Wall Street Journal (March 2)
With “the rapidly advancing nuclear capabilities of all four of America’s nuclear-capable rivals—Russia, Iran, North Korea and China,” it is time to reevaluate nuclear strategy. “Instead of pursuing 1990s-era fantasies about reducing the role of nuclear weapons, Washington needs to understand that… it is entering a long-term strategic-arms competition.” The U.S. must “strengthen its strategic forces to provide an adequate deterrent for itself and the more than 30 formal treaty allies that rely on U.S. nuclear weapons for their security.”
Tags: 1990s, Advancing, Allies, Capabilities, China, Competition, Deterrent, Iran, North Korea, Nuclear, Rivals, Russia, Strategic arms, Strategy, U.S., Weapons
New York Times (January 8)
“It is not just fusion. The advance of wind and solar and battery technology remains a near miracle. The possibilities of advanced geothermal and hydrogen are thrilling. Smaller, modular nuclear reactors could make new miracles possible…. Clean, abundant energy is the foundation on which a more equal, just and humane world can be built.”
Tags: Abundant, Advance, Advanced, Battery technology, Clean, Energy, Fusion, Geothermal, Hydrogen, Just, Miracles, Nuclear, Possible, Solar, Thrilling, Wind
New York Times (September 22)
“Rattling his nuclear saber, accusing the West of seeking to ‘destroy’ his country and ordering the call-up of 300,000 military reservists, Mr. Putin implicitly conceded that the war he started on Feb. 24 has not gone as he wished.”
Chicago Tribune (July 18)
“The nuclear arms control edifice that was built up over half a century is in danger of coming apart” as the Trump administration withdraws from the INF Treaty and does not seek to extend New START. “After more than 50 years of U.S.-Russian arms control negotiations and agreements, there is scope for thinking anew about how best to reduce nuclear dangers. But abandoning long-standing agreements and conditioning any new negotiations on including China are not the best way to do that.”
Tags: Agreements, Arms control, China, INF Treaty, Negotiations, New Start, Nuclear, Russia, Trump administration, U.S.
The Bangkok Post (September 14)
“The North Korean ‘crisis’ of recent months is largely an invented one.” Little has changed. “The probability that North Korea would fire a nuclear-tipped missile at the United States was” and remains, “essentially zero.” Given “the undeniable reality of mutual deterrence, the North Korean ‘crisis’ of 2017 can most accurately be seen as a media puppet show put on by Chairman Kim and President Trump for their own public relations purposes. Nonetheless, it’s a dangerous play.”
Tags: Crisis, Dangerous, Invented, Kim, Media puppet, Missile, Mutual deterrence, North Korea, Nuclear, Trump, U.S., Undeniable
New York Times (September 4)
“What does Kim Jong-un want?” That is the question that still plagues intelligence officials. “Six years after Mr. Kim took power and began executing those who challenged his rule…there is no issue that confounds analysts more than the motives of a 33-year-old dictator whose every move seems one part canny strategy, one part self-preservation, and one part nuclear narcissism.”
Tags: Canny, Challenge, Dictator, Executions, Intelligence, Kim, Motives, Narcissism, Nuclear, Power, Self-preservation, Strategy
CNN (December 23)
“President-elect Donald Trump long ago earned a reputation for being unpredictable in his statements, but he outdid himself on Thursday. In the span of just a few hours, Trump shook international relations by undercutting the Obama administration over a UN resolution on Israeli settlements, indicated he would ramp up nuclear competition with Russia and then jolted a major defense contractor — and its shareholders — by suggesting he would ask Boeing to replace a fighter jet being made by Lockheed Martin.”
Tags: Boeing, Defense, Israel, Lockheed Martin, Nuclear, Obama, Russia, Shareholders, Trump, UN resolution, Unpredictable
Washington Post (November 27)
“Japan is engaged in a national crisis over nuclear power, but the country has embraced natural gas. The United States, by contrast, is seeing a roiling national debate over natural gas and fracking, but concerns over nuclear power are muted. Each country is half right.” As countries invest in renewable energy, they “should keep their options open.” To successfully phase out the deadliest energy sources, e.g. coal, “the world needs fracking – and nuclear power.”
Tags: Coal, Crisis, Fracking, Japan, Natural gas, Nuclear, Renewable energy, U.S.
Bloomberg (October 10)
“Clean coal is far from real…. In the near future, carbon capture promises to be of little help in the fight against climate change—especially compared with natural gas, the increasing supply of renewable power, and the clean energy that nuclear plants produce.”
Tags: Carbon capture, Clean coal, Clean energy, Climate change, Natural gas, Nuclear, Renewable power
The Economist (May 28)
“A nuclear nightmare” is in the making. “It is past time for the world to get serious about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions…. So clear and present is the danger that even rivals who clash elsewhere in Asia must urgently find new ways to work together.”
Tags: Ambitions, Nightmare, North Korea, Nuclear, Serious
