It was a sobering read. In 1950, Samuel Glasstone’s “The Effects of Atomic Weapons” provided the first unclassified explanation of the physical destruction caused by nuclear weapons. The book’s descriptions were detailed, clinically precise … and terrifying. For decades, it remained the authoritative source on the topic. Only one problem: It wasn’t always right. Take this conclusion: “The shock wave produced by an air-burst atomic bomb is the most important agent in producing destruction. …” For years, military planners used that insight to estimate the scope of destruction wrought by …
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Moscow to speed up the completion of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty follow-on agreement with Russia continues to highlight the difficulty of dealing with Moscow even when the two countries ostensibly share common interests. Although Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed an agreement would be reached before the end of the month, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin greeted Clinton with an announcement that the nuclear plant Russia is helping Iran build in Bushehr will begin operations this summer. Clinton called the decision “premature.” She …
The New York Times reports that the Obama Administration will probably change the United States’ nuclear policy in its upcoming Nuclear Posture Review. Specifically, President Obama would like to reduce the American nuclear arsenal by thousands of weapons but update the technology of the existing stockpile. The Nuclear Posture Review will outline important steps toward the new American policy on nuclear weapons, which is expected to further depart from a Cold War era posture. “The Heritage Foundation has proposed a ‘protect and defend’ strategic posture for the U.S. that is …
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday warned that he cannot confirm that all of Iran’s nuclear activities are for civilian purposes. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano told the IAEA Board of Governors, which is meeting in Geneva Switzerland, that “we cannot confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities because Iran has not provided the agency with the necessary co-operation.” His statement is a slightly softer indictment of Iran’s nuclear defiance than a confidential IAEA report leaked last week that indicated that the U.N. …
Yesterday the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report that warned that it has evidence that Iran may be working on a nuclear warhead. This is the first time the IAEA has suggested that Tehran had either resumed such work or in fact had never stopped, as U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded in a controversial 2007 National Intelligence Estimate. The draft report (pdf) cited undisclosed evidence that “raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for …
If ever there was a case for regime change, today’s Iran is it. Today on the anniversary of the revolution that brought the country’s authoritarian, theocratic government to power offers an opportunity to rectify the mistake made by the Obama administration last summer when it failed to lend material support to Iran’s burgeoning pro-democracy movement. The “don’t rock the boat” approach has not worked — as was amply clear at the time that it would not do. In fact, it was dangerously naive. The notion that the ayatollahs would somehow …
During his State of the Union Speech President Obama underscored his goal of “getting to zero” nuclear weapons by citing Ronald Reagan’s aspirations for a world without nuclear weapons: I have embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of these weapons, and seeks a world without them. With all due respect, this statement was misleading and disingenuous. Ronald Reagan’s long-term vision of a world without nuclear weapons presupposed a robust missile defense—the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)—that would render offensive nuclear …
The Senate yesterday passed a bill that would impose new sanctions on Iran and on companies that assist Iran’s oil industry. The legislation, S.2799, targets companies that supply Iran with gasoline and other refined products or help it to expand its refinery capacity. Although Iran possesses the world’s third largest oil reserves, it must import approximately 40 percent of its gasoline supplies because of a lack of refinery capacity. The House voted to pass similar legislation last month by a vote of 412-12. The Senate vote came the day after …
Today Iranian Foreign Minister Manochehr Mottaki publicly rejected the U.N.-backed proposal to send about 70 percent of Iran’s known supplies of enriched uranium out of the country. Mottaki suggested that instead Iran would exchange its low-enriched uranium for an equivalent amount of slightly higher enriched uranium, but only on its own territory. This clearly would be unacceptable since it would put Iran closer, rather than slightly farther away from, acquiring sufficient quantities of enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon, if the uranium were to be further enriched. French Foreign …
Hopes for a quick diplomatic breakthrough in the long-running stalemate over Iran’s nuclear weapons program have been dimmed by Iranian backtracking on a tentative agreement reached on October 1 in Geneva and Iran’s foot-dragging on future negotiations. Reuters today quoted an anonymous senior Iranian official as saying “Time is on our side” and declaring that Iran plans to slow-walk the diplomatic negotiations that will resume on October 19 by sending junior officials who do not have the authority to make firm commitments. This confirms previous suspicions that Tehran will exploit …
