You Might Want to Know Postings through November 9, 2022
Click on linked entries you'd like to read or go to johnw.substack.com
The next posting will begin a series on “The Very Idea of Deterrence.” This series may end the project in this form. Thanks so much, dear readers. Over to you.
What got this business going for me
Where I come out (on eliminating nuclear weapons)
Were the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs the same or different?
What, exactly, is nuclear fission? When was it discovered? What does it do?
What is the difference between a nuclear reactor and a nuclear bomb?
What was the hardest part about making the first bomb?
How did we enrich the uranium for Little Boy?
How is uranium enriched today?
What was the “other” fissile fuel? (Answer: plutonium.) How is it made?
How many nuclear tests did we conduct before we stopped?
Where did we conduct nuclear tests? What for?
Did any of our presidents ever witness a nuclear detonation?
How are fission and fusion bombs different? Why are fusion bombs so much more powerful?
How were nuclear weapons “miniaturized”?
What’s the difference between a “strategic” and a “tactical” nuclear weapon?
Can nuclear weapons be used as “tactical” weapons?
At War in the Cold War: What was it like to manage a “tactical” nuclear weapon?
What is the difference between a “clean” and a “dirty” nuclear weapon?
What is “ionizing radiation”? Is it harmful? How do nuclear weapons produce it? I
What is “ionizing radiation”? Is it harmful? How do nuclear weapons produce it? II
What is “ionizing radiation”? Is it harmful? How do nuclear weapons produce it? III
The Fallout Chronicles
Fallout Gets Tested on Our Soldiers
Evidence Mounts and is Suppressed
How have we kept our nuclear weapons from going off accidentally? I
How have we kept our nuclear weapons from going off accidentally? II
How long would it take missiles other than ICBMs to arrive?
How accurate are our guided missiles I
How accurate are our guided missiles II
ICBMs Arriving
1. Atlas goes on alert, with Titan close behind
2. Minuteman is stood up and Titan II too
3. Becoming rotten with perfection, the Minuteman III
5. What happens when the warheads get where they are going?
8. “Survivability” Who? What?
9. False Start
Into a Minuteman III Launch Control Center
How do we keep “unauthorized people” from setting off one of our nuclear weapons?
What is the difference between a “counterforce” and a “countervalue” attack with nuclear weapons?
What is a SIOP? Answer: A Nuclear War Plan
I. How did ours change during the Cold War?
III. How might it have turned out to be different?
Presidential Predicaments: JFK
II. Disaster
III. Berlin. Again.
VI. The Tsar Bomba
VII. The Closest We Came?
What’s COG? What’s it have to do with nuclear weapons? I
What’s COG? What’s it have to do with nuclear weapons? II
What’s COG? What’s it have to do with nuclear weapons? III
Presidential Predicaments: Truman
III. What, exactly, did he agree to?
IV. Nagasaki: Did he or didn’t he?
VII. Should we or shouldn’t we?
VIII. And now what?
Are Nuclear Weapons Useless?
III. Can they have a “military significance”?
IV. Can we make them even more useless?
V. Would a smaller bang get us back in business?
VI. Heat
VII. Another Elided Effect
VIII. A New (Better?) Idea for a Nuclear Weapon (Enhanced Radiation)
IX. If we had them, why didn’t we use them?
X. Well, there’s still, pre-emption
XI. How about Korea? And Cuba?
XII. Vietnam? Israel?
XIII. Iraq? Afghanistan?
XIV. Project Plowshare: How did that work out?
XV. When might it be okay to use them? I
XVI. When might it be okay to use them? II
XVII. Nuclear winter? Really?
Presidential Predicaments: Eisenhower
I. The New Nuclear Weapon
II. Going Tactical
III. Transfer of Custody to the Military
IV. What now?
V. Passing the Torch?
VI. Ike gets bluffed
VII. Let’s make a plan.
VIII. Inside the tiger?
Some questions that will be addressed in the upcoming series of entries on “the D word”
The Very Idea of Deterrence
Foundations of Fear and Fears without Foundation
What is Deterrence Theory?
Deterrence and Rationality
Trying to Wriggle Out of MAD
Was a Doomsday Machine in place during the arms race? Here? There? Does one exist still?
Was there ever a defense against nuclear weapons? Is there one now?
The Failure at the Heart of Deterrence
And possibly in other entries
How is the Cold War like Global Warming?
Is there no escape?
Is nuclear power generation a good idea?