources) signals Russia’s return to preeminence as a global military power, continues. Over the past weekend we witnessed a number of Russian ICBM and SLBM tests in conjunction with “Stability 2008.” Some of the video reporting for these launches is provided below (h/t Russian Navy Blog):…
Accepting the offer from our earlier post, Southern Air Pirate weighs in with his thoughts re. the issue of nuclear weapons… SJS, A friend of mine forwarded the couple of articles you have written about nuclear weapons to me. I have just only had a chance to skim them not really read them for…
The accelerating spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear know-how and nuclear material has brought us to a nuclear tipping point. We face a very real possibility that the deadliest weapons ever invented could fall into dangerous hands. The steps we are taking now to address these threats are not adequate to the danger. With nuclear…
Pursuing disarmament is like chasing butterflies — enjoyable for some retired old men but never-ending and beyond the pale. Bemused commentary from The Dark Prince following Shultz et al’s article on disarmament in the WSJ earlier this year? Nope, a commentary by a strategic analyst from India underscoring India’s justification to seek a…
First the official press release: President Bush Approves Significant Reduction in Nuclear Weapons Stockpile President has approved a significant reduction in the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile to take effect by the end of 2007. The President’s decision, made on the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman with the…
