Why nuclear weapons don’t make any sense
Nuclear weapons are terror weapons, and basically unusable. That’s one reason why no rational strategy, other than deterrence, has ever been developed to justify them. Events in the past week and a...
View ArticleTurning swords into plowshares, and back again
How long does it take for enemies to become allies, and allies to become enemies? On July 3 in Hanoi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton celebrated the 20th anniversary of that country’s...
View ArticleMiddle East buildup refutes critics of Obama
Here are some facts that should be considered by those who criticize the Barack Obama administration for “leading from behind” in the troubled Middle East. A steady buildup in the number of U.S. ships...
View ArticleCeasefire tests five leaders
The diplomatic activities under the current Gaza ceasefire will test whether a quintet of leaders — each with his own domestic critics — can find a peaceful rather than a military solution to the...
View ArticleHard questions about the U.S. nuclear arsenal
We are rightly mourning the horrific killings in Newtown, Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School and discussing the threats posed by semiautomatic rifles. Yet, on another front, the United States...
View ArticleHigh cost of disengagement from Afghanistan
The United States has spent nearly $600 billion over the past 10 years putting combat forces into Afghanistan. Now it’s going to cost an additional $5.7 billion over the next year or two just to...
View ArticleAn uphill battle to reduce U.S. nuclear arsenal
President Barack Obama will have a harder time getting some Senate Republicans to agree to new reductions in nuclear arsenals than he will Moscow.
View ArticleLessons from the Iraq War are there for the heeding
Do Obama policymakers really know the economic consequences of beginning military operations in Iran or supplying weapons to Syria's opposition
View ArticleA post-Assad Syria can’t grab the attention of Capitol Hill
As Capitol Hill fields calls for U.S. military intervention in Syria, it fails to consider whether a post-Assad Syria would pose tougher problems than Iraq.
View ArticleU.S. takes lead on missile defense
The United States has quietly taken on the huge task of trying to organize regional ballistic missile defense networks, not only among NATO countries, but also in East Asia and the Middle East. The...
View ArticleYoung Kim pushing harder than ever
How provocative has the United States been to North Korea? For almost two months, the U.S. and South Korea have had more than 200,000 ground troops, tanks, helicopters, fighter bombers, strategic...
View ArticleBarren legal ground for U.S. airstrikes in Syria
Would the U.S. have any legal justification for launching airstrikes against Syrian government radars, antiaircraft sites and air bases — and killing civilians?
View ArticleWhy nuclear weapons don’t make any sense
Nuclear weapons are terror weapons, and basically unusable. That’s one reason why no rational strategy, other than deterrence, has ever been developed to justify them. Events in the past week and a...
View ArticleTurning swords into plowshares, and back again
How long does it take for enemies to become allies, and allies to become enemies? On July 3 in Hanoi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton celebrated the 20th anniversary of that country’s...
View ArticleCreating roadblocks to cuts in nuclear arms
U.S. congressional dysfunction on defense rears its head when a subcommittee chair threatens to withhold funds for implementing the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
View ArticleNo heroes in AP news leak
Whoever provided the initial leak to the Associated Press in April 2012 not only broke the law but caused the abrupt end to a secret, joint U.S./Saudi/British operation in Yemen that offered valuable...
View ArticleSurveillance controversy illuminated by history
The American public at large is more accepting of the government's involvement in their lives than a 29-year-old former NSA contractor appears to believe.
View ArticleIn electronic snooping, level of oversight is key
Americans are learning what electronics whizzes and hackers have known all along — that computers and smartphones, which make our lives more productive and entertaining, have at the same time ended...
View ArticleFocus on facts, not fear, in a public NSA debate
It's time for a meaningful public debate about how NSA's communications data collection programs actually operate, not just the potential dangers they may pose.
View ArticleThe data mining of social media: Get used to it
Many people love the convenience of cellphones and ever more social media applications. What many don't focus on is how easily outsiders can invade their lives.
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