North Korea Nukes Not an Imminent Threat?
National Security Advisor Jim Jones declared in a speech to the Atlantic Council that the recent testing of a nuclear device and firing of Taepodong missiles by North Korea "are not an imminent threat" to the United States or the regions because "they have a long way to go" in perfecting the technology to weaponize their nukes. He added, however ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 28, 2009 13:20
How Safe Are Pakistan’s Nukes?
"[I]f Pakistan collapses, the U.S. military is primed to enter the country and secure as many of those weapons as it can, according to U.S. officials," report's TIME's Mark Thompson burying his lede three paragraphs into a story whose headline asks, "Does Pakistan's Taliban Surge Raise a Nuclear Threat?" As I explain in my New Atlanticist piece "U.S. Prepared to Secure ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 24, 2009 15:52
Debate: Human-Cylon Alliance
I'm a couple of episodes behind on Battlestar Galactica, preferring to have multiple episodes queued up to watch sequentially, so have seen only the beginning of the plot line in question. Nonetheless, there's a very interesting cross-blog debate on the merits of the alliance between the humans and Cylons and the rearguard actions to undermine same by Robert Farley (taking ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 13, 2009 11:51
Israel Readying Iranian Strike?
Israel is taking steps to prepare for a military strike against Iran, Steve Gutkin reports for the AP. Israel is building up its strike capabilities amid growing anxiety over Iran's nuclear ambitions and appears confident that a military attack would cripple Tehran's atomic program, even if it can't destroy it. Such talk could be more threat than reality. However, Iran's refusal to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 6, 2008 20:15
Obama Berlin Speech After Action
Barack Obama's speech to the throngs gathered at the Berlin Tiergarten Park was a solid effort, saying most of the right things about the Transatlantic relationship along with some unfortunate banalities. The allusions to our shared history with Western Europe in general and Germany in particular were well done. The reminder of our efforts in the Berlin Airlift and helping ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 25, 2008 09:07
Iraqi Yellowcake Uranium Moved to Montreal
Saddam's supply of yellowcake has been secretly sold to a Canadian energy firm and flown safely to Montreal. The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program - a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium - reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 7, 2008 07:28
OTB Radio – Tonight at 7 Eastern
The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live tonight from 7-8 Eastern. Dave Schuler and will be joining me tonight to talk about diplomacy in Iran, the dumbing of the presidency, the power of Google, and various other topics. Dumbing the Presidency Google Shuts Down Anti-Obama Blogs Iranian Nukes Breakthrough? North Korea Nukes Breakthrough: A Roadmap ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 2, 2008 16:30
Iranian Nukes Breakthrough? (Updated)
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his gang of mullahs are said to be "seriously considering" the latest EU 5+1 proposals on resolving the international standoff on the Iranian nuclear program and are telling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to pipe down. Warren Strobel: Iran's senior diplomat said Tuesday that Tehran was seriously considering a new offer from six world powers to resolve the dispute over ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 2, 2008 07:12
John Bolton Slams Korea Nuke Deal
John Bolton, President Bush's former UN ambassador, is not at all pleased with last week's deal with North Korea on the nuclear stalemate. With much fanfare and choreography, but little substance, the administration has accepted a North Korean "declaration" about its nuclear program that is narrowly limited, incomplete and almost certainly dishonest in material respects. In exchange, President Bush personally declared ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 30, 2008 08:59
North Korea Nukes Breakthrough: A Roadmap for Iran?
The news over the past 48 hours or so about movement in solving the nuclear arms standoff with North Korean has been stunning. Not only is President Bush taking the DPRK off the "state sponsors of terrorism" list but the Kim government has taken major steps to dismantle their program and provide with stringent verification regimes. The administration fully ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 26, 2008 14:40
Iran 6 Months Away from Nuclear Weapons?
Remember that National Intelligence Estimate saying that Iran had ended its nuclear weapons program years ago? It turns out that Iran is as little as six months away from nukes. And it's not some neo-con warmonger saying thus but none other than International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei. In an interview with Al-Arabiya, he said, "If Iran wants ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 24, 2008 12:33
Air Force Secretary, Chief of Staff Fired
The top two men in the United States Air Force have been sacked for not keeping track of nuclear missiles, bomb fuses, and such. The military and civilian chiefs of the Air Force are resigning, U.S. officials said Thursday. Defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 5, 2008 15:07
Boycotting the Olympics (Because it Worked So Well for Jimmy Carter)
Erick Erickson and the gang at Red State join forces with Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi to implore President Bush to boycott the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies. We know some on the right who tend to view the world mostly in economic terms will disagree with us. Yes, we recognize that China is a large trading partner. We ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 8, 2008 13:53
Ron Paul Phenomenon Not About Ron Paul
Joe Carter, in an interesting reflection on his 30 days working for the Huckabee campaign, makes this observation: The Ron Paul Phenomenon is Not About Ron Paul -- It will take a more astute political mind than I possess to comprehend this Ron Paul phenomenon. All I know is that it has less to do with the candidate than about ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 3, 2008 16:41
Abolish The CIA?
Although it's not a new idea, Christopher Hitchens has seemingly united the blogosphere with his suggestion the it's time to abolish the CIA and start over. His argument, in a nutshell, is that the Agency is simultaneously incompetent and venal. Its turnaround on the Iran weapons program is just the latest instance of it proving spectacularly wrong and, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 11, 2007 16:19
