Crossposted with Foreign Policy in Focus

What is a trillion? It is a big number for sure. The best explanation I have found for this mind-blowing figure is from children's book author David Schwartz. "One million seconds comes out to be about 11½ days. A billion seconds is...

There is a lot of news about nuclearism these days. President Barack Obama just concluded his Nuclear Security Summit. The new START agreement between the United States and the Russia will cut the number of long-range nuclear warheads on each side by hundreds. And the upcoming Nuclear...

Operation New Dawn. That is the name the U.S. military will give its operations in Iraq when U.S. military operations in that country end this September.

Wait, what? Okay, once more, a little more slowly. The United States has nearly 100,000 military personnel in Iraq right now. In keeping with...

Crossposted with TomDisptach.com

On the relatively rare occasions when the media turns its attention to U.S. weapons sales abroad and shines its not-so-bright spotlight on the latest set of facts and figures, it invariably speaks of “the global arms trade.”

Let’s consider that label for a moment, word...

Massive ordnance penetrator. Sounds powerful, right? This bomb is also known by its initials: MOP.

About a month ago, Congress gave $68 million to the Boeing Corporation to accelerate the purchase and development of 10-12 "massive ordnance penetrators." The Pentagon says that the MOP bombs are the "weapon...

President Barack Obama recently signed into law the 2010 military budget, saying that it takes the "necessary steps toward reshaping priorities of America's defense establishment and changing the way the Pentagon does business."

It was not quite that dramatic. For 2010, total military spending is $680 billion. For...

The current discourse on what is now dubbed "Obama's War" focuses on the number and...

On the face of it, nuclear disarmament seems pretty straightforward--we have a bunch of things that we don't need anymore, and let's get rid of them.

But, we can't just donate our old nuclear weapons to the Salvation Army for a tax write-off, or hand them...

What a nice speech!

President Barack Obama mounted the General Assembly dais, and -- amid flash bulbs and applause -- called on the world to "embrace a new era of engagement based on mutual interests and mutual respect."

There is alot to comment on in the speech,...

The official results of Afghanistan's presidential elections won't be known for weeks. The ballots cast around the country need to be brought to Kabul — some by donkey and helicopter — and counted. Nevertheless, U.S. officials have rushed to celebrate the process, and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen heralded...

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com

Reflections on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Our World

I can't help myself. I still think it's worth bringing up, even for the 64th time. I'm talking, of course, about the atomic obliteration, at the end of a terrible, world-rending war, of two...

written with William D. Hartung

On April 5, 2009 President Barack Obama gave a major speech in Prague, outlining his vision on nuclear weapons policy. In many ways, Obama's speech was the culmination of a sea change in how the security establishment thinks about nuclear weapons. Led by former...

In the last ten years the United States has delivered $18.41 million in weapons and defense articles to Honduras through the foreign military sales program.

Foreign Military Financing, a grant of U.S. funds to foreign militaries, totaled $7.37 million between 2003 and today to this nation...

The Washington Post (and just about everyone else) reported today that the Department of Defense's CyberCommand is logged on and ready to rumble. Actually, it is just officially unveiled and will stand up in October or so.

Information Week reports that the Command will be under...

The Paris Air Show kicks off next week at Le Bourget. This is the 100th anniversary of the weeklong flight fest, featuring lots of planes on the tarmac, flying demonstrations and delegations of commercial and military aircraft manufacturers, and plenty of opportunities for contractors, military officials...

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com

Watching the Cybermilitary-Industrial Complex Form

As though we don't have enough to be afraid of already, what with armed lunatics mowing down military recruiters and doctors, the H1N1 flu virus, the collapse of bee populations, rising sea levels, failed and flailing...

Crossposted from TomDispatch.com

Why the Pentagon Can't Put America Back to Work

"Shovel-ready."

It's the magic incantation to fix our economic woes. Many states and federal agencies have already gone from scouring their budgets for things to cut to green-lighting construction projects....

A few months ago, trucks loaded with goods crossed a border. All over the world, this kind of thing happens every day, but not here. October marked the first time in 60 years that Indian trucks loaded with apples and walnuts traveled to Pakistan. The trucks returned carrying a shipment...

We've heard a lot about gun control and the second amendment in this election season. A McCain-Palin poster, featuring Alaska's 44-year-old governor with a big gun and the viewer in her rifle sights, is just one of the more graphic indications that gun control is a lightning-rod issue...

Reposted from Foreign Policy In Focus

As the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki approaches, the world continues to face a litany of nuclear concerns. There is the failure to safeguard all the nuclear material lying loose around the globe. And proponents of nuclear power...