Commentary – The Reagan Vision

Reagan was right about missile defense

bobcatou — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 01:02:35 +0000

More than 30 years ago, President Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative – a bold vision to defend America from nuclear missiles with something more than the mutually assured destruction our own offensive arsenal threatens. – More

Trump administration risks Reagan’s legacy on nuclear disarmament By Matthew Bolton

bobcatou — Thu, 25 May 2017 19:05:51 +0000

“A nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought,” declared U.S. President Ronald Reagan, in a 1983 speech to the Japanese parliament. “I will not be deterred,” he said, receiving a standing ovation. “The United States will never walk away from the negotiating table. Peace is too important.” – More

Trump, Reagan, and Missile Defense By Jerry Rogers

bobcatou — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 10:23:05 +0000

President Ronald Reagan was frequently two steps ahead of everyone else—the media, the Congress, the Soviets. Reagan’s ‘head-for-knowing’ was evidenced by his prescient support for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). A missile defense system designed to protect the continental United States from a missile attack. – More

Two to Tango With Nuclear Weapons By Peter D. Zimmerman

bobcatou — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 22:44:33 +0000

Somewhere in the American southwest, not so very far from civilization, there is a fenced and guarded compound within another fenced and guarded compound in the distant reaches of a large military base. I won’t hint at its location, but it does show up on web searches if you know what to look for. Beneath the fence is a vault where nuclear weapons wait on transport dollies tended by highly trained technicians, each with Department of Energy “Q” security clearances, the ones that give the holder access to the deepest secrets of nuclear weapons. The techs have demonstrated that they are loyal, trustworthy and reliable Air Force members.

[READ: North Korea’s ‘Meaningful’ Nuclear Progress Causes Concerns]

The Nuclear Test Ban: Time to Finish What We Started By Sergei Ryabkov and Lassina Zerbo

bobcatou — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:31:51 +0000

The growing global concerns about North Korea’s nuclear weapons capabilities and tensions in the region are a stark reminder of the need to re-energize the cooperative, diplomatic efforts necessary to advance nuclear risk reduction initiatives, including the global treaty to verifiably ban all nuclear weapon test explosions. – More

How to Make the Nuclear Button Safer By Michael Krepon

bobcatou — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 13:47:49 +0000

As we mark the centenary of the United States’ entry into World War I, I recall the words of a participant in the Versailles Treaty, which ended that conflict. “This isn’t a treaty of peace,” the American diplomat William Bullitt declared. “I can see at least 11 wars in it.” The world once again seems to be preparing for war: a wider conflict in Syria, greater friction with Russia and possible military action on the Korean Peninsula. – More

President Trump should heed Churchill’s warning not to escalate arms races By Dallas Morning News

bobcatou — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 20:26:45 +0000

As Winston Churchill warned, if we ramp up the arms race, we’ll just “make the rubble bounce.”The stakes are even higher today because so many countries have nuclear weapons – and they could set the world on fire. This moment calls for a strong, but nuanced and strategic policy, not incendiary bluster. (Attention, you-know-who).

– More

Donald, Have I Got a Deal for You By Thomas L. Friedman

bobcatou — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 15:06:37 +0000

Every president has an early foreign policy test, and Donald Trump is no exception. Trump’s test is actually already in progress, and it bears some resemblance to the one faced by a young President Kennedy. Indeed, Trump’s crisis has best been described as a “slow-motion Cuban missile crisis” — only the crisis-driver is not Fidel Castro, but North Korea’s bizarre despot, Kim Jong-un. – More

New nukes? No thanks. By Daryl G. Kimball & Charles Carrigan

bobcatou — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 18:10:32 +0000

So far, President Trump has provided few details about his approach to his most important job as president: reducing the risks of unconstrained global nuclear competition and preventing a nuclear attack against the United States and our allies. – More

North Korea Is Practicing for Nuclear War By Jeffrey Lewis

bobcatou — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 02:21:45 +0000

On Monday morning, North Korea launched four missiles from the northwest corner of the country that traveled 620 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan.

While none of the launches were the long-awaited test of an intercontinental-range ballistic missile — the sort of weapon that could reach the United States — the salvo was a big deal in its own way. Pyongyang very vividly demonstrated the warnings from Thae Yong-ho, a high-ranking North

– More