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Tag Archives: libya
Creating Chaos: Time to Learn From Our Mistakes
Yesterday’s New York Times had an article noting that the head of the UN Mission in Libya fears “the country is very close to total chaos.” Islamic fundamentalist insurgents took control of Tripoli last summer, forcing what remains of the government into exile in Tobruk, and things have only gotten worse since then. Back in 2011, when we started military action which eventually led to the murder of Muammar Gaddafi, I warned of Libyan Blowback, Libyan Delusions, and the largely overlooked nuclear proliferation incentives we created by attacking a regime Pres. Bush had welcomed back into the family of nations when it gave up its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Yet, with most American officials still maintaining that “Assad has to go,” we seem not to have learned our lesson. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged afghanistan, critical thinking, libya, martin hellman, nuclear proliferation, nuclear risk, stanford, syria, war and peace
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Why Russia Resists a UN Resolution on Syria
The mainstream media has largely failed to mention one of the main reasons Russia has been resisting a UN Security Council Resolution which would allow the use of force if the US believes that Syria has failed to meet its obligations. Back in March 2011, Russia allowed UNSC Resolution 1973 which authorized “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians. The West then used that resolution as the basis for air attacks leading to regime change and Gaddafi’s murder — an interpretation of the resolution with which Russia strongly disagrees. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged libya, martin hellman, nuclear risk, russia, stanford, syria, un resolution, war and peace
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US Unwittingly Encouraging North Korea’s Nuclear Program
While encouraging nuclear proliferation is one of the last things we want to do, we couldn’t be doing a better job if we tried. Every time we engage in regime change, we give would-be proliferators one more reason to seek nuclear weapons of their own. What other way do they have of deterring our much more powerful military from toppling them at some future date? Continue reading
Libyan Delusions
Back in March, as NATO attacks on Libya moved into full swing, I wrote three related blog posts (“Libyan Blowback?”, “More on Libya,” and “Let’s Make a Deal!”) that illuminated the nuclear proliferation aspects of our attacks. But, humanitarian concerns trumped nonproliferation considerations, and we attacked anyway. Or did we fool ourselves? Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article “Revenge Feeds Instability in Libya” on page A7 which suggests that we suffered at least some self-delusion: Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Hellman, libya, nuclear proliferation, nuclear weapons, self-delusion, stanford
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Let’s Make a Deal!
Hey, remember when Bush Administration officials tried to convince Kim Jong Il that he could get the same denuclearization deal Bush gave Qadhafi? Yeah, the last couple of days might explain why Kim didn’t think it was such a great idea. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged arms control wonk, Hellman, jeffrey lewis, libya, nonproliferation, north korea, nuclear proliferation, stanford
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More on Libya
Yesterday’s post noted that our military actions against Libya are likely to have the unintended consequence of accelerating nuclear proliferation. Nations, such as Iran, will see that after North Korea developed nuclear weapons it became largely immune to threats of regime change, while Gaddafi – who voluntarily gave up his nuclear program in 2003 – is highly vulnerable. My post argued that a lack of forethought was the underlying problem. Today’s news reinforces those concerns: Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged egypt, Hellman, libya, nuclear proliferation, nuclear risk, peace, stanford, war, war and peace
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Libyan Blowback?
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is far from my favorite person. But, before we started an undeclared war on his regime, it would have been wise to think things through more carefully. I am not saying that our actions were a mistake, just that there has been insufficient thought given to their impact on issues such as nuclear proliferation:
Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged critical thinking, gaddafi, libya, martin hellman, nuclear proliferation, nuclear risk, senator lugar, war and peace
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Defusing the Nuclear Threat 