Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists articles from January 1998

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists archives from January 1998

Test ban one, opposition zero.(supposed illegal Russian nuclear test was earthquake)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1998... Chalk one up for the comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Opponents of the pact have tried since August to paint a small earthquake near Russia's former test site at Novaya Zemlya as a secret nuclear explosion. The Russians, they said, were cheaters...

Call it a MIRACL.(testing of Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1998... Until last October, the Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser better known as "MIRACL"--sat on the shelf. Congress had banned its further testing in 1991, on the basis that its purpose had pretty much expired along with the Cold War. To...

Despite talk, Juragua only a maybe.(nuclear power plant in Cuba)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1998... The seemingly endless saga of Cuba's attempt to achieve nuclear power drags on--along with U.S. fear-mongering about impending nuclear doom in Caribbean backwaters. Cuba is apparently determined to complete the Juragua Nuclear Power Plant,...

In brief.
January 1, 1998... * Don't tell Cap Weinberger Remember back in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan set in motion the largest peacetime weapons-building program in history? He was driven to it, he and his minions agreed, because the Soviet Union was engaged in a...

25 years ago in the Bulletin.
January 1, 1998... In the early 1970s, the Atomic Energy Commission began actively searching for long-term alternatives to its temporary program of above-ground storage for high-level radioactive wastes from nuclear power reactors. Among the various proposals...

An Orthodox odyssey.(Orthodox Christian Church wants to join with scientific community to fight for the environment)
January 1, 1998... A long-bearded priest pulled me aside at the Orthodox Church in rain-soaked Batumi, Georgia's main Black Sea port since the Abkhaz war in 1992-93 reduced Sukhumi to ruins. "Which patriarchs are on the ship?" he asked in Russian, hand on my...

Iran is not Iraq.(Iran not a military threat to U.S.)
January 1, 1998... A surprising number of U.S. policy-makers and nonproliferation analysts assume that Iran is another Iraq just waiting to happen. Military planners believe that Iran and Iraq are two of only three likely enemies facing the United States (the...

ABM: Just kicking the can.(Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty)
January 1, 1998... On September 26, after nearly four years of often-deadlocked negotiations, the United States and Russia signed agreements modifying the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. The talks, initiated by the United States to allow it to proceed...

Iraq: Resettle the scientists.(nuclear weapons scientists should leave Iraq)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1998... Last November, almost seven years after the end of the Persian Gulf War, Saddam Hussein demonstrated yet again that he cannot be trusted to honor Iraq's commitment to abandon weapons of mass destruction. The harsh economic sanctions and...

Joining the march of folly.(NATO membership should not be expanded)
January 1, 1998... Among the late Barbara Tuchman's many books was The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam, which examined some of the great mistakes of history. Why did the Trojans drag a suspicious-looking wooden horse inside their walls, despite having reason...

Spreading the security blanket.(expanded NATO membership is a good thing)
January 1, 1998... Former adversaries in Western Europe never even contemplate settling their disputes by force. That is the state of affairs to strive for throughout the entire continent. It can be achieved by gradually bringing into the fold every European...

Bulgaria in a vise.(former Soviet bloc countries and NATO)
January 1, 1998... Kuritza ne ptitza i Balgaria ne za granitze. That sentence may be "Greek to you," but actually it's Russian, and translated into English it means: "A hen is not a bird and Bulgaria is not outside." I recently heard this bit of nonsense...

The Senate's strange bedfellows.(US decision on admitting three nations to NATO)
January 1, 1998... At its July 1997 summit in Madrid, NATO agreed that it would offer membership in the alliance to Hungary, Poland, and the Czeeh Republic. Following that vote, the alliance negotiated agreements with the candidates for membership, and those...

Europe's nuclear family.(European Union moving to pro-nuclear position)
January 1, 1998... With few exceptions, membership in the European Union has come to mean embracing NATOWS pro-nuclear posture. Mention nuclear weapons to a European Union bureaucrat in Brussels, and he or she is likely to look puzzled. On the surface there...

Turn back now.(Clinton administration policy toward Russia)
January 1, 1998... The Clinton administration's insistence on making NATO expansion the cornerstone of its policy in Europe is only the latest symptom of a much deeper problem--the absence of a real American policy toward Russia. This worries many of us in the...

Jimmy Carter makes a deal.(President Carter defuses conflict between U.S. and North Korea)
January 1, 1998... Three and a half years ago, the United States very nearly blundered into war with North Korea. Neither the Bush nor the Clinton administrations wanted that outcome; but few senior officials were willing to take the domestic political risks to...

The youngest SPY.
January 1, 1998... In January 1944, Ted Hall, 18, joined the Manhattan Project. He was already a closet leftist. He believed that the Soviet Union, not the United States, was building the world of the future. At 16, Hall entered Harvard, where he met Saville...

"Mlad" and "Star".(excerpt from book 'Bombshell')
January 1, 1998... Striding into midtown Manhattan, Ted Hall moved like a man with a purpose. Fast. Determined. He weaved around the less energetic or less focused who didn't match his pace, which meant just about everyone else on the pavement. That was how he...

Taiwan: Nuclear nightmare averted.
January 1, 1998... A nuclear-armed Taiwan facing off against a nuclear-armed China? It could have happened. From time to time, officials in Taiwan admit they once had a nuclear weapons program, but they have rarely discussed details. Instead, they enjoy the...

The Neutron and the Bomb: A Biography of Sir James Chadwick.(Review)
January 1, 1998... The Neutron and the Bomb: A Biography of Sir James Chadwick By Andrew Brown Oxford University Press, 1997 384 pages; $35.00 In its extensive coverage of Hiroshima's fiftieth anniversary, the New York Times mentioned James Chadwick only...

The Future of War: Power, Technology & American World Dominance in the 21st Century.(Review)
January 1, 1998... The Future of War: Power, Technology & American World Dominance in the 21st Century By George and Meredith Friedman Crown Publishers, 1996 464 pages; $30.00 Nobody will read this book without finding a fact or a perspective which they...

Sowing the Dragon's Teeth: Land Mines and the Global Legacy of War.(Review)
January 1, 1998... Sowing the Dragon's Teeth: Land Mines and the Global Legacy of War By Philip C. Winslow Beacon Press, 1997 167 pages; $21.00 The timing could hardly be better for the appearance of Philip Winslow's compelling book on the land mine tragedy...

U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces, End of 1997.
January 1, 1998... The number of U.S. operational strategic nuclear weapons is estimated to be 7,250, approximately the same as last year. There were modest changes in all three legs of the triad, but the size and composition of the total stockpile has stabilized...

No points safe.(nuclear weapons security)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1998... The Last Word One Point Safe, the New York Times tells us in its review of the Andrew and Leslie Cockburn book published last fall, begins with a little-reported January 1977 midnight raid by terrorists against an American nuclear...