Nukes

David MansfieldIllustration by João FazendaFrom the high ridge in West Orange, New Jersey, where David Mansfield lives, you can see the towers of lower Manhattan on the horizon. Mansfield is a famous musician who plays violin, guitar, pedal steel guitar, mandolin, and Dobro, all of which he has in the…

Key point: Nuclear weapons are the ultimate deterrence. If Japan felt it needed them to protect itself, then it would quickly build them.It is perhaps China’s and even North Korea's greatest nightmare: a nuclear-armed Japan. Permanently anchored off the Asian mainland, bristling with nuclear weapons, a nuclear Japan would make…

© Library of Congress/Library of Congress A mushroom cloud with ships below during the U.S. Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons test on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in July 1946. On May 2… Read More

Post-war model of "Little Boy," the atomic bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6,... 1945. U.S. Department of Defense About 141 pounds of highly enriched uranium-235 was used to create "Little Boy," the first nuclear-fission bomb used in warfare. At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, the…

A 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron B-1B Lancer trains Japan, where it trained with the Japan Air Self Defense Force, May 12, 2020. US Air Force/Senior Airman River Bruce The Air Force has said it wants to start retiring the B-1B Lancer bomber, a workhorse aircraft that has played a major…

Call me paranoid privacy conscious, but I don’t relish the thought of being present in too many government databases. This is especially so given the exorbitant levels of nation-state cyber activity and historically poor U.S. government data protection track records (I am looking at you, OPM). Alas, extensive public services…

Kim Jong Un's recent disappearance from public view fueled speculation over the state of his health.While the reason for Kim's disappearance remains unconfirmed, the reports about his rumored ill health raised questions about who would succeed him as the leader of North Korea.Kim Jong Un has a complicated family tree,…

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan is complying with international sanctions against North Korea, a senior Taiwanese security official told the United States' deputy representative for North Korea on Tuesday, having previously been called out for breaking them.Taiwan, claimed by China as its own, is not a member of the United Nations,…

Abdul Qadeer Khan, who made international headlines in 2004 after publicly confessing his role in global nuclear proliferation, has petitioned Pakistan's top court to say he is being "kept prisoner" by government agencies and not allowed to plead his case for freedom of movement. Khan, widely described as the architect…

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