Author: Ralph A. Cossa, Pacific Forum CSIS

As it becomes more and more obvious the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan was sunk on March 26 by a North Korean torpedo, more and more voices are calling for cooler heads to prevail. Except, that is, for those who are calling for a strong, if not massive, military response to what, if confirmed, will be a clear act of aggression which violates the 1953 Armistice and thus invokes the US-ROK security treaty.

I say ‘if confirmed’, as the South Korean government has been very careful not to jump to any official conclusion, as increasingly obvious as it appears to be becoming, without a thorough investigation of the wreckage. Read more…

Author: Ralph A. Cossa, Pacific Forum CSIS

I have attended a number of discussions in recent years about US nuclear weapons strategy and policy. All invariably begin with a presentation by a US official or expert who proclaims that the United States, in the past decade, has significantly reduced the role and importance of nuclear weapons in its national security strategy and will continue to do so.

This is then followed by a foreign (normally Chinese) expert who states with equal conviction and assurance that US national security strategy has placed increased importance on the role of nuclear weapons and that the Pentagon is determined to develop new and more lethal types of nuclear weapons. While one should never underestimate the ability of critics to see what they want to see in any US statement, one hopes that the just-released 2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) will help to settle this debate. Read more…