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Tag Archives: critical thinking
North Korea’s Nuclear Test
A post concerning North Korea’s latest nuclear test is on my new website for the book my wife and I just completed. I’ve included the lead-in here and encourage you to read the whole post on that website. Continue reading
A New Map for Relationships: Chapters 7, 8 & 9
The first of these two chapters describes a recent incident that easily could have blown up into an argument, but that was kept under control by our following “our new map for relationships.” Tearing up our old relationship map and piecing together a new one took years, but resulted in a marriage where we haven’t had a single fight or argument in at least 10 years. That’s something I didn’t think was possible, and I have to give Dorothie full credit for that vision. The second chapter is aptly titled, “Our Quest.” Continue reading
Responding to North Korea’s Fourth Nuclear Test
Tonight’s PBS Newshour covered North Korea’s fourth nuclear test that occurred earlier today. Wendy Sherman, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and advisor to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, called for further sanctions “to ensure that we not allow North Korea to blackmail the international community, but that we take resolute action to tell them, this is not acceptable.” The only problem with her call to action is that it is more of the same that has gotten us nowhere over the last thirteen years. Continue reading
Five Things America Needs to Learn
Harvard Prof. Stephen Walt has an excellent article in Foreign Policy that I highly recommend you read in its entirety. Although its title is “The Top 5 Things the Next American President Needs to Know About Foreign Policy,” ordinary Americans need to learn these as well because, until enough of us do, the president will be unable to act on them out of fear of the political consequences. Here are Prof. Walt’s key points, excerpted from his article: Continue reading
Turkey Shoots Down Russian Jet: Part 3
My last blog post recommended amending Article V of the NATO Charter so that only unprovoked attacks on one NATO nation would be considered an attack on them all. If it turns out that Turkey’s shooting down a Russian jet on November 24 was unwarranted, do we really want to start World War III should Russia shoot down a Turkish fighter in a future such encounter? Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged critical thinking, ISIS, martin hellman, nuclear risk, nuclear war, oil smuggling, russia, stanford, Turkey, war and peace
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Is the US Still Encouraging Islamic Militants to Attack Russia?
Back in the 1980s, the US armed and trained Islamic militants in their battle against the Soviets in Afghanistan, with President Reagan’s mistakenly seeing the mujahideen as “courageous Afghan freedom fighters,” instead of the violent, anti-Western extremists we now know them to be. I don’t know if our nation is still encouraging Islamic militants to attack Russia, but that certainly is the impression a Russian reader would get from a front page article in today’s New York Times that interviewed Chechens now fighting Russian separatists and “volunteers” in Ukraine. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Chechen, critical thinking, martin hellman, New York Times, nuclear risk, russia, stanford, ukraine
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Russia’s Alleged INF Violation
I’ve been looking for an objective and authoritative explanation of the US allegation that Russia is in violation of the INF (Intermediate Nuclear Forces) arms control treaty … and I just found it. My colleague, Dr. Pavel Podvig, has precisely that kind of analysis in his article in the current issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Here are some key excerpts (emphasis added): Continue reading
Solving “a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma”
UPDATE MAY 2017: FOR MORE, SURPRISING INFORMATION LIKE THIS, DOWNLOAD A FREE PDF OF MY NEW BOOK AND SEE THE SECTION ON RUSSIA. Most people have heard Winston Churchill’s description of Russia as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged churchill, critical thinking, enigma, iran, martin hellman, mystery, north korea, nuclear risk, riddle, russia, stanford, war and peace
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Could the US Resolve the Ukrainian Crisis By Doing Less?
Back on February 8, 2014, twelve days before the Kiev massacre which led to President Yanukovych fleeing to Russia, Ronald Reagan’s Ambassador to Moscow Jack Matlock wrote very presciently, “Ukraine’s most serious problems are internal, not external. They must be solved by Ukrainians, not by outsiders. … I believe it has been a very big strategic mistake – by Russia, by the EU and most of all by the U.S. – to convert Ukrainian political and economic reform into an East-West struggle.” A recent poll confirms Ambassador Matlock’s perspective. Continue reading
How to Truly Celebrate Defeating Nazism
Yesterday, May 8, marked our 70th celebration of VE Day – Victory in Europe over Nazism – while today, May 9, is celebrated as Victory Day in Russia. The difference of one day is due to time in Moscow being eight hours later than in Washington, but the difference in perception goes much deeper. If more Americans tried to understand the Russian perspective, it would be an excellent first step toward “defusing the nuclear threat” (as this blog is called). It may be surprising, but out of such seemingly small disagreements, nuclear threats can grow. Read on to find out why. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged critical thinking, martin hellman, nuclear risk, putin, russia, stanford, war and peace, World War 2
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Defusing the Nuclear Threat 