Defusing the Nuclear Threat

The risk of a nuclear catastrophe is far greater than we think.

Our ability to reduce that risk is far greater than we imagine.

Too few people are interested in nuclear weapons and there's a much larger “market” of people wanting to improve their relationships, so I’m now working with my wife Dorothie on a new approach that combines the personal with the global. Click here to sign up for information, updates, and opportunities to participate.

Lessons From the Cuban Missile Crisis: Did you know that JFK was taking amphetamines? that American destroyers unknowingly attacked Soviet subs armed with nuclear torpedoes? that we are still engaged in very risky behavior? Learn how we can change that!

How Risky is Nuclear Optimism?: Read Prof. Hellman's paper in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and find out.

Soaring, Cryptography and Nuclear Weapons: How could three such different topics be related?

Archive of email #7 to participants

Stanford Coverage and More on Georgia
September 21, 2008

The current issue of Stanford's alumni magazine has an article about our project on pages 32-33 of the print version and on-line at

http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2008/sepoct/farm/news/nuclear.html

I'd also like to recommend one more, very informative article on the Georgian crisis. Wayne Merry, a former State Department and Pentagon official, traces the evolution of the Georgian conflict by noting: "Although ignored in the West, the first instances of what later was called 'ethnic cleansing' did not take place in Yugoslavia, but in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and were perpetrated by radical Georgian nationalists under the slogan 'Georgia for the Georgians.' ... While Abkhazia was almost certainly lost to Georgia in the 1990s, the same was not true of South Ossetia, where ethnic tensions competed with ethnic cooperation. Many observers believed that with patience, time and wisdom, Tbilisi might have restored its authority in South Ossetia by peaceful means. Now we shall never know. President Saakashvili's almost-inexplicable decision to unleash a massive artillery bombardment of Ossetian civilians and then attempt a swift reconquest of the region has permanently altered the political landscape. ... It is now inconceivable that any living Ossetian or Abkhaz would willingly return to Georgian sovereignty."

The complete article can be accessed at

http://www.nationalinterest.org/PrinterFriendly.aspx?id=19702

Thank you for participating.

Martin
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Martin Hellman
Member, National Academy of Engineering
Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering
Stanford University

Archives of earlier emails and other resources are at http://nuclearrisk.org/resources.php.

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