Warblogging

I don't write a lot about the Iraq war—because I don't have a good understanding of what we're trying to do there or how well it's working—but I think the situation is pretty screwed up. However, one of the things that worries me most about the Democratic sweep back into Congress is that they'll screw up Iraq too, but in a new and different way. I am concerned, in … [Read more...] about Blood and Treasure

Uh, we may be at war with North Korea. Sort of. Actually, Kim Jong-il seems to think he's at war with, well, everybody: SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Tuesday it considered U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing the country for its nuclear test "a declaration of war," as Japan and South Korea reported the communist nation might be preparing a second explosion. The North … [Read more...] about Kim Jong-il v.s. Everybody

The world-wide scientific analysis of the North Korean nuclear test is starting to come in, and it's developing in an interesting direction. It appears, at least so far, that the blast was small, possibly less than 1 kiloton. By comparison, the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima was 15 kilotons, and the United States' first test at Trinity, over 60 years ago, was 18 to 20 … [Read more...] about No Nork Nuke?

This is bad news: SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Monday it had performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test, setting off an underground blast in defiance of international warnings and intense diplomatic activity aimed at heading off such a move. The North Korean statement said there was no radioactive leakage from the test site. An official at South Korea's seismic … [Read more...] about Uh Oh.

A bunch of people out there, mostly from the right wing, have started referring to the collection of Middle East conflicts as "World War III." That's nonsense. Not because this couldn't be the start of another world war—who can tell?—but because we've already had World War III. We called it the Cold War. Sure, it didn't result in a world-wide eruption of total … [Read more...] about This Ain’t World War III