The field of nuclear weapons is fraught with Sophie’s Choices.
The Arms Race Was Fed by More Than Just the Need for More and Better Nuclear Weapons
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nuclear weapons
Iran: Why This Time Is Different
The latest P5+1 talks in Istanbul rejuvenated the diplomatic track between Iran and the West, paving the way for a new chapter in Iranian nuclear negotiations. Yet if the recently concluded talks were a test of intentions, the upcoming negotiations in Baghdad are going to be a real test of wills. Both sides will have to overcome huge obstacles if they want to establish a “sustained process of serious dialogue” to resolve the Iranian nuclear impasse.
Negative Nostalgia: Nuclear-Weapons Labs a Throwback to Cold War
Even the Department of Defense has had enough of the Department of Energy’s refusal to downsize its nuclear-weapons laboratories.
Iran Errata: Israel “Tunes up” Iran for U.S.
Israel insists that Fordow, Iran’s nuclear-enrichment facility, remain vulnerable to attack.
The Foreign Policy President?
Elections are decided by economics. Voters respond to pocketbook issues and are swayed by the huge sums that candidates lavish on advertising. Foreign policy issues, by contrast, are what the British call “noises off,” those sounds from off-stage that you hear occasionally to punctuate the main actions, sounds like exploding bombs and the distant cries of suffering people. According to recent polling, global issues barely register at all with Americans right now. Far below the economy, jobs, health care, the budget deficit, and gas prices, you’ll find Afghanistan at 6 percent (CNN), terrorism at 1 percent (Bloomberg), and, most distressingly, no global issue at all (CBS/New York Times).
Trust in Nuclear Weapons Replaces Trust in God
The United States, as the world’s undisputed nuclear weapons superpower, should finally ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Do Albright and ISIS Buy Parchin Clean-up Story or Don’t They?
It’s difficult to determine whether or not the Institute for Science and International Security is driven by politics.
Iran Tries to Take the Moral High Ground on Nukes
According to Iran’s Supreme Leader Khameini, nuclear weapons are a “big sin.”
North Korea’s Pivot
After three years of frozen relations between North Korea and the United States, the two longstanding adversaries are on the verge of a thaw. In what has been called the “leap day deal,” North Korea has pledged to stop uranium enrichment and suspend nuclear and missile tests. The United States, meanwhile, will deliver 240,000 metric tonnes of food to the country’s malnourished population.
Psychologists and Torture, Then and Now
History repeats itself, Marx famously warned, first as tragedy and then as farce. In the case of U.S. torture psychologists, the ” tragedy” occurred half a century ago when CIA-funded psychological research on electroshock treatment, sensory deprivation and the like found its way into the Agency’s counterintelligence interrogation manual. The 1963 KUBARK Manual and its later iterations were used widely by U.S. intelligence and disseminated to other governments in Latin America and Southeast Asia. The “farce” was played post-9/11, as psychologists became involved once again in aiding counterintelligence interrogators.