The Politics of Sisyphus 05/30/2010
 Sometimes following politics makes me depressed, especially when it seems that events control men, not vice versa. This is one of those times. In America, the best and the brightest have spent 5 weeks trying to close a hole in the ocean. Plan A was to put something really heavy on top of the hole. Plan B is to stuff the hole with mud and some golf balls. Plan C? Err, back to Plan A. Helpless. (Surely, this has nothing to do with international affairs. But its absurdity makes it a fitting microcosm of the American mood nevertheless) In Asia, North Korea sunk South Korea’s Cheonan warship over two months ago. The response? The West, plus S. Korea and Japan, might convince China to pass a big resolution at the UN National Security Council. (Oooh! Scary!) In the Middle East, America and France have been working tooth and nail to pass UN sanctions against Iran. The putative reason? To stop Iran’s nuclear program. Could a means be more mismatched to a purpose? This is more a confession of impotence than it is a viable strategy. The list goes on, from the never-ending financial crisis to inertia in Afghanistan. Events, in the West at least, seem to have gotten the better of us. This feeling of powerlessness is not happenstance, however. It is instead born of the West’s excessive ambitiousness in the post-Cold War era, mixed with the unpredictability of an increasingly multipolar international system. Click "Read More" to Continue-------> Dead Hand? 09/23/2009
 The Doomsday Device: Not Just a Figment of Kubrick's Imagination Here is a bit of Cold War trivia: Did you know that the Soviets actually had a real doomsday device? If you didn't, don't worry; even former CIA Director James Woolsey--until recently--wasn't aware. Originally known as Perimeter, but often referred to as Dead Hand, Moscow's doomsday device was intended to ensure that the Soviets could respond to a US attack even if its military command structure was wiped out. Here is how it worked: Dead Hand was equipped with sensors to detect both seismic activity and radiation in the atmosphere. In the event that either sensor registered a reading indicative of a nuclear attack, Dead Hand would send a message to Soviet General Staff. If the message bounced back because the communication line was down, the system would then send the necessary launch codes directly to lower level commanders at each Russian missile facility bypassing the traditional human chain of command. The argument for such a system is that it lessens the chance of an accidental launch by taking the pressure off leaders to respond at the first sign of attack. Retaliation is assured, so there is no need to launch your missiles when you are 50/50 on whether the other guy actually launched his. The computer will take care of the whole revenge thing whether you are around or not. The real shocker is that Dead Hand isn't just a piece of Cold War trivia. It remains a part of Russia nuclear defense strategy to this day. Want to learn more? Check out Nicholas Thompson's excellent new article on the origins and use of Dead Hand in the most recent issue of Wired Magazine. | By Evan Tachovsky and Jon Friedman
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