Treaties, Numbers and Norms
Quote of the week:
“An ounce of practice is worth a thousand words.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Let’s face it: we arms controllers are attached to the written and spoken word. Last week’s post dealt with the words used to declare intention regarding the use of nuclear weapons. This week is about the written word.
Treaties are our crown jewels. John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev proved that it was possible for ideological and geopolitical rivals to agree to reduce nuclear danger. The 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty stopped atmospheric testing, addressed a growing public health hazard and pointed the way toward the goal of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Failures of Imagination
Lyric of the week:
What can I do
Baby it’s you
They say, they say you never never ever been true (cheat, cheat)
Wo ho, it doesn’t matter what they say
I know I’m gonna love you any old way
What can I do, then it’s true
Don’t want nobody, nobody
Cause baby it’s you”
–“Baby It’s You,” lyrics and production by Burt Bachrach, Luther Dixon, and Mack David. The original version by The Shirelles (1961) continues to astound. Strangely covered by The Beatles in 1963.
Mercury watched agape during 2020 as the Earth remained in retrograde. Mere mortals watch as Donald Trump begrudgingly prepares to leave the White House at the top of his game, in a blaze of denial, victimization, falsehoods and grift.
you know, and when i listen to him, on the since a highly manipulative propagandist, and i know this is an unfair question that since you know a lot about these folks it seems to me those running the show, no matter what our power players and manipulating people, using a grievance being occupation or any other set of grievances to compel their followers to do things, but i think these people would try to find other mechanisms if the occupation when to grievance and so i guess the unfair question i would ask is if the occupation wasn t there what do you suspect a al-zawahiri, bin laden, the character would attempt to do is because i don t think they are going to sit disappeared. i don t think they are going to disappear but they are going to get awfully lonely. i m not trying to tell you that bin laden and his heart of hearts wouldn t use an excuse. i think he probably was. i think the most callous politicians need followers. the problem is the fall worse more than the lea
most important and interesting questions. finally, kahn himself says that he learned most by talking. now, i don t know how many physicists you all know maybe there are some physicists out there but most physicists don t learn by talking. he learn by doing mathematics and the like and experiments and they certainly don t roam the halls asking questions. so there s something about kahn while trained as a physicist that i think belies the fact that he was a mind of a different character than your normal every day even a brilliant physicist. now, there s another criticism of kahn which is that he was never quite original, original thinker. i don t think that s actually fair. i mean, when you go through the essential herman kahn you can look at a number of essays and topics that he touched that showed he was quite an original thinker but it is fair to say then on his first major book on thermonuclear war it really was a compellation of thoughts by not himself by colleagues at