17 Oct, 2022
Shame and hope
The primitive stupidity of the global “security” system in which we continue to drift 60 years after the Cuban crisis is beyond shameful.
17 Oct, 2022
3 Aug, 2022
Beyond the mulish, look to the stars
Nancy Pelosi’s stopover in Taiwan may be brave or foolhardy, but the Chinese reaction so far (lots of live-fire weapons drills close to the island nation, along with acts of cyber-sabotage) suggests how threatened the government of the Peoples’ Republic of China feels.
15 Jul, 2022
July 12, 2022
On Tuesday July 12, as the horrors of war in Ukraine ground on, chewing up soldiers and civilians alike in its indifferent maw, the January 6 Committee held yet another hearing that tied the pathologically narcissistic Mr. Trump ever closer to a conscious conspiracy to violently
7 Jul, 2022
The nuclear superpowers and true self-interest
A number of nuclear strategy experts have agreed that the only sensible response to China’s alarming new buildup of nuclear weapons is for the U.S.
3 Jul, 2022
The lost conversation
Eight days of rafting down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon with my daughter promised to be an exceptional experience.
29 May, 2022
Welcome, children
Welcome, children, to the world we so-called adults are handing over to you—a planetary culture of lies and power...
22 May, 2022
Humility
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin declared that he wants Russia weakened. Of course he meant militarily weakened.
11 May, 2022
Beyond our nuclear march of folly
The planet and its national and international institutions are not even close to facing the realities that confront us. Instead, we live in a fantasy la-la land, or what Greta Thunberg might call blah-blah land.
26 Apr, 2022
Delusional
One adjective often, and correctly, used for Putin’s invasion is “delusional.” Even if he manages to pound Ukraine into scorched rubble, he’ll still be further than when he began from anything resembling victory.
13 Apr, 2022
Is this the best we can do?
There’s been a lot of “whataboutism” muddying the dialogue around the deeper causes of the cruel and pointless Ukraine invasion.
27 Mar, 2022
Beyond deterrence
While the invasion of Ukraine is a body blow to worldwide hopes for peace, it is still an opportunity to reassess establishment thinking about nuclear deterrence...
16 Mar, 2022
The Tragedy of Ukraine and New Thinking
As we lock horns with the cruel and out-of-touch Putin, once again we’re at a moment that too closely resembles the Cuban crisis of 1962. We really don’t seem to have learned very much since then. Sixty years is a long time not to have figured out that nuclear chicken is a game with no winners.
10 Mar, 2022
Our new normal
Putin’s cruel invasion of the Ukraine reminds us that there are leaders of countries—and not only Putin—who think and act according to the conviction that if they do not get their way, they might turn to nuclear weapons as a last resort.
3 Mar, 2022
Have mercy
"As the Ukrainian people endure horrors that are all the worse for being absurdly unnecessary, it is difficult to avoid pondering the most horrific absurdity of all:..."
1 Feb, 2022
Brief dispatch from Belize
I've been in Belize with my partner so we can spend time with her son and grandchildren who live there. The pandemic had kept everyone apart for a couple of years. ..