Let’s drop the nuclear physics for a bit. People want know what makes Kim Jong-un tick. Theories abound, but no candidate has the quality that says, “this nails it.”  In the euphoric moment, political types tend to confuse fact and desire. But the intelligence community is not so easily beguiled. (Reuters) Understanding Kim: Inside the … Continue reading The Personality of Kim Jong-un; Fencing the Problem →

If you want to know what goes on inside a nerve gas detection lab, read on. (Guardian) Salisbury nerve agent attack: expert criticises lack of information. Quoting, De Bretton-Gordon said he had reassured people who contacted him asking if he thought they were at risk. “…The CBRN regiment was disbanded in 2011 as part of … Continue reading Novichok, Raman, and Why the Sea is Blue →

The North Korea ICBM threat is not visceral. With two brief exceptions, nuclear conflict has never been felt, but only imagined. Because it remains the subject of nightmarish contemplation, open source offers a meaningful fraction of the material chomped on by DoD and the White House. There is enough that we can imagine ourselves “in … Continue reading Mattis: “North Korea ICBM Not a Threat Right Now” Part 1 →

Reuters: Yemen humanitarian situation likely to worsen with Saleh death: Mattis. Quoting, (But)one thing I think I can say with a lot of concern and probably likelihood is that the situation for the innocent people there, the humanitarian side, is most likely to (get) worse in the short term,” Mattis said. He did not explain … Continue reading Mattis: Yemen Humanitarian to Worsen with Death of Saleh →

We continue from Part 1. History is taught as a sequence of cause-and-effect. This is a consequence of a belief in a causal universe, except where religious beliefs supervene. Recently, though, physicists have observed processes where the future appears to affect the past. Doubters may question whether this has any practical effect on our lives. … Continue reading Plan to Defeat ISIS, Part 2 →

Quoting The Telegraph, Two US officials said on Tuesday night they had intelligence confirming that two Russian Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes were in the skies above the aid convoy at the precise time it was struck, and that the conclusion was that Russia was to blame.  It’s worth quoting RT, because, as a state channel, their … Continue reading Russia Bombs Aleppo Aid Convoy; Intentional? →

The open-source prediction is that the plane was brought down by an on board bomb. As a prediction, it is almost too late to be interesting. The Brits say yes; Americans maybe; the Russians and Egyptians say, too early to tell. But it’s not too late to examine the question for didactic purposes.  A shoulder … Continue reading Egypt Russian Airliner Crash Caused by an On-Board Bomb →

Yahoo. Quoting, “The defence ministry of the self-proclaimed Lugansk republic confirmed that Alexey Mozgovoy, the commander of a police battalion in the war-torn region, was among the dead and said it was hunting for the assailants behind the attack.” So let’s round up the usual suspects. Russia makes the list, and here’s a helpful guide … Continue reading Rebel Commander Aleksey Mozgovoy Killed in East Ukraine, Frozen Conflict? →

Since it has proved impossible to gather the “usual suspects” into one room for intensive, brutal interrogation, let’s proceed with informed speculation. Emotional involvement contaminates our thoughts. Since the financial crisis of 2007-2008, Vladimir Putin has betrayed our hopes for a modern, peaceful, westernized Russia. It appears that, since the financial meltdown, Putin lost faith … Continue reading Did Putin Order Nemtsov Murder? →

Matthew Herper’s article in Forbes, “Ebola, Ethics, And The New Normal Of Scary Germs” is good journalism.  It’s centered around an article by Borio and Cox, in the New England Journal of Medicine,  “…arguing that despite the hopes of some public health experts, both vaccines and drugs will need to be tested against control groups that … Continue reading Ebola Vaccines, Medical Ethics, and Manslaughter →