Tag Archives: nuclear proliferation

April 20, 2012, 11:54 am

Asian Arms Race

(from Wikipedia)

Missiles have been in the news lately, for better and worse.

Better: North Korea’s much ballyhooed launch of a long-range missile (ostensibly intended to propel a satellite, but equally serviceable, in fact, for nuclear weapons) turned out to be a spectacular failure. The world needs North Korea endowed with ICBM capability, adding to its shaky nuclear arsenal, like it needs (as my grandmother used to say) “a hole in the head.” So I’m glad it fizzled, although I worry that the ever-bizarre North Korean government, now seeking legitimacy for its newly installed “dearest”—or at least, youngest—leader, might try some other stunt, just to continue its ankle-biting ways.

Worse: Just yesterday, India announced the successful launch of its latest missile, the Agni 5,…

April 6, 2012, 7:58 am

Why Not Get the Law and Politics Right on Iran?

By David Barash

Guest blog by Richard Falk:

In his important article in The New York Times, March 17, 2012, James Risen summarized the consensus of the intelligence community as concluding that Iran abandoned its program to develop nuclear weapons in 2003, and that no persuasive evidence exists that it has departed from this decision. It might have been expected that such news based on the best evidence that billions spent to get the most reliable possible assessments of such sensitive security issues would produce a huge sigh of relief in Washington, but on the contrary it has been totally ignored, including by the highest officers in the government. The president has not even bothered to acknowledge this electrifying conclusion that should have put the brakes on what appears to be a slide toward a disastrous regional war. We must ask why such a prudent and positive course of action has not been…