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Tag Archives: nuclear weapons
Is the Ukrainian Crisis Spiraling Out of Control?
Today’s news indicates a heightened nuclear risk due to a dangerous feedback process at work in the Ukraine. The New York Times’ page 1 ominous headline was, “Striking Town, Ukraine Forces Defy Warning,” and the Wall Street Journal echoed that warning, “Ukraine Sends Troops East As Pro-Russia Forces Strike.” Is the Ukrainian crisis spiraling out of control, and if so, what might we do to reverse that dangerous process? Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged cold war, critical thinking, martin hellman, nuclear risk, nuclear weapons, putin, stanford, ukraine, Yanukovych
3 Comments
Significant Progress on Reducing Iran’s Uranium Stockpile
With all the bad news coming out of the Ukraine, it’s nice to report significant progress on rolling back Iran’s nuclear program. For the first time in a year, that nation’s stockpile of 20% enriched uranium has shrunk to the point that it can no longer be further enriched to make a weapon. While cautious optimism is in order, that is really good news. Here are some key excerpts from a February 26 article covering this development (emphasis added): Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged enrichment, iaea, iran, martin hellman, nuclear risk, nuclear weapons, progress, stanford, uranium
2 Comments
Unusual Perspectives on the Ukrainian Crisis
We constantly hear the mainstream American reaction to the Ukrainian crisis, with a number of authors even comparing Putin’s actions in the Crimea to Hitler’s takeover of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland. My goal, both in today’s post and Sunday’s is to provide alternative perspectives so that you can then draw your own conclusions. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged martin hellman, nuclear risk, nuclear weapons, putin, russia, stanford, ukraine, war and peace
5 Comments
A Nuclear Weapons Convention?
I hope you’ll take six minutes to watch ICAN’s excellent and important video on the need for new thinking with respect to nuclear weapons. As you watch it, remember that, contrary to the claims of scare stories which stop you from thinking, banning nuclear weapons does not mean we would get rid of all of ours tomorrow and be at the mercy of any nation which cheated. Continue reading
Avoiding Needless Wars, Part 10: Iran
The interim agreement to freeze Iran’s nuclear program has been praised by some as a diplomatic breakthrough and condemned by others as a prelude to nuclear disaster. A full appraisal must wait until we see what the follow-on agreements, if any, look like. In the meantime, here’s my take: Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged critical thinking, iran, martin hellman, nuclear agreement, nuclear risk, nuclear weapons, Rouhani, stanford, war and peace
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French Arms Sales and Iran
Dr. Yousaf Butt has an extremely insightful post on Reuters, which points out that “France’s torpedoing of the agreement [to relax sanctions in return for concessions by Iran] appears less related to genuine nuclear proliferation concerns than with trying to curry favor with anti-Iranian countries — like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – who commission and buy expensive French military, satellite and nuclear hardware.” The post goes on to note: Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged arms sales, france, iran, martin hellman, nuclear weapons, stanford, Yousaf Butt
1 Comment
Avoiding Needless Wars, Part 7: Afghanistan
Our October 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, less than a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, might seem like an unavoidable war because the Taliban had sheltered Osama bin Laden, and we could not afford to risk a repeat of that disaster. But a more careful analysis shows that our Afghan war, like the others examined in this series, could have been avoided. The trick is not to start the analysis in 2001, but in December 1979, when we started to arm jihadists who were fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. One of them was Osama bin Laden. Continue reading
