Search results for nuclear notebook

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On the 20th anniversary of the 1998 nuclear tests by India and Pakistan

Here, guest editors Zia Mian and M.V. Ramana select a few of the many articles on nuclear South Asia that have been published by the Bulletin.

New digital journal: Security at sea, and under it

In their article on China’s security agenda in the South China Sea, experts John Lewis and Xue Litai quote Chinese president Xi Jinping: “History and experience tell us that a country will rise if it commands the oceans well and will fall if it surrenders them.” This special issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic … Continued

The anatomy of a STRATCOM disinfographic

When United States Strategic Command posted an infographic about nuclear weapons on Twitter, the Bulletin took careful note. The graphic is confused—not only about when to use bold typeface, but also about the facts.
India's INS Vela submarine

India is building nuclear submarines and ICBMs. That’s a $14 billion mistake.

India is pursuing nuclear-armed submarines and ICBMs. It could save money, bolster its global image, and still credibly deter its rivals by doubling down on its existing missile forces instead.

Introduction: Nuclear testing in the 21st century—legacies, tensions, and risks

Moscow and Washington say they won't resume nuclear testing. But despite what officials say, some evidence could suggest otherwise.

Thank you, Stan Norris

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists extends its congratulations and heartfelt thanks to Dr. Robert Standish Norris for 31 years of exceptional service. Norris is retiring from his duties as co-author of the Nuclear Notebook, the Bulletin’s authoritative accounting of world nuclear arsenals, compiled by top experts from the Federation of American Scientists. Stan Norris has been researching and preparing the Bulletin’s … Continued
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Credit: TASS News Agency. Accessed via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.

Putin’s nuclear warnings: heightened risk or revolving door?

Observers have put forward varying explanations suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes, through nuclear threats, to achieve some current or future tactical edge in his face-off with Ukraine and NATO. But none of that reasoning erases a dangerous reality: Any Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons would create unprecedented conditions that could easily lead not to Russia's advantage, but to a wider nuclear war that would decimate Russia—and its leadership.

Russia suspends New START and is ready to resume nuclear testing

Experts react to Putin's decision to suspend the New START nuclear arms treaty between Russia and the United States.

While the world watched US-North Korean negotiations, two nuclear powers squared off

While audiences around the world watched the breathless media coverage of US President Donald Trump’s follow-up summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the proud owner of perhaps 10-20 nuclear weapons, they may have missed escalating military tensions between India and Pakistan, two countries with almost 300 nuclear warheads between them. The recent crisis … Continued
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing a ceremony to mark Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel's Wars on April 14, 2021. Credit: Israeli Government Press Office/Kobi Gideon

Israel’s Netanyahu suspends minister for suggesting a nuclear weapons option in Gaza

A junior, far-right minister in the Israeli government was suspended indefinitely on Sunday after he suggested that it would be “an option” for Israel to use a nuclear weapon in Gaza.

Thinking creatively about the North Korean stalemate

We all know the saying that you can't be a little bit pregnant--either you are or you aren't. According to Henry Kissinger, getting nuclear weapons is like getting pregnant. In a Washington Post op-ed published on Nagasaki Day, Kissinger wrote, "The root cause of our decade-old controversy with Pyongyang is that there is no middle ground between North Korea being a nuclear-weapons state and a state without nuclear weapons."
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Of weapons programs in Iran and Israel, and the need for journalists to report on both

Looking at the secret origins of the often-overlooked Israeli nuclear weapons program
One day after the Nagasaki bombing. Photo credit: Yosuke Yamahata.

No, Mr. Stephens, the United States doesn’t need more nuclear weapons

In an op-ed entitled “The U.S. Needs More Nukes,” New York Times columnist Bret Stephens laid out his case against arms control: “the bad guys cheat, the good guys don’t,” and all the while, the US nuclear arsenal is becoming “increasingly decrepit.” It’s a simple narrative; it’s also false. In fact, Stephens’ article is largely littered with bad analogies, flawed assumptions, and straight-up incorrect facts about the nature of nuclear weapons and arms control.

The revolutionary increase in the lethality of US nuclear forces

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has published a revelatory new article that describes how the United States nuclear forces modernization program has been mischaracterized to the general public as a reasonable effort to update the safety of US nuclear warheads. The authors, Hans M. Kristensen, Matthew G. McKinzie, and Theodore A. Postol, write that … Continued

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Special Issue: Nuclear Energy in the Middle East

For immediate release: January 15, 2016 Bulletin Media Contact: Janice Sinclaire, [email protected] CHICAGO– January 15, 2016 – The nuclear agreement that Iran and six major world powers signed in 2015 has focused attention on Middle Eastern nuclear politics. But as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Executive Editor and Publisher, Rachel Bronson, observes, that deal … Continued

Flight from disarmament

Editor's note: This article is largely drawn from Ramana's featured piece in the report "Assuring Destruction Forever," edited by Ray Acheson and published in April 2012 byReaching Critical Will.

Most likely to succeed against nuclear weapons

Who can be mobilized as a counterweight to the perpetuation of the nuclear arsenal?Workers in the nuclear weapons complex, doctors, independent scientists, and journalists all have direct interests in nuclear disarmament. 

Local priorities vs. national interests in arms control

While beliefs about national sovereignty and international law matter, when it comes to arms control treaties, ideological considerations rarely trump pork-barrel politics. Would a senator from a state dependent on the nuclear weapons complex oppose an arms control treaty not on the basis of ideology, but because the treaty would mean the loss of jobs or funding in their home state? Absolutely.

Great things happening on Monday!

A free-access magazine on missile defense. A new website. It's all happening on Monday.