Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists articles from July 2000

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists archives from July 2000

LETTERS.
July 1, 2000... Bulletin of Atomic Sociopaths? In "Smart Bombs, Dumb Targeting?" (May/June 2000 Bulletin), William M. Arkin criticizes some of the decisions made by NATO during the war against Yugoslavia, but can't contain his enthusiasm for the potential...

High-energy marketing.(the word 'atomic' is being used for various marketing purposes)
July 1, 2000... The word "atomic" is emerging as a red-hot marketing tool Webwatch usually takes a back seat in the Bulletins section. But as we mentioned last year in "In Brief" ("We Are So Way Cool," September/October 1999), the word "atomic" is...

In brief.(spokesperson for the Ballistic Missile Defense Office explained the system could be successful even if the target was not hit)(this and other items are discussed)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... * No more excuses In a May 4 briefing in Huntsville, Alabama, Ballistic Missile Defense Office spokesman Mike Biddle introduced the idea that a national missile defense system need not actually work in order to be deployed. Speaking about...

Atomic tours growing in popularity.(tours offered in the summer of 2000 include those of the National Atomic Museum)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... For nine years, the only way to see the Trinity site has been as part of a day trip run by the National Atomic Museum. For $40, the Albuquerque-based museum, owned by the Energy Department and operated by Sandia National Laboratories, will take...

Creature discomforts.('X-men' and other mutant-movie favorites)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... Just when you're enjoying a lemonade in the breezy comfort of your own back porch, look out: Genetically altered humans are on the loose. Well, actually, they're only in a movie, X-Men, released July 14 by 20th Century Fox. The film is based on...

When three heads are better than ... three heads.(mutants in movies, such as 'Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster')(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... One person's favorite mutant monster flick is another's cooperative security analogy Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster (1964) features four of the big-time monster mutants in one epic: Rodan, the giant bird; Godzilla, our favorite...

Ignore that missile--it's headed for Toronto.(Canada has not decided whether to participate in the US missile defense system)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... Canada has been debating whether it wants to participate in the proposed U.S. national missile defense (NMD) system. With U.S. officials pressing for cooperation, some members of Canada's defense establishment are already lined up. As the...

$9 billion for what?(protest of the Trident missile system upgrade)
July 1, 2000... ON APRIL 28, THE ALASKA, THE FIRST of four Ohio-class nuclear submarines slated for a controversial missile system upgrade, sliced its way through the waters of Hood Canal on its way to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington state. The...

Moderate jihad?(Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan tries to convey a liberal image)
July 1, 2000... IN HIS FIRST SPEECH AFTER THE COUP last October that brought him to power, Gen. Pervez Musharraf announced that "moderate Islam" would guide Pakistan and warned against the "religious exploitation" of public fears and sentiment. A few days...

Stillborn.(a visit to Sarajevo and Mostar, in Bosnia, is described)
July 1, 2000... IT'S LATE APRIL AND I'VE JUST LANDED in Sarajevo after a three-year absence. I didn't travel in a NATO C-130 this time, but on a regularly scheduled commercial flight from Budapest. Instead of being ushered off a ramp and into a temporary...

What missile defense says to China.(US and China seek to resolve strained relations)
July 1, 2000... OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, THE PRESIDENTS OF China and the United States have spoken of how both nations must build a constructive strategic partnership between them for the next century. But the "next" century is upon us, and the...

Like peas in a pod.(both the Republican in the US, and the Communists in Russia, seem to long for the old Cold War days)
July 1, 2000... Both the Republicans and Russia's hard-line Communists are nostalgic for those good old Cold War days. TWO POLITICAL GROUPS--THE RUSSIAN COMMUNISTS and the U.S. Republican Party--are separated by thousands of miles. Yet, like two sets of...

Dangerous assumptions.(the US is assuming that democracy will take root in Central Europe)
July 1, 2000... Democracy isn't doing all that well in Central Europe. AMERICANS USUALLY ASSUME THAT ESTABLISHED democracies are here to stay, in part because the democratic credentials and enormous power of the United States enable it to widely promote...

Energy 2050.(there is a growing belief that global warming is underway)
July 1, 2000... Although the evidence for human-induced global warming is still the subject of intense debate, the majority of the world's climate researchers believe that the process is well under way. The earth is a natural greenhouse. It would not be...

The political atom.(much of the public's sentiment has turned against nuclear power)
July 1, 2000... Nuclear power proponents need to change their ways if they want political and public support. ATOMIC ENERGY ENJOYED ENORMOUS political and financial support during its formative decades. Three decades ago, Glenn T. Seaborg, a Nobel...

Bernardo Salas, "bad element".(difficulties continue to be reported at the Laguna Verde nuclear power plant in Mexico, despite government denial)
July 1, 2000... How far will Mexican authorities go to avoid facing the problems at the Laguna Verde nuclear power plant? Located on a narrow swath of land between the verdant coastal mountains of northern Veracruz and the Gulf of Mexico, the hulking...

THE NPT REVIEW: Disaster averted.(Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons conference)
July 1, 2000... ON MAY 20, AT THE CLOSE OF THE sixth review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the nuclear weapon states pledged an "unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals"...

Last leg of the triad.(Russia's Strategic Rocket Force)
July 1, 2000... Down but not out: The Strategic Rocket Force struggles but survives in today's Russia. WHEN RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BORIS Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned on December 31, 1999, Russian television showed the transfer of the nuclear suitcase to his...

The Woman Who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation.(Review)
July 1, 2000... The Woman Who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation By Gayle Greene University of Michigan Press, 1999 352 pages; $35.00 The Woman Who Knew Too Much is an estimable book about the life of Alice Stewart and her role in...

Russian Strategic Modernization: Past and Future.(Review)
July 1, 2000... Russian Strategic Modernization: Past and Future By Nikolai Sokov Rowman & Littlefield, 2000 222 pages; $24.95 In the late 1970s and early 1980s, alarmist presumptions about the Soviet Union's strategic intentions spurred the United States...

Russian Nuclear Forces, 2000.
July 1, 2000... ON APRIL 14, 2000, THE START II TREATY was finally ratified by the Russian Duma, opening the way for a possible START III Treaty. START II was signed in January 1993 and ratified by the U.S. Senate on January 26, 1996. After his election in...

Russian nuclear war, made in Omaha.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... The Last Word WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE MOST UNUSUAL contingency plan prepared by the Pentagon is the "Red Integrated Strategic Offensive Plan," or RISOP--"a detailed hypothetical, but plausible, plan of how Russia could attack the West." ...